A very LONG day

The past few days Eric has been in Utah having fun with some of his roommates from college. James is getting married next week (in Hawaii, wish we were going) so Eric flew down for a guys weekend. I am so happy he went because he hasn't seen these guys for a while and he needs a break. I don't even think he took his laptop so three whole days with NO work!
Today I spent hours cleaning our house before we turn the keys over. My mom and sister were so nice to take the kids so I could get a good chunk of it done. It is now 10 till 7 and the kids are in bed. Since Ella had no nap and Cameron had a very short afternoon one they were all really tired (so am I). I decided to put them in bed so we could all catch up on some much needed rest!
I am looking forward to Eric getting back tomorrow!

Chicksitting

Natalie's kindergarten class had an some chicken eggs in an incubator for about two weeks. Last week the chicks hatched and we were able to sign up to babysit for a night. When I picked up Natalie at school yesterday she was able to pick two chicks that she wanted to take home. Her teacher provided the box, food, water bowl and heat lamp along with instructions on how to care for them. I was a bit nervous about the chicks making it through the visit at our house, not so much because of the girls but the heat and water. The dish was to be placed two inches from the edge so they chicks could walk around without getting wet because a wet chick usually dies. I followed the instructions but those chicks had minds of their owns and kept getting in the water. I was also worried about them being too hot or too cold so I kept adjusting the lamp. This morning I had Eric go downstairs and check to make sure they were still alive. I am happy to report that we returned two very much alive chicks to school today! Our little chicks

Natalie was nervous about the chicks pooping on her Ella observing (she did hold them a few times but never long enough for me to get a picture before I had to get the chick back from her).

Cameron is One!

Well I can't believe it but my baby is a year old! This year has gone by so fast and I have mixed emotions about him being a year old. He is so much fun and his personality comes out more all the time, but I will miss having a new baby around the house. We had some of our family over on Saturday for a BBQ to celebrate the big event. It was fun to get everyone together and Cameron was his usual happy self. We had a construction theme party which Eric got VERY into. I am wondering why I never recieved this much input/help with the girls' parties. :) He was excited to see his cake or at least I think so (his arms are always flapping like that).

He thought the cake was good but just took him time eating it.
He had lots of help from his sisters and cousins opening his presents.

So Tired

One afternoon I was upstairs cleaning and put the gate up and was letting Cameron play in his room. Every minute or two I would walk by his room and smile and talk to him. Then I come by and find the little guy asleep on the floor. He didn't even fuss! He is such a sweet little boy!

Easter Outfits

I forgot to take pictures of the kids all ready for Easter Sunday so I had to do it the next time they were all wearing them again. It is hard to get a decent picture with all three of them.

They love their brother!
the girls

OUCH!

A little over a month ago Natalie and Ella were invited to a birthday party. They were both so excited because it was at the Little Gym and I was excited because Brittanie (the b-day girls mom) said she would take the girls so I could stay home with Cameron since Eric had Priesthood that night. From what I have heard the girls were having a great time on all the equipment when all the sudden Natalie started crying. She had bonked heads with another girl. Madeline was fine but Natalie kept crying. So Brittanie picks her up and is holding her when her husband looks at Natalie and sees the nice big goose egg on her forehead. After so ice and rest Natalie is up and playing again. By the time she comes home the swelling has gone down quite a bit but I called the doctor to see what they said. They asked me a ton of questions and told me to wake her up during the night and watch her for the next 24 hours. They said that with a hard hit like this she would most likely have one or two black eyes.
Natalie did a good job of icing her head and Ella needed to get in on the action. It took a few days for the bruising to set in but with the swelling Natalie's face look a bit deformed.
Sure enough so beautiful bruising started (the pics don't do it justice) and she developed two black eyes. I felt bad because she was self conscious of it and I think she received a lot of comments at school.

Last week I called the doctor because Natalie still had a hard lump on her forehead that she said hurt when I touched it. They wanted me to bring her in. Turns out it is a calcium deposit. These can form after a really hard hit and can take up to 2 years to go away! Wow! Natalie was a trooper and even with the swelling and bruising looked beautiful.