A Peek at the Last Week

A wonderful week at home allowed us to get some things done around the house, have some friends over for meals and have some fun times with friends and family. Here are some of the highlights...

Monday and Tuesday - Bumming around the house and worked on projects.

Cameron the Fire Fighter!!
A pedicure for my girly girl Emmy!

Wednesday - An outing with our G'ma Deb, Aunt Jess, Peyton and Wyatt at Colvill Park and Aquatic Center in Red Wing - I highly recommend this place!


Thursday - Rainy day fun with our new shark tent (thanks G'ma Carol and G'pa Gary!)


Friday - A family trip to the Minnesota Zoo.


Saturday - A morning at KW high school to watch our friends in the Prairie Fire Theatre production of "Alice and Wonderland" and friends over for supper while Matt was at a wedding.

Sunday - A morning spent at True North Church in the park and top it off with our cousin Brynn's birthday party....what a fun and blessed week!

Weekend Fun For All

Friday the kids and I headed home after our week at camp. Were got home and within a 1/2 hour Matt left with my sister Lindsay to go to Milwaukee for my cousin Andy's wedding. After repacking, the kids and I headed to Carol and Gary's where Cameron and Emmy would stay for the weekend. After dropping them off, I headed to the farm to stay over and leave for Milwaukee with mom and dad early on Saturday morning. To say the least, Friday was a hectic!

Saturday morning Mom, Dad, Josh and I headed out for Milwaukee at around 6:00am. It was the first time in a long time that I can remember my mom, dad, AND Lindsay all leaving the farm at the same time. Even though it was for only one night or three milkings, it was a huge step for all of them. We arrived in time to change and get to the church. It was a beautiful and fun service and the wedding was so much fun. My sisters, brothers-in-law, mom, dad, Matt and I had a BLAST!! I'll admit I wasn't first sold on not taking the kids to a family wedding but when it came down to it, it was fun to have a good time at a fun party. Matt even danced :)...i'll just say it was a long five-hour drive home for him on Sunday!

Here are some pics from our part of the day...

Andy and Melissa (Such a great couple!)

My sisters and our hubbies - what fun!

Although Matt and I had a fun weekend, I think Cameron and Emmy had even more fun with G'ma Carol and G'pa Gary. They got to go to a movie (in the theater!), they went swimming with their cousins Brynn and Molly, they went to Oxbow Park and then went to Quarry Hill Nature Center. This was all in two days! Not to mention all the fun they had at G'ma and G'pa's house with all of their toys. We are so thankful that Cameron and Emmy could stay with them for the weekend and that Matt and I had a little time to get out and celebrate with Andy and Melissa.

Here are a few pictures from Cameron and Emmy's weekend with G'ma and G'pa Addington (the only pictures of Emmy were naked pictures so didn't think I would share them :)...

This is what Cameron was wearing when we arrived to pick them up!

A Week At FFA Camp

The kids came with me to State Leadership Camp in Hackensack this week. Matt was home working on projects and catching up with photography. We were so blessed to have a great babysitter (a former student) Katie with to help so she and the kids had a great time playing and visiting with all of the State FFA Officers and campers. A highlight of the week was that Cameron got to wear his FFA Official Dress to the banquet on Friday night. We were given an FFA jacket when Cameron was born. This is the first time he was able to wear it...a very special moment for his momma!

Ninja Turtles

I used to love watching the Ninja Turtles! I'm getting a little dose of them again this week at State Leadership Camp. The kids are with me this week at work (FFA camp!) and the State Officers have been having some fun with them. Two of the officers, Greg and Eric, has Cameron dress up with them as Ninja Turtles for the opening skit of camp...I was so proud!
Cameron, Emmy and I left on Sunday for the whole week at camp in Deep Portage. Matt is home working on projects and catching up on photography work. We miss him terribly but thanks to Skype we are managing talk each day. We brought along a past state officer, Katie, to help with the kids this week. She is awesome and I am so blessed to have her here helping me. The kids seem to be enjoying the time here...lots to do. I'll blog more about the week later.

Do Belly Buttons Have Germs?

This is the question Cameron has been asking A LOT lately!! About a week ago, Matt found Cameron with his shirt up looking at his belly button. He kept playing with it and it was beginning to get a little red and irritated. At that point Matt told Cameron to quite touching his belly button so much because he might get germs on his hands. I realize he was trying to prevent Cameron from pulling his belly button out but it began a series of questions and downright concerns for Cameron. The rest of this week he has been extremely concerned that if he touches his belly button, he will get germs on his hands. His questions have included:

• Do belly buttons have germs?
• Are there bad germs in my belly button?
• How many germs are in my belly button?

At first we laughed about these questions but after a while we began to realize his genuine concern and almost fear of these so-called belly button germs!! On Monday night my family met at the farm for supper and Cameron continued to worry about the germs. My sister Jess, the nurse, finally went and got the hand sanitizer and squirted a little dab in his belly button kill the germs and to ease his worries. It worked....for a bit...then he was worried again!

Sometimes we as parents tell our kids things (sometimes even lie to them at times) to try and avoid their questions and get them thinking about something different. Examples may include:

• If you eat to much candy, your teeth will fall out (they really could though!!
• Don't stand on the chair or you will fall and break your neck
• Don't eat the dirt and sand, you will get a bad tummy ache
• Pick up your toys before you go to bed or the mice will come and take them away while you sleep (this sounds awful to say I realize but it really works at our house!)

Sometimes we've said some of these things to avoid our kids doing something they shouldn't but there have been times that it really backfires on us, especially with Cameron. He tends to dwell on topics...maybe this is all three-year olds! Here are a few things I've learned this week:

1. Be cautious on what you are saying to your kids, you may cause them more worry than it is worth!
2. Cameron is going to be our worrier, this is a trait that has been passed down in my family and something we need to pray about.
3. Even though belly buttons probably have some germs, don't even mention this to your three-year old!!