My Playground

Kevin took over the second Kiwi project on Sunday afternoon.  I didn't plan it this way, but it actually was more detailed and had lots more steps.  But it was a perfect project for the two of them.  They built a playground - swing and slide - for a cardboard pet puppy that was also part of the kit.

 

She still has some decorating to do with the stickers, but it's a cute project!

Pom Pom Pet

This week at Preschool was pet week.  They even had a pet show on Friday.  The kids brought in their small "caged" animals - guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, frogs, crickets, fish, and even a baby pig & goat.  It was such fun to see that her Kiwi Crate this month also featured pets.  She and I worked on the pom pom pet on Saturday afternoon.

 

 

She carefully did each step.  The U-shaped tool was a great gadget to make the wrapping so easy.



 

She tied a pipe cleaner around the middle and carefully slid it off the U.

  

Then she clipped the loops to create the pompom.  She only did about 1/4 of the cuts since it was a lot of yarn and truthfully quite difficult.

 

 

Then she added goggly eyes, a nose, tail, and feet.  These were all precut and the kit included "glue dots" that we simply had to peel and place on each item before attaching.  Simple!  Brilliant! Adorable!

 

Cousins

Camden, as always, had a great time with Hali and Preslee (who does her best to keep up with the big girls)

 

At the last few gatherings at GaGa's she has especially enjoyed her time with Aunt Tammy's youngest, Emily.  She even got a nice manicure.  Kevin and Camden took Tammy, Sara (the oldest), and Emily home at the end of the evening and Kevin reports that Camden was non-stop "entertainment" the ENTIRE 20 minute ride - rambling on and on and telling non-sense jokes. 

 

We secured Emily as our back-up babysitter since she can keep up with Camden's constant energy.

Chicken Pox?

No!  Camden was under the weather again on Sunday with a headache and tummy ache.  She slept about 18 hours from 8am Sunday - 8am Monday.  In the middle her temperature was between 99.8 - 100.9.  I didn't want to treat her fever with medicine, but it did persuade me to try to give her some medicine for the headache.  Emphasis on TRY.  Camden has never liked to take medicine.  I decided to get the syringe out and squirt it in.  I had to hold her arms down to get it in her mouth (just like when she was a tot).  Unlike when she was little, she gagged on the liquid.  She sat up gagging further and spit out the medicine while spewing up some phlegm.  Then she started gagging further, causing her to need to vomit.  She ran to the toilet, puking up more phlegm before bringing up vomit.  She vomits so hard that she bursts tiny blood vessels around her eyes.  It happens almost every time she is sick. 

She said it actually felt good to get some of it out of her tummy, but I learned my lesson for sure - don't force liquid medicine down her.  Kevin went to town later that afternoon and bought some chewable children's tablets (which were still met with some resistance, but not nearly as bad).

Babies

Camden's cousin Amanda is due with Baby Hoyt in May.  He was quite active on Saturday night and Camden got to feel him move.  She has not experienced that before.

 

Hopefully she will get to do more of it this year since her cousin Joseph and his wife Amanda just announced they are expecting in September!  We are all so excited!  We will closely follow the progress on their blog.

Busy Bakers

Saturday was Grandpa French's birthday party...along with Aunt Tammy and Cousin Amanda (our January and February birthdays).  Camden and I offered to bring the birthday cakes, so Saturday morning was filled with baking!

 

 

Grandpa requested a chocolate cake with white whippy or buttercream frosting.  We made a four layer cake with homemade frosting (my favorite recipe).  Camden wanted green frosting so we wrote our wishes on top in green.  She also wanted to put a Batman, a Spiderman, and a princess ring on top (all the cupcakes at school party's have rings on them...a supermarket thing).  I asked her who got which ring...Aunt Tammy is the princess, Amanda is Batman, and Grandpa is Spiderman!  Unfortunately, Kroger didn't have them.

I thought we might have a big crowd (17 of us!), so I made a second cake as well.  I wanted to do something "lighter" and thought of all the bakeries and diners in New Jersey that do a strawberry shortcake.  We made a white cake in a sheet pan, cut in half, filled the middle with Cool Whip Vanilla Frosting and diced strawberries, then frosted with more CW Vanilla Frosting and added a few strawberry flowers.  Since I had the green frosting, I added more birthday wishes (although I didn't have good script writing with the tube I was using). 

 

I expected to love the chocolate cake more since it had a great homemade frosting on it, but my preference for a white cake came through and I would definitely make the strawberry cake again.  Kevin even agreed.  Camden preferred the chocolate.  To be honest, they both were very good birthday cakes.  Also notice the amazing cinnamon rolls that GaGa always makes...

Happy birthday Raymond, Tammy, and Amanda!

Samaya's Gift

On Valentine's Day, Camden came home with a beautiful gift from her friend, Samaya. 

I couldn't get a good close-up picture of the heart, but one side has "Camden" etched in it and the other side, "Samaya".  Such a sweet friendship bracelet.

Busy Tuesday

Yesterday was a busy day for Camden (and her dad). 

 

At school, a local dentist visited and talked about oral hygiene.  She was so excited to come home and show us her gloves, mask, new toothpaste, and rinsing cup. 

Kevin picked Camden up from school on his way home from first shift and took her to her final swim lesson.  It was supposed to be several weeks ago, but she was sick with the nasty throat virus and thankfully they allowed a make-up session that we could arrange.  The best part is she got one-on-one attention and guidance.

Immediately after swim lessons, she got changed into her white tights and black leotard for her dance class.  We've started a new program at a new studio this month...more details to come.

I think we may be seeing our future schedule as she grows older and gets involved in more activities!

 

Calling Grandpa

Wishing Grandpa French a very happy birthday!

 

The next evening we also called her Grampa Jim to tell him happy birthday!

Valentine's Loot

Camden had a wonderful party at school on Friday and came home with a bag of Valentine's and prizes from the games.

 

We both enjoyed sitting at the table and pulling out each card and seeing who it was from.  There wasn't as much candy as I thought there might be - still plenty, just not overload (good!).  I thought the most clever one was a small clementine that the mom wrote, "You're a cutie!" on the side and the child wrote their name with a Sharpie. 

Classroom Love

Miss Lana always decorates the classroom so cute.  She uses alot of the kid's artwork, but always has other displays that are adorable.  This month, for obvious reasons, there are lots of hearts

 

Even on the fridge where lunches are kept.

The main door to enter the classroom reinforces love & sign language that they learn.

The second door has all their smiling faces.

Such a sweet expression.  She is so happy at school!

 

This month they have also been learning about feelings and emotions.  I love this wall of various expressions.

 



Happy Valentine's Day

Camden's school party is tomorrow, but her day started off with treats from Momma and Daddy.  Last week she requested a Reese's cup shaped like a heart, cookie dough candy (she's never had these, but she's on a cookie dough fix in ice cream kick and has seen the candy at the video store), and Peter Pan stickers.  Three easy requests...and I struck out on two of them.  Apparently only movie stores sell cookie dough candy and Peter Pan stickers don't exist.  Oh well, I found lots of other sweet treats to fill her bag, along with Tinkerbell and Minnie Mouse stickers.

She was very pleased with her giant Reese's heart.  I also win (or lose) the Mother of the Year Award for letting her have several bites for breakfast this morning.  Hey...peanut butter counts as protein!

I also packed two small cards in her lunch box, so hopefully, she will like her nice surprise at midday (along with chocolate pretzel hearts!).

 

I feel a little guilty for all the chocolate she will consume over the next week, but it's a fun candy holiday.  And if Halloween is any indication, we will have this candy around a long time.  In fact, it will probably make it's way to the cabinet with the half a bucket of trick-or-treating goodies we still have.

Valentine's Prep



Camden's school party is on Friday, so we selected Valentine's this weekend and began prepping.  The first box she picked up was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...and she was done!

 



Miss Lana wanted the kids to use this as an opportunity to practice their names, so she has written "Camden" on all 23 cards, as well as 4 for her teachers.

We are slowly adding her friend's names (yes she is doing that as well), then adding a heart lollipop in the small holes in the card. 

She is very pleased with them.  I very pleased with her efforts and her writing.

Papaw's Birthday



Monday was Papaw's birthday.  Last night was the first night we could have him over.  Kevin fired up the grill for a surf & turf (shrimp & venison steak) and asparagus.

 



I stopped at our local cupcake shop for a birthday treat.  Camden said she needed pink and that Papaw would have blue (they only had purple - close enough!). Kevin and I didn't have one (we're on a diet), but they had an apricot curry one that looked yummo!  In another month or two, it's calling my name.

We lit the candle and Camden presented it to Papaw.

  

 

After an amazing (ha!) version of "Happy Birthday" they dug in.

 

Then it was time for a few rounds of Camden's game.  Camden successfully beat me and her dad.  Papaw whipped Kevin, too, while Camden cheered them on.