Rewind - Cameron's Birthday

I have been terrible about keeping up to date on my blogs lately. October was my busiest month yet in my studio, and I also worked full time with Bella Baby and had my family to take care of. Blogging was a little low on my list of priorities:-) But I actually have a little free time (!), so I thought I would hop on here and post a little.

As many of you know, Cameron turned SEVEN this past September. How crazy is that? And why do kids have to grow up so dang fast? His birthday party was a huge success - lot so kids running around, all hyped up on cake and ice cream. And what a cake it was!

Cameron's birthday theme was Knights. He has always been very in to swords and castles, so he picked this particular theme. And he specifically requested a "big castle cake with a dragon on top!" This was really going to put my cake decorating skills to the test! But because I love him like crazy, I was willing to give it a shot. It took three days to make the cake, which I finished minutes before the first guests arrived. The dragon was made entirely out of chocolate (except for the tissue paper wings). The cakes were really yummy, too:-) The bottom was chocolate cake with chocolate cream, bananas, chocolate chip, and a chocolate drizzle for the filling (not recommended for anyone on a diet!). The top was a rainbow chip cake with cherry cream and maraschino cherries for the filling.





We have always loved having a pinata at Cameron's parties, and this year I found a cool red dragon pinata. But that dragon did NOT die easily! Every kid took several turns trying to beat it open. Nothing. Not even a dent.

Even the "big kids" couldn't do it!

So finally we decided that hand-to-hand combat would be the best thing to finish this dragon off, and it was torn limb from limb.

And there was much rejoicing in the land.

And at the end of it all, Cameron got lots of great gifts from family and friends (which included FOUR new swords to add to his collection!).

Seven

I have been very bad about keeping my blog updated. So much as happened, but I have not had time to sit down and record it all. One of these days I will backtrack and write about our very crazy summer!

But this post is all about my wonderful little boy. Cameron turns seven this month, can you believe it? He just started first grade, and is LOVING it! Just like both his parents before him, he loves to learn. He is already reading at around a 3rd-4th grade level, which is pretty impressive, I think. He also loves math (he did NOT get that love from me!) and science.

In the past year Cameron has lost FIVE teeth! His most recent one was one of his top front teeth, and the little gap left behind is just so dang cute:-) The new tooth is growing in very quickly, though, like all his teeth have grown. The tooth next to it is also loose, and we expect that one to come out in the next month or so. When he was a baby he got all his teeth in very early and very quickly, so it is really not surprising that the same should be true of getting his adult teeth in.

As always, Cameron is just crazy about video games. Here is the odd thing though. Cameron has been "playing" video games since he could crawl. He has been around them all his life. But, sad to say, he is really quite terrible at playing them! He would much rather act them out. He pretends to be one of the characters, or makes up his own character to be, and runs around the house pretending to be in the game. I think I prefer this imaginative play to sitting mindlessly in front of the screen. He is a great storyteller, and will often make up very crazy stories involving some of his favorite characters.

Here are some other fun facts about Cameron:
Favorite Color: Red
Favorite Food: Pizza
Books he is reading: Eldest (from the Eragon series), Legend of Zelda graphic novels, and anything else within his reach!
Favorite Movie: Iron Giant
Likes: Knights, Robots, Dinosaurs, playing with his friends, spending time with his mommy and daddy, singing
Dislikes: Tomatoes, being grounded

Of course, since this is a new year for him, I had to get some new portraits. There is a field full of Black-eyed Susans near our house, and I thought that would be a great place for portraits. Cameron was a silly boy, and wanted to dance and play in the flowers, and I was able to capture some adorable smiles. Cameron has a beautiful smile and a contagious laugh. He brings so much joy in to our lives:-)

Easter Festivities

Easter weekend was pretty exciting around here. Originally, Easter festivities were going to be at my sister's place in Idaho. But because my dad is in the hospital (that is a whole other story that I won't go into here), we decided to move everything to my parent's house here in Utah. This actually worked out better for my little family, because I had to work Easter Sunday, and we would have missed out. In fact, the festivities were so big, we had to draw it out over two days, Saturday and Sunday!

The house was pretty crowded with people. All of my siblings, their spouses/significant others, and all the grandkids were in attendance, as well as my Grandma Olive, and Aunt Carol and Uncle Steve. Pretty crowded, but lots of fun! We did have a little drama, which seems to be pretty much expected in my family, but we got over it and had a fun time.

We had a spectacular Easter egg hunt with all the kids. We didn't count the eggs, but we estimated there was probably close to 200. It was quite the chore to find hiding spots for all of them. It was funny watching the kids try and find them all. Some we thought were really well hidden they found right away, while others that we thought were pretty obvious they passed by again and again without seeing.

I do have to say that I was a little frustrated with Cameron's "finding" ability. This is an on-going battle in our house. He has trouble seeing things in the most obvious places, and does not seem to understand the concept that just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it's not there. Like it might be hiding under something. Same thing with the eggs. We kept trying to hint for him to look all around, up and down, and in things. But after several minutes of him just sort of glancing around waiting for it to pop out at him, we would give up and point it out. We definitely need to start doing some more "finding" games around the house to develop this particular skill.

Easter dinner was scrumptious - BBQ ribs the first day, and ham the next, with all the best fixings:-) I think everyone was particularly enamored with my cake balls - a ridiculously easy recipe, but the most melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness:-) And the candy haul? Um, did I mention there were nearly 200 eggs? Yeah, we are going to be eating that for a while.

To round off the fun, my dad's sister flew in on Tuesday to spend some time with him. They were only here for a few hours, but it was nice to see them again. I don't think we get to see them near as often as I would like!

So here are the highlights in photos:

Being on a Budget

Craig and I are not major spenders. I think we are actually pretty thrifty. I do have a hard time saying no to the little things, but I pass up more than I buy. We rarely eat out, we buy clothes on sale, and only when we REALLY need them, and I coupon like crazy to save on the grocery bill. So we were more than a little confused to find that our expenses STILL outstrip our income! By a lot. Go figure.

We decided that the major issue is our debt. I was in debt before we even got married, and poor Craig just inherited that. Since then, we gradually added to that debt, little by little. We never really thought anything about it. Debt was just a way of life. Everyone had it, it seemed, and we were certainly no exception.

Then a couple of years ago both Craig and I lost our jobs at almost the exact same time. It was hard, because we both thought we had job security. We had no savings, and we had just bought a house. We were in trouble! We spent the next 6 months desperately looking for work, and living off our credit cards. Bad, bad, bad! Fortunately, we were both able to find work again, but by that time we found ourselves in a very sticky situation.

We still were not sure what to do. The debt was worse than ever, and there did not seem to be anything we could do about it. Until. . .

I am sure most everyone has heard about Dave Ramsey. He claims to have a solid way to get out of debt. It is not a "get rich quick" scheme, or even some new-fangled idea. We have heard it before. But Dave makes sense. I decided to check out what he has to offer and purchased his book, "Total Money Makeover". If you haven't read it yet, go check it out! I was really excited reading it, and feeling like maybe things were not as hopeless as we thought.

Yes, there will be a long and rough road ahead of us. Yes, we are still scared. Yes, we WILL get out of debt. Don't let anyone try to tell you that debt is just a way of life. Debt is BAD! All of it!! We have dug ourselves in to a deep pit, and now it is time to climb back out.

New Perspective

We recently had an experience that has changed our perspective. This past week we had the opportunity to babysit my little nephew (10 months) overnight. For the most part, he is a happy little guy, and loves to play. He was NOT happy when it was bedtime or naptime, and he really did not like when I left a room.

It was fun having him over, but it has been a looooong time since we have had a baby in our home, and we had forgotten how much work they can be! I spent a good deal of time cleaning up after him, playing with him, feeding him, etc.

For so long we have been trying to have another baby. We thought that was what we wanted. It was always our plan to have a big family. But despite all our efforts, it just hasn't happened. This has been a really hard pill to swallow, and I have had a very hard time dealing with it. I thought this was what I needed to be happy. To fill fulfilled.

I was wrong.

I have spent so much time longing for the child I don't have, that I have blinded myself to the blessings I have already been given. So many good things have happened to us. We have the most wonderful, bright, happy little boy. The joy he brings to our home in immeasurable.

Now that Cameron is in school I can focus much more attention on my career, and good things are coming from it. I really enjoy what I do, but it takes a great deal of dedication, perseverance, and hard work to run a business. Craig is also able to dedicate more of his time to the things he loves.

I always thought I couldn't really be happy with only one child. But the truth is, I AM happy. I just couldn't see it before. Now we understand what our lives could be like if there was another baby. While we would never turn away such a blessing, we no longer yearn for it like we did. Our lives have changed, and with it our perspective. I don't know that we will ever have more children, but I know that even if we don't, it's okay. I have already been given something great.

Boys and their Swords

For Craig's 30th birthday this past November I got him his first sword. He decided he wanted some photos to share with his friends online. Well, you know me, I can't do anything simply:-) I used some wicked cool dramatic lighting to really bring the images to life. I tried to convince them to change into some period clothing or something, but I think they thought that was going a little overboard. Bummer. But I think the images turned out great anyway.

I call this one "Lost".

Doesn't he look ferocious?

This one is one of my faves. I call it "Warrior's Prayer".