Camden and her big decision

What an awesome day today was!! Camden asked Jesus to come into her heart this afternoon and I couldn't be more thrilled!

Camden has been talking alot lately about how Jesus died on the cross for her sins. Of course, she hears all the Bible stories at Sunday School every week and over the last few weeks she has heard more about God's love for her in Bible School and at God's Kids. Sunday evening we went to watch Jaxson, her cousin, get baptized. We talked about it before we went and then nothing was said after church. Jeremy and I didn't want to push anything, but we also wanted to be able to answer any questions she had. A few days passed and Camden and Claire spent the night last night with Marme'. Camden brought up Jaxson and how he got baptized and she asked Marme' a few questions. Marme' then told her that she needed to talk to us about it and that's all that was said. When I picked them up I didn't bring anything up. After lunch we were cleaning up some toys and out of the blue Camden said, "I know that Jesus loves me and He died on the cross for my sins and I want to get baptized". So, Jeremy and I talked to her about it and we prayed with her to invite Jesus to live in her heart. She is SO excited and immediately called her grandparents to share the good news! We will take her Sunday to talk to our pastor and then we will get a date for her baptism. What a proud moment for parents to know that your child believes in Jesus and will spend eternity with Him one day. I pray that her excitement about her salvation will not fade and that she will be eager to share with her friends at school about Jesus' love for them. We are so proud of Camden for making this important decision and look forward to the day when Claire and Carlyle can experience this same excitement!

On a completely different note, I couldn't do a post with no pictures. So, I'm going to leave you with a picture of a sweet, sleeping baby girl!

Too cute Tuesday

I love the outfits that the girls have on today and I wanted to get a picture of them wearing it. So, while I was cooking dinner, I asked Jeremy to try and get a picture of them. After about 5 minutes, he came back and said he was done. I checked the pictures and was so proud that he got such a cute picture. He doesn't know it, but he may become my official picture taker. He got a cute picture with no screaming, no tears and no bribery (at least none that I know of).

22 months

I can't believe that Carlyle is 22 months old today. And I really can't believe that in two short months she will be turning 2!! She is definitely not a baby anymore and we have already had a few previews of "The Terrible Twos". Carlyle has developed a sense of independence, which is not always a good thing. Especially when it comes to meal time. She insists on eating her yogurt and applesauce all by herself, which usually means it ends up dumped on her tray. She then proceeds to rub her hands all in it and then put her hands all in her hair. Needless to say, bathtime usually follows those meals:) She is talking up a storm and repeating everything and anything. She has just started saying thank you and it's so cute! She will now say it without me prompting her. When I give her something she will say ,"Tank you mommy". Oh...melt my heart!!! Love that girl:)



Just in the last couple of weeks, Carlyle has learned how to crawl up onto the sofa, ottoman and Camden and Claire's beds. She thinks she is so big now, but it scares me to death. I just know she's going to end up, head first, on the hard floor. Oh well, I guess she'll learn. And, she thinks it's so funny to walk around the house backwards. She'll start doing it and when she sees me, she just laughs. You can't help but laugh with her.




Sweet girl still loves her paci at bedtime and instead of one blanket, she has to have at least 2 of the 3, if not all 3. She is so funny. And, believe me, she knows the difference between blankets. If you try to give her one that's not "one of the three", she will throw it back at you. She loves her minky lovies and still loves her crib! She hasn't tried to climb out yet, but then again, neither did her sisters. Camden stayed in her crib until right before her 3rd birthday. Who knows...Carlyle may still be in her crib when she starts Kindergarten. Just kidding! Carlyle, we love you so much and are so blessed that you are a part of our family!

Jailhouse ROCK!

This past week, Camden went to a music camp at our church called God's Kids. Every morning they would learn the songs and motions to a musical and then in the afternoon they would go on a fun field trip. Friday night they performed for the parents. The name of the musical was called "Jailhouse ROCK!" It was a great performance and had a great message about the freedom we have in Christ. I'm so proud of Camden for working so hard this week. All the kids did a great job! We are already looking forward to next year when Claire can join Camden for all the fun!!

Another injury for Camden

Sunday evening I was in the kitchen cleaning up after dinner and all the girls were in Camden and Claire's room playing. All of a sudden I hear Camden screaming as she comes running in the kitchen. As she is screaming that there is blood on her hand, she is waving her hand all around, flinging blood EVERYWHERE!! The kitchen and hallway seriously looked like a murder scene with all the blood. Apparently, Claire had slammed the bedroom door (which is about as heavy, if not heavier, than our front door) and Camden's hand got caught in it. I had Jeremy come look at it and we tried to get as much blood off as we could. It looked horrible!! As heavy as the door is, we're surprised that her finger was still attached. Just a sidenote...Camden is very dramatic, especially when it comes to injuries. Claire can fall and scrape her knee and she might cry for literally 5 seconds, then she's off playing again. Camden can get the same injury and she will carry on about her knee for hours...how she can't walk on it, how she can't run, how it hurts, how she needs medicine or a band-aid, etc... So, needless to say, this injury was very painful and she cried and cried and cried. Anyway, her nail bled and bled and bled...for 6 hours!!! What a long night! We immediately put ice on her finger to help with swelling and we continued to apply pressure. We thought we had it stopped, so we wrapped it and she went and got in bed. She got up to get a pillow for her hand to rest on and we noticed it was bleeding through the gauze. After consulting with a doctor friend and Jeremy's sister who is a nurse, we knew if we couldn't get the bleeding to stop that we were going to have to take her to the ER. We got ice cold water and held her finger in it for 10 minutes at a time. As you can imagine, she was NOT a fan of that. But, it seemed to help and after the third time, the bleeding was very minimal. We finally went to bed around 12:30am. What an exhausting night!!

The next day Camden went to God's Kids as planned. The ladies in charge took extra care of Camden and watched out for her "fragile" finger. When I picked her up, a friend whose husband is a doctor, offered for her husband to look at it just to make sure it didn't need any stitches. We ran by to see Mr. Ben and he suggested that he try and move the nail back into place. He also informed us that the finger was broken. So, in order to allow him to work on the nail, he needed to numb it, which meant 3 shots. That was lots of fun, especially with 2 other kids in the room with us. I had to hold Camden down and as she is screaming because of the shots, Claire grabs my legs and starts crying because of Camden and Carlyle is running around the room, opening drawers and cabinets, pulling out gowns, sheets, rubbing alcohol and is trying to drink iodine. It was absolutely CRAZY!!! But, we survived! Mr. Ben was so nice and put a splint on Camden's finger so that she couldn't bend it. That was the only way for the nail to stay in place. He also prescribed an antibiotic because he was concerned that she might get staph from the open wound. So, we left there at 5:00pm, headed to the pharmacy to wait on the meds. Again, I'm sure we were quite the entertainment as Carlyle ran around all the aisles, grabbing hand sanitizer, vitamins and anything that looked interesting. I stopped on the way home and picked up dinner because it was so late and because I was exhausted!! After dinner and baths, all 3 girls went to bed. Talk about a FULL DAY!!! I'm just so thankful that Mr. Ben took the time to check out Camden's finger and was willing to help us out. I'm just hoping that her finger will heal quickly and that the soreness will go away very soon!! Camden was such a trooper and was so brave!! I'm just hoping this is the last injury for a long, long time!!


Camden and Claire watching TV while we wait on the doctor.
Poor little finger.
After a full day at God's Kids, a couple hours at the clinic getting her finger worked on, and waiting at the pharmacy for her meds, she fell asleep on the way home with a sucker in her mouth.
Camden's broken and injured finger

Ding Dong Lover

Monday, Camden started a week long music camp at our church called God's Kids. They rotate to different stations, where they learn different songs with the motions to a musical. Every afternoon they go on a field trip somewhere fun. She is having the best time. Friday night they will perform their musical and I can't wait to see what she has learned. So, Monday after we dropped her off we headed over to a friend's house for a play date. I'm sad I didn't take one picture, but it was lots of fun. Jennifer made us a yummy breakfast and the kids got to play and run off lots of energy. Then, while waiting for Camden to get finished, we went over to my parents to have lunch and let Carlyle take a nap. I found some Ding Dongs in the drawer and Claire just had to have one. Of course, that meant Carlyle had to have one, too. This was her first one to ever taste and she was IN HEAVEN!! She gobbled it up and enjoyed every bite!!!

Sunday Snapshots

Little Fish

Camden and Claire have been taking swimming lessons twice a week for the past two weeks. Even though they were pretty good swimmers, they have started learning how to use their arms and how to take breaths while swimming. They did great every day and they loved seeing their teacher, Mrs. Debbie! We have enjoyed being at the pool this summer and the girls are swimming like little fish!! Check out the videos at the bottom of the girls swimming.

Happy Independence Day!!

Our Independence Day started off a bit slow. Jeremy played golf early this morning and I was hoping that the girls would sleep later than normal since they had been up past 10pm the last two nights. Camden, as usual, was the first one up. She woke up up around 7:00. Claire wasn't too far behind at around 7:30. Poor Carlyle must have been worn out from all the festivities of the weekend because she didn't wake up until 8:15, which is so not normal for any of my children. I can't remember when any of my kids have slept past 7:30 in a very long time. We got up, had breakfast and were moving very slowly. We then headed over to Marme' and Pops' house for lunch. We were the first ones there so Camden and Claire enjoyed helping Marme' make special desserts for the kids, prepare relish trays, and getting everything ready for our big BBQ. After we ate, all the kids (and the big boys) got their swimsuits on and went out to enjoy the big water slide. All the kids had such a great time, but I think the big boys had just as much fun!!

Jax started off the fun

Madeline's turn
Camden took her turn
Madeline going down on her Daddy's back
Claire going head first
Madeline and Jax on Rex's back
Carlyle had the best time just running around the yard and playing in the water.

Oh no!!
Daddy decided to take Carlyle down the slide. She wasn't a huge fan.
Trying to get a picture of all the kids
This is the best one I got. These kids were worn out after playing hard!!
Later that afternoon we went over to Nana and Papa's for swimming and dinner. Carlyle fell asleep in the car so I transferred her to the bed. Jeremy and I took Camden and Claire to my parents' neighbors to swim for a bit. They had so much fun!
After swimming, we had a yummy dinner of grilled chicken, corn on the cob, potatoes, beans and homemade rolls. YUM! Camden and Claire wanted me to bring stuff to make smores, which I was very excited about. So, after dinner and more swimming I got everything out. My dad was going to make a fire outside, but both girls insisted that they wanted to make their smores without roasting the marshmallows...WHAT?? Since the girls and I were the only ones making smores, I didn't want my dad to make a fire just for me. I was a little disappointed because I really wanted a good, yummy, gooey smore. I attempted to roast my own marshmallow with a match. I don't recommend that. It just wasn't the same. Although it still tasted good, the marshmallow wasn't as roasted as I'd like and the chocolate didn't melt. Oh well, despite the fact that my smores experience wasn't a huge success, we still had a great day celebrating the holiday with our family!

Celebrating the 4th on the 3rd

Every year Hideaway Lake has a big 4th of July celebration. This year they had all the festivities on the 3rd. There are fun activities all day long at the beach/pool area and then at night they have a boat parade with sky divers and fireworks. There were so many people there that parking was a nightmare!! We have some friends, The Bloomers, that live very close to the pool so we decided to park at their house. We were going to walk over to see the sky divers and parade and then come back to their house to watch the fireworks from their driveway. When we started down their driveway headed to the pool, we look up and see the sky divers on their way down. So, instead of making the trek to the beach, we just watched the sky divers from the driveway. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see them land on the beach or watch the boat parade, but I'm not sure we would have been able to see much anyway with all the people. So, we headed inside to cool off. The Bloomers were so nice and they cooked BBQ for us and two other couples. We had a great time and enjoyed spending time with great friends!! The fireworks were great and it was a great ending to such a great night! Thanks again to the Bloomers for allowing us to spend the holiday with you and your family!

Brianna played Twister with Camden and Claire while we waited for the fireworks.

Mr. Gandy and Carlyle
Mr. Bill holding Carlyle
Daddy and Carlyle
Carlyle watching the fireworks and eating marshmallows.
Carlyle enjoyed going from lap to lap to watch the fireworks...notice she is going to the men! This may pose a problem the older she gets:)
And the beautiful fireworks!!