This & That

It's Humpday!! Woohoo!! Only a few more days until the weekend! :)

Many prayers for those in the Houston/Corpus Christi area where Hurricane Rita is suppose to hit this weekend. It's suppose to be a biggie - so hope everyone evacuates and stays safe. *prayers*

Cam's been a good boy at school! Yesterday/last night was kinda hard though - he acted up at closing time - throwing fits while Shane was there, etc. so we decided to come home & eat dinner instead of our usual Chick-Fil-A night since Cam was acting "tootie." He was upset about it - but we explained that he has to act like a big boy ALL of the time - not just for his teachers - but for Mommy & Daddy, too. He didn't eat supper good last night & continued to get in trouble the rest of the night. :( Then he wouldn't go to bed and it took 2 hours for him to get to sleep - after making a million different excuses for why he needed to get out of bed.
It was too dark, he was scared, he needed 2 sips of strawberry milk, he needed a sip of tea, his tummy hurt, he was itchy, he wasn't tired or sleepy, etc. LOL Then around 2am - he woke up again and crawled in bed with us. So I was squished in the middle all night - Shane hit me in the head w/his elbow a few times & Cam kept on kicking me! What a perfect night and so restful!! LOL And then he was up at 7am. I'm working on my 3rd cup of coffee right now! *yawn* He'll probably take a good nap at school today - but I need to make sure they don't let him sleep past 2pm so he will go down w/no problems tonight. I don't need a repeat of last night!

I went to Michael's last week and bought some stuff to make a mum and garter for this Friday's Pine Tree Homecoming game for Cameron and Delani Jo. It'll be Cam's 1st "date"! Awww!! LOL We've been talking about going to a Homecoming game with my friend, Cari and her hubby, Leroy, and their daughter, Delani, for a few years now - so we're finally going to go this year. They all (including Shane) went to Pine Tree Schools plus my SIL, Ashley, is a Senior Cheerleader, so we really needed to go this year to watch her especially. My MIL, Thetta, made the mum and garter this weekend and they turned out SOOOO cute!! I can't wait to see the two of them together! Of course, I'll take a million pics!! :)

Things I need to do:
*Get the pool table in the paper to sell so we can move our old couch into our gameroom to make room for our BRAND NEW (YAY!) couch coming in a few weeks.
*Clean out our closets - get summer stuff out and fall/winter clothes in.
*Get our "junk" room organized so I can have a garage sale and get rid of it all!
*Take our old computer in to get fixed so we can have 2 working computers.
*Clean our yard and front porch.
*Get the pics of the kiddos (at school) developed so I can display them on our picture wall at school.

Okay, that's quite a list for now! I'll be good if I get half of that done anytime soon!! :)

Okay - time for a shower and then get Cam to school before lunch!

~CEC

Weekend Review

Let's see if I can remember what we did... ummm, Shane went out with some friends one night and I had a girl's night the other night & did a little drinking & dancing. :) But OMG!!! I am definetly out of shape b/c my thighs were in so much pain on Sunday!! LOL Wow!! It felt like I just ran a marathon or something... they seriously were killing me. How pathetic is that?? I'm going to start walking around the neighborhood come October, when it's not as hot. I'm sure it'll still be toasty - but not 99 degrees at 8pm!! I've got to get in shape - no excuses! Okay - I got off track - back to my weekend. Saturday, Cam & I drove to Tyler and met up with my bestest friend, Mari-Carmen, at the Caldwell Zoo. I got a work-out hauling Cam around in his Radio Flyer Red Wagon. And that probably had something to do w/my throbbing legs, as well, now that I think about it. It was a pretty day, a little warm, but we had some breeze. Cam had fun but wasn't as impressed as I thought he'd be. Who knows?!
I snapped a few pics, of course. You can check those out on the Flicker link under my profile.
Sunday, I did absolutely nothing. Cam & I didn't change out of our PJ's until like 4pm!! LOL We just hung out, watched some movies, played, did a little laundry, cleaned up a little bit and that's about it. I was still feeling yucky - allergies turned into a cold now and I'm coughing. Ugh. Plus my legs were killing me plus Aunt Flo paid me a visit. (Sorry, TMI) But I was definetly not in the mood to do anything. Ohhhh...and our AC backed up and water leaked all over the hallway and in the bathroom. So - I'm currently trying to try out our hallway - and it's super stinky! Blahhh!! I just want to rip up the ugly, stinky carpet and chunk it! :(

Oh yeah, I almost forgot about mentioning that after FOREVER - we finally ordered our new couch!! YAY!! I can't wait! It should be here in about 4-6 weeks! I really want to paint the den before our new furniture arrives - so maybe that will be my weekend project! I keep saying that .... but I really need to get on the ball. Now, if I could just talk Shane into getting new carpet as well... i'd be set. I know we can't really afford it right now plus Christmas is just around the corner, so.... I'll just have to deal with the fugly ugly calico carpet for now.

Well, I just glanced down at the clock and I need to get a shower before I head for work.....

C

My Rockstar!

This week was sooo long and the fact that I've felt like crap hasn't made it any better. I was in a mood tonight when I got home - just tired & cranky. Then leave it to my boy to make me laugh! :)

He goes into his room and brings out his guitar that MawMaw & Johnny got him in Mexico. He tells us to sit down - that he's going to play us a song. He sings something about being Batman for Halloween and this & that and then at the end says... "Rock-n-Roll! YEAH!!" and then bows and says "Thank You!" ha! ha! What a ham!! He's too freakin' cute! Okay, i'm a bit biased, but it was too precious! I'm sure you'd think so too if you could've seen and heard him!! ;)

TGIF!! I'm so glad it's Friday! I'm looking forward to going to the zoo tomorrow with Cam & my best friend, Mari. Cam is super excited about seeing all of the animals especially monkeys and the alligators!! I just hope it's a pretty day and I'm able to snap some good pics!

Until next time -
CC

1st day of school

Cam's first official day of pre-school in the 3 yr old class went great. Of course, he's used to it already (he's been in the 3's for several months now) but they started back with Circle Time and more w/the curriculum. He said he had fun and when I asked him what he learned he said "The letter A. Apple starts with A. Apple's are red, too! And we colored apples and painted!" And the great part - he's been doing great behavior wise all week! He's gotten a check mark by his name on the behavior chart all week! YAY!! And he's been taking a nap, too! :) He only had to go to time-out once on Tuesday - for not sitting against the wall when asked to.
(Hey - I can live w/that! That's nothing compared to normally!! LOL) and no time-outs yesterday!! I'm so glad! I think getting the older kids out of the room and more kids just his age helped alot. You know those older kids were a bad influence on my angel!! ;) heehee

I've been fighting getting sick - i've felt alittle yucky all week. Bronchitis, upper resp. infections, fever, and colds have been going around school. Yuck. I woke up this morning all stopped-up and coughing a little bit. I have a headache now, sniffly and my ears ache alittle. Goodtimes!
I'm going to pick me up some OTC meds after I drop off Cam at school and hopefully that will help. I haven't been sick in FOREVER.

Spent the weekend (and Labor Day weekend) working for my Mom. It just happened to fall that way (every 4th weekend) and think it falls on Christmas this year, too. Sucks - but that's how it is.

Typed all day on Saturday - left after dinner (hamburgers! yum!)
Shane went to the boats - but didn't win anything. Bummer.

Sunday - Cam went with me while I took pics (of houses for sale) and was a pretty good boy. However, we had to listen to The Lion King soundtrack - esp. the "Just can't wait to be king!" track. LOL Whatever works - esp. for being in the car for almost 5 hours. I can't complain too much.
We HAD to rent Lion King 2 from Blockbuster after all of that Lion King music! LOL I rented Guess Who? with Bernie Mac & Ashton Kutcher for us - it was cute!
Sunday night - nothing too exciting. Watched some television/movie, read the paper, talked to Shane, bathed & played with Cam.

Today - Monday - went out to Mom's around 9am. I typed all day again.
Cam watched Lion King 2 about 5 times!! LOL His new favorite, you think?! He's actually watching it again at home right now as I type!! LOL
I almost have it memorized, I think!

Had a big scare this afternoon. Cam fell into my parent's pool!!!! OMG!
My Mom let him lay on his belly by the side of the pool (where the steps are) and dangle his hands in the water. She was sitting on the deck in a chair. Next thing she knows, he falls in face first!! AHHHH!!! She manages to jump in (almost loses her balance b/c of her wet flip-flops) and grab him by the shirt. He coughed and cried some - but was fine... THANK THE LORD!!! He kept saying - "I'm alright! I'm alright! I'm alive! I'm alright!" Poor baby!!! It could've been very, very bad... and i'm so glad it wasn't!! *WHEW!* New rule - no playing by the pool w/out floaties or a life jacket!! Just in case!!!

This is ridiculous! The gas prices right now - it's unbelievable. I'm lucky that I only work about 3 miles away from home - I can't even imagining others in big cities that work clear across town - and how often they are needing to fill up their tank!! OMG!

Btw - This picture was actually taken in Long Beach, California - August 18, 2005 by PCAdapan. (AOL News) Thankfully it isn't that high YET here - around $2.79 the last time I checked. I'll have to look again this morning when I take Cam to school. I had a half tank the other night - and we went ahead & filled it up all the way. $25.00 just for a half of tank! It usually takes around $27.00 to fill up my whole car! UGH!!!

In a funk

I think everyone is just in a funky mood this week. Several times today i've thought - "Is it ONLY Wednesday?! Ugh!!" I'm sure it has to do with the gas prices and Katrina - along w/our everyday life's stresses on top of it all. It's alot to take in. I'm also wondering about the moon - has it been full the last few nights? Usually when we have full moons - it's crazy at school. The kids just act different - really hyper or cranky or moody. It's been a bit chaotic lately. I couldn't wait to get out of there today - and I hardly ever feel that way. Not in a long time, at least. And then I feel selfish for worrying about my petty issues when I think about all of the families that have lost everything w/the flooding. They don't have homes anymore or everything is ruined inside. They aren't working, their kids are out of school, their lives are totally upset down. I can't even imagine. I should be grateful. And really I am. I'm just ready for everything to settle down. For everyone. *sigh*

But I do have some good news. Cameron had an awesome day today! YAY! He walked into his class today w/no troubles (he's been hanging on to my leg & pouting lately) and said "Hi" to his teachers and friends and sat right now and joined the others at a center table. :) I checked on him around lunchtime & he had a great morning. He also went down for a nap today w/no problems (wow!) and slept almost 2 hours. (double wow!) This afternoon I got the same report about him being a good boy.
That just makes me feel so good. I let him pick out a "reward" at the grocery store - and he had a Scooby Doo popsicle after dinner tonight. :)
He started to throw a fit b/c I wouldn't let him have 2, but finally gave-in after he figured out that it wasn't going to happen. LOL

Well, tomorrow is a new day. We'll see what happens. :)

Well, I made it through Open House. It went great & we had a really good turn-out! I was glad about that! I'm excited about this school year w/all of the improvements of the school. It's really looking nice & we have some awesome teachers right now! YAY! :) Hopefully after school "officially" starts next week - things will calm down some. It's been totally crazy & of course, Regina (owner/director) & I have been stressing ourselves out by making sure everything is perfect & in order, etc. But all of our hard work has paid off b/c Open House was a success! :)

Regina & her hubby took us all out for dinner at Papacita's (yummy Mexican food!) after Open House last night & it was nice to talk w/all of the girls w/out any kiddos! LOL Hanging w/friends, chips & salsa, and a refreshing beverage - it just doesn't get any better! :)

On another note - Cam didn't have a good morning at school. He yelled at his teacher, wouldn't sit in time-out, and stuck his tongue out! *sigh* Ms. Lauren took Cam to the office to talk w/Ms. Regina - and she asked him if he wanted her to call Mommy (I was out running errands for the school) and he said "Uh-huh!" and she said - "Do you want me to call Daddy?" and he said "No!" ... So she called Shane, of course. He came up to school and talked to him & ended up swatting him, as well. :( I hate that we've been having to spank him lately - but that seems like the only way to straighten up his stubborn little self. :( I'm thinking about going to Walmart tonight to get some type of paddle or flyswatter b/c we hate that we have to use our hands. Shane & I had a big discussion about it a few nights ago - the pros & cons about spanking, what society thinks about spanking, the whole nine yards. We're hoping that we can just threaten to get the so-called paddle off the top of the fridge & that will be enough to calm him down. My Mom kept a flyswatter on top of the fridge growing up - and all she had to do was reach her hand up - and we straightened up in a blink of an eye!! LOL She maybe actually had to use it on us like less than 5 times.

So - no flames for spanking my child - but that's what works for my family & what we believe in ... as a last resort, of course & NEVER when we're fuming mad or upset.

Anyway - apparantly Shane's little appearance had an effect on Cam b/c he was WONDERFUL the rest of the day - according to his teachers.
I went on & on about how proud of him I was for being behaving good the rest of the day and how happy that made me, etc. He smiled and hugged me and said - "I was a very good boy, Mommy. I got a sucker & a happy face!" :)

My little stinker. He's so dang cute & sweet - but BOY - he loves to push those buttons!! LOL He definetly takes after his Daddy!! ;) He's Shane made-over!!

The death toll is at 80 people so far this morning after Hurricane Katrina hit parts of Louisiana & Mississippi. I just can't even imagine going through something like that. Having to leave your home & evacuating the city - and possibly coming back to a flooded house or not a house at all. All of your belongings destroyed or disappeared. :(

My friend, Cari, was worried yesterday b/c she her in-laws live in Covington, LA and they were hit pretty bad, I think. Nobody had any word from them - as of late yesterday afternoon. Many, many prayers that they are doing okay. Hopefully, when I go to work this morning - Cari will tell me she's spoken w/them & they're fine. *prayers*

First off - thinking of all of the families involved with Hurricane Katrina. They're saying it could be a MONTH before they get power in the New Orleans area. Oh gosh. I hope not that long. That's so devasting.

Not really much to talk about today. Cam had a pretty good day - considering he was so stinkier this weekend. His teachers said he was "okay" - so that's better than horrible!! LOL Of course, he could've been horrible, and they just didn't want to tell me. But usually I know about it b/c they'll bring him to my office if he's acting up TOO much. And no sign of him all day, so that was good. We didn't have any trouble w/him at dinner or after tonight - and he went to bed w/no problems, so today was good. My boy was good! YAY! I gotta celebrate these days!! Tomorrow could be a different story. I have Open House tomorrow night at school - so just hoping he's good for his Daddy. Usually he give ME the trouble & is better with Shane. Hope that's the case - or maybe he can just act up a TAD since I had to deal w/him all weekend!! LOL J/K

I've been lurking around on some of the different blogs that people have set up and just in AWE of how cool some of them are! WOW! Looks like alot of work to me & not sure I could get mine that cool! HTML codes and all that involves is pretty Greek to me. Maybe I can read up on some of it and try & see if I *get* any of it... here's to hoping!! LOL

Hey, I'm just happy that I've kept up with this as good as I have so far.
I think i'm on a roll!! Yee-haw!! :)

Until tomorrow -
CEC

Weekend at Giggy's

We (Cam & I) got home from Wichita Falls (visiting my grandma, aunt, uncle, & 2 cousins) around 4pm today. Shane is nowhere to be found - I guess he's 4-wheeling! His cell goes straight to voicemail so left a few messages.

Anyway - we had a good time visiting. The trip there & back went pretty good. Cam was in an okay mood and Johnny's laptop entertained him for a few hours - Shrek2 and Spongebob DVDs.

We got there around 6pm on Friday. Ordered some Stanley's take-out (famous for their beanie burgers) but I stick to the chicken fingers, gravy, and fries. :)

Cam was hard to settle down - and finally had to put in Scooby Doo - but watched the whole thing before he fell asleep - around 10:45pm! *yawn*
Up at 8am - ate some cinnamon rolls & orange juice, got dressed, and hung out until 11:30am or so then headed to my Aunt's for the day.
Everyone hung-out outside around the pool. Cam had fun swimming and didn't want to get out! Imagine that. Tyler really played w/him alot - and Cam says Tyler is his "best friend" now! So cute! I was impressed how much patience Tyler had with Cameron - that's not very usual for a freshman in high school - esp. a boy. They rode scooters, attempted the pogo stick, played with plastic animals, ran around outside on the sidewalks, and played "tennis". Cam had a blast and I think he wore Tyler out!! ha!

As for the grub - it was great as usual. Uncle Mark grilled some shrimp on the grill for an appetizer and we had some guacamole (sp?), salsa, onion dip & chips. Yum. I love guac!!! :) For dinner we had chicken fajitas - double yum!! Cam didn't really eat good - which surprised me. But who knows! He was a whole different child the whole weekend pretty much anyways. Talk about whiny!!! OMG! He was worse this weekend than he's ever been! Goodtimes!! *rolling eyes* This will pass... this will pass! I keep telling myself!! ;)

It was good to see my Giggy. She was doing much better this visit than last and barely had to use her walker. I was happy about that. She's lost alot of weight though - and is looking much older these days. She was very happy to see us though - esp. Cameron and just laughed at him. I'm glad we were able to come up to visit w/her. I know she cherishs the time spent w/us and vise versa. Cam wanted her to come back with us to Longview - when we were leaving he said to her "Come with us, Giggy!"
It was sweet and I think it made her day that he "wanted" her. :)

I could go on & on about how tootie fruitie Cam was this weekend - but I won't. Crazy - that's a good word. He definetly wore me out w/his behavior! *sigh*

Until next time ~
Me

Growing... Growing ... Growing!!

Cam had his 3 yr old well check-up this morning! He did great and kept standing on his tip-toes so that Dr. Hudson could see how BIG he was!!
It was very cute!! And my big guy is 40.5 inches tall and 36lbs! The 90 and 75 percentile on the charts!! :) He thought Cam was growing up just fine & was impressed about how good he could talk!! (he asked him a MILLION QUESTIONS!!) LOL

And now some counties in Texas require the Hepatitis A vaccination for entry into public schools & daycares, so Cam had to get a shot in his arm this morning. (and then another one at 4!) He didn't even cry! What a tough guy!! But... he wasn't thrilled about it, no doubt!! "Hey!! Why did he do that for? I didn't want a shot!!" LOL

He got to pick out some stickers, of course, when we left. Batman and Spiderman is what he chose - "Duh!!"

Booty Shaking & Whining

Oh my goodness! My boy can dance!! ha! We turned on the radio in the den tonight after dinner and he instantly stood up and started shaking his booty!! ha! ha! I really need to get out the camcorder and get some of this on tape! His future wife will appreciate it, i'm sure! He totally cracks me up - and wish I could describe in words just how freakin' adorable he is! He really gets into it w/the serious face and the up & down movements of his shoulders. Then he'll add some breakdancing moves on the floor! What a little ham! :) We went to several weddings this year already - and he tore up the dance floor! I think he danced 98% of the time, no joke. He's a dancing machine!

And now the whining!! Good lord - it's insane!! It's like sometimes he can't even talk in a "normal" voice - just the whiney "Moooommmmmy!" tone. *pulling hair out* I've talked with some other Mommies of 3 yr olds - and i'm glad to find out that it's not JUST Cameron, that it's the age!!
I'll take the "Terrible Two's" over the "Whiney-bag Three's" anyday! Bring'em on!! ha!! If he doesn't get his way or he has to do something that he doesn't want to do - there he goes. Whining, crying, putting his head down, throwing a little fit. Not the whole screaming & kicking fits - but he gets REALLY upset and will hang on me. I'm not sure what's better!! We've been working on different ideas to help him get over this little phase and it's helped some... Those poor 3 yr old teachers. A room full of these little whiney creatures! I bet they drink when they get home!! ha! ha! But you gotta love'em though! They are really dang cute! :)

First post!

I think this is my 3rd attempt at blogging - so we'll see how this one goes!

Why I picked "Donuts, Superheroes, and Hugs"?! If you know my son, Cameron Reece, this title fits him perfectly!! LOL Of course, I could've substituted "donuts" with a couple of different foods - "bacon", "mac & cheese", "chicken", or "chips & cheese!" or his fav. drink "choc. milk!"
He is currently obsessed w/those little chocolate donuts for breakfast in the morning. Hey - I know it's not healthy - but I'm not a big health nut, myself! ;) He does drink Olvatine w/them - that has lots of good vitamins and minerals, so there!! ha!