The New Me!

NEW HAIR CUT!!!! I love it...reminds me of high school.















































Mom, this last picture is for you. love, your sassy girl!

banana bars and silly faces

This is a picture of Camden watching the mixer make these
delicious bars.This is his new favorite face to make.
I thought it was a sun in the eyes thing before but now 
he does it all the time, rain or shine.
These are a really fast treat that tastes awesome
(if you like bananas). Enjoy!

The Yummiest Banana Bars in the World

1 stick softened butter - as Paula Deen says "I'm your

cook, not your doctor!"

1 1/2 cups sugar

2-3 mashed bananas

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

Beat until fluffy, then add:

3/4 cup sour cream

Mix together

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

Combine with the wet stuff and pour into a jelly roll

pan that you've sprayed with Pam. Bake for 20-25 mins

at 375 degrees. Cool and frost with:

Frosting (or option below)

3 Tblsp. sour cream

1/3 cup softened butter

3 cups powdered sugar

They are so good- But the recipe makes so much that you have to 

share

Trip to the Park

Today Camden took his first ride on the swings at the park. He loved it. We didn't go sooner because it's either been too hot or I didn't know where to find a public park with the little guy swings. Today was perfect! What a beautiful day!



His new little quark is to scrunch his nose when it's sunny. I put my hat on him and he found that more amusing than swinging. Have I mentioned lately that I love being a Mom?

Camden is sort of drinking from a bottle now. He's been taking it with out a fuss for a few days now but he doesn't just sit there and finish one. He has to be sitting up and I can't put it in his mouth for him or he'll reject it. If i set it down in front of him he'll pick it up and drink it like no body's business. At least he's not just chewing on the nipple anymore. I've been pumping milk so I'm psycho protective over his bottle...the moment I catch him throwing it over his high chair, I like dive for the thing. It's like liquid gold. I get so upset when it spills or goes bad. One of those little things that makes me laugh and cry these days :)

Hi-Ya and a Ha-Ha

Camden has Ninja skills. Could "hiii-ya" be considered his first words? He obviously knows when to use it!! This is how Daddy calms Camden down for the night :)

Weekend visitors!

Ari, Aaron and Baby Dakota came out to visit! We had a great time keeping cool in the pool on Saturday. I thought this was a funny face of Camden's. Are they fighting over the green 8?
(Someone said there aren't enough pictures of Pat and I on our blog spot. I'll be working on that. One of these days we'll take a real family photo!)
What is it about more than one kid in the tub at a time? So cute! There coloring is so different!
I just noticed Camden's got his hand on a green number or letter in every picture? Is that good luck?
I think Camden may be a little selfish with his green letters and numbers. Notice how he favors his LEFT hand!! That's my boy!

I'D HAVE TO AGREE WITH ARI, THE BEST PART OF THE TRIP WAS THE "ROAR" IN THE CAR RIDE...OR "BOOP". ARI AND I WERE CRACKING UP IN THE BACK OF THE CAR OVER THE LITTLEST THINGS...MOSTLY JUST LAUGHING AT EACHOTHER! SISTERS ARE THE BEST!

Growing Up!

This is a montage I made for Ma Hobbs and Grandma Cheney for mother's day...but never sent them. I figure I'd post it here for all to enjoy. Camden is now seven months old so none of the pictures are very recent. (0-6mnths) I obviously need more pictures of Camden with his two favorite grandmas!!

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Beware of Big Ball!!

This morning Camden discovered the big ball that's been hanging out in our living room for the last three months (thought it made an interesting conversation piece, j/k). He was sitting in his activity station thing when he noticed it. He started flailing his arms and kicking his feet trying to run towards it. He looked very motivated to get his hands (and mouth) on it so I put it in front of his feet trying to lure him to walk towards it (still in his walker thing). He did and when he touched it something happened. He looked concerned. He started to fuss. I thought maybe he wanted to get closer to it, check it out a little more. I put him belly down on top of it and he didn't like that. Then I stood him up next to and on top of it and he was even more freaked out, reaching for me to pick him up. I sat Camden in my lap and started to bounce the ball but that turned him off even more. He tried to twist around in my lap to face me and get away from it. I stood up and held him in front of me to look at it from a far. I think he was confused, he kept his eye on the ball and grunted a little. I thought this meant he wanted to check it out a little more so I kicked the ball against the wall and he freaked. I think maybe he thought the ball was alive, the way it came back to us, wobbled around and such. I thought it was pretty funny and wanted to try other things to get him comfortable around it, but I decided I'd better hold him up close like a nice protective mother would do and give him a break. He searched around the room for it and held on tight. Pretty cute...This is Camden's first funny fear. We'll have to take him to the park with it and kick it really far away and then run after it. I'm sure he'll love that. Until then, we'll watch are backs for the big scary ball wobbling around the living room!

Pool Fun

My little fish!

Kick those feet!

Having a great time!

Last one to the deep end is a blow fish!

It's getting hot!!! We got Cam this awesome floaty thing yesterday so we can enjoy the pool more often. We stayed in the pool for an hour today! It was a blast. I was able to get some exercise and Camden had a merry ol' time under his canopy, kicking his little legs. Before we got this thing, It wasn't worth the effort of lugging stuff and Camden across the street through two gates (with tricky key issues) to only stay in for 10 minutes before I got bored of holding him. We also had to go later in the day when there was shade over the pool and by that time there were lots of people there and we were confined to a little area. Just not worth it. BUT NOW... I've got big plans to get a mommy group together to exercise and play at least 2 times a week! I could go everyday. this was the most fun I've had alone with Camden in a long time. I recommend something like this to all moms with little ones, it makes all the lugging worth it.

WRONG ORDER

Sorry, I don't really understand the whole blog thing. I can't figure out how to change the time of the posts so that they are shown in the order I would like. An explanation of these pictures is like 4 posts down, titled Big Mouth. Please read that first if you care to know what I was trying to do. Silly me...

Ten Toes

I was recently thinking about how lucky so many of us are to make it out of childhood with all of our fingers and toes still attached. I sware, there are so many ways to lose one. Now that I'm an official Mother, and have the responsibility of a real live child, I think I often play over in my mind all of the crazy things that could happen while Camden is in my care if I just turned my head for a minute. It's not like I give my 6 month old knives to play with, but you know what I mean? Accedents happen. Kids are curious. Animals bite. I'm just trying not to take these adorable ten toes for granted, that's all.

Big Mouth

I'm sure a day will come when I will hear myself barking at my child something like "Camden, close your mouth when your eating!", or "shhhh, zip your lips kid!". Ironically, that open mouth gives me more joy than anything else on the planet, these days. You know Camden is happy when you can see his tonsils! Today, as I was looking at these photos, I was thinking about all the benefits there are to having a child who prefers to smile with his mouth wide open: much easier to feed, brush his teeth, check for new teeth coming in and look for foreign or missing small objects (we haven't had to benefit from the later of the list yet, thank goodness). Pat wonders if we've train him to smile this way. There's a good chance. Though it may me hereditary. I remember my choir teacher telling me to keep my mouth closed when we were performing or taking pictures (literally, not because I was chatty...though that may have been what he meant occasionally). I also have heard talk of big mouths on the Hobbs side (is that you, Lo? Or just Pat...am I making this up?).

It adds character, wouldn't you say?!

TWO TEEFERS

Camden has two front teeth! They came a day apart with out a tear. He's only used them as a weapon once...so far. They came in the last few days of April. Are they not so cute! I'll post some others soon!

Birthday Furniture

So, last month for my birthday Pat and I went out and bought a new table, chairs and coffee table. "New" as in "not used", not a replacement. For the past year and a half we've been eating on the floor or sitting on counter tops. Well, seven months of that time we lived with the parents dining like civil people at a table with a chair. We are so happy with what we found! It was quite a hunt to find something just right for us. Luckily Pat and I have very similar taste so there was no convincing involved.

As you can see in the pictures, the table folds down into a Sofa Table. The Coffee Table opens up in to quite a bit of storage for games, toys and movies. We got 2 different styles of chairs for the country look that I love!

I love everything about it. Very durable, makes a statement, functional, unique and timeless.

We actually chose a different floor model in our home to fit the table! Kind of funny but so worth it.



If you'd like to try dining in style, come on over. You'll even get your choice of chair!

New Callings

Pat and I were called to be the sunbeam teachers together. How awesome is that. I think Pat's more excited than I am. He says he's going to be the most popular Brother in the Primary by giving the kids candy and playing games with them every week...ummm... more likely he'll just be in charge of escorting the little ones to the potty every 5 minutes while I teach the class. J/K
We are excited about having Camden listening and learning all of the primary songs for the next 7 months while we're in this ward. Yes, only seven months. We signed on a home in South Mountain (South Phoenix) a few weeks ago and will be moving in December or January. Camden is now 6 months and with in the last 2 weeks two teeth have come through, he's started saying "ba ba ba ba ba" very clearly and has a new love for peas and crackers. Oh and I swear his hair has grown an inch all over. We are loving AZ and can't wait to see Mom, Grandma Nickie, Ari, Aaron and Dakota at the end of the month! Our Camera charger broke so I can't post pictures for a bit! Sorry.

Zoo People

Camden took me to the Zoo for my Birthday Tuesday. We loved it so much, we decided to go back again on Wednesday!! We are zoo people, not pet people. It's not that I hate pet type animals or that they scare me, I just have no desire to be licked by one nor create a relationship with one. I have nothing against pet people either, in fact, I admire them. Not that I want to be like them in that way...I just think it's great that they have the ability to open their hearts to an animal that way. I could go on and on about this and include stories but I frankly don't have the time. I've decided to get an annual zoo pass. I would love to invite you to join me at the zoo where we can watch animals in cages play, sleep and eat all day long and then go home to an odorless and hair free home.

Just another picture of our happy boy

This is Camden's "I'm sick" look.

Play with Photos

Which picture do you like better? B/W or Color?

MY FIRST MOHAWK!! CHECK IT OUT!!

What a cutie patootie! (I'm testing out some new photo editing tricks I found)