Fun Times

First let me start off, I am trying to learn my camera better so my picture quality isn't the best, but its what they are of, that makes them worth sharing.

Anyways, last week we had the county fair in town. Oh, the joys of living in a small town. You get to enjoy small things like this. Friday, we didn't have preschool and went to the county fair parade. I was thinking it would just be a small nothing parade. Boy was I wrong!! There were so many people there, and the parade lasted about 45 minutes. Ridge was in hog heaven. He got to see rhinos, tractors, horses and last but not least fire trucks. He was constantly yelling about what he was seeing. Cambree enjoyed her cousins and getting TONS of candy. Every float threw out candy and it was like an early Halloween for them.

My last trip to the valley I found these outfits at Costco. I was so excited. I have been looking for matching outfits but couldn't find something as small as Brecklynn and as large as Cambree. This was my lucky find, and I love them. So here is some cute pics of my girls together.

Again- they are way over-exposed pictures but they are still fun to see. This is the kids at the parade.

Brecklynn in her cute little outfit...

For preschool, I sent home pumpkins with the kids to decorate and bring back. Their creativity blew me away. You can see the one on top made out to be a mad scientist. There are balloons on his arms for gloves, and a little trick-or-treat bag and everything. I love seeing everyone's version of projects like this. Cambree and Ridge made one too. Cambree's is on top as well just the other side- its a princess. Ridge's is below Cambree's with the fireman hat on. Just fun things for the holiday.

Ridge's Other Party!!!

This past weekend, as part of Conference Weekend- we went to my parents' house for Ridge's birthday as well. Ridge was in heaven once again.

My sister Chelsie made this cake for Ridge. Totally out did mine :) It turned out super cute and Ridge was having a hard time waiting to get the tractors off. It was his focus for the afternoon.

This picture is out of focus but it was just a cute picture of them both...

My sister Kayla came down for the birthday as well. It was only her second time seeing Brecklynn.

The little birthday set up

Cambree sporting the sunglasses

Ridge got several gifts- most tractors (go figure) but this one was the ultimate for him. It moves back and forth, up and down and best of all, it came with a little construction hat.

He is such a cutie

After opening his gifts, he no longer was interested in cake...until he understood what the cake meant. Then he was all for it.

Chelsie put on her 'lovely' trick candles again. So he's having a hard time blowing out the 20 candles on the cake. Eventually we had all the kids blowing them out and Curtis even took a wet paper towel to get the flames out.

Great-Grandma Meikle

Brecklynn showing off her familiar and frequent smile.

Great-Grandpa Meikle

My sister Tesia had Homecoming that night as well. She got dressed up super cute. I took some other pictures of her but they were taking forever to upload so I will try a bit later. But here is Ridge giving her a super cute kiss.

My mom gave Brecklynn a bath and she just kept smiling. She's getting more fun with her personality. She is talking a lot more and smiling ALL THE TIME!! I absolutely love it.

3 kids photo shoot

I have been wanting to take pictures of all three kids. It wasn't easy and frankly it wasn't my favorite photo shoot by far. I got a couple pics that I sort of like but I want to try to do it again and see if I can't make it any better. So enjoy these at least.

Ridge is 2!!

I am so amazed!! Ridge is now 2!!! CRAZY!!!

So we all know he loves tractors- so what do you think we did for his birthday theme....TRACTORS of course!!!

So we made his tractor cake. I was first going to make a 3-D tractor cake but after thinking about it I just figured I was being too ambitious. So I just went with a simple cake with tractors on it. I think it actually turned out pretty cute.

This is Ridge finding it Sunday morning. Of course he wanted all the tractors immediately.

Here is my little 2 year old Ridge. He is so stink'n cute!!!

Sunday night we had Ridge's birthday at Nana and Papa's house. He wasn't as excited about the whole idea of a birthday but the little details of blowing out the candles and actually getting the presents he was very happy with.

He knew exactly what to do when we sang Happy Birthday.

He loves the movie Cars so we had to get him something else besides tractors- so he got...

I am not sure exactly why he was crying at this point but behind him is a tractor blanket.

It became hilarious with the rest of the gifts. They were ALL tractors. The best part was no matter how many tractors he got, he was just as excited about each one.

So here is Ridge's new collection of tractors. He loves each one and he can't stop putting them all on the tv stand playing with them. So stink'n cute.

Notice his smile here too. You don't say smile- but show me your teeth. So cute.

So now he's 2. I can't believe it!! He is actually getting one more birthday party this coming weekend at my mom's house. I'm excited for that too.

Another church photo shoot

I just had to share some more cute pictures of the kids from church yesterday. I never noticed that Cambree and Brecklynn had some what matching dresses. And Ridge got a new church outfit for his birthday, so we had to do some pictures.

This is Ridge's new 'smile'- closing his eyes

Sisterly love :)

Brecklynn is 2 months!!

I am taking pictures today of Ridge for his 2 year and Brecklynn for her 2 month so these are just fun pictures.

Here is Brecklynn's twin Darrek measuring up for their two months :)

Ridge loving his cousin....

Brecklynn has changed a lot this past month. A couple days before turning 2 months, she started to deliberatley smile. She smiles when you talk to her and even started talking and laughing last week. We also discovered that she is allergic to detergent. She had what we thought was really bad baby acne but it was just a rash. We have since switched to dreft and its made a world of a difference.

Here are some cute smiling pictures I got. There are more to come since she is so willing to share them :)

Her 2 month stats are:

10.5 pounds

22 1/2 inches

She is getting so big already. She is becoming more and more a baby and not a newborn. Her head is so strong. She has been a little bit harder of a baby for us. She doesn't like to be alone at all and doesn't play by herself very well. She did get some colic medicine at her last appointment and I think it has really helped. We'll see though.

Ridge still loves his sister. He is constantly commenting on how she's a 'cute baby'. Cambree loves to make her smile and loves to hold her still.

Motherhood

Today is one of those days that has gotten me thinking about my kids and motherhood. Today Brecklynn is 2 months old (another post to come updating that). But with that, I had some time today to sit and reflect on my kids. I was trying to remember Cambree at 2 months old. I believe I can remember what she looked like, her cry, etc but I am starting to forget when I thought at that time, I would never forget. There are things that happen almost daily where I think, I hope I never forget this. I will be watching Ridge do his funny walk across the room and hoping I will remember his funny personality. I am hoping I'll remember Brecklynn's first smile, Cambree's endless expressions etc. and I start to panic. We are told (almost in a consoling way) by older people, that this is just a phase and it will pass soon enough. At times those words will seem to be a comfort-especially at church with every kid crying etc. but then I have pretty much every other time where I almost wish I could stop time and spend time with them a little more and take one more mental picture of how they are. I find myself sometimes wishing the next phase/stage would come quicker but then I start to really think of what that means-my kids are getting older. Its scary for me to think Cambree is 3 1/2. I have a 3 1/2 year old. I have 3 kids!!

I feel absolutely terrible about the fact that I don't take more pictures of my kids because I do worry about forgetting these times. I feel even more terrible about not video taping more to capture those priceless moments on camera. I wish I would have a mental journal that would automatically write itself for me to read later with all their funny little stories that come daily.

It just makes me so grateful that I do live in this time where technology can help so much with this- i.e. BLOGGING!

I love my kids so much I I love them now and the way they are now. It makes me sick to think they aren't going to stay young like this forever. However I am excited to see what each growing day brings with them. I love being a mom and the trials, emotional rollercoaster, and joys it brings me daily. I just hope I can remember this especially during 'those' moments.