GUY TIME!!

Declan and daddy have a "date" for GUY TIME tonight. Declan is dressed for the Syracuse game. I love having a boy!

Wrong side of the bed

Crazy Day here at the Erwell's. Everybody got up on the wrong side of the bed. Josh and I had spent a rough night with our sweet Declan. It was nice to be able to share the duties with Josh though. When Josh got up, he had to quickly run off to work. Declan was having some of his crying fits/breathing episodes so Mckenna was hysterical and wouldn't get ready so she missed the bus.
It took forever to Camdyn dressed because she ripped off every piece of clothing she triedo on. She was crying for about 40 minutes this morning. During this time, Declan need to eat so I am nursing him on the girls' floor while trying to help Camdyn solve her clothing crisis.
By this time Mckenna was really late to school! She made us aware how late because she gave us time shout outs every five minutes or so. Camdyn opened the front door and the dog took off so now Declan's crying, the dog is running loose, Mckenna is freaking out about being late to school, Camdyn is apologizing for letting the dog out and I just wanted to climb back into bed.

Then it got better...

Mima came by and picked Mckenna up because today was her Grandparents and Special Friends Day at school. Mckenna had a lot of fun singing songs and showing Mima her new desk spot. She even got some goodies and books from the bake and book sale.

At the exact same time, a couple miles up the road, Camdyn had a field trip to Pizza Hut. Camdyn She wore a chef hat and took a tour of the kitchen at PH. Then they each got to make their own pizza. She of course made a plain cheese pizza. She had a blast.

We all met back up and went to the grocery store, bank and a few other errands. All the while trying to referee between the girls and keep Declan happy.

We haven't even had dinner yet and I am ready for everyone to go to bed.

Visit with Grams and Gramps

Camdyn and the massage chair

Where do kids get this stuff. This was a video that we took of Camdyn while Josh's parents were here. Grams' back was hurting so we got out the massage mat that you place on a chair. As soon as Grams got off, our silly Camdyn hopped on.
this was the result...

Best Mom in the WHOLE WORLD

Camdyn is always so quick with the compliments. She will tell the nurses at the doctor's office that she like their gloves, tells Mima she likes her earrings, tells Grams that she likes her nails and always tells her friends that she like their outfits or tutus.

As her mommy, she often tells me that I am the greatest mom. She told me yesterday that I was the "greatest mom in the whole world". Ahhhh, melt my heart. She followed it up with "the whole world but not the sea." I said why is there a better mommy in the sea and she told me that Spongebob has GREAT parents. Are these the standards in which she is measuring me by... SPONGEBOB. My heart melting was quickly followed up by laughter. You make me laugh Cami Cakes.

I can sew!

I made a Hooter Hider. Yes, it is exactly what you think it is. It is a nursing coverup. I have ALWAYS wanted to learn how to sew. Thanks to my sweet and brave friend Sonia, I have sewn my first project. I am so proud of it. Josh and the girls were super impressed.

Rockin' Good Nap

I am so pleased to say that Declan has been rocking and sleeping in his swing for the past couple of hours. He usually wants to be held all the time. This is so unusual for him that I keep checking him to make sure that he is okay. I was able to get so much done! As I am writing this, I have to giggle. I should have knocked on wood because he is now crying to be held. It is time for him to eat anyway.
I am super excited that he was able to sleep on his own. I hope this is a sign that more independent times will follow. WTG Delcan. You have a very grateful mommy!

Josh's Football Game

I packed up the kids and headed to Josh's championship football game. They were so excited. The place was PACKED! We couldn't even find a parking spot. I pulled up near the front door and with perfect timing Josh came out the front door to see if we were there yet. He had enough time to carry Declan in and run back onto the field. We met up with Mima and Bumpa and we were all excited to get to see Josh play.
At kickoff, the clock began to countdown and Camdyn started cheering. "GO DADDY! WHOO HOO!!!" It was a nice surprise when Uncle Ben walked in the door to support his cousin. We all love when we get to see Ben.

Josh played great (he didn't think so but we did)! They won of course. Josh got to take home the Championship Trophy (it is bigger than Declan). The girls were so proud of their daddy. Declan would have been too if he wasn't so distracted by the echoing voices of the indoor field.

WTG Josh. We look forward to seeing you play in the spring.

Declan turned 1 month on 3/19

Happy 1 month baby Declan.
Well it was a big day for baby Declan. After we got his sisters off to school, Declan and I headed to the portrait studio. He kept going back and forth between very good to uncomfortable. All in all, I really enjoyed my first trip to the studio with the little man. I do mean little man. One of his picutes he had his old man face on. As his mama, I can't resist it.




After getting Camdyn from school, we headed over to the doctor's office for his 1 month check up. Anyone who knows me, knows that I love baby stats. (almost as much as I love baby pictures). I love to hear everyone's baby stats. I find it so exciting to hear how much a baby has grown and developed.

Well our little man was born at
6 lbs 14 oz
18 inches long

on March 11th he weighed
7 lbs 15 oz

at his 1 month check up he was
8 lbs 8 1/2 oz
22 1/2 inches long

This is a positive reaction to his frequent night time nursing. Way to grow little man!

Visit with Grams and Gramps

We had a very nice visit with Grams and Gramps. It was there first time seeing baby Declan. The trip was full of snuggles, presents and fun. After dinner on Saturday, the girls packed their things and headed to the hotel for a sleepover with Grams and Gramps. Camdyn was very excited but was only going if Mckenna went. She confirmed that Mckenna would be joining her several times. They both decided to sleep in bed with "Girl Grams", as Camdyn calls her. This left the rollaway for Gramps. Yes, the same Gramps who has had MULTIPLE back surgeries. Poor Gramps.
They had a special treat to go to IHOP for chocolate chip pancakes. They LOVED it. Mckena went to the International Fair for Girl Scouts while Camdyn played outside with Gramps. Grams was busy making a HUGE meatloaf dinner(Josh's favorite).
On Monday morning, Mckenna was thrilled to bring Grams and Gramps into school to see Mrs. Dunne's classroom. Mckenna was really happy, taking a close second to them staying 3 more weeks until Grandparents day at school.
So sweet.

End of year once again...

Yesterday morning I did some running around for some last minute items for the 1st grade picnic. When I got to the school it had stopped raining. YIPPIE! They were going to have their picnic outside after all. There were a handful of mothers representing the 4 1st grade classes and we were all running around in the cramped food lab.



Run hot dogs to kitchen

Gather food from all the classrooms to the food lab

Read all labeled items in the JAM PACKED refrigerator

Grab only 1st grade items

Repack refrigerator

Load up on all the items you can carry

Bring to the back of school and go outside

It starts to rain

back inside

stand in doorway for rain to stop

make call to bring all food back to food lab

talk to all teachers returning to classrooms

make decision...

PICNIC INSIDE. WHAT... In the hallway????



We mothers just do what we are told. We had just a couple of minutes to turn the 1st grade hallway into a picnic buffet. We had to grab tables from the classrooms and lay out all the food. What happened to having a back up plan.


They still had a great time. Once they finished eating, the rain stopped and they went outside. I stayed in the classroom with a couple of parents cleaning up after the feeding frenzy. Camdyn was right there... where did she go? I am checking all over the classroom and in the hallway. I was calling out for her and one of the mothers said... "A couple of girls just took them with her outside!" What? You don't think that was important to tell me when it was happening. Sure enough, a couple of girls (not Mckenna) decided to bring Camdyn with her and she said "OKAY". You know those little siblings never know that they are not part of the gang.



After a few trips back up and down the back hill with popsycles, etc. I could finally watch the kids play for a few minutes. There were 100 little first graders and siblings running crazy all over the playground. I found Camdyn who was being watch by my friends and by Mckenna. She was leading the kids in a game of chase. It was rather funny. Even Mckenna's little crush Justin was chasing her. It was almost over before I thought to snap a few pics and video.

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Good food and food company... What more could you want on Father's Day

What a nice day it was. Funny though, I took absolutely no pictures with Father's in them. Yesterday we celebrated Lynn's birthday (sil), Nick's Birthday (nephew), My Father's birthday and Father's Day. As if celebrating with family isn't fun enough, we had Mexican food and a Margarita maker. YUM! My brother made homemade torilla chips and his mini chimis... which are Out of this world. My mom made enchiladas, Spanish rice and fajitas. My sister made guacamole. What more could you want.
To top it all off, I got to see my family, minus bil Don. He was home caring for Nick's 8 week old puppy. It was great to see the kids playing together. They hadn't seen each other in a month. Boy were there big changes in Anna's (niece) world. I got to see her huge smile for the first time. Oh My! How cute! Sam and Camdyn had fun playing together as always. Mckenna and Nick seemed to have fun with everyone.
When it was time to go, Camdyn wanted to say goodbye to my brother. She walked up to him with open arms in full pucker, smooching away at the air. Mind you, my brother is not the most affectionate person. To avoid the slew of kisses that she was desperate to hand out, Brad picked her up and put her down on the grass for tickles instead. Camdyn was laughing so hard. Feeling that he had fulfilled his obligatory goodbye "affection", Brad stopped. Of course Camdyn didn't skip a beat. She was still on the ground when she started with her "mwha". My determined girl got her kisses. : )
Sorry Brad... You are no match for her.
I hope everyone had a nice Father's Day. Hats off to all of you Dads out there.

DAREDEVIL NOT BRAVE

It is so funny to think back to how Mckenna was a a toddler and then Camdyn. Most of you know that they were always such brave little daredevils. If I try to deter them from doing a task, they would be more determined to get the job done. Mckenna was forever climbing to the top of my dining room table before she was one. I would take her down over and over and over again. What was I doing wrong? Why wouldn't she listen? I finally took the chairs away. Oh fun.. a new obstacle course. Now (still not yet one) would push/pull/spin the chair until it was back into a usable position. With the doctor's advice, I stopped trying to deter this particular task. After a few major panics from my mother and a few excited toddler table dances from Mckenna the novelty wore off. That was the key!!! I finally found out how to deal with her need to climb, jump, slide and run - NOTHING! I know that sounds awful but they were going to do it anyway and for my own sanity I had to be able to let it be. Both of them had a tendency of doing "tricks" that would leave a wake of gasping onlookers. I wonder how many times I would follow up one of those gasps with "it's okay, she's fine". When Mckenna jumped off the moving merry-go-round at Hampton Park... "gasp" "she's fine". When Mckenna fell off the top of a bunk bed... "gasp" "she's fine". The trick might have been different but the response was usually the same. I don't know if it is in their blood (from Josh of course). I always thought what Brave little daredevils. Well I have recently been rethinking the BRAVE part. Most of you know that one or both of our children are often in our bed at night. Enough that Josh woke up the other morning and with a shocked look on his face and tone in his voice he said "can you believe we woke up alone?"
It got me thinking that day and that night as we were laying in bed I hear the sounds of an approaching child. This is a sound I have heard so many times before but this time I had to laugh. The approaching steps were so fast so furious. I once again had a scared little girl scurrying across the floor and up onto the bed in one fast fluent motion. Brave... I guess maybe not so much. I will have to go with Crazy Daredevil. They get the crazy part from daddy too. : )

Power Outage

Why is it that people always hit a pole when it is 90 degrees? I had been working all day on the kitchen cabinets with the A/C off. I did my best to ignore the nagging heat while I did my days chores. I finally gave in around 4 when Mckenna and Camdyn were begging to play outside. I knew that I had better cool the house off for when we returned from the oppressive heat. Mckenna's Soccer game was cancelled due to the heat so we were outside until daddy returned home at 5:30. We had enough time to make dinner before I realized that I forgot to tell my that the game was cancelled. Whoops... I must have been delirious from the heat. All is not lost because we had a nice visit. They were still here at 7 when the whole house went dark. Please let it be a breaker switch... OH PLEASE!! The darkness was followed by voices on the street. All the neighbors were doing the "Is it just me or is your power out too?" visits.

A call to N.G. confirmed it. We would be without power until 10:30. They are pretty good at predicting the repairs right? 10:30 is not so bad. We can occupy our time until then right? The girls were quickly consumed by their thoughts of how hot they were. They weren't thinking about the heat when I was playing outside with them. I guess when you are bored even kids can't help being consumed by their thoughts. In their defense, it was HOT! Wet wash cloths, ice packs and extra kisses settled them down for a few minutes.
10:30 came and passed and we were still in total darkness. I left Josh snoring on the couch. How can he sleep in this heat? I can't even get the kids to sleep. Then the thunder and lightning started... Oh how fun! Now the dog is added in the mix. She is pacing the floors panting and shaking. Camdyn had just fallen asleep when the dog jumped on her bed. Now Camdyn is screaming waking Mckenna to add to the chorus of cries in the darkness. I moved Camdyn to my bed so she could doze off a couple of times before the power returned at 3:30 am.
Haven't you heard 3:30 am is the new 10:30?

It seems to still be affecting Camdyn as I see her sprawled out like our dog, laying naked on the cool hardwood floors. ETB as Josh would say (EARLY TO BED).