T-ball excitement

It's interesting what happens when you're suddenly dropped into helping coach a t-ball team... And you never played t-ball a day in your life. Cam had another exciting day of t-ball practice and this time he actually had to listen to me. As the coach, he actually did listen. Maybe I should be the coach all the time.

The trials and tribulations of being a six year old is relatively challenging. I'm trying really hard to be in his position... Especially since his sister took to tattling on him all the time this weekend. Sometimes she tells the truth so he can't get away with the little pushes and shoves he apparently is doing behind my back. It's fascinating to suddenly know what's going on behind my back. It's exhausting.

At the same time, they're playing together more and communicating better with each other. This summer's big planned vacation (where they will sit next to each other for hours at a time in the family minivan) will be very, very interesting. (I say this with high hopes of a positive experience.)

Bowling and parenting

I am a tough mom. I believe in tough love. I love my kids with all my heart. It breaks my heart when my child does something wrong at home or at school. Cam made a bad choice at school yesterday... And I knew we had to deal with it by making a point. He had a field trip today and I had decided at first to prevent him from going on his field trip all together. But after talking to Randy (who is out of town - he's always out of town when we have an incident at school) and Cam's teacher, I decided that he should go bowling, but not to the after-bowling park trip.

It made a point. We had a ton of fun bowling, but Cam was SUPER upset about not going back on the bus to play at the park.

The whole thing was emotionally taxing and I still feel a little spent. I'm looking forward to a weekend where the kids and I can play, sleep (I hope we all take naps) and play.... And maybe clean a little.

Cam's party

I'm still playing catch up from Cam's birthday party ... But if you compare the release of this video, I'm actually WAY ahead. The video we got of his party last year is still on a tape. I borrowed a new camera from work where the video was recorded digitally and it prompted me to actually edit something together. Here are some of the video highlights of his day:


Cameron's 6th birthday party from NerdyMom on Vimeo.

Busy Earth Day

Cameron was outside constantly on this Earth Day -- exactly what you would hope for. We enjoyed Earth Day as best we could after I lost Randy for an hour (long story short - I stink). The kids enjoyed popsicles and some of the events including this picture -- a very large Earth that kids can jump onto. Cam loved it.

He had a successful t-ball practice with Randy. I didn't go this time around since Jordan was napping. Next week I'll be there for sure.

Cam also got to play with some of the neighborhood kids just before bed... It was kind of cool. They all gathered in our backyard and ran around for a while. I even got to chat with the parents. Adult conversation! How cool is that? (Sorry Randy, I know I talk to you... but you know what I mean) Hopefully it's a sign of more neighborhood playtime as we get into summer mode.

Scrapbook of Cam's birthday

Getting back

We're back in town after a long trip for work... So Cam and Jordan got to play with their grandparents.

So the first day I get to send Cam off to school, he snuck his iPod into his classroom. Bad move.

His teacher was kind enough to just take it from him for safe keeping. I let her know that he shouldn't get it back without her handing it to me -- So Cam had to go a day without it. She never chastised him - but when I picked him up from school, he was very sorry for sneaking it in. He says he learned a lesson.

I know I did. I'll search his bag much better every morning - just in case.

By the way - I missed him a ton and it's so cool to be home again. He's taken to trying to parent his sister -- He was doing it before we left town, but it seems like he's taken it to a higher level. What's scary is the tone he uses with his sister is exactly my Mommy-in-charge tone.

I sound really strict.

Flickr has video!!

I had to try out Flickr's new video service. Here's a little interview I had with Cameron the morning of his birthday.

Let the T-ball season begin!

Cam's team had its first practice today... I got a chance to meet a bunch of new parents while Randy and a few other dads got to work with the kids. A lot of our team goes to Cam's school so he's very excited about that. Who know if Cam will take to the sport this year, we have high hopes.

Cameron tells me that he can't wait for the next little league season - when the grown ups pitch and there's an actual score. He really doesn't like the whole "everyone is a winner" thing.

Birthday fun

Cam had his big birthday party today - We had a TON of fun. The theme was a Wii bowling party. The kids had a chance to play bowling on two different TVs - one in the "man cave/basement" and the other in my reading room/living room. I borrowed a second Wii from a student.

By the way -- We had 15 kids total at the house. 15. That's a lot of kids. Well, there was a little baby. If we include her we had 16. Some parents dropped the kids off, others hung out and enjoyed the fun. We are friends with really cool parents... Or my kid is friends with kids who have really cool parents. Either way, it was fun.

In the end, most kids ended up playing in the backyard - which was my main goal. I just wanted a chance to let the kids run around and have fun. The only crying: two of the kids just didn't want to go home. Other than that, there was a lot of laughing, running and dodge ball/bubble chasing.

I make a point to not accept gifts at Cam's parties - He already has SO many toys. It feels good to have a lot of fun and not require parents to bring stuff. What's really cool is how many kids brought handmade cards and drawings. I got video of Cam going through all of this cards after everyone went home. He thanked each and every kid as if it was as special as a toy. I think friendships are more important than the toy. And if you visited my house, you'd see how Cam already has everything a kid ever wanted.

Speaking of everything a kid ever wanted: Cam got an iPod Nano for his birthday. It's one that I won in a video contest. I bought a REALLY great skin to keep it from breaking from the brute force of a six year old. Check out iFrogz. I was really impressed with what we got. I also got a cool one called Audiowrapz for Jordan. I highly recommend it!

We had a really great birthday week for Mr. Cam. On his birthday, we had special birthday doughnuts and I even surprised him at school at lunchtime. He's been begging me to eat with him, so he was really excited. We took him out to dinner and he loved all of the really cool things he got from his family. Along with the iPod, he got some awesome outdoors gear to help with all of our hikes and explorations. He's feeling very special and I'm so glad to see him excited and happy.

Big party

Wow. I've always invited a few more kids to Cam's birthday party than I should -- since we rarely have every person accept the invitation. But this year -- ummm. It's going to be a packed house. We have 10 kids - including some siblings. That means I will have 12 or so kids running around the house. PLEASE PLEASE be sunny outside! Add the the parents and this is going to be a zoo.

I like zoo parties to be honest. I hope we just have fun running around. That's my favorite kind of party. But I'm starting to think that I need a second Wii so no one gets upset because they can't play.

I also have some outside bowling games. And I'm thinking of buying inexpensive balls for each kid again this year because we had SO much fun playing grown up vs. kid dodge ball.

I think this year is going to be a blast!

Happy birthday big guy