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.

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.