"Dad and Me" camp-out at church

This was the 4th annual "Dad and Me" camp out at our church to celebrate Father's Day. Darin took just Bella and the two of them camped out on the church lawn just two blocks from our house.

Now this being an event planned by men, for men, you can just imagine the "activities" that had been arranged. This particular picture is of our precious angel competing in a burping contest. Apparently everyone broke up into groups and in Darin and Bella's group, she was the best candidate based on her abilities...that's our girl.

Next of course was a pie throwing contest where the kids had the opportunity to throw a pie at dad. I think Bella was more interested in eating the whipped cream.

Dancing was on the schedule as well. Eventually Bella ended up on stage dancing in front of everyone.

Oh boy, did I hear about this one. Apparently Bella took a liking to a particular boy that according to Darin was twice her age. I think that might have been an exaggeration made by a very panicked father. When asked by daddy what she was doing, Bella's response was "I'm just giving him loves".

Good morning all! And I use the term "morning" loosely. Bella woke Darin up at around 4am stating that she was done sleeping. Not wanting to call his pregnant wife that early (I had the car) he tried to keep her busy without waking up the whole camp. By 6am I received a phone call to pick up the campers, Bella was ready to come home.

This was such a special experience for Bella and Darin. I'm pretty sure it will become an annual event for the Leonardsons.

Cam's 1st haircut

So we decided that one too many people told us "what a cute little girl" we had and asked "how old is she?" Time for Cameron's first haircut! My beautiful boy with his beautiful curls is now described by Grandpa as "all boy, looking to get into some trouble". I think we had a reversed Sampson effect, cutting off Cameron's hair has freed him some how and he now can jump off of anything and turn anything into a sword.

We should have known it would be a production when just putting on the cape evoked such screams.

A brief moment of quiet while being distracted by trucks.

The before picture....where these curls came from, we have no idea. Take a good look because they are all coming off.

These hairstylists have to be pretty good to cut the hair of a moving target...

And the clippers are introduced. As his hair was falling to the floor and all over him, he kept saying "Uh Oh! Uh Oh!"

If our son could swear yet, I think now would be the time. The look of "what the heck are you doing to me?" was priceless.

"ok, maybe I look cute"

"I think I might need a nap after this", what a traumatic experience.

A new man is born! "Watch out world, no more Mr. Cute Curls!"

Bubble fun

Bubbles are the new obsession in our family, we are constantly in the backyard playing with bubbles. The kids are getting pretty good at it but no matter how much we practice, you can't avoid the sticky mess.

Bella is becoming quite the pro with the big bubble blower. This little sticks usually end up all over their faces...

This may look professional, but he really only got it all over his face. But he sure looks like he knows what he is doing.

"Papa" giving it a try on mother's day...

"Moms & Muffins" at Bella's school

For Mothers day, Bella's preschool had a special "moms & muffins" event where the kids hosted the moms and gave them snacks in the classroom. No dads or siblings were allowed, just moms and the kids in Bella's class. It was the most exciting mother's day experience so far for me. Bella worked so hard preparing for weeks. She made crafts, decorated her classroom and kept the big secret for as long as she possibly could. I got to experience her class, do a craft with her and have "circle time". In the circle time, we read stories, sang songs and just had a great time together. I will remember this time forever, it was a very special thing to share with my daughter.

This is Bella with her teacher Mrs. Marquez. She is reading her special note to mom for circle. All the kids had a chance to do this for their moms.

For our craft together, we made picture frames that now is on our fridge with a picture of the two of us from that day.

A Revelation

If I were only allowed to use one word to describe my life, I would have to choose "Gooey". Why you may ask? This was inspired by trying to have a tea party with Bella this afternoon. I went to pull the bin out of our toy closet that had all the food and tea sets in it. As I grabbed it, my had was instantly covered in goo. How in the world "goo" was in my closet all over the bin, I have no idea. The entire lid was covered! This is a closet that would in no way be able to generate any known type of goo. The bin was located under our hanging coats, you tell me how that happened.

As I look back on my short existence as a mother, I would have to say that my life now consists of all kinds of "goo". My clothes for instance always seem to have something gooey on them. Not a stain, not a spot but goo. My windows, tables and chairs all end up covered by a slight child created film on them. I never in my life thought a human being could create so much "goo" out of every opening of their body. My children are gooey! Therefore I as their mother I am also gooey.

Just thought you might like to know what is currently on my mind....

Story Time

We had an impromptu dinner with some friends which ended in a very nice story time. Our friend Leah was recruited to read to all the kids. Why is Cameron naked you ask? We had fun with watermelon before story time.

Fun with Ice Cream

Being the crazy parents that we are, we allowed our kids to eat chocolate covered ice cream cones in the car. Amazingly enough we had no disasters! Bella of course was very neat and tidy, taking care not to miss a piece. Cameron was a different story, I had to sacrifice my sweatshirt but he managed to keep it all within his personal space. Who knew ice cream could be such an experience....