So, I’ve been addicted to the game Scramble with Friends which is an app I download on my iphone to play with mom.  I love it so much because you only get 2 minutes...which is way too long for me.... and you have to find as many words as possible on a 4x4 board (I think it’s this big).  By 1:15 or 1:30 I’ve found all the words I can spot, so I just randomly start running my finger across the board to try to get lucky.  Well, I typically play this game when I am laying in bed with the kids, trying to get them to fall asleep.  So, Cameron knows the sound of the game and is always asking me, “is it our turn?”  He gets “frustrated” when Grammie hasn’t played her turn and we have to wait.  After each round it calculates how many points you earn.  As a teaching tool, I have Cameron read the scores and then tell me who earned more points.  Well, I have been on a roll lately and Cameron made the revelation, “Mom, you always win against Grammie.  You know more words than Grammie because you work and she does not!”  Interesting concept he came up with.  Little does he know that Grammie always beats me at the other game, Words With Friends.  I don’t have the patience to sit and think of the highest point word.  I think this game should be timed as well!

The other day I asked Cameron who my mom was....Cameron’s answer:  Aunt Nicole

And yesterday we had some professionals come by to give us estimates regarding painting and doing other renovations to the house.  Cameron has decided that his room is going to be painted green.  When he was shown the collection of different colors of green that he could choose from he started crying.  I asked him what was wrong and he said, “I can’t decide what green to choose.”  Are you kidding me????  You are crying over having to make a decision?  You are one of those?  I needed to start my therapy rant.....there is no right or wrong, good or bad decision...And come on....It’s green paint!  In the big scheme of things....does it really matter what shade of green you choose????  Ahhhhh!


Anyway, seeing that the blog has been about Cameron, again....Here are pics of Emmersyn....just so she doesn't get jealous one day!

I asked her to take out her pacy....

I managed two quick snaps...and then the pacy was back in her mouth...with the eye roll!

Cute Faces

Just capturing a few cute faces....How sweet are these kids???

Nothing new to report...Looking for some excitement over the week!

Gabby's 3rd B'Day

Last weekend we celebrated Gabby's 3rd Birthday.  Once again, Cameron and Emmersyn were waiting ALL DAY for this big event.  They get soooo excited when they get to go to Aunt Nicole's for some event...or just to play with their cousins.  Here they were hanging out patiently on the couch waiting for the final 30 minutes before they were allowed to put their shoes on and get in the car!

And here is the Birthday Girl!  3 years old!

Once again, Nicole did a FABULOUS job on Gabby's cake.  Emmersyn is going to look back on these blogs one day and ask me why none of her birthday cakes were ever as good as Gabby's!  Hummmm...what should I say?  

The cookies, marshmallows, decorations....all the details....oh so PERFECT!

Kaye and Bob brought over their precious dog, Bella.  Cameron and Emmersyn fell head over heels in LOVE with her!  Look at her....Who wouldn't????

She is such a good dog!  Emmersyn would not leave her alone!

What a cool boy!

Just chillin' on the stairs!

Then it was time to sing Happy Birthday!

Gabby was so HAPPY!

Laura wanted to see my new camera, so I had her capture a picture of me and M's!

Tyler took a quick 20 second time-out from his crazy basketballness....and joined us for singing and presents.  This kid is basketball crazy.  

Nicole had Kaye capture a family photo of her family.  Cameron came to me in tears wanting to be in their "family portrait."  He felt so left out.  So, the Herdoiza family was so gracious that they made Cameron an honorary "Herdoiza" to sit for the photo op!

And here is my standard Cameron and Nick picture!  I always seem to get a picture of these two handsome boys on the steps!

One more of M's with Bella!

My new camera

Mohamed has known that I've wanted a SLR camera for quite some time, but could never decide what camera to buy.  So, he took it upon himself to surprise me and ordered me a camera.  He wanted it to be a surprise, however I got a confirmation email to my email account......which ruined the surprise according to Mohamed...but I was still surprised when I got the email.  Very thoughtful of my husband.

And I LOVE it!  It is soooo nice!

These were the first pictures I took with the camera...  Mom was being a great sport as I started to click away trying to figure out my camera.

And, of course when I got home, Mohamed and Cameron offered to pose for some pictures to help me play around some more.

How FUN!  I love it!  Now we need to go on vacation so I can practise with sunsets, beaches, sunrises...etc....HeHeHe...And, I've been talking about getting a Mercedes for quite some time but can't decide which one I want...Maybe Mohamed will surprise me with this, too!  HeHeHe!

Conversations with Cameron

I thought I would share a few conversations/comments from Cameron.  I love talking to a 5 year-old!

Conversation 1:
Cameron:  "Mom, can you talk to my teacher so she can tell you if I am doing a great job in school or if I'm doing not so great?"

Me:  "Did Madame Therese say something to you that you were not doing great?"

Cameron:  "No, but I think I need some more lessons in raising my hand.  When you pick me up from school tomorrow can you talk to my teacher?"

Me:  "Daddy is picking you up and I will have him talk to Madame Therese."

And, of course the following morning when I was dropping him off to school, we had a similar conversation regarding me making an interview with his teacher so that I could find out how well Cameron is doing at school.

This kid is so conscientious!  Why would you want your parents to talk to your teacher if you weren't doing great?  When Mohamed talked to his teacher, she told him that Cameron was an excellent reader, and of course, he could be more confident in his abilities and RAISE HIS HAND MORE!  (He probably doesn't want to show off!)

Conversation 2:
Cameron:  "Mom, this arm ankle is itching me."
Me:  "Your what?"
Cameron:  "My arm ankle."
Me:  "Show me.....Ohhhh that is called your wrist."
Cameron:  "No, it's just another ankle on my arm."
Good point.  I'll have to remember next time someone asks me how many ankles I have....Four of course!

Conversation 3:

Cameron:  "Mom, I hope nothing ever bad happens to you, because I would be really sad."
Isn't he so sweet?  I was putting him to bed, the other night and this is what he tells me.  But then, of course, the psychologist in me started thinking....ANXIETY.....I have some big therapy bills ahead of me!

Conversation 4:

To give a quick background....I was just returning home from work and the kids were at the dinner table eating.  So as soon as I walked in the door this is the conversation....

Cameron to Emmersyn:  "Be nice to mom, she had a long, hard day at work."

Mohamed:  "What did you say, Cameron?"

Cameron:  "Be nice to mom because she had a long day at work."
How thoughtful is this kid???  He always has my back.  He is preparing his 2 year-old sister to behave so mom would have it easy after a long day at work!  What 5 year-old does this?  He is sooooooo COOL!

I LOVE YOU CAMERON!!!!!!

Easter 2012

What prevents a 2 1/2 year-old from sleeping through the night?  Great anticipation of a visit from the Easter Bunny.  4:00 a.m. here comes my little princess into my room asking for eggs.  Are you kidding me?  Cameron was fast asleep and Emmersyn was tossing and turning for nearly 1 1/2 hours until she finally fell back asleep..... I even made her go to the bathroom in the dark so she wouldn't find any eggs on her way to the bathroom or in the bathroom.  She fell back asleep, but I didn't.  So, I have been tired since 4:00 a.m. yesterday morning!  Anyway, here is how our Easter morning began....  I wanted to get a quick picture, or two, before they left the room in search of the eggs and presents!

Then they were off collecting all of the chocolate Easter bunnies that led them to their Easter buckets.  I'm so glad Santa contacted the Easter bunny to let him/her/it know to make two paths of chocolate rather than one, so that Emmersyn and Cameron would not fight/cry over collecting the candy.    Cameron made the rules of taking turns collecting the candy on Christmas morning, unfortunately Emmersyn had her own set of rules for Christmas which consisted of getting as much chocolate any way possible even if it meant pinching, hitting, running over your sibling.  Winner takes all.  But, we diverted another collision of personalities by the two separate paths of chocolate.  

Cameron used the slide technique where he slid all of the chocolate along the floor until he made it to his bucket.  Emmersyn used the pick up each bunny technique.....less efficient.  Hopefully she will learn for next year!

Next, they had to open up the cards the Easter bunny left for each of them to figure out the rules of engagement!

And then they were on the hunt.....

He was really close to finding his egg...too bad he was looking up when the egg was down below.

Then it was time for all of the fun presents the Easter bunny left behind.... A MICKEY MOUSE puzzle...

Kirby Returns to Dream Land for the Wii....

Elmo puzzles.....

A couple of Backyardigans DVDs....

Some type of catch game....

Toopy and Bino DVD....

A mini Minnie Mouse.....

Two Mario bathing suits....

A cute little dress.... and hair clips....

Shorts.....

Shoes......

I love her smile...with her favourite toy...

Some of her eggs....

Cameron was so excited to start playing his new Wii game!

And, while Cameron was playing the Wii, Emmersyn was working on her Elmo puzzles....

After her Elmo puzzles, it was time to try doing the Minnie puzzle....

She did it!

And then it was FINALLY time to head over to Aunt Nicole's!

This was the response/pose that I got when I asked Emmersyn if I could take a picture of her before we left!

That's a little better....

So, these next pictures, I have A LOT of the same pictures posted.  I found it funny how the kids just randomly do their own thing....  Gabby is always looking at what Emmersyn is doing.  When Emmersyn doesn't want to do something, like take a picture, she will put her finger in her nose!

Emmersyn was not going to give in!  She was not going to cooperate for me to get a picture of her and Gabby.  Next she's playing with her mouth...

And they are both staring at ??????

So, why not try it with another kid????  Smile Ty!

What the heck, get all the cousins together.....Here comes the snapping..... Emmersyn still looks annoyed, but she is actually looking at me...Everyone else....is not looking....

Tyler was on the run and Cameron was playing with his mouth...no one else is looking....

Emmersyn refuses to look at anyone, and of course, Gabby is studying Emmersyn....

Amanda has had enough, and Cameron and Nick are gone!

Check out those fabulous smiles by the boys in the back!

Emmersyn was falling asleep on us and Gabby and Cameron have had enough...

Gabby perked up and grabbed Emmersyn to hold on to.  Cameron could care less....

Now, Gabby is choking Emmersyn with her tight hold on her neck!

Finally she escaped!

It was nice to see Laura and Brad, who we don't get to see that often.  

Tyler is still fascinated with the flash on the camera.  He has a hard time refraining himself from pointing it out.  Once the picture is taken, he likes to check himself out in the photo.

Next, we headed outside in search of more Easter eggs!

I love this picture.  Nick is in the lead looking high up in the tree, followed by Nicole looking on the ground, Cameron mindlessly following, and Amanda looking precious carrying her basket of eggs.

Gabby was returning from finding an egg way out in the boonies, and Tyler was questioning where she found that egg way out there!

Emmersyn was counting her eggs....there were supposed to be 12 eggs for everyone....

She had all of her eggs....

Cameron counting his eggs....he was one short....

He was determined to find his 12th egg.....

Yeah...he found it!

And so he had to count them one more time!

It was quite a windy day....Here is Emmersyn hanging out with Grammie....

Nicole found these cool confetti eggs.  When you break the eggs, confetti comes out!  Isn't that great!

Tyler had more fun with the chocolate eggs!  Maybe next year he'll understand the fun of the confetti eggs.

I thought I should get a picture with each of my kids...

I love this picture of the boys....

And then after some coaxing, Amanda made it into the picture....

Here's my picture with M's....

And finally, Emmersyn is devouring one of Nicole's scrumptious cupcakes!

We had a fabulous Easter.  Hope everyone else did.  Can't wait to see pics from Nicole.  I know she has a very, very busy week, but hoping she can find some time to blog....in between planning for Gabby's birthday party, baking, talent show, first communion, working, tennis, piano, homework, dinners, cleaning, running to the bus stop, dropping off Gabby to school, running on the treadmill, making lunches, therapy with Gabby, playing with the kids, hanging out with Steve.........and a million other things I can't remember..... I'm exhausted just writing about it.  Can you imagine actually having to do it????  How can I help?????