Operation Christmas Child

For the past few years, my mom has been stuffing shoeboxes to send to kids around the world through Operation Christmas Child. It is an awesome project that sends socks, toothbrushes, toys, treats, hair brushes, soap, etc. to children in underdeveloped countries during the Christmas season.

This year my mom had a shoebox filling party for our "Good time Girls" group and another party for 3 different bible study groups. Between the 2 parties there were 42 shoeboxes stuffed full of goodies.

I SO wish I could see the kids' faces when they open these boxes!!!

This year, the girls in my bible study and some of the kiddos helped out. We will have to make it an annual party, because it was so fun wrapping, stuffing and getting the kids to help with the shoeboxes. :)

Camryn Elizabeth- 6 months

Dear beautiful baby girl,

You have officially captured our hearts with your smiley and giggly personality. I'm so thankful for you during this month of thanksgiving. I'm thankful that we survived the first few months of you so that we could get to where we are today. :) I want to FREEZE time right this second. You and your brother are so precious together, and I never want that to change. 

 Here are some things about you right now:
Eating: You LOVE to eat! You love your bottle (regular Enfamil is going very well), this week we moved up to a 6+ month nipple which you love because you can finish your bottles much more quickly and not work quite as hard. You love green beans and oatmeal!!! You will tolerate carrots, pears, apples, peas and squash. We are working towards feeding you "real food" 3 times a day. You are taking a 6oz bottle every 3-4 hours during the day.

Sleeping: I'm happy to report that you are sleeping 10-11 hours at night in your crib!! You rarely wake up in the middle of the night anymore unless you have rolled over on your tummy- you hate that! You are not the best napper in the world, but we can get a few hours out of you in the swing.

Playing: You LOVE your "jump-a-roo" bouncer, sitting up and chewing on toys, grabbing your feet and rolling around on a blanket. Your very favorite thing is watching Colby play and run around. You laugh and laugh and laugh at him and he loves it!

Teeth: you have 3 teeth that have officially cut through the gum on the bottom, and there is one more that is SO CLOSE!!

Clothes: You still fit into 6 month clothes, but they're getting a bit tight. I've pretty much moved you up to 6-9 month and 9 month clothes. You're wearing mostly size 3 diapers.

Nicknames: We mostly call you Cam-Cam, Cami girl or Camryn :)

We adore you Camryn Elizabeth!! Happy 1/2 year birthday. 

Daddy's Birthday!

 Yep! It was almost 2 months ago, but I guess life has happened in between, and I never got around to posting. :)

Trav's birthday weekend was full of family, friends and fun! We laughed talking about how much birthday celebrations change between 21 and 31 years old. 

We started off the weekend at the City of Temple Fire Safety day at Whistlestop park. These are the only 2 pictures I have (thank you Sally), but they don't even begin to show the magnitude of this fun family event. There were fire trucks, games, pancakes, etc. Colby had a BLAST (especially since his buddies Jenna Mae, Carter, Peirce, Grace, Harper and Harrison were there!!)

Later that evening, we had our monthly supper club event out at the Marshall family farm. We had a BLAST. The guys took the big kids fishing while the mommies hung out with the babies at the house.

 It was so fun watching these 3 babies together. We were especially impressed with Tucker and his seat-rocking skills. Go Tucker, Go!

On Sunday, Trav got to golf with his dad and buddies, and he even invited Colby to come play for the last few holes. :) 

Happy Birthday, Travis!!!!!!! We love you sooooooooo much and are so thankful for you each and every day. 

BIG GIRL!!!

I remember feeling this way when Colby was a baby. Every month I felt like it was my favorite age....Cami is the same way....the 6th month is my favorite so far! She is such a little rolly polly precious baby girl. Thanks to cutting a 3rd tooth and having some serious congestion, she can still get pretty fussy, but when she's happy, she's SO HAPPY! 

At 5 1/2 months she is still drinking soy formula every 3-4 hours during the day. (we're planning to switch to regular formula sometime this week to test it out)

She LOVES oatmeal cereal and green beans are hands down her favorite vegetable. 

She sleeps from about 7:30-4:00 at night (around 8-9 hours) and then will go back to sleep for a few hours after drinking a morning bottle. 

3-6 month and 6 month clothes are getting a bit tight....I see 6-9 month and 9 month clothes in our very near future. 

And look who I caught rolling over for the first time when we got home from the pumpkin patch!!!

Ashley, the baby whisperer rocked Cami to sleep at Lane's b-day party last weekend :)

Cami and her favorite human being in the whole world

Colby and daddy attempted making baby food for the first time with some squash...not a huge hit, but I think once she gets used to lumpier textures she'll love it. 

Today I sat her up and she actually held herself sitting up for a few minutes before leaning over and crashing. I think she was proud. 

uh-oh! Already tearing up Colby's things....yikes

This girl has found her toes. They are her favorite toy and they're free! 

Halloween!!!!

We did it! We survived another Halloween. I think Camryn's 1st Halloween was a great success. We hit the grandparents' houses, Harry and DeeDee's house and then trick-or-treated with about 30 friends. I say this every year....but every year is just more and more fun with Colby. He LOVED trick-or-treating this year...he still thinks costumes are weird, but being a cowboy didn't take much convincing. :)

 Our precious little cow-kids

 Macey was not a huge fan of the group picture and Cami was gnawing on her hand (tooth #3 will be here soon) but these kiddos were so cute!!

 We met friends at the Armstrong house to try to get a group picture of the kiddos and then head out to trick-or-treat in their neighborhood. The chaos that these pictures captured makes my heart smile. :)

 Check out the pageant mom in the background :) (love you, Kim!!!)

 Daddy fed his little cowgirl at the beginning, and after that she was pretty entertained watching the big kids run through the streets. 

 REALLY wish I would have gotten a shot of the whole crew...it was quite a sight

 riding on the back of the cooler 

 sweet Rhett and his daddy

 the girls were in the zone...but it was a happy zone

 look at the tiny Yorkie puppy!!!

So glad we could spend Halloween with some of our favorite people!!!