Officially a "Pageant Mom'

Well, for those of you who don't know, I have added another name to my list of roles......."Pageant MOM"! Every year in our hometown, there is a Junior Miss Cherry Festival Pageant for girls age 3-14. I toyed with the idea of putting Cameron in this pageant for a few months and I had the paperwork filled out and ready to turn in, and yet I just couldn't make the decision to go for it. I knew she would do an awesome job, but my fear of stages and being seen almost made me back out of it completely. I'm so glad I just decided to go for it and do it because it ended up being a great experience overall.

After an entire week of practices from 5-7 each evening and a very full day of interviews, dress rehearsals, photos, and hair appointments, the pageant FINALLY started at 7:00 pm, which is just usually when Cameron is getting tired and starts to get whiny and bossy and controlling. Luckily, she pulled through and only had a few major break downs.

She was absolutely to die for cute in all of her acts, so I had to include shots of each for you to see.....I guess I'm braggin' up my girl too much, but how can you not?

Here she is in her "Party Dress" waiting to go onstage. All of the little girls were running around back stage and sliding in their dresses playing "Princesses".

And here she is ready to go out for the bathing suit competition. I just fell in love with this bathing suit. I thought it was really outstanding against her blonde hair and the flag was so cute while she waved it.

Cameron and Alexis.....waiting to go out and dance.

So yes, I am a pageant mom and while I don't know if we'll do it again, it was a great experience for us both. I am so proud of my girl for being so brave and speaking so clear and just being herself. Yay!

Just had to share a cute story about Cameron. Tucker did not take a nap yesterday so he was really hyper and tearing things up. Matt finally said, "Tucker, what is wrong with you today?" and Cameron answered by saying, "Dad, Tucker's just being a dumb ass today I guess". And truth be told, she was pretty dead on. I guess Matt and I need to quit calling people dumbasses.

Sammy the "Fairy Princess"

I just came across this photo, which was taken about a year ago. This is the best shot I could get of my dog, Sammy after she somehow ended up wearing a fairy princess skirt. I don't know how Cameron got it on her, but she did and Sammy was mortified. Poor dog, she tries so hard with the kids and it is just one thing after another.

Some more of my recent creations

Hangin' with the Cousins

I took this picture at my in-laws new house in May. It was my nephew, Andrew's 8th birthday so we were all over to celebrate with cake and ice cream. This is the Brown crew and Cameron is the boss of the operation. You couldn't have given a girl a better position than being the princess of this pack and she has a blast trying to compete and keep up with this rowdy bunch. Although, Jake and Ashely are expecting a new cousin in January, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it may be a girl and Cameron may be about to loose her rank as the Queen of the family....

Here is Matt twirling Cameron and Tucker around as high as they can go....

Even Tucker thinks he's big stuff playing with Daddy. I love Cameron's hands behind her back patiently waiting for another turn....

okay, I've avoided the mopping of floors long enough, guess I'd better get on that. Have a great day!

A little about Tucker

I just love this photo of Tucker. Lately, he has decided that Dad is the hero and I am good for just about only things like poopy pants or a hungry tummy. That's okay, because I love the fact that they are bonding like boys do with incessant wrestling, and throwing balls, and making Tucker run across the living room wide open while Matt hits him with couch pillows. And yes, Tucker brings him the pillows, so it must be some sort of weird father/son bonding. Anyways, Tucker loves to go to the shop and hammer on blocks of wood, loves to mow the grass with Dad (and stands in the door of the house and cries while Cameron has her turn), loves to ride in the pick-up, and especially loves to sneak into the shower with Dad after Cameron has gone to sleep.

He will be two on July 22nd, and I feel like my time of having a sweet baby boy is running out, if it's not already gone. He is FINALLY starting to talk, but only if he feels like it, and he's starting to have opinions about things, argue back to his sister, and be just quite independent. He loves to watch Wow Wow Wubzy, Little Bear, and Caillou (although probably only because Cameron watches him every day). He loves to drink his juice, eat a popsicle, and snack on SpongeBob Fruit Snacks, which he picks out himself at the store. His second choice are the John Deere Tractor Snacks (who came up with that anyways?).

He picks his own Jammies, which are always either his Dinosaur PJ's or his "Manny" Pj's (Handy Manny). He is quite particular about his choice of shoes, and loves his Superman shirt, even though he's never seen the show, but since Matt thinks it's cool, he thinks he should wear it every day.

I truly am such a lucky Mommy to have been blessed with two beautiful and wonderful kids. I just had to brag Tucker up today.

Gotta love those babies!

I found Cameron in her room the other day playing "Mommy" with her babies. Now here is s0meone who makes the Octo Mom look conservative! All of these friends were her babies and she was trying to get them to take a nap. I asked her what she was doing and she said, "rocking my babies to sleep.....sometimes they are difficult and they just need a nap." Gotta love it!

Some of my recent work

Last year, I organized a card swap with some of my scrappin' friends and it has turned into a really fun monthly project. Each month we pick a theme and make cards accordingly. Then we swap out and you end up with a whole handful of birthday cards or other kind of card. Comes in really handy when you forget a birthday to have a whole stack of hand made cards on hand! And it's fun to try new techniques. Here are some of my recent cards.
The one above this is for a "Guy Themed" Birthday card swap.

The one above was for a Christmas card swap.

The one above was obviously for Easter/Spring themed cards.

This one was for Mother's Day...

And to use up the rest of the paper, I made these for a Get Well Soon swap.

Beautiful Ballerina Girl

We have had so much fun this year with Cameron in ballet. She has been part of Lake Dance Steps here in Emmett and is in the Baby Ballerina class. These are 2, 3, and 4 year olds and it is quite the experience to watch them perform. It seems like someone is always crying, someone is always having costume issues, one is mad and pouting, and one has to pee, but they are so darn cute and worth every penny to see. Last night was Cameron's second recital and she did great. The theme was Hansel and Gretel and her class of ballerinas were the flowers in the forest. They did two dances, complete with flower wands. So cute!

Her costume was just sweet as can be....

Here she is happy that the first dance is over. I don't know if you can tell, but my baby is wearing mascara and a little bit of make up. I just look at her and realize how beautiful she's going to be as a teenager.

Here she is waiting to go on for the next number....unfortunately, it was about 90 degrees in the school auditorium and it was almost 9:00 pm by the time it was finally time for them to go on for the second number. She was crying from heat and exhaustion. I had to bribe her with a cherry slush to get her to dance at all, but she did. It was so cute!

And finally, after the show, her cousins and Aunt Marianne brought her flowers, but she was too hot and tired to pose for the shot, so this is my tired ballerina, ready to go get her slush.

We sat with my nephews, ages 8, 6, and 4. A two and a half hour ballet recital is much more enjoyable with their input. They kept asking when "interferance" was...meaning intermission. One group of ballerinas were dressed as ladybugs, and when they came out for the second time, Bradley (4) said very loudly, "Oh man! Not the lady bugs again!" During one part of the show, Hansel and Gretel were "sleeping" on the stage while the fairies tried to wake them up, and Tanner ask why those two ballerinas were dead. Good question. Quite entertaining.