A Little Confused...

Cameron was looking at a picture of the nativity yesterday, this is what happened.

"Jesus?" He asked, pointing to Joseph

"No" I said, "That's Joseph"

"Baby Jesus?" He asked pointing to Jesus

"Yes, that's baby Jesus"

"Jesus?" He asked pointing to Mary

"No", I said "That's Jesus' momma, Mary"

Cameron replied "Merry Christmas!"

Sanna Clogs

That's how Cameron says it, but he loves him. When went to see him at the mall on Wednesday and another kid in front of us was crying and didn't want to see Santa, Cameron was ready to elbow him right out of the way and jump on Santa's lap. He showed him a list with pictures of things he wanted and told him what he wanted then said Merry Christmas and Thank You. I thought I would have to sit in for the pictures, but he was doing fine and I got up and out of the picture. afterward we went on a train they have in the mall and Cameron chugga-chugga(ed) and whoo-whooped the whole way. He also talked about the colors of the cars (mostly blue and green)

25 wrapped books

This year we decided that instead of an advent calendar we would unwrap a Christmas book every night and read it (the last one being the Night Before Christmas). I got this idea from my amazing sister-in-law Jenny and we are having so much fun with it. Cameron is a pro at unwrapping now and loves reading another book every night.

Ready for Santa!

Cameron is so ready for Christmas and Santa. He has been watching the Polar Express (choo choo train) everyday for a month. He loves looking at lights and other "pretties" anything Christmasy and beautiful. He talks about baby Jesus and looks a picture of him. He plays with a Santa toy and makes it say "HO HO HO, Meiry Kimas!"*that's sorta how he pronounces it) And a week or two ago, he was watching Polar Express and thought I would prep him for a visit to Santa.


I said "Cameron would you like to go see Santa soon?"


He said "Santa?"


"Yeah"


"And the choo choo train?"


"Maybe" There could be one...


"And the Polar Bear?"


"Sure" Probably not...


He said "Okay!" Then ran and got his shoes and sat down to put them on. I said "wait not tonight, soon" It was 8 o'clock at night and Santa hadn't even come to the stores yet. I will post pictures when we do go we'll see if he is happy to see him then.

Tricky-Treat!

That's how Cameron would say it. He was so cute that we would give him an M an M everytime. Then he figured it out and started playin' us for fools, except we knew, and we didn't care it was too cute. This year with a few borrowed items, clothes we already had and a little imagination we dressed up as a Vampire family.

update on Cameron

Almost everything he says has a (ie) or (a) at the end. For example

Sharkie
Helpie
Stuckie
Milkie
Buggie
Trucka
Sharka

He still says lots of words very cute like

Showpie (shower)
Wah-pee (water)
Oh-geez (elephant: I have no idea how he picked that up)
ah-nah-cop-er (helicopter)
Crammo (crab)
Woo-Wi (movie)

He loves Earth the movie more than any other movie. He gets really excited when he sees the sharks, whales, and elephants. He also loves the movie Mighty Joe Young with the gorilla and spends much of his time (happy or mad) pounding on his chest.

He loves airplanes, hot wheelz cars, and animals, animals, animals.

He is finally attempting to say thank you (cuk-cukoo) but still says please like (mease) He is saying lots of sentences like "no kicking the door" (a HUGE no-no in our house during naptime), "drink your milkie" a game we started playing said in a very silly serious voice with big serious eyes. We love him so very much and enjoy watching him learn and grow.

Oh what do you do in the Summertime?...

When you have no money, it's hotter than Hades, You've all been sitting around for several weeks, You are tired of the same old park, blowing bubbles in the backyard, playing games and watching movies?

You build a giant tower of pillows and throw your baby on them from the top of the stairs of course... What no insurance? No problem...

At first we were throwing him really close and Cameron was loving it.

So Pete climbed up the stairs and was throwing him from there. You can see his knees entering the shot in the upper left corner

The best shot we got.

landing style one

Our fave landing style

Hard at work!

I have been so busy lately, but I set a goal to completely revamp my photography website http://momentscapturedbyjess.com/ and I did it! Yay, it is so beautiful that I can't stop checking it out. I have also included a photo blog to add quicker updates as to what I have been doing, give the client a preview, etc. That is at http://capturedmoments-jess.blogspot.com/ On top of all that I have put an ad into a local newspaper. Check it out!

My Best Friend's Wedding!

I was even the maid of honor!

My friend from high school Amy got married last weekend and it was a fun filled weekend of activities. Thursday was the rehearsal (when I realized exactly what I had gotten myself into (walk in front of a ton of people I don't know down a staircase and through grass with pointy heels on, plus bridal bouquet holding during the ceremony and dress fluffing every time she moved.) Then we had dinner at My Big Fat Greek restaurant...yum. Friday Amy, the other bridesmaid Emily and myself went to get massages and they were also delicious. I was always afraid to try them but now I hooked. Then we met up with some other girls and had pizza and calzones at La Bocca's... yum yum. The wedding day we got all our hair and make up done together, in between which I was taking as many pictures of the details and such as I could. I wanted to take so many more since Amy was drop-dead gorgeous but I was trying not to get in the other photographers way. Plus, I don't think she would have liked if I walked down the aisle with my camera. When I didn't have my camera, I could feel myself aching to have it in my arms, she was so incredibly beautiful and her eyes just drew you in. Check it what I was able to capture!

Still lucky!

Okay we have run into a little rough patch in our lives recently, one of the many reasons I have not posted lately, besides my best friends wedding, work picking up at the end of the school year getting my website updated, putting an ad in the newspaper for my business, and starting an easier to update photography blog. Through these last few weeks, besides all of the fun stuff I mentioned above, it has a little difficult to remember just how blessed we still are. A recent photo shoot with my amazing sister-in-law Jenny http://itsthesweetthings.blogspot.com/ has helped us realize that no matter what happens, we still have and adore each other. Enjoy every little moment!

I am so lucky!

I really really am!

some days I get kinda down and can't see the blue sky, but I am trying to look around and see just how lucky, and blessed I am...

I have a husband who loves me and does his best to take care of me, even putting up with me when I am cranky and stressed. (which has been a lot lately) Who kisses me goodbye every morning, hello when he comes home and goodnight every night. Who teases me until he sees me smile... or until I punch him whichever mood I am in.

I have a beautiful baby boy who loves me and will run up and give me hugs for no reason (not when I ask for one of course). Who, if I am sitting on the floor, will stand in front of me facing the other way, then back up until he plops down into my lap. Who brings me books to read him and loves it when we run and play outside. Who teaches me just how fun life can be. Who loves to cuddle on the couch and watch part of a movie with me.

I have a gorgeous home. It has running water, heating, cooling, electricity. It takes care of our needs and looks good while doing it. Is it a little crowded when we have a party? yes. Is the backyard just plain old dirt? yes. Does it still have nothing on the walls and need a little more furniture? yes. But that's okay, it's great and we are so blessed.


I have a wonderful family surrounding me from both sides. That have supported us and helped through a lot. Who are all really fun whenever we have get togethers.


I have great friends who are there for me more me more than I know. When I have called some of them for help, they are there doing whatever they can.

Yep, I am pretty lucky! and blessed! and grateful!

More funnies!

He does the funny face thing Alex does from Madagascar 2! Where you move your hand over your face and change it from smile to frown. Except he holds his hand off to the side with open fingers and forgets to change his face.

He says WALL*E but it sounds like Wah*E.

When we go shopping he grabs clothes off the rack and says pretty. (pri-e) And he says pretty when I try something on too!

He loves to dance. Whenever he hears music with a good beat he moves his head, then shakes his fists, then twirls around. Also when he watches Madagascar 2 he follows Alex's moves.

When Pete honked his horn at a car Cameron said UH-OH!

My funny little man Cameron!

He says Moooo! When he sees cows, or horses that are spotted like cows, or brown horses, or sheep. And I have asked around to find out who taught him that cows say moo and I just can't figure it out.


When he sees a dog, he'll scream DOG!!!!! then "ruff... ruff!"

Ah-nah! When he sees airplanes, helicopter, hot air balloon, birds, an airplane trail or lights or stars at night. But he is getting better at knowing when they are birds vs. airplanes.

He has conversations on his play cell phone when we drive in the car. They go like this. Hi-yo (hello) uh-huh... uh-huh... then baby talk that sounds like a story... okay... bye.

He screams "Who's there!" when someone comes to the door or he hears anything that sounds like a knock. Which makes it a little harder to pretend we aren't there when we don't feel like answering it. The other day I picked him up at my friend Amy's house and I knocked in case he was asleep... I heard him on the other side WHO'S THERE!!!!!! then he came up to the door and knocked... who's there? It melted my heart.


He picks up the remote and just points it at the tv when he wants to turn it on and can't figure out that you have to push the button.

He pulls up his shirt and point to his belly button and says "be-be" or sometimes "bu-bu". He also pulls up Daddy's shirt and points out his belly button. We haven't taught him yet that Momma has one because I don't want to have to explain myself in church or somewhere when he pulls up my shirt and says BU-BE!, BU-BE!

He has a Little People man that has a tiny cell phone in his hands and he picks it up and talks on the "phone"

The photo shoot

It was incredible...
It took three of us. Cameron was running back and forth on the little booth they have set up for pictures. He would run and just plaster against one wall, pick back up, turn around, play peek-a-boo behind the extra backgrounds, run to the other side knock on the wall "Who's there?" I had to pick him up throw him in the air a few times place him down in the designate spot, jump back really fast while one lady danced around in the background with toys and another took the picture.
After we were finished one of them said I have heard stories of children like this but I've never seen one. Then I told her one- she's lucky he was in a good mood that day, and two- he's like this from the minute he wakes up until he goes to bed.

Was it all worth it? Yeah.

We had such a great day that day. I took a day off just to be with him. Once Cameron realized I was going to stay with him he was so happy the entire day. We played and went to get his pictures, shopped at the mall, saw the puppies, came home, he had a nap, then we played the rest of the afternoon and went to the park!

One cute boy!

2 dimples

3 women

4 distracting toys

35 minutes

several bad shots

countless cheerios

lots of patience

= a few great pictures of one cute boy!

Cameron is 2!

Wow, I cannot believe how fast he has grown. I meant to post this a little earlier but we have had some busy weeks. First of all Cameron got really sick and had an ear-infection and I didn't even know it! That's right no pulling on the ear or acting fussing or difficulty sleeping...nothing. I only figured it out when I was bathing him and went to clean his ears and he freaked out when I touched one of his ears, but not the other. At the doctors when they checked his ear Cameron was crying and REALLY didn't like it. He tearfully told the doctor "Bye, See Ya Later" a million times while the doctor was giving me directions.
But he is all better now and we were able to visit the Phoenix Children's Museum to celebrate his Birthday and Pete's Birthday and Valentine's Day and President's Weekend... Yes it's a very busy weekend for our family. It was really fun! I will post more with pictures later.
We have also recently visited a small airport near our house to watch the airplanes or (ah-nah!'s) Cameron LOVES LOVES LOVES ah-nah's which are mostly airplanes, but are sometimes helicopters, hot-air balloons and, at night, blinking lights. Sometimes he hears an airplane or even just the traffic outside and runs to the window... ah-nah!. He also points out airplanes in books. I swear, airplanes are in the Van Allen boy's blood because we did not force feed this stuff to him, he does it all on his own.
Besides ah-nah!, there have been so many more words, including "more, drink, milk, juice, snack or nack?" And he understands even more. Almost every day I give him a direction that I don't think he will get but most of the time he understands and it amazes me.

Our Little Spice Boy

So this happened all the way back in December when we were busy ignoring Cameron while I put away the Christmas decorations and Pete built some wicked, awesome shelves in the garage (to be posted later). Anyway I look over at Cameron and he has put his arm up and out through the neck hole of his shirt. We laughed so hard! He looks like a miniature Spice Girl. Remember them? At least one of them always had a camo midriff, halter, one-shouldered get-up. His pants are too long though, they should be just long enough to barely cover his butt-cheeks in order to be Spice Girl worthy!So tell me what you want

what you really, really want!

I'll tell you what I want

What I really, really want....

Check out this music video to see Cameron's future career and would someone please tell me how to post it to my blog?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_3I5-KsROqk

Cameron's improved vocabulary

Since the last post about Cameron talking he has added the words: Yay!, gramma and mo (morgan), yellow, banana, Who's There?, Do you see it? (when he hears an airplane), Are you ready? (before he throws the ball to you), Doggy, puppy, Yeah, No (unfortunately) and please? (yay!) even thank you (tank ou), and one of my faves See ya later (C yater). Now we are working on "I Love You".
He points to his nose and says nose, covers his ears when you ask him where they are, closes his eyes when you tell him to find his eyes and says aaaaahhhhhh while opening his mouth really wide to point inside it for mouth.
Just the other day we went to the mall to see what big sales we could benefit from. We did a lot of browsing and no purchasing and had no fun according to Cameron. Inside the Baby Gap he threw a major fit and we left, then went to anther store really fast, he was getting tired of shopping, tired of being in his stroller, tired of being in the mall and just plain tired. Se we left the last store and were headed out of the mall. On the way out I angled the stroller, to get around a slow moving group and it looked to Cameron as though we were going back into the Gap. Cameron sobbed this long drawn out "Nooooooooooo!" Beat himself over his head with his hands and begged "Bye, See ya later... bye, see ya later so mournfully saying goodbye to the Baby Gap, the mall, shopping, and the people walking next to us. He was so done. After I told Pete he proudly said "That's my boy who doesn't like to shop with mom!" I so need to have a little girl!

The Trike.

A long overdue post from Christmas! opps......

Cameron's fave toy of all had to be the trike... It was mine too! I took tons of pictures of it. It is red and classic and shiny. It has a bell and no pedals. Santa even tied a bow around it. Cameron loves to ride all around the house and gets better at steering everyday! I love hearing him ring the bell when I'm upstairs. Sometimes we will be watching a show and sitting on the couch and Cameron rolls up, says Hi! Then Bye, See ya Later! and rolls on down the hall.

Five Years!

Yesterday was our five year anniversary, I cannot believe we have been married that long! Sometimes it seems like it was really just a few months ago, other days, it seems like we have always been together. So much has happened in five years. Graduating from college, moving several times, having our little baby boy, Pete getting his job, watching Cameron grow and now he is almost 2!, buying and building our home...

Baby, I love you. You are so sweet and fun and loving. I love it when you kiss me goodbye every morning (even though I am such a grumpy grizzly bear then), when you kiss me out of the blue for no reason, heck, I just love it when you kiss me. You are such a great Daddy. Cameron is always so excited to see you walk in the door. I love seeing you play together in your own little way and how he likes to watch movies sitting in YOUR lap only. I can't wait to have more babies with you (as long as you give them your dimples). I love seeing you dressed up for work knowing how hard you work to provide for our family, not to mention how handsome you look. And when you do projects around the house I love seeing how much you care about our home and our life together. I love the life we have created together. Our sweet little boy, our home, our relationship. I love how we can be so comfortable together and have fun no matter what we are doing. I love you and I am looking forward to AT LEAST five more years with you... or how about forever!

Cameron's Resolutions

-Learn some more words (including colors and animals)

-Be more helpful

-Sleep in a big boy bed very soon

- Work on potty training