I was up most of the night with a high fever and felt so terrible this morning. I was up at 5 with Ewan and then fell back to sleep on the couch. Evan set Ewan and Heather up with a video to watch while I slept and he took a shower. This was the result of a little unsupervised time...
They got a cake mix from the pantry and opened it themselves.
You can just barely see Ewan hiding under my bedside table. Heather said "Oh, Hi Mommy! Don't spank me, o'tay?

Cameron's STAR WARS, BATMAN, DINOSAUR, SURPRISE, birthday party

Any time Cameron talked about wanting a birthday party, he insisted on the above criteria. Pulling off the "surprise" part was a little tricky considering he asked for it, but we made it happen ;)

My friend Heather took Cameron for about an hour, so he'd be out of the house when his guests arrived. This is his moment of "surprise."

Ewan, Heather and Evelyn hiding behind a chair with their Batman masks, ready to say "surprise"

Me and Heather. Heather wore her mask for at least the first hour of the party.

We played a different game for each of Cameron's requested themes. First we played "Dinosaur, Dinosaur, who's got the Dinosaur?"

Then for star wars, we played "Pin the Anakin on the Starfighter."
Finally, we played "Batman Hide and Seek" where Batman was "it" and the other kids were "bad guys" from the batman comics.
Always sure of what he wants, Cameron asked for a "store bought chocolate cake with chocolate frosting." I love this picture of him blowing out his candles.

Opening presents

With all that we have been through in the past two months with Cameron, I was so, so nervous about how he would cope with a houseful of children and all of the excitement. It was a RAGING success and I am happy to say that I think everyone had a great time and best of all...ITS OVER!

DRESS UP TIME!

Ewan and Heather have great times at home with what ever they can find to dress up with!

Quite the ensemble...sunglasses, doll pacifier, necklace, mix match princess shoes and rockin' out with a toy guitar
"I'm ready for my closeup!" Ewan wanted me to help him make a "spidah-man" mask with an apricot fruit roll-up.

Heather found some interesting ways to wear water wings!

Ewan was pretty upset that Heady found such a great accessory and there weren't enough for him.

But then Heather was done and he got to gloat!

The BIG day finally came!

Literally the day after Christmas Cameron started obsessing about how many days it was until his birthday. Finally we were able to calm him by putting up a calender on the wall specifically devoted to crossing off the days (for two months). The night before his birthday his said his bedtime prayer and I reminded him (as is our custom) that it was not a blessing on the food, and that this was a night before his birthday prayer. This is the sweet prayer that he prayed...

"Dear Heavenly Father, and the dear Jesus Christ too...help me to have a really great birthday. Help me to not punch anyone, or hurt anyone or make anyone cry to ruin the day."

Oh what a sweet day it was...

Evan had to work late that night, so we decided we were going to have our family party with presents in the morning. I woke to Ewan and Heather sitting together on our piano bench and Ewan was telling Heather which of his most special Star Wars guys he was giving Cameron for his birthday. When Cameron got up, both Ewan and Heather started spontaneously singing "Happy Birthday" and giving him hugs and the whole morning there was just a sweet, loving atmosphere of joy! I can't help but think that part of God's answer to Cameron's sweet prayer was that his brother and sister didn't push any of his buttons:)

playing with his new "Lego Star Wars guys"

As he said he would, Ewan gave Cameron almost all of his most precious Star Wars figures. We explained to Cameron that Ewan loves him so much that he wanted to give him something, and this was all he had to give...Heather eating a cinnamon roll at the birthday breakfast.

Just before we opened presents...
Ewan and Heather got to hand Cameron the presents and they were so sweet about it.
Getting what he wanted most...a "Star Wars Lego Anakin Star Fighter with R2D2" from Nanny and Papa
Cameron's most favorite food in the world is Izzies pepperoni pizza. We went to Izzies for his birthday dinner with our neighbors Marilyn and Emma. You can see he eats very exuberantly there!

Cameron will be six on wednesday. Ewan is obsessed with the fact that it's almost time for Cameron's birthday party. He got invited to his friend Clayton's party (in the middle) on Saturday and this has only added fuel to the fire. He talks incessantly about "butday pahties" and what he wants for his next "butday" he wants a "spidah-man butday" one minute, and a "bat-man butday" the next. and then theirs tha cake...and the presents...

i'm slightly nervous about how he is going to fare with all of Cameron's upcoming festivities. will he just rejoice in all the fun? will he be upset he's not the center of it all? He really does love his brother, and is surprisingly not very self centered for a three year old...i'm hoping it is just great fun for all!

my sassy girl...

I asked Heather the other day, "Are you a big girl or a baby?"

She said "A baby."

I said (sweetly) "Are you mommie's baby?"

She said (sassily) "I not your's baby! I daddy's baby. You a bad mom." -and then smiled as if to say...am I funny?

this cracked me up!

it's been a long hard (2year) struggle getting cameron to dress himself. his shirt, pants, underwear etc are still often on backwords. today the boys dressed themselves while watching Beauty and the Beast and neither one was looking where the tag was i guess :)