Cam Turns 8, It's Official and Uh Oh

Last week our not-so-little-anymore Cameron turned eight! To celebrate, he invited a couple of friends over for his party. After we had our cake and ice cream and Cameron opened gifts I took the boys to see Monsters vs. Aliens. It's a great movie if you haven't seen it. Cameron made out like a bandit this year with his gift cards. With the money he made on his birthday, he bought a Nintendo DS and two games! He said he had a great birthday and thanks everyone for the gifts.

That's Cameron's buddy Bryant on his right and Jack on the left.

We didn't get any pictures but we also went to the bowling alley last weekend for a company employee party type thing. Sorry, I took the camera but left it in the truck and it was pouring rain and I didn't want to change shoes, get wet and change shoes again. Cameron and Kevin both helped Cade bowl again but for the most part he did it by himself. I bowled my best game ever (128 and I'm proud of it thank you) but Dana just had to bust out her best game ever and beat me by bowling a 420 or something like that. Maybe it was a 148 but I don't care anymore because she's still rubbing it in.

So now some good news! I'm officially an Alabaman, er, Alabamanese, uh, Alabamian, I officially live here in Alabama! Dana and I both have our Alabama driver's license, I finally received my permanent badge at work (yay!), and one of our four vehicles has an Alabama license plate. And now that I think about it, one of my vehicles doesn't run so that makes us fit in even more, doesn't it? I guess I should put it up on blocks in the front yard to make it official.

Remember when I accidently shaved the side of my head and Dana laughed at me? And then Cade shaved a spot on his forehead and Dana laughed at him? Well, today Dana decided Cade was looking too shaggy and couldn't go any longer without a haircut. The plan was to cut his hair with the clippers to about the length of his still-growing-in bald spot, or about 1/2-in long. Not too short but about as long as we could go without it looking funny. So Dana carefully picks the correct size comb for the clippers, turns the clippers on and shaves right down the top of Cade's head before realizing SHE NEVER PUT THE COMB ON!!! She didn't stop until she went the lenght of his head either. Poor little Cade. He was in shock and Dana having to leave the room with her jaw on the floor and laughing at the little guy didn't help. She ended up cutting the rest of his hair pretty short but not nearly as short as his new, nearly bald stripe. At first he cried because he didn't like his hair but he got over it after we talked about it some more and I showed him how cool it feels when you run your hand across it. When Dana finished he ran into Kevin's room to show the other two boys and shouted, "Ta da!" I had told Kevin and Cameron ahead of time so they knew what to expect. Needless to say, Cade will not be going anywhere without a hat for a few weeks.

And to think Dana got onto Cade for cutting a small spot out of his bangs!

I know everyone is waiting on pins and needles to hear about the soccer games. I'll just say I stink as a coach. Cameron's team is 0-2-1 and Kevin's team is 1-2. The Reynolds boys continue to play well though and I'm very proud of their effort because they both give it everything they have every time.

Kevin found this little rut he likes to jump. He likes this picture and asked me to share it with everyone. I like it too.

Cade decided he would try riding through the ruts too. He didn't make it though.

The only picture I got of Cameron jumping the rut was the one time he dropped his front wheel too soon and crashed. He was not a happy camper.

The birds still haven't hatched and someone drove through the puddle with the tadpoles so there aren't nearly as many of them left. The few remaining don't have legs yet but we're still keeping an eye on them. Fun stuff.

Much to Share

I've been slacking a little on posting pictures of our Alabama adventures and we have a lot to share. Sit back and relax as you play catch up on our adventures. You'll laugh. You'll cry. You'll be moved. Or not. I'll try to make them somewhat chronological - not that it really matters. So without further ado, here we go:


Look closely and you'll see a web full of caterpillars. They were all over this particular tree behind our house. There were a few other trees like this too. A couple of days after this was taken, the caterpillars started leaving the trees and spreading out. They're all over our house and yard. It's been a couple of weeks and there doesn't seem to be any sign of letting up with our infestation. I can think of worse things to be infested by though. And the kids like to play with them. The boys caught a couple of caterpillars and put them in a couple of bottles with grass and sticks hoping they would build a cocoon but instead they died.




Cute picture of #3. We don't know what to do with his hair because of his self inflicted bald spot. I think we'll have to give him a buzz cut pretty soon because he's getting pretty shaggy.



Most evenings, when the weather is nice, we all go out for a walk/ride. Cade is getting pretty good at riding his little bike. He had quite an audience the other day as he rode down the sidewalk. They were impressed he could ride like that at his age. Yes, I'm bragging. That's what this blog is for.



A couple of weeks ago we went to the Monte Sano state park and hiked around. Once again, we're anxious to go back there after things green up but it was still very pretty. There were several little creeks with crystal clear water running through the area and beautiful views. It would make a perfect place for a wedding! Just saying.



Some doofus and his very handsome boys.



There's a playground in the area and I think the boys had the most fun there. They even had teeter totters or see-saws or whatever you want to call them! We all took turns playing on those. Dana and I felt compelled to explain to Kevin and Cameron how much cooler - and more dangerous - the playground equipment was when we were kids. "Back in '79, I got my arm caught in a merry-go-round and it was spinning so fast I looked like an Ewok (remember those?) flapping around the outer edge of the dadgum thing. When I finally got free I flew 200 feet and landed in a tree at the edge of a cliff! They didn't have these fancy, plastic playsets with rubber padding underneath. It was survival of the fittest back in my day, I tell you!' So anyway, here's a shot of Kevin and his crazy hair at the bottom of the aforementioned plastic slide. "And we had metal slides that were 15 feet tall and had nothing to keep you from falling off. If you managed to stay on all the way to the bottom, you didn't have any feeling in your legs because your skin was melted by the heat of the slide in the summer sun!"



This was near the end of our walk. While we were looking at some park information, Cade paused to rest on these steps. Cute photo op.



The soccer season finally got underway last weekend. My coaching debut didn't go so well for Kevin's team. We lost 5-3. Our kids played well but they were outplayed by bigger and faster kids. But I must say, Kevin (middle gray shirt) had a terrific game! I had him running the length of the field to help the offense and boost the defense. As it turned out, he was the defense. I don't know how many times he hustled back down and stopped the offense from getting a shot after they ran right through our porous defense. My favorite part was the fact that the star player on the other team failed to get the ball past my boy w/o passing. Kevin stopped him every time they went one-on-one! I couldn't have been more proud of his effort.



Cameron's team had better luck. Emphasis on luck. His team tied the other team at 2-2. Like his big bro, Cam hustled back and forth all over the field and had a great game. Cameron is one of 2 kids on his team that "gets" soccer. He was so good about getting open and passing the ball. I think I'll move him up a division next year and let him play with Kevin's team. He's honestly better than half of Kevin's team.



Easter Eve! Cade took his egg decorating very seriously.


So did Kevin. This particular egg had alternating happy and frowny faces on it.



Cameron working on his personal masterpiece.



Here's my masterpiece. Hey, it was the cracked leftover that no one wanted. Not as good as my stormtrooper egg from a few years ago though. That was a masterpiece!



EASTER MORNING!!! CANDY!!! 3 boys bouncing off the walls with their sugar rush at 6:30 in the morning!!! Please excuse Kevin and Cameron in their underwear. Longtime blogstalkers will know that's how they're always dressed. To be fair, this was taken at about 6am.



Easter egg hunt! Not many places to hide eggs in our yard, darn it.



Is this adorable or what?



Enough with being cute. This is normal for these boys.

On one of our recent walks, we found this sizable puddle with a bunch of tadpoles in it. We go back frequently to check on their growth.

We also found this bird protecting its nest. If you look closely, you can see 2 of the 3 eggs underneath it. The bird probably would have gone unnoticed but it started squawking and carrying on when Cameron walked by. We visit the bird on our walks now too and await the day we see tiny, little, fuzzy bird heads peaking out at us.

Check back soon for Cameron's birthday party pictures. He's turning 8 next Monday!!!