A Boy on a Mission

Cameron has FINALLY started walking. He had began to take some steps in early July, but his injury caused him to not practice walking. Well about a week ago, he has really started walking alot. He has gotten so good at it, but still loves to crawl a little bit. I was watching him today walk across the living room with his drink in his hand. He feels really comfortable with it.

Another thing that Cameron has learned to do that DRIVES ME INSANE is to climb on the furniture. He loves to climb his little butt onto the couch and crawl around. Well we have a sectional so he can crawl from one end to the other. He gets the biggest kick out of this. What drives me insane is him getting off of it. Sometimes he falls off, but he is learning to put his feet down first. I guess it is just my nerves having to watch him at every moment. He also like to get on the fireplace and open it as well. He just wants to play, but he gets his little butt swapped. I looked over the other day and he was standing on the fireplace with the fireplace doors open.

I have a little boy on my hands that is not afraid of ANYTHING! He loves to get into EVERYTHING! He gets into trouble of course, but he flashes that smile! =)

Thoughts

If you know me really well, you know that I have been following the journey of a local girl. Her name is Maggie Lee Henson and she was critically injured in a church bus wreck almost 2 weeks ago. Maggie Lee is such a fighter and her parents are such an awesome example of Christ followers. Every day her parents sit by her bedside praying for a miracle. Jinny and John Henson have shared every part of this journey with anyone who will listen. I don't know them, but I feel like they are family. They have invited anyone who will to pray for their daughter. They are constantly finding the positive in a situation where there is alot of bad things. Maggie Lee is in a medicated coma, has lots of pressure on her brain, and many more injuries. What I do know about this young girl is that she is fighter. She is fighting for her life and every day she is here is a miracle. I continue to pray for her and her family. I ask for anyone who is reading this to pray for her too. She and her family need our prayers!

Check out her progress or just follow what is going on at www.caringbridge.org/visit/maggieleehenson

DOTTIE'S HERE!!!!!!!!

So for those of you that are actually reading this, you know that my friend Melissa and her 2 kids just left Friday after being here for 5 days. Well 2 hours later, a cousin of mine arrived from Canton, MS with her teenage son and 7 yr. old. They were actually staying with Mom and Dad. Friday afternoon the boys came over with Dad to go swimming and then we all went shopping that evening. Well it ended up being a VERY funny evening. Between Dottie getting her foot stuck in a rubber boot at a local store to stopping for donuts at Southern Maid to Mom stopping on the side of road to make Jacob get out of the car after he noticed Mom's gray hair to JT saying "your pain is my joy" after Jacob was hit with a backscratcher.

On Saturday, the family started arriving at around 11 A.M. and the last person left around 9:15 P.M. It was a day full of lots of swimming, dunking Jacob in the water, eating (taco salad for lunch and hamburgers for dinner), visiting, and just plain laughing! We all had a

great time. Mandy brought the girls and Maddie did outstanding! Britni brought Malorie (our little fish) and Lainey. Nanny, Cindy, and Janice came over too before they had to take a special trip to Walmart ( AKA the boats). We enjoyed having everyone over and getting to see Dottie's clan.

We have company!!

This week my friend Melissa is here from Tulsa, OK. Melissa and I have been friends since we were kids. We grew up 2 houses down from each other and have been 2 peas in a pod since. Melissa brought her 2 kids, Gabby and Noah with her. They got here Monday and leave tomorrow evening (Friday). We have had so much fun! ALL we have done is swim, play with the kiddos, and eat! Both of us love being with each other. We have planned to make this a ritual each year for her to come for a week. The kids have been great. Well, it has been an adjustment for Tim having 3 kids in the house.

Today we had Malorie come over to play with Gabby. They swam, ate, and played doll or dress up. Mandy came over with Aubrie and Dad came over to hang out. Lots of fun! Here are a few pics from this week. I am glad that Cameron is able to be around Gabby and Noah because Melissa and I both want our children to grow up knowing each other. This week has been a week of making memories and remembering back to when we lived on Tooke.

Cutest Nieces in the World

Let me first start off by introducing you to my newest niece, Aubrie Lynn Ramsey. She just turned 3 weeks old yesterday.

My next niece is Lainey Elizabeth Lafitte. Her 1st birthday is in early August. She is so cute and looks just like her momma. Lainey and Cameron really play well together. She doesn't just let him run her over. I really think they will be great friends.

Maddie Ann is Aubrie's big sister. She will turn 2 in October. She is a little shy, but is very loving when she gets to know you. She has been sick

lately so she hasn't really been able to enjoy having a little sister.

Malorie Marie is Lainey's big sister. She is so adorable and so much fun. She will turn 4 in late August. We call her our "Hurricane Katrina" She was born on the day that Katrina made landfall. Malorie is always surprising us with what she can sing. The last thing I heard her sing was the books of the bible. SO CUTE!!!

Dinner at Nanny's

Let me just start off by saying that I forgot to take a picture of all the wonderful food. Of course, I had planned on capturing a pic of all the wonderful veggies Nanny prepared. Man she really overdid herself this time. My mom's whole family was there. SO in total there was 15 adults and 6 kids. She had squash, corn, purple hull peas, cornbread, hot water cornbread, fried chicken, fried okra, and CHOCOLATE CAKE!!!! You see my grandmothers chocolate cake is to die for.

When my grandmother cooks it is like a piece of heaven. She is a very good cook and she hasn't been able to cook for everyone for awhile. Her health hasn't been very good lately. She is having some problems with her back / legs. She was hospitalized a few months ago for a blood clot too. I have to say Nanny is one of the best grandmothers around. She continues to keep on trucking along even when she is down. As I mentioned the other day we took her to the veggie stand, but we also picked up my cousin who is in 3rd grade. Nanny ended up taking him to see Transformers 2 later that day. Tonight she is bring him over so that they can swim for a bit. Now just know my grandmother is in her late 70s or early 80s. So I dedicate todays blog to Nanny, the world's best grandmother.

Family Night in the Pool

Last night I was able to talk Tim into getting into the pool with Cameron and I. We had a fun hjour in the pool playing with Cameron. He really liked jumping up and down in the pool and swimming around with Momma. He didn't really like the floaties I put on him, but he dealt with it.

This morning we all got up and took Nanny (my grandmother) to the Ed Lester Farm to get her some fresh vegetables. She got fresh purple hull peas, okra, peaches, and many more delicious veggies. They have a little vegetable stand there in Coushatta. MAN, it was so busy! For being so far out of the way, there was alot of people coming and going. I can't wait til tomorrow night when she is cooking for all the family. YUMMY!!!!!!

Favorite Recipes

Beef Tips

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb. Stew Meat

2 cans of Cream of Mushroom soup

1 can of Golden Mushroom soup (Campbells)

1 pkg. Lipton Onion Soup Mix

Instructions: Put all ingredients into a crockpot and cook for 4-5 hours. Serve with rice or cornbread.

Chicken Spaghetti

Ingredients:

2 Chickens (boiled & deboned) or 2 pkgs. of Boneless Chicken Breasts

16 oz. Spaghetti

1 chopped onion

1 chopped bell pepper

1 box Velveeta

1 stick of butter

2 cans of Rotel diced

1 1/2 qts. Chicken Broth (keep from when you boil the chicken)

1 cans Laseur Peas

3 Tsp. Worcestershire Sauce

1 can of Mushrooms (chopped) *optional

Instructions:

Saute onions & peppers in 2 cups of broth in a small saucepan

Cook noodles in broth (do not drain)

Add rotel & worcestershire sauce - Cook for 5 minutes

Drain Laseur peas, add to pot along with mushrooms, onions, peppers and cheese (cut in chunks)

Stir until the cheese is melted

Add chicken (pulled apart into small pieces) and stir.

Cook for 45 minutes in a large dish @ 350 degrees.

**Makes enough for you to freeze some if you are not serving a large group.

11 A.M. Wake-up Call

So Cameron decided that he wanted to sleep in this morning and Tim had to wake him up at 11 A.M. Now, he had woken up a few times this morning but just made some noises and went back to sleep. Tim and I were laughing when we realized that the little bug had let us sleep in too. Well I was awake for 3 hours because someone decided he wanted to SNORE!!!!!!!!!

Cameron update: He is doing much better this morning. He is putting some weight on his foot. So we will see. This morning, he and Gator are playing tug-a-war with his stuffed animal Nana got him. He is in a much better mood.

Cameron's 1st ER visit

So we had our first emergency room visit today with Cameron. I was cooking in the kitchen while Cameron was playing in the living room when I heard a loud crashing sound with Cameron screaming. I ran towards the living room to find Cameron's leg underneath the front entry hall buffet table. All around him was glass that had shattered when the table had overturned. What I think happened was he pulled out the drawers and the table tipped over. The side of it landed on Cameron's leg/ankle. I immediately picked him up before he could cut himself with any of the glass. His leg/ankle immediately turned purple. We watched him for about an hour to see if he could move it. He seemed more scared than hurt.

We gave him some Tylenol and he laid down for a nap. During his nap, we went ahead and called Mid-City Pediatrics. Dr. Hopson said to just watch him to see how he reacts to standing on it and advised First Care if he was in pain. When he woke up he wouldn't stand on it or even try to use it, so we went ahead to the First Care. Yeah, we get there and they tell us they don't see toddlers under 2 yrs old. So we went on to Sutton's Children. After an xray, the doctor says there isn't anything broken or fractured. YEA!!!!! Poor baby, he has had one heck of a day.

We got home, took a bath, and cooked dinner for Nana, Grandpa, and Nanny. Cameron was loved on and Nana brought him a present for his bad day. Chicken Spaghetti was eaten by all and loved by all.

The Beginning

A friend of mine sent me a link to her blog and I got interested in my own. There is a couple of people that blog and I really find it enjoyable to see what is going on with all of them. I thought this would be a great idea for my family and friends that aren't around on a daily/weekly basis. My intention for this blog is to let all of you know what is going on, but also take time to record the going ons of our household. So here goes nothing . . .

Well today Tim was off due to the 4th of July tomorrow. Of course, he has to work tomorrow since the station is sponsoring the 4th of July fireworks show. =) He and I intended to go to lunch and a movie, but only got to do lunch. We dropped off Cameron at my moms and started out by running some errands. Well, God must have known we shouldn't have gone the Bed, Bath, & Beyond. Of course something had to happen to start the day off wrong. The wonderful driver that I call my husband was pulling into a parking space (the one next to the curb) and all of a sudden we hit something. He backs up to see that not only did he hit a HUGE ROCK, but he had a HUGGGGGGGGGGGE dent in this front bumper. Now, I do have to say that this rock was hanging over the edge of the curb where it shouldn't be. So needless to say Tim wasn't happy. I am actually surprised that the air bags didn't come out. So, the bad is that Tim has already dented his bumper on his 1st day of his vacation. After tomorrow, he is off for a week. So maybe he will have a truck left after that.

As I write this Cameron is talking to himself as he sits in his walker. OH, he has been practicing his walking skills. Well, I had to add some hussle to his lazy butt. He just likes to crawl everywhere. He is so cute when he is taking steps. He has gone about 5-6 steps by himself so far. Tim says I am pressuring him too much, but that is the teacher coming out in me. I just want him to succeed. =) On another note, my son has taken to hitting his head alot lately. He must have one rock of a head. He has 2 goose eggs on his forehead. He just laughs and goes on. Well I could talk about him all day, so I better go finish dinner. I am making my chicken spaghetti. Tim says I can't share any of it with any of my family. I usually make enough to take mom and dad a dish, but he wants it to stay here. I guess I will have to freeze it. I will put the recipe up for anyone looking for a good recipe for chicken rotel (spaghetti).