The Muhses Hit the State Fair

When you have one of the top 5 State Fairs in the country, you really have no choice but to go. Even if you hate the parking (which I do) and dragging all your crap for 2 kids around all day (which is a pain). It's totally worth it...for the most part. :) The weather was beautiful on Saturday and we had a great time. Owen and Cam both did fabulously, aside from a minor meltdown or two at the end of the day. We saw Bob the Builder, lots of animals, rode some rides, and ate some good food. I couldn't narrow down the pics 'cause I loved them all so here they are!

Check out the antlers on this elk!

Is he cute or what? He just chilled in the stroller all day long and was so good. Sometimes I wore him in the carrier on me so Owen could ride for a bit. I think he liked being up and able to see everything. We didn't get a picture though!

I have a picture of Owen doing this same thing at his first State Fair. My boys love their piggies!

Award-winning giant pumpkin. And this one is the second place one! It was over 1000 lbs.

We got this free paper visor and Owen just loved it. He's sitting on the stage waiting for Bob to start. He had a ball at the show singing along with Bob.

He LOVED this elephant and screamed when we made him get off it.


What does an elephant say?

Baby goats born on 8/11/08.

Check out the Mama--even goats are exhausted from taking care of newborns!

Don't they look like little puppy dogs?

Cam got too tuckered out!

I had to take this pic for my mom, the world's biggest Cheez-It fan. It was only after I took the pic that I read about it and learned it's not actually made of Cheez-Its. It's carved out of a block of cheese. Still pretty cool and the picture doesn't really do it justice.

The infamous Butter Cow.

The butter version of Shawn Johnson that I waited in line to see with my whiny, unhappy baby. It was pretty cool but I don't think it was worth the wait. I think Cam would agree.

Owen was so excited we couldn't get him to eat anything all day. He finally gave up at the end of the day and stopped for french fries.

Too many fries to smile!

Both of the boys were zonked in the car on the way home. Cody and I were exhausted as well but we managed to stay up late enough to see Michael Phelps win his 8th. We are so addicted to these Olympics!

The Highs and Lows of Professional Pics with a 3-year-old and a 7-month-old

Mom and I took the boys to JCPenney in Carbondale while I was home to have the boys pictures done. I knew it would be hell but I still wanted to do it. First some of the lows...we got there on time and quickly realized I had forgotten Cam's shorts for one of the pics. So off Owen and I went to run around the mall and find some shorts for him to wear. We ran back into Penney's with a pair of shorts and Owen saying, "I saved the day!" We could never get a picture of both of them looking at the camera and smiling at the same time. Though I didn't really expect to. Owen's nose was running like a faucet. Note: the only day it really ran like that the entire two weeks we were there. Cameron's head was tilting worse than it had or did the entire two weeks we were there. However, I got over that pretty quickly as I decided that's who he is at this time in his life and I'm actually glad I have it captured on film. Owen screamed, Cameron screamed, and I about pulled my hair out.

Now on to the highs...

I rarely buy the "cutie" ones they make up for you with all the different sayings and stuff but Mom and I both cried after we read this one. I can't exactly remember what it says but it's all about brothers.

I am in the process of transferring Cameron to all cloth diapers, which is what he has on in this pic. Someday I'll do a post of him in all his different cloth and share all the wonderful benefits of it with you. (Which I know you will all be anxiously awaiting.) :) For now, on with the pics.

All in all, I think the highs far outweighed the lows. We got tons more poses but I just picked the few that I liked to share with you all. Hope you enjoyed them as much as I did!

Just My Luck

So I finally drag my sorry butt back here to blogland and whaddya know...the pic button isn't working! Oh well. I tried. I guess I will just have to bore you with the update I was planning to give you with the pictures. :)

I can't believe that summer is already nearing it's end. It just seems to have gone by so fast. I decided to just take a little time off from the blogging and just enjoy my time with my boys. And enjoy it, I did! We had a great 4th of July, just hanging out with our little family here in town. We went to the Square to watch the parade and participate in some of the activities they had up there. Owen had a ball. He sat in his little chair and watched the entire parade, cheering away. I do have some cute pictures of it so maybe one day I'll get them on here. Cameron was a little angel throughout the whole day, as always.

We recently got back from a two week trek to Murphysboro where we visited with my family and friends. Owen had a great time and is already asking to go back and see everyone. He got to go to my friend Molly's son's birthday party in St. Louis, which was at a train place. You can imagine how much he loved that! Then he spent the remainder of the two weeks at Grandma & Grandpa's house playing trains with Cade. 'Ol Caders is just getting into Thomas and it is the cutest thing! He also says, "Owie" now, which Owen just loves. The highlight of Owen's trip was the table that Uncle Jay made for him to put his trains on. Owen calls it his "Island of Sodor" (where Thomas takes place) table. Uncle Jay painted the top of it to look like the Island of Sodor and Owen thinks it's awesome. I will definitely have to post pictures of it when I can.

Cameron changed more in those 2 weeks than he has in his whole 7 months. Yes, he is SEVEN months old now! I just can't believe it! He found his piggies and loves to be in his new Exersaucer, which we borrowed from Cade. He's a smiley little baby and loves to giggle. Of course, my favorite thing about him is that he is a HUGE mama's boy and could spend almost all day snuggling with me. I left him in M'boro while Owen and I went to St. Louis. I walked in when we got home and he had the biggest grin on his face, holding his arms out, and wanting his mama!!! It was just too adorable. His torticollis is much improved and his head tilting moments are lessening every day. His biggest news is that we went to PT yesterday and he was discharged!!! Yes, that's right, no more physical therapy for Baby Cam! She said he is doing great and she doesn't think he needs to be doing any exercises anymore. His trunk is getting stronger every day and I think he will be sitting in the next month or so. She said that he is right on target for his gross motor skills when compared to his corrected age (6 months). He just seems like a completely different kid to us. The downside is that his head is still a little misshapen so we are going to see a helmet doc on Friday. I'm pretty sure he will be in one, which I'm completely in favor of if it will help in the long run. And I really think that it will. We also have to see a Pediatric Opthamologist because he might have something called Strabismus, which is basically a lazy eye. I think it is almost unnoticeable but I still want him to be seen since it is something that can be corrected if caught early enough. Please say a prayer for us that our little miracle baby will continue to amaze us!

Well, I think that's about all for now. I'll be back to post lots of pictures when I can get it working again. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Another Whirlwind Visit to the 'Brook

We never seem to have enough time whether we're in Murphysboro or Bolingbrook but it is especially crazy in Bolingbrook. I think it's because you have an added 45 minute driving time to almost anyone you are going to see. In the 'boro you can get anywhere in about 5 minutes! Because it is always so crazy I never seem to get as many pictures as I would like. That's usually because I am so exhausted! Here's a few that I did get.

Owen and his cousin, Luca, waiting for the ice cream man who never showed. They seemed to have a good time anyway. They ran all over Grandma's house screaming and having a glorious time. I guess that's what I have to look forward to in the coming years with 2 boys in my house!

Grandma, Luca, and Cameron

We went to the Morton Arboretum--one of our must-hits on a visit to the Chicago area. This time they had a giant bug display. An artist made all of these bugs out of wood and they were so cool. Above is the ant--there 2 others like this one in a line on a big hill. Owen LOVED them!

Owen and Daddy in front of the grasshopper.

Lady Bug

They had informational signs about each bug and Owen had to read ALL of them. We'd walk off and he'd say, "I want to read the sign!!!"

The spider and his web.

The children's garden has a watering area so Daddy and Owen grabbed a can and went for it.

Grandma and 2 of her boys. We were never able to catch her with all 3 of them!

On Sunday before we headed back home we had to get in a quick visit with Great-Grandma Muhs, which is always enjoyable.

We ended the weekend with a long trip home. It is only supposed to take 4 hours but we had to take a detour when we crossed the Iowa border because of the flooding. A stretch of I-80 was closed but there was no way to get off and get back on easily because so many roads were flooded. So we had to head an hour north, then drive about an hour farther west that we wanted to. So it ended up taking 8 hours and we didn't get home until 12:30am! Our boys were troopers though and we survived. As always, our visit was too short and we can't wait to go back again soon!

Fun Times at the Dentist

Owen made his first trip to the dentist this morning and all went well. He actually had a pretty great time and was excited to be there. I was in an adjacent room getting my own work done so I missed a good portion of his apptoinment, but Daddy got some good pics and I got to be there at the tail end (numb mouth and all) to see him.

The hygenist was great with him. She has a son a few months older than him and one a few months younger than Cameron so she was really good with him.

He got to wear sunglasses because the light was a little bright.

He actually let her clean a few of his teeth, so here he is displaying her work proudly. They told us that they pretty much just go with the flow of the kids and try to do as much work as they kids will let them do. Owen was very accomodating, letting her clean his teeth and also doing a flouride shower.

The aforementioned flouride shower.

Dr. Eric came in and Owen said, "Hi, Eric!" He lay all the way back and let him count his teeth, 20 in all. Owen counted as well, but only came up with 7 teeth!

They took his picture and put it on the "No Cavity Club" wall. He got to put a sticker on his picture, which he was very excited about.

And here he is at home proudly showing off his dental loot. He got a plethora of stickers, a new toothbrush and toothpaste, a Matchbox car, and a glove that the dentist made into a ballon for him.

My Cute Boys

I always have to take a picture of my boys when they're wearing new, cute outfits.