All my training is paying off!

You want to know how well the training of my puppy is going? 

Well, let my pictures do that talking.

Exhibit A:

Louie sleeping on the couch...which we do not want him doing.

Exhibit B:

Brielle in Louie's kennel.

Exhibit C:

 

Louie sleeping on the kids Dora chair...which we don't particularly want him doing.

 Exhibit D:

 

Claire in Louie's kennel.

At least someone responds to the command "kennel", right?  

I'm AMAZING when it comes to training.

No "animals" were harmed in the taking of these pictures.

Operation: Camille Needs Friends

 You may consider it false advertising, leading people to believe I'm as great in person as I am on the world wide web.  But the fact of that matter is just that.  I'm NOT as fun in real life.  Mostly because real life doesn't have a back space key, or the ability to spend an hour thinking about how to say something.  Put me on the spot in a new social situation and I return to my wall flower ways of Jr. High, desperately watching my crush from afar, wishing I had the guts to approach him and at least say hi, but instead watching as the "popular/outgoing" girls win his attention and I'm left wondering why he never noticed me...while I was blending in to the wall.

Now, in case you are confused, I am not trying to win the attention of any boy, this is just the best I can compare with how I feel when I see other ladies have fun, laugh, get together, have play dates, drop by to hang out at each others houses, swap baby sitting etc.  I sit - on my couch, in my pajamas with all the blinds closed and never going in public - wondering why I'm not making great friends like that.  It makes no sense!

So, the point is I am TERRIBLE...yes, it requires being in all caps...at making friends in "real life".  I always worry that if I am completely myself, I am going to offend someone or they're not going to think I'm funny, so I over compensate and I suddenly become as fun as stale bread.  I don't keep good conversation, I don't come up with witty remarks.  I sit there like a bump on a log conducting an interview with someone rather than a conversation.  

Being raised in Utah didn't help either, because I don't know how to make friends with people that aren't at church.  I know this sounds SUPER snotty...and it's not meant to.  It's just that I never had to try to make friends in Utah, everyone I lived by was at church on Sunday with me, we had an instant similarity that eased the "ward member" relationship in to a friendship.  Here, it's not that way at all and I don't know how to make friends.

So this is where you all - my world wide web/real life friends - come in handy.  How do you make friends in new situations??  I honestly don't even know how.  I have met a few really nice people, but then I'm always shy and don't end up calling them back or setting something else up (dumb, I know) and before I know it they've forgotten about me...with good reason...and I'm back to square one.

So, Do I...

• Make cookies and randomly drop them off at neighbor's houses to get to know them?  
• Walk up and down the neighborhood streets and yell "HEY!  You look like I might like you!" at anyone that passes by that seems nice?
• Invite every person I've come in contact with to some sort of outing and risk looking desperate?
• Quietly invite one or two people at a time to get together at a park with our kids allowing us to get to know each other better and slowly build friendships?  
• Invite one or two couples over for dinner with my family? 

OR

• Do I keep waiting around for someone to notice me and make that first move?  (That sounds odd...but once again, it's the only way I can explain it.)

Hello, My Name is Camille (and my cute family) and I am socially inept.  

Won't you help me?  

Please?

Little Louie

If you will recall this post from last year about how we had bought a puppy for our girls and then decided it had been a bad idea then you may think we are crazy.

Because oops...we did it again!

 (At least the buying a puppy part.)

This time around we got a cockapoo (cocker spaniel/poodle mix) and so far, he is WAY better than the Maltese we had previously (who was peeing every 30 minutes ALL OVER THE HOUSE and whining non-stop).  

After much debate and having to take a "secret vote" with the kids closing their eyes to avoid anyone feeling pressured to agree on a name, we FINALLY settled on Louie. It was either that our Frycow (that's what Claire wanted at least...we have no idea where she came up with that.)

Welcome to our home little Louie.

 

And good luck with all the "love" you now get.

First Day of Kindergarten

I'm happy (and a little sad) to be joining the ranks of all those fellow mothers sending their children off to their first day of school.  Hard to believe Brielle is big enough to be dropped off at a "big kid" school now.  

We pulled in to the parking lot and she yelled, "Bye mom!" and tried to hop out.  I told her I was walking her in and she was kind enough not to protest.  When we got to her classroom she waltzed right in, found her seat and started reading a book.  Since we were a little early I asked if she wanted me to stay and wait for school to start.  She kind of rolled her eyes and said, "No.  I'm fine mom, you can go." 

Nothing like being told to leave by your baby.

I just hope she doesn't lose her excitement for school and learning when she realizes that this is just the first day of MANY more like it.  Here are the classic "first day of school" pictures.  

There's a ton...what can I say, I like taking pictures.

So bummed that this picture is a little blurry...but it's the best picture of how she was feeling this morning.

Of course we need another picture on the front porch.

Walking in to her classroom...probably sick of pictures.

Found her seat and name tag.

Okay mom...you can leave now.

See...I don't even realize you're here anymore.  Go home!

Excuse me while I go cry about my baby being a big kid now...