Sick day

Caleb had a fever today. That slowed him down for about 2 hours this morning, until the Tylenol kicked in. At lunch, which he ate around 3pm, I thought again (for about the 100th time) about how boys are so different than girls. When I was little, mom said "don't play with your food", which usually meant "don't mess around and actually eat the food on your plate". But for boys, at least my son, that saying REALLY means "don't use your food as a plaything". This would include bridges, airplanes, trains, cars, weapons of any type, etc. And yet, for some unexplainable reason, he always thinks I will be amazed by whatever new trick he has thought of to do with his food and/or utensils. Of course, this pretty much applies to any new trick he has uncovered, not just at the dinner table. At the moment, most of them have to do with jumping. "Look how high I can jump today", "Look how I can jump from the couch to the ottoman", "Look how far I can jump over these tiles in the kitchen"... now, if only he can use those jumping skills into the pool this summer instead of just stepping off the side. Seriously though, he has learned to say "Mom, watch this!", instead of naming the specific feat he is about to accomplish for fear that I will nix the idea before he can complete it. Sneaky. Now I find myself holding my breath every time I hear that phrase! Oh, besides jumping, it is often some new way of balancing his dinner objects on the way to the sink. So he has now also mastered how to use the dustbuster. I could tell he was feeling better when the usual question popped up again..."Mommy, will you play with me?"

Our Family

The first picture Caleb drew about 2 weeks ago. He was supposed to draw a picture of our family. He says Daddy is the one in blue. I asked where I was and he replied, "Hmmm. I don't know. You can be the heart." I guess that is probably exactly what I want to be.

So tonight, I had him draw another picture of our family. I just had to help him with the order. Ex. Draw a circle, now two legs, now two arms, etc. I would always say eyes, nose, mouth, in that order. On mine, after I said nose, he said, "and then the sharp teeth, right?" Guess I must have lost my position as the heart if I now have fangs. In case you are wondering, Joe is in the middle, then me on the left, Levi on the right, and Caleb at the bottom. There is another circle at the very bottom (no, I'm not pregnant, unless he knows something I don't)... Caleb just said it was "too wow" (too low).

Birthday Fun.. someone is 2!!

Sat we went to the mall for my niece Mia's 2nd birthday. It was SO fun. Both of the boys rode the carousel. Afterward, my sister, her boyfriend, and my parents came back to our house to "play" (really, we all took about 2 hour naps!). Caleb fif coerece Jonathan, Beth's bf, to play air hockey with him, cars/trains, and showed off his SUV driving skills. That afternoon we went to my brother's house to celebrate his 29th birthday. We gave Mia a shopping cart for her birthday, and not to be outdone, Caleb wanted to bring his to the party, too. I'm sure if hed' known she was getting a guitar, he would have wanted his as well. We will have lots of great "concerts" to post here soon, I'm sure. Oh, I added the pic here because I am beginning to see a lot of my dad in Levi. Lindsay, my sister-in-law, saw it first and commented when he was a few days old that she thought he looked like my dad.

Levi's 8 month album

Random Thursday

I desperately need more "blue". (Blue is the "color" on the personality scale for compassion, sympathy, etc.) Yesterday, Joe pulled a muscle in his back. He thinks it was from carrying Levi funny in his car seat. I think it was from weight-lifting and then he tweaked it with the car seat. I wasn't trying to be uncaring or suspicious of his injury, but I know I was not conveying a deep concern. Last night, it finally occurred to me to see if I could do something to help him, but I guess my attempts were so awkward that I ended up making it worse by causing him to laugh too hard.

Caleb informed me yesterday in the car that his favorite song is "The Battle Belongs to the Lord", with "I'm in the Lord's Army". Such a boy... Oh, #3 favorite is "Heaven is a Wonderful Place", the way Mr. Parker at church leads it. I forgot, his other all-time favorite is "Our God is an Awesome God" (and yes, he knows all the verses, even though I'm quite sure he is not sure what he is always singing since he asked me what "the Ritz" is, and I'm pretty sure we haven't covered Sodom in Toddler bible class).

Today we had a little friend come over after school, and he and Caleb played SO hard. He has quite the agenda: air hockey, riding in his Jeep , "camping" in his Thomas tent, dinosaur hunting, flying airplanes, racing cars, and playing trains. Wait, that about sums up every day, with a little "Dino Dan" thrown in.

Oh, I nearly hyperventilated earlier. I decided to use Picassa for my photos and I did my first download from my camera. I told it to only delete pics that were copied, but after it was through, I looked at my camera and it was black... no pictures. I had a bunch of ADORABLE ones I will post soon of Levi with some blocks and a wagon. I kept turning it on/off... really, quite disturbed (crying, etc.). Only to realize that the batteries were low and when I unplugged it from the cord, they came up. Whew. Disaster averted for one day. And if you have ever tried taking good pics of your kids, you know what I mean.

Levi's pics from 2010

Obviously, these are pretty old, but I wanted them on here for my sake. In case anything happens to my files. And to remember how tiny he was not that long ago. I am pretty proud of these shots. Oh, I just want to squeeze him!

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Levi's Christmas pics with the Polar Express bell

So, I tried my hand at doing my own Christmas shots. I started with some other originally, which I may go back on and post, even though they are old. I think they turned out really well, for my second time. He kept rolling over or falling over, so it was harder than it seems!

Christmas pics

Merry Christmas to all, just a little late...

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Pics from camping trip

Best times ever... thanks for all the memories...more to come.

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Shoe search

Caleb's CARS shoes lasted 5 months. Way not long enough for my thinking, and apparently the shoe clerk's thinking, since she advised us to get 1 size bigger than he needed at the time and 5 months later we are buying the same size (Still 1 size bigger than his foot). I have had to accept that 4 year olds, given their choice, will ultimately choose the absolute most hideous footwear presented to them. Caleb's must-have list: lights, some sort of character, bright colors. I thought I could sneak one past him, and gave him a nice black and silver shoe to try on. He's stomping all over the place saying, "I like it, but where's the lights?" Sigh. After much searching and deliberation over whether or not Payless shoes are any worse/better than Shoe Dept/Penny's/Academy, we found what Caleb deemed "the perfect shoe". Black Hot Wheels, that light up, with red/orange/yellow flames...and white soles. Cause every 4 year old needs white soles so you can see just how dirty they will get them within 10 minutes of wearing them. At least he did want the Iron Man ones. Joe says, "This is what 4 year old boys want to wear." Guess I will just embrace it and know that one day, he won't be 4, and the shoes will be boring, expensive, nondescript things, and I will think about the days of light-up, hideous shoes, and how happy they made him.

Resurrection

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So, I will attempt to get back on the wagon again and resurrect my blog. Hey, at least it's only been a couple months this time. And those we very busy months. I feel the need to explain my "blogging" problem, even though it really matters little. So we upload pictures at our desktop, because it has an external hard drive. But that computer is way in the back and it's very cold... so I like to blog from here. My problem is, if you know me at all, if I'm going to do something, it has to be done "right". And a blog without a pic is...not right. So I just haven't blogged. I know, what I need to do is write a post, save it, then go add a pic to it back there and post... now, if I could only make that happen.

I guess if I "backpost", Caleb's party went great. We had a wonderful turnout and he was very pleased to have everyone. The "car" race was a huge hit and we could have just done that and not had any of the other games/decorations. In fact, Caleb wanted to "race" around the spray-painted race track in the backyard for weeks until it wore off. Racing and creating camping trips/dinosaur-hunting expeditions are what comprised the remainder of our warm days. Which were about through mid-Dec. Before we left town it was 70 degrees, I believe one day. Crazy.

Oh, Levi also loves the track. It must be born into them. How else do you explain a 5 month old cackling as he is carried, running, around in circles. Fun for all ages (if you are male), as Joe also had a huge grin and never minded to take a turn around the track.

October was the busiest month ever!! Start with The Texas State Fair, where Caleb competed in the Pee-Wee stampede he rode a buckin' bronco), but his favorite thing was the rides. He has NO FEAR. He would ride the largest roller coaster at 6 Flags if they would let him. We got passes to 6 Flags for Christmas and have already been 3 times. He rode Tony Hawke's skateboard max thrill ride, The Shockwave (upside down 2x), and La Vibora. His favorite ride is the Antique Cars, because he can steer and work the gas. Nothing like giving a 4 year old confidence that he can drive a car. The only ride he will not do is Yosimite Sam's cave ride. He doesn't like being shot at from both side, apparently. Fine by me... it's long wait for a boring ride. Then we had his party, went to Trucnk-or-Treat (and mom and dad had a leadership retreat for church, so Caleb stayed with Granna overnight!!!) For trunk-or-treat we did a Toy Story adventure. The kids had to pull a tiny wagon with Barbie in it to pick up Potato Head and drive to a hula hoop, where they "captured" evil Dr. Pork Chop (Hamm). Then they got to drive a remote control car with Woody strapped to it over to a box where they used a "claw" to rescue Buzz Lightyear. I was Jessie, Joe was Woody, Caleb was Buzz (with a shirt over his costume...sigh), and Levi was Bullseye. I spent FOREVER making my and Joe's costumes. Then we helped with a Halloween party, and Caleb had a fall festival. We visited a pumpkin patch where we did a tractor ride, played in a HUGE treehouse, rode pedal cars, completed several mazes, and played on a large bouncy thing. Caleb recently (Jan) asked me when we could go back there.

Highlight of the end of Oct's fun was, of course, the semi-annual camping trip. With a 5 month old. It was really fun though. Caleb rode his new bike (birthday present from Granna/Poppa) round the circle so many times, I can't believe he wasn't dizzy. Never had trouble finding him though... those plastic training wheels are LOUD. I have to say, I was pretty impressed on his birthday when he just hopped right on that bike like he had done it a million times before and took off; granted, with training wheels.

Thanksgiving and Christmas passed with tons of fun, a couple high fevers for the boys, Levi's first haircut (well, trim around the ears), Levi's first real vacation (traveled to AR, MS, TN), first visits with Santa, and too many presents. We won't talk about food ;)

I thoroughly enjoyed spending so much time with my boys. It was nice not to have to work around "work" every day. Some things that stand out the most: scrambling around Christmas Eve making sure everything was " in place" (CJ asked for a fire truck at the last minute, and since previously he had asked for a moon telescope - which isn't a very fun present to get Christmas morning, especially when the forecast is cloudy- well, you know what happened), searching in Grams/Gramps yard for a Pterasaur and sending it back to it's mommy, and making a Gingerbread train (notice, not "eating" it -- gross).

Levi notables: He started "kissing" us when he has been kissed (opens his mouth on your cheek, and if you are not close enough, he pulls you to him), eating all sorts of fruits/veggies from jar and REAL peas, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, mastering the walker (forwards and backwards), sitting up, grabbing for objects in on the floor in front of him/searching when they fall, feeding himself with a spoon (if it's loaded), blowing air when he is finished eating, turns pages in a book, drinks from a sippy (can drink from a real cup too, in small amounts), sleeps in his big boy crib, already turns toward the floor when holding him as if he wants "down", goes to Bible class for the entire time every class (Wed/Sun night), ticklish all over/loves funny voices... oh, and he is a bouncin' fool in his jumper, especially when he can watch Caleb play.

CJ's favorite Christmas gifts: track/buildings/trains/etc. for Thomas Wooden Railway, a Jeep Hurricane Power Wheel (which we broke after him riding it all of 5 minutes... it is STILL at the Power Wheels repair shop to get a new gearbox...yuck we bought it used), fire trucks (plural...1 was not enough...he got 3!!), monster truck, digital camera (kiddie), new model airplanes (little ones), and the latest find... an air hockey table. Seriously, spoiled.

Levi's favs: a Santa bib, wrapping paper, bows, teething toys, tissue paper, a thing with popping balls, more paper, new books, and more paper... He did get the idea of opening things, but he just wanted the paper!

Caleb, a week after we are home: "Mom, when do we go back to Aunt Connie's?"