The Caldwells

TEARS TEARS and MORE TEARS

2010-05-28T13:16:00.004-05:00

Yep, that describes my morning.

Caleb had his 5th grade graduation and most of it was boring UNTIL the kids all sang a song about leaving Chisholm and going to middle school to the tune of fireflies and then I lost it. It was more than just eyes watering. I was trying to hold it together so I wouldn't embarrass Caden, Cali and Chris. However there were moments when I was on the verge of the ugly cry.

He just turned 11 yesterday and now he choses not to be in elementary school anymore. I am going to be a complete mess come August.

Somehow overnight he turned from this adorable 17 month old baby

to this smart, funny and very independent kid. I am afraid that the next 7 years will go by even faster and I will be REALLY sobbing when he gradutes from HS.

SWAGGER WAGON

2010-05-27T10:49:00.001-05:00

This is hilarious!!

Caden loses her 2nd tooth

2010-04-27T18:17:00.003-05:00

Caden loses her 2nd tooth. It had been loose for a few weeks now and was given the final push when she just got accidently elbowed in the mouth on the trampoline.

SAD SAD DAY

2010-04-12T20:51:00.003-05:00

I just cut 8 inches off Caden's hair and I am SO SAD!!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE her long curly hair but it gets tangled VERY easily. I was going to cut it off for the summer, but I decided to do it tonight. On the plus side I think it makes her look younger. She likes it and of course it will grow back, but I am very sad!!

Caden loses her FIRST TOOTH

2010-02-15T11:50:00.002-06:00

It has been loose for over a month now. She pulled it out last night at bedtime and of course her wimpy mom had to cry!

It is so tiny you can barely see it.

She is very excited to show her teacher at school today and get her name on the tooth chart!

SEEING RED

2010-01-15T13:42:00.002-06:00

Here is my photo for Mandy's "Seeing Red" Photography.

Check out Mandy's contest! http://mandysphotoblog.blogspot.com/

How we spent our NON snow/ice SCHOOL CLOSING day.

2010-01-08T13:07:00.002-06:00

Santa

2009-12-15T13:31:00.004-06:00

Greatest Christmas Decoration

2009-12-07T13:44:00.004-06:00

My sister-in-law sent this to me and it was too funny not to share.

"Good news is that I truly out-did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after 2 days.

I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by. Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder & almost killed herself putting it against my house, and didn't realize it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy).

By the way, she was one of many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn't take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard."

Halloween - REALLY LATE

2009-11-05T10:08:00.006-06:00

We had a great week of Halloween festivies.

The kids at the church's Fall Festival.

Cali at a pumpkin parish helping mommy pick out our pumpkins.

Carving pumpkins. Cat picked out by Caden and carved by Mommy. Pirate skull picked out by Caleb and carved by Daddy

Parties at the kid's school.

Trick or Treating on Halloween

Caleb - armed with his hammer. He is ready to get every ounce of fun out of our pumpkins that are now nasty amd moldy on my porch.

CRAP, I screwed up AGAIN!!!

2009-10-30T09:21:00.004-05:00

For the parent input I needed to read over it and highlight any words and/or changes I think he should make and several other things. I just forgot. I feel really bad!

WHO IS THIS???

2009-10-07T14:31:00.005-05:00

Chris took this picture of Caden the other day. I have no clue who this girl is. I don't know if it is the hair or the facial expression, but she looks way too old to be my precious 6 year old. Good thing she is wearing a Hannah Montana shirt, it helps her look younger.

It seems like she aged a few years in just a few hours. Here is a picture taken just hours earlier.

Yes, I think she looks much younger in the bottom picture. I prefer the sweet little girl sitting on the couch instead of the attitude chic beside the vacuum.

Cali is no longer the baby!

2009-09-28T13:21:00.008-05:00

That is right!!! #4 is due in March. How in the world did this happen?

I am only joking! The title should have been Cali is no longer A BABY. Chris, who I didn't know he even read this thing, said not only do I need to post more often, but my sidebar is very out of date. We have now been married 14 years and Cali is no longer a baby. WHATEVER!!! She will ALWAYS be my baby, however he is right, it is very out of date and my kids don't look like that anymore.

My last post (several weeks ago) was of Cali's first day of school. Well several other things happened that day too. I haven't had much one on one time with Caden since Cali was born. Since Caden goes to school in the afternoon, she and I had a few hours with each other after I took Cali to Sonshine School. Caden LOVES to draw and paint, basically anything creative. I thought she would enjoy painting pottery, which is obviously something we CAN NOT do with Cali around. We both had a great time. Here are a few of her painting her mug. I told her she could pick out what she wanted, but because I was painting a mug (I drink hot chocolate almost daily in the winter, so I know it will get used) she wanted to as well.

Here is my sweet girl with our finished mugs.

Caleb has started playing football, he wanted me to take a picture in front of this Hummer that was parked beside us.

I tried to take a group shot while the real camera guy was taking their pics, so I wasn't able to get that great of a picture.

I just had to include this adorable picture of Cali after she had lots of fun with oreos. I love her little mischievous grin.

NO TEARS!!!

2009-09-08T15:18:00.006-05:00

We made it through the first day of Sonshine School (Mothers Day out for you non Edmondites). She didn't cry. I didn't cry. She walked straight in her class room and didn't look back at me.

Here are some blurry pictures of her first day. This girl doesn't stay still very long. Here she is walking up to school.

First day of school pictures.

New Family Photos

2009-08-24T10:06:00.013-05:00

The wonderful Lesley Proctor took our photos last week. Cali wasn't always cooperating, but here are a few of my favorites.

You can go to Lesley's photo website to see some of her amazing work and to enter a drawing for a free children's photo shoot. She is so nice and the kids LOVE HER!!!

Happy Birthday Caden!!!

2009-08-21T13:13:00.005-05:00

My sweet girl!!

This morning when Chris woke her up to take her out for her b-day breakfast she held out her feet and said "I think my feet are bigger."

Later I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up and she said "SEVEN."

I love you my sweet princess!!

FIRST DAY!!!

2009-08-18T13:04:00.010-05:00

Even though Caleb tries to act like he doesn't like school, he really does. Both the kids were really excited for their first day of school.

Caleb is in 5th grade and Caden is in Kindergarten.

It didn't matter that today was Caleb's first day in the new school, he wanted to ride the bus anyway, so this is the only picture I have.

Caden had been asking almost non-stop this morning, "when are you going to take me to school."

I had some errands to run this morning and she kept saying "this is NOT the way to my new school."

Since the kids had been fighting so much lately I was actually getting excited for school to start. So I haven't been emotional about Kindergarten.

Here is Caden and her friend Lauren with their teacher Mrs. Hawkins.

Caden first met Lauren several years ago at Sonshine School (a mother's day out program), so they were both excited to have each other in their class.

There were a couple of moms with a few tears. I just looked at them with sympathy because I knew I had been like that with Caleb. I remember I cried just registering him for Kindergarten. Like a moron, just crying over paperwork.

Since I was ready for them to go back I didn't think I would get emotional. I was doing good all day until this. . .

Until her teacher told us we could not go in with the kids and they had to say goodbye to us at the door.

My little sweetie waving me off.

I know she will do great. She is a such a sweet little girl and I know she will have fun.

She is VERY excited to ride the bus home with her big brother!!

So with only a few minor tears from me, I would say school got off to a great start.

Now next year when she finally gets to go all day and I will have one in middle school, then I might have to really break down

Another year down . . .

2009-08-07T14:29:00.006-05:00

and we haven't killed each other yet!!!

A few days ago was our 14th wedding anniversary. Since we just got back from San Diego a few weeks ago, we decided to have a low key night out and went to dinner and a movie. Now we can start planning our big 15th anniversary trip for next year!

FUN FILLED FATHER'S DAY

2009-06-23T13:40:00.014-05:00

We had a very busy but VERY FUN FATHER'S Day. First we went to church, then out for lunch, then the pool, then to evening church, then out to dinner, then to a movie to see UP. It was an awesome day just spent with the family.

The kiddos with their daddy at lunch.

Then we went swimming during the afternoon.

Chris and Caleb trying to see who can be the most silly. Chris won!

Cali loves being in the water.

WHOOPS, she is alright.

She LOVES to be thrown in air. I love these pictures of Cali and her daddy.

TOO CRAZY TO BLOG

2009-06-11T16:01:00.002-05:00

I know it has been weeks since I have blogged. Things have been SO CRAZY in the last few weeks. Here is why:

We bought another house about 3 weeks ago
Moved into the new house about 2 weeks ago
Had a MASSIVE garage sale at our other house last weekend
Spent part of this week cleaning out the rest of the stuff in the old house and getting it ready for the renters who are moving in TOMORROW.

Needless to say I am POOPED and I am really starting to feel my age. I am getting old and have been trying to ignore it.

Mother's Day 2009

2009-05-11T07:56:00.009-05:00

Happy late Mother's Day to everyone!

We had a very nice relaxing day yesterday after we rushed around all morning so we can take Mother's Day pictures before church. However they turned out like CRAP, so it is a good thing I brought my camera to lunch. Those pictures turned out a little better.

Apparently after rushing around all morning I didn't have myself as put together as I would have liked. We were just about 30 seconds from pulling into the church parking lot and Chris said "I think your shirt is on inside out." Yep it sure was! What a dork! So I yanked it off and switched it around right before we pulled into the parking lot.

Here are a few of my goodies that the kids made.

If you couldn't read the card very well, it says :

M - Magnificent
O - OU
M - Morning hair
M - Monopoly
Y - You are AWESOME!!

Caleb is so funny! I do love to play games, but not a huge fan of Monopoly, my hair is crazy sometimes, but dude, have you seen yours????

After I read the Mother's day card that the kids gave me I said "Chris where is my card from you?" He said "You are not my mom."

Paybacks are in your future my dear!!

2009-04-21T10:59:00.002-05:00

At what age do your kids STOP embarrassing you?

When do they stop saying (or yelling in the case of my 5 year old) inappropriate things in public? Things like "oh, I almost forgot to wipe" or "mommy I just got toilet paper stuck in my bottom." Both of which happened at Hobby Lobby this morning. It is even worse when they say things to complete strangers who don't know that my child is normally very sweet. After she informed me and the stranger in Hobby Lobby's bathroom that the toilet paper got stuck in her bottom she asked the lady why she uses a cane. She replied back very sweet with "it helps me walk." Then she asked why she had that thing stuck on her face. The lady replied with "this is where I was kissed by God."

Good thing I was still in the stall and I didn't have to face that nice lady. I think in about 8 years when she is 13 and hates her parents I will get her back for these and and the many more times she has embarrassed me. I think this day was pretty tame in comparison. I will have many years to think of something good to really mortify my children. The sad thing is that I will probably do it a lot when I am not even trying.

I have forgotten how to Blog

2009-04-06T21:18:00.015-05:00

It has been so long I don't know how to start. I will just try to play catch up! The kiddos and I spent part of Spring Break down in Arlington visiting my family.

Here is Caden and Cali exploring with their Papa. He is so good with them!

My adorable niece Dakota.

Me and the girls with my mom and my grandma.

Caleb and Cali with my sister Angie and Dakota.

Cali and Dakota are only about 8 months apart but since Cali is SO TINY for her age and Dakota is SO HUGE for her age, there seems to be a bigger age difference. (she will be 2 in a few weeks)

We always have a great relaxing time in TX with my family. I love being around my sister. She is almost as funny as she thinks she is.

Here is Cali after she really enjoyed her PB&J sandwich the other day.

She is becoming quite the toot lately. She LOVES LOVES LOVES to climb on to the kitchen table. In fact she fell off of it this morning.

Things around here are always crazy, especially since Chris is working so much this time of year. I am counting down the days. Only 9 days left. When he is at home he has been very busy with all our remodeling projects.

The kids are really enjoying our new bathtub. (btw, Chris did all the tile work himself.) The jacuzzi tub has a heater so the kids keep calling it a hot tub and they love to play in it. So I let them put on their swimsuits and have a ball. Notice all the water dripping down the wall and down the sides of the tub.

Marketing Ad for Crib Bumper Pads

2009-03-19T08:09:00.003-05:00

I know what you are thinking. . . Poor 3rd baby doesn't even get a bumper pad or cute bed decorations. She had a bumper pad, but tore it long ago. Plus this way I get to see cute things like this.

My cute little ALIEN baby!!!

2009-03-10T14:29:00.005-05:00

That is exactly what I thought when I saw her stats. She is so tiny now!! However, I feel like I got the best of both worlds. I was blessed with a huge AND VERY HEALTHY 9 lb baby at birth. She was so healthy that I never worried about whether she would "thrive." She was chunky until about 6 months. Now I have this cute little petite fireball! Since she still weighs less than 20 lbs (18 lbs 15 oz to be exact) so she is very easy to carry around when I need to.

Anyway back to the alien reference. She is in the 3rd to 5th percentile for weight, 10 to 25th for length and her head is in the 90 to 95th percentile. Short and tiny body with a big head. Thus the alien reference.

AWE, making mommy proud! Already knows that this is the best!!

I don't remember if she was being chased or if she was chasing Caden. Either way that girl can MOVE!! Those little legs are starting to run fast. Oh and yes, that is a container of syrup on the carpet. Where else would it be?

When I was trying to take pictures of Cali running Caden of course wanted her picture taken as well. I can't get enough of this beautiful face!

How did this happen?

2009-03-02T13:56:00.003-06:00

I have been cleaning out all the cabinets in the house and I found all these.

They were scattered all over the house. I think someone has been sneaking into my house and hiding candles in every cabinet. Some of these have never been lit. How in the world did I accumulate so many?

Cup of Tea

2009-02-24T08:29:00.001-06:00

I got this in an email from my MIL and it was too cute not to pass on!

*****************
One day my mother was out, and my dad was in charge of me. I was maybe 2 1/2 years old. Someone had given me a little 'tea set' as a gift, and it was one of my favorite toys. Daddy was in the living room engrossed in the evening news when I brought Daddy a little cup of 'tea', which was just water. After several cups of tea and lots of praise for such yummy tea, my Mom came home. My Dad made her wait in the living room to watch me bring him a cup of tea, because it was 'just the cutest thing!' My Mom waited, and sure enough, here I came down the hall with a cup of tea for Daddy; and she watched him drink it up. Then she said, (as only a mother would know), "'Did it ever occur to you that the only place she can reach to get water is the toilet?"

Sweet Valentines Card

2009-02-13T11:09:00.007-06:00

I was just thinking about how stupid I really think Valentines Day is when I remembered this sweet card Caleb (aka "The Valentine Monster") made for us. Oh and FYI, he DOES NOT call us Father and Mother, I guess he just wanted to use those letters.

Thanks buddy! Hallmark will be counting down the days until you are old enough to work for them!

This can't be comfortable!!

2009-02-12T09:58:00.005-06:00

It is so funny how babies/toddlers love to do things like this. The girl is also obsessed with her brothers hot wheels! She played like this for a while.

The other day when I was talking some ebay pictures Cali decided she needed to help too. She came right in front of me and did this. I can't get enough of those cute little legs!!

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!!!!

2009-01-30T09:49:00.005-06:00

The lady in California that delivered octuplets on Monday admitted to taking fertility drugs (DUH) is single, lives with her parents and already has 6 kids at home.

I am hoping there is something else going on. Why would you do this????

In unrelated news, here is one of Caden's latest drawings. She draws pictures similar to this daily, but this one caught my eye. She says it is Belle, however I think it looks like a blow up doll!

SNOW DAYS!! WHOO HOO!!!!

2009-01-27T19:32:00.010-06:00

The kids were out of school today because of the ice and will be out tomorrow as well. They were able to enjoy the snow/sleet a little this afternoon. We have a great house/driveway for sledding. We live in the center of a cul-de-sac and on a little incline. The kids are able to sled all the way down the street.

We only got a little snow (or maybe all sleet), but the kids had a blast anyway!

Who is Odis?

2009-01-23T09:12:00.004-06:00

I know I haven't blogged in weeks. I guess I am in a slump. I wanted to share this conversation I had with Caden in the car yesterday.

Caden: What happened to Odis's dad?
Me: I don't know.
Caden: Mommy, tell me.
Me: I don't have a clue who Odis is so I can't tell you what happened to his dad. Who is Odis?
Caden: Odis is Odis's dad's son.

Well that clears that up!

NERTZ !!!!!

2009-01-09T16:40:00.006-06:00

I know I haven't blogged in weeks. I know I should blog about Christmas. There was a tree, presents, Santa, and lots of food!

However now on to more important things. Anyone who knows me knows I am a little competitive. Ok, that is not true. I am VERY competitive. I love to play games of all kinds. When I am with my in laws we play lots of games too. Some of our favorites are Phase 10, Apples to Apples, Mad Gab and a few others. I started playing NERTZ with my family when I was little. Now we (my mom, sister, Chris and I) all play Hand and Foot.

This picture is from our late Christmas in TX. I was so engrossed in our game of Hand and Foot that I didn't want to put Cali down for a nap, so I just let her sleep on me!

Anyway back to Nertz. I have a group of friends that get together occasionally to play NERTZ. There are 4 of us and we have been doing this for YEARS and YEARS. I know it is at least 5 or 6 years or maybe longer. In the past we have let others play with us occasionally, but it is never the same "vibe". One of the girls' sisters is allowed to play, but she is usually the only "outsider" we allow. Three of us talk trash to the other while the other girl hardly ever does and sometimes even apologizes for stuff. CRAZY nice person! Anyway we can play for hours and hours and it is so fun, but now it is hard to get us all together. Three of us have 3 kids and the other has 2, so we don't get to play as often as we would like. However I was just told about this website - http://playnertz.com/ I didn't know there was a National Nertz Association. Anyway there is and I just joined. I know I am a geek, but I can't help it. I LOVE games.

Cali turns ONE

2008-12-21T14:32:00.009-06:00

Cali turned ONE on Thursday the 18th. We had a little party for her on Saturday.

Her adorable cake!

This beautiful cake was made by Katie Rowten. She did such a great job! I love it!

The sweet little birthday girl!

She couldn't care less about her presents.

Daddy and his smallest princess!

She is not too sure about what to do.

She only made a little mess because she didn't really want to eat it, she barely touched it.

Cali is my sweet little girl and the best surprise Christmas present I could have ever asked for. I thank God everyday for her. I am so glad he always knows best and knew that we needed to another little angel to love!!

Santa Baby

2008-12-16T13:16:00.013-06:00

Since I can never get myself in gear to make picture appointments I am "forced" to take a hundred pics and hope my little angel cooperates.

"This is exhausting, time for a little snack."

Making a run for it!! Look at that determination to get away.

Escaping down the hallway.

"Playing peek-a-boo is more fun that posing in front of the tree."

"Yep, still more fun, I will keep doing this for a while longer."

"You don't look like Santa so I will just pull down your fake beard to find out for sure."

"Okay, I will tell you what I want."

"Ha Ha!!! My mommy took 108 pictures before she noticed I have a crusty nose. That will show her!!!"

ELF DISCO

2008-12-12T10:04:00.001-06:00

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Santa

2008-12-08T14:36:00.005-06:00

This was the best we could do! Cali didn't want to have anything to do with Santa! I also didn't realize how messed up her hair (and crooked in the the clip) was until after the photo. Oh well, I am just impresed we got her looking at the camera and not crying. In the others they took she was either staring at him crying or trying to get away.

Only ONE MONTH left

2008-11-19T08:27:00.013-06:00

Until my baby turns one and I totally lose my mind. I know it sounds like a cliche but the past 11 months have just flown by. She turned 11 months yesterday and I almost missed it. I did get these lovely shots after she spilled her water down the front of her.

I have friends who only have one baby and are talking about how they can't wait for them to sit up, or crawl, or walk. Since this is my third, my last, my baby, every new milestone is a bitter sweet one for me. She took her first steps about 8 months so she is walking pretty good by now. She still seems too little to be doing it. I will probably be in tears on her actual birthday.

Enough of me getting upset. We have been enjoying the fall weather like everyone else. Having 18 trees in our backyard makes for lots of leaves for the kids to play in. I love these pictures.

One of Caleb's chores is taking out the trash. One day he was taking longer than usual. I didn't know this was part of taking out the trash.

Here is Cali looking happy in her highchair. This is the BEFORE picture.

These are AFTER her Aunt Kara thought it would be funny to give her a "small taste" of Sour Patch Kids.

It was actually pretty funny. I don't make a habit of giving her stuff to eat just to see her reaction. However I do play a little game when I give her stuff like corn, green beans, kidney beans, etc. I like to see how long it takes for them to appear in her diaper and if they are still in the same form I gave it to her. I know I am a little weird.

No Cheerios for me!

2008-11-09T12:55:00.005-06:00

I will just have this broken marker tip instead.

Really Late and LONG Halloween Post

2008-11-04T14:16:00.013-06:00

I am just getting around to posting about Halloween because of all the chaos going on around here, which I will get to in a minute.

Just like everyone else, Halloween is a week long (or longer) event. We did the Fall Festival at church.

However this year I decided that after the Chris took the kids trunk or treating that I was ready to go home and I didn't want to stay for the cheesy carnival games inside the gym. I convinced Caleb to leave by saying that those were only for little kids and I convinced Caden by letting her know they were only serving hot dogs. So we were able to get out of there pretty easily. I told them I wanted REAL FOOD, so we went to Taco Bell!

We (the kids and I, along with Kara) also did the trick or treating at the OC dorms. That is always fun for me to see some people I only get to see once a year. Here are a few pics of the kids with some of their friends.

The kids each had fall parties at school so I had to divide my time between both of their classes. For some reason Caden wanted to put her costume OVER her clothes. My weird little girl!

Caden's party was nice and organized with centers and a lot of parents there to help. Caleb's on the other hand was pure chaos. It doesn't take much to get his class rowdy. There are 26 kids in his class and 19 are boys!!! CRAZY!! However the teacher is strict when she needs to be so he has a good class.

For Halloween night we went over to some friends house and had dinner and then went Trick or Treating. There were mostly boys and of course they all kept running from house to house that the other parents could barely keep up. Poor Caden was one of only 2 girls and was one of the youngest and she couldn't keep up with all those crazy boys.

Cali was worn out by the time we got done trick or treating.

But she perked up soon after to take some pictures. Here she is with her Aunt Kara and Caleb. Caden was too busy playing to take a picture.

A few days ago Cali thought she would help Caleb sort out the candy. Surprisingly she didn't try to eat much, I think she just likes the sounds the wrappers make in her hands.

Now onto the craziness around here. We are having MAJOR PLUMBING ISSUES!!!! I hate when things don't work as they should. We aren't exactly for sure what is wrong. It is something the plumber (that we normally use), can't fix. We are waiting to get someone to run a camera down the line (in the backyard) and find out where the problem is and then dig up the line and fix it. We think our line might have come detached from the cities, but we wont know for sure.

It started on Saturday when the office bathroom and closet flooded as well as the toilet in our master bathroom. We had the plumber out on Monday morning and he said it was clear for the moment but that we still have issues. So I thought it would be alright to do a few loads of laundry, WRONG!!!! The 2nd load is what flooded the office bathroom again.

We are able to flush a toilet occasionally, so we picked the kids bathroom. So at least we can use the bathroom occasionally, but we are having to take showers and do laundry etc at the neighbors. It has been a PAIN, and it is SO frustrating, but I am trying not to get upset even though I know it will cost a lot of money to fix. It is driving me CRAZY - not to mention the smell.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

2008-10-31T08:27:00.004-05:00

Halloween pictures for this week's activities will come soon, but I wanted to show the kids sporting the Eyeball cookies I made last night. I had to triple the recipe because both kids have school parties today and we have a get together tonight. These were a little more time consuming than I originally thought, but I thought these would be a fun thing for the kids.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN

MY husband is OLD!!

2008-10-27T11:49:00.007-05:00

Well not really, but for the next 3 months he is older than me.

Chris turned 34 last week and we had a nice family dinner at Carrabbas (minus the overcooked Chicken Parmesan I was given - BLAH). I always feel like a idiot whipping out the camera in a restaurant, but because I have not been taking many pictures lately we did it anyway. Here are a few.

Chris and Caleb

Kara (Chris's sister), Caden and Me. I have been cursed with small eyes, among other things. I often try to make my eyes look wider in photos without looking like a freak in the process. I don't think I succeeded . However Caden and Kara look cute so the picture stays.

Me and the kiddos

The whole family. Believe it or not, this was the best family one we got. Poor Caden.

Awesome Wedding Weekend with no Bride

2008-10-17T14:27:00.008-05:00

Cali and I, along with my mom, my sister Angie and her daughter Dakota, flew up to Fargo North Dakota last weekend for my cousin Marnie's wedding. My mom took lots of pictures. Do we have any of us with the bride? NO!! Do we have any of the bride at all? NO - a big whopping NO!!!!! What were we thinking? We just took tons of pics of Cali and Dakota. We could have done that in Texas.

Oh well we had a nice weekend anyway. Like I said we have pics, but they are on my mom's camera. Every time I get together with my (Texas) family there is lots of laughter. My sister and I laugh so much. You know the kind where you laugh so much you cry and your mouth gets really sore. Gotta love it!

There were many funny things from this trip, but here are a few highlights.

Me embarrassing Angie on the plane last Friday (day before the BIG game) because I was talking trash to some strange guy wearing a Texas Longhorns hat.

Angie and Dakota dumping an entire and very loud tin container of veggie puffs on the floor of the church during the very quite unity sand part of the wedding ceremony.

Me forcing Angie and Dakota (about 18 months) out on the dance floor to do the YMCA. Me forcing my mom to go out on the dancefloor to do the Chicken dance with me.

Angie and I trying to walk around the airports carrying our purse and diaper bag, a HUGE car seat, while pulling our suitcases with one hand and pushing an umbrella stroller with the other. Good thing we only had the suitcase part of our time and not on the layover.

Angie and I were on one of those electric walkways (carrying and pushing all our crap) at the Minneapolis airport and some 90+ year old woman gave us dirty looks for walking too slow.

Well I hate posts with no pictures, so here are a few of Caden from a little b-day party at a Pumpkin Patch.

Blogging Funk

2008-10-09T09:00:00.003-05:00

If you haven't noticed I have been in a blogging funk. I have just been so busy these last few weeks I just didn't think about it. However after the 4th person last night at church told me I needed to blog I thought I would write something.

Here is a conversation I had with Caden yesterday morning.

Me: Your hair is always full of tangles I need to trim it.
Caden: (in a whine) What does trim mean?
Me: Cut it.
Caden: (more of a cry now) No, I don't want to look like a boy.
Me: No, I am just going to cut a little bit off.
Caden: (still a little cry) No, I don't want to look like you either.

Magic Hair Gel

2008-09-26T11:09:00.002-05:00

There must be some magic powers in Chris's hair gel. Cali has fallen asleep like this many times. I think it is so funny.

My sweet baby is 9 months

2008-09-19T18:33:00.011-05:00

Cali turned 9 months old yesterday and I missed it. Oh well, one day late isn't too bad for the third kid right? My mom had given Cali this beautiful dress for Christmas and she is finally big enough to wear it.

I took about 20 pictures but these are the only ones that looked half way cute. I was getting frustrated that she would not stay on the blanket. (Yes Chrissey this is your blanket that I have not given back, so sorry I need to get my own!) Chris said this is really not a good time of day to take pictures. Apparently 6:00 in the evening on a day when your baby did not take more than a 30 minute nap is not ideal for pictures.

Frugal or Freak?

2008-09-16T13:39:00.003-05:00

Am I being frugal or just a freak because I am forcing my child to use this?

I am kidding of course. The humor of my 9 year old boy is starting to rub off on me. He brought this home from school the other day and was so excited to show me (in his words) "the worlds smallest pencil." I thought it was really funny.

New Family Pics

2008-09-11T12:09:00.009-05:00

We took these over a month ago and I am just now scanning them in.

Whose kid in this?

2008-09-09T08:33:00.007-05:00

Caden may look a little like me, but we are so different. First of all she is really sweet and passive with most people outside her family. I am no monster, but not sweet like her and passive will NEVER be used to describe me. She doesn't care for chocolate or for very many desserts. That still seems so weird to me, but I am getting used to it.

However her latest interest has got me floored. Almost every time Chris does yard work he finds some reptile - frog, lizard, or snake. I welcome them all EXCEPT for snakes. I like watching them on TV and seeing them at the ZOO, but having one inches or even feet away from me FREAKS ME OUT!!!!

The other day Chris brings one in the house and shows me and then wants to show Caden. I didn't want him to scare her, but the next thing I know I hear this - "Can I touch it? Can I hold it? "

This is her saying "awe he is so cute."

I know it looks like a clump of hair is across her forehead, but no, that is a SNAKE on my little girls head. (You might have to click on the picture below to see the snake because it is almost the same color as her hair.) Oh and just ignore Chris's sweaty and dirty hands and arms in the picture.

I know it is a baby snake that it is not poisonous and it wont hurt her one bit, but it still freaks me out.

Michael Phelps and Carrie Underwood Dating???

2008-09-02T08:14:00.005-05:00

Are you kidding me??

I didn't believe it when I first heard it either by my 9 year old this morning. He said he heard it on the radio. Now why is my 9 year old more current on celebrity gossip than I am? I guess it is because I have had a house full of family all weekend and just now got a chance to really get on the Internet. Anyway, I told him that I doubt they are dating. He said either they are dating or thinking about dating. I didn't think that made any sense, but sure enough this is what I just read online.

"the twentysomethings are frequently texting each other and have already begun planning a “quiet first date” near Carrie’s home in Nashville, Tennessee."

And of course we all know that EVERYTHING you read on the Internet is 100% FACT.

I guess all the gold medals have blurred her vision. How can she go from Tony Romo to Michael Phelps. Don't get me wrong I was one of the millions screaming on my couch during and after every race he was in, but come on.

My kids never did that.

2008-08-28T14:07:00.008-05:00

The other day a friend of mine was telling me about how her child wrote all over their bedroom wall with markers. I remember thinking how funny it was because my kids never really did that. Caleb wrote on his wall with crayons once when he was about 2 1/2 but after I made him help me clean it off he never did again. I was thinking that Caden never did things like that either until I remembered these incidents.

Here is Caden at about 2 1/2 playing nicely with some of her dolls one morning.

Now, here she is with those same dolls just a few hours later.

Yep - that is baby powder.

Caden never wrote on walls, she preferred herself. Here she is about a week before she turned 2.

(Please excuse the nasty carpet, that is our office/guest room/ebay room that is always crazy.)

Now my favorite mess of hers is from about a month before she turned 2. She dumped a bowl of pancake batter on herself and on the floor. That in itself isn't funny, but the pictures crack me up.

Poor thing!! She was so upset at what she had done and is pointing to her mess. However I thought it was so funny how it is dripping off her face. I just had to to take a picture of it before I cleaned up my little girl!

Cali's First Invisible Guitar

2008-08-25T10:11:00.005-05:00

I know she is just in the process of falling backwards, but it looks like she is jammin' out to an invisible guitar.

Last Friday we felt her first tooth coming in. We were surprised to see it because my kids get their teeth late. Caleb was 10 months and Caden was 14 months. So Cali is 2 months ahead of her brother. She thinks she is a big girl now because within a few minutes after I found her tooth she decided to can stand up for up to 5 seconds without falling.

My baby is 5

2008-08-22T11:25:00.011-05:00

Caden turned 5 yesterday and everyone at Chick-Filet yesterday for lunch new about it. She asked every little kid she saw how old they were and then preceded to tell them that she was older. Over and over again I heard "hi my name is Caden and I am 5." It got old really fast and 2 little boys were tired of it too and told her to quit saying it.

Caden is my little princess and I have really enjoyed these past 5 years with her. She is so sweet and kind to everyone (except occasionally with her brother). God has truly blessed me with such a happy and VERY HEALTHY child. These past 5 years have flown by.

Here she is just a few hours old.

Here is yesterday. She is so proud to be holding up 5 fingers.

It looks like she has flowers growing out of her fingers. I think it is funny.

I was going to go back and find a bunch of my favorite pictures of her, but then reality set in and I don't have the time for that. So here is a few.

Here is 4 months.

Here is 8 months, it is not the best picture but I included it since this is the age that Cali is now.

Here are a few from her 3 year pictures. She had so much fun taking these pictures that I got so many great shots.

I am so proud of the sweet little girl she has become. 5 seems like the magic number when I can't call her my little baby anymore.

It could have been worse!!

2008-08-20T13:45:00.008-05:00

This morning was headed for greatness. I had all 4 of us all ready to go by 8:15 this morning. That is 45 BEFORE school even starts. I had time to take some first day of school pictures in front of our unfinished landscaping.

I had planned for a stress free day until I loaded us in the car and it WONT START because the battery is DEAD. Keep in mind that Chris is still in Spokane Washington (as he has been for over a week). I almost started to freak out but then called the next door neighbors. Becca took Caleb with them since she is going there anyway with her kiddos. I had wanted to take him for his first day, but Caleb hasn't let me near the front door (on the first day) of school since he was in 1st grade so it doesn't matter anyway.

Back to the van. . . Eric tells me just to put it in neutral and let it roll down the driveway and then he will jump it. Apparently these newer vans wont go into neutral without the car being on. Maybe it is an anti-theft device, who knows. So he pulls his car into my driveway and then attaches 2 sets of jumper cables to each other so they are long enough to reach his car. So it all worked out but it was not my ideal first day of school, but it really could have been worse.

Caden is in afternoon Pre-K because they had too many enrolled in Kindergarten so they had to have the Pre-K teacher teach a morning K class. I know it has only been one day, but I HATE afternoon Pre-K, it totally messes up my day. However she was so excited to finally be at Caleb's school.

Here she is outside the school with her teacher Ms Stuchlik. Yep Caden's eyes are closed and I didn't notice until now.

Here she is with her class while the teacher was talking and going over attendance. She doesn't know anyone in the class but that wont bother her too much. I know she is going to have a great day!

There were two people crying in her class. I am so glad I wasn't one of them. I came close, but I held it together as to not embarrass my child or make her cry.

Now the only one who is going to be sad about the kids going to school is this little stinker. I think she is going to miss Caleb the most.

Who are these babies?

2008-08-19T11:45:00.005-05:00

If your child is in these don't give it away.

This is how 9 year old boys watch a baby.

2008-08-12T11:42:00.005-05:00

I was doing laundry (like almost every other stinkin' day of my life) and I asked Caleb and his friend to watch Cali for a little while. I came back to this.

Apparently she kept messing with their video games and they were tired of chasing her down the hallway.

Happy 13th Anniversary

2008-08-06T08:41:00.010-05:00

I better enjoy it now, he wants to trade me in before I turn 50.

Yesterday was our 13th wedding anniversary. We spent an awesome day lounging on the beach and drinking fruity drinks. Well at least that is what I was doing in my head while I was at home doing laundry, dishes and cleaning up poop off the floor.

We went on a cruise for our ten year anniversary and we will do something big for our 15th as well. So apparently these little non important anniversaries just get a dinner. However I am sure having a nursing 7 month old has something to do with our lack of planning.

Here we are the summer of 1995. Just a few months before we got married.

Here we are 13 years later.

Last night we just had a nice quiet dinner at PF Changs. While we were praying over our yummy appetizers of crab wontons and peking dumplings, Chris said something to the effect of "thank you God for the last 13 years and hope for another 13 years." Ummm, why not hope for another 40 or 50, why only 13?

After dinner he dropped me off back at the house and went to Auto Zone and then spent the rest of the night (NOT KIDDING) in the garage working on his car. Back off girls, he's mine!

FREE CANDY!!!

2008-08-03T17:55:00.007-05:00

This afternoon as we were putting away groceries we decided that we had too much crap in our pantry/cabinet. We start finding stuff that I know I haven't bought in A LONG TIME. Chris starts throwing stuff away and he found a package of cookies with a March 2007 date on them. They were actually still good. He also found several bags of chips with a 2006 date on them.

Then he opened up a cabinet and found this box.

This 11 lb box (yes we weighed it) is FILLED with all sorts of candy. Look closely at the date on the tin.

OH MY!!! Can you believe it? We have had this tin filled with M&M's 2 years longer than we have had Caleb.

So like morons we decide to open up some of the candy and see what it tastes like. Some of it had been opened before and some were still sealed. So if we start getting sick tomorrow you will know why.

Also in the box we found these 2 baggies filled with candy. Notice one says DeeDee and the other says Chris.

Ok now this just really makes me laugh. When Caleb was really little we would take him trick or treating at Halloween, put him to bed when we got home, and then dump out all the candy and divide it between the two of us. So this candy is at least 8 years old. We joked about saving it and giving it away for this Halloween.

Head Shots

2008-07-30T16:34:00.016-05:00

Caleb is ready for his head shots!

This was Caleb about 2 weeks ago. He had been wanting this for years, but he was only allowed to have it for a few days before Chris cut it all off. Now it is really short and he doesn't like it. I still think he looks cute, especially when he is being so sweet and cuddly with his baby sister.

On Monday since we knew it was going to be over 100 degrees by 11am, we (along with Kim and Chrissey) went to the Zoo. We went early so it wasn't too bad. This time we let the kids do the rock wall. Caleb of course made it all the way to the top.

Caden wanted to do it too. She and the other girls only made it part way up, but at least they tried.

The picture below was after I told her don't be a wuss and keep going.

Only joking, this was when she told me she was stuck and was done.

My little stinker Cali is a lot more trouble now that she is so mobile. I promise this picture WAS NOT staged. The other day Chris had the guitar leaning against the entertainment center. We were both out of the room putting away groceries and I come in the living room and find this!

I don't have a clue how she crawled over there and got that wrapped around her so fast.

Lately the Wii cord is a favorite for her. Apparently this pillow is not a deterrent. It just gives her something softer to climb on.

I just love her big cheese grins.

It's a Plane, not a Helicopter.

2008-07-24T15:14:00.008-05:00

Our friends Jeff and Andrea have a plane and we took a little trip on Tuesday night. We just flew up to Ponca City to go to a Mexican restaurant that they like. I know it sounds odd to fly up to Ponca City, but it was SO MUCH FUN and I can't wait to fly again.

Here are a few pictures of Andrea and I acting silly.

Before we landed we flew back towards our house. We had to fly around in circles like 5 times before I could find the house. Everyone else found it immediately but the moron that I am couldn't find my own house. Chris called Caleb so he could come outside and look up and see if he could see us. He could see us, but all we could see was a white shirt running across the yard.

He told me later that he was disappointed that we didn't land at the house. I told him it is not like it is a helicopter where all you need is a field to land in, that you actually needed a runway.

7 months already

2008-07-18T09:42:00.004-05:00

My sweet little Cali is 7 months today. I know it sounds like a cliche but the time really has flown by. Cali is so much fun! She loves the swing, as you can tell. Actually she loves almost everything. She is not a fussy baby unless she is tired or of course hungry. She loves Bible class at church and the ladies tell me she is usually the baby that lasts the longest in class. She loves to stare and smile at Caleb and Caden. She REALLY likes Caden's hair. She loves to pull her headband and bow over her eye like a pirate or wear it like a bow tie or to just eat it. She likes it when we play rough with her. She loves to be tickled and thrown in the air. She has been crawling for about 2 weeks now. Her favorite things to crawl towards are cords, remotes and Zeta (Chris's sister's dog).

She is my little unexpected gift from God and I thank him everyday for her. Having a 9 year old and a baby really makes you cherish all the little things because they grow up way too fast.

Garage Sale ETIQUETTE

2008-07-16T16:22:00.006-05:00

Is there such a thing?

Well there needs to be! We had a garage sale last weekend (actually 2 different weekends) and there were several people who really irritated me. There was this girl, maybe 13 years old and she had the audacity to say "here ya go" while waving a dollar bill at me from like 10 feet away. Are you kidding me? Do you really think I am really going to get up from my chair by the fan to take your money? NO!! This may not have been that big of a deal all by itself but she had also asked me how much something cost on about 5 different items because she was too lazy or stupid to look at the price tag. Then what REALLY bothered me the most about this moron was every time she asked me the price she would carry it around and then put it back in a different spot. I was thinking, "what a great idea to put a game on top of a pair of shoes, idiot!"

Another customer a "sweet little old lady" (NOT!) was paying for her stuff and kept complaining about all the jerks out in the circle and how she was afraid her car was going to get hit. We live in a cul-de-sac, which is perfect for the kids, but can be nightmare for garage sales. Anyway so this lady kept complaining and we watch her walk to her car that was parked IN THE CENTER of the cul-de-sac. No wonder she was afraid her car was going to get hit. Her car was the cause of the craziness.

Everytime we have a garage sale I think, is this really worth it. Well after 2 Saturdays, countless morons and a profit of almost $1,000 I would have to say YES!!

I don't usually like to do a post without a picture so I found some funny garags sale signs - NO, none of them are ours.

What would you have done?

2008-07-10T08:32:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we were at Incredible Pizza. Picture this. . . Caleb is playing some basketball game. There are 2 boys (brothers) playing on the 2 machines beside him. Standing in front of the machine beside them is the mother or grandmother of those boys. She is actually guarding a HUGE massive pile of tickets that is pouring out of the game that no one is playing. I was guessing there might have been at least 500 or so.

So I watch them for about 30 seconds and then I felt the need to tattle. So I did! When they came to fix it they still let them keep that huge pile. That slightly irritated me, but I walked away filled with accomplishment that I had served my civic duty. Actually I ran over to Chris laughing about what I had just done.

Fast forward about 10 minutes and I see those same people back at those same games and tickets are pouring out of the machine beside the one that was acting up before. So of course I tattle again. This time a worker guy runs over there and says no no no to those people, but I think he also let them keep the tickets too.

I happened to pass by them (no I wasn't stalking them) when they were at the ticket counting machine. The last number I saw was 2250 and they still had HUGE piles of tickets left to go. They probably had at least 3500-4000 in total. It was crazy!! There were lots of people watching them as they were loading them into the ticket machine. People were in awe as they were watching. So I did what any normal person would do. I told everyone around that they didn't win those tickets based on skill. They actually cheated and got them from a broken machine. No I really didn't. But I did think about it.

Texas and 4th of July

2008-07-05T09:56:00.010-05:00

The kiddos and I spent 5 days down in Texas at my moms house. We went out on my sisters boat one day. The kids got to help their uncle drive the boat, fish and of course play in the water. Cali did great except when it was time to put on her life jacket. She HATED wearing that thing.

Most of the time the kids played in my mom's pool. Here is an action shot of Caleb doing a flip off the diving board.

Caleb loved doing flips off the diving board. He kept doing it over and over again.

Almost every time I go to Arlington to see the family my sister and I go to STUDIO MOVIE GRILL and eat and watch a movie. I LOVE that place and wish we had one here. We saw GET SMART. We were laughing out loud over and over. Steve Carrell is so funny. I am an OFFICE ADDICT!!!

Yesterday on the 4th we all had a nice relaxing day. We decided to skip the parade and slept in a little. Then Chris and I took the kids to see the movie WALL-E. We all enjoyed it and it was so cute.

Then Chris took Caleb and Caden to our neighborhood pool for a few hours. Our HOA always provide food and games for the afternoon on the 4th.

Then (like we did last year) we all went up to Kickingbird Golf course. You have to buy your ticket in advance and they only let in a select number so it wasn't too crowded. They had a decorated mini putting green set up for the kids. They had the driving range open and had a scavenger hunt. They provided hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, drinks and snow cones at reasonable prices. After dark we were all sitting in our lawn chairs and/or blankets on the 9th green to watch the fireworks show.

The kids with Zack and Ethan.

Cali doing her weird crawl.

Ethan and Caden cuddling during the fireworks. They are so cute together. I just can't get enough.

All in all we had a great July 4th!

Cali 6 months & Family Fun Night

2008-06-26T11:25:00.015-05:00

Cali turned 6 months over a week ago and I am just now getting to it. At her doctors appt on Monday she was 16 lbs 10 oz. I knew she was slimming down a little. Now she is only in the 75th percentile. She is 26 1/2 inches long which is also 75th percentile. She is on the verge of crawling. She scoots herself pretty good and can almost do the army crawl.

She got 3 shots which really started to bother her a few hours later. Her legs were so sore and she was not her usual happy self. Shots have never bothered her before so I didn't think it would be a big deal to have pictures scheduled for the next day. I should have just cancelled the appointment. She was NOT in the mood for pictures on Tuesday and we actually got several shots of her pouting. I went ahead and got the one below even though she doesn't have one of her big smiles.

Last Friday we went to OC's Family Fun Night. The kids had a great time. They have tons of inflatables, pony rides, rock wall and free food. It was also fun to see friends that I hadn't seen since college. They also have an outdoor movie too.

Caden really wanted to ride the pony with the pink saddle. So we stood in the line for that one. Caleb ran up to us right before it was Caden's turn and I asked if he wanted to ride too. I thought he would say no, especially since the pony's name was Princess. However he wanted to ride it anyway and now I can make fun of him for it later.

Caleb also did the rock wall and he made it all the way to the top.

I just love these pictures of Cali and Chris.

Caden - my little Artist

2008-06-20T07:22:00.004-05:00

Caden, my sweet little angel is going to be my creative one I think. She loves to draw. She usually draws Ariel, flounder and Sebastian but sometimes she branches out. Lately she has wanted to put every picture she draws on her door. Caleb never did that and I think it is funny. I am going to keep letting her do this until she doesn't want to anymore.

For those of you that don't know we have a visitor living with us for the summer. His name is Cody and he is technically my step nephew or as my dorky husband says "Cody is my wife's mom's husband's daughter's son. He is a student at OC and has a job here at Tinker for the summer. Anyway Caden just follows him around. She likes to sit by him in car, tries to get him to play hide and seek with her and color as well.

The other day we were in the car after leaving Caleb's baseball game and this is the conversation I hear from the back of the van.

Caden: What is that? (As she points to his neck.)
Cody: That is my Adam's apple.
Caden: Why did you eat it? (Loud laughter coming from the entire van)
Cody: Adam gave it to me.
Caden: Is he older than you? Is he older than my daddy?

Then lots of other questions about Adam too.

FATHER'S DAY

2008-06-16T12:46:00.003-05:00

As with most Sunday mornings, we were rushing around trying to get to church on time. It was 7:50 in the morning (10 min before we were suppose to leave the house) and my hair was still wet up in a towel, Cali was still asleep, and I hadn't painted Caden's toenails (that I had promised the night before I would do in the morning if she wore the shoes I wanted her to wear) So Chris offered to help me out by painting her toenails. I said I can do it real fast, but he said "I will do it, how hard could it be." I was almost done with my hair and he was STILL painting her nails. I only griped once (hey it is Fathers Day) about how LONG it was taking him. Then as I am almost done he starts to paint her fingernails. WHAT???? I then starting yelling, why would you do that when we are running late. He said "she asked me to paint them." Well she asks me to do a lot of stuff, but we are really going to be late.

A few minutes later we are all ready to go, but I had to get them all together to take a REALLY RUSHED picture for Father's Day. I couldn't get Cali to even look at the camera, much less smile. She just woke up, hadn't eaten since 10 pm the previous night and was more interested in trying to eat Chris and Caleb's fingers than to look at the camera. We finally get loaded in the car at 8:17 - CRAP - church service started 2 minutes ago. We haven't been that late in a while. Oh well, better late than never!

Conversation in the car on the way to lunch.

Caden: Where are we going to eat?
Me: Carrabbas
Caden: I don’t want to go there, I want to go to Chinese Buffet.
Me: It is Fathers Day, so Daddy gets to pick.
Caden: Well, when it is sister’s day . . .

I have no clue what she said after that because I was laughing so hard.

FUN but BUSY SUMMER

2008-06-09T09:42:00.018-05:00

I thought summers were supposed to be relaxing??? We have been very busy so far. Last week Caleb was at scout camp and he got to do BB shooting, archery, crafts, sports, nature hikes, fishing etc. He had so much fun and is already looking forward to next year.

Also our lives have been all about BASEBALL. He had his team pictures last week.

His season is almost over though. He had 5 games last week because he had a tournament on Saturday. We were at the baseball fields most of the day. (I was so impressed with how well Cali did all day. She only cried a few times.) This is their last season for machine pitch and next season they start kid pitch. This week he is at baseball camp and next week is VBS for both kids. Maybe I will get to sleep in a little in July.

When we haven't been at baseball or camps we have been at the park or swimming. Last week while Caleb was at scout camp the girls and I met some friends at the park. My friend Chrissey got a new camera with some cool features that she has been playing with so she took some cute pictures of the kids.

Here is a picture of Cali's first time sitting on grass. She is usually sitting on a blanket. I think she is trying to figure out what the heck she is sitting on.

Then she saw me and she was happy.

Here are a few more cute ones from the park. Caden and Ashlyn playing with sidewalk chalk.

We love having a pool in our neighborhood. Last summer we went almost every other day. Now with a baby it is a little more difficult. The first few times we went I just let Caleb and Caden swim since I kept forgetting to buy swim diapers for Cali. Her and I just sat in the shade and watched and she was totally happy or content for about 2 hours.

This past Friday was the first time Cali got in the water. She only fussed for about 5 seconds and then decided she was happy or at least curious enough to stay in the floaty.

After I saw what cool things Chrissey's new camera could do I played with mine some and I can do those cool color things too. So I took a few with the color accent feature too.

Tea Party with Daddy

2008-06-05T09:24:00.004-05:00

On Monday night our church had the annual Father Daughter Tea party. Chris and Caden both had a great time last year and were both excited for this night as well. The girls got to have tea, princess themed snacks, put on make up, make crowns and purses, play kiss the frog, play musical pillows, get their fingernails painted and they got to take home a pillow that Miss Verna Lee Parker made for all of the girls.

Caden said her favorite part was getting to put on make-up. I am so blessed that I have a husband that enjoys having these special times with his daughter instead of looking at it as a chore.

Happy Birthday Caleb!!!

2008-05-27T10:47:00.026-05:00

Caleb is 9 years old today! He is very happy about it - me not so much (more about that later.) It seems like we have been celebrating his birthday off and on for the past few days. My mom and grandma were in town this past weekend so they took him to Toys R US on Friday after school. They gave him a set amount that he could spend. To most kids that would be awesome. For Caleb, it took forever!!! He was so indecisive. (Due to the fact that we are "professional garage salers" it made it hard for him to spend real money on things. Even though our main goal for garage sales is to buy to resell on ebay, we almost always find awesome deals on things we need/want. People are usually so amazed at some of the things we get.)

Sunday was Caleb's friend party. This year he wanted to go Bowling. He had a great time! Here are a few pics of him and some of his friends. Somehow there were some kids I didn't get a picture of, or only got the back of their head.

I thought this picture of Caden with her daddy was so sweet.

Cali did great at the party. She slept for the first half, but then was content to just sit and people watch.

Yesterday on Memorial Day we did nothing for a change. This was the first year we didn't have family in town and have a cookout. We decided to do nothing. Over the past few weeks Caleb has done a massive cleaning out of his room and we have tons of toys he wants to sell at our next garage sale. Yesterday he also decided that he wanted to sell some of his N64 and PS2 games on ebay. I told him that with all that money he gets from the toys and the video games that he should save it all up and he can buy himself a Wii. He LOVED that idea. (Chris actually had several before Christmas that he got at Wal-Mart, but they were selling so high on ebay that he sold them all) So Caleb brought in stacks and stacks of games for Chris to list. If they all sell he will have enough to buy a Wii in just a week or two!

We have a little tradition of taking the kids out to breakfast on their actual birthday. Caleb picked Cracker Barrel. So we were there at 7:30 this morning. Before we left we gave Caleb our present. Here he is reading the note.

It says something like. "we didn't want to get you any more toys since you have too many already so for your birthday you have to give away all your toys, just kidding. . . . we wanted to get you something you could enjoy for more than a few days. . . for your birthday we are giving you and daddy season passes to Frontier City and White Water Bay." He was really excited about the water park!!!

I can't believe he is already 9 years old. I can remember so clearly 9 years ago when he was born. I remember being so excited and so scared all at the same time.

I had wanted to go back and find some of my favorite pictures of him over the last 9 years but there are just too many. The interesting thing is that most of my favorites were not the adorable professional ones - like this one below.

Here is Caleb at 17 months old. I LOVE this picture.

Most of my favorites were the ones that I took when he was doing silly or weird things or just being a boy. Even though the camera wasn't the best or it wasn't taken with the best lighting or angles etc, I love them because I remember how happy he was at those moments. I remember what was going on in our lives at that moment.

Caleb has always had a love for frogs and lizards. Here is Caleb when he was almost 4. He had so much fun playing with frogs (still does).

Here is another set of pictures that I just love. Caleb had just turned 3 years old and Chris was cleaning out and filling up Caleb's little pool in the back yard. I was able to get these funny pictures. Caleb asked to be sprayed with water. I just love the expressions he has on his face in these pictures.

He is trying to get away.

This one below is one of my favorites of the set. He was trying to get away but knew he was trapped. His body position and facial expression in this picture just cracks me up. He was enjoying himself though.

He is completely drenched in these pictures and he is LOVING IT!!!

These pictures almost bring me to tears. I know the days of him wanting to be around us are numbered. Right now I have the best of both worlds. He is very independent and sometimes it seems like he really only needs me as a chauffeur. However he still wants to be around me sometimes. He will still indulge me at times. He lets me hug him and will kiss me if none of his friends are watching. He still likes to cuddle, wrestle and play games with me.

Caleb (at 4 months) and daddy pouting! Caleb 2 months ago.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!! I love you SO MUCH!!!

Funny Website

2008-05-20T12:23:00.003-05:00

Check this out!
Manbabies

I got this from my friend Kim's blog. Her husband Peter thinks it is disturbing, but I think it is HILARIOUS!!

Cali's New Tricks

2008-05-16T08:29:00.006-05:00

She is sitting up! She can only do this for about a minute before she reaches for a toy or gets excited and falls over. I just love how her fat stomach lays over her diaper.

Her second trick is this! Look at her cute little tongue sticking out. This is the first time she got it out that far. (Hey Chrissey, in this last picture with the tongue she reminds me of Kellan)

The Grand Canyon

2008-05-14T11:11:00.002-05:00

The other day Caleb asked me who made the Grand Canyon. Before I could answer him he said "was it some guy named Pecos Bill?" I laughed so hard.

I LOVE BEING A MOMMY!!!

2008-05-13T11:07:00.009-05:00

Happy Belated Mothers Day to all my mommy friends!!

I love being a mom. It is hardest job in the world, but the most rewarding as well. I am so emotional when it comes to my kids. I can't get through the first sentence of a mothers day card from my kids without crying.

Here is a picture of me and my kiddos on Mothers Day. I wish I could be organized to do the color coordination that Lesley and Chiara do for their families. I am sure this picture would look a lot better if I did!!

I finally gave Cali rice cereal for the first time last week. She loved it!!!

Cali is VERY MOBILE for a 4 1/2 month old who doesn't crawl yet. She is always at the other end of her crib every morning. She is also never in the same spot on the floor when I lay her down to play.

The picture below (taken about a week or so ago) is the result of what happened when Chris left her on the floor to put the kids to bed and came back ONLY 10 min later. He originally had her laying on her back under that toy with her feet at the green side.

So not only is she now on her belly but she is facing the wrong direction and she went backwards. I have no clue how she did this. Doesn't she look pitiful in this picture?? It makes me laugh anyway!!!

Sonshine School Program

2008-05-09T14:37:00.009-05:00

Caden's Sonshine School program was a week ago and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. Here are a few pics. They are not very good quality. I am going to blame it on bad lighting and distance instead of user error.

Here is her class on stage. I am not sure why the rows aren't even. I didn't notice it at the time. I was very impressed with Caden this year. She always does well on stage. She never seems scared, but last year when she was 3, she pulled her dress up and 2 years ago, when she was only 2, my friend Kim got a picture of her picking her nose.

Caden looks REALLY tall in this one. She is a little tall for her age, but not this much. She is just standing in between 2 of the shortest ones.

Here they are singing the "The Monkey See the Monkey Do" song.

Great picture huh with everyone having the possessed eyes.

Here are Caden and Molly with Ms Laura and Ms Aubrey. (Kim I am sure the picture you took is much better than this, so please send it to me.)

They are such great teachers and Caden really likes them. We have been so blessed with having great teachers. Caden attended there 3 years and we never had any problems. We have all wonderful memories. It is sad to think in a few weeks she will be done and off to public Pre-k next year.

Great Weekend filled with Cake, Blood and Vomit

2008-05-06T10:18:00.000-05:00

We went to Arkansas this past weekend to visit Chris's brother Ryan, sister-in-law Sharla and their family. Their daughter Mckenna was having her third birthday party.

Look at this adorable ladybug cake and cupcakes that Sharla made.

This is the only picture I got with all the cousins. It is not a great picture, but oh well. Here is my kids with Mckenna and Laney on Sunday after church.

On Sunday afternoon before we left Uncle Ryan gave Caleb a ride on the motorcycle.

The party wasn't until Saturday afternoon so we had time to visit and play games etc with just family until he party started. The kids had fun playing on the swing set and just being outside in general. Ryan took Caleb across the street to play with Brody, a neighbor kid and they also eventually hooked up with another neighbor kid named Alex (I think). Caleb is the only boy grandson on both sides so he was really enjoying getting to play with boys. He was having fun all day riding bikes, his scooter, playing football etc and at one point he told Chris, "This is the best vacation or whatever!" GREAT! I am glad he had fun, but why did we just spend thousands of dollars last summer at Disney World if he had just as much fun going to Arkansas and playing with strangers.

At some point in the morning Sharla noticed blood spots all over her kitchen floor. We didn't have a clue where they came from, but she cleaned it up and we kept getting ready for the party. About 20 min before the party was supposed to start Caleb and the two neighbor kids came in from the backyard and accidentally let the dogs in. Ryan and Sharla have a small dog and a black lab. The neighbor's dog from across the street happened to be "visiting." This dog happens to be a GREAT DANE and he is HUGE!!!! His head almost comes to my armpits. Anyway while we had those 3 dogs running through the living room and into the kitchen we finally figured out where all the blood was coming from. The HUGE DOG's foot was bleeding. So now there are new spots all over the kitchen floor and living room. Sharla had been back in her bedroom and walked into the living room while this was going on. I saw the panicked look on her face. Chris is holding a towel up to the dogs foot trying to stop the flow and to see exactly where he was bleeding. I am trying to get Caleb and the other kids to go outside so we can clean up all the blood. Apparently I wasn't fast enough because Alex puked on the kitchen floor. I get them to the garage and he pukes again, then out into the yard and he pukes again. I then yell for that kid to go home!!! Poor Sharla!!! I really thought she was going to have a breakdown. So at this point Chris is cleaning up blood from a neighbors dog and puke from a another neighbors kid in the kitchen and I clean it up from the garage. Overall it was a great party!

Get off your butt and EXERCISE!

2008-05-01T14:58:00.000-05:00

Or in a nicer tone . . . it would be really good for your mind, body and soul if you would kindly get your lazy self off the couch (or for some of us girls - off the computer) and hit the GYM!!!

My friend Elizabeth at http://www.mommymizfit.blogspot.com/ is giving everyone an exercise challenge starting next Monday. For $20, you will get 20 workouts to do, and the goal is to exercise for 20 minutes a day. (or more if you are already exercising regularly.) You can earn points for extra things, getting people to join in, or doing more than just 20 minutes, etc. The rules are on her blog. You can click on the above link or under Mullin's on my friend's list. If you are interested mention my name when you contact her. You don't have to live here to participate.

I actually just recently started going back to the gym on a regular basis but I am always up for a challenge. I still have 8 lbs from being pregnant that don't want to go away, so hopefully this challenge is the extra motivation that I need to lose the rest.

I am sure for a lot of people it is not just a matter of motivation it is a matter of time. For me, with 3 kids, one being only 4 months old and an 8 year old with baseball taking up so much evening time, it is hard to find the time to put exercise into your already full schedule. However knowing how much your spouse is going to love you shedding a few pounds I bet they will be supportive. You never know, they might start helping out more around the house!

Funny Faces

2008-05-01T10:35:00.001-05:00

These pictures are so funny to me. These were taken at my mom's house a few weeks ago. She loves playing on her stomach and usually makes really funny expressions. In some of these she looks like she is trying to fly, trying to do the breastroke or pounce like a cat. I love her facial expression in the last one. It is like she is up to something.

The Bowling Princesses

2008-04-28T09:04:00.000-05:00

This weekend my in laws came to visit. My sister in law Kara and her boyfriend Joe were also in town too. We had a nice weekend of playing games, just hanging out and we also went bowling. On Saturday afternoon we decided to go down to Bricktown to try the RED PIN bowling alley. It was a fun atmosphere being right on the canal. Of course that is the most expensive bowling I have ever done in my life. It was $45 freakin dollars to rent a lane for an hour. That was just the before 5pm price. After 5pm it jumps to $55 an hour. Everyone knows how much I LOVE to bowl, however still too pricey. I had a great time anyway probably because I beat everyone except for Chris.

There were some really cool features though. First of all our shoes were included in the price. (not a huge difference but still). You get seated directly to your lane with comfortable couch seating and not those hard plastic chairs. Our server guy (yes, they serve real food too that you are actually allowed to eat at your lane) took our names and shoe sizes just like he was taking our order. He put our names in for us and brought us our shoes on a serving platter like he was serving us drinks. When it was the kids turn to bowl the bumpers automatically came up. Caleb found a way to roll the ball directly at the bumpers and have the ball zig zag back and forth and hit the pins in the perfect spot and he got a few strikes. Another cool feature is that it tells you how fast your ball went down the lane. Mine wasn't very fast, usually only 10-11 mph. (I tend to go for accuracy over power.) However some of the guys got it close to 20 mph. Poor Caden's ball only went about 2 mph and occasionally it would time out before her ball made it down there and it wouldn't count her score. So several times we had to get the guy to adjust her score.

While we were there a group of about 16 teenagers came in dressed in prom dresses and tuxedos. PROM BOWLING, why didn't I think of that when I was in high school. That would have been so cool. Caden was in awe!!! She spotted a girl in a long yellow/gold colored dress and she said "is that a princess?" She thought she looked just like Belle. It was SO CUTE!! They were in the lanes next to us so she went over there and asked her if she was a princess. She was mesmerized by them. She kept going back over to them to talk to them or just to stare at them. She is not accustomed to seeing regular people in fancy dresses. They thought she was cute so they were talking to her too. I didn't get a picture of her with the Belle look alike, but here is another girl that she kept talking to.

I don't need a bed . . .

2008-04-25T10:53:00.000-05:00

when I can sleep right here!!

Cali loves playing in this. I had her in there this morning while I was in the kitchen. She only fussed for about 20 seconds and then she was out. She only slept like this for about 15 minutes, but I thought it was so cute!

Cali is 4 months - AGAIN

2008-04-22T11:37:00.000-05:00

I know I just posted 4 month pictures, but here is the one we got from Portrait Innovations last Friday.

They don't really like me there, since they don't make any money off me. I don't give in an buy over $100 worth of pictures. I "usually" only get the advertised special for $9.95. I had Chris there with me to help me be firm and say "no, we are only going to buy one pose." Out of the 97 pictures they took I LOVED about 8 of them. On the rest the lady thought they were cute and I kept saying no, no, next, next. She said "why, what is wrong with these?" I said (in a very polite tone - honest!) "they are cute, but I can get better smiles from her at home so I am not going to buy these. " She then got up to go help someone for a minute and while she was gone Chris and I decided on this one and when she came back I said firmly, but again in a very polite tone, "we just decided to get this one pose." She wasn't too happy. Oh well, I was happy enough for the both of us, because I got these adorable pictures for only$10.00.

I just got back from Cali's 4 month check-up. She got 4 shots again. She was done crying by the time I picked her up off the table. AWE - she is so big and tough!! I know that no one besides me and my family care about her stats but I am going to give them anyway, so you can choose to read or leave (that is also meant for you to read in a polite tone)

Weight - 15 lbs 9 oz 90%

Height - 25 1/4 - 75-90%

Head - 43 cm 90-95%

On her weight I am not for sure if the nurse meant 15.95 lbs or 15 lbs 9.5 ounces because she wrote it like this 15 95. I am wanting to say 15 lbs 9 oz so she will seem smaller, because I am tired of my kids getting bigger. I want this one to stay a baby.

Cali is 4 months!

2008-04-18T07:49:00.000-05:00

I am taking Cali to get her 4 month pictures today at Portrait Innovations. I am posting the ones I took yesterday just in case I don't get any good ones. Normally I do, but on occasion I get some idiot photographer and I think I could have done better.

I couldn't decide which one I like the best so I am posting all of them. I know I am a little biased, but isn't she just adorable!!!!

BEWARE of the Pooping Snake

2008-04-17T10:56:00.000-05:00

We battled the fierce winds yesterday and went to the Zoo. We are guessing the wind kept many away because it wasn't crowded at all. By lunch time the wind had calmed down and it was a very nice and sunny day. A little too sunny because now I have a crappy farmer's tan -actually a slight burn on my arms.

We only got a few pics of Caden and Ethan with real animals, but we did get a lot with the fake ones. Here are a few.

I really like these of Caden and Ethan. They have so much fun together. I am sure one of these days they wont hold hands and run off together, but for now I get these adorable pictures.

Since it was windy and a little chilly in the morning I kept Cali covered in the stroller, but I think she was having a good time anyway.

She really enjoys being outside, as I am sure most babies do too.

Ethan (who is one year older) is starting to read pretty well. So he was wanting to read some of the signs about the animals. Of course Caden wanted to read too so she looks at a sign about bears and points to each word and says "DO NOT GO INTO THE BEARS HOME. DO NOT GO INTO THE BEARS WATER OR YOU WILL GET EATEN BY THE BEARS."

Later as we were looking at some snakes she read "DON'T TOUCH THE SNAKES OR THEY WILL POOP ON YOUR BOTTOM."

Lovin' those Chubby Legs!!

2008-04-09T12:19:00.000-05:00

I just love Cali's chubby legs and knees. These were taken a few days ago at Kara's house (my sister-in-law). I am so happy it is starting to get warmer so I can dress her in outfits that show off her rolls! Wouldn't it be so nice if chubby thighs were still adorable on 30 something girls. Then I would be in business!!!

UM. . . Look what I just found!

2008-04-04T12:14:00.001-05:00

I don't know how she did this. This doesn't look comfortable to me, with her back really arched (can't see how much in the photo). She doesn't seem to mind, she is totally zonked out! She has been rolling over from tummy to back since she was 2 weeks old, but she has NEVER rolled from back to stomach, especially not in a moving swing. I guess she was trying to escape - my adorable little Houdini. I guess I actually need to start strapping her in from now on.

GHETTO Van

2008-04-01T14:55:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon as I was leaving Sonic I heard this loud noise at my door and my window starts to slowly slide down into the door. CRAP! Good thing it was a pretty day yesterday. So last night Chris tries to fix it. He takes the door panel off and gets the window back up, but some brackets broke in the door so it wont stay up. So today I had the privilege of driving around in a ghetto van with no door panel and the window taped closed with masking tape. (Chris said our clear packing tape would be too sticky to get back off. ) Instead of keeping it in garage I have decided to park it in the front yard next to the washing machine and stove.

Beautiful Day at the Park

2008-03-28T08:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday after we picked up the kids from Sonshine School a few friends and I took the kiddos to the park. It was so nice outside - almost hot! I had to put Cali back in the stroller because I was afraid she might get too pink. Here are a few pics of my girls at the park. (Caleb was still in school.)

Here are some pictures of Cali with my friend Andrea, aka "Cali's 2nd Mommy."

EASTER 2008

2008-03-24T14:26:00.000-05:00

When we were down in TX last week, my sister's church had a potluck and egg hunt for the kiddos.

Here is Caden and Caleb with my adorable niece Dakota.

This past Saturday the kiddos and I painted eggs and the counter.

First spill - done by Caleb. He blamed it on the container and he is totally correct. These came with the kit, but what kind of stupid person created these??? They don't even stand up correctly. I wont be using them again.

Second spill, no one fessed up to this one, probably the containers fault again.

Then in the afternoon we went to Hafer Park with 15,000 of our closest friends and family. That is NOT an exageration. Caleb got a flyer at his school before Spring Break and he really wanted to go. They were suppose to have over 50.000 eggs, pony rides, inflatables, pics to take with real bunnies, live music and free food.. There were people everywhere and kids running around like crazy. I was so afraid of having another "incident" like we did in Disney World last summer when Chris lost Caden. That was the scariest 3 min of my entire life. So After the egg hunt and a few anxiety induced tears (by me) we left and had a nice afternoon at home.

This picture shows some of the people behind us, but it doesn't give you the full effect of the crazy mad house.

Here are the kids on Easter morning before church.

We were going to go to the festivities at another local church but when we left the restaurant after lunch it was cold and windy we skipped it. The kids didn't seem to mind, so we went home. We watched our basketball brackets continue to go to pot and tried to be as lazy as possible while the kids played outside. I call it a good day!!!

Spring Break

2008-03-22T10:41:00.000-05:00

YEA!!! Oh the joys of Spring Break when kids are out of school and are forced to spend time with their siblings. Even though I thoroughly enjoyed the constant bickering, all good things must come to an end. It is ALMOST OVER!!!! Only slightly joking!!

We started out the break last Friday night by going to POPS. http://www.pops66.com/ They have almost 500 different kinds of Soda. It was fun looking at all the different kinds. The kids enjoyed themselves but I think POPS is just a glorified gas station. Here are Caleb and Caden in front of the HUGE soda bottle that lights up and changes colors. The giant pop bottle is 66 feet tall and weighs over 4 tons.

The next morning the kids and I left on the train for Ft Worth. I know it is less than 4 hrs drive to my mom's house in Arlington, but it has been almost 5 years since Caleb rode on it and he has been asking me for a while. The kids enjoyed not having to be buckled and having the freedom to move around a little. However, Caden wanted to sit on her booster seat for a while although it obviously wasn't required.

The last time I was on it 5 years ago the train was probably only half full, but since it was the first day of Spring Break the train was PACKED. I think I was one of only a few people that didn't have someone sitting beside them. Obviously Cali was sitting with me, but she isn't a paid rider so they could have sat someone next to me, but they didn't. If you have never taken the train down there I recommend it, excpet during Spring Break. The train stops to drop off/pick up in Norman, Purcell, Pauls Valley, Gainesville and then down to Ft Worth.

Cali isn't smiling in this picture, but I love her bright blue eyes. She did great on the train, only fussed once the entire trip.

We spent Saturday through Wednesday in Arlington visiting my mom, Ed, my grandmother, and my sister and her family. The weather was so nice (until it rained buckets on Tuesday) that the kids played outside most of the day and we got to play lots of games and of course play with the babies. Here is my mom with her grandkids.

My mom rode the train back with us on Wed night and stayed for a few days. It was also packed, but we were able to get seats across from each other.

Cali has recently started grabbing at a few things. Cali decided she wanted a snack on the train too. Here is Cali with "her" bag of Fritos.

And here she is "helping" my mom play Hand and Foot.

Overall we had a great spring break, but I am really looking forward to MONDAY!!

GOD gave me kids so I can laugh at them!

2008-03-08T10:05:00.000-06:00

My kids crack me up! They are so silly and are always doing things to make me laugh, usually unintentional.

I was going over Caleb's spelling words on Thursday for his test on Friday. One of the words was scientific. He said "it is kind of like SKY-intific, but instead of a K there is a C and instead of a Y there is an I." I thought that was so funny.

Conversation with Caden a few days ago.

Me: Caden did you put a marker in your mouth?
Caden: No
Me: Are you sure?
Caden: Yes
Me: It really looks like you did.
Caden: Mom, I really didn't.
Me: Ok, maybe I am wrong then, but stay here while I get my camera.

This picture is Caleb's "what, what did I do?" face and body expression. This was after I found out that BEFORE SCHOOL he ate 3 bowls of cereal after he already had 2 pop tarts.

It's ok my fellow moms out there. You don't need to feel inferior because you can't make your kids the kind of healthy and gourmet breakfast that I do every day. I have had over 8 years of practice.

More cute and funny pictures - well at least I think so!

2008-03-06T14:18:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pictures of my little angel. These were actually taken on Feb 29th, but I am just now getting around to posting them.

Here is another one of her shocked expressions. I wish I knew what she was thinking.

In this picture she was rolling over but got stuck and instead of helping her I took a picture first.

I think this one is her pitiful face. I don't think she wants to be in this position.

This last one I think is so cute of Cali and Caden "chatting". I wish I could see Caden's face too though.

The sad thing is that this outfit is one of several of her 0-3 that she has already outgrown. It is so sad that these last 2 months have flown by and my little baby has changed so much and wont stop growing.

I have MIND CONTROL

2008-03-03T11:22:00.000-06:00

Actually my blog does. Remember my blog about the MINT OREOS?

Well I just got this email from my mom yesterday.

"we went to see Brian ride in a race down near Austin. it was funny....when we sat down to eat both Angie & Grandma had brought the same kind of cookies...the cookies from your blog...Oreo w/mint! Both said they bought it because of your blog....influence!"

They are not alone in this. I had several people comment, email, or stop me on the street (I mean church hallways) to tell me that they went out and bought some too. I am SO glad I have so much influence on people. I am so happy that my opinion on such important world issues (I mean the best cookies in the world) are being valued by others.

Since what I write on here is obviously taken very seriously (or some mild mind control), I want all my readers to send me $5.00.

Caleb, My Future Actor

2008-03-02T13:50:00.000-06:00

Ok, no not really, but wouldn't that be fun.

Caleb has had a few performances that I forgot to blog about. A few weeks ago he had a school program called "Pirates from Grammar Island." It was such a cute performance. I was able to see it twice and still have some lyrics stuck in my head. Caleb's class was synonyms and antonyms. Sorry these pictures aren't very clear - bad lighting.

At church last Wednesday Caleb's class did a little play about when God told Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Caleb played Abraham. Caleb was excited to actually have a real speaking role, normally he is an animal. There was "built in" humor in the play so it was really funny to watch. All the kids did a great job.

Most people would be shocked to think of Caleb as shy, but when it comes to performing in front of people he does get a little intimidated. I was really proud of him at how well he did especially since they are only given a few days to prepare. They were given the script on Sunday and they performed on Wed.

Funny Pictures

2008-02-28T15:23:00.000-06:00

These are just a few funny pictures of my little chunky princess over the past few weeks. In some of these her facial expressions are so funny that I am so curious as to what she was thinking. I included this first one just because Caleb really likes the saying on her onesie.

This last one is so funny to me. She seems so shocked or surprised. Maybe this is the first time she heard David Archuleta sing. I just LOVE HIM!!

But Mom, it REALLY hurt!

2008-02-26T12:57:00.000-06:00

Ok, so yesterday morning was pure chaos. Caleb normally rides the bus, but on days where it is really cold or we are running late I take him to school. Yesterday was a little of both. I decided to go ahead and take him to school since I had some packages to drop off at the shipping place anyway. I get us all loaded in the car and get halfway to school and realize I left the packages in the office. CRAP - now I have to go home and get out again cause I can't just wait until 1:00 when we head to gymnastics because the mail gets picked up at the shipping place around 11:00 and I HATE having to go to the post office. So I go home, get the packages, go to the shipping place and return home. I am home less than 5 minutes and the phone rings. It is Caleb's school. They said he thinks he got a paper cut on his eye. She said his eye is really red and stings and it is tearing up a lot. We think you need to take him somewhere to make sure he didn't damage his cornea. They might want to put a patch on it. WHAT?????

So I of course I tell them I will be right there. I go to put Cali back in her carseat and realize she had a blow out. I call Chris and quickly tell him what happened. I get him to call Todd Wright and see if he can get him in while I am dealing with Cali and getting us all back in the car. So while I am changing this nasty diaper I yell to Caden to bring me a ponytail holder for her hair. Her curly hair was in complete tangles since it had not been touched since 4:00 on Sunday afternoon. She still looks a little trashy, but that was the best I could do with no water bottle, mirror or hair pick. So I leave the house again for the THIRD TIME and it is only 9:30.

When I get to Caleb's school his eye is really red, only a little watery and he was only a little bit upset. He says it still stings a little. He tells me that he accidentally scratched his eye with a plastic mask. WHAT??? What is he doing with a plastic mask? He is in 3rd grade. Apparently they were doing something during art.

By the time I make the short 5-7 min drive to Dr Wright's office it looked so much better I could barely tell which eye it was. We wait around for about 15 or so minutes (since we didn't have an appt) and he seems COMPLETELY NORMAL. He starts to read a magazine, play with Cali, etc. I am thinking why are we here?? We go back there and the girl/lady gives him an eye exam. He can see everything he is suppose to and he didn't complain at all when she had to shine the light in his hurt eye. She leaves and while we are waiting for Todd to come in I keep thinking about all the things I need/want to be doing instead of wasting my time here. I say to Caleb " I think you just got poked in the eye so of course your eyes were watering. I think the ladies in your office were just being overly cautious." He says "mom it REALLY HURT." I say "of course it did, it never feels good to get poked in the eye."

When Todd comes in I tell him, "I am sorry I really don't know why we are here, I think he just got poked in the eye, since he seems completely normal now." He says ok, but lets have a look while we are here. He looks through his "machine" and says "DeeDee he really did scratch his eye, come look at this!" So I look in it and there is a white scratch going across. So now I feel bad. It is not a bad scratch, but a scratch nonetheless. He said it was only superficial and it will heal on his own. He put some kind of drop in it and just told him to be very careful of dust and dirt for the rest of the day and that the stinging should go away soon. So Caleb was able to go back to school and tell his friends that he had a "superficial corneal abrasion." This whole ordeal put a big kink in my morning plans, but I am glad I took him to the doctor anyway. I would have felt terrible if it would have been really serious and I didn't do anything.

I THINK I'M IN LOVE!!!

2008-02-21T13:40:00.001-06:00

AND I AM IN BIG TROUBLE!!

I think these have been around for a while but I just bought them the other day. OMG!! I LOVE THEM!!! They taste almost exactly like THIN MINTS, which we all know is a little slice of Heaven. I once ate half a box of THIN MINTS in one sitting. I am NOT KIDDING!! I think I may have a slight eating disorder. I am trying to do better with these OREOS though. They actually have the potential to be so much more dangerous to me than the THIN MINTS because they are so readily available. I really should stop eating them, but I can't.

Cali 2 months

2008-02-20T14:07:00.000-06:00

Cali was 2 months old on Monday. Here are Cali's 2 months pictures. In most of the pictures they took she was either not smiling at all or was smiling so big her eyes were closed. I think these are adorable even though there is no big smile.

She had her 2 month check up yesterday. She is of course very healthy. She weighs 13 lbs 7 oz and was 23 1/4 inches long. That puts her weight at 97th% and length at almost 90th%.

I looked back at Caleb and Caden's stats for 2 month and she is exactly 2 pounds heavier than Caden was and they were the same length. She is only 6 oz heavier than Caleb was but he was an inch longer. So needless to say she is a chunky little thing.

Ken's a LUCKY Man

2008-02-15T12:20:00.000-06:00

Caden playing with all her Barbies. I don't know if this was on purpose or just a coincidence, but look closely at the order of the Barbies.

Of all the gorgeous Barbies, Ken "chooses" to sit in between the 2 topless ones!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY

2008-02-14T20:36:00.000-06:00

The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd

2008-02-13T11:56:00.000-06:00

A friend sent this to me and I thought it was so funny AND TRUE. I just had to put it on here. Sorry it is a little long.

The Spoiled Under 30 Crowd

If you are 30 or older, you will think this is hilarious!!!! If not, send it to your parents! They'll think it's funny!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were when they were growing up; what with walking twenty-five miles to school every morning ... Uphill BOTH ways .. Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up, there was no way in heck I was going to lay a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that... I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today. You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a dang Utopia! And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

1. When I was a kid, we didn't have the Internet. If we wanted to know something, we had to go to the dang library and look it up ourselves... In the card catalog!! (Do you even know what a card catalog is? Didn't think so!)

2. There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter... With a pen! Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

3. There were no MP3's or Napsters! If you wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the dang record store and shoplift it yourself! Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ would usually talk over the beginning and mess it all up!

4. We didn't have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

5. And we didn't have fancy Caller ID Boxes either! When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

6. We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like "Space Invaders" and "asteroids" and the graphics were horrible! Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever! And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

7. When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating! All the seats were the same height! If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn't see, you were just screwed!

8. Sure, we had cable television, but back then that was only like 15 channels and there was no onscreen menu! You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! And there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons!

9. And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up, we had to use the stove or go build a fire ... Imagine that! If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid JiffyPop thing or a pan with HOT oil and Real popcorn kernels and shake it all over t he stove forever like an idiot.

10. When we were on the phone with our friends and our parents walked-in, we were stuck to the wall with a cord, a 7 foot cord that ran to the phone - not the phone base, the actual phone. We barely had enough length to sit on the floor and still be able to twirl the phone cord in our fingers. If you suddenly had to go to the bathroom - guess what we had to do..... Hang up and talk to them later.

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy. You're spoiled!! You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980! But before you go running your mouth or making fun of us, just remember......We are the ones that invented all of these things for you guys!!!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd