Cali 6 months & Family Fun Night

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

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

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

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

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!!!

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

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