Fortune Teller

I think I just might be a Fortune Teller.

Or perhaps a Mis-Fortune Teller?

Either way--I feel some stitches and broken bones in our future.




Climbing...always climbing!!!! See that nice, fancy toilet paper and trash can? Haha. I thought they were safe. Maybe I'm not much of a fortune teller after all. I didn't see that one coming.

Birthday Festivities

For Carson's and Caleb's birthdays, we did a couple of fun things.

Last weekend we had a joint birthday party at our house. Unfortunately, I guess we were so busy having fun that we forgot to take any pictures. At all. Lame-(with a big fat) O!

But we did have a good time. We got out the arcade basketball and set it up in the garage. Caleb is actually pretty good at it--which amazes us that he can actually throw the ball that far!! We had karaoke in our living room. The Dial Speedway Concessions in the kitchen. In another room we had a projector going showing Cars (the movie), Thomas the Ride on Train and track set up in another room, and another room with video games.

We also turned the backyard into the road Lightning McQueen fixed. We took a black roll of table covering and rolled it out covering the yard. Then we used crepe paper to make a double yellow stripe down the middle. It looked cool to start out. But by the end of the party, the wind and little feet kind of got the best of it. Anyway--we had 7 or 8 carnival games set up out there with prizes and fun and made the kids stuff their own goody bags this year. :) We made all the carnival games Cars themed. So there was an inflatable Mater tool toss where you toss tools in his mouth, the ring toss was to throw rings onto orange cones, throw bean bags into tires...you get the idea.

So I've heard a lot of comments the last four years about why all the effort for such young kids. But you know what? We just like to celebrate. And really, I think we should plan a party as a family every month. Our family worked on everything together and it was so fun! For example, Chris and Caleb and I worked on the yard, while Carson closely supervised:



Every game, food item, the decorations, cleaning etc. Caleb helped us with. It was so fun to have a project that we could all work towards and work together on! Caleb even helped with the cupcakes and cake:

Not the fanciest cake ever, but hey, Caleb could recognize it :) and was excited about it...so that's what matters, right? :)

So the bottom line... Caleb was straight up giddy to help with all the preparations and about having his friends over. And that my friends, makes it worth it right there!

Anyway, we had a great time and the boys were spoiled rotten, just as kids should be on their birthdays, I believe. :)

This weekend we also did our annual birthday trip to Chuck E Cheese. A good time had by all.

Carson loves doing the slides (here and at the park) by himself:






I wish this kid's parents would teach him not to put his foot on the table. How rude.

Actually...I'm pretty sure this is hereditary. Chris always likes to tease me because I like to put my foot up on everything...like in the car...or wherever. But so do the boys. We have a lot of pictures of them with one foot up, just chillin' like their mom. So proud.

We had a great time celebrating the birthdays of these two sweet and fun boys! Can't wait for next year's festivities! :)

Four

The day after Carson turned one, Caleb turned four.

We CANNOT believe our little man is four!! Seriously?!? Where does the time go?!? It's so exciting and yet so so sad at the same time.

We celebrated a lot on Saturday (still going to post on this soon), but on Caleb's actual birthday we did a lot of fun things too. We made him a little thing to go around his neck that said, "It's My Birthday Today!" to wear to church. It was great because everywhere he went at church people were stopping him right and left and telling him, "Happy Birthday!" We had told Caleb we would open presents after church, but we had to wait for Chris to get home from his meetings at church too!! Caleb was sooo anxious! But Chris finally made it and then we had some fun. The night before I had set up a scavenger hunt with all of his presents. Only this time, I had made it so he got gifts along the way. So he would find a few clues and then find a gift with the next clue attached. Giddy does not even begin to describe this boy's excitement. I love how excited he gets over such things! We played the afternoon away all together with the new toys and games. That night we had some of Caleb's favorite friends over and made homemade pizzas and had more cake and ice cream. I think Caleb had a great day and we enjoyed celebrating with him.

One of his favorite presents was this little table top stage and some dinosaur hand puppets. He has had a lot of fun making up and putting on shows for us. He also enjoys dad's shows...just a little bit.

He literally had tears running down his cheeks from laughing so hard.

Some things (besides dad's shows!) that Caleb is into:
Caleb loves to write words and draw pictures
Loves to figure out what different signs say
Still loves to help and be involved in anything anyone is doing
Loves going to Joy School and is getting used to being a Sunbeam at church :)
Loves to have his room in order before he goes to bed
Loves to ride bikes, play ball, and just be outside
Loves to cook with mom
Loves to make his brother laugh
Anything trains, Buzz Lightyear, trucks, or Lightning McQueen! :)

And finally, here are some of Caleb's 4 year pictures:



(had to get those shoes and hat in a picture--he doesn't leave home without them!!)

Oh how we love our Caleb!! He is such a good helper and just so much fun. He makes us so proud and brings so much joy into our lives. Love you, Caleb!

One

One. Can you believe Carson is one today?!? I certainly cannot.

We had such a fun and action packed day today. More on that later though.

Here are a few things Carson is into lately:

• Carson is such a sweet boy. He always comes over to us and gives us a kiss and hugs and then just lays his head on us for a minute and then is off to something else.
• Carson loves to climb climb climb. Up and downstairs. Over and over and over. All day long. Climb onto the living room table. Off the living room table. Onto the dishwasher. Off the dishwasher. Onto the bike. And off of the bike. You get the idea. The idea that he scares me. All the time. Do you like short sentences? I seem to.
• Carson loves to drive little cars along the table and floor and makes the sound of them. He's been doing it for months and I find it so darn cute.
• Carson loves to fold his arms for prayers, loves to say yes, and loves to say no. In fact, I don't even need to tell him no anymore. He reaches his finger towards the outlet and waits until he catches my eye and then shakes his head no no. He starts to lift the lid of the toilet to play in the fun water, waits for me to look at him, then shakes his head no no. Too funny.
• Carson is very much a daddy's boy. But mom will due if dad's not around. He has had quite a bit of stranger anxiety that is slowly getting better.
• Carson loves to laugh at his crazy brother all the day long. In fact, if Caleb is not near, Carson searches around for him.
• Carson really loves to be outside. Anytime we come inside, I really hear about it.
• Carson has no fear of water. He slurps up the bath water like nobody's business. And scares me. He just dunks his face in that water all the time!
  
• The boy loves to dance. Anytime music comes on (including at church during hymns), the boy will start busting a move.
• Since Carson was a small baby, we'd tease him about having stinky feet. We'd pretend to smell them and say, "Eeeeeewwww! Stinky feet!" and he would just giggle and giggle. Now he comes around all the time and sticks his foot in your face wanting you to say the line. Even Caleb's in on the game.
• Carson gets giiiiiiiddddddddy when we pull in anywhere and turn the car off, knowing that he is getting out to go do some adventurous thing.
• And finally, nothing excites Carson more than food. The boy must have a hollow leg or something. I'm going to enter him in a food eating contest. Teenage boys have nothing on him! Consider that a challenge! :)

Here are some of his one year pictures:






It's been so interesting to discover how different two boys can be. One of the ways they are different is in their tolerance of messiness. For Caleb's first birthday we stripped him down and put him in his high chair with great anticipation. We sat that cake in front of him and he just looked at us like we had lost our minds. I finally jabbed his hand into it so he would take a taste. Instead he just stared at his messy hand...again like I had lost my mind. He never did take a bite. He didn't want to be dirty. Ahhh...but then there is Carson. I finally got my picture with cake smeared here and there for the first birthday celebrations.





"Check it out, dad! Even my foot is dirty!!!"



"Hey Caleb...you want in on this action?"



Oh sweet Carson. We love you so much. Thanks for making our little world so happy and full of your smiles.

Career Week

This week the boys have been investigating the career of private investigator. Gotta keep all your options open. It's never too early to start researching careers, right? That's what I thought. We felt the boys really needed to take a thorough look at it, so we made them do some surveillance and tailing. Even in disguise.

This photo titled: Surveillance Done Right

Love the disguise (complete with totally inconspicuous Lightning Mcqueen hat and girly cell phone, donut in hand with a full box nearby.)


This photo titled: Tailing the Subject

Sporting that same inconspicuous Lightning McQueen hat with an equally inconspicuous turquoise convertible.

Actually, a friend of ours and his awesome company, Fullmer Investigations, is sponsoring a photo contest for the best picture of someone dressed up as a p.i. I didn't see in the rules where it said groveling was unacceptable. And since I'm not above groveling, well...you should go check out the entries and vote! Just click here! You have until January 20th and I think it said you can vote once a day! So let's get to those phone lines and start voting! Or wait...maybe I've watched too much American Idol this week.

And should you or your company find yourselves in need of a good private investigator, I hear he is the best at what he does and is an all around good guy. There is your tip for the day. You're welcome. As my dad always said, "Don't say I never gave you anything." haha! :)

Saturday Night Fever

We had some Saturday Night Fever going on at our house tonight.

Oh yeah! Those boys got moves!!! You know where to go to have fun on Saturday nights. Lots of fun.

p.s. Not sure why the video makes them look like midgets...but it kind of adds to the fun, don't you think?!?

Christmas Festivities

Ah yes... Krista standard blog time. Several weeks late.

Christmas. Where do I begin? What an action-packed fun time of year! We were so so so busy (planning neighborhood parties, planning several church service projects, joy school, Christmas parties galore, etc etc etc). But we tried so hard to have no stress and involve the boys in everything we were doing. I think it worked out great and we created many new and fun memories and traditions together as a family!!

For Joy School, we took the kids to a nursing home and had them perform a Christmas program which included acting out a nativity scene and then singing 5 Christmas songs. I was worried that they wouldn't do it, but they did! And it was awesome!! The best part was when each of the kids gave the residents a card they had made, a treat, and a hug and kiss!! So cute!!


They also performed the same "show" for their family and friends at the Joy School Christmas party. Except it was a much more "lively" performance. :) We should have video taped the show at the nursing home instead. Oh well. Here is a funny video of them singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" that really shows each of their personalities well:

Lively, huh? :) And yes, we are currently accepting bookings for Caleb to choreograph your dances. But act fast--slots are filling up fast!!

We kept up the fun tradition of giving the boys a few fun little things at the beginning of the holiday season--including the matching pjs.

One morning the boys woke up to a clue outside their bedrooms. It sent them on a fun scavenger hunt to find their surprises. Caleb is now hooked on scavenger hunts!!!!

Christmas morning, Carson was hooked on the train table that Santa brought. Once he saw that, he wanted nothing more to do with all those presents. He eventually thought it was fun to rip the paper off the presents, but it took some convincing at first!

Meanwhile, Caleb loved to pull out the presents, read the name, and get it to the correct person.

Caleb loved the train table, but also loved his new pajamas from Grandma and Grandpa and matching stuffed Buzz Lightyear!

It now takes some convincing to get him dressed every day. He would prefer to just be Buzz or Woody both day and night.

Santa is kind of tricky. He knows how much Caleb loves treasure hunts now, so he wrapped two clues and set them to the side. When we thought all the presents had been opened, we discovered another gift. It was to Caleb and inside was clue #1. It sent him all over the house to find clues and eventually led him to a room upstairs where he found...

...his and his violins!!! Caleb and Chris have started taking violin lessons together once a week. It is a great time for them to just be together and learn something new.

But wait! Santa made reference to one more gift somewhere. We went on a hunt for one more gift and finally found it. And what do you know?!? Santa left another clue! That Santa is so awesome. :) So after another treasure hunt that led all over the house again, Caleb finally found a wrapped gift in the garage...a bike helmet! But why would Santa bring a bike helmet, but no bike?!? Caleb then discovered his prized possession nearby...

Caleb saw that Lightning McQueen bike last Christmas in the stores and has been begging for it since then! Since he has received it, he has been in h.e.a.v.e.n. It's a little big for him, but he does great with it! He can now be seen zooming around the neighborhood going "lightning mcqueen fast!"

And Carson joins in riding around town driving like a crazy man in his sweet car:




And since Caleb got a new bike, Carson has taken over the older smaller one:

Crazy little stunt man. But I'm off subject. The bike and the little car do not have anything to do with Christmas, do they?!?

Let's see...other than that, we enjoyed lots of Seaworld!









Oh! And our Christmas cards this year were awesome!!! Here is a sample of my amazing work:




What?!? You don't see that picture? Yup. No Christmas cards. They were on my to do list since early November. At some point (after Christmas!) I had to just come to terms with the fact that it just wasn't going to happen this year. Sigh. Maybe next year.

And that's about it for now! We once again missed being with our families, but we really did have a good time just being together and starting traditions in our little family. What a wonderful time of year! We hope each of you had a wonderful Christmas!