Lame

Last weekend we went to Seaworld in the evening so we could see the different shows they have going on at night. After a couple shows we had to stop and feed the flamingos and ducks. Then there was a little band that came out to play and Caleb ran over and sat down by them. He didn't sit long though...who can sit when you can dance along? So even though it was getting late, he was having so much fun that we stayed until the band finished. And then we turned around to get our stroller and it was GONE! LAME!! I was sooooo bummed!

I asked one of the workers where to go if a stroller turns up and she said to just talk the customer services at the front. I was walking through the park thinking about how many times I had left my stroller at Seaworld in various places as they don't let you take it into the shows and how I've never had a problem before. I was also thinking about how expensive that stroller was and how often I used it! I used it to go on walks, to the zoo, Seaworld, the mall...pretty much EVERYWHERE. We got to the front and they told us that no strollers had been turned in and that we could check back the next day if we wanted to. Um, yes, I wanted to. As we were busy doing that, my brother and sister-in-law happened to ask a security guard who happened to know that they just located a stroller. There was another family there who were trying to claim it though. But it happened to be our stroller and we happened to leave a receipt in it with our names on it! YIPEE!! So we got our stroller back! Apparently the stroller had been "left unattended for quite some time" so the security guard took it. Hmmm...aren't strollers left unattended all the time at Seaworld? Like for each and every show all day every day? But whatever. I'm just glad to have it back. :)

Fun Visits

We've had some fun visits the past couple weeks. No pictures, though. I'm lame.

First we got to have Sal with us from Vegas for a couple days as he was here on a business trip. It was so fun to hang out with him and we wish it could have been for longer. We also wish that JoEllen and Little Sal and Jazmin could have been here too! For sure, next time! Thanks for making time for us, Sal!

The day after that, my sister, Kaylyn, came from Tacoma for several days. We had so much fun! We did lots of stuff like, Fried Food Fest on Friday the Fourth, a birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese, watching fireworks, going downtown, doing the mirror maze, going to Seaworld, and eating at lots of our favorite places. We always love a good visit from "Nyn!" And we are always so sad when she has to go home!

We are usually totally up for visitors, but our last visitor was very unwelcomed. It was a stomach virus. Caleb ended up with a really bad stomach virus and the poor kid was soooooooooo sick! I always feel so bad when he is sick. Luckily he slept a lot, so that helped. One night I put him down at 7:30pm and he didn't get up until 1:30pm the next day! Poor little guy. He was a trooper though and is better now. And I think the rest of us managed to avoid it. Knock on wood.

Boredom? Never!

Before we had Caleb, I was a little bit nervous about quitting my job and staying home because I have a tendency to go stir crazy sometimes. However, that has never ever been a problem. How could you go stir crazy when you have an entertaining kid like Caleb?

Who needs toys?!? Caleb's favorite toy these days is the big red bucket:


He turns it over, uses it as a stage and entertains us with his made up songs:

Except now Caleb has a new skill. Bowing. So now he likes to turn over the big red bucket and use it as a stage, sing us his awesome songs, and then bows and says "thank you!" In this video, he had Chris, Uncle Kip, and Aunt Bridget all cheering him on! What a ham!

Crazy Kind of Fun

We've had a bit of a different kind of fun the last week or two.

Did you know that if your fridge is too cold that this can happen?

Let's just say it was a HUGE mess. It exploded ALL OVER our fridge! I later learned from my dad that they have these nice cheap thermometers that you can put in your fridge and freezer to make sure they are at the correct temperatures. Good to know!

We have these little kittens and their mom that have taken up residence in our backyard lately. Well, one of the local dogs got a hold of one of the kittens in our backyard (he comes and goes through the fence as he pleases). Let's just say that we had to close the blinds for the day because the local animal life enjoyed it. It was so sad and GROSS!!!!!!

We have taken turns being sick the last couple weeks. Caleb got it the worst, I think. He finally initiated our house by puking in our bed on my pillow. (Couldn't he have chosen Chris's pillow?!?) Up until now, I thought he could only puke at my parents house. The last couple trips up there he has initiated like every room in their house!

One day when Caleb woke up from his nap his fever had spiked really high and we were somehow out of medicine. So I grabbed him and headed to the store. He actually fell asleep on my shoulder in the store and for those of you that know Caleb very well, you know he must have felt miserable! He doesn't do that! Ever! Anyway, I grabbed the medicine and put him in his car seat and gave him the medicine and went home. Later that night, I realized I had left my wallet in the shopping cart. Thank goodness for honest people in the world! I called the store and they told me someone had turned it in and I went and picked it up! And everything was still there. Amazing, huh?!?

Then there are our cars. Kip was lucky enough to have something break on his car in the middle of downtown coming home from work. He had it towed and it was actually a quick and inexpensive fix. My car has been having some troubles, but we also figured out that is an inexpensive fix too. Then yesterday, Kip and Bridget had a flat tire (on their brand new tires!). But it was still under warranty and so they fixed it for free. I'd say we were pretty lucky considering what cars can cost to get fixed sometimes!!

It's actually nice to have all the little inconveniences and weird things sometimes (after the fact!) to help remind me how good things are when your car works and when you are healthy, etc. And we have still been able to have lots of fun playing games, watching movies, making treats, etc. We love having Kip and Bridget here!

Happy Father's Day!

It's been awhile since I've posted. I'll have to do a catch up post later.

For now, though, here is a message from Caleb to Chris for Father's Day:

(translation--blowing kisses, "luv u dad", and "whoohoo, dad!")

Chris truly is the best dad to Caleb. My favorite thing to do is to watch them be together. Hope you have an awesome Father's Day, Chris! We love you!!

We were trying to get Caleb to sing the "I'm So Glad When Daddy Comes Home" song on video because he's really cute when he does it. But tonight, he decided to make up his own songs. So, here for your viewing (listening?) pleasure--Caleb's songs titled, in order, "The Dad Song", "The Mom Song", "The Caleb Song", and "The Bear Song."

The lyrics sound kind of similar to each other, huh?!? He can make a song about anything! Caleb has really been into singing songs for us lately. He seriously cracks us up!!

And to my dad and Chris's dad, and all those who have been like dad's to us--Happy Father's Day! We love you and miss you so much! Thanks for your great examples and for all that you are to us!

p.s. To the Giani Mob: Chris has decided he is done mourning your leaving and is trying to make yummy meatballs tonight for the first time since you left. Yeah, he started at 10pm. What a nut! I'll let you know how they turn out. :) We know they won't be awesome like yours, but we can hope that they will suffice in your absence.

Messes and Mess Ups

Things have just been so busy lately. Especially for Chris. (Then again, are they ever not so busy when you are a full time dad, full time project manager, full time student, and full time church stuff?!?)

To add to the fun, last Thursday we had a leak in our living room that turned into a pipe bursting. It made a big mess, but luckily Chris acted fast and minimized the damage. I always knew Chris was a jack of all trades, but I just didn't realize how much so. He is quite the plumber, carpet layer, and dry waller, etc. After some time with no air conditioning, no water, and our whole living room in our kitchen, we are back up and running and thankful it didn't cost us tons of money. We had someone come look at it and test for water damage and he basically said we are very lucky and all the stuff Chris did totally saved us some major damage. As a side note, for some reason, we kind of found it fun to sit on our big ol' couch in the kitchen. :)

Here is Chris Thursday morning when he ran home from work and started cutting into the wall while still in his suit and tie. I must say, I was a bit nervous when he started cutting. After all, how do you know where the leak is? Apparently he did, because he found it first try.


Our nice whole in the wall:


Here Chris is re-stretching the carpet. He laid new carpet pad, and then re-stretched the carpet.

So there is our mess. Now for the mess up.

Our mess up happened tonight when we were double checking whether Chris's classes start next week (like Chris thought) or the week after (like I thought). Uh, yeah. They started this week. Already missed two classes this week. Oops. And the summer semester is already short and condensed. Oh well. Just this last 10 week semester (make that 9 1/2 weeks) and then he is FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!! Yahoo!

It's a good thing Chris has a good sense of humor. I think I'd be crazy with all the stuff he has to keep track of, take care of, and deal with! :)

Drummer Boy

We like to make up songs and words to our own songs too. Caleb has taken it a step further by making up his own language for his made up song.

Old!

The other night, Caleb and I were talking about how old he is. Then we started talking about how old everyone else is. This is how it ended:

Dad is OLD!!!!!!! I thought it was so funny that I had Caleb call Chris and tell him over the phone. Now Caleb asks all the time if he can call dad on the phone and tell him he's old.

I shouldn't admit it, but the other day we were all discussing it again and totally unprompted, Caleb says, "No, dad not old. Mom old." WHAT?!? Talk about your all time backfire! I can't believe he could even conceptualize it, let alone say it. Let alone betray me like that. :)

p.s. Do you like the bruise? Caleb had a run in with the sidewalk, and the sidewalk won.

Four Times the Fun

Lots of fun at our house lately.

First of all, Caleb and Chris went to their first father/son campout on Friday night. Tilane was nice enough to have some of the girls over to her house and we had lots of fun! Thanks, Tilane! Chris and Caleb had lots of fun too. But, alas, in true Caleb form, he would not go to sleep. About 12:30a.m. when Caleb was still completely wired and keeping everyone else from sleeping, they packed up and came home. (Poor Chris was way tired too since he had worked on Wednesday night until 1:30a.m. and Thursday night until 5:30a.m. and back at work by 7 or 8a.m.--he is a crazy working man these days!) Thanks to the Snells for sharing your tent and letting Caleb keep you awake half the night and to Stephen for joining in the fun!



Secondly, Saturday was commencement for Chris. He will be finished with his MBA in August, but they had him walk early since they don't have a commencement ceremony after summer semester. We are VERY PROUD of Chris and all his hard work and the achievement of a SECOND masters degree. More proof that he is a crazy man, huh?!? One more semester! Yahoo! My favorite part of commencement was at the very end when a Mariachi Band came out to play the processional for the graduates to leave the building. Everyone went CRAZY! Only in Texas.







Thirdly, we had an awesome mothers day. No pictures, but lots of love and gifts. And thank you to the Weatherholtz Family who once again had us over for an awesome dinner and tons of fun. I think this was really one of the first mothers days that I was truly just happy for the time I did have with my mom before she passed away, for the legacy she left, for the other "moms" I've had in my life, and for the opportunity I have now to be a mom-- instead of sad for the time I didn't get.

Fourthly, and the best yet, we get to have the famous ones-- Kip D (my brother) and Bridget (his wife)-- stay with us for the summer. They arrived on Saturday. Kip is in law school and got an awesome internship here for the summer. Bridget will hopefully get a sweet summer job too--so if you know of any sweet jobs for an awesome almost finished english major, let us know!! Kip and Bridget are so much fun and we love hanging out with them. Caleb can't get enough of them! The first words out of his mouth this morning were not hi mom, or love you mom, or good morning. Nope. His first words were"Bibetts?" "Dip?" (his version of their names). We are looking forward to a very fun summer! This is an old picture, but it works, right?

(later I will have to do a post on the many sarcastic faces of Kip D. He refuses to just smile for the camera. Ever.)

Finals and Frogs

Chris finished up his last final for the semester on Saturday! Whew! Another semester done! Now he has more time (until the summer semester starts) to teach Caleb things like this:

Actually, I think Caleb came up with this on his own, it was just encouraged by others. Hmmm...it seems like the rule was no climbing on the living room table. But I guess if you're doing cool jumps, an exception must be made, right?!? :)