Happy Easter!

Is it really already Wednesday night? I've been meaning to do this since Sunday night. My how time flies.

Lots of Easter festivities this year. Of course we dyed eggs.



Not sure who had more fun...Caleb, me or Chris. Or maybe Carson:



Nice sarcastic pose by Chris:



Our finished products:

Notice how there are no pink or purple ones? It's not because there are lots of boys in the house. It's because someone didn't read the instructions all the way through to see not to put vinegar in the red one. Ok it was me. So we did without the pink this time.

We have been swapping babysitting on Friday nights and it has been pretty much, well, AWESOME! This was our Friday to watch the kids. We had fun and had some friends in and out as well for treats. We baked a ton this weekend for all the different events. We made two of these:

And a bunch of bread, queso, and Easter sugar cookies. Lots of fun. But few pictures. That picture is just for you Dip (a.k.a. Kip D). Not a fancy picture like the ones you guys have, just the leftovers from one of the yummy cakes. :)


Saturday we went to some friends' property for some more fun. And fun it was! They had
tractors:



Go-karts



A big trampoline



and an awesome Easter egg hunt



Caleb also got to smash his first cascarones (eggs filled with confetti). He wouldn't smash it on my head...only dad's. Good boy. :) Here is Chris showing us the remains.

If you look close, you can see it all in his hair and on his shirt.

And don't forget the dogs that Caleb chased around for a lot of the time. We had so much fun!!

Then Saturday night we had some friends come teach us a game. Good times again.

Sunday was the best. Here is a little video of my favorite parts of Sunday morning.



Chris didn't have meetings this Sunday. I forgot how nice it was to have him around all Sunday morning. We got to go to church all together. Except I forgot my lesson manual so we dropped Chris off and zoomed home to pick it up. :)
Here are the three amigos ready for church:



And last but not least, we got to spend Sunday evening with our good friends. Great Easter dinner and great company. Thanks, guys!!

I LOVE holidays with the kids. I'm not sure who is more giddy--Caleb or me.

Confession Sessions

Let's just say...Chris was a bit to hard to handle in his growing up years. His poor mom and anyone from Preston would probably laugh and say that's a major understatement. Anyway. After we were married, Chris would tell me these hilarious stories. Except they are only funny now. Looking back. So every once in awhile...we have these things call confession sessions with Chris's mom where Chris tells her some of the crazy stuff he did that she never knew about. Don't worry...they both are laughing. Now.

For example, once Chris was grounded but his mom asked him to go to the store. So what did he do? He took the car, picked up some of his friends who were at a dance he wanted to be at and went to "flip cookies" (as they say in Preston--I've always heard it as donuts...but that's not the point.) Then they decided to hit a snow bank (Huh? What? Yeah. I know.). It was a big snow bank, so they knew they needed plenty speed. They got back as far as they could in the parking lot, floored (the 318, so I'm told) the '72 Dodge Dart and went no where because that fierce power gave no forward momentum on a sheet of ice. Finally the wheels caught and they were off. At about 45 miles per hour, they hit the snow bank and went airborn. The car flew over the road and finally skidded out of control over the far curb and just about went through the front of some poor old lady's home. With their adrenaline pumping and nerves wracked, their only intention was to get out of there. They sprayed snow all over that poor old lady's house. As they were driving away, the car seemed to effortlessly shift to the right...then to the left...and then just as suddenly back to the right again. They pulled over to see if the road was especially slippery. Road conditions hadn't changed. But for some reason, the car would not drive straight. Chris took the friends back to the dance and headed home. He walked through the door and his mom remembered that she needed one more thing from the store and decided to run get it herself this time. Chris went to bed hoping she wouldn't realize that the car effortlessly shifted from left to right. To left. The next time they chatted, his mom commented on how slippery the roads were...how the car kept shifting from left to right. To left. When the snow melted and the roads were no longer slick...the car still shifted effortlessly from left to right. To left. His mom had someone come look at the car and they told her that both the ball joints were broken on the axle (which apparently causes a car to not be able to drive straight.) His mom questioned the mechanic about how they would break and was told it would take a tremendous force to break the ball joints. Chris just whistled and walked away.

It was just a couple short years ago that his mom finally found out how those ball joints were broken in one of our fun confession sessions.

Wow. This turned into a long post. A novel, really. You still here?

Now what does that have to do with my post? Actually nothing. I just remembered that confession session when I put that as the title of this post and thought it was a really funny story and got carried away documenting it for our posterity and all of you. For more confession sessions...you'll have to ask Chris. Unless I feel a need to post another one soon. They are pretty funny.


So here is my confession session:

I love to sneak in and watch my boys sleeping.


I look at them and wonder how on earth I could EVER be frustrated by them. They are so sweet and innocent. Quite awhile ago, Rachelle posted this awesome article about raising kids. THANK YOU, Rachelle! I think about this article all the time. And have decided that I need to read it every morning. And maybe a few more times on some days.

That's it. Kind of boring compared to the confession session above, huh? But since I am posting this blog post...I can get away with it, right?

Carson Update

(Just for the record...Chris and I called a truce for April Fool's Day this year for the first time ever.... We usually enjoy pranking each other pretty good. This year, we decided too much is going on and don't want to do anything to cause each other to worry more than we need to. :) But that is a post for another day.

Last week Carson turned two months old! I can't believe it! We took him in for his two month check up and got the dreaded shots. At least...I dread it. Carson is now 10 pounds, 12 ounces and 23 inches long. Pretty good for two months of growing (up from 6lbs 8 ounces and 19.75 inches long at birth).

A couple days later, we took Carson for an ultrasound checkup on his kidneys. He didn't like it AT ALL. And I'm still confused about it. I thought that when we were in the hospital when he was born, they made it sound like his kidneys were doing better. But when we were at his 2 month check up and the doctor read the report to us from the ultrasound they did within 24 hours of his birth...it didn't sound like things were better. So we finally got the results back from last week's ultrasound and they are not any better. His kidneys are still enlarged from urine flowing back into his kidneys. So they referred us to a pediatric kidney specialist. We finally got a hold of them and their next opening isn't until MAY! I was pretty bummed about that. I'd rather know what's going on and the implications of it um, well...now. I guess I'm impatient like that. So I guess nothing is too urgent and we will see what they have to say in May. We do feel better after talking with our good friends the Chattertons, whose cute boy had something similar. Thanks for chatting with us guys! You're the best and we miss you tons!

This Sunday we got to bless Carson at church. THANK YOU to all the friends and family who came and made the day so special for us! Here is Carson in his little blessing outfit.

I was in a hurry and thought I'd take some pictures later with Chris and stuff...which never happened. Oh well.

So other than all that exciting stuff...we've been having lots of fun together.

Caleb is so cute with Carson. He just LOVES his brother and I love to watch Caleb talking with him. Have I mentioned that I also LOVE that Chris is done with school? He has SO much more time at home now. Time to do fun things like fly kites with us:

Life is good.

Just Can't Help It

Chris's mom (a.k.a. Grammy) gave us a couple awesome cds for Christmas. Caleb enjoys one of them in particular. He just can't help it--when I turn on the cd, he comes running from anywhere in the house to dance to it.

So fun. I just can't help it--I can't get enough of it.

Don't tell Caleb...but it's also my secret trick. If he is upstairs and I need him to come downstairs, I just push play on the music and he comes running! Thanks for the great cd, Grammy!


And then there is Carson...he just can't help it either. Anytime he can get your attention now, he will flash you one of these smiles:



And talk with you like this:

Again--so fun. I just can't help it--I can't get enough of it.


P.S. Sorry for the grainy dark video. I didn't think to un-dim (is that a word? I'm sure it is.) the lights before taking video. I'm not a photographer (or videographer?). I don't think of such things. I just can't help it.

Blissful Sleep

Caleb has always slept at least 12 hours at night--which usually means until 8:00 or 8:30am. Naps though...they have been hit and miss for a LONG time. He definitely still needs a nap, so that was never really the issue.

All along, I knew I should take all the toys out of his room. But I was hesitant because I liked him to play independently when we were upstairs too--which he definitely does! He wouldn't usually play with them at nap time, so I thought they weren't much of a distraction.

But some days he would play with them. Our rule is that he has to stay in his bed for a certain amount of time whether he goes to sleep or not. So here he is "keeping" the rule:


Minus the time it took him to go grab all those buckets of toys, I guess he was technically keeping the rule of staying in his bed.

Before Carson was born, I was rearranging all the rooms and closets upstairs. Caleb's closet ended up being virtually empty. It dawned on me one day a few weeks ago, that I should move all the shelves with his toys from his room to his closet and put a child lock on it. Now his room looks like this:

Can anyone say heaven? I wish I had done it a year ago! He has taken at least a two hour nap almost every day since!! And has been sleeping until 9am every day. Ahhh...such a welcome relief and the timing couldn't be better. He is so much happier in the evenings as well. And in the mornings, I can just open his closet door and he can play with them all he wants. Why, oh why, did I not think of this soooooo long ago?!? Please, just let it never end. :)

On those days that he still decided not to take a nap, I have always wondered how he managed to entertain himself.


He definitely manages.

Now the only thing he has to play with when getting ready for bed...



...is Carson!

P.S. I KNEW I shouldn't have posted this one. I jinxed myself...Caleb didn't take a nap today. Sigh.

The Rollie Pollies

Bug lovers, animal rights activists, those that believe in reincarnation...please skip this post.

This picture has nothing to do with the post. For some reason, I just feel this need to have a picture when blogging. So here is Caleb smiling, thinking about what he did. :)



And here is Carson, smiling, thinking about what Caleb did.



The other day we were outside playing in the front yard. Caleb was riding his bike up and down the sidewalk. All of the sudden, he stopped, got off his bike and ran inside the house. He came out with a shoe. He ran over to his bike and starts repeatedly beating the sidewalk. Over and over and over. When I asked him what he was doing, he simply replied, "Bugs, mom!" in a tone that said, "Duh, mom. This is what we do when we see a bug!"

Now normally I would definitely be amused by this. That day, though, I thought it was hilarious. You see, across the street was a group of religious people who had been going door to door in our neighborhood. They all had just regrouped across the street from our house where their cars were parked. So Caleb had quite the audience. Among them, the two nice little old ladies who, just a half an hour earlier, had been oohing and ahhing over how cute my two boys are.

I looked up as Caleb started beating the sidewalk with his shoe to see the shocked and appalled faces of most of the group. Do you still think my boys are cute? Hope you don't believe in reincarnation. That may have been your sister! I had to try really really hard not to burst out in laughter. Caleb finished his business and simply walked up to the porch, opened the front door, returned the shoe to it's proper place, and returned to his bike riding.

Secretly, I was proud. Some parents are proud when their kid does well in school...or learns to share.... Me? I'm proud that my son knows how to take care of bugs the proper way. If only his dad would learn the same thing. I've had only three years to teach Caleb, and he gets it. I've had ten years to train Chris and somehow I've failed. He's better than he used to be...but I think he still doesn't quite get it. Chris will sometimes walk by a bug in our house and keep on walking. Huh? No. That's not how that is handled. Let Caleb show you how it is done. Caleb knows how to take care of business.


Caleb has also been very busy instructing Carson on the fine art of the play mat.

Let's hope Caleb teaches Carson as vigilantly about the fine art of taking care of the bugs too.

32 and 1

32
Well, old man Chris (I can say that because he is a whopping 6 months older than me!) turned the big 3-2 last week. I know. Old, huh? :) And slow. As in...I'm really slow posting about it. And we didn't even take lots of pictures. Lame.

Chris took the day off from work and we spent most of the day together shopping, eating, and playing. (Hmm...that sentence made me think of and miss the gerund fans Dip and Bibbetts a.k.a. Kip and Bridget...or is it that you don't prefer gerunds? I forget.... Either way...they remind me of you. Anyway. :) Talk about fun!! I LOVE days that we can spend all together!! The only disappointment came at Red Robin (you know we have to go get the free birthday burger--can't pass that up! Especially since we really like their food!) I've been lucky enough to be in Washington to celebrate a few of my family's birthdays at Red Robin. They always do something funny--like make them wear some crazy glasses, or stand up with a spoon in their mouth etc. while they sing the birthday song. Here, they only sang to Chris. I was all excited for them to embarrass him (not that it would work anyway--I don't think Chris gets embarrassed about anything!) But, alas, all they did was sing. It was good though.

The best part of his birthday? The long family nap.



Is there anything better in the world than taking a nap with your babies? Love it!!

I hope Chris enjoyed his birthday as much as I did!! :) We love you!!


1
Well, today Carson is one month old! Where did the time go?!?! Can someone PLEASE make it slow down? Or better yet stop? I don't want my kids to grow up! Is that bad? We've adjusted pretty well to having four of us now. Except for church. Church is hard for me by myself with Chris as busy as he is. The last couple weeks have been lessons on what NOT to do. But life goes on...I'm sure we'll work out the kinks sooner or later. :) But we are absolutely loving having Carson with us! He is a sweet boy and we can't get enough of him!! He has started smiling a lot and making the cutest cooing sounds! We love our Carson!!

Negotiations with a 31-year Old

Chris may be quite the negotiator (see his last post), but Caleb won't be out done. He has learned the fine art of negotiations at an early age.

We are lucky enough to live about two miles from where Chris works. So he is able to come home for lunch quite often. But when he comes home, Caleb isn't always ready for him to go back to work!

Here is Caleb trying to convince his dad to not go back to work and instead to watch a movie with him.

Not sure what is up with the slapping of his chest. All I know is that I was dying of laughter and had to grab the camera.

So, Caleb started by piling all the shoes that were by the front door onto Chris's lap. I guess figuring that he wouldn't be able to leave with all those shoes on his lap? Then he put the crazy sombrero on his head. After all, who would leave the house with that thing on their head? Then he added a blanket on top of the shoes for good measure. He then resorted to climbing on the red bucket to plead his case, giving such excuses as, "It's too cold outside.... Stay home and sit on the couch and watch a movie. Alright?!?" (As a side note--"cold outside" is 65 degrees--Caleb definitely takes after me as far as temperatures are concerned!)

You have to give him points for creativity and effort.

So who won this negotiation?

What's that? Is that Caleb sitting on Chris's lap with a movie on in the background?!?!

How did he end up convincing him? He flipped on the movie and sat on his lap. Chris got distracted and started watching with him. Ok, so it only worked for like 10 minutes...but all his efforts still got results. :)

(This part TMI--if you're wondering why Caleb is in his birthday suit...well.... We don't usually let him run around like that. But when he needs to go #2, he strips down to absolutely nothing and then he'll go in the bathroom and do his business. Drives me nuts sometimes when I'm trying to hurry. But I guess I shouldn't complain! At least he does his business IN the potty!)

Negotiations with a 3-year Old

Caleb was lovingly smothering his brother this morning. Carson was ready to be done with the barrage of kisses and hugs (a two-week old needs his space, man!)

Dramatic reenactment of the smothering.

Krista was doing all she could to stay off the loving attacks and I was not in a position to help Caleb at the moment, so after some verbal requests to cease, I reverted to a time-out. The conversation went something like this:

"Caleb, go to your room for three minutes."

"No time-out, dad."

"If you go now and shut your door, it'll be only two minutes."

"Okay."

"Wait, come back. If you give yourself spankings, it'll only be one minute."

"Okay. Spank, spank."

(Laughter stifled) "Okay, only one minute. Go close your door."

(Sound of door closing and clicking shut.)

Dramatic reenactment of the spankings.
(This is as much spanking as happens in our home.)

I'm sure he'll think twice before being overbearing with his brother (yeah, right!)

Mr. Mom

Chris was quite the Mr. Mom last week.

Dishes
Laundry
Entertaining Caleb
Making meals
General cleaning
Running errands
Posting pictures
Homemade bread (several times!)

He made it look so easy! He really did/does an amazing job and I love him for it!!

However...a few of those tons of kudos earned last week, may have been lost last week too. I've decided that too much of a good thing may indeed be bad. I'm not sure that Chris and Caleb spending a whole week together is the best idea anymore. :) Let me explain.

You know that certain aunt or uncle that likes to teach your kids to say or do "funny" stuff that you wish they wouldn't? And you say...wait until you have kids and I'll get my revenge by teaching your kids to do that? Well...in our case...I don't think we need any aunts or uncles to carry that out. We take care of it in house.

I was watching Caleb play with his Geo Air thing (see last post). After a while, he took the pilot out of the plane, hung his arm through the window of the plane and launched the plane only to giggle with delight as the pilot tumbled to the ground when the plane went upside down. Then he put the pilot in his seat, but left the cock pit door open...only to again burst out in laughter as the pilot plummeted to the ground below. So later, mostly in joking, I asked Chris if we should worry about Caleb and described what I saw. He was like, "uh...sorry...I showed him that." Hmmm...

I've also noticed that *someone* has taught Caleb some funny phrases--things about passing gas, or quoting Bill and Ted. And *someone* showed him how funny it is to startle the stray cats passing by in the backyard.

Now, I don't want to go accusing anybody...but.... Let's just say that if you hear Caleb saying or doing some weird stuff...or if he likes to startle your cat...I'm not responsible. You'll have to take it up with Mr. Mom.

Actually...don't tell Chris and Caleb...but I love to see how much fun they have together and watch them erupt in laughter. And maybe I think some of the new phrases Caleb has learned are kind of funny.