Birthday Celebration

Caleb turned 3 this past Sunday. He's been really looking forward to his birthday this year! To celebrate the big event, Grandma took him out to lunch and to Build-A-Bear on Friday.

He rode the carousel at the mall
and built a Panda Bear.

Saturday we had a few friends over for cake and ice cream. Matt and I made his train cake (Matt was the brains behind the operation).

Caleb's friends singing 'Happy Birthday.'

Blowing out the candles

We had family over Sunday night for presents and dessert. Caleb is so excited to be three now!

P.S. For those of you with experience, any suggestions on taking a 3-year-old to the doctor for shots? Caleb is Terrified of the doctors (with a capital T!). I bring it up every few days to talk about how important it is to go to the doctor so we don't get sick. I've tried to role play stepping on the scale, looking in ears, listening to his heart, etc. He knows he's getting a shot though, so anytime I bring up his visit to the doctor's in a few days, he gets very angry and shouts, "I don't want to go!" I've asked for Matt to take a half day off work, because Caleb is definitely a Daddy's boy, and I know having Matt there will make a difference. I'd love any suggestions though!

4 months

Carter's stats:

Weight: 18 lbs. 93rd percentile

Height: 26.5 lbs.

Head Count: 44 cm.

He's still a chunky monkey!

Carter eating rice cereal for the first time.

Carter's hair is completely blond now. I think he looks more like me than Caleb does.

Old Testament

Caleb has always been fascinated with the scriptures since we started reading them together at night just before bedtime. At first, he was just fascinated with the pictures (specifically of boats), but now he's becoming fascinated with the stories which is so fun. We just bought the Old Testament children's version about a month ago, and Caleb is really enjoying the stories. When we ask Caleb to pick out 3 books before bedtime, the scriptures are always one of his books (even though we would read them anyway). And lately, he doesn't care about reading other books, but just wants to pick out his favorite stories from the Old Testament and read them. I was very surprised when Caleb brought the scriptures to me this afternoon and asked me to read them to him just out of the blue. That's a real test of love. We're now trying to encourage Caleb to tell us the stories. It's a work-in-progress :o).

Caleb at 19 months

Caleb at 21 months
Caleb telling the story of Jonah

Ignore Caleb's unfinished room. We finally ordered the 'Cars' border that will finish it off!

Downtown

Last weekend we checked out the Natural Science Museum downtown with some friends.

"Uncle" Peter and "Aunt" Lauren (so nicknamed because our kids adore them!)

Caleb sticking his tongue out like the iguana

We ate a picnic lunch outside (what were we thinking?!?), and then Caleb saw the choo choo train. He would not stop talking about the train, asking over and over again if he could ride it followed by a "please?" in the cutest voice. So Caleb got his train ride before we headed home.

And he was one happy boy!

Vacation

This year for my side of the family's yearly vacation we stayed close to accomodate my sister-in-law who was 8 months pregnant and 3-month-old Carter. We rented a house for 6 days on a lake and enjoyed lots of fun activities together. Matt and Caleb enjoyed fishing together several mornings, we played lots of games even into the wee hours of the morning, and as always there was lots of yummy food. To make up for our guilty pleasure of eating a lot, my dad and I also went running together amost every morning. Here are some pictures of the other fun things we did:

We went on a 3 mile hike and the rain caught us on the way back. It was quite the downpour, and Carter was such a trooper. Good thing that it was warm outside so he didn't get sick. I carried Carter on the first half of the hike, and my mom helped out for the second half. Matt and Caleb headed back early because Caleb had an accident towards the beginning (he was afraid to go #2 in the woods), so they stayed nice and dry in the car while they waited for us!

Canoeing with the alligators (we only saw one)

Swimming in the neighborhood pool


We spent one day on the lake riding Jet Skis. Everyone was a little scared riding with Matt because he had one objective only: throw the other rider as quickly as possible! I had Matt give me a nice ride before he tried to throw me. I also took Caleb out for a fun ride.

Halfway through the vacation, my sister Ariane and her family were able to join us with their newborn. Gavin is the newest addition to the family (atleast for the next month). For those that know my sister and haven't heard the news, you can read all about Gavin joining their family here. He is such a sweet baby and Carter is so glad to have a best friend!

Uncle Clayton and Carter lounging around at the house.

Can I just say that I love having a photographer in the family now? Kara, you're the best! Here are some family pictures she took:

The entire gang minus Lindsey who is on a mission.

Daddy and Carter

Love this picture!

Caleb loving on his baby brother.

3 Sweet Boys

I've been meaning to post these pictures for awhile. Here are the boys in the rotating preschool I participated in on their last day of preschool together. They have their baker's hats on as we had worked on the nursery rhyme 'Pat A Cake'. They were so much fun to teach. I'm getting excited for doing more preschool teaching come end of August.

Signing Up

I have found a half marathon on a Saturday in November in Galveston and a marathon on a Saturday in January in Kingwood. Anyone interested in signing up with me? I'm also thinking about doing a training program this time around with Woodlands Fit that starts in a few weeks. If you live in this area, let me know if you want more details!