Caleb's Letter to Santa

This is Caleb's first letter to Santa. The drawing is of a Lego Anakin.

Go Seminoles!

Daddy took Caleb to his very first Florida State University Seminole game in Tallahassee today. They had a great time, and Caleb cannot wait until he gets to go again.

Ready to hit the road for the four hour drive

Daddy and Caleb in front of the Sportsmanship statue

Marching Chiefs

Daddy and Caleb enjoying the game

Dinner at Gordo's which made Mommy jealous

Ready to head home

Fast asleep

Jedi Training

Star Wars. The Lost Episode.

It is a time of turmoil in the galaxy.
Five years ago a baby boy was born. His name was Caleb, and he was strong with the force. Hidden away on a remote planet called Earth, Caleb's Jedi training has been progressing well. But now the Sith have learned of the boy and seek him diligently. To overcome this threat, Caleb will need the help of others, so a call is sent out for other brave younglings to come and learn the ways of the Jedi. Only with their strength and courage can the Sith be defeated and the Jedi order preserved.

Caleb decided that he wanted the theme of his 5th birthday party to be Star Wars. He has been obsessed with all things Star Wars for quite some time. We invited his friends over using the wording above on the invitations, which was borrowed from here.

Each child dressed as a padawan for their Jedi training. That training consisted of reflex testing, target practice, teamwork and attention testing, thermal detonator throwing, and light saber use. The light sabers were a huge hit as we expected. I made the light sabers out of painted pool noodles, PVC pipe, and duct tape.

Caleb thoroughly enjoyed his party and undergoing Jedi training with his friends. You can see more photos of the party here.

Too Smart For His Britches

When you have one smart child, you always wonder if the second child will be as smart. Well, it looks like Eli just might give Caleb a run for his money in terms of smarts around here. Eli has been dying to get up on the couches with Caleb forever but is still a little short to climb up on his own. Today, he figured out how to do it without any help from Mommy and Daddy. He pushed one of his climbing blocks over to the big couch and climbed on up. I thought that maybe it was a fluke, so I put the block back over against the wall across from the couch. He immediately climbed down, ran over, slid the block back over to the couch, and climbed up again. We repeated this over and over as I wanted to see how long he would keep moving the block back. It was hilarious to see him move it over and over. And he was so proud of himself. He is really becoming a big boy.

Publix and the Park

Today we went on a field trip to Publix and then to the park to play and have lunch with friends. The field trip was a lot of fun. It brought back a lot of memories of spending much of my childhood at Albertson's when my dad was the deli manager. I really enjoyed sharing those memories with Caleb.

Some of the highlights of the field trip included looking silly in hair nets, watching a cake being decorated with clowns, seeing a pineapple cored and sliced, and putting a lobster to sleep.

The kids had a great time at the park with their friends afterward and did not want to eat their lunches. The time at the park was especially memorable as Eli climbed up the playground and slid down the big slides all by himself. He is getting to be such a big boy!

Wesley's 2nd Birthday

Today we celebrated Wesley's 2nd birthday. The boys and I drove down to Palm Bay for the party. Caleb was sad when he heard that Lily was not going to make it because she was sick and was convinced the party was not going to be any fun. He ended up having a blast and said it was the best party ever. I sure hope his Star Wars birthday next month can top that! The cousins had a lot of fun playing together and listening to Gran and Pop Pop read them stories.

There are a bunch more photos of the party here.

Fun Family Time

Auntie Mack, Lily, and Anabel came to visit us for a few days this week. Caleb had really been missing his favorite girl Lily, so he was very excited about spending time with her. Both Caleb and Lily start their VPK programs next week, so we figured this would be a good time to have one last hurrah together! The kids' school schedules are going to make it difficult to visit each other for more than a weekend until next summer.

The big kids slept in the same room for the first time. They did pretty well over all. Lily started off on the floor the first night but ended up sleeping in the bottom bunk under Caleb. There was some talking and giggling, but they did eventually fall asleep.

The cousins had lots of fun playing together. Dressing up was a theme, but strangely, I have no pictures of Caleb (the costume king) dressed up. I am not sure how that happened.

Mom Mom came over to visit yesterday which was nice. Caleb was in a funny mood when we took pictures, so he is not in any of the ones I took.

I think a fun time was had by all!

Bunk Beds

Caleb is almost five now and very tall for his age. He has outgrown his toddler bed, so we got him bunk beds. He loves them! Tonight was his first night trying them out. Our plan is to put the boys in the same room once Eli is big enough.

Yogurt

Eli successfully used a spoon to feed himself yogurt this morning. He didn't make too much of a mess and really enjoyed doing it himself. What a big boy!

Caleb's New Wheels

Caleb has a new big boy bicycle that we got from his friend Bryan. He took it for a spin today and had a lot of fun.

Ducky Towel Revisited

Like his big brother before him, Eli loves to wear the ducky towels after a bath. When Caleb was 18 months old, we bought him a ducky towel. The purchase coincided with the move to our new house and soon became part of the bath time routine. Caleb loved the towel so much that we had to buy a second one so that he would always have a clean one to use. He was sad when he outgrew the ducky towels, so we replaced them with big boy frog and monkey ones.

Caleb - May 2005

Fast forward to today, and Eli is 17 months old. The ducky towel has now been passed down to him, and he loves it as much as Bubba did. I had been wanting to try it on him but was waiting until he was walking well as I was afraid he might slip on the tile in the bathroom. He was well overdue the change in towels as the baby towels were getting way too small.

Eli - July 2008

I love that simple things make my boys so happy.

Knock Knock...

I finally got a video of Eli telling a knock knock joke. I had tried other times, but I could not get him to stay still. So I tried when he was eating his breakfast this morning, hence the mouth full of eggs. :) Hopefully, it won't gross you out too much.

Melancholy Motherhood

My close friend, Jessica, used the phrase "melancholy motherhood" today, and I found it to be very fitting as I have been feeling a bit sad the past couple of days. My boys are growing up much faster than I want them to, and there is nothing I can do about it. Most days, I don't notice the little changes in them as we are busy about our normal routine. But I have paid more attention lately and am trying hard to burn the memories of them in these moments into my brain so that I will not forget them.

For example, I have discovered what a sponge Eli is. He is no longer our little helpless baby. He is now a walking and talking toddler. In the car yesterday on the way to swim lessons, Caleb and I were telling knock knock jokes. Caleb has recently discovered jokes and has fun creating silly ones to make me laugh. We were taking turns telling jokes when I heard the words "knock knock" come from the back seat and realized they came out of Eli's mouth. Eli's vocabulary is expanding each and every day as he experiments with the new sounds his cute little mouth can make. Some fun ones lately have been bubble, ball ball, and bye. As you can see, Eli has a thing for B words right now. So getting back to knock knock jokes, Eli continued saying knock knock over and over again. When he said it, he would then wait for me to say, "Who's there?" before starting to laugh. He totally understood that the joke was supposed to be funny. So Caleb and I tried teaching him how to tell the rest of a knock knock joke, and would you believe that he got it. I was amazed!


Here is a joke between Eli and I:

Eli - Knock knock.

Mommy - Who's there?

Eli - Boo

Mommy - Boo who?

Eli [in unintelligible baby talk] - Don't cry, Mommy. It's just a joke.

Eli [laughing and smiling after telling his funny joke]


Eli is not the only one around here who is growing up too fast. Today, I looked at Caleb and was amazed at the big boy I saw. He is not my little baby any more. His features have matured, and he has gotten so tall. He cannot wait to be 5 and have his Spider-Man birthday party, which he is already planning even though it is still 122 days away. He also cannot wait to be 6 so that he can start losing teeth to put under his pillow for the tooth fairy. He is busy contemplating who he will marry and how soon he can have kids. He wants to teach his kids everything he knows and plans to share his toys with them. He wants to work with Daddy at his office and plans to live nearby so that we can all have dinner together regularly. His interests are varied and change almost daily. Today he was obsessed with his green army men. Wednesday and Thursday he was obsessed with puppets. Who knows what will capture his imagination tomorrow.

Caleb likes to talk and hold long conversations. He comes up with the funniest things. During a recent conversation, Caleb decided that God was like a witch. We had been discussing how God made things, and I guess that was the easiest way for him to understand God's powers, especially since he knows he cannot see God like he sees people around him. What God does is magical in his eyes, so it made sense to him to think of God as a witch. His understanding of witches is limited to them doing magic, and he thinks that witches can be boys or girls. I love how his mind works and how he tries to make sense of the world around him.

There are many days where I want to pull my hair out, run away, or sell my kids, but I know that one day I will miss these times. I will want to come back to today and relive it all over again. I try to remember that when I am in the trenches dealing with dirty diapers, whining, screaming, crying, and so on. I must treasure these times! And so I will write them down to look back at. And I will sing along with Trace Adkins


You're gonna miss this.

You're gonna want this back.

You're gonna wish these days

Hadn't gone by so fast.

These are some good times,

So take a good look around.

You may not know it now,

But you're gonna miss this.

Eli Can Walk

Eli is officially walking on his own. He has been walking with help for a while now, but he has been hesitant to take any steps on his own. He recently learned how to stand up by himself, but he would not take any steps. He preferred plopping back down on his bottom. It was a very funny game to him.

He has become braver in the last few days and has been practicing walking on his own. Although not a pro yet, we are sure he will be running all over the place soon.

So proud of himself

My favorite part of Eli learning to walk is when he walks to me. He gives me a huge bear hug once he gets to me that is so sweet. I just love it!

Bowling

We took Caleb bowling for the first time tonight. He loved it. We were very proud of him for having a great attitude, for having fun even though he wasn't very good at it, and for being grateful. Caleb is definitely a perfectionist like his Mommy, so we thought he might get frustrated, but he didn't.

This is Caleb holding his ball.

This is Daddy helping Caleb bowl.

This is Caleb bowling all by himself.

It was a great family outing and a lot of fun for us all.