CHRISTMAS and NEW YEARS!!

Here's post-birthday December through New Years in a nutshell :)

Caleb's class visited the Philbrook Museum's annual Festival of Trees. We had never been and it was very neat - all sorts of trees made of all kinds of materials plus an entire floor of gingerbread houses made by local schools, churches, Girl Scout troops, etc. It was a challenge to explain to a group of 2 and 3 year olds why they couldn't eat the candy off the houses though.


Caleb and his friends play spot each other on either side of one tree.


One pre-holiday purchase was a stuffed dog that danced around to Jingle Bell Rock. He was an instant hit with Harper G.


We had several Christmas parties to attend this year, including our church community, Covenant. It was a tasty dinner at Ti Amo's and then, because so many of us had babysitters for the evening, we headed to a casino to dance. (Don't I love being Methodist!!) In all actuality, we didn't stay long - I've been spoiled by all OK restaurants being smoke-free that one step in the casino nearly did me in. But we did dance a bit :)


We tried four different times to get a good family picture to use for Christmas card purposes. My friend Alissa was so kind to meet us and tons of pictures just to make triple sure there were a couple decent ones in the bunch. Never a good one of the four of us but this one's pretty priceless.


Because I work at Riverfield, I had a two week Winter Break just like the kiddos. We took part of that time to travel to very west Texas to visit some of Aaron's family. Along the way, we spotted this truck with our friend Lauren (former Miss America) on it. I had seen it on a billboard but never speeding down the highway. Caleb was pretty excited to see the face of someone he knew on the side of a truck.


Our first stop was in Brownfield, which is close to Lubbock to see three of Aaron's great aunts. Though they are all getting up there in years, they still each live independently and were very hospitable to us. It was a challenge to keep Caleb away from all the breakable things but he and Harper Grace were very sweet and the aunts were good to put up with the increase in volume and activity for the day. Aaron's parents met us in Brownfield then we all headed to Farwell, TX - home to Aaron's half sister Lori and her family. It is so far west that it's about 10 minutes away from Clovis, NM. Lori, Gary, Stacey, and Bri live on a farm; it was a different experience for Caleb to not see any other houses around and to get to ride in Uncle Gary's big red tractor. We celebrated early Christmas with Aaron's family then headed back to Tulsa, just in time...


...because the next day bad weather began to move in, but not before Caleb could make his first trip to a movie theater to see the Alvin and the Chipmunks sequel. His friends Owen and Aidan joined him and all three were quite well-behaved.


The bad weather moved in on Christmas Eve day but we already had plans with some friends to go to early Christmas Eve service then to dinner at our favorite Mexican place, Arizona. You'd think I would get a clue when my sister, who was coming in from OKC, said she was glad they made it in one piece. Or when Asbury canceled the late services, then all services. Or when the restaurant we were going to closed early. Pshhhh...it's just snow and we have a 4 wheel drive truck, right? So we arranged to still meet our friends at the only restaurant that we could find that was still open. The snow was coming down but nothing horrible...until we sat down at the table and looked outside to see snow blowing HORIZONTALLY across the window. We quickly ate our dinner and the 10 mile drive took us about 90 minutes. OK, maybe I won't be so brave next time.

Once we were safe and sound, Caleb and Harper Grace put on matching pjs for yet another photo session. A few cute ones but we never did get both of them to look at the camera at the same time.

Caleb and I wrote a note to Santa and made cookies (or, in the spirit of truthfulness, placed cookies on the baking sheet).

Before he went to sleep, Caleb confirmed that when Santa came, he would put presents under the tree. I told him that, because we didn't have a tree up this year, Santa would put his presents around the piano, with all the other ones that were already there. That seemed to satisfy his 3 year old brain and off to bed he went. But apparently Aaron was sure Caleb would be scarred for life without a Christmas tree so, once the kiddos went to bed, we went about setting up the tree and all the 100+ ornaments that went on it. Plus "Santa" had several presents to assemble so we didn't go to sleep until 4am on Christmas. Once we did go to bed, we didn't sleep very well because we didn't want to miss Caleb's reaction when he came in and saw this:

He was quite excited (but not quite as excited as our aching bodies and sleep-deprived eyes would have liked). There is a great video clip that should go RIGHT HERE but it is long enough that I can't get it to upload but I am ready to post this blog so I'll keep working on it for next time. (Anyone know of any free editing software? I just need to cut out a few seconds of the video for it to upload?)

Christmas day got off to a slow start because my parents and Morgan and Brian couldn't get here as early as they would have liked due to the foot of snow on the ground. Once they got to our house, we enjoyed stockings, brunch, presents, appetizers, and dinner in the space of a few hours so that we could stay on schedule. He was very eager to open his stocking but had to wait until my family arrived. He had asked Santa for "lots of cars" and was concerned when they weren't left along with the trampoline. We explained that Santa might have left some surprises in his stocking. Whew! There were cars in the stocking...Santa does exist!


Caleb was a great present-distributor, making sure all the presents were placed in the right pile.

G-Dad helps Caleb open a gift.

Harper initially slept through the gift-opening time but had her own extravaganza once she woke up.

The day after Christmas, we did some shopping. After returning home, it was warm enough that Caleb and I went to play in the snow. He had a blast, but mainly tried to eat it.

Harper's good hair day: This is what it looks like after I take a ponytail down. YIKES!

We enjoyed our annual Christmas gathering with our "other family", the Wilsons after they returned from a Caribbean cruise (must be rough, eh?). Caleb was stoked to get his marble race track!

Harper is pretty much fearless, walking around everywhere and climbing anything she can. I told Aaron that I'm willing to bet we go to the ER with her before we do with Caleb (aka Mr. Cautious).

My big big boy. He looks 3 going on 13 in this picture, I think.

We had some friends and their kiddos over for New Year's Eve. It was a lot of fun, especially because C and his buddies are now old enough to play upstairs and keep themselves entertained. Now Harper, on the other hand, was a bit of a pain - unsure of all these people in her house and needing a nap. She fell asleep sitting on the couch between Aaron and me about 11:30 and Caleb was still going strong when we finally insisted he go to bed about 1am.


Harper on January 1st -looking a little worse for the wear!

Caleb and his fancy green New Year's hat that he picked out. (What?? Caleb pick out something green? That's odd! Ha!)

Well, that's it for now. Now I just need to download, sort, upload, and document the last 5 weeks (is that all!?!?). Happy belated 2010!

Next Up: The 1st and 3rd Birthdays Post

If I thought last December was chaotic with Caleb's 2nd birthday, Harper Grace's arrival, then Christmas, I didn't know how good I had it (because at least there was an excuse to be a slacker!). Despite all sorts of preplanning, I was still scurrying around to get the last minute details taken care of.

Because Caleb's birthday was on a Thursday, we celebrated in class on Wednesday. We gave a book about drums to the Deer class and brought a cookie cake to share with his friends.

On his birthday morning, we woke Caleb up and had him follow footprints (green ones, of course!) through the house and to the garage to find his present. He was pretty excited!

This was our first year for a friend party. Though several girls were invited, it ended up being an all-boys affair at Pump It Up, a local bounce house. Here are the fellas watching the safety video.


Caleb going down the big slide. It's hard to see but he has an expression of 1/2 terror, 1/2 joy - priceless!

Posing in front of his Rocket birthday cake (as in Rocket from Little Einsteins, in case you are familiar with pre-school TV shows these days). Thanks to our friend Lauren for a great cake. Her mom is a great cook/caterer. The apple didn't fall far from the tree, eh?


Struggling to find a balance between actually looking in the direction of the camera and doing this over-cheesy smile. Let me know if you have a suggestion.


We didn't open presents at the party but the boys all enjoyed a turn in the Birthday King inflatable throne.

The following Sunday was a "dog party" for Harper and Caleb for family and our family friends. I found this cute dress at Kohl's for super cheap. Have a 1 year old that wears 18 month clothes that might want to borrow it? I'll be glad to lend it. Drool stains have been removed :) You can't see them very clearly in this photo, but Harper debuted her pigtails at the party. Her hair is getting much longer in the back; I don't want to cut it but am trying to avoid the "mullet" so pigtails it is.

Caleb lovin' on his god-sister Ellison.

The joint party cakes were done by Icing on the Top here in Tulsa. I'd seen some great work by them including my sister's wedding cake. It was not easy to come up with a theme that was both girl and boy, not too young for a 3 year old but not too old for a 1 year old. So, dogs it was!

Caleb wasn't sure about Harper getting her own cake when he had to share the big one with everyone else. Notice his offer to "help" - ha!

On Harper's actual birthday, the three of us went in and sang Happy Birthday to her to wake her up. Girlfriend is definitely not a morning person!

Harper received lots of great toys and presents from our family and friends, and especially with Christmas right around the corner, I figure she wouldn't feel shorted (at least this year) if we gave her something practical for her birthday. So, Sit and Stand stroller it was. Before Harper was born, I researched like crazy (hard to believe, I know) and found a side by side stroller that I really liked. We used it a few times and it is great for the zoo or on a walk but not so much for the mall or somewhere like that. It fits through doors but not around clothes racks, etc. Especially now that Caleb is older, I think this Sit and Stand will be great. If you know of someone looking for a double stroller, we'd be happy to sell the side by side to them. It would be especially great for someone with twins, where both kiddos need to be in seats.


Similar to her brother, Harper's second go-round with a birthday cake was a lot more animated...and messy. Here she is going after it.

Close to the end of the cake destroying mission. Right after I snapped this pic, she actually put her toes in her mouth to suck the icing off them. That's how you know it's been a great birthday.

A few other random things:

Harper began really using a push cart to get herself around. We had it out a lot earlier with Caleb. Poor second born in a new house, we left it upstairs for a long time because we didn't want it to scratch up the wood floors and be noisy. The sacrifices we make as parents to allow our children to walk!!

As part of the preparation for the dog-themed party, I went on a hunt for a dog bone cookie cutter. I COULD NOT find one by itself so I invested $10 in a bucket of 100 various shapes, letters, and holiday cookie cutters. Both kids thought they were toys and made quick work of laying them out all over the floor. And you better believe I counted as we cleaned up to make sure all 100 ended up back in the bucket.

Caleb has never minded getting his haircut but has always felt more comfortable (read: doesn't throw a fit unless he's) sitting in my lap. Last time we got a cut, I mentioned that once he's three, he would be sitting in Miss Tara's chair all by himself. Well, the day came to get a haircut and he did wonderfully. In fact, he's the one that reminded me that he was going to sit like a big boy.

I am sure I've mentioned before that I like to help at Riverfield's Friday Nights Out or Sleepovers, especially if I get to hang out with my buddy. However, Caleb's never stayed overnight so I've only signed up to work until 11pm. In early December I took the plunge and we stayed the night. Yes, I did invest in an air mattress. I was definitely re-thinking my decision when Caleb and his friends started this up about 5 minutes into the evening!!

Things actually went very smoothly after that, though I will say it will be awhile before I agree to stay overnight with a room full of 2 and 3 year olds.

OK, birthday posts taken care of. Maybe I'll tackle Christmas ones tomorrow! Yeah for updates. Feel free to show some love via the comment section!

How To Eat an Elephant...One Bite at a Time!

(I guess the date displayed on this post goes back to the day I started to upload some pictures to it. SEE! I do have good intentions!! Anyway, don't think you're computer has been shortchanging you; I only actually posted this blog update - and the one above it - today, January 29th.)

To take the advice of the old elementary school joke, I've decided to tackle the mounds of Thanksgiving/Birthdays/Christmas photos, videos, and memories, and blog about them a little at a time. So, here we go:

Harper Grace's hair grew long enough to start putting a pony tail on top of it, short and thin as it may be. It was perfect timing because she had stopped leaving her hairbows and bands in. Hooray for a new way to accessorize. Of course, Aaron rolls his eyes because now I have to go buy small bows to clip in with the pony tail holders (which, incidentally are small enough to be those rubber bands that go on your braces).


Not to be outdone, Caleb wanted me to put a ponytail in his hair too. Harper's gaining on him, but his hair was way thicker than Harper's when he was her age. Totally not fair!


On one of several trips to the mall for Christmas shopping, Mom and Caleb rode the merry go round. A big treat because Caleb's mean ol' mom never lets him ride it. Partly because sometimes it not there, partly because the germs that must be all over it gross me out (why did I only become a semi-germaphobe after I had children??Hmmmm.), and partly because I never figured out what to do with Harper if I was there with the kiddos on my own.


A breakfast staple around here is Weight Watchers pumpkin spice muffins. At least two of us eat one every day so we go through them pretty quickly. They are super easy - just pumpkin, spice cake mix, and water - and both kiddos love to help me with them. Caleb with the dumping and mixing and Harper with the beater-cleaning.


Caleb is growing more and more independent. Where he used to go to the bathroom and then ask for help to get his underwear and pants back up, now he's got it all by himself. Sometimes are a bit more successful than others. He wore them like this the rest of the evening. Aaron was suffering from sympathy chafing and kept asking Caleb if his undies were bugging him. Guess not enough to fix it.


Harper is adding words by the day. Here's her version of "Caleb".


For Thanksgiving, we headed to Kansas City with many members of my dad's family. It was such a large group that we didn't all fit under Aunt Debbie's roof, but it was still the place to hang out, play, eat, and watch football.

My two kiddos playing together...and without a scream or tear to be heard or seen! (Note Harper's scrunchy hair. Think hers is going to have some natural curl too!)


Caleb and his "fings" (we're still working on that darn "th" sound). Thanks to my cousin-in-law Andrea for the fabulous photo.


I have always loved KC, partly because it is a great city (and that was before I knew about Nebraska Furniture Mart!) and partly because of all the great memories associated with it. It is so cool to me to see Caleb in Aunt Debbie's huge back yard, playing around and going on hikes like I used to. Caleb seems so big and grown up sometimes, but look how little he looks in comparison to the yard and house - still just a little fella!

Here's a cute video of Caleb with his cousins Luke and Culley.




Aunt Debbie gave all the cousins matching hats and scarves. Funny to see Harper's screaming face and Cousin Cash (the little little baby) slipping from his brother's grasp. Oh the memories we're making!


The day after Thanksgiving, we all headed to the Plaza and at Baja 600, one of my very favorite restaurants. My generation of cousins had a photo moment outside.


Family photo - hey, at least three of the four of us are looking at the camera.


A traditional holiday purchase: matching Christmas PJs. This year's had hats - Harper wasn't sure about hers until she saw big brother wearing his too.

One blog down, several more to go. This will get us started though, right?? I've heard that the first year with two kiddos is crazy, but that if you can make it through, then it becomes much easier. We shall see, I guess :) Hopefully it will be a breeze and I'll be a regular blogger again!

Happy 1st Birthday, Chickadee!

Yesterday was Harper's first birthday! It has been a whirlwind year, but we wouldnt' change it for the world. And, all my friends with kiddos close in age swear that if you can make it through the first year, you are good to go. Which should mean life will be smooth as silk from here on out, right?!? HA!

I will post more pictures of the parties (Caleb's, joint, school parties, etc.) later but wanted to

show our birthday girl at school yesterday and then at home last night devouring her cake.

Thanks, Sister G, for making our lives even better than before! WE LOVE YOU!

Happy 3rd Birthday to Our Buster!!

A quick shout-out (that's now a day late since it's after midnight) to our totally wonderful, fabulous, and special first born. Caleb celebrated his 3rd birthday today, Dec. 3rd. It is so hard to believe that he's growing so fast. The picture above is from this morning, just after he woke up (as indicated by the crazy hair and sleep-lined face) just after receiving his big present from Mom and Dad.

Here's a photo from each of his other birthdays:
A few hours after being born. What a crazy adventure that was!


Eating cake on his 1st birthday. He wasn't too certain about cake-eating at his party but got after it on his actual birthday.


Enjoying cake again on his 2nd birthday. Just a few days later, he went from being our little boy to seeming like a giant compared to the newborn Harper.


Eating cake tonight at his party. I couldn't tell if he was tired after jumping and running around, in a sugar coma from all the junk we ate all day, or suffering from a concussion after falling off the bench backward.


More to come as the festivities continue with a joint party for family. This post was just to keep me from being a total slacker :) Happy b-day, Caleb Scotty Watt-y. I love you!

The Holidays are Coming!!

Hard to believe that Christmas is 7 weeks away but the weather here has been BEAUTIFUL for the last week- more like spring than fall. Holidays also mean two big birthdays are on the horizon. LOTS TO PLAN FOR ME! YIKES!!! Let's get to the fun stuff: the photos!

As Harper gets more active, she and Caleb interact more and more. It is very fun and, for the most part, peaceable. Enjoying a great fall afternoon one Sunday with the window open.


Riverfield is built firmly upon the idea of kiddos being outside as often as possible to learn and explore in the outdoor environment. This photo was taken by one of Caleb's teachers earlier in October and featured in the daily "Today We" update that's emailed to parents and grandparents. The leader of the pack...or just not listening to instructions when the teacher said to stop (who knows!).


October = big events for my family with both parents' birthdays and their anniversary. For Dad's birthday, he took off work and we headed to the State Fair. We had a great time, especially in the petting zoo area, despite this photo of Caleb. The camels were awfully big and not afraid of people.

Harper had a good time too. This was one of the last outings where she would keep her bow in her hair. It's been a good ride and I'm pleased she left them in as long as she did.

I didn't even talk to Caleb about the rides at the Fair because I thought he would be too nervous to try them. We walked through the midway on our way back to the car and he was fascinated. He and I rode the caterpillar roller coaster together and then he rode the small train all by himself; what a big boy!

Riverfield's first homecoming football game on our own field was in October. It was a very chilly day after a really rainy week but we still had the game and all the activities, including a schoolwide pep assembly in the gym. Here's Harper and Daddy hanging out.

And Caleb and his friends jamming along with the drumline.


There were quite a few of Caleb's deer class friends at the day's activities. This is Caleb's good buddy Anthony. Caleb didn't want a tattoo but later asked to get his face painted. While in line, I asked him what he wanted to get. "Green," he said. "Green what? Like a frog? A turtle?" I said. "No, just green" so we painted his whole face "just green" then traveled 5 hours to our family reunion in Kansas City with the green face paint. :)

Harper is more and more animated. The wave was first in a series of "firsts" in the last 6 weeks.

One rainy Friday, the dogs were barking like crazy in the backyard. I went out to bring them in and found that they were going nuts over these tiny little turtles. One was scurrying away but the other was tucked inside its shell. We brought both to the back porch for further investigation.

Our friends came over to watch OU/Texas with us. Though the game certainly didn't end like we wanted (or the Sooner season, for that matter), Owen and Caleb had a blast. I can't think of once in his life that Caleb has worn a hat for more than 5 minutes but Owen was wearing one so Caleb wanted to also. No clue where we found this pretty orange hat but it provided lots of entertainment that day.


Granny and Grandpa gave them a great book on our visit to their house earlier in the year. Caleb loves to "read" it to us.

While they are too young to protest, I will continue to dress the kiddos in matching holiday pjs including Halloween. However, taking a photo of them together is nearly impossible. Harper is constantly on the move and, though Caleb means well, his strangle hold on her only aggravates the situation further.

Harper is feeding herself a larger variety of "real" foods. Here's an experiment with fruit cocktail and cool whip.

After several wet and muddy football games at Riverfield, I invested in some galoshes. Caleb, apparently, is quite fond of them too.

For the 3rd year in a row, our friends from Sunday School had us out to their property for a hayride and bonfire. Each year, the crowd of children gets larger and larger. It is very fun to watch our friends' families grow up with our children.

The host of the bonfire is a Tulsa police officer. You can imagine the fun that Caleb and his buddies had in the cruiser. Hopefully this will be the only time that Caleb's in the back seat of a cop car!

Harper has had ongoing ear infections in the last few months; she finish a round of antibiotics and have an ear infection in the next two weeks. We went to the ENT on a Tuesday, her ears were clear and he wanted to get tubes in while they weren't infected, so two days later we were at a local outpatient hospital getting her tubes. Just like Caleb, they gave her "goofy juice" to make leaving us and going to the OR a little easier. Funny girl!

Unlike Caleb after his tubes, Harper was a challenge when waking up from anesthesia. She was groggy and grumpy but took a great big nap when we got home and woke up happy as a clam.

Aaron had taken the day off, so he and Caleb tackled the pumpkin carving. We had located a set of Cars templates and Caleb thought all 8 designs would be going on his pumpkin. He was a little disillusioned that only one would fit.


While C wasn't so eager to get his hands dirty with pumpkin innards, Harper was very curious.


Here's the finished product...nice job, Dadda! Lightening McQueen never looked so good!

I think I had just started my "Couch to 5k" running program when I last blogged. Well, my friends and I kept at it and made it to our goal race: the Tulsa Run. We had run several 5ks around the school so knew we could actually run that far. However, I had not accounted for the hilly path through downtown that we would be taking. We made it though! Because it was a chilly morning, Harper and Aaron stayed home and Caleb, my parents, and my sister came to cheer me on. Caleb and Mom missed me going by because Caleb had to "take a turn" but their support was much appreciated. After we got home, Caleb pinned on my race number and ran around the front yard for awhile.

Harper had her own kind of race.

Another new trick- blowing kisses. She also can say "dog" and will "ruff" like a dog if you ask her what a dog says but we couldn't see to capture it on camera because every time we ask Harper, Caleb thinks he needs to answer too. Yes, Caleb, we know that at almost 3 you know what a dog says. :)

Halloween ended up being a gorgeous day, almost 80 degrees. We joined friends at the Boo Ha Ha parade on Brookside mid-afternoon. Here's our little flower.

She LOVED the drums, cars, sights, and sounds of the parade. Maybe because she could actually hear them with her tubes in. She has said 5 or 6 more words since her procedure.

Caleb and his friends were Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. Of course, Caleb had to wear green so he was Theodore. Here are our cute Chipmunks checking out their candy. The costumes were so cheap (our friend Leslie found the men's turtlenecks at thrift stores and the brown sweatpants were $8.) but I couldn't believe how many people kept complimenting us and saying how adorable they were. We were wishing we would have entered them in a costume contest.

Later that night, we went to "Simon's" house to eat pizza and trick-or-treat in his neighborhood. The last two years, we've gone to the church for their event so this was the first time doing the whole "knock on the door and say trick or treat" thing. We moms weren't prepared for all the etiquette lessons needed like saying please and thank you, not ringing the doorbell a million times, taking turns ringing the doorbell, not grabbing candy out of the person's bowl, etc. It was fairly exhausting keeping up with these excited boys but lots of fun.

Harper on the move. She lost her headpiece as we were walking (totally mom's fault, sorry!) but looked cute here.

After the trick or treating, we moms dropped the kids off and headed out to look for Harper's missing costume. The dads were apparently a little over-involved in the OU game because here's what transpired while we were away!

The weather has continued to be unbelievable. We took several walks, including Harper's first venture out in the wagon.

Here's Aaron's most recent work with the photoshop app on his iphone. Not too shabby; but the subject is adorable to start with!

We've been enjoying Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA" lately. In a scary testament to how much your infant takes in, here's what we found out Harper can do!

Other items of note:
- I ran another 5k this weekend - took 2:40 off my Tulsa Run time. Signed up for a 4 mile run downtown next weekend. No aspirations for longer runs at this point, but I am really enjoying the activity (and the fun t-shirts!).

- We've had fun times with friends including a lake weekend in Arkansas and a girls retreat with my friends from Covenant. Yippee!!

- Caleb's potty training has been very successful. He is in underwear all day and at naps and has had several overnights with dry Pull-Ups. Knock on wood but never would have thought potty training would be this easy.

- The OU season is down the drain but it is still fun to get together with friends to watch.

- Our god daughter Ellison started at Riverfield a few weeks ago. It is going well so far and is very fun to have a 3rd little person to check in on during the day. Plus, Caleb loves to tell me when he sees her during the school day. She and Harper are in different classes this year but the younger and older infant classes are integrated when they reach Toddler classes next fall. Watch out boys, here come the cuties!

- Our thoughts and prayers have been with the Hedrick family over the last several months. Truman, their 9 year old, was diagnosed with bone cancer in his leg this summer. He has undergone several procedures and treatments, including an above-the-knee amputation two weeks ago at MD Anderson. Their boys used to go to Riverfield and they go to church at Asbury. Please send your prayers their way. For more information visit www.caringbridge.org/visit/trumanhedrick

- I entered both kids in the Gap Casting Call contest. If you want to, please go to http://family.go.com/gapcastingcall/entries/cswhgw12/ to vote for Caleb or Harper as the fan favorite.

Have a great week!

In the Swing of Things

We're several weeks into the fall and things are getting "normal" or at least "routine" for us. Caleb is flourishing in the Deer class and Harper is adjusting to life with her teachers and friends in the Butterfly class. She was a total champ the first few weeks of school but has since hit the fun and friendly times of stranger anxiety so she spent a better part of the last two weeks crying in her class. She is definitely coming around and her teachers said she had a great day on Wednesday. I also chalk some of this up to teething (two big ones coming in up top) and an ear infection we didn't know about until I took her for her 9 month well baby visit on Thursday. Send in your nominations for Mom of the Year now!!! Oops!

One project that Caleb has really helped with is our Amish Friendship Bread batter. He was so good at mushing up the bag each day and especially with preparing the batter to give to friends and baking the bread we kept. We have another starter bag so we're going through the routine again. If you're looking for Friendship Bread, let me know and we can get a starter to you.

Fall in the Walton house means FOOTBALL!! We've had a blast at two Riverfield games- one victorious, the other...not so much. This is the 3rd year for us to play football but the first to have our own home field, which was completed over the summer. It is such a pretty venue, with trees and barnyard surrounding it. Caleb is loves to cheer (it was "Go Raisins" at first, but we've cleared that up to "Ravens" with a little practice) and both kids love to listen to our drumline.

School has not been without its bumps and scrapes for C and H. Caleb's affinity for his rain boots and his teachers' OK to wear them even when not needed has equaled a fall or two on the gravely playground. This one was especially lovely:

Harper has enjoyed her share of bumps and bruises as well as she experiments with pulling up on things and cruising around. Caleb seemed to be more cautious than Harper is at this age. She has no fear and doesn't mind plopping back down on her booty if she gets in a pickle.

She has six teeth now (4 on top, 2 on bottom) and she's also mastered waving.


And saying "Dadda" ("Mama" was a long time ago):


And "Ball" (this was on her 9 mo. birthday):

Over Labor Day, we took at trip out to Aaron's parents' house in Boise City. Yes, folks, you can drive 7 hours and still be in Oklahoma :) We hadn't been there since Caleb was young, and despite a hailstorm and a run-in with some baby ticks, we all had a great time. Caleb slept by himself in another room better than he sleeps at home. Who would have thought! His favorite part was playing with all the cars that his Dad played with when he was little.

Here's Harper finding her way around Granny and Grandpa's house.

Caleb gave up his pacifier at school last winter without a thought. But at home, it was part of the bedtime routine and we weren't ready for the fight. Then one of the two pacis went missing and then Caleb threw up while keeping the other in his mouth (DISGUSTING) so we had to throw it away. So we were without a paci and that was the end of it, no fits, no crying, no bargaining for a new one. Aaron and I were filled with dread when the missing orange paci was found, but after we told him it was too dirty from being under the nightstand for such a long time, he threw it away himself. What a champ! Gives some credence to the idea that kids will be ready for these big milestones when they're ready (though it's easier to say that when he's 2 1/2, not 5!).

Several weeks ago, we babysat our god daughter, Ellison. I was at a Weight Watchers meeting (more on that later) so for a few minutes, Aaron had a sleeping Ellison, a screaming-for-no-apparent-reason Caleb, and a puzzled and fussy Harper (oh, and two howling dogs) all to himself. Would have loved to be a fly on the wall for that. For the most part, it was a very calm evening and Rob and Heather might actually let us watch her again sometime :)

Fridays mean fun time with Grandma most weeks as my mom doesn't work at the church on those days. Recently, Caleb has been spending the night on Thursday with Grandma and G-Dad and then we'll meet up Friday for errand running or some activity. On this particular day, we walked and played at a park in Broken Arrow. The weather has been very cooperative (up until this last rainy week) this fall.

I think I've mentioned our new fabulous Reasor's grocery store before. Not the world's best prices (though they do have good sales) but one of my favorite things is that the carts are made to seat two kiddos. It won't work forever, but for now, it is a wonderful alternative to having to put Caleb in the back of the cart where he gets into everything until he's so smushed by groceries that he couldn't move if he wanted to.

I tend to focus on the kiddos mostly in this blog because they are more interesting and I have waaaaayyy more pics of them than of myself. But, I will show my "before and after" photos of the haircut I got right before school started. I had intended to lose some weight and then celebrate by chopping my hair off but the weight wasn't going anywhere and my hair was getting on my last nerve. So, I did the opposite: chopped 8 inches off my hair then started losing weight. When summer's relaxed dress code at school was over, I was faced with the reality that about 3/4 of my closest was filled with clothes that didn't fit. Not OK because I was not going to go buy new things in a bigger size. So, I re-joined Weight Watchers and have been counting points and tracking what I eat. And I joined some co-workers and students in jogging two days a week (then one day on my own) with the Couch to 5k running program. So far I'm about 10 pounds down and hope to be about 10 more by the holidays.

Here's a funny photo of Harper. She is way to big for this bouncy chair but I've yet to figure out what to do with her when I shower and Aaron's not home to entertain her. She's quickly outgrowing the Exersaucer and it is too wide to fit through the bathroom door anyway. So for now, she just tries to bust of the chair while I take the world's fastest shower.

In the struggle to find somewhere for Harper to "land" while we attempt to get things done around the house without letting her endanger herself, we purchased this Jenny Jumper. She generally loves to bounce up and down while standing on your legs or in the Exersaucer but has yet to really embrace this toy. She'll tolerate it for awhile and only if you are in close proximity, which makes tidying the house or starting the laundry a bit of a challenge.

As OU fans, we were crushed by their first week defeat but put on our gear, paid a silly $40 fee to watch it on pay per view, and cheered loudly as they defeated Northern Idaho. Yippee!!

The big accomplishment of the night was Harper learning the touchdown signal. It took awhile and thankfully our fine team allowed us many many chances to practice it as they kept scoring (maybe we should have started it the week before against BYU!). Caleb was a very good example and encourager.

Here the video and a still photo of our cute little fan. This week she added "ta-dahn" when she does the motion. Yeah, she's a prodigy, right?? The humorous part is she's not really sure why she's doing it but knows that it gets a great reaction so she keeps doing it at random times. To which Caleb tells us, "We're not watching football right now".

If we thought tossing of the orange paci was a big deal for Caleb, we had an even bigger one in store for us this week. Here's the scoop:


Yep, what we've been practicing at home we took out in the real world of Riverfield Country Day School (and beyond) as he wore underwear!! He's only had two accidents so far (knock on wood) and hasn't had any problem telling us he needs to go when we've run errands, etc. We're still doing nap and night time with a diaper (not that brave yet), but we're well on our way. Hooray for only buying one size diapers!!! Harper, we'll start working on you next month- ha!

The rain foiled our plans to go to the zoo with our friend Owen on Friday but we did go to the OK Aquarium, which is close to our casa. Caleb really enjoyed it, if by enjoyed it I mean ran around and made a lot of noise with his friend, and occasionally freaked out about the big fish and sharks swimming toward him. Harper was pretty oblivious to it all and just chewed on her dolphin toy the whole time.

You should have seen the totally puzzled look on Caleb's face when we walked up to this tank and saw the man in the scuba suit inside. Apparently they do a lot of cleaning and feeding on Friday mornings. It was as if Caleb couldn't tell if he was a real person or just part of the display. He ended up knocking on the glass and trying to get the guy to wave at him.

Finally, a "cheeeessseeee" when he was actually looking at the camera. These days, I get the word while he looks in the opposite direction, or a glance at the camera with a goofy face. Somehow I think this struggle is only beginning.

Oh, Aaron wants me to tell a funny story on Caleb. Last week after swimming lessons, they were in the locker room drying off and changing clothes when Caleb sprinted toward the urinals and picked up the urinal cake. Because I didn't know what a urinal cake was, the initial grossness of the story had waned a bit by the time Aaron fully explained it to me. But, apparently it is really gross.

I have a super-cute video clip of Caleb and Harper playing together but it's a little long and won't fully upload. I'll look into it and hopefully post it soon. It's so cool to watch them interact more and more as her awareness of Caleb and their relationship increases.

We are busy busy and I'm sure you are too. But aren't you proud of me for updating within the month!?!? Yippee! Happy fall, football season, harvest, Halloween, etc!!