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!
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!
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
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!!
School started last week, and maybe--just maybe--I can turn over a new leaf and try to be better about updating the blog. We also finally got my laptop and our wireless internet set up so now I don't have the excuse of not being able to get to the office and get it done. We shall see, I guess, but I do have good intentions :) As much as it goes against my natural bent, I am not going to worry about putting these pics in chronological order. Take it or leave it, mkay?!?!
At first I was kinda regretting the double stroller purchase because the one we bought didn't work with Harper's infant seat. But now that she is big enough to sit (or sleep, in the case of this picture), it works out really well.
Several weeks ago, Harper discovered her tongue. She spent about 20 hours a day poking it in and out of her mouth. How she managed not to chomp down on it, I'll never know. She has since moved on to new tricks but this stage was pretty funny.
Harper has started eating real foods like bananas, Cheerios, and Puffs. As shown in the picture, she is not perfect about getting things into her mouth 100% of the time.
I can't remember if I posted this or not yet but this was from back in May when we were over at a friend's house for a birthday gathering. All the boys decided they wanted to take a turn in the potty. Caleb did and was so excited about washing his hands afterward that he forgot to let me put his diaper and pants back on. Yes, he did streak through the living room naked, but we eventually got some clothes back on.
Caleb started swimming lessons this summer. He is still young enough that a parent has to be in the pool with him, so Aaron wins that opportunity. He was a Dolphin but has now graduated to being a Flipper. Between swimming class (Flipper), soccer (Cottontail), and school (Deer), Caleb is hooked up with the animal names.
We didn't do any real vacations or traveling this summer but we did venture to Porter for the Peach Festival. It was a toasty day but the kiddos enjoyed the parade and we all enjoyed the peach cobbler, peach tea, peach smoothies, etc.
We finally got Harper's name on the wall - just in time to remove the crib bumpers since she's pulling up on everything these days. So it was enjoyed briefly before the "look" of the room changed.
In July we went with Owen to the Splash Park in Jenks. It was an overcast day so it was a bit chilly but there weren't very many others there either so they had the park almost all to themselves. Oh, and photographer friends, be slightly impressed (emphasize slightly) in that I adjusted the picture settings to action so I could catch the raindrops in it.
Here is my new favorite pic of the kiddos. Those of you that are facebook friends have seen this, but I thought I'd post it here too...because it is just that darn cute!
Not only is Harper on the go with speedy crawling, she loves to pull up on anything and can even cruise around holding on to things. If Caleb was our careful child, then Harper is our "no fear" one. This was from the first few days of her pulling up, she now is bold enough to reach up and hold on to the top railing of the pack-n-play.
On the 4th of July weekend, we had some friends over for dinner and then all went out to the great fireworks in Keifer, OK. It's not too far from here and it is not as crowded - and is a much better show - than the ones I've seen in Tulsa. Caleb and I were hanging out on a blanket while Aaron and Harper watched from a lawn chair. She got a little fussy about10 minutes into the show but it wasn't because of the noise, it was because she was settling down to sleep...sure enough, she passed out in the middle of those huge booming fireworks.
Group shot from Keifer fireworks show.
Harper and Caleb in Keifer.
No real story to go with this, just a cute picture of Harper posing for the camera.
Harper now has 4 teeth, with more coming soon if the runny nose, drool, and slight temperature are any indication. Here's a pretty good shot of the bottom two.
On summer days when Caleb would play in the backyard pool, Harper liked to hang out in her Exersaucer on the back porch.
Caleb practicing his bubble-blowing skills from swimming lessons at home.
This is Harper with her god-sister, Ellison. Though they look a lot different in size now, the six months between them won't be a consideration in even two years.
Right before school started, a friend organized a tour of Krispy Kreme for the kids. Harper spent time with grandma while Caleb and I went to see how donuts are made. It was a bit challenging to keep the hands of ten or more 2-5 year olds in the right place, but we made it through and everyone got to decorate their own donut at the end of the tour.
Harper has officially transitioned to a "big girl" carseat. Still rear-facing but she outgrew the carrier/base option, despite our best efforts to squeeze her into it. It is Caleb's old Britax seat but we bought a cute new girly (waterproof!!) cover online to make it a little more "Harper". For Caleb, we switched to the Graco Nautlius 3-in-1. I am really pleased with it so far, for all you consumer moms out there who are about to outgrow a carseat but aren't ready for a true booster seat yet.
Two weekends ago, Harper was baptized at our church. Lots of family and friends were there to share in the special time with us. Caleb did a great job listening and being a good big brother, and he even told his sister, "Harper, I like your water hair." after the pastor had baptized her.
After church, the group of us all went out to First Watch to celebrate Harper's special day.
The evening before Harper's baptism, we had our semi-annual gathering with the Wilsons, thought it is now Wilson, Long, Beauchamp, and Walton. The Wilsons hadn't seen our new casa, so they ventured out this way and we enjoyed dinner and conversation together. We meant to get a big group picture but forgot, so here are two of my precious ones:
As of the 17th, both kiddos are at Riverfield - Caleb is in the Deer class and Harper is a Butterfly. Both are having great times in their classes and have FABULOUS teachers! Harper is blessed to have Ms. Canty, who was Caleb's favorite teacher when he was a Butterfly two years ago. Here's a few pics from the first day of school. Note the attempt to coordinate their outfits. I hadn't even thought about that complication but am already in search of clothes that would look good together for their school pics in case they end up in frames next to each other. HA!
Harper's hair is finally growing. It is still too short to do any pigtails and long enough that I bet the hairbands and bows I use pull at her little baby hairs. Here's a special hair day, this was right after nap.
Last weekend our Community had "Fallapalooza" - a kick-off to get our members and families geared back up for church activities as summer ends. Caleb will tell you that his very favorite part was the Jupiter Jump...and the cupcake...and the balloon guy.
Caleb has been working on his jumping jacks. Here's his most recent attempt.
This captures Harper's newest "silly face" - she breathes heavily through her nose and crinkles it at the same time.
Hmmm, what else??? Morgan and her hubby just moved to a new apartment in Edmond. It is closer to school for Brian and closer to Mo's new job at LifeChurch, which she just loves.
I am back on the Weight Watchers wagon and am even jogging a few days a week with friends at school. As far as result go, we shall see, I guess.
Though we didn't do much traveling this summer, we'll begin making up for it soon. Next week we will head out for extended Labor Day travel as we head to Texas and the OK panhandle to see some of Aaron's family. Then later, we'll go to KC for a family reunion, OKC for a wedding, and to the lake for a weekend too. PLUS...NFL and college football is about to start in earnest. So much for getting things done on teh weekends, eh??
Laptop battery is dying so I am going to spellcheck and publish this. Sorry for the two month delay. You still love me, right??
In the past, I have given some of my blogging friends a hard time about not keeping up-to-date with their blogs. I can throw stones no more. Quite frankly, not even sure how many of you even check this any more since I've been so delinquent. A thousand apologies and here's the last two months of pics and happenings in the Walton house.
If you're in a hurry, peruse these first few pictures of Harper to get the gist of things. She is growing so fast and you can see the change from sitting in the Bumbo to almost crawling.
Shortly after my last post, we celebrated Aaron's birthday. It was a really rainy spring and early morning on the 30th, we awoke to find our neighbor's huge tree crashed in our yard. Thankfully, it did no damage to the house, deck, or even fence. It took a few weeks to get it removed but provided lots of entertainment for Caleb and the dogs in the meantime.
Here's Aaron's birthday spread. It was fun to have Caleb old enough to really "help" with the shopping. He picked out special presents (Cars figures that Dad could conveniently "share" with him) and did a fairly good job about keeping secrets.
Here's sweet girl wishing her Dada a happy 31st!
I got adventurous one night and tried to give them a bath together. Not quite ready for that as I spent the whole time trying to keep Caleb from splashing Harper in the face in his excitement.
It's old news now, but we introduced Harper to the Exersaucer and it was love at first sight. Caleb took a little time to warm up to it when he was little, but Harper just dove right in.
When it was still a decent temperature outside, we continued to enjoy fun on the back porch.
Here's a shot of Caleb after playing in the backyard hose. Thankfully, my cell phone was a little dark so you can't tell that Caleb is buck naked talking to Aaron on the cordless phone, which is sitting on the picnic table bench.
Caleb and I also enjoyed the rest of the soccer "season". He has now graduated from Thumper to a Cottontail.
My sister graduated from OCU. Yeah, Mo! She is now working full time at American Cancer Society and loving married life. The 4 of us crashed at her house last weekend during a wedding in OKC. She and Uncle Brian were great babysitters, puke (Caleb's) and screaming (Harper's) didn't deter her. She says we can come back :)
One May weekend, many guys from our community (what Asbury calls Sunday School classes) left to play golf in Arkansas. Many of us moms (and the dads that didn't go) took our kids to Blue Star Mothers to volunteer to create care packages for soldiers stationed overseas. The boys were a big help in putting together bags of candy for the servicemen and women. Of course, whoever gets Caleb's bags is going to wonder why they only got green candy!
13 people from our community traveled to Ecuador on a mission trip. We were given bracelets to help remember to pray for the team. Caleb really enjoyed wearing them. The trip was a big success!
Harper began eating cereal mid-April. She loves the eating process (shocking, with thighs like hers, I know!). Here's a shot from her first adventure with cereal. She would get very indignant if you tried to take the spoon away from her. So, what did we do? Let her have that one and get another one to actually feed her with. See, we're learning the second time around. Wrenching the spoon out of your infant's hand is not the hill to die on :)
Here's a short video of Harper eating it up!
Caleb loves hanging out at Grandma and G-Dad's house. They recently inherited a new toy for him from some friends. This model certainly has been upgraded from the ones we played with as kids.
Caleb's trusty Cars rain boots bit the dust this spring after much use at school during the rainy weather. I ordered him some new ones (which, of course, didn't come in until after school was over) but he has loved wearing them...most times with very creative outfits!
The boots appear again. This time with some Elmo underwear (still working on that process, by the way) and an old hunting hat of Aaron's.
As you've probably noted in these pictures, Caleb's hair was in desperate need of a cut toward the end of the school year. It was really cute when it had the right product in it but not very practical for summer days. Here it is at the worst (notice it almost covering his ears):
And here's the "after" at a friend's birthday party. Much better!
Pageant week came and went and we survived!! Aaron was really torn (not!) but did not attend the Miss pageant prelims in the evenings, which meant the kids had quality time with dad. For his first real time watching both kids, and doing it Tuesday and Wednesday evenings and all day Friday and Saturday, he was a trooper!
Around pageant week, both kids celebrated their 1/2 birthdays. Here's Miss H (or Harper Gracie or Sister G, as Caleb affectionately calls her) on June 9th.
And here's Mr. Grown Up a few days after his 1/2 birthday. The nice thing about having their birthdays so close is that checkups can be done at the same time.
Asbury has paired our young community with an older adult community as a way to bridge the gap between generations. We've had several activities with them, including an indoor picnic. These grandparent-aged folks really enjoyed watching our children run around, and we were appreciative for the extra hands helping wrangle them in the church's Community Life Center. It was the weekend of Flag Day so we had a little parade around the room while singing patriotic songs.
I never thought I'd be the mom that put their baby girl in a bikini, but it does make a lot more sense as far as diaper changes go. Harper hasn't actually gotten in a pool yet (we bought a cheap one at Walmart but Aaron won't let us put it up because of the new grass he's trying to cultivate in the backyard...BOOOOOO!!!) but she looks adorable in her suit!
Last Friday, our friends' daughter, Ellison Kate was born. She is too precious! And even though we missed her birth because we were in OKC for a wedding, Rob and Heather are still going to let us be her godparents. Thank you, Rob and Heather, for entrusting us with this wonderful responsibility. We can't wait to watch our kids grow up together!
As I mentioned at the top of the blog, Harper is soooo close to crawling! She can get up on all fours and rock back and forth or scoot herself along on her belly.
Not to be outdone by Harper's video airtime, here's Caleb giving the camera his best "cheese".
This last pic pretty accurately sums up the last few days at our house. Starting with Caleb's fever late Sunday and a trip to the after-hours clinic that could find nothing wrong and cleared him for school, followed by sleepless nights with a cough and continued fevers, a re-check with our pediatrician that confirmed ear infections for both (no wonder Harper had been fussy!), four prescriptions, lots of vomit as Caleb refused his meds and a 104+ fever controlled finally by suppositories, and ending (hopefully) with two shots for Caleb so we have one less prescription to give him. Gotta love motherhood, right?!?
Other things: Harper's bottom teeth came in almost two weeks ago. She was several weeks later than Caleb, but his were really early. Her nose had been running and she'd been really slobbery for almost a month, but they finally popped in on June 14th. She's been very difficult to get a picture of with her teeth.
Caleb is very proud of his Grandma, who is in Africa on a mission trip. He will gladly tell you that his Grandma is in Tanzania giving people medicine to help them feel better. What a sweetie! Of course, he also told me yesterday that he was talking to Jesus on the phone and that Jesus had green cupcakes for him.
OK, think that's it, though I'm sure I've missed great stories in this attempt two wrap two months' of activities into a blog post.
Have a great weekend. We are off to explore the brand-new, huge Reasor's that opened just down the road from us. Yeah!
Part of the problem with waiting so long between posts is that it takes forever to sort through pics and decide which ones make the cut. I have four weeks' worth of photos to go through and many of them are quite cute, if I do say so. Here's the last month's wrap up:
We had a semi-random big snow. It was perfect for snowballs and snowmen though we didn't do either. Caleb insisted on going out on the porch to check it out...and was then miserable when I couldn't get his soaked feet out of his pjs fast enough!
This is a sneak peek for events featured later but Harper's dress for Easter and my sister's wedding came in and I had to get a few shots of her in it. There's a Bumbo seat under her but it really is a poofy dress.
You may have noticed the pink chair in the "week picture" looks similar to the denim one used frequently in our posts for the last few years. Caleb's Pottery Barn Anywhere Chair got a new look- a hot pink cover for Harper. And he got an upgrade- a big new red chair.
I also got to spend some quality time with my friend Kim. She was in town and Harper and I joined her and James for dinner. Though I am sure Caleb and Adalie would have had a blast together, it is amazing how much more "catching up" you can do when there aren't 2 two-year-olds competing for your attention.
Here's Caleb's version of "Row Row Row Your Boat". Disclaimer, they did teach this at school but he had to change it up a bit to add his spoon into the lyrics.
The true start to Miss OK season begins with Contestants Day. It was in Tulsa in early April. Harper joined me for the day's activities and, like her brother, got her picture taken with Lauren Nelson, a former Miss America! the first of many pageant events for Miss H, but I swear I am not going to be some crazy pageant mom.
Here's a funny video of Caleb running around in a trailer at Nebraska Furniture Mart in KC. Aaron, his parents, and Caleb all traveled up there to get our new furniture. Long day but totally worth it...we now have a sofa to sit on!!!!
Harper turned 4 months on April 9th. She did great with her immunizations. She weighed in at 16 pounds and 25 1/4 inches long. Our big girl is wearing mostly 6-9 month clothes now. To celebrate her 4 months, she decided to roll over. She had been working on it really hard for several weeks and finally made it over. Looking back at the blog archives, Caleb rolled over at 4 months and 2 days. Of course, we have his first roll overs on video and we've yet to capture Harper's. She is so fast at it that you can barely set her down and she's flopped over. We could have started Harper on cereal when she turned 4 months and we've had it in the pantry for awhile but have been so buys that we've yet to give it a try. She is super interested in eating though and gives us these big eyes when she watches us eat anything.
The Saturday before Easter we ventured out to a local church that had advertised an egg hunt with over 50,000 eggs. It was very well organized and lots of fun. Here is Caleb waiting for his age group's hunt to begin.
Caleb and I took off hunting quickly. Or, more aptly, I hurried Caleb along, encouraging him to wait and see what was actually in the eggs when we were finished instead of stopping after each egg.
I also attempted to have Caleb pick up more than just the green eggs. As noted in the picture, he was only on the lookout for green ones (the pink and orange ones are two that I added to his basket when he wasn't looking). I get that he loves green ("Mama, green is my very favorite.") but at what point does this become OCD :)
As we continue to settle in the house, there are things that just don't have a good place yet. One of them is my jewelry organizer. It is on a hanger and we've put it on the end of a hanging rod in the closet. Unfortunately, it is perfect position for Caleb to get into it. Here he is trying on all my bracelets.
We determined that we would go to 8:00 Easter Service to avoid the crowds at 11:00 and so we could do an egg hunt and lunch without totally wrecking Caleb's nap time. Unfortunately, this meant getting everyone up at an insanely early hour of the morning. Plus it was pouring down rain and really cold. Here is Caleb's cheery Easter morning:
He perked up a bit after some milk and getting the goodies out of his Easter basket. He then "assisted" Harper in getting her items out of her basket.
Our Sunday School class had a family breakfast potluck on Easter morning. Everyone came in totally bedraggled but no worse for the wear. Many of us decided that we deserved a mimosa or bloody mary after the struggle to get a family put together, egg hunt ready, baskets loaded, get through the downpour, and get to church. Our friend Alissa got this halfway decent pic of our family.
After church we went to my parents' house for lunch with Aaron's parents and my parents. Because of the weather, the hunt was inside. Those that have followed the blog for several years will be interested to know this was the first year that Aaron, Mo, and I did not hunt. Maybe it was because Caleb was old enough to grasp the concept or maybe because I was just so distracted and exhausted by getting to kiddos ready, etc. that I knew I wouldn't stand a chance, but I wasn't really sad to see the tradition go.
Harper is more and more fun and personable. She didn't go to the sitter last week (thanks to all that helped pinch-hit for 3 days) and this week Amy commented how much she had changed in just a few days.
I knew that I had a photo of Caleb in a big bed at about the same age/stage, so I captured this one of Miss H. Think they're related??
The babysitter's girls tell her all the time how much more Harper enjoys her tummy time than Caleb ever did. He HATED it but she really seems to enjoy sticking her neck out as far and high as she can and taking everything in. (And, yes, we've upgraded to the next size of bow!)
I think I've posted before about Caleb's class working on an investigation to name some new goats in the Riverfield barnyard. They came up with a big list of names, other Pre-School classes helped narrow down the list, they made campaign posters and ballot boxes. Then the whole school came by their playground to cast their votes. On Friday, the Frog class held a big Name Reveal Ceremony, with much of the school in attendance. The winners were Pluto, Pickles, Nibbles, Cupcake, and Belvedere. After the naming, Caleb's class hung around for snack. Most of the toddlers were more interested in feeding their snack to the goats.
Belvedere was the name given to the baby goat born about a month ago. Isn't he cute!?!
Miss Coulter is one of Caleb's teachers. Many times on trips out to the barnyard, she will fetch (or attempt to fetch) Belvedere so the children can pet him. Only because she is a friend and co-worker do I feel obligated to post this funny video of her trying to corner the baby goat!
Success! Coulter catches the goat and the Frogs are so excited to shower him with affection.
Friday night was the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner for my sister's wedding. It was pretty chilly and very windy so the rehearsal for the outdoor wedding was short and sweet. Dinner was at Brian's family's church and was tasty. It was the first time Caleb and Harper got to see their cousins, who were mostly all in the same outfit from Children's Place. Here are Caleb and Quinn cheesing for the camera. I think Quinn thought it was going to be a still photo since we take video on our digital camera.
There are four two-year-olds in our extended family. Here are Ada, Julia, and Caleb having fun jumping around
This is the crew from my dad's side of the family. I wish we had video of all the adults attempting to corral them and then get them to all look at the camera. It was pretty funny and not very successful but you get the general idea of how cute our kids are.
Harper and her Dadda. She loves me but she really lights up when she sees Aaron.
I am sure there will be lots of pictures posted on the official photographer's site (http://www.ashleyannphotography.com/) but for now, here's a shot of Morgan's wedding courtesy of my cousin Chelsea. It was sprinkling for a good part of the ceremony itself but cleared up just as the minister said, "You may kiss the bride." It was a beautiful ceremony and a fun reception. Congrats to Mo and Brian!!
I know this has been a novel and I really will try to do shorter posts more often. Now that our office furniture is in, we hope to move all my "stuff" downstairs and onto a new laptop that will hopefully make blogging easier. On the other hand, the wii fit that Aaron gave me for my birthday is now installed and we've been spending ample time on that too. I'll give it my best shot.
We started blogging shortly before Caleb was born and try to update as we can (though I've been really bad since Harper was born!). We hope friends and family are able to keep tabs on us easily this way. Enjoy!
