Catching Up

Well, I am back. I would never have predicted that I would be a blog slacker. But, once I got out of the habit (plus leaving the camera in KC), it has been hard to get back in. But we borrowed my parents' camera so we are not devoid of pictures for this blog!!

Here are two pictures from our trip to KC several weekends ago. Already blogged about it but here's some photo proof. Caleb with his third cousins then our fam at my favorite Plaza restaurant.

I was getting something out of our hall closet the other day and had to move my 5 lb. weights to get to it. I turn around when I heard Caleb grunting and groaning and here's what I found. He thought it was very fun but we had to put it away before he dropped it on his toes or mine.

The next weekend we had a fun party for another Sunday School friend's son who was turning two. It was at the Mohawk Park Splash Pad and was a lot of fun. If you've not been out there, you should check it out. It took Caleb awhile to get comfortable with the water but then he LOVED it. One picture is of Caleb under the water rainbow and the other is of Caleb and Owen checking out the drainage system.

Last week we put up Caleb's little pool in the backyard. As I did last summer, I made sure this new pool was big enough to fit an adult raft. So Thursday I put Caleb down for nap and headed out to enjoy a new book and catch some sun. I had been out there about an hour when I start to get sleepy and I hear Caleb beginning to stir in the monitor so I think, "I can just rest for a sec then Caleb will wake me up". OVER NINETY MINUTES LATER, I wake up and am burnt to a crisp, but, as always happens, only in certain places. My face, chest, and legs from the knees up are bright red. But the truly special mark is the space on my growing belly between where the tankini top stopped and the swim bottoms started. Let's just say Aaron took to calling me the "red striped zebra" (I am sure he meant it in the sweetest way possible.). I will spare you and not show you any horrific pictures.

Friday, Caleb's best friend from school came over to play. Her mom is off for the summer so Katy's not been in class and Caleb has been missing her. The plan was to play in the park across the street or let them run around in the sprinkler but the weather did not cooperate. So we were inside, which was fine until Caleb turned in to Mr. Selfish right before our eyes. Poor Katy could not touch a single thing in the house without Caleb yelling "No" or "Me" (he doesn't know "mine" yet but I bet that's coming soon). At one point, he was sitting on his bouncy zebra, not because he was playing on it but purely so Katy couldn't, with a toy under each arm and was still yelling at her not to touch even one of the 200 Duplo blocks that were on the other side of the room. It wasn't all bad - here's one shot of them playing the piano together and another of them hugging (Caleb was fine with it until Katy went in for the kiss. I think his face is priceless!)

Caleb is getting very silly. We used the last tissue one day so he took the box to throw it in the trash. I never heard the box make it in the trashcan so I walked in to his room. And this is what I found:

In consumer news, beware of your Weight Watchers Smart Ones meals. I was heating up a yummy Fiesta Quesadilla last week and when I walked back in the kitchen, after being gone for 25 seconds, the microwave had flames inside it. We doused it with water then pulled out the food to see what happened. I have eaten these several times and have never seen a wire of any sort as part of the heating sleeve. I guess it sparked which lit the cardboard on fire as well as the paper towel I had under it. WOW! I emailed Weight Watchers about it but haven't heard back. Channel 2 works for you, here I come. I did throw away the quesadilla as it was getting stinky but I have photo evidence.

In house news, we are finally making some progress. The land has been cleared and is ready for footing, then plumbing, then foundation. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. We visited quite a few homes over the last two weekends as part of Tulsa's Parade of Homes and got some good ideas.

And we had another OB visit on Thursday. Everything continues to look great and Dr. Williamson confirmed his earlier suspicions and said we should definitely start "thinking pink"! Very exciting - lots of bows and ruffles on the horizon for the Waltons!

Well, that's the last two weeks in the world of the Waltons. Have a good one~

A Blog Without New Pictures

Well I was all set to make up for the lack of blogging the past few weeks then, sure enough, we left our camera in KC last weekend so we have no pictures available from the last few weeks! SORRY!!!

So this will be a boring post with just my witty comments to entertain you.

WE SURVIVED PAGEANT WEEK!!! I know people have various opinions about pageants but, whatever your stance, it takes a heck of a lot of effort to put this whole thing together. And, as would totally be the case, Caleb was still under the weather and was not well enough to go to school (we actually sent him one morning but I got a call while at the Mabee Center that I needed to come get him) so then we were really scrambling for babysitters. By the end of the week, he was crying when the doorbell rung because he knew it was another sitter coming and Mom and Dad were leaving. I think there were 6 or 7 different babysitters throughout pageant week- thanks to each of you!!!

Our teen pageant winner is an awesome girl. She is very smart and super talented. She is a world champion tap dancer and holds a Guinness book record for most consecutive pirouettes. Here's a clip from a few years ago that the news did on Alicia. If you want to see more, feel free to google or search youtube for Alicia Clifton.



Last week we just worked to get back to normal- lots of sleeping, laundry, cleaning, etc. Then Saturday we went to Kansas City to celebrate my Aunt Debbie's retirement from teaching elementary school for nearly 20 years. Lots of family came so it was good to see them and catch up. Plus we got to eat at my fave KC restaurant, Baja 600, which is on the Plaza. YUM!

Caleb is talking up a storm. In fact, one of his teachers was asked what words could Caleb say and her response was, "What words can't Caleb say?!?" He is continuing to form his own opinion about what he would and would not like to do (we are getting a lot of "No"). Oh well!

Our first "child" Samson has injured himself somehow. My guess is that he jumped off the bed and landed funny but, however it happened, he has been diagnosed with a herniated disk in his back and is on anti-inflammatories and pain killers for the next 7-10 days and we have to keep him in his kennel except to feed him and let him go outside. We are hoping this heals him as we would rather avoid a costly and dangerous back surgery. As Caleb says, "See-see (Samson) sad". Here's a cute photo from several Christmases ago. Sam is with Aaron.


OK, as an apology to you faithful blog-readers (who don't comment nearly as often as Aaron would like, by the way), I have some exciting news for you. Several of you may have heard this through the grapevine but...


Yep, Caleb is going to be a big brother!!!!! We have known for quite awhile and told our families on Mother's Day but I haven't told my work yet (I am going to tomorrow so if you know anyone at Riverfield, or if you are from Riverfield...SHHHH!!) so I hadn't posted it on here. I am due Dec. 12th but will schedule a C-Section for the week before. So pretty much this baby and Caleb will be two years and a few days apart. Now you know why we've really been anxious to get our new house going :)

So that's the scoop from the Walton house. Hope everyone has been doing well and enjoying their summer. Have a great week!

Could We Be Any Busier?!?!

Here's the last two weeks in a nutshell:

1)Aaron's family came to visit for an extended Memorial Day weekend. This included Aaron's parents as well as his cousin and family from Jacksonville. We enjoyed getting together with the fam several times over the course of the weekend. Here's a picture of a tractor that Aaron and all his cousins played on when they were little out at their grandparents' house. It was fun to see the next generation playing with it too.

And here's a shot of Caleb with Rome, Aaron's FL cousin. He and Aaron moved out there together when Aaron interned for the Jaguars and Rome stayed, met Val, got married, had kiddos, etc. Aaron returned home, dated around, met me, got married, stayed here, had Caleb, etc.

2)We went to another friend birthday party. This one was at Tulsa World of Gymnastics. Caleb particularly liked the mini trampolines and the foam pit.

3) We bought some real Crocs. Not because I wanted to pay $25 but because I couldn't find any off-brand ones in his size. HE LOVES THESE SHOES!! Every time we put them on, it is followed by "slide slide" as he wants to go out and slide. Two pics here- one of dirty shoes (Caleb sloshed through the mud in the yard and stopped and yelled "Oh No, Mess!") and one of a not-so-happy Caleb getting his shoes cleaned off. He was fascinated by the fact that we could get running water outside. Not so happy about its temperature.

4) I cleaned house several times. (Yes, this is notable for me b/c I don't like to do it but I've done it several times in the last two weeks as I prepared for out of town guests and prepared for crazy pageant week and all the guests that will be helping with Caleb). Caleb has become such a helper. He follows me around carrying the cord to the vacuum, wipes the windows with paper towels, and helps me swiffer too.

5) Caleb gets very into mark-making. Anytime he sees us with a pen and paper he says, "A, B, C" like we are writing out our alphabet, I guess. And he loves sidewalk chalk. We are working on learning colors but so far he'll only say "blue", regardless of color.

6) Caleb finally got a haircut!! It had been since Easter and as you loyal blog-readers had probably noticed was getting a bit out of control. I thought the curls were super cute, but they were making him really sweaty and two people called Caleb a girl over Memorial day weekend, despite his orange and khaki Hawaiian shirt. So I snuck him in to my haircut over this past weekend and now he really looks like a big big boy.

7) Caleb is a basketball fan. We don't watch much of it but had the Pistons/Celtics game on the other night. Caleb was very into it and his dad said it was OK to stay up late to watch it...hmmm. The first video is one where Caleb noticed Dad was recording...show off much?? (Pardon the sideways shot, didn't have time to take it into another program.)

8) Caleb has been fighting a virus since Thursday night. Just fever and yucky nose with sore throat. After hours clinic said it was not strep. He did have a stomach thing yesterday that included puking at the Miss OK patron picnic. It was lovely. (Again, he said, "Oh No, Mess! over and over. Yes, Caleb, oh no mess is right!!) He is feeling much better today and just has a low grade fever but I decided to keep him home from school which makes loading stuff into the Mabee Center for pageant week a little tricky. But I thought better than sending him sick, having to go get him and not being able to take him tomorrow since he wouldn't have been fever-free for 24 hours. Of all the times to be sick!!!!!!

So that is our two weeks list format. It also includes late nights of working on teen pageant stuff, a intro into the Terrible Twos, and a hailstorm or two. Oh, and our friends from Covenant that went on a mission trip to Red Bird, KY returned home safely on Sunday night. They had an awesome experience.

Have a great week!