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!

Last Week of School

Who knew that Caleb's last week during the school year would be so emotional? Not for him really (though he was clingy at drop-off, so I think he knew something was up) but for me. It is totally silly because he'll go back to the same class this week, but it will be different...because it's summer! His main teacher is taking the summer off and his 2 closest friends from class won't be there either. On Wednesday I left a note asking to have a picture taken with Caleb and his family group teacher. It turned out very cute and is a fun reminder to Caleb and to me of what a great year he's had.


Here's a picture of the kiddos from Caleb's family group. We've posted this pic on the fridge and he can identify everyone by name but himself. When you point to him and ask, "Who's this?", he says, "Baby". Oh well.


I can't remember if I've posted about this before but Caleb is doing more and more pretending. He will lay down on the laundry pile, a stuffed animal, or even just the floor and say, "Night night". His newest "night night" is the blanket that hangs over the edge of our couch. He especially does this when he's sleepy.


On Saturday, Aaron got up early to go help with Men's Ministry Car Care at the church. It's an opportunity for widows, divorced women, and single moms to come get their oil changed, tires aired, car washed, etc. Aaron and a handful of guys from our class joined other men from Asbury and ended up washing around 50 cars between 9 and noon. What a good guy!


As he opened the garage door to leave, he noticed a neighbor up the street having a garage sale. We were so pleased when we got our neighbor's slide for $10, something we had been looking for for awhile. It's a little weather-worn but certainly gets the job done. Caleb has enjoyed it thoroughly and its presence in the backyard has caused even more hand prints on the back door (if that's possible) as he waits oh-so-patiently to go out and slide again and again (and again). Here's two videos, one of a not so successful trip down the slide (don't worry, he doesn't get hurt) and another successful trip.








A few weeks ago Caleb got a water bottle as a party favor at a friend's birthday. We haven't used it yet so after making sure it was an OK bottle to use (with all that recent drama about dangerous plastics), I filled it up for him. He takes drinks out of straws frequently with no problem but for some reason, it is much more amusing to him to take a big sip and then just let it all dribble right out of his mouth and onto his shirt. He's a photo of the big boy (notice the wet spots).



Saturday night the girls from Covenant met at The Melting Pot for dessert. I hadn't been there in quite awhile and really enjoyed my chocolate fondue. Yum! It was a fairly late evening but I had every intent to go to church the next morning, especially since I was out with those girls the night before. But, Caleb woke up later than usual and then was quietly resting for quite awhile so we decided to make use of the time and sleep in all the way to 8:15, which is too late to get to church on time. Oops!


Here's a funny video Aaron took last week of Caleb and his favorite song. He sings it at home, at the mall, in the grocery store, in the car (you get the point). Sorry it gets so dark but the audio is the best part anyway.

Today was In-Service Day at school so I had to work as usual but the school was not open for children. So Aaron and Caleb had a fun day together including a trip of the zoo. Tomorrow is the same so Caleb will hang out with his Grandma for the day. Yippee!

Have a great week!

Another Week- This One with Daisy Dukes and a Parade!

There are many benefits to having your child attend school where you work. One of them is the gossip mill that gets back to your desk and tells you to "Be aware...when you go pick up Caleb this afternoon he is wearing pink shorts because he spilled on his own and we couldn't find any others." Now one person telling me this would be considered normal. But, after five co-workers made a point to stop by my area (and I say "area" because it is definitely not an office, not complaining just clarifying) to inform me of Caleb's attire, I was wondering how ridiculous he really looked. Well, take a gander yourself:


What you can't truly appreciate is the blue Sharpie marks with the school and class name or the cute little white eyelet trim across the top. Oddly enough, they weren't too small for him, but I guess girls shorts are just shorter than boys.

The rest of the week was pretty laid back but did include a trip to our new Wal-Mart SuperCenter (yeah!) and a trip to the pediatrician because Caleb's allergies were not getting any better and his ear started draining fluid. At least, thanks to his tubes, they were draining instead of getting all gunky and infected.

Saturday morning Aaron got up early to go with guys from our Sunday School class to do yard work at another classmate's house. The hubby is serving in Iraq this year and our guys decided to help spruce things up for their family while he's gone.

While Aaron was off doing good deeds, Caleb and I headed to BA for some Rooster Day action. Now, you may ask yourself, "What is Rooster Day?" Rooster Day is Broken Arrow's big springtime carnival/festival/celebration thing. It involves stages with singing and dancing performances as well as the annual Miss Chick pageant (yes, I was in Miss Chick in high school- don't judge me!), rides, a craft show, and Saturday morning's parade. We picked up my parents and sister and staked our claim on Main Street. Let me just say that Caleb LOVED the parade experience. I think he said "HI" at least 300 times as the various parade participants walked or drove by. Here's a picture and a video of his friendliness.

And what would a trip to a fair-like event be without some yummy food, namely a Blue Bell ice cream sandwich, part of a funnel cake, and some fried pickles. YUMMMYYY!!!

Sunday we went to church then my parents and sister came over for lunch. We had tasty pork loin from the grill that Aaron did a wonderful job supervising. After lunch, Caleb was beyond ready for nap, so everyone headed out. My parents got me a pedicure gift certificate for Mother's Day and Aaron and Caleb bought me a fun plant for the front porch and a cute new top that I picked out earlier in the week. It was a fun day celebrating our Mommy-hood.

Good news on the house-building front, we are on track to break ground in the next week or so. Evidently, the price of concrete is skyrocketing July 1st so our builder is wanting the foundation in before that (yippee for a budget-conscious builder). Some have asked where we are building- it is in Jenks on 121st and the Arkansas River. Seriously you take 121st until you would run into the river and follow the curve.

The weeks continue to get busier and pageant season gets closer and closer. Looking for something to do the first week of June? We could use your help in 'managing' 31 fabulous teens from across the state. Don't you all volunteer at once now!

Have a great week!!

Happy 30th, Old Man Walton!!

Really quick post tonight as it is late and I am sleepy. Here are some fun pics from the week, including Aaron's 30th birthday (can't believe I am married to such a fossil!!- ha!).


Aaron's b-day was on Wednesday but he has enjoyed celebrating throughout the week. Here's a picture of Aaron and Caleb on the big day (notice the adorable decorations put up late Tuesday night by an adorable and thoughtful wife).



Aaron requested brownies instead of birthday cake on his actual birthday. Thankfully our friend Julie made some yummy brownies a few weeks prior that Aaron loved so I was able to get her recipe. (OK, moment of truth, it was a box mix but it was very tasty.) Here's another picture of Aaron posing with some decorations. This was actually a table centerpiece but Mr. Creative was using it as a hat.



Just in case you were wondering where the Caleb pictures are, here's one of him walking a mile (or across the living room) in my sneakers. Not sure how, but he definitely knows which shoes are "mama's" and which ones are "dada's". He is learning the possessive form of things, which I am guessing means we have lots and lots of "MINE" on the horizon shortly.



Our friend Brooke made Aaron's cake for his birthday weekend. For those of you who might not know, Aaron worked for the NFL's Jacksonville Jaguars broadcast department for a season during college and has been a fan ever since. Brooke (who also did Caleb's fabulous turtle cake on his 1st b-day) used the jersey Aaron had in his closet as her inspiration but personalized it. How great is this cake!?!?!


Aaron's parents came in town over the weekend to celebrate his birthday and also our nephew (their grandson) 5th birthday. They all went to Jake's pirate party on Friday night while I worked the sleepover at Riverfield. Though Aaron took the camera with him, no pictures were taken so we have none to share. Oh well, it was a fun time.


Several of you have inquired about how our house-building is going. We are almost finished with the architect (feel like we've been saying that for several weeks now) and are on track to be in by December as long as we stay on schedule. Yippee!


Congrats to our friends Kristin and Michael who had their baby girl, Addison, on Sunday morning. She appears to be cute as a button, based on their blog pictures, and we can't wait to meet her when the family is in town for Miss OK in June.

OK, off to bed. Have a great week!!

Gone is Mr. Cautious (1 Year and 21 Weeks)

Allergies have hit the Waltons like a ton of bricks this spring. All three of us have been sniffling, coughing, and going through Kleenex like you wouldn't believe. Thankfully, it's not developed into anything else and it hasn't really affected Caleb's mood. Because of allergies, we spent a lot of the week inside but still had lots of fun.

Here's a shot of the Elmo balloon Caleb received at the birthday party last week. It held its air quite well over the course of the week and Caleb loved it (not near as much as the Elmo CD we also got, that we "get" to listen to over and over and over in the car!).



Caleb has enjoyed doing adult-oriented tasks lately, like sitting in our kitchen chairs, carrying his diaper bag, or telling the dogs when to come inside or go outside. Over the weekend, he was trying to help me take some pictures. So, here's Caleb's first ever photo. Watch out Betsy and Ashley, we've got another budding photographer on our hands!!



Along the same try-to-be-a-grown-up lines, Caleb loves our shoes. He can't walk past a pair without picking them up and either handing them to us or trying (and usually getting frustrated) to put them on his own feet. My slide-on New Balance actually work out well for this and he enjoyed marching around the house for quite awhile in them.



On Friday, I bravely ventured forth to Dallas with 80 Riverfield Middle Schoolers and some other chaperones. Many people asked what in the world I was thinking, since I am not a teacher and wasn't required to go. I really don't know what sparked the interest but it was not a horrible trip :) We left the school at 5:30 and traveled in charter buses to Dallas where we visited the 6th Floor Museum of the Texas Schoolbook Depository and learned about JFK. Then we went on to the Dallas Museum of Art to see work by Turner (don't ask me his first name, I was busy keeping up with a group of 6th graders!), the Nasher sculpture museum, then onto Ft. Worth to their relatively new Modern Art Museum. The installation there was the work of Martin Puryear, which was totally cool, handmade sculptures of wood, twine, etc. Unfortunately, we had the docent from you-know-where so the students in my group didn't have a very fun experience there. After dinner at The Purple Cow (amazing double chocolate milkshakes!), we traveled back home, arriving around 11:30. A VERY LONG DAY, especially when I felt horrible with cough and sneezing, but a good time.


We've had continued fascination with the dog kennels. On Sunday, I was washing the mats that go inside them so Caleb thought he should get inside and investigate the change of scenery. He kept opening the door and saying, "Hello, bye-bye".



While I was off gallivanting in Dallas, Caleb got to spend some quality time with his Grandma, who has been very busy and unavailable for their Friday "dates" lately :) Imagine my concern when I call to check in and Mom says, "Oh Caleb has taught himself how to climb up on the ottoman and then do a forward roll off the front, headfirst." Just what any mother wants to hear when she's 250 miles away!! This is just one example of Mr. Fearless. Here's another, a quite impressive video of our future-trick-riding son. (Aaron says it's worthy of it's very own blog post. I don't know about that, but it is hilarious).

Let's see, I think that's about it for last week. Except our friends, the Halls, made an exciting announcement via blog about the newest addition to their family that will arrive around Turkey Day! They are traveling home to BA this week so we can't wait to see them and tell them congrats in person.

Hope you all have a great week!

1 Year and 20 Weeks- Party!

Good week last week. We passed a big milestone at school when I was able to check Caleb and myself in for the last day of the pay period and notice that we were both there every M-W!!! It had been awhile since we'd been well enough to do that :)

Here are a few funny shots of Mr. Grown Up helping around the house. One is of Caleb at my computer, navigating the Internet. The other is the drying rack that Caleb discovered behind the bedroom door and carried (and by that I mean bumped into every possible wall in our house) around all day Thursday.

Saturday was a BEAUTIFUL day and, despite the fact that we had a busy weekend already, we finally got to use the family zoo pass my parents bought Caleb for his birthday in December. Caleb had been once before last fall but I think he was really too young to realize what was going on. This time was a blast because he recognized so many of the animals and loved hearing the train as it "choo-chooed" through the zoo. We got there just as the elephant demonstration was ending and Caleb thought it was awesome to be so close to them. Between that and "moo-ing" at the zebras, he had a blast and was really well behaved.

Saturday afternoon was a friend's birthday party at Little Gym. I wasn't sure what sort of activities they would have for kiddos his age and also wondered how Mr. Cautious would fare but he had a blast. I think Aaron and the rest of the Dad's got more of a workout than the children as they chased everyone around. Here's a pic of the group with the giant parachute.

That evening we went to dinner with our small group from Sunday School at Napoli's in BA- YUM!!! Caleb was at about at his wit's end due to his short nap and crazy day but was still good, just very loud and opinionated (kinda like his daddy when he gets sleepy!!).

Sunday was church, then nap, then another birthday party. This time, it was an Elmo-themed party at Bounce U. This was also a really fun party and, once again, the dads were dripping with sweat from running and jumping all over the place. (Incidentally, I wonder why it is the dads that tend to do this while the moms have a chance to relax and chat?? Not complaining, just wondering...) There was a really big inflatable slide at Bounce U. Caleb wasn't really interested in it but Aaron climbed up and took him down it anyway. Of course, Caleb loved it and wanted to go "up" over and over and over. Hence the sweaty Aaron :)

Another room had inflatable basketball shooting and Caleb and his friend Owen were very helpful in clearing out the balls that would get stuck at the back of the shooting area. PS- Congrats to our friends (Owen's parents) who sold their house in 3 days. Yippee for moving to Jenks!

Think that was about it for last week. Another spring weather week so far. Time to bring the sunscreen to school and decide if you buy your 16 month old off-brand Crocs for $5 at Wal-Mart or bite the bullet and get the real thing so they actually last all summer.

Have a great week!

1 year and 18-19 weeks -- sorry!!

So I did something I've never done before...skip a week of blogging!!! (Gasp!) So here's the last two weeks in a nutshell.

We enjoyed a fun playgroup with friends at Heaven Fun, an indoor bouncy place that plays Christian music. Caleb wasn't too sure about things at first but got into it after awhile.



He is beginning to play pretend. He'll crawl up on a pile of laundry, lay his head down and say, "night night" like he's going to sleep. Or, as in the case of this picture, talk on his rubber ducks like they are phones, even though he has at least 5 old cell phones as toys.



Caleb continues to investigate everything, including old toys but in new ways. For example, who knew he could squeeze in the 6 inches between the back of his playhouse and the cabinet??




Or who knew that a block storage box could double as a chair or as a hat??






He is also becoming more and more of a helper. If you ask him to do small tasks (close the door, put down the toy, etc.), he is very eager to be of assistance. Here's some pics of him "helping" bring in a box of rice krispies from the car after a trip to the store.






Caleb loves to open and close doors. Actually, he can't open doors but he loves to ask you to help him to open doors, then shut them. One door he discovered last week was the linen closet in our bathroom. It has recently been cleaned out (yes, Aaron has already started sorting and packing unneeded things and we've not even broken ground on the new house) so there was lots of room for a Caleb-sized person to enjoy.



Two weekends ago, Aaron was sorting things in the garage and Caleb came out to help. Here's some great video. Not sure what is the funniest to me - the running across the garage, the immediate distraction of the toy, or the "oohhh" when it falls apart.


For a long time, Caleb has been fascinated by the dog water dispensers, whether it's the one in our bathroom or the ones that hang on the kennel doors. He is pretty good about listening to "Not for your hands, please" but over the weekend decided to move on from the water dispenser to the kennel itself. Gotta love it!


Personal hygiene is part of growing up and Caleb is all about washing his hands these days. His favorite part is getting to "peesh" (that's "push" in Caleb-speak) the soap and lotion. This particular day, Aaron was taking a photo of the hand-washing after the fact and I didn't want to be in the shot, so I stepped out of the way. At that exact moment, Caleb decided to turn the water back on and soaked himself.



One more "too much time spent in the master bedroom" photo. This is of our super-organizer pulling everything out of one of my drawers. The good news is that he puts it back, at least for now!


Here's a cute shot of Caleb at Sears. He was loving all the "tractors" and, quite frankly, I am not confident about the differences between a tractor and a riding lawnmower so I just let it go.



Let's see...we did close on the lot and are getting pretty close on the house plans. We are hopeful to start the construction project by mid to late May; evidently it takes awhile to get bids after the plans are finalized.


My mom and dad are both home safe and sound from their incredible missions trips. Even though I don't go on them, hearing their stories still makes you very thankful for the blessings we live with in the US.


My sister is beginning to make more and more plans for her wedding next April. She and my mom checked out several potential reception sites this weekend. Fun fun fun! I can remember being kinda sad after our wedding, thinking, "I'll never get to plan my wedding again." But it is much less stressful to be on the outside looking in and just make an occasional comment (when consulted, I assure you) about dresses, favors, locations, etc.


OK, that's it...have a great week!