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!!

School Begins!!

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??