Hair Cut

Caleb was born with a full head of hair, as were Isaac and Julia. The older two went through that awkward balding stage and eventually lost all their hair before the new growth appeared usually leaving them several shades lighter than the original hair color. Caleb's hair has been quite different. He has rubbed bald spots on the sides and back but never lost his hair really, especially on top. His hair is so thick and full on top, he looks like a little boy instead of a baby sometimes. Including yesterday's hair cut, I have given him three hair cuts, four if you count the scissor trim I gave him at 3 months old. Ridiculous? Yes, I think so!! He is barely 5 months old! Baffles the mind! Anyway, up until now Caleb's hair has been a dark brown, but not any more. Yesterday I cut off the last of the dark brown which left the new growth coming in. His hair color now is much closer to Julia's shade. He looks so different. Isaac even commented after the hair cut that he didn't look like Caleb anymore. He is definitely changing a lot very fast. Lil' stinker better slow down! Anywhoo, thought I would show you all a picture of his new do - buzzed like his big bro!! (you can't tell very well from the picture how much the color is different, but it is lighter than before - trust me!)

Monkey See, Monkey Do

We have had an abundance of rain around here this past week. Well, an abundance for Texas that is. It has been too cold and wet for the kids to be outside much, so when the sun finally came back on Thursday the kids wanted nothing more than to soak in as much as they could. As soon as we got home that day, Isaac and Julia kicked off their socks and shoes and headed to the backyard. A little while later I went to check on them and found them in the sandbox...... shirtless. Both of them! I am sure Isaac stripped his shirt off first and Julia followed suit. Monkey see - Monkey Do!

5 Months

My lil' Caleb Doodle is growing up TOO FAST! He is five months old now and changing so much. Here is a run down on what Caleb has been up to this past month......

*He is so close to rolling over from his back to his tummy. He just can't figure out what to do with that pesky arm that gets in his way. But I can see the determination in his face so it won't be long before he can do it. In the picture below, he gave up trying and just fell asleep!


*He had his first taste of rice cereal a few days ago and he liked it. The first day he ate it like a pro and gobbled down a bowl full with no problem. Since then he has started pushing out his tongue and can't quite figure out how to get it swallowed. That's more like it. Today I got my first baby food splatter all over me. He sneezed with a mouth full. Lovely! Good thing it wasn't green beans or carrots.



*I have tried Caleb in the exersaucer and door bouncer. He tolerates the exersaucer but seems to really enjoy the door bouncer. He even fell asleep in the bouncer the other day. So stinking cute!!



*He has started having some seperation anxiety. He is in that stage where he cries when I leave the room and I am not right there with him. He loves to be talked to. Sometimes when he is fussy and I can't get to him I send one of the kids to talk to him. It's a win-win all around. Isaac and Julia love to entertain him, Caleb adores them, and I get break from the fussing while I get things done.


*Lately, Caleb has been such a giggle bug! I will walk by and make a face at him just being silly, and he will start laughing. Music to my ears. So cute. He is also loving peek-a-boo. Isaac and Julia compete to see who can make him smile or giggle first.



* He now has very curious hands and grabs everything. I sat him in the Bumbo on the kitchen counter the other day. I turned around to find him leaning back as far as he could with his head upside down. He had unrolled half a roll of paper towels. He was having a grand time! Earlier this week, I heard Caleb up at 5:00am. He usually sleeps until 7. I went in to check on him and found that he had turned on his Ocean Wonders crib toy . He was smiling, cooing, and kicking his feet ready to play. Um, No! I have now learned to turn this toy completely off so that it will not come on even if he hits the button.


*At Isaac's birthday party, Caleb was in awe of all the big boys! Well, that and the balloons. I wish I had had a camera ready when Caleb first saw the balloons. His reaction was priceless!! During the party, I obviously needed my hands free. So we put Caleb in the Bumbo and he was happy as can be. When the boys went outside, we turned him towards the window and he happily just sat there and watch the kids play.


So other than the icky RSV, this has been a fun and wonderful month with our sweet Caleb. So much growing, learning, and changing.

Dresses

Look who is a happy, happy little girl! Why? Well, I did the unthinkable! (at least for me) I went to Target today after MOPS and bought clothes for my daughter straight off the rack..... not the sales rack. I am pretty frugal. Most of my children's clothes are either hand- me- downs or from the clearance rack. I rarely buy anything full price. But this was an emergency, or maybe just an attempt at keeping my sanity.


Julia has always been a girlie girl. She will rough and tumble with her brother, but she just wants to look good doing it!! Her affections certainly lean towards bows, ruffles, sparkles, and shine. As you read in this post, Julia has been very opinionated lately concerning her attire. Besides the wacky combinations, she is now absolutely adamant about wearing only dresses every day. And I mean every day! Even at bedtime, she will go put on her warm, long PJs then put a gown over it just so she can wear a "nighttime dress" as she calls it. Today, I pulled out jeans and a long sleeved shirt for her to wear. She was heartbroken. Not defiant, but seriously heartbroken that she would not be able to wear some sort of dress. I mean, a girl has got to wear something that twirls right?!

I am tired of fighting that battle every morning, thus the break down today when I stooped so low and bought clothes at full price. As soon as we got home she stripped her jeans off and put her new dress and tights on. Happy,happy little girl!

Why Not?

Tell me one good reason why my daughter can not stick her toothbrush on the mirror? Seems like a "good" idea to me!

Goal Update

Time for a goal update! I wrote a post a little over a month ago about some goals I have set for myself. Here is a run down on where I am with each goal.

Goal #1: Complete P90X
Ok, so Gabe and I started P90X at the beginning of December which means we should at least be on week 8 or so. We are barely on week 5. It was hard to keep up with the exercise every day over the holiday, especially when we were out of town. That put us back some. Then when we got rolling again, Caleb got sick and I was up a lot at night so I wasn't about to forfeit sleep and get up at 5 am to exercise. Sleep trumped P90X! So here we are trying to get through week 5. Through it all we have kept up with consistent exercise even if it is not everyday. So that is good. I have noticed that my body has changed since we started P90X. My clothes fit differently and the scale is showing that I have lost about 5-6 pounds. YIPPEE! I have never been one to focus on my weight and I have never been on a diet. But seeing some proof of all the hard work is very rewarding. So Gabe and I will keep at it until we reach week 12.

Goal #2: Train for a Half Marathon
I have a date and goal set for the half marathon. Saturday, October 23rd I will run in the Chosen: Marathon for Adoption in New Braunfels. I haven't started training yet, but plan to start at the beginning of March. I also have a running partner which is very important. It has been crucial to have Gabe encourage me and keep me accountable with P90X. I know that without a running partner I would most likely give up and quit. So thank you Clarie - looking forward to training with you!

Goal #3: Cook more and like it!
I have not been doing so well with this goal. I often revert back to my hum drum recipes and meal ideas because it is easy and does not require much more brain power or time. However, I have branched out a few times to try some PW recipes and as I type this I am waiting on the dough to rise for the Cowboy Calzones that I am making tonight. My sister, also a PW wanna be, was supposed to visit this weekend. We had planned to cook all weekend. Plans changed and I am left with the recipes, the ingredients, and a whole lot of time to experiment in the kitchen. I can't say I enjoy it yet, but it is growing on me!

Goal #4: To become more organized
HA! So not there yet. Enough said.

Goal #5: To be less stressed
Working on it! As soon as I wake up, before my feet hit the floor, before I even open my eyes or sit up, I spend time talking to God. When my day starts focused on Him, the little things don't get to me as often. I still battle the build up of stress my day often brings, but I feel I am handling it better than usual. I have not been taking my Thursday night off. Hard to do when that is the first night that we are all home together as a family since Sunday. Maybe Fridays should be my night off instead. Every other week. Maybe? I don't know.

More Goals.....

Goal #6: Memorize Scripture
This is an area I have always struggled with. My heart desires to tuck God's words securely in my heart.... but I stink at memorizing. I am impressed with Gabe's ability to memorize scripture as well as Isaac's. If my 6 year old son can do it, so can I. So I am going to use the topical memory system that Gabe has used and give it a go. 2 Corinthians 5:17 will be my memory verse for this week.

Goal #7: Be more intentional
As with most families, we are always BUSY! Gabe and I have always struggled to find balance. I don't think we have accomplished that yet, but we are better balanced now than we used to be. I desire to be more intentional with how we spend our time as a family, to be more intentional with parenting, and to be more intentional as a loving spouse. Instead of letting life go by in a blur, I want to focus my attention on the most precious treasures God has blessed me with. My husband and children.

So there you have it. I am going to dig down deep and keep my goals in mind as I go through each day. More updates to come in a month or so.

So how are you doing? Set any goals? Working towards them or accomplishing them?

Isaac's Birthday Party

We celebrated Isaac's birthday this past Saturday with his LEGO party. We did things a little different this year. Usually we invite his friends (who usually come with parents and sometimes siblings) and family. This year we only invited his friends and made it a "drop off- pick up party" That means that Gabe and I were the only ones wrangling a group of 5 and 6 year old boys! (and our 3 year old daughter and our 4 month old son) We survived and lived to tell about it! Actually it was probably the least stressful birthday party to date! I always feel torn and a bit overwhelmed trying to entertain the kids and the adults at the birthday parties. Also, our house isn't getting any bigger and each year the friend invite list does get bigger. (our rule for birthday parties is that they can invite one friend for each year of age - so Isaac invited 6 friends this year) Anyway, for space and sanity reasons we decided to go a different route and it worked out beautifully.

Isaac sitting at the front door waiting for his friends to arrive. He was just a wee bit excited!

Had to show you this picture. Gabe made this poster and the boys got a kick out of it. We told them that if they play with legos too much then this is what happens. The boys thought that was funny.

We started the party with some good ol' outside play time. Nothing special. Just played. The boys played soccer, swung on the swings, climbed and slid down the slide, chased, tagged, and gave wagon rides. You name it, we did it. Gabe and I even got in on a few games of tag. I felt like a kid again!!

Rainey and Isaac

A few of the boys hanging out in the playhouse

Wagon Rides - they were "discussing" who got to pull the wagon

Getting a game of soccer going

The Birthday Boy

Then we came in and had a lego guessing game. I filled this container full of legos and let each child guess how many he/she thought was in the container. There were 95 legos and funny enough Julia got the closest but didn't win because she went over. Her guess was 100!! Cale won with the guess of 40.

Making their guesses

Next we had a Lego racer kit for each child to put together. I was hoping each of the boys were as experienced with Legos as Isaac is and they were. Only a few needed our help. You should have seen their eyes widen when I told them they could take the Lego racers home!! Once all the racers were built we raced them on a ramp that Gabe built. Little boy heaven I must say. They all got a kick out of that. When we were finished racing we had an award ceremony complete with miniature trophies.

I got cookie sheets and labeled as "Building trays". Worked great to keep all the tiny lego pieces together and not mixed up with the other kits.

Isaac in deep concentration

Racing the racers - I do believe this was their favorite part! They high fived the winners and cheered. Great fun

Each child was presented with a Lego Racing Champion trophy - stuffed with candy of course.

Now it was time for cake and gifts. I am sure all the Mom's loved me that day. The boys had their fair share of sugar!! One little boy almost ate an entire bowl of M&Ms before I could stop him!!The cake(s) were shaped like Lego bricks. Besides the dirt mound cake I did for Isaac's Bug party a few years ago, this is probably the next easiest. Here are a few pictures of the making of the cakes.

Caleb was overseeing the cake making process

(Excuse my haggard appearance)
I have made every cake for my kids' birthdays so far. It is something I enjoy doing for them and hope they will have as a special memory when they grow up.

Isaac with his Lego cake(s)

Lighting the Candles

Make a wish, Isaac!

Gift time! I let each boy grab the gift he brought for Isaac and they took turns giving him the gift and watching him open it. It was well controlled chaos. We saved our gift for last, which was a hot wheels dinosaur trick track. The reaction from all of them when Isaac opened it was hilarious. Collective celebration all around. One boy told Isaac "congratulations" and another said "that is the most awesome, great toy I would ever want" It was a hit to say the least!


We ended the party with a pinata and more outside play time. The pinata only lasted through three boys before it broke open. I was hoping everyone would get a turn at it, but I don't think they cared too much when the candy and goodies started flowing. Poor Julia tried her best but only ended up with 2 pieces of candy. She was upset about this and came to tell me so. But as soon as the words were out of her mouth, one little boy turned right around and said, "here you can have some of my candy" then preceded to fill her bag up. How sweet and selfless was that?! I made a point to tell that boy's Mom about it the next day at church. Proud Momma moment.

While we waited for the kids to be picked up they played outside. On their sugar high no less! It had gotten really windy by this time and they all pretended it was a tornado. It was fun watching them create this elaborate story and act it out.

The next day at church we heard from most of the boys' parents that their kids said it was the best party they had ever been too. Ahhhhh........ that means a lot to me. My goal this year was to simplify (aka: easy on the pocket book), have less stress,and make it a fun and enjoyable party for our son. I do believe my goals were accomplished!

I overheard Isaac telling his friends, "This is the most fun time I have ever had" Really, that is all I needed to hear. If he is happy, then I am happy!

One more picture.....

This is one of the goodie bag treats. Cute huh?!