Zoo, room, park, dog, and a sickly, miserable Caleb

I think this will be a picture heavy post..... so if that's not your thing, look away! ;)

A couple weeks ago there was a nice day (can you believe it?!).  I decided I should take the kids to the zoo, so I called my parents to join us! We usually go to Lincoln Park Zoo because we're cheapskates.... but then my mom heard from someone that you can get FREE passes to Brookfield zoo at the library (in IL that is)!  My mom picked up some of those for us, so going to Brookfield turned out to be cheaper than going to Lincoln Park..... and let's get real, Brookfield zoo is superior.

Caleb LOVED it, and Grace loved being in the stroller.  It was a great day.

Mom and I were super impressed with the camels.  Caleb may have liked the fence more... I'm not sure.I'm obsessed with her bonnet.  I find this picture hilarious.  Grace was eating and pulling dad's hair, and my mom was making sure my dad didn't drop Grace. They had such a neat place for the giraffes!  Caleb thought it was SUPER neat because that's his favorite animal, and they were SO close!  It was also hilarious because they had trees painted on the wall and the one giraffe kept licking the wall.  It was amazing... like how long has he lived there? Does he STILL not get that it's not really a tree?!? It's the giraffe in the back behind the fence..... see him?And, remember how my Grandma was finishing off the quilt for Caleb's room?  Well, she did!! And doesn't it look simply marvelous!? And isn't it nice how some of the drawers aren't shut, and one of the bins is missing from the shelf, and there's pjs on the dresser and a few clothes and a couple of children on the floor?  I'm just trying to be real.... and unfortunately it gets much messier than that on a regular basis.....  We go to the park when it's nice.... (so rarely) but Grace LOOOOOVES the swing.  It is so fun to push her in there.  Ben hates this hat.  I don't think it's THAT bad... Grace was tormenting my Grandma's dog at coffee time.  She wasn't scared at all.... just grabby... and the dog was trying to stay away from her..And finally, you may have seen this picture on facebook.  I've been using this thing as a stroller lately. No, I'm not cool enough to run with it or strong enough to bike with it... so a stroller it is!  Since a lot of our walks are in the cold, I LOVE using this because there's a plastic flap that you can put over their "window", so they stay warm!  It's BRILLIANT.  It also pushes super easy.

It's SO SWEET when they are in there together!.... well until Caleb yells, "NO GRACE! NO! NO! NO!"  But really he was only doing that this week when he turned into nasty Caleb.  We don't like nasty Caleb. at. all. We prefer sweet Caleb. He's been sick for a week, and he hasn't been sleeping well because his nose is stuffy and he's been up coughing.... I think the combination of sleep deprivation and having a nose you can't blow brought out the absolute WORST in him. (Which also reminds me-- I need a good idea of how to teach Caleb to blow his nose. I even googled it... no luck.)   And, I know it was probably very, very miserable for him.  But.  Wow. It was horrifying.  Like... he threw a REAL LIVE tantrum because his movie was off.  And you know what? I spanked him anyway.  Because I don't care if you're sick and dying, you can't ever ever ever ever act like that. ever.  Got it? Ever.  Glad we're clear on that.  I hope he is too.

I think our house is getting better, and unless I get sick, I think we might actually be able to go to church Sunday!! Although, Caleb woke up with gunk in his eye, and now I'm freaking out that he has PINK EYE! Oh, please no!! We have been there, done that... and I don't want to do it again.  I can't wait for things to feel normal again.  But, it reminds me of how blessed we were all Winter getting by with just a few runny noses!

I'll leave you with a part of the Proverb of the day, which is Proverbs 1 (because today is May 1).  And you know, you could start reading one every day because there's 31 and 31 days in May.  Perfect, isn't it?  And, you could start reading them to your children because they are practical and teach us how to live wisely... and how/why to stay away from the wayward woman, and bad friends, and being lazy, and the list goes on!

Proverbs 1:7- "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowlege: fools despise wisdom and instruction."

-Melanie

 

Caleb is THREE!

Happy THIRD birthday to the sweetest little boy EVER.  This morning I went into his room to get him when I heard him wake up, and I said....

Me: HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!!

Caleb: HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!

Me: No, silly, it's just YOUR birthday today

Caleb: When is your birthday mom?

HA! Then we Skyped with Ben's parents in Africa and he told them Happy Birthday after they said it to him.  When Ben came down and said "Happy Birthday Caleb!!" he said "Happ.... thank you grandp-- dad!" HAHHA.  We're working on responding with "Thank you, *insert name*"  He's improving.

Then I told him I would make him some birthday pancakes for breakfast.  And he kept talking about his "birthday panny cakes."  I can't stop laughing about it.  Why panny cakes?  Maybe it's because he loves Miss Patty Cake and it kind of sounds like that??

Anyway, in memory of 3 years ago, I HAVE to post a picture.  Does it look like he may be suffocating?  He might be.... but I was a new mother and didn't know any better. ;)  Just kidding.  He was fine, I'm sure... I mean, he's three now, so obviously he had enough air.  This was the best moment of my life. hands down.  My dad always said "there's nothing like the first one" and although I act offended every time (I'm 3rd), he's totally right.

I remember when we got home from the hospital no one was happy..... Caleb was crying, I was crying, Ben probably thought about crying.  I was very emotional (and I'm really not a very emotional person at all--although getting more with each child.....), AND, I felt like I got hit by a train...  Caleb was jaundice, and while everyone thought he was such a cute little "glow-worm" I remember I was SO upset he had to be hooked up and get his foot pricked all the time.  Thankfully my mom was out (in MS) and helped me, and I DESPERATLEY needed her.  Thanks mom, you're the BEST.

I just showed Caleb this picture and said, "that's you-- baby Caleb!" and he said "Yeah, I was broken".  Interesting.  Now he's reminding me of when he purposely stepped in dog poop on our walk the other day.  I forgot he's little and we've never encountered dog poop on a sidewalk before, so I didn't think to warn him and just had to watch him go for it.  It was horribly disgusting. And I yelled in horror ... "NOOOOOOO!!! THAT'S DOG POOP AND DISGUSTING. We DON'T step in dog poop.  EVER" ... or something like that.

Anyway, back to Caleb's birthday.  We had a birthday bash on Saturday morning.  It's hard to have a rockin' party when you have grandparents in Africa, an Aunt in Spain, an Uncle/Aunt in MO, an Uncle in IA, and an Aunt in AZ.... and no cousins... so, we had great grandparents, grandparents and a great-great Aunt.  It was VERY fun.  And when they all left Caleb said that all his friends came over.  It was very sweet.

Let's get to the party! First, we have the dollar store center piece on top of a piece of sesame street wrapping paper (classy, I know).

 

Then, we have the cupcakes!  I made Cookie Monster, Elmo, and Oscar. I thought they were pretty stinkin cute. I finished the last cupcake approximately 5 minutes before people came over.....

This is my SWEET lazy susan server I got at Menards. I love it, and I'm pretty sure it was under $10.

This was the food.  It wasn't anything too special.  We had ham and cheese sliders , potato salad (I found the recipe online and it was OK, I didn't LOVE it, so I won't post it), chips, punch, fruit, and the cupcakes of course.  For the crowd, I think it was a reasonable amount of food.  I was going for a light lunch.

Here's a cool shot.  I'm very good with the camera......aka my phone ;)  I thought I was getting a shot of all the food, but then I noticed I didn't put the buns on the platter (from the dollar store!!  Seriously, I LOVE Dollar Tree)

And here's all the guests! (great lighting!)

And here's Caleb opening his present.  It was tools!

\

Caleb gave ME a present for his birthday-- he slept in underwear and was dry this am!! I seriously think potty training might be over. Forever.  Wouldn't that be amazing?

Today we'll probably go for icecream and I'll try to think of something else fun. ... like I just told him we'd take a donut break in a minute. The problem with going somewhere today is that Grace is still pretty sick.  She's coughing her brains out and her nose is a faucet =(  It's so sad!  The good news is that Caleb has ZERO expectations for the day.

So Happy Birthday to my precious little boy, he brings more joy to us than he will probably ever know!

We love you Caleb Daniel!!

-Melanie

 

Friday night update!

I think in college it might have been embarassing to update a blog on Friday night, but since becoming a parent (maybe even just married) I have no problem posting on Friday night and admitting I'm not doing ANYTHING. =)  So, let's get started!

Caleb the other day wanted me to be a horse.  I was willing, but I wanted to know my name of course, so I asked, "What's my horse name Caleb?"  It was....

Geb-ohb-dept

WOW I said.  I asked again, because it was so complicated I was sure he wouldn't remember and he said..

Geb-ohb-dept.

So then I just burst out laughing.  That's what he was referring to me as we played....

He was a different animal with an uncomplicated name like Max or something.

Today after putting Grace to bed, I came downstairs to Ben and Caleb on the phone with each other.  It went something like this.

Ben: Who is this?
Caleb: (in a high pitched voice continued throughout the conversation) Auntie Tailor
Ben: Where are you?
Caleb: In Mexico with Uncle Jim
Ben: What are you doing?
Caleb: Playing Grandma Kappers' game
Ben: What's it called?
Caleb: Birdie Puppie

BHAHHAHAHHAHA.  Seriously. He KILLS me. Maybe it has to be your kid in order to think that's funny, but I cannot stop laughing about it.  It's just like-- WHERE do they come up with this stuff?? By the way, Uncle Jim is Ben's brother and in December he married Tailor.  They went to Mexico on their honeymoon, which Caleb apparently remembers. They have never, to my knowledge played Birdie puppie.... (feel free to correct me Uncle Tim or Auntie Tailor..) and I have a feeling that's not a game that Grandma Kappers' owns.

Grace was becoming the worst eater to ever live, so I decided to switch to mostly table food... and now my life is waaaaaaay better.  I'm SOOOOOOO happy I made the switcharoo.  She is gobbling up all sorts of things with her hands, and it's wonderful.  The last couple days we tried prunes and apricots... she loved it!  Hopefully I can convince her (like I did Caleb) that prunes are candy.  HAHA (but seriously... it worked....).
Here is what the floor looks like after Grace eats.  She's not trying to throw it on the ground she's just THAT bad at eating.... I think it looked worse in person although it still looks bad here.  Don't worry, she did make some in her mouth.

 She's 9 months, and when Caleb was 9 months he was still eating pretty much only baby food.  I think that's why the idea of table food this soon took me by surprise.  They're already so different.  Like... Grace is maybe only starting to consider the idea of moving, and Caleb was crawling by now.  Caleb was standing up by now, and Grace prefers to just sit....  I'll call her content... some might call her lazy...... But EVERYONE would call her the sweetest little girl EVER.  Ok, maybe not everyone, but isn't the picture below precious?  There she's stuffing her face with cheese.  I think she'd like to eat cheese for every meal every day, but mom says no.  I'm a big meany.

Now, the picture I just showed and the next few I posted to instagram.  So, if you are one of the 22 people following me (BHAHAH, I'm such a loser!) you've already seen them..... Also my screenname is mlndyng, and I think if I had known what instagram was when I signed up, I would have picked a different name.  I picked that because it's kind of my username for all things.  It was my Dordt email address back in the day-- it's your name without the vowels... and at Dordt I wasn't married.

Moving on.... any day that it is KIND OF warm, we are going outside for walks lately!  We LOVE family walks.  We've started taking two strollers though because we find it easier to push... Caleb is REALLY heavy.

Here's my little thumb sucker.... isn't it cute?? (for now anyway?)

 Caleb got to eat pretzels on our walk.  He thinks that's pretty cool.

My two favorite boys

Sooooo sweet!!

 And now, I'll do a special shout out for the TRUE WOMAN CONFERENCE.  Seriously, this conference is life changing, and if you are a woman you should go.

Here is the link. http://www.truewoman14.com/.  I went two years ago, and it was the best conference I've ever been to... by far.  It's totally worth your time, money, energy... etc.  They have fantastic speakers (including my personal fav, Nancy Leigh DeMoss) and great music (the Getty's lead).  Please check out the link and sign up.  I think there's a discount for a little while yet if you register.  Thousands of women from around the country and OTHER countries come.  It's SO neat!!

But no one panic.  If you do nothing right now, I will CERTAINLY be posting about it again because I love it THAT much.

And, on that note, I'll leave you.
Until next time!
-Melanie

Christmas, a snack, blocks, a ring, and Skype. Sound thrilling?

I thought I'd win you over with my title this time. This is a completely random post, and I thought I'd fill you in on all the categories with the title.  Fair enough?

This morning Caleb asked me to push the button on my present.  Translation: pretend you are pushing a button on the cabinet.  Luckily, I'm a genius and knew what he was going for.  When I pushed the "button" he started singing "Oh Christmas Tree"

It went like this....

"OH Christmas tree, OH Christmas tree I love your owa branches.. na na na naaaaa na na na na, na na na naaaaaa na na na na.. Oh Christmas tree oh Christmas I love your owa branches"  (repeat)
We're really into Christmas over here I guess.  Caleb asked Ben this morning if his favorite song was "Oh Come oh Come Emmanuel".  And, he requested "Joy to the World" before bed the other night.  We NEED summer to come ASAP!  I don't want it to be Christmas anymore.  Unfortunately not everyone in my neighborhood feels the same way since 90% (or so.... MAYBE a slight exaggeration...;) ) of the street still has Christmas decor up.  What is going on!??!  A couple weeks ago someone down a street near our house who had a huge display of reindeer going up in the air and santa on his sleigh finally took his decorations down.  I thought that was pretty intense for mid-March, but maybe I'm just a scrooge.

 I was trying to get a picture of Grace smiling at ME, but the little stinker was straining to see Caleb. Apparently he's funnier than me.... what??  She was eating Triscuits here.  I LOVE triscuits.  They are a healthy snack (with THREE ingredients) AND, they are super tasty.  I used to think I hated them.  It's not true. They're delicious.

 And here she is eating those little puffs that dissolve in your mouth.  I bought those because I was feeling lazy-- it's a suuuuper easy snack.  But, I really hate giving them to her because I don't get what they are and there's about 500 ingredients in them.  I try to keep my babies healthy.  I try to be healthy too.  But, I really really like treats.  For example, I just ate a Hershey bar.  I had oatmeal for breakfast though..... maybe they can cancel each other out??

I sent this picture to Ben while he was at work.  He replied "WOW! Good job Caleb" I wrote back and said... "Actually, I made it"   BAHHAHA! I felt ridiculous for sending it.  I think I took it becuase I was playing with Caleb (sort of... I guess I was mostly playing with his blocks), and I thought Ben would like to see what we were doing??  

I've APPEARED to be unmarried lately.  My ring was waaay too big.  Back in January it FLEW off my finger and landed in someone's driveway in the dark.  That was the last straw.  I hadn't been wearing it for a while already-- only when I went out, but after that I stopped wearing it completely.  I hated not having it on.  I finally got it resized, and it was soooooooo shiny and wonderful when I got it back.  I forgot how much I love my ring.

  Random: I don't know if you can tell in this picture-- but my pinky does not straighten.... it's really weird.  There's my "something you didn't know about me" cool fact of the day.

This is how Ben was skyping his parents last weekend.  I thought Grace up there was so cute, so I had to snap a picture.  Aren't they precious?  Caleb gets pretty hyper when they are on the computer and starts running around the living room like he's nuts.  I think he thinks they can see him..... but with skype there's only a small area where they can see you.  Ben sometimes draws a face on his finger and puts that in his parents' line of view.  I think they love it.......

That's all.
Enjoy your weekend!  I'm enjoying mine!
-Melanie

Happy Friday!

Ok, I'm not THAT excited about it being Friday.  Let's be real... when you're a stay at home mom, Fridays take on a whole new meaning.  The new meaning is "it's the same as every other day".   When I used to nanny, Friday was my FAVORITE day because it meant 2 days of total FREEDOM.  In motherhood, there are no days off.  But, I'm ok with that and wouldn't want to do anything else.  Except sometimes... like when Caleb poops in his pants twice in the same day.  Yes, that was today and the other day.  I guess it's good to be regular... but I think we're coming to the point where he's a little TOO regular... amen?? 

Back to Fridays.... Fridays mean Ben is home tomorrow, so that's a treat. He's the best. around. Ben bought me pink roses out of nowhere last week, isn't that sweet?  I've never had pink roses before. I know a lot of people (women) get upset when you brag about your husband, but I think that's silly.  I think it's good to brag about your husband.  I think that the norm is to talk poorly of your husband or talk about what an idiot or how childlike he is... or maybe go on and on about the little things he does that bother you (for example when he leaves clothes on the floor.  NO, Ben NEVER does that ;) ).  I think our husbands could use their wives bragging a bit more.  So, feel free to keep bragging about your husband on facebook or at ladies night out or when you have guests over.  I'm sure he loves it, and you'll love him more when you do it.  Deal?  I'll start.  I think Ben is the greatest.  He loves the Lord, he loves me, he loves our kids, and he's really good at losing games, which he has to be living in the same house as me. Right Ben??  Who's currently winning UNO?!  

Today during breakfast Caleb told me I had a scary face. Like this "Mom, your face is scary"  OUCH.  I know that I had crazy hair, no makeup and my pajamas on, but really Caleb, scary??  I told him he could instead say,

"MOM, you're SO beautiful this morning"

"Mom, thanks for this great breakfast!"

"Mom, you're so kind!"

I think I came up with some others.  I'm sure he'll opt for one of those choices next time.  I'm seriously going to get scary if he doesn't quit telling me I am. 

WAHHHH!!!  (that was me freaking out and probably ACTUALLY being scary.)

I went into the horrible room the other day (It's like the office, play room, book room, and the "I don't know what to do with" place.  I'm working on it... sometimes...)  and found Caleb's "set up"  I'm thinking it was a choir. And two of the choir members passed out from stage fright.... or maybe they saw me coming and passed out because I'm so scary....

 

He also had the animals eating over the fence.  I thought that was SOO CUTE!

Then I put Grace in Caleb's bed, and he thought it was the GREATEST thing EVER.  He says "Mom, you can close the door now"  As if I'm going to leave her there with him.  If I didn't think it was dangerous I would TOTALLY do it just to see what he would do.  

This is where I yelled.. "OKAY!! TOO ROUGH!" (it was probably scary....NOT)

"Mom, I'm smoochin' her!" 

Then, I took this bad boy after Caleb ran over to Grace and said "MOM, take our picture!!" 

I think this might actually be the worst picture ever taken.... of anyone's children.  I laugh out loud every time I look at it. bhahhahahhahaahha.  

And finally, here is Grace showing off her "prettie"  My mother in law bought it from a lady (who you can find here on facebook) for Grace.  Isn't it adorable!?   

The end. 

-Melanie

asdfjkl;

I couldn't think of a title, so I just decided to go with the home row.

If you came to this blog from facebook, I know, I'm not supposed to be on facebook.  BUT, I didn't check things while I posted this.  Plus, keep in mind, I make the rules.  So, if my fast includes breaking the fast, then that's OK..... right???. ;)  I decided that I could post this on facebook during my fast, and I also decided the other day that I could go on and grab a recipe I had in one of my messages.  AND I checked a different message while I was at it because Ben said that it was important that I not be "rude" to people who may not have read that I was staying away from Facebook for Lent.  I thought that was fair.  I'm trying not to be a legalist about it.  The purpose of the facebook fast is to keep me from wasting time on it.... you know, the newsfeed can waste a lot of time-- and I've enjoyed that part.  So although it may seem like I'm a big cheater pants, I feel like it's going rather well.

Now that I'm done giving lots of excuses, let's move on!

The other day Caleb called to me "MOM, I'm holdin baby GRACIE!!!"
I was picturing something horrifying, but it was really quite sweet.  She even looks like she's enjoying it!  We had one of Ben's friends over the last couple of days, and as he watched Caleb going to hold Grace he was freaking out saying it was child abuse.  I think he was floored I was allowing it to happen.  But Grace was SMILING at him even though he was extremely awkward...and maybe slightly rough.  It's so sweet.... plus babies are quite resilient.  You ever notice how rough nurses are with your newborn??

Awwwwww

 And the next day he was still into it. I did have to stop him because he was actually standing up lifting her off the ground, and I was picturing a brutal face plant when he decided he was sick of holding her (not realizing that dropping her would be an issue...).  I was impressed at his strength.  I mean, she's over 18 pounds!   

This is the quilt my Gram is working on for Caleb's room.  Isn't it CUTE?!  I'm SO excited for it to be finished.  Unfortunately,  Caleb's room is always absolutely FREEZING COLD, so it's likely this beautiful quilt will be covered up by a hundred million other inferior blankets.

Ben went to Wisconsin last week to visit his Gma Kappers because she was needing surgery on her hip from a fall.  I was home with the kids and didn't feel like cooking (I have NO motivation to cook for just me and Caleb), and I didn't feel like fending like we had the night before. So, we took a trip to Culvers and brought it back home.  I was SO COLD, and I assumed my children were too.  I kept Grace's hat on because I thought she'd stay warmer...

When I took it off she was a hot mess.  Whoops.  Yeah... pretty sweaty.

I feel like this Winter I have been cold almost every minute.  I just have a chill throughout my entire body... all the time...  Maybe Winter is almost over... it is March 12 afterall.  This morning I mentioned it looked like Christmas and Caleb told our guest "It's Christmas!"  I think he just wanted some presents.

Lately when Caleb is receiving correction he says,

"Mom, I'm sleepy"

"Mom, I don't feel good"

"Mom, you're scaring me"

I promise I'm usually not scary when I'm correcting him.  These are total lies.... he's not sleepy and he feels fine... HOW is this happening already-- he's not even three!!?   I will admit though, the other day he said "Mom, I don't like when you talk like that" (he said it very sweetly), and he was right in saying that because I was speaking in a very impatient tone.  I apologized, and he was so quick to forgive.  Aren't kids neat?

He has also started saying things that don't make any sense

For example:

Caleb: Can I eat your finger?

Me: Um.. no. Why?

Caleb: Because I dropped the bat. It was on the couch before but now it isn't.

OHHHH, that explains it!  Why, sure you can eat my finger!!

Also after Bible study Tuesday he told a lady from our church

"I like your necklace!" The only problem was, she wasn't wearing one......

I will leave you with one more picture of my baby girl.  She and I went for a walk together while Ben and Caleb were at guy time when the weather was nice the other day.   As I was walking with her, I was praising the Lord for giving me a daughter. WOW. I was overwhelmed.   

Isn't she the sweetest? 

oh P.S.-- if you have a comment you really want me to see, put it on the blog and not facebook, so I can read it! =)

-Melanie

Playdoh disaster, clean basement, and a sideways video

Since I haven't posted in well over a month, It usually takes me a while to figure out what's worthy of a blogpost.  Usually there isn't anything, but I make a blog post anyway. HA! =)  I just figure, I'll look back on here and enjoy reading about the little things that happened in our family that I'm sure I'll forget about.

We usually don't do too many planned activities around the house.  I'm not the kind of mom with tons of brilliant ideas that make my child a genius while we have fun.  I do normal things... you know, read books, play with his toys with him....have them play while I clean. =)  The thing we do most though is play pretend.  Caleb LOVES it.  So some days I may wake up as Kanga (he is roo and asks to go in my pouch...), turn into Mrs. Aspargus (he's usually junior), maybe I'll be Tigger or Pooh for a while.... and sometimes I'll even be Uncle Alan.   A few weeks ago, I decided to be a "good" mom and try and do something we've never done before in the Kappers' house.....  PLAYDOH!  Of course I had to make it since I'm a cheapskate and avoid going to the store with both kids at all costs (if I have them both in the cart WHERE do I put the food??).  I have a Vitamix as I've mentioned before, and in the recipe book that came with it, there is a playdoh recipe.  I figured I couldn't go wrong with that, so I used it!

I made four different colors and even put them into bowls that MATCHED.  I took a picture because I thought it was so fantastic.  I felt pretty cool at this point.

I put a bowl down on the table (see below) put some flour down, and was ready to knead it!

Unfortunately, the playdoh was sticky.  Like... I couldn't get it off my hand sticky.  Like... I got playdoh all over my phone trying to take a picture sticky....

 In my depseration to get it OFF MY HAND, I started dumping flour everywhere.  Does the picture below look like playdoh to you?  No, me neither.

 It was hard to hold the bag of flour with my hands full of sticky mess. Here is the flour bag.  It still looks like that in my pantry.  And, that was with me dumping it out with my elbows.  Neat.

It was a huge mess.  Finally, after messing with it FOREVER,  (and getting better with each color...) I was able to get it off my hands and into something that resembled playdoh.... 

Here is Caleb playing with it.

He acted like he really liked it.  BUT, for the most part he was just sitting there staring at it sucking his thumb. .... I kept saying, "Should we get down and do something else?" And he said "No, I want to play with playdoh"  He just wanted ME to build things with it.

But... I didn't make playdoh so that I could play with it.  (I feel like I've heard my mom say those words before in other situations....)

Also notice his hair?  I totally cut it.  I've received a lot of flak for it... but it WAS my first time cutting HIS hair.  It's a little funky in front... and it seems to be growing out a little weird.  Ben suggests I seek professional help.... not for me... for Caleb's hair.  He wanted me to leave it at "professional help", but I'm too smart for that.

 That's what I get for trying to be a cool mom.  Note: Buy the playdoh next time. (or get a better recipe... or have someone else make it with me...) 

Next topic...

In case you're wondering how potty training is going... #1 is going well, #2 is not going well at all.  So, any tips are welcome.

My kids were sick a couple weeks ago, and I took the opportunity of staying in the house to clean out my basement! YES, YOU DO SEE LABELS!  I'm so excited! 

Grace sat in that swing some while I cleaned. =)  I had a box of toys that I set aside that were either just to take a break from or not age appropriate anymore.  Caleb got a hold of those and LOVED playing in the basement.   He started requesting "Can I go down to the basement?"

Our Guest suite. ;) 

If you could see it before, you'd be amazed.  =)  Sorry, no picture.

Finally I will leave you with a sideways video.  I'm not sure how to flip it?? (if you know how, feel free to let me know....) Every morning at breakfast we read the Proverb of the day, work on a memory verse (currently Psalm 119:9-16) and then we sing a song.  I try to pick songs that we might sing in church- or just hymns that I think are beautiful.  A few weeks back we were going to be singing Oh for a thousand tongues to sing in church, so I taught him that one.  That's what he picked to sing after breakfast, but this time had "Grace" singing instead.  Caleb often speaks for Grace in an extremely high pitched voice.  Yesterday he decided to SING for Grace in that high pitched voice....  Of course, when I pulled out the camera, he stopped doing it.  We had to egg him on a bit, which is why Ben is saying "that doesn't sound like Grace" He turns into a broken record partway through too-- not sure what that was about???  

I laugh so hard when I listen to this.  I think he'll be a soprano for sure.

-Melanie