Caleb's Big Boy Bed

We moved Caleb to a big bed a couple of months ago. He was looking so big and uncomfortable in that crib. We did some major rearranging that day. We bought a new king for us, gave Ethan our queen, and gave Caleb Ethan's full. Poor thing didn't have a comforter until a few weeks ago when I finally bought one. Next we are going to buy him a night stand.

I can't get him still enough to take a pic of him in his bed so I took one when he was napping. Please excuse the purple sheets, it was laundry day. :-)

Overall he has been doing well staying in his bed. Of course, that is probably because we are in it with him! As soon as it's time for bed he grabs my hand and says, "Lay with me!" We had to do that with Ethan for about 6 months and I wasn't looking forward to doing it again. But I don't want to be yelling at him every night to go back to bed. I'll wait a few more months to enforce the sleeping alone rule. I've tried to have him lay with Ethan but Ethan usually kicks him out within 5 minutes because he moves too much and takes forever to fall asleep. I'm like, ya, tell me about it! I lay with him for 45min-1 hour until he is asleep. Then I get up and get ready for bed myself. It's exhausting and annoying that I don't have my "me" time or my time with Mondo. But, I keep telling myself that he is my last baby and I won't be laying with him till he's 18...at least I hope not!

VBS

This year VBS was all about cowboys...which I never got from Ethan how that related to the Bible. It was nice for him to have something to do for a few days besides being stuck at home. Poor Caleb asked for him the whole time he was gone. Poor little dude. Next year he can go too!

VBS was at the Activity Center. They did a great job of decorating!

He came home each day with a craft. This was a little bag that he colored with markers.

His picture that he decorated with stickers. I had to move that boot sticker because I couldn't see his face!

I'm not really sure what this is. :-)

Caleb's First Movie

Caleb is a Toy Story fanatic. So when we heard that there was a new Toy Story movie coming out we debated on taking him. He has never been to a movie theater. Ethan's first time was when he was 3...Caleb is 2 1/2. I really didn't think he would sit through it but I felt guilty not taking him. So, we decided to just try it. We were so glad we did! He sat through all of the previews and was so excited when the movie came on. I had my bag packed full of snacks to keep him occupied but he wouldn't touch them. He was GLUED to the movie the entire time. As soon as the credits started rolling he said "again!". He was bummed to hear we weren't watching it again. Since then, we took him to see Dispicable Me. He thought we were watching Toy Story again until the movie started even though I kept telling him we weren't. He made it through most of the movie but started getting antsy toward the end. I'm so happy we can go out to a movie as a family of four now! :-)

This was right before the movie started. Eating their Toy Story movie packs and wearing their Toy Story shirts.

Trying to get those darn fruit snacks open.

This was supposed to be a cute picture outside of the theater...but it was too bright and also thundering REALLY loud. A storm was blowing in and the kids were freaking out.

We went to eat at Snuffer's after the movie. Caleb was happy to have his Toy Story guys to play with. They go everywhere with us!

Father's Day

Doesn't this picture make you all warm and fuzzy inside? I couldn't have asked for a better dad for my children. I am so blessed to have someone who is so involved in his children's lives. I love that he can now watch Caleb throw up without feeling the need to throw up with him. I love that he actually enjoys shopping for school clothes because I despise it. I'm so lucky that he has mastered the skill of keeping the kids out of my room on the weekends when I sleep all day. I'm glad that he isn't afraid of doing the necessary things like dunking the kids under water to show them that they won't drown...because I won't do it. He never hesitates to take off work or go in late to make sure he doesn't miss a school performance. I love that that he lets Ethan sleep with him every weekend when I'm at work...and Caleb ends up in there too. It's the best sight for my tired eyes when I come home from work and see my three boys all snuggled up together.

Happy Father's Day Mondie!

Happy Father's Day to the Toolman

This picture of my dad just makes me happy. I titled this post "Happy Father's Day to the Toolman" because my dad can seriously fix anything! I don't know how he does it. Anytime anything breaks at my house I call him and he knows what to do. If one of the kid's toys breaks, I take it to him and it magically gets fixed. Even Ethan says, "Take it to Papa. He can fix anything!" It is nice to have a dad who will drop what he is doing and take the time to help fix whatever is broken and to teach Mondo how to do it for the next time. :-)

My dad has such a gentle spirit. He is so sweet with the grandkids. He watches Toy Story, Baby Einstein, and superhero movies when he'd rather be watching something else. He sits outside with them when they swim while he sweats to death. He comes to all of their school/church performances. He blows bubbles for Caleb until he runs out of air. He plays light sabers with Ethan even though he has a bad back. The grandkids love their Papa!

I haven't put much thought into it before now, but I am blessed to have a dad who attended everything that was important to me. He came to all of my orchestra performances, sat in the bleachers of every game I danced at in drill team, and he attended all church related activities. Not every dad feels the need to go to these things and I never realized how lucky I was that he did.

Happy (Belated) Father's Day to you Dad!

Ethan's Last Swim Class

Ethan finished his last swim class a month or so ago. We are so glad we decided to do it. He is a little fish now! He loves doing cannon balls and swimming from one side of the pool to the other. Now he's working on picking up diving rings. At his last class they worked on polishing up their swimming skills then they got to play. The instructor was throwing them in the air and making them flip. I had a heart attack...Ethan loved it.

He got a ribbon and a shirt. Of course Caleb wanted to be in the picture too.

His swim class buddy Will.

Sibling photo attempt. It probably didn't help that Summer and I were taking pics at the same time.

They had to have a silly one.

After swim class we went to Olive Garden! Ethan and I love it. Mondo tolerates it. He's not much of a pasta eater. The kids had a great time together.

I hope we didn't disrupt too many people's dinner. :-) The boys were playing super heros with crayons and coasters. Anything can be a superhero!

Shoving a breadstick in his mouth.

End of School

I'm so sad and excited at the same time that Ethan is done with preschool! It seems only yesterday that I was crying in the parking lot of Ethan's preschool after dropping him off for the first time when he was only 2 1/2. Now his is my big 5 year old who can't wait to start kindergarten! He asked me the other day if summer was over yet. I told him no and that he had a long time until school started. He said, "Darn! I want summer to be over so I can go to school!" I'll remind him of that when he is in high school. :-) We were so lucky to have a great teacher for this last year of pre-k. Hopefully we'll get a great kindergarten teacher too. He's so excited now but we'll see how excited he is when he has to go to school EVERY DAY!

We love Mrs. Ross!! This was taken on his last day.

Lining up for his last preschool program. :-(


All of the pre-k classes.


I think they were doing sign language in this song.

Can you tell how into the program Caleb was? He snacked his way through it.

I am so proud of Mondo for getting this. The school had a family fun day which was like a little carnival. There was a silent auction to raise money for the school. This piece was from Ethan's class. I love it! We hung it in his room.

His line said "thank you for bunnies". I have no idea where he got that idea.

This was from Thanksgiving. He had a turkey to decorate in a costume so no one would know it was a turkey so no one would eat him. :-) Ethan chose Superman...and Mommy decorated it...with construction paper...at midnight. I might have gone a little overboard.

I thought this was so cute. They made spiders at Halloween out of a marshmallow and pretzels.