Caleb's Birthday

Caleb had a fun filled 5th birthday!  Last year we didn't really do a big birthday celebration because we were in Disney World.  So this year he finally got his big birthday.

For his birthday lunch he chose Olive Garden.  That was a given.  Mommy was excited, Daddy wasn't. ;-)

After that we did some shopping then headed to Starbucks.  He got an "apple slider" (cider) which was actually just hot apple juice.  He loved it!  (This is what his hair looks like after he works all the gel out of it.)

He had been asking all year to have a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.  I still cringe thinking about Ethan's birthday party there and how crazy it was.  So I chose to do Caleb's on a Monday morning.  It was fabulous!  We were the only people there.  I invited all of the kids from his preschool and was suprised when most of them showed up!

This is his best pal from school, Noah.

We let Ethan skip school so he could go to the party.

Dancing with Chuck E.

After the dance he threw tickets all over the floor.  Gross.  Lots of hand sanitizer that day.

He was so excited about the ticket blaster...until he got in it.  I think it freaked him out.  It was loud and super windy!  He didn't grab one ticket.  He just stood there staring at me.

Where's Caleb?

I was also suprised that most of the kids who came were girls.  I guess he's popular with the ladies.  ;-)

Father and son gamers.

They were so cute dancing around waiting for Chuck E to come back out.

I made him a Super Mario Bros cake per his request.



Getting crowned by Chuck E.

What?  Can't you tell he was excited?  He doesn't really like the spot light.

Getting his birthday medal.

...and a good time was had by all.

Breakfast with Santa

We had "Breakfast with Santa" at our church during one of the first weeks of December.  I was super excited that I happened to be off on that weekend so I could go!  There was lots to do and the boys had a great time!



They had pancakes and sausage.  Caleb is showing me his nasty sausage that he wanted off his plate stat.

Ethan and Will.  Each kid got a plastic boot cup for their OJ that they were able to take home.  It was a "country" breakfast theme.



They got to see the big man! Caleb was all excited until he got in his lap then he wouldn't look at the camera.  I'm pretty sure he told Santa that he wanted a jet pack.

After the inside festivities we headed outside for more fun.  There was a small petting zoo that was a hit.

But the most exciting thing was the pony ride!  I thought Caleb would be freaked out but he hopped right on.

He kept taking his hat off and waving it.  Pretty funny!

Ethan was more timid about the ride.  He enjoyed it but he didn't let loose quite as much as Caleb did.

Last but not least was the hay ride.  They really enjoyed that too.  I think they rode it twice in a row.



Thanksgiving

This year Thanksgiving was a little abnormal and sad for me.  My dad was only 1 week? post-op from back surgery so my parents weren't there.  Several other family members were celebrating at their in-laws so it was slim pickens at our Thanksgiving.  Even the boys were bummed that there were no other kids there.  Oh...and Mondo wasn't there either.  He just happened to have Cowboys tickets so he took a customer to the game.  Poor thing.  It was still nice to have a small gathering to celebrate the bird and eat yummy food, but I was a little ready to be done with it because it just made me miss my parents.

This was me trying to get a picture of Caleb.

Ethan and his cousin John.  Don't let Ethan's mad face fool you.  He chatted up John the whole time.  He just figured out they were cousins a few months ago.  ;-)  Where has he been?!

Both of my boy's plates looked like this.  Mac & Cheese and fruit salad.  Maybe they'll take part in the feast next year.

They boys found a stash of toys to play with so they were content for a while.

Love those forced smiles.

Moving on to the kid's Thanksgiving Feasts at school....



Ethan's friend Brock.  They both chose chicken nuggets for their feast.  Wise choice.



Outside his classroom.

Unfortunantly Mondo had to work so I soaked up all the alone time with Ethan.  :-)

Caleb's Thanksgiving Feast was more of a mini performance.  The kids lined up and sang a few songs.  Then we followed them into their room to watch them eat their feast.

I just love preschool feasts:  popcorn, pretzels, grapes, raisins, apples, and lunch meat.  At least Caleb ate most of those items...minus the meat of course.

The boys were so cute and didn't want to leave.  They were holding hands and bouncing around in a circle and laughing hysterically.  I'm glad Caleb has some of his own friends now. :-)

Camping!

We went on a church family camping trip to Lake Whitney in early November.  The kids LOVE camping.  They really had fun playing on the rocks surrounding the lake.  Of course it looked like a giant death trap to me!  The wind was CRAZY that weekend so the waves were pretty high...for lake water, and we had a hard time getting our tent staked in.  Most of the pics are of the kids just playing outside.  No tv, no video games.  :-)

The kids played a lot of football!

Caleb helped tie down the tent.

Ice cream!

Here's a suprise:  Caleb had bologna and chips for dinner.  We packed some in our cooler for him because we knew he wouldn't eat the BBQ brisket that everyone else was eating.

What's a camping trip without smores?  :-)

Caleb's BFF Maddie (Joyce).

Ethan and Tyler.

Tyler, Will, Ethan.

Maddie (Parrish) and Ethan.  She might have a slight crush on him.  ;-)



The dad's had fun skipping rocks.

The next morning we headed out for breakfast and saw some deer!



Mommy and Daddy needed some coffee so we drove into town and ate at McDonald's.

We had Sunday morning church at the campsite.

Someone was tired on the way home.