"its christmas man!"

a slosh of pictures from the last several weeks up until saturday..... mostly self explanatory. the best was that we were surprised to have santa come visit on christmas eve. claire wasn't a huge fan, and was only near enough to get some candy from him, but when he was leaving (her favorite part) she waved and said "bye christmas man!" she has been singing, talking, and dancing to herself, talking about "chwiss-miss" non-stop. she definitely has her grandpa wrapped around little finger. she goes around on her toy phone talking to him all. the. time. bubba continues to be a dream..... except for the teeth. one has majorly popped, and has at least two more trying to make an appearance.

christmas has been perfect! being all together, talking to my bro in BRASIL, games, wii games, sitting around the fire, shopping, eating and more eating, cirque dreams holidaze, and the list goes on. mostly just being together has been amazing. love my family! we still have a few more fun things coming.... i'll grab some more pictures and throw them up later.

its a christmas miracle!

oh how excited i am to be home for chirstmas this year!!! little "miracles" have been happening since yesterday:

mom's present was in my hands at the very last possible moment
the stand-still two hour delay on the freeway was headed the opposite direction we needed to go
we all made it on time
joe didn't get arrested at the security check point
flights took off and landed basically on time
snow storm waited til we got here

and....

its snowing now! my dad has been waiting 55 YEARS for a white christmas, and the snow fairies have FINALLY granted his wish. :)

this just might be one of the best christmases ever. so many, many blessings. so much to be grateful for.

we just went to see the cirque du soleil holiday show and it was fab-u-lous. had a yummy breakfast. on the schedule for tonight:

traditional dinner
talent show
minute-to-win-it games
christmas stories

and general good cheer. or "use of the christmas spirit" if you're lindsay. :) off to eat my pre-dinner burrito. oh, the joy. merry christmas all!

bum day

it has been pouring snow all day. (yes pouring, because its a little slushy. a good kind to play in so it sticks together for snowballs and snowmen) sometimes a fan of snow, sometimes not. would much rather have summer. lindsay requested snow on saturday. so.....

here's my text convo with linds:

me: You got your wish for snow. You happy now?

linds: no. because i'm at work and it's snowing. i wish i could be at home watching it from my bed :)

maybe if i could watch it from MY bed i would like it? maybe with a good book, and some hot chocolate? ha. 

just STOP by thursday, k? pretty please? i would REALLY like to fly to st. louis without any hiccups, delays, cancellations, etc. please and thank you. which, bytheway, i am stoked about. only three sleeps away!!! and then just one and a half sleeps til christmas day! (because we get in real late thursday. gonna be a loooong day) i just love my fam. and i really can't wait to all just be together. 

haven't gotten out of my pj's. i have changed clothes, but i went from one set of jammies, to another. there is no way in HECK i am going out. i'll stay cozy thanks :)

sorry i'm so boring today. we'll spice things up later maybe. 

so i don't have a gallbladder

one might ask, "how does that feel?"

i don't know. i've got too many pain meds pumping through me to really give you an answer. but i have since learned laproscopic gallbladder removal is one of the more common surgeries performed. whew. i'll spare you the nasty pictures of the stones... some of the nurses were even surprised at the number squished in there. 

so joe and i had some time before i was to be wheeled in, and we were talking, and lindsay texted me telling me that i better have something funny to say when i come out of it..... welp she hasn't blogged any of the stories so i guess i shall. first, a picture:

i was treated to a "leg massage" for about 7 hours. to keep that blood pumping. more like a blood pressure cuff going on every other leg constantly. speaking of, i happen to have "low" blood pressure, so they kept putting more IV fluid in me, and then increasing it even more. i have just barely stopped having to pee every ten minutes.

Story #1

the above picture is the ONLY picture taken, because you can't wear any makeup in surgery. absolutely none. or metal. so no wedding ring. i was looking HOT in the gown, those leg massagers, surgical hat, especially with no makeup, sleepy and puffy eyes. tubes sticking out every direction. i was half asleep before we even got to the surgery part. get the picture? so i'm out of it, my nurse is wheeling me down the hallway to the OR, i'm just minding my own business looking straight ahead, embarrassed as heck that a dozen people are about to see me nakey, and this row of orderlies is sitting there, waiting to go in with a patient. then one named Baden (i will never forget this as long as i live) gets up to help wheel me in. my nurse behind me says, "this is baden, he is going to be your orderly today," and i nod and see on his name tag that yes, his name is indeed baden. then one of the other orderlies shouts out "hey baden, are you gonna ask her out on a date later?!" 

yep. he really did yell that in front of everyone. i was kinda just in shock trying to say something back, i didn't have my ring on so i couldn't just flash it at the guy. my nurse came to my rescue and just told them to back off, shes married. baden wouldn't look at me. kept his head down the whole time. i was embarrassed for him, so i closed my eyes and was asleep before they even got the meds going. 

story #2 (this one isn't as funny... but funny to remember it)

i woke up super confused from the surgery. i'm blinking in all the bright lights, and all i can hear is tons of moaning. i can't really move, or talk, and i still have the oxygen mask on. then i hear yelling and more moaning. there was a lady next to me yelling her head off, she was terribly confused. it was 9:54. for the next 32 minutes i had to listen to this lady ask where her husband was, what is going on, where is the doctor, how did everything go, and moan after agonizing moan. i just wanted to yell at her to shut up, but i could hardly talk. i was so close to asking my nurse to get me out of there, it was that ridiculous. being wheeled into my own quiet room was bliss after all that noise. 

*let it be known i HATE going to the bathroom. i hate having people knowing i'm doing my business. and i HATE that everyone has to know when and how much i've done when in the hospital. so this next story is that much worse.*

story #3

i had to pee, so i get the nurse to unhook me enough to get up and walk to the bathroom. joe goes in there with me, for moral support. after getting settled, he tells me to look at him, don't worry just look away from the wall. so naturally i look at the wall, and there is this ginormous white, nasty spider climbing everywhere. i start yelling at him to get it, and he calmly grabs a paper towel and gets it in the garbage. i HATE spiders, and the fact that there was one in a hospital was kind of terrifying. so naturally i was beyond freaked out at this point, and tell joe that it is going to get out of the garbage can and come back to eat me. (he is laughing to himself at this point, trying to stay rational with me) what possessed me to tell him that, i'm not sure, but i knew its real desire. sure enough, the next thing i know i am yelling as loudly as i can because the spider's brother was crawling next to my foot. joe took care of that one also, but it took some convincing that it was a different spider, with me whimpering about it coming to eat me.

i couldn't pee after that. and when i did, we used the other bathroom. 

*******

that was probably way TMI, but there you go. my surgery experience. 

i love my church

and my ward specifically.

no one is perfect. and most everyone understands this. and everyone tries to help everyone, give comfort, improve the situation in every way possible, just be a good friend in general. its awesome. (of course there is drama, feelings get hurt, whatever. they are still human)

and when the word gets out that im having the gallbladder out, no less than five different women came up to me to tell me they too, have had theirs out, and gave advice, comfort and offered to help in whatever way they can (babysitting, more babysitting, meals, more meals).

and this really means a lot to me. my mom (bless her heart) really wanted to be here to help out, but its been kinda last minute, so that didn't work out, but tons of people have stepped up to lend a hand. 

in my mind, this is really what its all about. being a christian, having charity, sharing the love of christ. and i so appreciate that the people who surround me get that. i cannot STAND to miss church because of that. i love being buoyed up by everyone, to know someone else is going through the same thing. to hear someone say they love my child, or give some other genuine compliment. 

and those are my thoughts. happy sunday. 

watch yourself

a snippet of my day-to-day conversations with claire.

scene: me, usually in the kitchen. claire, usually watching mickey mouse, maybe oso.

claire: mommy! i did it! mommy! dance! (grabs my hand and pulls me to the family room)

me: what do you need?

claire: shake your bum-bum mommy!

me: ....??? (me, wondering if i really taught her that. yep. i really did. three mommy points awarded)

we do lots, and lots of dancing round here. lots of jumping, spinning, twirling, and bum-bum shaking. arm flailing, rolling, and twisting gets thrown in as well. and when we do it well we get hugs, high fives, and kisses. these are moments of pure joy watching claire feel accomplished.

now if only she would pee in the potty.... and not next to it. that would worthy of a huge celebration.

pictures are forthcoming. our computers have gone kaput, and trying to adjust to a temporary mac (thanks linds!) for the time being. your patience is appreciated. also, should a temporary lapse in posting occur in the next few weeks, please excuse the absence. i could be dying. or in the hospital getting the gallbladder out. should be fun. hopefully before the end of the year, maybe not. but hopefully, because i feel like i am dying sometimes. like my back is being stretched out, and my insides are being twisted around like a fork twisting spaghetti. its great fun at 3 in the morning when that happens, caleb wants to eat, and claire wakes up yelling for milk and mickey mouse. it gets better when you can only find expired tylenol and excedrin and all you want is sleep. SO fun. husbands are really great for helping get the milk and convincing claire mickey is sleeping so you should too, and getting caleb to put off eating for a little bit longer. and then rubbing my back til i fall asleep again, even though hes been working like crazy lately.

have you seen my sister's new blog? it makes me smile. wish i'd thought of that.

you know it happens too often when...

joe forgets to tell me about it.

what did he forget to tell me about? another person being taken from church in an ambulance during sacrament meeting on sunday. (i skipped with the kiddos. claire + yucky nose = no church)

and its not like this was something that happened all calm and quietly. guy starts to go down, people are jumping up to catch him, nurse in ward runs over, and meeting is stopped while bishop assists. he was a program passer-outer. nicest guy.

weird thing about this, the last few people weren't elderly. i have so many things that would be really funny to say here, but i just can't bring myself to do it. it would be mean. so just laugh to yourself at some old person/handicap pun that you can imagine me saying, k?

................

and i really need to get this off my chest. i am a little bit sick of orpah (oprah's nickname lindsay gave her) right now. she is a little bit (a lot) full of herself. don't get me wrong, she does a lot of wonderful things for lots of people, but no joke, the woman thinks that she has been through everything and can relate to every person out there. and beat their story. like today, interviewing keith urban, he is talking about his drug addiction and recovery, and then goes off on how she knows just how it is and how she has struggled throughout her life with food addiction.

really?

last i checked, we all kinda have a food addiction. like we all need food to live.

(if you have issues with weight, thats different. but don't think you're all special because you will "publicly battle" with it. we are all public, we all struggle with it. whether you need to gain or lose, you struggle. and we all need to gain or lose. k? and maybe some people have an addiction.... whatever. thats another topic. this was just a tangent. tangent over)

but it doesn't end there. she can relate to every bad relationship, every god relationship, being abused, being raped, being poor, being rich, having a bad day, being famous, having a freaking "AHA" moment, dealing with with rumors, being alone, having a teen idol, yada yada.

guess its a good thing this is the last season? oh wait, it wasn't enough to have her own show. she needs her own (no pun intended) network. all to herself. i don't think we will be getting it. and i think i'm okay with that.

and while i would have DIED to have been on her "favorite things" show, i think i would have sold half the stuff she gave out. like the brownie/lasagna pan? who likes side pieces best? HELLO the middle pieces are where its at. crunchy sides? ick. and the sweater.... oh my. so not a good color for everyone. not me anyway- pretty sure i would have blended into my walls.

and wait.... she had McDonald's food on the show today? weird....

anyone else feel this way or am i completely off my rocker? these feelings haven't stopped me from watching, but tomorrow's show might be one of the last for me. anyone else watch "sister wives?" i think it is so disturbing, but its kinda funny to watch these crazies that live not so far away get some attention.

and these are my thoughts for the night. its been kind of a yucky day. everyone keeps bringing up poop. it starts to get to you after a while.

*GAH! after publishing this post, what ad comes up on the confirmation page? an invitation to subscribe to O magazine. lets not forget the magazine with her face plastered on the front. full of yourself?

confession

i realized i may have fibbed a little a few posts back. there are three foods i really cannot stand. at this moment i can't remember the third, but i prefer to leave out

water chestnuts

and

black licorice.

i usually have no issues when it comes to texture, but water chestnuts, for whatever reason, do not sit well in my mouth. its to the point that although i really love those lettuce wraps at p.f. changs, i almost don't eat them. ALMOST.

and black licorice, yucky. sorry, there is no getting around it. i love me some good soft red vines, but try as i might, i can't choke down the black stuff. i even took a sample at costco a few days ago, hoping to convince myself it was tasty, but i had to throw it away.

i still can't remember that third one, although i also don't care for buttered popcorn jelly bellies. which happens to by my mom's fave. i like toasted marshmallow.

rawr.

new best buds. my bestest friend from high school is hanging out in utah, and we definitely had a sleep over last night... with kids! makes for an interesting night, with many interruptions from kiddos, but it made it that much more fun for our little girls to finally meet. claire loves the livster tons already! can you tell? (not sure the love is reciprocated though....)
typical sight. not sure if this is after a failed attempt to put it in the garbage can or what, but i busted up laughing. (it would not surprise me to see it IN the garbage can. her favorite pj's were found in the can a few days ago. not sure why?)

meowwwww..... crazy girl thought being a kitty cat was pretty awesome. not so happy about taking it off for church. but i really loved how she thought she was really a cat for a while, and only answered with a meow.

i feel like i have blogging tons lately, but i keep missing some big things. like claire's bday bash....

.....it was so fun! we kept it really low key, invited a few of her friends over for some cake and ice cream and just let them all run around for a little while. exactly perfect for miss claire! we had balloons everywhere, a definite must with her :) my mom always made whatever cake we wanted for our birthdays, and my favorite was usually red velvet. so i wanted to make the real deal for claire, and i let her help me. it takes a LOT of red food coloring, so i made the whole cake and used most of all the bottles. i had left one with just a little left it in, and when we were making the frosting claire dumped the rest of the red into the just finished, perfectly white frosting! couldn't have red frosting on a red cake, so we dumped some blue in and we had purple frosting, to go along with the minnie mouse purple/pink stuff. she loved it!
she was SO happy she got to have happy birthday sung to her again. might have been her favorite part even.
and since it was her birthday, we let her do pretty much whatever she wanted that day. including eating ice cream with her hands.... yep it was messy! what we do for our kiddies.....

the next day she was EXHAUSTED. she had a second nap after her one nap.
the curlers don't do much more to her already curly hair, but i am making her have them in every so often so she is used to them. she hates it. naturally.
she goes crazy over the camera, wants to see the pictures as soon as we take them. i look sick, but this is typical claire!
what i walked into the other day. joe had just come home, and claire would NOT leave him alone. she LOOOOOVES her daddy, maybe more than me sometimes! she pretty much thinks he is the best jungle gym.
i. did. not. teach. her. this. REPEAT. this is NOT my doing. the blamed will not be named to protect any unwanted scolding.

however,

i think it is really funny, and cute, and caleb seemed to also think it was fun.

cutest baby ever. i can't get enough of his smiles.

300 posts :)

remember when i said i was going to make a UGE mess last week? i did. i attempted to make a version of this cake for our Young Women in Excellence. 3 hours later i got all the layers done, frosted in between and stacked, just waiting to be frosted on the outside when caleb really needed to eat. i sit down for a sec and next thing i know, claire was saying "yum!" and downing the cake. by the time i got to her, she was covered and the top layer was off and smashed. i should have known better than to leave it accessible, but alas, i didn't act on it. so a red velvet cake from costco was the substitute, and i must say it was quite a good one :)

happy 3 months tomorrow little (big) bubba! you are such a joy, we are such a lucky family to have you around!

skip this

if you don't like birth details! i won't share too much of the gory details, just some small things to remember.

i was so anxious the day before caleb was born. i don't know why, but i was just nervous as heck. i couldn't sleep, and i kept flipping out that the hospital hadn't called. at 5:30 the next morning i made joe call them to make sure they knew i wanted to come in. they said they would call back soon, they were just getting a few things ready. we got there about 7, got checked in, got pitocin and all that jazz by around 8, and settled in for a long ride. the contractions weren't nearly as bad as last time (at first at least) and i spent a while on the max amount. my doc came and checked me a while later. he broke my water around 1, and i have to say it was the WEIRDEST feeling- there was so much fluid this time (with claire nothing came out til after) and i kept laughing to myself because i couldn't control it. with every contraction tons more would come out.... i am sure this is totally normal and nothing to think about, but because that didn't happen with claire it seemed bizarre.

i really wanted to see how long i could go without the epidural, and i felt pretty good about getting as far as i had when i decided i needed it. right when i got the doc for the drugs in, my nurses changed. i LOVED this nurse- she was so on top of everything, and really knew how to help me out. got the drugs, and this time was also so different with claire. i was completely numb with her, and had no idea when contractions were coming without looking at the monitor, and i never felt the urge to push (i just wanted to go back to sleep). this time it took a while to work, but it worked better- i wasn't in pain but i knew when the contractions were, and how things were progressing. at 5:40 my doc came and checked me, i was a six. we joked about how i really love laboring for a long time, and he left to go home and get dinner, and said he would be back after that, watching me the whole time. the nurses changed at six, but my nurse had said she knew he would be here by then. i was sad she wouldn't be the one for it, but all the sudden at 5:55 things were different- i wanted to flip to my back so bad, but i felt silly asking her to check since it had only been 15 minutes. (i think the person to actually check that time was a doc who was in training... he had been in there off and on all day.) they could tell things had changed so they did, and caleb was ready for arrival! so much so, my body was starting to push him out on its own.... (at this point my sister was still in the room. she said she wouldn't stay for the actual delivery this time, and i told her to leave right then if she didn't want to see it because he was coming fast. she stayed anyways, and i am so grateful- it was such a neat experience!)

at 6 my new nurse came in, said she had just called my doctor- he was on his way back and would be there in 7-8 minutes. i told her i was watching that clock, and i was turning over in 8 minutes whether he was there or not, so be ready! (i was delivered by a nurse, and when my mom told the nurse this i think she flipped out a little) i held it together, doc came in, and four pushes and ten minutes later he was out! he squealed like a pig, peed all over the room, and everyone was laughing and crying with relief.

the delivery nurses were so much more on top of things, one nurse even got me dinner right in the delivery room while caleb was being cleaned up. this was huge for me, because after laboring with claire the entire day i was STARVING, but i wasn't allowed to have anything with claire until the next morning because i had been throwing up after coming off the drugs.

in general, things seemed so much smoother and easier with caleb. recovery was faster, labor and delivery was easier and faster, in general i enjoyed it a lot more. so there's that... all you wanted to know and i'm sure more.

i've thought about that day a lot lately, and i am SO grateful everything went so smoothly that day. a million things could have gone wrong, but it was just such a good day. i am even more in love with little man! he is still SO GOOD. sleeps through the night consistently, and puts up with his crazy sister like a champ. and he still has the cutest sneezes. he is cooing and talking back, but is still so lazy- any time he's on his stomach he passes out, and has no desire for rolling or head lifting. and i am OKAY with that- no need for another early walker in this house :)

yeeshka

i love my kids, i promise. they are just funny little munchkins. its great!

its been crazy busy for us lately.... is it ever not? diaper changing alone takes up half my day. we tried potty training claire, but after getting her to sit on the potty for an hour and a half (major accomplishment there) without so much as an inkling to go we gave that up. we'll try again later. so much for the signs that she's ready. she is as stubborn as her mother.

just for kicks- caleb and his twinner friend. they were both wearing the same onsie under the sweatshirts. they just sit (not caleb- he is a lazy bum) and squawk at each other and high five. makes us mothers proud. and neither of them were having the camera. cutie patooties.

off to make a UGE mess. i'll let you know how that goes.

quick question: does anyone live somewhere with a nice HOA? ours is rude, inconsiderate, and posts notices on our doors the same day our water is being turned off, then gets mad when we don't see said notices and call wondering why we have no water. or tells us they put notices on the boards, which they didn't. GAH! as my friend said, i didn't want to shower anyway.

did you know?

caleb slept ten hours straight last night. and i slept maybe three. i don't know why. ugh.

i still don't have a costume for tonight's trunk-or-treat. i just can't decide on anything. boo.

claire turns two next week. i've been saying she's two for a while, so it hasn't quite hit me that she is actually going to be two. we're having a minnie mouse party. again. its gonna be sweet.

i have no pictures; my memory card got left at my parent's house..... we'll see about changing this. and so, no pictures for today. if i did have pictures, they would have been 1) of a very, very happy smiley baby, and 2) of claire's leg sticking out from under the crib, where she took her nap yesterday (because her room was too light, because daddy didn't close the blinds. girl needs a dark room to sleep in.). it looked exactly like when dorothy lands her house on the wicked witch. how appropriate, considering some of her behavior lately. gotta love those terrible twos!

its pretty obvious

that i think my kids are special.
this is the little outfit joe wore when he was blessed. so cute!

claire's halloween costume. pretty pretty princess!



claire loves bubba. she really does. especially now that she has decided to call him by a name instead of baby or just pointing. now its bu-bu-bu-bubba all day long. we had claire's two year pictures taken while my mom was still here, and let's just say i'm glad we only take those pictures once :) she was more than a handful. it took a good 2 1/2 hours.

caleb is still just the best baby! he really will sleep all day if he isn't entertained. and will still sleep through the night even if he slept a lot during the day. and right now he crashed on the couch even though claire wouldn't leave his toes and chubby cheeks alone. love that guy.

linds wanted to go play in the leaves with claire, and i warned her of what will happen, i promise. claire was drawn to the creek like a magnet- she saw the "waaaddderr" and ran. i don't know how we kept her from jumping straight in, but i'm really glad we did.
i LOVE these cute little shoes on her. i don't know what it is, but i think they are just adorable. love this girl.

she takes after her mother!

and i fully support it. most nights joe and i read before falling asleep, and he frequently comes and removes whatever i'm reading from my face and turns out the light. thankfully he doesn't take too many pictures of that :) lately though, i think my reading lasts all of two minutes before i crash. thats life, right?

methinks

i may have figured out where the "katie grin" has come from. possibly from my own mother?

how cute is my momma??? i'm pretty sure that my silly little scrunched nose came from somewhere and miss lisa jane would be it!

and i'm also pretty sure that claire has inherited it as well!

ten for 10.10.10

i've been at my parent's house in illinois for 2 1/2 weeks now, and have had some down time (thanks momma!) to think, ponder, meditate, etc. and i have decided on, realized, recognized, understood, admitted to, etc., a few different things. here's a few.

1. cream cheese makes just about anything 1000 times better. except my waistline.

2. while having large, squishy babies is great, seeing them in the "cutest-outfits-you've-ever-seen" just once is kinda sad.

3. i may or may not be coming around to raising my kids in one town/city, at least until they graduate high school. the thought of staying put somewhere is still strange and terrifying, but becoming appealing. seeing my sister recognized for something that could only happen because she went to just one high school made me slightly jealous. (not complaining mom!)

4. i've changed a lot since high school. more than i thought i had. we found all my old cd's from from way back when, and joe listened to them while driving the moving truck to utah. he just laughed and told me i was cute. ha.

5. at not yet two months, caleb is teething. i could feel those little bumps, but didn't want to admit it because then it would really mean they are there. but lets face it- i had teeth by two months, this is really not a surprise.

6. the color change to fall is beautiful, but i. am. not. ready. for. it. there was a day when it was around mid-50's in the morning, and the amount of 'stuff' we had to take with us tripled. really not excited with having to haul all the extra stuff around.

7. i still don't really care for organ music. especially poorly arranged organ music. but listening to good flute music (that my sister sarah is playing!) is quite lovely.

8. there are few foods that i don't like. with everyone in my family i can immediately come up with something they don't care for. (chris- uncooked mushrooms; lindsay- tomatoes; marshall- mushrooms in every form; sarah- roast; mom-peaches; dad- sun-dried tomatoes). i can't really think of something i don't like. i'm a pig- i just like food!

9. the movie "saturday's warriors" will ALWAYS be one of my favorite movies. as cheesy and awful some (all) of it is. my sister got the DVD for her birthday, and it comes with a karaoke feature. you bet we stayed up watching it and singing and dancing to it (so maybe i was the only one dancing....). julie is my favorite. sarah was laughing that i know all the words still, but i can't ever forget them after watching it nearly every sunday for about ten years.

10. my parents really are the best ever. and my in-laws are pretty awesome, too. and i'm so lucky they all like each other- i know that doesn't always happen. love you guys!

hope you did something fun for 10.10.10! did you know that this month there are 5 fridays, 5 saturdays, and 5 sundays? only happens every 843 years! weird, huh?

the queen of terror and prince of fatness

since my parent's house is a bit bigger than ours, there is that much more stuff for claire to get into. constantly. gotta love the dumping of spices, furniture climbing, cereal dumping, toy box dumping, toys over the railings, etc. the best was when she moved the chair blocking the exit from the deck, went past it and moved it back, and ran all the way over to the neighbors backyard before we noticed she was gone. little escape artist that one.

we went to the zoo earlier this week. claire's faves? the "elll-fant" and the goat yard. yes we came home with a stuffed elephant, and we managed to not kill the goats in the goat yard with rocks. seriously the girl is obsessed with rocks, and kept trying to feed them to the goats. they were more interested in caleb's blanket.

while his sister is going nuts around the house, caleb eats, and eats. still deciding on his nickname- it goes between bubba, bubbalicious, budha, those kinds of things. at least he gets plenty of sleep in. he is just so squishy. i particularly love the stuff in his armpits. there's so much of it in his pits. and i love that he flails his arms and smiles his gummy smile when he sees us now. he is so funny now because he is trying so hard to suck his thumb, but he can't get it to stick out on his own. poor little guy.

love these silly kiddos. as nuts as they are, i love them that much more.

more little happenings

claire loves putting powder on. a little too much sometimes!
baby has been giving smiles, but we never get the camera out fast enough. until today! oh its precious.
i. love. his. squishy. face.

while joe's family was here we had a birthday party for claire as well. yes, her birthday isn't for another month, but because everyone was here, we decided that it would be okay to practice.
it was a minnie mouse theme, and claire's ya-ya made the cutest cake! claire thought it was pretty great!
she dug in this time! she loved poking the eyes.... she kinda has an obsession with eyes. and she REALLY loved being sung to. we definitely sang it a couple of times and she clapped and laughed the whole time.
joe got pretty into his being helpful with some yard work- he was way up in the trees cutting off some branches. i couldn't watch- but he made it out safely :)
my parents will likely be moving somewhere (who knows where.... they sure don't!) next year, so they are checking off a few things on the "need to do in st. louis" list and a cards game was a must! it was a pretty pathetic game, we left before it was over because they were losing so bad, but it was really fun and we had GREAT seats! joe was really looking forward to a pro baseball game- and being in the new stadium was perfect for him! its a pretty awesome stadium- we even had padded seats! thanks mom and dad for a super fun night!
caleb is finally lifting his head up. he's kinda lazy, and seeing him lift his head up is a relief.

more more to come!