More Caleb...

Yesterday I gave the kids popcorn for a snack.... Caleb was sitting at the table with his bowl and I took a little bit out and ate it. He looks at me and goes "HEY, my!"
I love it when they really start to verbalize and understand what is going on around them. He is such a funny little boy. I should get a video of him walking around - he has this funny little swagger to his walk. He's a little macho man already :)

Good Cheap Fun

 

For Valentine's Day each of the kids picked out a balloon at the dollar store..... balloons have somehow become a Vday tradition for us - maybe because the kids LOVE them :) Anyway, the balloons last forever so one day we tied Caleb's down lower and gave him a fly swatter. He had a great time whacking his balloon. It was pretty entertaining for me too. I have a feeling kids of all ages could enjoy this one.

Maggie says....

Maggie was telling me that she was going to do a singing show for me......"mom, it might make you cry because it's so beautiful."

Pinewood Derby

 

The pinewood derby for Jackson's scout troop was at the end of January. We let each of the kids make a car - well, Caleb used Jackson's old car fom last year..... It's always fun to listen to them plan and anticipate their cars. We looked at pics of derby cars and they went from there. Jackson really wanted a tank so I helped him plan a shape, then I cut it out. He planned the colors and painted it. The girls wanted fancy cars of course. I had the idea to use hair and crowns - they thought that was excellent! They painted them and I helped add eyes and a mouth.
Unfortunately none of their cars were very fast. Hmmm. I'm doing something wrong. Their wheels wobbled a lot. I will have to look into it more for next year :) They all had fun but it was kind of long. They start to lose interest towards the end. Caleb was pretty excited when he got to give his car to the starter and then go get it at the finish line.

Busy Day

 

Yesterday was a pretty busy day...... we had some family pics taken, played outside, went to the grocery store, had 6 additional kids over for dinner and playtime..... it wore this little guy OUT! He has finally switched to one nap but sometimes it's just not quite enough. He is also just getting interested in costumes and loves to play dressup when the bigger kids do. He has marker on his cheek because I let him draw with one while at the grocery store so he wouldn't scream in the cart..... worked wonders until I had to take it away because he was drawing on the groceries and himself - then he screamed. He fell asleep on the beanbag about 7 pm while all the kids were watching a movie :)
We have been trading babysitting with this other family for about a year now, I think. It has worked out really, really well. They are easy going and flexible just like we are. We have had more dates in the past year than we have in our first 10 years of marriage combined :)
I love that Caleb is in a spiderman costume but still has his pacifier and blankies. He is growing up so fast yet he is still so little.

IcE

 

Not too long after the first dusting we got some more snow with a nice ice covering over the top :) The kids were all outside sledding. They started sledding down our upper driveway and stopping when they got to the pavement where the cars are parked. Matt had shoveled our driveway before too much ice had formed so it was completely clear - we have a REALLY steep driveway so we try to keep on top of clearing it off. Anway, the kids were having a great time and had no trouble stopping - almost every time :) One time Hailey went down and ending up going too far off to the side she went over and down the hill towards our neighbors house where she bounced off a tree and headed straight out their driveway!! Which was not shoveled and therefore completely covered in ice. She went right down and partway out into the road. I was running after her..... she was screaming...... I helped her up and she said "I don't like that creepy road. I don't want to do that again." She is still talking about the creepy road and it has been a few weeks I think.

Snow

 

We got a dusting of snow one day and Hailey was so excited. She has been wanting to go sledding but we just haven't gotten any good snow. This was barely enough but we went for it anyway. She absolutely loved it. We have a little hill in our backyard that works really well for the little ones to sled down. Caleb loved it too. He loves to be outside. He gets so upset if the bigger kids go outside and no one takes him. He will start to run around and gather his boots and coat. Sometimes it drives me nuts because I can't have him wait 5 or 10 minutes. He wants to go NOW. I try having him wait a few minutes while I finish something up but it just means he is screaming and crying and pushing at my legs..... so outside we go :) Playing outside is more healthy than playing inside while I do chores anyway!