Mom and Dad:

Does anything about Bryce's face in this photo remind you of me?? I thought you would like this photo and even though it is in the Halloween slide show - I had to point it out to you!! If you double-click on the photo it should enlarge if you want to see it bigger!

Trick or Treating

As I sit here and do my parental duty of "testing" the kids candy they got tonight, I thought I would tell you about our trick or treating. The boys were really well behaved - for the most part.

Caleb tried to take over and lead everyone, although he did not know what he was doing! He was wearing all black, but luckily I thought to put glow sticks on them so I could somewhat keep up with them.

Isaac pretty much just followed everyone else, but he was great at saying "trick or treat" and "thank you". He seemed to have a great time though, especially after being stuck in the house for 2 weeks!

Bryce really cracked me up. He wore a fitting costume! He would say trick or treat when he got to a door. Then he would start growling. The second house we went too - he requested a glass of water (luckily we got him away quickly - with not water!). After that he got to where after he growled at whoever was at the door, he would ask what animals they had and if he could please pet them (at least he used his manners and said please!). Several houses actually chased down their animals so that he could pet them.

All and all, the first year of actually doing door to door trick or treating went well. Maybe next year Daddy will be home to join us!

Halloween 2006

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Oh Yeah!

I did not mention what Caleb was doing today. WORK!! Last week, he and a friend of his told me that they did not like getting older. They are no longer allowed to have Halloween parties - they are too old! So while all of the younger kids are having parties....he gets to do school work! It is definently not always fun growing up!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

While the world (or my children!) plays tricks on me today, two of them had a busy day of partying at school!! Bryce went dressed up as a cowboy - although I tried to get him to go as a fireman (to keep his cowboy suit clean for tonight-there is a lot of white on it!). They had a mini-carnival at Mother's Day Out. He did not throw a fit this morning when I dropped him off (go figure). Somehow he managed to keep his costume pretty clean (just two little spots of cheese from his nachos).

I took Isaac to school for his Halloween party. They had games with candy prizes and LOTS of food! He had a lot of fun and was SO excited to see his friends again. He got a TON of candy and other sugary snacks! I let him stay as long as he wanted and he did eventually tell me he was ready to go.

To everyone out there - HAPPY HALLOWEEN - I hope you get more treats than tricks!!

Is It Bedtime Yet?

I know...it is 7:30 am...you just got up! It has been a LONG night and morning already though! Isaac and Bryce were up for quite a while last night, off and on, because of Bryce's bit foot! This morning after we were up for about 20 minutes, we got a pretty good thunderstorm. Isaac and Bryce would run in and tell me that they were not scared - EVERYTIME IT THUNDERED!!

Then there is the dog. Trip runs from window to window barking everytime it thunders. I have not decided if he is being scared or protective, but when the storm lasts over and hour and the dog is barking everytime it thunders - no matter how quiet the thunder is....

Something To Brag About

I just heard on the news last night that Little Rock is the 23rd most dangerous city in the nation. Think about how many cities are in the nation and Little Rock is 23RD!!!!

Of course, that is not really anything to brag about - so I will brag that we don't live IN Little Rock (and that would be why!!!)!

A Hour Later...

Bryce has been screaming about his toe...the bit one...and now...he and his brothers are up!!! Ain't life grand!!!

Only My Son

Bryce is not sleeping well this evening. He has awakened 3 times already. He wants Daddy (who is out of town, of course). This last time I went in to him he was holding his big toe. When I walked in he said his toe hurt. I asked why.... "I bit it."
"You hit it?" I asked thinking he hit the wall.
"No I bit it, ate it."

HE BIT HIS TOE IN HIS SLEEP!!!!!
WOW!

Caleb's Fall Picture

HELP!!

Here are Isaac's school pictures. I have to decide which pose to buy (or spend A LOT of money on both poses). Give me your opinion because I think they are both great (of course I am biased!). If you double click on the picture it will enlarge it a little bit.

Honor Roll

Caleb brought home a certificate for the honor roll.

California

Paul went to Southern California Thursday and Friday for a conference for work. He took some pictures from his hotel room at the Ritz-Carlton (must be nice!!!). I thought they were really good pictures, so I wanted to share! If the pictures look smoggy - that is the smoke from the wild fire there.

Beautiful Flowers

These are the beautiful flowers I received from my husband last Friday. I took this picture this morning, so this is what they look like on day 4 of ME having them. Paul gets all my flowers from Proflowers online. This is an awesome way to get flowers. You order them and they are picked from the field and shipped directly to you. Since they do not go through wholesalers and florist and sit in refrigerators, you get them extra fresh and they last a LONG time!! I know I sound like I am advertising for them (and I guess I am), but Paul has been getting all of my flowers from them for several years now, and they are always beautiful and long lasting. Usually flowers I buy at the store are dead or droopy by now!!!

Back to my awesome husband though. The vase that came with the flowers match my living room decor perfectly!! The roses are such a seasonal color too! I have been bragging to everyone about how awesome my husband is!! I should add here (just to futher prove my point) that this weekend I went to Hot Springs with four other girls from my sunday school class. When I got home, the house was spotless (I mean down to he shampooed the carpet!) and he was working on dinner. He also had mowed the yard and sucked up all of the leaves! I told him I needed to go out of town more often (although I should not have told him that because next time he won't do anything so I won't go anywhere!!)

The moral of this post: I have the best, most awesome, loving, caring husband ever!!! No one could come close to matching him and I love him very much!!

Isaac's Birthday Slide Show

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Isaac's Birthday Bash

Well, we have COMPLETELY confused Isaac! We had his birthday party yesterday, a costume party, but he keeps saying he is now 5 - but he is not!! I keep trying to explain to him that it his just his PARTY, his birthday was not until close to Christmas. He doesn't get it. I don't want to confuse him, but I think this is the way we will be doing his birthday from now on.

We don't do the party in December, because December is crazy for us, and most others. We end up having a Christmas party just about every weekend from the first weekend in December to Christmas. Add on top of that all of the shopping and traveling that people do - just not a good month for a birthday party!! November we have Caleb's party, I just can't do two birthday parties in one month! So, this is the best time to do it! Not to mention - these kids usually only get to dress up once in their costumes, so they all really loved getting to dress up the extra time.

I did not take pictures of the decorations unfortunately. Paul did camera duty and he was outside quite a bit of the time with kids, and I just did not think of it. We had lots of black and orange and ghosts and bats and pumpkins. We served Green Slime Juice with worms floating in it, chips and dip, candy corn/peanut mixes, and lots and lots of candy! We also had ghost shaped cupcakes and chocolate ice cream. Some of the kids were unsure about the green slime juice, but most of them liked it and drank it. We went through two big containers of lime sherbet and 2 - 2 liters of Ginger Ale. The good thing was that the parents liked the punch too.

We tried to do a mummy wrap - did not go over too well. The kids were in pairs and they were supposed to wrap their partner and run to the other end of the yard where they were suppose to rip off their wrap and wrap their partner. It did not go as planned, but the kids had a good time and the yard was COVERED in toilet paper (better than the trees)!

The rest of the time the kids just played. I don't think if I had organized a lot of games I could have gotten them to calm down to play. There were a lot of knives and guns, etc. flying around from all the ninjas, knights, etc. that came to the party. Hopefully they all wore themselves out (despite the candy being injested!!) before they went home.

His gifts were an x-box and 3 games, a Hot Wheels racetrack, Hot Wheels cars and trucks, Nerf Ball gun, a Spiderman matching game and two puzzles and a dinosaur pack with a poster, book and 3D puzzle. This party was great timing, because after being home for a week and a half because of his hand - entertaining him was getting difficult!! He and Bryce have been playing with all the new toys all morning (which is why I have time to sit and do this - even though I should be cleaning house!)

I will post the pictures in the next post - I need to go fix lunch so the boys (and I) can lay down for their naps!!

Casa Nova

I have my own Casa Nova!! Caleb is so girl crazy! Not only is he girl crazy - he goes for the older girls. When we were at our sunday school fellowship picnic on Saturday, everytime I went to find Caleb he was under a tree or off alone with a girl. The girl was at least 13, as all of his crushes are lately.

I am not sure what to do now - much less later when he is off on his own more!

Such A Sweet Son!!

I opened Caleb's lunchbox this morning to fix his lunch. There was a handmade envelope inside it addressed to Mommy. It was decorated beautifully. I opened it to find a letter that said I love you! I was very shocked and it put a huge smile on my face.

Car Tire Update

Unfortunately, I found a nail in the tire that went flat Saturday. I asked Paul about if the inside of the tire should shred like that the short distance I drove on it. He said with the small wheelbase - it was possible.

Since there was a nail in it - there is no warranty on it. So at this point, I have to buy a new tire for the new car before I even make my first car payment!! We specifically asked the salesman about the price of the tires because we had read that the tires were hard to find and very expensive. He told us they were not hard to get and that they were only about $80. Well, actually the cheapest Paul found them was $120 AND they are on national backorder with no delivery date!!

Basically, I can either by four new tires or have mismatched tires! I am more than mad right now!! To specifically ask about that and be told what we were told and already have to be dealing with this is ridiculus. I think tomorrow we will be at the dealership talking to someone about this!

The "great" weekend is apparantly following me into the week! When it rains....

Car Tire Update

Unfortunately, I found a nail in the tire that went flat Saturday. I asked Paul about if the inside of the tire should shred like that the short distance I drove on it. He said with the small wheelbase - it was possible.

Since there was a nail in it - there is no warranty on it. So at this point, I have to buy a new tire for the new car before I even make my first car payment!! We specifically asked the salesman about the price of the tires because we had read that the tires were hard to find and very expensive. He told us they were not hard to get and that they were only about $80. Well, actually the cheapest Paul found them was $120 AND they are on national backorder with no delivery date!!

Basically, I can either by four new tires or have mismatched tires! I am more than mad right now!! To specifically ask about that and be told what we were told and already have to be dealing with this is ridiculus. I think tomorrow we will be at the dealership talking to someone about this!

The "great" weekend is apparantly following me into the week! When it rains....

Greatest Husband on Earth!!

This week will be our 11 year anniversary of being together. We have always remembered and recognized the day, but my Sweetie got sneaky this year. I was trying to get on his email to see about Isaac's birthday present we ordered off ebay. His password had changed. He periodically changes them, just for security, so I figured that is why it had changed.

He also changes it when he is being sneaky!! This is never a BAD sneaky - usually an "I ordered something and the confirmation was sent to my email" type of sneaky (I feel as though I should add that just for clarity!!). I did not think of this at the time!

So, imagine my surprise today when I go check the mail and there was a package in the box. I called Paul and he told me that it came early - it was suppose to come Friday - WITH FLOWERS!! He got me some pajamas (and even thought to take into account my growing stomach!!).

Not only does my great man remember our wedding anniversary - without reminder - he remembers the anniversary of the day we got together! That is just one of the bazillion reasons I still love my high school sweetheart! And as long as he is not sending flowers or gifts to the guy at his office....:)

Love you Sweetie!!!

Sometimes You Should Just Stay Home...

Unfortunately, you don't get a warning as to when that should be. Last night we went to our Sunday Schools fall fellowship/hayride. I was not sure where I was going so I followed some friends. About the time we were exiting, the car started sounding loud, but did not drive funny. Because we were not in the best part of town (and did not know where we were going for sure), I did not want to pull over. I knew we did not have far to go, so I just kept driving.

When I get there, I open my door and an overwhelming smell of burning rubber takes over us. The boys started yelling "something stinks!!" MY TIRE IS SMOKING!!! The driver side rear tire was completely flat. I get the boys unloaded and on the playground (minus Isaac who can't go on the playground). One of the guys in my class came over to change the tire for me (remember - my husband is camping!!).

We (as in HE) gets the tire off, with Isaac helping by holding onto to lugnuts, etc., They had asked me what I ran over or hit and I told them nothing. He looks at the tire and said it must have just lost all of its pressure because he could not find anything in the tire. Then he laid the tire down to put the spare on. I looked down and noticed three holes (one huge one and a couple of small ones) in different places on the inside of the tire. The guy started looking at it and apparantly it was a defective tire because all the way around it is really soft (where the holes appeared).

So he finished changing the tire, then checked my other three to make sure I would make it home. My spare is so attractive!! The donut tire had a bright yellow wheel on it that I swear glows in the dark. Everytime I looked at the car in the dark - all you could see was the yellow wheel.

So...later that evening we are finishing up eating. Isaac needed to potty. So I went to take him potty and left Bryce, still eating, with some friends that are sitting by us. On my way back I stopped to talk to someone. I look up while talking to check on Bryce and see him surrounded by people. When I finally get a glimpse of him, his face was purple and he is being grabbed over the table to be given the heimlich. He was CHOKING!! I go running over there about the time he starts to breath again. Luckily for him we had LOTS of nurses and a soon-to-be dr there, who was much more help than a frantic mother would be!!

So after we took a hayride, we got followed home (at 55 mph). We made it home without anymore blowouts or choking. Monday morning, as soon as I drop Caleb off at school, I am going to the dealership to have them put four new tires on because I am now scared to drive on those tires!! I will take some pics of the tire today so you can see the damage!

Too Much Blues Clues

or something!!! Bryce found a Tonka activity book that has firetrucks and construction trucks on the cover. He keeps telling me that he needs to jump into the book so he can drive the firetruck. He tried every way possible to get himself into the picture on the book, and was very upset when he couldn't!!!

I Love You - Oh Wait...

Last night we went to get groceries and get some food for Paul to take on his camping trip (which he is going to freeze his patooty off!!!). Right as we pulled in to the store parking lot, Paul's phone rang. It was the other guy from Paul's office that organized the camping trip (Paul and this guy organized the trip for anyone at the office that wanted to go) that was calling to finalize a few plans.

So we are walking through Walmart and Paul is finishing up the phone call. I hear "I love you - oh wait wrong person!" Apparantly the other guy had said "I will see you in the morning." Paul said he was looking at me and is just so used to saying "I love you" that it just came out.

I am not sure that I like him being so used to saying I love you to me on the phone that he says it to anyone. However, every time I think about him saying that to a guy from work and seeing the look on his face when he said it and trying to cover himself - I just die laughing.

Lucky for him - I think the other guy hung up before Paul said it!!!!

Back to Children's!

I have to take Isaac back to the plastic surgery clinic at Children's this afternoon. His bandage is starting to come off. I called the clinic this morning to see what we needed to do because the dr told us not to change the bandage.

She called, and just barely got the drs nurse before they went into surgery. The nurse said that the spot is pretty small and they dermabonded it, so they are not "too" concerned, but to be safe they wanted to change the bandage. They don't get done with surgeries until 2:00. She told me to get there early and she would make sure we were the first ones in a room so I could get back to get Caleb from school.

I don't know what he is doing when he is sleeping but the past two mornings the bandage has come undone a little more than the day before. The good news is that he has not had any pain medication since yesterday morning. He has not complained of pain at all since we left the hospital, but I kept him on pain killers just to be safe. He keeps telling me it doesn't hurt at all. He is such a big boy and handling everything so well!

I won't say he is not milking it at all - he is doing great at that. He thinks everytime we go somewhere he should get to pick out a toy. He thinks he should get to do whatever he wants - even if it means taking something away from his brother!

I must also add that Caleb has done a fairly good job helping Isaac out - without being asked. When he sees Isaac struggling to get in his seat at the table or can't get his seatbelt on in the car - Caleb usually offers to help. I think I made him feel pretty guilty for what he did to Isaac before his surgery!! THAT'S WHAT HE GETS!!!

To Whoever Complained:

I am pretty sure I know who left the comment, but I did not have internet at the hospital and spent all day there. That is my excuse for today, I will find an excuse for the rest of the days another day (maybe the insane schedule my family has!!!). I will post some pictures we took at the hospital today when Paul sends them to me from his phone!

Big Brothers...

Tuesday morning when Caleb was getting ready for school I hear "Isaac, don't forget tomorrow you have to spend the day at the hospital." I went in and, again, told Caleb not to mention the surgery because we did not want him to be nervous about it. Last night when I sent the boys to bed, apparantly Caleb decided to tell Isaac everything that was going to happen.

This morning Isaac gets up and tells me how the dr is going to cut his hand open with a knife and remove his spot. Since Paul and I had not told him that - not that way - I asked where he got that from and he said Caleb told him last night. He then started crying. I finally got him calmed down and ready to go.

I told Caleb I was going to take him with us so the dr could cut open his head and remove the meanness from him. He was not fond of that idea for some reason!!

He was okay until we got in pre-op. He went back and forth from crying to laughing so he wouldn't cry. They gave him some "goofy juice" that was suppose to help with seperation anxiety when they took him back. HE GOT GOOFY (ier than he already was!). He was cracking us up!

When we picked Caleb up this evening I told him I thought he should have to wait on Isaac hand and foot the next two weeks because of how petrified he made his brother. At this point, I will be surprised if I ever get him back to a dr!!

That is what brothers are for...right?

Bye-Bye Pokeydot!

All day when people ask Isaac what happened to his hand this is the story he gave:
"I went to the doctor and he cut off my pokeydot and then he wrapped my hand with this bandage and put it in this thing (the sling)."

I never heard anyone refer to it as a pokey dot so I am not sure where that came from, but I thought it was a very cute description of what happened!

Surgery

Isaac's surgery went well. Recovery - not so great!! It wasn't horrible - just long and hard. Surgery took about 30 minutes and then it was another 30+ minutes before we went back to see him in recovery. He was obviously in considerable pain. He started getting pretty restless so the nurse asked if he wanted to sit in my lap. She started giving him morphine in his IV, but had a hard time managing the pain. Isaac did great in communicating that he was in pain ( the 1-10 scale does not work very well on a 4 year old!!). When we asked where it hurt he always pointed to the exact spot they did the surgery.

He kept burping so I kept asking him if his stomach was bothering him. He would tell me no, but we would soon find out that it probably was. His burping turned into him throwing up orange popsicle and a little bit of apple juice - on Mommy's white shirt!! A small price to pay when your child just had surgery and is in severe pain!!! We figured out that since they put a breathing tube down his throat during the surgery, he had probably gotten air in his stomach (hence the burping and throwing up).

After he threw up and got the maximum amount of morphine he was allowed, he calmed down. The pain seemed to be under control and we got him to hold down apple juice and a little popsicle. They moved him from recovery to 2nd recovery (which is just a private room without constant nurse supervision). After some more apple juice and about an hour they took his IV out and unhooked all of his wires and let him go home.

They put some light dressing on his hand and told us to keep his hand dry and clean. By clean - that means don't let him get ANY dirt in it. He is suppose to keep the dressing on for a week and a half until we have our followup visit. Let me remind you - HE IS A 4 YEAR OLD BOY!! They don't stay clean easily!!! That means he is home from school for the next 2 weeks. If his hand gets infected it would be VERY BAD!! To be safe we are keeping him home. His arm also has to be in a sling for the next couple of weeks as well. On top of all of that - they put his IV in his foot. They apparantly tried his ankle first and failed, so it ended up on the top of his foot. So, he finally put a shoe on this evening and wore it for a while and then complained that his foot was hurting. I guess he will have one hand in a sling and one foot without a shoe!! His foot is pretty purple already!

It will be a LONG couple of weeks of recovery with limited activity which will be hard for a 4 year old for sure!!

How Sweet!

The last several days Bryce has randomly been asking to give Elizabeth a hug and kiss. Then he kisses and hugs my belly. I sure hope we have a girl because all of the kids keep calling her Elizabeth. I have tried, especially lately, to say girl or boy or make it clear that we do not know for sure the sex of the baby yet!

I hope they are as excited AFTER the baby comes as they seem to be now!

Or Maybe Not

So the last post I bragged about what great young men the boys had acted like when we worked at the food pantry. I may need to take that back for Bryce. Yesterday Paul and I were laying in bed relaxing after getting back from taking Isaac to the dr. Isaac was playing with my hair. Bryce walked up behind me and before I knew what he was doing put his hand up my shirt and popped my bra.

I was so shocked I did not know what to do and I have no idea where he learned to do that. He is already a sneaky little boy - we will have to watch him for sure!!

Such Great Young Men

Tonight the boys acted like young men. We worked at our churches food pantry or pantry store as Bryce calls it. Tonight was preperation night so that Saturday we can hand the food out. When we got there we had to open cases and count out 80 cans of each vegetable, 80 boxes of macaroni and cheese, cereal, etc. Seperate out potatoes. You get the picture!

This food pantry is in an old house. After the food is all seperated out and lined up, the men line up with boxes. The kids all line up at each of the different foods and drop one in each box. Isaac and Bryce added peanut butter and beans to each of the box (until too many kids were trying to put the same thing in and the boxes were ending up with several of each thing!!). Caleb, though, spent the ENTIRE time we were there carrying boxes. He got to work with his Sunday School teacher and worked the entire time - even when most of the other kids were playing. Then he lined up and had his box filled and carried it out the back door, put the box in a car and then circled around to the front door to start all over again.

It was so neat to see him so excited about helping people he has never met. Saturday morning we will be getting up early so that we can hand the food out to the people in our community that need the help. I think this is an awesome outreach that the church has and I think it is even more awesome that they ENCOURAGE us to bring our kids, even though it would probably be quicker without them there.

THEN HE ATE TOMATOES!!! What a night!

Bryce Eats Green!!

Not only is Bryce eating guacomole - which is green and unusual - he is getting upset about having to share it with Caleb (which is who it was bought for). I guess the key is you have to let Bryce help make it then he thinks it is the best thing on earth.

I should just let you go on believing that I stood in my kitchen and made guacamole, but I didn't. We buy this stuff that is in a bag in a plastic container. You just cut open the bag and squeeze the guacamole into the plastic container.

So I guess Bryce will have to be responsible for cooking the vegetables at night so that maybe, just maybe, he will eat some too!!!

Come On People!!

Make some guesses in the baby pool!!! Just make a guess - you don't have to be exactly right, but lets see who can GUESS the closest!!

Teen Night

Tonight was completely awesome. Our church is having a "revival" and tonight was the last night. It was also teen night. The entire sanctuary was full of teenagers. There were a few people sitting in folding chairs in the back. We don't exactly have a tiny sanctuary either!

I got goosebumps seeing the enthusiasm in these kids while we were singing. It was amazing how into it they got and seeing them raising their hands and singing to Jesus.

The invitation really got me though. They had several adults down at the alter as encouragement - someone for the kids to go to. The number of teens that went to the alter just to pray was amazing. There were teens kneeling in the aisles because the alter was full. How awesome to see God work in these young peoples lives.

It is kinda strange too. I vividly remember being one of those young people. It is strange to be "all grown up" now and to see things through and "adults" eyes. I hope that we can raise our children to be proud to be a christian and to not be afraid to show it!

Baby Pool

Okay - I started a pool online. If you go to http://www.expectnet.com/game.php you can make your guess for the babies gender, birthday, weight and length. I just thought it would be fun to see guesses and see who "wins". I guess I will have to find a prize for the winner!

The game name is Sweetpeaslittlepea. If you enter that where they ask for the game name it should take you directly to my game. Then you just make your guesses and wait to see what happens!

GOOD LUCK!

Fun Facts About the Baby

These are some fun facts I got off a webpage with the approximate due date.

Birthstone: Diamond (Innocence)
Astrological Sign: Taurus
Flower: Daisy or Sweet Pea (Yellow, red or colorless)
This is pretty funny because, of course, these are also Paul's facts and we did not know that SweetPea was his flower before that became my nickname!

This time next year the baby will be 28 weeks old
The baby will start kindergarten in 2012, be old enough to drive a car in 2023, finish high school in 2025 and graduate college with class of 2030 (give or take a year)

Bryce's Seperation!!

Bryce has begun to throw a fit when I drop him off for MDO or sunday school. I don't know what has gotten into him. When he is home he asks when he gets to go to "big boy school" but when I take him - he screams and won't let go of me.

This week, with revival, Isaac has been in the same class with him in the evenings at church. He does not throw a fit then. He also is in love with the girl that has been taking care of them. Her name is Ashley, and he talks about her ALL the time. He asks for her ALL the time. I am ready to ask her to move in with us!!!

I feel bad when I drop him off though. I feel bad for the teacher and I feel bad as a mother having to walk away to him screaming every time. I can't let him win though. I know that if, just once, let him leave with me while he is throwing one of these fits, I will never be able to leave him ANYWHERE he does not want to stay!

Bible Caleb and Caleb

Our church is having a "revival" this week. Tonight the speaker was speaking of Caleb in the Bible. As soon as he said what his topic was I knew it would be a long service with Caleb sitting next to me.

Everytime the speaker said the name Caleb, Caleb began to clap or say "Yay, Caleb!" Everyone around us that knew his name commented on how cute it was, but in my humble opinion it quickly got old. See, when the topic of a sermon is Caleb...chances are you are going to hear the name Caleb a lot!!

Isn't this the boy that told me I could not name our daughter Elizabeth because someone on tv has that name and our little girl would get confused by that? Who is the confused one here?

When the speaker started talking about how when Caleb was 85 years old when he wandered the wilderness because God told him too. Caleb's mouth dropped when he heard that Caleb was 85 (come on - he thinks Daddy and I are REALLY old now).

I finally had to give him some paper and let him draw, hoping that he would not hear the name Caleb quite as much. It did not work. He drew, but he still listened. On top of that he drew a picture of Caleb and Bible Caleb and said that one day he would be Bible Caleb.

I hope one day he is a man of such integrity that Bible Caleb had!!

Hope this post was not too confusing with all of the Caleb's in it!!

Dr's Appointment

Went for my 4 week checkup today. We got a strong heartbeat and everything seems to be where it is supposed to be. I am 12 weeks and 1 day. While he was listening for the heartbeat he asked me what questions I had for him. "Am I having a girl?"

"We can't tell that yet." he said with a chuckle.

"I know, but that is the only question I have for you."

So...he said that my next visit in 4 weeks will be too soon to find out the sex of the baby. The visit after that he is going to schedule early so that we don't have to wait 2 more months to find out.

It is so neat to watch Bryce when he hears the heartbeat of the baby. He gets such excitement over his face and quits talking. I can't wait to the kids with the baby!

Catfish DInner

Last night our church served a catfish dinner to kick off a revival. Bryce got several pieces of catfish, some french fries and some bread. He ate for about 45 minutes, but did not eat much of the catfish. Daddy asked him why he wasn't eating the catfish and Bryce's response "mine was better than this" (referring to the catfish he cooked a few weeks ago!!

Already an ego about his cooking!!!

Learning To Say Elizabeth

Isaac and Bryce are having a hard time saying Elizabeth. When I ask Bryce to try and say it he says something like "dado." Don't know where that came from, but he consistently responds with that.

So, I asked if they wanted to have a nickname for her that would be easier than Elizabeth. Bryce, again, responds with "dado" and Isaac says "Superdog." Sorry Isaac, we are not calling our sister "Superdog!!"

Caleb says we will just call her "Princess." Won't that be fitting I am sure - IF we have a girl!!

The Boys and Baby Names

This morning when we were eating breakfast I asked the boys what they thought about Elizabeth Grace. Caleb said that we already had a cousin named Elizabeth Grace. I told him Elizabeth was my middle name and there was no one else in our family with that name or Grace. He then reminded me that the cats name is Grace (which, yes I did not think about again!).

He then told me that when Elizabeth is watching tv she would get confused because the name Elizabeth was in cartoons (the only one I know of is Emily Elizabeth from Clifford).

Isaac said no, her name was Ava and Bryce agreed. I guess their Mama has brainwashed them! So now I am frequently asking and reminding them of the name. They argue every time saying they want Ava (which let me remind you they did not want when I wanted it!!)

It is kind of funny to hear Isaac and Bryce try and say Elizabeth though. It was a hard name for my older siblings to say too. That is how I became Meggie Lilbit!! She will have to be Little Lilbit!

Blog of the Day

I just found out that my post about our baby name yesterday was named blog of the day. I did not even know anyone was reading other than my family and the occasional passerby.

Mom called me and asked if I had gotten her comment from last night. I said no and she asked if I even knew that I had the blog of the day. I got on and read the comments from the post and sure enough...

Such excitement! If you want to see it go to the comments on my last post and click on the link.

Baby Name

Well, I think we have found a girl name we agree on!!! Of course there is plenty of time to change it again!

I got the okay to use Ava because the guy at Paul's office that was going to name his daughter Ava decided not too. I still really like Ava, but I really like this other name too.

Elizabeth Grace. Paul has really wanted to use Elizabeth somewhere, which is my middle name. I was unsure about it until he told me those names put together today while we were standing in line at Walmart.

I have really wanted Grace as a middle name. I know - that is our cats name. It is also the name of a very special church. I was a charter member at this church. Paul and I got married in this church and we were members until we moved from Texas to Arkansas (for over 10 years)! Not to mention that this is the first church that the boys ever went too!!

So...I think....if we have a girl...Elizabeth Grace will be her name.

Now - it is time to start searching for a boys name. The odds....you know!

Here's An Idea!!

Caleb has been getting into what looks like poison ivy. We are assuming this is happening at school because their playground is covered in trees and shade, which is great in the heat but also where poison ivy likes to grow!

He won't quit scratching and has several on his face that are getting infected. We have been getting onto him all week about it. It is bothering him so bad HE asked his teacher to get onto him when she sees him scratching.

Today, while grocery shopping he says "Mom, I have an idea of how to get me to quit scratching."

"What?

"Why don't ya'll pay me when I don't scratch?"

Hmmmm!!??

Better idea: Why don't you pay me when you DO scratch!!??

Bryce came in first thing this morning and took the baby sonogram picture. He said "there's baba Ava (making it rhyme). THat is what he has called the baby all morning now!

Cartoon Crushes

At dinner tonight I called the baby Ava. Paul told me her name was not Ava and then asked the boys what the babies name was. Everyone answered Ava!! He asked if everyone liked that name and everyone but Caleb said yes. Caleb said he wanted her name to be Fern.

I finally asked (although I was pretty sure I already knew the answer) where he got the name Fern. He said Charlottes Web. I asked if he had a crush on Fern from Charlottes Web and he turned red and would not respond.

Paul was giving him a bad time about having a crush on a cartoon character when he admitted that he had a crush on Jessica from Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Paul just said she looks as good as he remembers her!!

Caleb's Parent/Teacher Conference

We had Caleb's first parent/teacher conference of 2nd grade today. His grades range from a 92 to a 100 for the semester. The only problem his teacher ever has from him is his talking!! Big surprise!

They take an independent reading level test at the beginning of each year. He scored a 3.4 (which means he is reading at a 3rd grade 4 months in level). He had a zone of 2.8-3.9 (which means he can read and comprehend books on an end of second grade to end of 3rd grade level). The teacher said that really there are many 5th and 6th grade level books that he is reading and comprehending.

His teacher went on and on about how great a student he is and how much she loved having him and what great manners he has. That is always nice to hear, even if he does not always follow that over at home!

I asked her how the GT program worked. She said basically the teachers nominate the students they feel show leadership, hard work and have constant good grades. She said she would be nominating him and with how quizzical he is and with his grades she thinks he will do great in the program.

Halloween Costumes

Daddy finally talked Bryce in to dressing up as something other than a fireman for Halloween. I was impressed because I have tried several times and could not get him to change his mind. I finally gave up and decided that we would just save the money of getting a new costume. He now is going to be a cowboy. He found a really cute costume that he liked, and he is going to carry a stick horse with him.

Caleb wants to be a Tyrannasaurus Rex. Unfortunately, I don't have the energy to be creative enough to make that for him and can't find one already made. His next request was to be a robot. This would be easier to make, I just don't know if I have it in me right now! So at this point we don't know what he is going to be.

Isaac is back and forth about being a doctor. Every time you ask he changes his mind. Right now he is saying he is going to be a monster. Maybe when he goes and has surgery next week and he sees the scrubs that Children's hospital sells he will decide for sure if that is what he wants to be.

Trip To the Zoo

We took the boys to the zoo on Saturday for a quick trip. Bryce saw a bald eagle and asked what it was. After we told him he spent the rest of the day calling it a botabeetle. HE thought he was saying it correctly and could not understand why we kept laughing at him!

Lindsay:

The book we are looking at baby names in is broken up in lots of categories. One of the categories is Wild Child Names. We saw your name (spelling and all) Lindsay. Guess what the next name was? Renee!!!

Go figure!

Baby Names

I am a very sad person!! You will soon realize why.

So, Saturday evening we had Parents Night Out. Paul and I went and had dinner ALONE (WOW!!!). After dinner I asked Paul where we were going and he said I would see. He pulled in to Barnes and Noble. He said that we were going in and looking at baby names and we were not leaving until I agreed that if we have a girl we were not going to name her Ava (no matter how much I love it). So, we get a book and I am naming some really BAD names!!

We are going through ALL of these names and at the same time Paul and I said Mia. Shortly after we saw Mia, we saw Grace. I told Paul that I really liked Ava Grace. I also like Mia Grace (although I love Ava better!).

Here is the sad part. That was Saturday. Last night, I brought up the middle name Grace again and asked Paul if he really liked it. He said yes - then reminded me WE HAVE A CAT NAMED GRACE!!!! How stupid am I that it took me 24 hours to realize I had chose the cats name!!!

So the girl names that we had "agreed" to discuss (I say we are still naming her Ava) were Mia and Chloe. I asked the boys Sunday morning which name the boys liked best: Ava, Mia or Chloe, thinking that since we have been calling the baby Ava, they would go with Ava. Bryce and Isaac both said Chloe. Caleb said Fern. I told him that was not an option and he chose Chloe. It backfired!! And what is worse, Paul heard it all and now keeps reminding me the boys chose Chloe!

So... we still don't have a name that we agree on, although until not too long ago we were agreed on Ava!

At this point we may do Hagaleenamagaleenalukasteenawalkadenahokapokaloka!!!

We looked at boy names a little and Paul wants to name our boy Kent (HMMM could that be Clark Kent AKA Superman??)

Hurricane Isaac

This is a picture of Hurricane Isaac. Although this hurricane is in the Atlantic Ocean about to hit Canada, we are feeling the effects of it here in Arkansas. Oh, wait, maybe that is our own Hurricane Isaac that we are feeling the effect of!! Especially since his school has been closed since last Wednesday! If anyone is looking for Hurricane Bryce - I have him as well whenever you would like him back!!!!

We Are Exhausted!!

Yesterday we had a busy day! We walked 1000 miles of the Mississippi River and Paul paddled all the way around the Gulf of Mexico 3 times in a paddle boat. Seriously!!!

Okay well maybe it was just a replica of it all, but that does not sound quite as exciting!

We went to the Mud Island Riverwalk and Museum in Memphis. You take a Monorail (a train car that hangs from the bottom of a bridge). This takes you from the parking lot over to where the Mud Island Park is at.








When we got to the other side we went to the museum first. This is a very well planned museum. It was really cool! You get to get on a portion of an old steamboat and an old civil war boat complete with cannons and everything. It was neat the way it was set up and they even had it to where when you look over the side of the boat there was water. It was real enough that the boys were a little scared!

After the museum we went to the Riverwalk. This is very awesome. It is a complete replica of 1000 miles of the Mississippi River. It shows where is widens and narrows and turns and even the where the depths change. Throughout the 5 block walk they have it broken up by states and have maps of major cities on the river built into the sidewalk.


The boys spent several hours wading through the Mississippi River replica. They walked the entire 5 blocks while have "speed boat" races (they were each picking out leaves and racing them down the river), stopped to watch tugboats on the "real" Mississippi River, and whatever else their imaginations told them to do!

At the end of the river was a replica of the Gulf of Mexico. The guys got a paddle boat and went and paddled around the gulf! It is a 1 acre enclosure that holds 1.3 million gallons of water. There is also a little area that has a huge fountain. The boys went and waded around in the water around the fountain.

Unfortunately we did not think to take a camera so we did not get any pictures. We will be going back, with extra clothes for the boys (we spent the entire time trying to keep their clothes dry for the trip home) and a camera. It was well worth the $20 we spent to go to have a whole day of entertainment and WARN OUT BOYS when we left!

All of the pictures I used were from the Mud Island River Park website.