The Hedges Family

Cruising Part 5 - Cozumel (the dry part & back at the ship)

2012-01-27T09:46:00.000-07:00

After drying off, we decided to check out some ruins. We had a map with the names of the ruins & locations, but no other information. We waved down a taxista & asked him which ruins he's recommend. Of the 2 sites closest to us he said that San Gervasio was best, there was lots to see, about an hour's worth. He asked a fairly steep price to take us there, wait, then bring us back to the city, so we were going to keep looking, but then he said that he'd take us for less & if we liked his service & agreed with his advice that we could give him a tip (which would put him back to the original amount). Knowing that he'd have to work to earn it, we went along & he didn't disappoint. He answered our questions as we drove along, he was right about the ruins, & he even stayed more than an hour since we did the full hike & saw everything. I'd so recommend going there - beautiful trails, lots of ruins (with plaques so you don't have to pay for the guide if you don't want to), & huge lizards!

Me, getting my archaeology nerd on!

"Small house" thought to be a place of offerings.

The manicured trails around the main areas, but if you want to get to the good stuff, you've got to go off road!

The pre-hispanic entrance to San Gervasio. The little alter in the middle was for giving offerings to the Goddess Ixchel. The ancient road still stretches out from there in both directions.

Josh: "What does pozo mean again?" Me: "Isn't that the word for well?" Booyah! I was right:

See what I mean about the lizards? They were everywhere! We joked that since the Mayans believed in reincarnation, it's them guarding their ruins from stupid tourists.

Big house structure which used to be entirely stuccoed with red, blue & ocher colors. It's first construction was just as a platform, but later its alter was covered with this house:

More jungle hiking! So many lizards, but at least no mosquitoes this time. : )

Murcielagos - the home of the overlord & considered the most important structure since it was the center of the complex in ancient times:

In front of the overlord's house was this "Round House." All of its levels and alter were round making it rather mysterious:

This one's called the Alamo - a couple of San Antonians couldn't pass it by. It used to have a roof like an inverted staircase & the interior was stuccoed & painted with swirls, designs, even hand prints.

Josh at the palace - the columns marked the structure as special - it had a flat, wooden roof & a throne in its original state.

Me in the Ossuary... didn't read the plaque first, might not have jumped in that little hole if I'd known about the human remains that had been all over that place.

On our last hike we found this awesome cave:

Look at this! This is when my archaeology nerd exploded:

Most likely the sanctuary of Ixchel, said to have no interior space. Is decorated with carved human faces, and look, some of the original paint! Eeee! (In our day it was also decorated with lizards sunning themselves.)

Back stairwell:

Josh's tummy was done after that, so our taxi driver took us to Cafe Denis (sounds like Denny's in a Spanish accent, so we were glad to not be there at the end of our drive) for some yummy Mexican food that was a little secluded from more tourists. Felt like the places we went on our honeymoon.

The view from the patio leading over to their mercado area:

Josh's sampler platter lunch - oh boy!

So we did the real mercado, but from our geocaching that morning we also knew there was a MEGA (grocery store) not far away. We loved going there on our honeymoon - it's like a mall & grocery store combined - so we went for old times sake. There we saw something truly curious, an escalator without stairs, just a ramp, so people can go up & down with grocery carts.

That was also where we got Caleb's souvenir. Throughout the trip I got some jewelry, we got a sundress for Elise, magnets, & little gifts for Tamara's kids, but finding something for Caleb was near impossible. He likes what he knows & we didn't want more clutter in our house or something Elise could choke on. In the grocery store it hit me - cereal! Mexican chocolate cereal to be exact. Caleb LOVES his present & eats it every morning. He knows it came from Mexico, so he can't have more when it's gone, but it was the most appreciated gift we got by far!

It was time to head back to the ship. Our cruise director announced that all of us needed to get up on deck when we launched so we could prove to the Allure of the Seas that while they're the biggest, our ship had the best passengers:

On the count of 3 we shouted "You're on the wrong boat!" Then we broke into line dances. It was SO fun! Like being in a flash mob with no practice. The other passengers cheered for us & some even danced along - oh yeah, we were on the right ship.

Leaving beautiful Cozumel:

That night was the last formal night - I wore my "cruise dress" that cost the entirety of my Kohl's gift card from Christmas, but it was worth it to feel so swishy:

I know why I'M doing the super-model arm pose, but why Josh is doing it...? Hmm... maybe to show off that his belt has no phones on it for once?

On the top floor of the dining room - our trick was to sneak in on that floor then come down the grand staircase & avoid the line on the main floor.

After dinner that night, the entertainment crew threw a 70's dance party on the Promenade:

It was pretty funny, and dancing in the street is a hoot....

Until during the Village People medley our big-fat-pasty-tattooed-British cruise director comes out in a loin cloth & Indian headdress (no pics of that). It was horrifying, but good natured in the moment.

That was a seriously long day - luckily we had another day at sea to relax & pack before heading home. If we'd gone from this one night to Galveston in the morning it would have been so hard.

One post to go!

Cruising Part 4 - Cozumel (the wet half)

2012-01-26T09:57:00.000-07:00

Getting to Cozumel, we saw a tremendous sight. Sure the city is cool, but parked next to us was the current largest-ship on the planet, the Allure of the Seas. When our ship was new, it also held that title for awhile, but this bad boy was longer, taller, and TWICE as wide as our ship. Our cruise director didn't want any of us to have ship envy, so he devised a rather fun plan... but more on that at the end of the day.

In Cozumel, Josh & I really wanted to explore & make the day great for ourselves. There were lots of reviews online about places to go, but we didn't want to get herded around with the other tourists for our last day of adventuring. Our first stop was to go downtown:

Before leaving home, we found a few Geocache locations. We still had the geo-coin that we'd picked up in Ohio & we wanted to hide it some place far away. We found the No-Name bar downtown, a place that looks pretty plain on the front, but then opens up into a gorgeous sea-side patio. Our clue was that the cache box was "hanging in plain sight" which made it pretty easy to find in this rustic mailbox.

While we were there, we met a man, Tim, from Houston. He'd retired & planned to travel the world, but never got past Mexico. We asked him where the best places to snorkel are & he sent us up the road to a place called Playa Azul.

The resort seemed exclusive, but following Tim's instructions, we just walked right through:

We got our own little cabana, for FREE!

And the water looked promising....

There were SO many shells on the beach there that it was kinda uncomfortable to walk:

The snorkeling at Playa Azul was a little disappointing. The wildlife was really neat, but there wasn't much coral or rock formations to see. A taxi driver told us that much of the coral had been ruined due to recent cyclones. Many of the resorts are trying to help it regrow, by putting out coral starters (You'll see some in our other pics).

My favorite fish of the day was a medium size fish with a leopard spot pattern. When I first noticed him he was bright blue like the water, but when he noticed me he sped below some rocks & turned brown & black right before my eyes! I don't think I'd ever seen a fish change color in front of me before. At the next beach we saw another of the same fish, only it was yellow at the time. : )

The resort was nice, but not enough to keep us for the day. We grabbed a taxi & headed for the other beach that the locals talk about, what we thought was "Monivar" in the thick Spanish accents we heard, but what turned out to be:

Money Bar! Ha ha ha.

Here they'd made their own start of a coral reef in a circular pattern. It was a good start, but I'm sure it will be great in another decade or so.

This is one of the coral starters, and look who's inside:

An eel! Eek!

Granola from the ship made us very popular with the locals.

Since the snorkeling had been so devastated, we decided to call it a wrap on the wet stuff & went for a dry adventure next - the ruins of San Gervasio

Cruising Part 3 - You Betta Belize it!

2012-01-25T22:49:00.000-07:00

Belize is an interesting place - far more Caribbean that our other stops. The people mostly speak English with heavy accents rather than Spanish, the races are incredibly diverse yet they don't really segregate socially (this description coming from our tour guides who were from the 2 predominate races, I wish I could remember the names now). The crime rate is very low, school is mandatory but only till age 14, exporting to America is their big business (we saw the factory for Red Lobster's lobsters & the orange groves for Minute Maid) and with a short drive you can go through 4 distinct ecosystems (coastal, savannah, pine groves, & jungle).

Belize also has such a shallow coast that some parts of the country are actually below sea level. Driving by the cemeteries there you can see that the ground is raised up & the mausoleums rise up a foot or two above the ground level to ensure that they get a proper 6 feet burial without being soaked with ocean water. Because of this, the cruise boats can't come ashore, so for our second excursion we had to take a little boat over to the dock.

Josh had been to Belize before & loved his cave tubing excursion. We did some research & found a company that did the same tour for less than half the price of the cruise ship (cha-ching!). Coming out from the pier we just had to walk across the street & we were at the location for X-treme tours.

They had a little dart board, so we played a few games - Josh got a perfect Bull's Eye! We're talking dead-center, like he'd stuck it there by hand.

I was terrible, but look, even a blind squirrel finds a nut sometimes & I also got an outter-circle Bull's Eye. : )

On the bus ride! We were lucky, we had AC & the guides were really entertaining. In true Latin American form we stopped half way at the store of the driver's friend so we could use the can & buy stuff. I wandered the aisles in amazement as I saw my Costco brand soy milk right next to Abuelita's chocolate & Spanish cookies. You better Belize it!

Our bus brought us to the drop off point where we get our equipment. I loved being in the jungle again.

To get to the cave entrance you have to take a hike through the jungle, the start of the hike is crossing the river that we're going to float. (Here is where we find the true reason for the price difference - see Josh's tube compared to the yellow one behind? They had back rests & mesh booty-guards. Sissies.)

The rock formations & lush jungle were so beautiful. I might have gone a little crazy with the pics, but I won't make you look at all of them.

I know it wasn't Bolivia, but it was close enough to feel homey. And the mosquitoes were bad enough to feel like a greenie all over again.

This is the river entrance, you climb down & under these rocks...

...to the entrance here. You used to have to jump in the water, but now they've rigged up a little platform to drop off of.

"Fall back just like a coconut," the guide told me. I was not a very graceful coconut & got plenty soaked falling back. I bet the coconut wouldn't have gotten water up her nose.

Looking back to the cave entrance:

The secret jungle & staircase that descended the cave... we really wished we could have gone exploring over there.... doesn't it look like something awesome should be over there? Like the fountain of youth, a grail, a secret garden, something?

Floating the river was SO peaceful. Taking a little rest in the tube would have been easy if it had been just a tad warmer... no sunshine = chilly cave.

Lovely right? But this is actually Mayan Hell. Not hell like the Christian idea of hell, but rather the passage way to afterlife or next like. They had 9 stages of hell & the caves played a great roll in that belief. When these were excavated, some skeletons & ceremonial things were found.

The joke of the tour is that if anyone ever tells you to go to hell, you can say that you've already been there, done that, & it was surprisingly cold.

We traveled through 2 caves & when they end you get to float the rest of the way in the glorious sunshine & jungle. The view was amazing, I wish the camera could do it justice.

When the tour was over the guides were like, "Oh yeah, & you can jump off that if you want." They didn't have to tell Josh twice"

Here's the name of the place.... uh... well at least we have the words written here, even if I don't have a clue how to pronounce them.

We had lunch there with our group & got back to the pier in time for a little shopping in the tiendas. I wish I could have gotten a pic of the market, but a HUGE rainstorm came through & the camera stayed stored. We did find some great knick knacks though (and for a good price since people barter better in Spanish).

Next stop Cozumel!

Cruising Part 2 - Honduras!

2012-01-24T20:24:00.001-07:00

Waking up in Honduras is one of the best experiences you can have on a cruise. After days of seeing only blue in every direction, waking up to tall green peaks is breath-taking:

Roatan is an island - where our ship docked was on the side facing the main land & you could see the mountains there too since the day was so clear. It was marvelous!

We'd done some research & found where some of the best snorkeling was, but we wanted to venture out ourselves instead of taking a tour where they'd push you around & babysit you. So we talked with some people on the docks & got set up in a little bar with lounges & changing rooms that was right in the heart of all of it - the Mayan Princess

We got loaded into a van with another couple, Heidi & Justin (who became some of our best cruise buds) and set out to cross the island through some amazing mountain passes. (By amazing I mean "might be terrifying for a girl who hadn't lived in Bolivia.")

When we got to the resort, our guide did indeed want to babysit us. UM no! The 4 of us ditched him quick with a plan to meet at 3 & took a walk to the farthest end of the beach. We set our stuff by these neat rock formations, borrowed a waterproof bag from our new friends for the most important stuff, & hit the water!

Ready to snorkel!

Here are some of the pics we got with Josh's coworker's waterproof camera. It was SO great having it:

This is the place of our great disaster/miracle. We'd swam WAY out from the beach when we realized that the waterproof bag we'd borrowed was GONE! It floated & somewhere along our way it floated right out of Josh's pocket. IDs, cruise passes, cash, all gone.

We didn't panic, we didn't fight, I said a silent, but passionate prayer in my mind & luckily a local guy in a kayak came by at that moment. He'd heard Josh tell me what had happened & he came to help. Josh described the bag & offered the young man $20 to find it. He paddled away & was back in only minutes with our bag! We were so grateful that we actually gave him $25.

Our faces & feet were getting sore, so we came to shore & found our friends sunning themselves on the shore.... we also found this fellow doing likewise on a rock.

The poor guy was trying to eat a rotten banana peel, so Josh baited him with some fresh banana chunks. The lizard was so happy that he came right down to us. The chunks were a little big for his mouth though & watching him grip them with his slimy little tongue was pretty gross/awesome.

Heidi then thought it would be a good idea to climb up on those rocks herself. I can't imagine why since they were super sharp & she was just wearing a swimming suit, but when she got up there her very expressive face turned to a big surprised "O" as she found 2 huge conch shells. She gave one to us & it made it all the way back home. Caleb loves it.

Back down the beach by our Mayan Princess there were jet skis to rent... Josh & I have a hard time saying no to that since it brings back the memories of our honeymoon. We even talked the price down 10 bucks. : )

Let's hit it!

Look at that blue! That was the water under us, can you believe it? It makes me so happy just looking at the pic:

Looking back from our jet ski.

I got to drive too! Someday when we're rich maybe we'll rent 2 so we don't have to nearly capsize every time we want to switch drivers. Josh & I couldn't agree on who was the best driver... (but it was me, I chased down the nearby boats & we flew in their wakes).

Almost time to head back to the ship, I think I'll soak up a little Mayan Princess atmosphere while I wait:

That hammock called to me:

And I was happy to oblige it. If only I could wrap up every day like that!

On the way home we talked more with Heidi & Justin who didn't have a fun dinner group. We started to describe our dinner friends & it turns out that they new each of us couples through different activities - ping pong with the Texans (Mike & Paloma), trivia with the Canadians (Shaeney & Blaine)! It was a small ship world. We told them that we had room & invited them to join our dinner group. They did some checking around & joined us that night. : )

Next stop Belize!

Cruising Part 1

2012-01-24T11:09:00.000-07:00

We're back from the cruise! Adjusting to life on shore is tricky - why isn't my bed made? where are my fresh towels? where's dinner? I'M making dinner??? I ate it, where are my 3 desserts?

We had a ball on this trip & it lived up to the nearly 5 years we've been planning to go on it. We had adventures every day, saw new places, met great people, & relaxed better than we have since our honeymoon. This trip was long, so I'm gonna break it down in a little time line & eventually get through it all.

When leaving Galveston, you're kind of far away from the fun places in the Caribbean, so you have 2 days at sea in order to get to your ports. But have no fear of doing this, the ship is non-stop fun too (if you want it to be).

Getting on our ship - the Mariner of the Seas.

We were pretty freaking excited.

What a view huh? This is looking down on the Royal Promenade & even further below to the art gallery area. That big art installation is also a working compass, so you could see the boat's direction & turns when you walked by.

Our *cough cough* "state room." Give me a break, even just calling it a cabin would have been nice enough. It was small but smart - room enough for all your junk, quiet & dark enough for some great sleeping.

While we waited for our fellow passengers (over-excited us were nearly the first on the ship... we were only beaten by a few dozen elderly couples that raced right to the buffet). These are the adult pools:

Up on the pool deck just outside the gym (we spent a lot of time there, we even won a free health assessment with a very rock-solid trainer from Sweden - basically we can look like him just by buying his detox package for $900 each & sitting in a bath 3 times a week. We decided to remain fat.)

Pool deck!

Sports deck with mini-golf, sport court, in-line skating, rock wall, etc.

Oh the dining room... it was amazing! 3 floors with a Sound of Music theme. The statues on the grand staircase were of Maria & Captain confessing their love & the mural behind them is the children singing goodnight.

Little old me got to eat in this room every single day. It sure can make you feel special.

But the best was that we had amazing dinner companions & the best waitress to ever live, Irene from the Philippines. (More on them later.)

Seeing our first show!

That night they held a huge parade in the Promenade - the costumes, lights, music were all amazing!

The next morning we decided to upgrade to the royal suite...

Nah, just kidding. This is the fun of wearing BYU clothes on vacations. The lady staying in this room was also LDS, and noticed Josh's shirt. We talked for awhile then she asked us if we'd like to have a tour. Um, YES! She had a walk in closet, two balconies, a baby grand piano, 2 bathrooms, man it was sweet!

Our first 2 days were WINDY! Out on the bow the waves sprayed high & you could lean back into the wind without falling over.

(I also got some USAA shout outs with my shirt - most memorable was the wife of the "ogre" on our boat.)

The first formal night - we decided not to do pro pics, but trusting elderly strangers to get a good pic wasn't a wise move. Here's the best one we got:

Our towel dog! Don't worry, this is the last towel animal pic I will display, I just had to do it since I've been looking at everyone else's cliche towel-animal pics for years.

The next day we thought we'd hit up Johnny Rockets - it's a fun place with nostalgic food & entertaining servers.

But OH what a gut bomb! We were full forever after that meal! The menu boasted Tillamook cheese - I couldn't believe my luck - my local, favorite cheese right there in the middle of the ocean! But when my burger came, they couldn't fool me. That was a plastic, American single for sure. I was mortified to be so dupped, but also that so many people would now think of glorious Tillamook cheese as fake crap. So sad. This sundae helped ease the pain.

After lunch we did a ship wide video scavenger hunt. We used their flip cameras, so we don't have the footage, but we did lots of silly things - I took a nap on the helipad & got engaged to a worker that was swabbing the deck, I "strangled the dragon" while doing my best Crocodile Hunter imitation, & then Josh was a human statue, crammed himself into a shuffle board closet, & did leap frog over me in a public stairwell. It was a hoot, but we didn't win. :(

The very first day people told us that we had to see the ice show - it was "the best show." Josh & I wanted to do a little of everything, so we went to line up for tickets. We went for our showing, not knowing what to expect, and LOVED it!

They made an Ice Under the Big Top Circus, with all of the acts you'd expect for that theme - clowns, romance, a lion tamer, snake charmer & acrobats. The skaters were amazing (especially since they did it all in a rocking boat). We loved it so much in fact, that we went back a second time in the stand-by line & got even better seats.

The really jaw dropping act was their "Guest Star" a man named Wolfgang from Germany who did all kinds of gymnastics & tricks inside of a circle:

This isn't him falling, this is him making the circle roll fast around like a quarter that had been rolling on its side.

(On the last night, I ran into him face-to-face on a stairwell... as big a fan as I am, that dude is intimidating... I'm pretty sure my eyes bugged out, my jaw dropped, & I froze till he passed.)

The show that night was:

The singers & dancers brought paintings to life, covering lots of genres of music. At one part they made a framed pic ripple like water. I don't know how, but it was awesome!

Wow that's a lot & we haven't even gotten anywhere yet! Next post Honduras!

Adios!

2012-01-13T22:16:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a little break from the blog-o-sphere next week. These places are calling my name.

Lots of stories to share in a week!

Update on Yesterday's Post

2012-01-12T21:37:00.000-07:00

So yesterday I wrote about Caleb playing outside without his pants on. The high was 75, & it was a fun way to play for a dude that's still figuring out how to put on clothes.

Today as I walked downstairs with Elise I looked out that same glass door & saw naked bum cheeks flashing back! Eeek! The big difference was that today's high was only 45 degrees, and well, ya, NAKED! The funny thing was that he was still bundled in his winter coat & shark hat on top. : )

There was another story about yesterday that I forgot to share & I was kicking myself in bed for having left it out, so here goes. Elise was destroying my tupperware cabinet when Josh walked through the door. She'd just squatted down to grab a lid when she heard his voice & snapped straight up. She rushed as fast as she can rush to the end of the kitchen & proclaimed, "Da da" (not a word she says much) as he picked her up. It was just too cute. This little girl LOVES her Daddy.

A January I can get on board with

2012-01-11T19:56:00.000-07:00

No pants, sunshine, diggin'... that's January in Texas (the best kind of January - the holidays are past, the snuggly White Christmas songs are through, you know you'd like to be warm already).

Elise was in the mix too - dipping her bink in the sand. Ick!

Eventually I did talk him into pants.

So, Caleb's been learning about computers from Daddy lately. He's taken to them like a nerd to, well computers. I had to laugh at this so-little-sister moment tonight:

This could be Elise or me.... Little Sis sees Big Bro doing something cool & really wants to be apart of it (even if it is too big for her). The Golden Moments of Little Sis's childhood are when Big Bro lets her in on the moment or helps her understand. Most moments are not like that & neither was this. Just seconds after I snapped the pic, Caleb elbowed Elise in the chest & sent her stumbling back.

I should mention that computer privileges are earned by good behavior & are limited with a timer. Tonight when the timer went off Caleb didn't want to quit his game (it's Dora the Explorer).

Me: Caleb, you earn time on the computer. If you don't listen when it's time to quit then you won't get to play anymore.

Caleb: (Clicks the X, clicks 'Yes' to quit) Bye Dora.

What a good choice, all on his own - but I couldn't believe how Caleb navigated out of that game! I didn't teach him that, normally I just close it for him. Crazy! I guess he's got a little Dad in him after all.

Forget the Princess & the Pea, we're talking a toddler & the boulder

2012-01-10T21:32:00.000-07:00

Especially considering the fact that this pic wasn't a step, but rather a happy girl dancy-skip. Elise LOVES to be outside.

The kids & I went to the park for a little while today. The wind was up so we didn't stay too long, but long enough for an adventure or two:

I think with each baby there's a certain body part that you just adore as their Mom. For Elise, it's her fingers. I'm just obsessed with them. Even as a baby she was so delicate & feminine with how she used her fingers - stretching out one at a time so inquisitively, but not overbearing.

Squat low...

...then pop up! Good exercise for us ladies with junk in the trunk. : )

We can't forget that Caleb was there too:

The theme of the day for Caleb was climb up, then slide down belly style:

It was a hoot! On the big slide I had to be there to catch him though or he'd have gone flying off!

In the time it takes for a 3 year old to come down a slide (what is that, like 0.7 seconds?) Elise disappeared under the equipment. I caught Caleb, then went around to find the lady. When I met up with her by the stairs her cheeks were popping & even her eyes were bulging. When I asked her what she was up to she smiled, but not the gummy-fang smile we love... it was a rock solid smile. THIS rock to be specific:

Look at the size of that thing! It filled her whole mouth! Lucky thing too, since it was too big to be swallowed. So there she is - our Toddler & the Boulder.

Playtime from Day to Day - Fort, Rainbows, & a Family Picnic

2012-01-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

It amazes me how much can change day to day when you stay at home with the kids. Yesterday I left the kids to their own devices while I worked on dinner downstairs - they were playing just fine & all seemed well. Things got a little too quite, so when I came up to investigate Caleb locked himself & Elise in my bathroom, with the tub running & everything out of the cabinets. Let me tell you, that was an unpleasant experience for him. Later, he told me that he wanted to clean my tub for me, which melted my heart a little but still.... grumble grumble.

Today the kids again were left to their own devices, though I was much closer at hand, just putting some clothes away. To my delight I heard all kinds of sweet sounds coming from Caleb's room so I went to investigate.

I just love when they play together & love on each other.

While Elise slept, Caleb & I discovered something rather special - rainbows on my carpet!

"Mom, you have rainbow pants!"
"Caleb, you have rainbow HANDS!" Whoaaaa.

This was amazing & all body parts eventually got passed through the rainbow.

I explained to Caleb how light coming through my window was bouncing off my mirror & the angle created the rainbows on the floor. To help him understand I blocked the window with the curtain making the light & rainbows disappear. Then I blocked the mirror with my body & the rainbows disappeared again even though there was still light on the floor. WHOA! Caleb was pretty amazed & tried it himself.

A physicist in the making. Though this is as far as my tutelage of him will go on that subject.

I noticed that today was supposed to get to the mid 70's, so I texted Josh about doing something tonight. He suggested a picnic at our park - perfect! I made a gourmet meal (that I would have made anyway, but still fun to say it was special) & when Dad got home we were off to the park to catch the last few rays of sun for the day.

While Dad readies the picnic, Caleb is caught swiping a roll:

A healthy play on risotto - brown rice cooked with balsamic & broth, then made creamy with super soft onions, garlic, & butternut squash, but still with a little bite from portabella mushrooms, shredded chicken, & peas... plus spinach & dried cranberries for good measure. YUM!

Caleb sat with us for 2 seconds & then was gone playing... next time we picnic we need a cage for him & Elise! We were chasing them down so much & don't know if we got more than one bite at a time.

As soon as the sun dropped, Texas remembered that it's winter & the air got a bit of a chill. Daddy tried to keep Elise warm which she loved.

Oh that fang smile.... she has another top tooth growing, but it's gonna be awhile till it catches up with the fangs. He he, oh well.

The 11 Month Lady Baby!

2012-01-04T22:12:00.000-07:00

I didn't realize until about mid-day that today is Elise's 11 month b-day! So instead of some glamor shot I got these pics:

To celebrate the day, Elise slept in. To my surprise she did it with a blanket around her head:

I can't tell you how smelly all of that trapped baby breath in that blanket was. FooWee! She's her Daddy's daughter.

This must have been why - her lips were open wide on the mattress.

She's been having a hard time with sleeping lately. She still could use 2 naps, but she's trying hard to transition to a one nap big girl. I try not to fight what she needs & watch for her sleepy-girl prompts, but she fights it... it broke my heart having to wake her up when she was clearly so tired, but I had to get to a Presidency meeting. :(

While there, she might have said car... add that to wiggle/giggle, mama, & deedee (the sound she shrieks at Josh when she's mad at him) & you've got quite an impressive vocabulary for only 11 months.

Now, we're just counting down the month we have left to go until we can cut the formula from our grocery budget (hooray) & let her try a piece of my honey oat bread that she's been begging for. : )

Other things of the day - while Elise napped, I got out one of Caleb's Christmas presents - a dry erase easel - to play a game. I drew parking spots with numbers & had Caleb park his cars in the numbers I called out. He did a fine job, but got tired of the game & wanted to draw. I gave him on of the letter pages & encouraged him to trace the letters. He did a great job for a first timer!

After he finished, I'd move the paper so he could see his work. Not bad! Some of those letters are quite legible. We were both pretty proud & Caleb kept going till he'd tried all of the letters.

Something new Caleb's been doing is saying thank you in a cheesy voice (it kinda sounds like he's "doing" T-Bone from Clifford). This morning Caleb went potty, & came out with his pants around his ankles. I told him "good job" for going potty, & he crinkled up his face & mouth & said his cheesy thank you looking like a Donald Trump impersonator. That, plus his pants down, was just too funny to forget about! (So sorry Future Caleb if you're reading this.)

Total Side Note:
I'm a bit of an obsessive blogger, but this is the first time I've ever kept a journal/log so faithfully. It's because I love all of these fun/funny moments with my babies & I'd hate to forget any of them. Today my mind's been wandering to our upcoming cruise. Until now I've been thinking about how we'll be out of contact for everyone else, but today I realized I'll be out of contact with my babies! They'll have a whole week of funny sayings, & trying new things that I won't be apart of! I know they'll be loved & cared for with my cousin & her family, there are no worries there, it just breaks my heart to think of missing that time with them & all of the experiences they'll have.

The Unexpected Zoo Outting, Chapstick, & "Let's Say 'Junk' Instead"

2012-01-04T15:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I got a message from our neighbor - let's go to the zoo! They have a pass that gets guests in with them for free, so how can you turn down such an offer? It took some quick wrangling & a hat for Mom since the shower thing would have to wait & off we went for fun & adventure.

This was my first time doing a big excursion with the 2 kids & without Dad, but they were amazing! Elise was happy in the stroller the whole time & Caleb raced through the whole zoo without ever whining to be carried. In fact, he mostly raced ahead too much & us girls were left to chase his dust.

There's something about these lions right in the front gate of the zoo - children instinctively know to go climb on them & have their pictures taken no matter how many times they've been there before.

Amber & I were so amazed at our big boys - this fence isn't on the ground, they scaled a rock wall to get this view.

Such a happy girl for the whole trip. I was SO thankful for that.

3 little monkeys checking out the monkeys.

This monkey had big eyebrows that he wiggled at us just like Daddy does. Caleb & I had a good giggle about that. Josh wasn't quite as amused when I told him about it later.

That's most of our group - just missing one toddler & the babies.

Caleb's favorite part of the zoo was the structure - he got SO excited for every bridge (there's a waterfall up there too).

Elise & Caleb looking at the waterfall waiting for everyone else to catch up since they actually looked at the animals & didn't just run ahead to the bridge (what weirdos).

One of the elephants was taking a dirt bath, it was quite impressive.

"Hi elephant, I'm Caleb! My name's Caleb!" He introduced himself that way to many of the animals. It was pretty cute.

Snack time! Nom nom.

The shark hat got a lot of laughs at the zoo. We saw lots of people pointing & smiling at Caleb.

The boys testing their wing-spans. Not as big as the condor (but even Mom isn't that big either).

-------------
Now for some funny Caleb things. When Bryan & I were small, he loved to snack on our mom's chapstick (Avon Strawberry to be precise). He'd roll it up, bite it off & encouraged me to do the same. I think I took a little scrape once, but was repulsed & left him to him waxy habit.

It turns out that all these years my mom assumed it was me. I didn't finally clear my name until after Caleb was born.

But what's funny to me is how life comes full circle. Yesterday while driving to the zoo, I pulled out my handy chapstick & found a very obvious tooth mark in the dead center of the stick. Must be something about mischievous little blond boys.

Now for the Funny Thing Caleb Said of the week: While weeding our yard together as a family, Josh & I talked about our upcoming cruise. I asked him what he wanted to do on the ship for the first 2 days while we're waiting to get to a port - swim, explore, go to the shows, "Oh & we'll have to work out so I can eat all that crap." Caleb heard that phrase and said, "I like crap! I like to eat crap. Mmmm."

HA! Oh dear, we'll have to watch that... maybe say 'junk' next time.

New Year's Eve, The Icelandic Edition Plus Updates

2012-01-01T20:13:00.000-07:00

New Year's can be kind of a drag when you have little kids. You don't want to mess up their schedule & be grumpy for days, but you don't want to feel like you're stuck at home with nothing fun to look forward to. I've had days when I've felt pretty alone as a SAHM & I don't like that feeling - I sure wouldn't want anyone else to feel that way on one of the biggest days of the year & that's how the idea hatched... have a full-blow NYE party, but for an earlier time zone. Have all the fun & still get the kids to bed at a decent hour!

I talked to Josh & he was on board. We counted ahead & picked Iceland for our time zone place of choice. We invited bunches of people with little kids & started planning away...

I had pie shells that I never got around to using at Christmas, so the dessert of convenience was pie, but I changed them to be clocks for kicks & giggles. 7 o'clock for our countdown:

Midnight (obviously) & 5:30 for the party's start time:

The rest of my spread (some guests brought even more) it was eating heaven! I'm pretty proud of my little gourmet sandwiches - baguette, fig preserves, caramelized onion, rotisserie chicken, then a slab of muenster cheese all melted together.

We had a dragon coloring contest (2012 is the year of the dragon):

Make-your-own noise makers with little bottles & jelly beans:

A ball drop with tubes & cups (Caleb LOVED this!):

A photo booth for everyone to get a picture keepsake:

We did pin-the-tail on the year too, but I don't think I got a pic of it. Too bad, I thought it was pretty cute.

Here's Josh's masterpiece - a balloon drop (this is version 3.0, mine came apart in the night after we rigged it up, the store-bought ones stink, then Josh saved the day with this camping tarp):

We also played a game of Hide the Clock. I stashed a ticking clock behind a couch & challenged the kids to find it - it wasn't easy with all that party noise, but some kids found it.

Party time!

We ended up with a really big crowd, but it was SO much fun to have our house so full. It seemed like all of the kids found something they really liked & the adults were happy to visit.

Photo Booth! Mwahahaha:

Swensons!

Ottleys

Browns! (Minus Paul IV who was racing Caleb at this moment I think)

Hansens!

Baxters!

(Quoting Becca about this face here, "It was a last minute decision!") he he

Lisonbees!

The Souths had their own camera, so I don't have a pic of them to share, but they were a big part of our crowd, 5 kids, 2 grown ups, & the kids really rocked the games. : )

The countdown came & the kids were getting super excited. They all decided to lay down right under the crack... you can see for yourselves what happens:

It was a headache to rig up, but SO WORTH it!

Once the balloon craziness was over, we were out to the driveway for some fireworks. No pics of that though - Josh was lighting things off & I was snuggling Elise who didn't mind the fireworks, but jumped a lot with each big boom.

Some folks went home, some friends stayed to chat till a late, but reasonable bedtime, then Josh & I snuggled under a blankie on our front porch to watch the rest of San Antonio light up when Texas finally caught up to Iceland. It might not have been our most romantic New Year's together, but we agreed it was the best party we've thrown as a family... maybe it'll even become a tradition until our kids get old enough for the real thing.

UPDATES:

Today was Caleb's first official day as a Sunbeam! We had pep talks all week for this, about sitting in his chair & listening to the teacher, & I even had him go to a corner and jump around to get his wiggles out before heading into Sharing Time. He did a great job! He was still Caleb, being loud & jumping around a bit, but it wasn't nearly as bad as it could have been. All of us - parents & Primary leaders - think these new Sunbeams are going to be just fine with a little time to learn the ropes.

On the way to church, so excited!

We have 2 Sunbeam classes of 4 kids each, that's Caleb with his teacher Ashley Hughes.

I wasn't around much that hour since I was taking care of Primary rolls for last year & the new year, but I was there for when the classes left, Caleb was squeaking, "Treat, treat, treat" & Jared was saying, "Where. Are. We. Goooo-ing?" ha ha ha.

Now the random things from the week - I love it when the kids play together, Caleb was making the snake bite? kiss? Elise. It made her laugh so hard.

Elise loves to eat with a spoon - not using the spoon, but to have it with her... it adds to her untold messiness.

"Thanks for the plate Mom, but it really isn't necessary."

She's such a busy girl! She walks SO much now, almost equal to her crawling...

"Now what do I do?" We had a quick lesson about backing down.

You're not even 11 months old yet, how can you be so big!? Nope, I won't say you're a toddler yet, you're my lady baby still.

This has been a sweet part of the week, Caleb takes Elise's hand & they walk together all around the house, "We're walking together Mommy!"

Taking it all down - what do you say, The Ghost of Christmas Past or the Ghost of Christmas *Presents*?

He he, chewing celery is the best! Especially with a new tooth popping through this week (top front left for anyone who's keeping track).

Now it's time to play Funny Things Caleb Said this Week! Caleb just told me that this lady bug was his baby & that it had been in his belly this morning:

There was also, "Mom I want butter with bread on it. LOTS of butter."

And today, "Caleb you're overreacting."
"I'm not over weed whacking!"

Well that's it for us. As you can see we just can't figure out how to have fun around here:

An Earth Moving Anniversary

2011-12-30T15:20:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday, Josh & I celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. It's gone so quickly, especially these last 2 years in our house:

Our cruise - the vacation we've been imagining since before getting married - is just a little over 2 weeks away, but we didn't want to completely pass over the day of our anniversary, so we planned for a simple, but SO US date.

We went for a hike! (The 5th anniversary is the wood year, so why not go see some wood?) We found a new park (Eisenhower City Park) that we hadn't been to before & went to find an adventure. Some paths are paved, some are very rocky, so there's lots to do in a rather small patch of wilderness right by Camp Bullis. As we started along we heard a BIG boom and felt a little tremor in the ground (someone must have been blowing up something over there). I thought it was great that the earth moved for our anniversary date.
(I'm adding this video just in case future peoples read this & don't have a clue what I'm referring to, BUT this doesn't date me! It's an oldie, blame my parents that I know it.)

The point of interest for the hikes in the park is a tower that was built by a local birdwatching club.

It's a great view from up there - you can see all the way to downtown, 6 Flags & La Cantera, UTSA, even the tower by our neighborhood.

After hiking we went to a restaurant I've been dying to try - Auden's Kitchen.

The owner is a James Beard nominated chef & I was giddy with anticipation of a Tof Chef-esque dining experience. The service was great, & they treated us to dessert since it was our anniversary, but Josh & I both just kinda shrugged our shoulders about the meal. I really wanted to be wowed by a food that I could never figure how to make at home. The pork chop I got was as hard as a rock (which I can easily do at home), so the star of the plate were the crispy potatoes - they're small, whole potatoes, cooked so the insides are super soft, then maybe fried somehow to make the skins insanely crisp like a chip. Yummy & fun to eat.

After hiking, I wanted to get a little dolled up for our fun dining experience, so I excused myself to the ladies room & swapped clothes, shoes, & polished up a bit. My favorite part of the night was coming to the table & seeing Josh's eyes pop open as he said, "Wow!"

Woo! I still got it!

Woo! I still got it!

It was a lovely date - having hours to just talk to each other about anything. Make some plans for the new year, reminisce about our 5 years, it was a real pleasure.

There are lots of kid updates too, but maybe I can get to them a bit later. We're throwing a kid's New Year's party tomorrow & I've got lots to do to get ready.

The Christmas Shenanigans - Christmas Day Edition

2011-12-27T11:33:00.000-07:00

Christmas morning came & with church meetings starting at 10:30, Mom & Dad started getting ready early before the kids woke up (I say this to explain why I'm sporting a done-'do with pajamas in the pictures).

Dad readied the troops with a diaper change & potty break while Mom manned the camera downstairs:

The video jumps at the end to after we've finished with the tree presents - I wanted my parents to see Caleb's reaction to their sand table, since we couldn't wrap it. I think it was still a success. : )

Shots of the morning:

Santa's toy for Elise was a big hit:

Water bottles for me & a squinty camera face from Elise:

A watch for Josh (and the cruise) - it can dive, has settings for races, & looks great on this Tough Mudder:

Watching Elise open a present is boring when you can be driving TRAINS!

Sunglasses for commuting & the cruise - double duty present:

For my runner - a knee brace for his patella tendon:

An Excavator! Caleb loves this (and Elise likes the jingle ball rubble that came with it). Thanks G&G Hedges!

Pretty baby:

An activity ball for Elise, it plays music & rolls itself - such fun! (and it has an on-off switch, whew!):

Elise raked in the cute clothes & some fun accessories too - I just LOVE this hat.

A Mom-made gift for Dad:

It's a back rub shirt! Put it on & have your kids drive cars all through Hedge-ville complete with an HEB, fire station, park, hospital & more!

Christmas cereal! When I was a kid, our parents would take us to the store & let us pick out a box of whatever cereal we wanted for Christmas morning. We felt like we were getting a treat & mom didn't have to stress about cooking. The tradition continues & Caleb chose chocolate Captain Crunch (what a shocker for this chocoholic):

The path of destruction:

After that it was time for church. We dressed the kids up & raced to be on time. The Christmas Program was super sweet though both the kids were a little nuts for the whole thing. While the Primary children sang their song, I talked to Caleb about being a Primary kid next week & how he'd get to learn wonderful songs like that.

Caleb seemed mystified & walked out of our pew to the aisle (I assumed to get a good look at the kids). When the song ended, & it was dead silent in the chapel, Caleb pointed up to the stand and *yelled* "Are you OK?!" It seemed like every face on our side of the chapel turned to stare & giggle at Caleb. I tried to motion for Caleb to come back to me, but he was really concerned, "Well, are they ok?" More snickers from the crowd. It was funny & didn't seem to upset anyone, but I wonder what about that had Caleb so concerned?

Back home & back to more fun! When Josh set up the table Christmas Eve, I threw in some buried treasure for Caleb to find - some red stones, beads, & shells. Finding them with his tools & diggers has been great fun.

When the little hands turned to popsicles It was time to set up another present - the Thomas fort from G&G Hedges:

It may be huge, but it folds down small & is a hoot for all of us:

(Elise sporting a new Christmas outfit)

Everyone's in the Thomas fort together!

But what about mom? There I go:

Wow, what a recap! Christmas was wonderful. Thank you to everyone who sent presents, who called, or webcammed. We had a wonderful time & made lots of great memories. Caleb's already counting down to next year.

The Christmas Shenanigans - Christmas Eve Edition

2011-12-26T20:21:00.000-07:00

We've had a wonderful Christmas & we hope you have too! Let's start with Christmas Eve. With all of the packages coming from all over the country, we had an abundance of delightful gifts (THANK YOU!) and boxes. So, before Santa could arrive in his sleigh, Dad & the kids crafted their own:

(Do you see this face on Elise? It's her "I can tell a flash is coming" scrunched face. As I look through all the Christmas pics, she's like that in almost all of them!)

Christmas Eve we held our annual party for all of us without family in the area. This year we did a taco night with Minute to Win It Christmas games - it was a HOOT!

While we were hauling over chairs & food from our house, Elise made a new friend. Elise just loved cuddling up with Dell & stayed there for a long time.

But she eventually decided to do some roaming & walking.

At last year's party, these two girlies were just uncomfortable bumps in their Mommy's belly - now look what big girls!

Hazel is wondering, "What's the big joke Elise?"

Such cutie pies - we might have gone a little overboard taking their pictures. : )

Gingerman Drop: trying to get a cookie from your forehead to your mouth without hands. The Ellsworths totally rocked it (Edward was done in 13 seconds!):

I did get it eventually, but it was HARD.

Jared tried too:

Baxters!

Dell & Paul were simultaneously sporting the gingerbread man eye patch, giggle:

Ottleys! (Sorry if the pic's not good Michelle - I can't see that high, I just had to reach & snap):

Our fabulous hosts (I just love Amber's tricky weasel face):

I contributed cinnabon twists to the feast, Caleb seemed to like them... a LOT. We're talking lick-the-plate a lot:

Sometime along the way, Elise turned into a pirate. Who knows why:

Another game we played was blowing Christmas cards so that they hung on the table's edge. Again, Edward totally slaughtered:

I got close a few times, but never got one to stay.

Our little family - Caleb couldn't be bothered to pose because the White Elephant kid grab-a-thon was going on.

When the party died down & we were helping the Hansens clean up & taking our chairs home, Caleb & his buddies had a pillow fight. It was really cute to watch - but note Caleb's waist & his pants:

Yep, they were sliding LOW & came completely off at one point. : )

Christmas Eve was winding down. The kids were nestled all snug in their beds, gifts from Grandparents were assembled, & us parents were dead. I sat in my room & looked at my tree, & feelings of peace came swelling over me.

Basking in the Christmas glow is such a wonderful time at Christmas. Feeling that peace, as well as the anticipation of the fun tomorrow - there's a magic in that feeling that's just as wonderful as flying reindeer & Santa magic for Caleb.

What a stash right?

Each year of our marriage we've gotten a special ornament - this year we got some pink, glittery ballet flats in honor of Elise's first Christmas with us:

Christmas Day to follow!

"We're going to Sea World Christmas!"

2011-12-21T22:46:00.001-07:00

We just LOVE going to Sea World at Christmas time. There's always lots to see & do, and when you live close, you can hit it at the times when there aren't big crowds... like right before a huge rainstorm.

The crew with the lovely Christmas tree at the main gate (Caleb wore his "Shark Boy" hat - it was so appropriate. He told us on the ride there that he was excited to show his hat to the animals):

The boys at the Candy Cane Forest:

The girls too!

Elise's "I can tell a flash is coming" face:

Walking the path in the Fanta-Sea:

There were LOTS of animals in this Fanta-Sea - Mrs Claus Dolphin:

And a Texas snow storm (bubbles):

Caleb was SO excited to find another friendly shark:

And he was really excited about the Balooga too (when we took this pic the crowd behind us was ooh-ing and ahh-ing about how cute our kids are, yeah, we know):

Caleb taught the balooga a little stomping dance - I don't know why, but watching the whale play along with Caleb was super cute:

Then there was the Sesame Street Christmas show - Caleb went nuts for it, and sang along with most of the songs - he really likes It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Jingle Bells & Jingle Bell Rock, and he told me that Rudolph is his favorite Reindeer song:

I was holding Elise for the show & couldn't tell how she was reacting, I wanted to get a pic, but if I used the flash I knew she'd squint up, so here's her in-the-dark pic. She was pretty enthralled with the show:

(Wow Josh is handsome:)

We took a break in the action to let the boys climb around in the cargo nets. It had started to rain then, so I took cover with Elise, but that lady did NOT want to be held when there were adventures about, so I put her down by the nets and:

She climbed them! She got up there, about 6 inches off the ground, then she turned and looked at me with a very serious look, turned back to look at the net, then turned the other way to look at me again. I took that to mean, "Ah, Ma? What am I supposed to do now?" I pulled her off and set her down at the bottom & away she went again. What an explorer! A lady standing nearby couldn't believe she's just 10 months old - that's our girl!

Then we took Elise & Caleb on the carousel - it was Elise's first time riding a horse. The rule is that they have to be able to walk in order to ride a horse instead of a bench... Josh is counting 8 steps in a row to mean she's a "walker" & put her on:

I couldn't get pics when the horse was moving (rules, rules), but Elise loved it & smiled all the while.

Tanking up at the Sea Lion Show:

The little otter was singing Christmas songs, he's so talented.

The grand finale - the stage is decorated & lit, ready for Santa:

But this is who came out the chimney!

But don't worry, the sea lions still got their gifts - Sea World style:

By this time the rain had really picked up, so we had to retreat to the car. BUT that might mean a Sea World Christmas Adventure Part 2 may be coming this weekend!

Caroling & Catch Up

2011-12-15T20:32:00.000-07:00

Growing up we always went caroling for Christmas. We'd sing for our friends, for the leaders of the ward or stake & we always ended in Grandma & Grandpa Dunn's neighborhood. It was something that at the time didn't seem that special or got frustrating during our pre-performance practice sessions ("Kimberly, you're changing keys!" "I don't know what that means so shut it, la la la LA!"), but now looking back, it was actually very special for our family.

But it wasn't just us, everyone else did it too & the years that my dad was the Bishop or in other leadership positions we'd get dozens of carolers.

So imagine my shock when I grew up & discovered that most people don't carol. Even down here in the south where there's loads of Christians & warm weather to do it in! I want to continue the tradition, even if we aren't the best singers, because as a family we have a blast doing it & all of the people we visited this year looked thrilled to have us.

The goodies this year - chocolate candy cane cookies, cranberry-chocolate-walnut cookies, & egg nog biscotti (oh my gosh, new fav right there!):

My caroling crew:

Some pics from the stop at the Brown's house:

Since we aren't amazing singers, we went for pep over holiness (get in, get it sung, get out) - we sang Jingle Bells and the best part was that Caleb sang it too! He did a great job on the chorus & many people congratulated him on his fine singing.

So, when I went to upload these pics, I found some other old ones that haven't made it on the blog yet... decking the halls with bows of babies, fa la la la la, la la la la:

"Must eat light... nom nom."

Play dough + spaghetti noodles = free time for mom! Thank you pinterest for the idea! Caleb loved this cereal challenge:

Caleb's doing amazing with the potty, & is getting pretty good about getting his undies back on too. Pants have proven trickier this last week.

So now we've labeled the waist the "In" and the leg holes the "Outs" to help Caleb remember which side is for in & which is for out - though watching him put pants on upside down is pretty fun.

Oh, and Elise has 5 teeth now. Another one on the top popped through. Phew! I think that's everything for now. : )

USAA Kid Holiday Party

2011-12-15T15:47:00.001-07:00

On Saturday we went to the USAA Children's Holiday party! Since going last year, it's become one of our favorite family traditions... last year Elise was in my belly for the pic in front of the big poinsettia tree, but not this year (I was pretty giddy about that since all the walking last year brought on some painful & scary contractions at that party).

First stop was meeting Santa. Caleb was SO EXCITED. We had to physically restrain him from knocking down the door (which was made of glass) & running to Santa before his turn:

Do you like Caleb's shirt? I was getting him dressed & I offered him a shirt, but he refused it. I pulled this shirt out & asked him if he'd wear it & he said, "Yeah, Santa will like that shirt." Dress for the job you want - in this case, the Nice List position!

When it was Caleb's turn he RACED to Santa, jumped right up on his lap & started talking about trains. This boy was ready.

Look at that face, not very often that I get a pic of Caleb with a real smile instead of his posey-cheese face. Then we put Elise in the mix & she was happy too (How many moms get a pic of both of their kids looking cute & content on Santa's knee? This is a treasure!):

What do you suppose Elise is thinking in this shot?

"Wow you're old? What's growing out of your chin? Will you bring me some chocolate, Mom says I can't have it yet?"

After Santa it was off to see the sights, play lots of carnival games & see this year's play about a snowman who came to visit Texas.

Ski-ball the easy way. There really isn't any rhyme or reason to the games at this party - give a ticket, the kids can do anything, then they get a prize. It's heaven for a 3 year old since they all make up their own rules to everything anyway. : )

Caleb was actually really good at ring toss!

They had a ginger bread display - we all loved this Sleigh Carrier... like an Aircraft Carrier but for Santa (it was the USAA Robles for our wonderful CEO):

The play! The snowman was mildly terrifying, but it's always fun when it snows in TX!

There weren't enough seats for the show, so Elise & I played in the back & shared a banana. I think we had the most fun of all.

And for MORE Christmas Spirit, we're going caroling TONIGHT! I'm so excited to do this as a family & to surprise our friends.

Elise Talks & Walks - that's a lot of growing up for one day!

2011-12-14T23:04:00.000-07:00

Today Elise & I put Caleb in his room for a nap. Then we stared at each other, as we often do at that time everyday, I talked to her, & to my surprise she talked back.

She's said "Ma ma" before, but what was this new word? This first venture into communication?

Wiggle & giggle.

She says them both & swirls them around. That doesn't seem like the kind of thing you'd expect for a first word EXCEPT that we've seen this kind of thing before in our family.

Caleb's first non-parent word was "E I E I O" from Old McDonald. There's a silly little song that I picked up from Swiper the Fox that goes, "When we wiggle wiggle wiggle, we giggle giggle giggle, so we wiggle wiggle wiggle all around!" I sing that to Elise often to get her smiling or to distract her from crawling away during a diaper change.

I noticed the words at first, but then I noticed that she was saying "wiggle giggle" then squealing like how the song ends.

Like her brother, Elise was singing her first words. I did my best to get some footage to share... there's a lot of jibber jabber here, but hopefully you can hear the wiggles & giggles too.

As if that wasn't enough, Elise took another little first step from me to get to a kitchen cabinet today. When Daddy got home from work though, she got even more impressive:

Kids grow up fast for sure, but this much in ONE DAY? Holy cow! We just couldn't be prouder of our little lady.

A Post wouldn't be a Post without a Calebism of the day:

"Caleb, don't you wish you had some pants on?"
"No Mom, I'm ready to work."

It was warm enough today for pantless gardening, but I still don't see the appeal of it. But when my boy's gotten this good at using the potty, the occasional strange reward is totally worth it. : ) Way to go Caleb!

Winter in Texas

2011-12-09T19:37:00.000-07:00

Winter in Texas is wonderful... while the rest of the country freezes, we stay at a comfortable 65-75 degrees (except for a few stray cold weeks in the Jan/Feb time frame which is sadly when my folks generally come to visit).

But someone got the months confused this week and it got COLD. We're talking plants dying, get the space heaters out, Josh trying to find anything that can scrape a car cold. It was terrible.

We were cooped up all week and the kids & I were getting antsy. Luckily we had a break today - a beautiful sunny afternoon and 67 degrees. We went out in jackets & quickly realized that they wouldn't be needed. That was wonderful!

Park Pictures!

Caleb made it look so fun that us girls had to try the slide too:

Then Elise tried to climb up the slide. It proved difficult:

"Why isn't this working?"

She never gave up.

Caleb tried too & got very close.

See Caleb bum? No diaper bulges there! A trip to the park & no accidents for this big boy. : )

Going down the steps like a dog & cleaning the bark dust off on the way:

Elise got her first experience with bark dust today (but no tasting). I couldn't get over her adorable little hands, how she'd put out just one little finger to curl around the pieces while she investigated their edges & bumps. She's such a sweet little thinker.

Caleb Says & Elise Does

2011-12-08T20:30:00.000-07:00

Some funny things that came out of Caleb today:

Caleb asked for milk at breakfast time. I gave him a small cup of milk, he took a long drink of it then said, "Ahh, that's the stuff," like an alcoholic taking a gulp of 12 year old scotch. I asked him what he'd said to clarify what I'd heard & he looked sheepish, "I said milk is good for me."

When painting Caleb was mixing all of the colors together:
Me: Caleb when you mix all of the colors you just end up with poopy browns.
Caleb: I like poopy browns!

Tonight, stalling to go to bed:

"There are franken-ghostestes (his word for ghosts) on my walls & they go bang bang sometimes."

Side note - Caleb's gone this whole week using the potty! No real accidents either, just one poop during naptime in a pull up. He's amazing, we're so proud!

Here's Elise as you know her:

But here's Elise as we know her:

Something about pacing the couch & tossing herself back onto the squishy parts makes her so happy:

(You can kind of see the edge of one of her top fangs in this picture.)

If they'd just make baby gates for couches I'd never have to take care of her again. Just get her up, put her in the couch pen, take her out for feedings & diapers. As it is I have to sit on the edge of the couch with my arms extended to both sides while she paces back & forth behind me.

The good part is that when my arms get tired I get to flop back and snuggle with this little cutie. It's such fun to have a cuddly baby - Caleb was never a cuddler & now I see why other moms like it so much.

Elise is also a great shopping partner (as long as she's well fed & it's a store with carts):

Caleb's Art & Christmas Decor Idea Plus Cute Times on the Kitchen Floor

2011-12-07T21:18:00.000-07:00

I needed to do some cooking today during Elise's nap, so thinking of something to entertain Caleb I drew a Christmas tree and told him to decorate it any way that he liked. Dude, look at THIS!

Those actually look like ornaments! I was so impressed (the bottom right by the trunk in particular is impressive). Want to know what else is funny? The ornament on the left side (it kind of looks like a bag with string handles) Caleb said was a JC Penny bag. What is with this boy and JC Penny? We took him there once and now he talks about it all.the.time like it was Sea World or something.

Later, when Elise was awake we had other fun times in the kitchen:

"Binkie or jingles, binkie or jingles, how do I choose?"

"It's so hard to decide Mom."

"Whoa, there's pears? Forget this stuff!"

Oh Elise & her pears. So, I often feed Elise lunch on the floor... it's not a dog thing, more like a picnic thing. She loves to touch & eat for herself & if we have a picnic I don't have to clean a big akward tray or worry about her climbing out of her seat. Plus it's just fun to be together....

It's so much fun in fact that big brother joined us with some of his carrots that he'd been "saving for later."

Caleb watched an episode of Clifford today when the dogs were chasing each other's tails. Caleb said that he wanted to chase Elise's tail... Elise liked the attention from big brother, until she got caught (I think it's so funny that I snapped this pic of Caleb pinching Elise's bum, HA!).

Last thing - when binking this way Elise makes some seriously funny noises.... and a revolting amount of drool.

But I still love that little face any way.

Something I want to remember about Elise at this age: When it's time for sleep I carry her to her room and pull her soft snuggle blanket out of the crib and toss it over my shoulder between her and me. She instantly falls over and nuzzles into her blankie and my chest. We hug like that for awhile as I sing to her and let her know it's time for sleep. Every time she does that it makes me feel so special to be her mom.

Our Day of Play

2011-12-06T21:56:00.000-07:00

If you read my post yesterday about what it's like living with my kiddos, well here's some more of the good stuff:

Somewhere Elise discovered a tube. After flipping it around to show how fun it is, Caleb swiped it to use as a telescope.

Then Caleb learned the lesson we've all learned when using a tube telescope - try to remember your depth of field. Smashing the tube into the floor, smashes the tube to your eye. For some reason, Caleb thought that the crocodile could wipe his eye better.

Somehow this inspired Caleb to attach the tube to my eye, making a slide for his hero crocodile.

I tried to be a good sport, but the game didn't last too long - I could only take being stabbed in the eye by a "careful" 3 year old for so long.

One of Elise's favorite places is the laundry room. She especially loves to stand with her face in the dryer. I emptied the clothes out today, with my little helper right there (in the way), but when her time in the laundry room lasted well into my folding clothes time the thought popped in my head, "That girl's eating the dryer lint!" Sure enough when I called to her, this is the innocent little face that popped around the corner.

Lady Lint Beard!

With our laundry chores done, Elise then turned her attention to de-cluttering my tupperware drawer and cluttering my kitchen floor. Oh what a helper!

10 Months & 3 and 1/2

2011-12-05T20:47:00.000-07:00

The beginning of December brings plenty of milestones for our family... what's it like living with a 10 month old and a 3 1/2 year old? Well... let's start with the 10 month old:

Sometimes it's like living with a darling princess:

Sometimes it's like living with a judgemental diva:

"Ew."

"Seriously, I'm so disappointed right now."

Sometimes it's like living with a puppy:

She's going for it, she's thinking about it....

Yep, this teether is literally gnawing my house.

But most times it's living with an adorable go-getter:

Oh she's got the stance... will a step be ensuing?

We just love our Lady Elise. Her smiles, her cuddles, her adventurous spirit, and her giggles. She still is a big music lover, she enjoys dancing, & finally has a favorite book - 10 Friendly Frogs.

Now that she has 4 teeth to be experiencing, her mouth gestures are getting all the more elaborate and funny. Today, while looking in the mirror she started making this sound which was SO funny to me (and her) that I had to record it:

Now how about my 3 1/2 year old. Caleb amazes me everyday. He's pretty much potty training himself and went all day today without any accidents. For a month I talked to him about when his diapers ran out we wouldn't buy more & that he needed to think about using the potty to be clean, etc, but without putting pressure on him to do it NOW. The diapers ran out & suddenly Caleb's recognizing his body's cues & doing a great job. He's so proud of himself, but Mommy & Daddy are pretty darn proud too.

Beyond that I find that Caleb's picking up on social cues & applying his acquired knowledge to new situations more & more. He does simple math in his head and has become SO crafty (which is amazing given the fact that all he ever did with crayons till he was about 3 was throw them). Today was crazy cold, so rather than go outside to play Caleb made:

A Texas snow man (this is the best we can do around here). I cut out the parts, but Caleb glued the snow & he arranged the pieces after I put glue down. He told me, "I put the snowman's nose long ways." I told him it was wonderful, that I probably would have just done it to the side, but that I liked his way even better.

Look at that face! He takes gluing very seriously.

After finishing the snowman, Caleb just had to keep going, so he glued papers to the newspapers we laid down for mess control, it was so funny!

Once this was done, I tried to do a Mommy Project, but Caleb had to help with that too. It was an ornament wreath (no pics though since it's not quite done yet), that I thought would be a little tricky, but Caleb was GREAT at it!

WARNING: Blubbery Mom Moment-
I'm so proud of Caleb, I can't get over how he isn't my baby anymore. Just thinking about him being old enough to go to school & not be with me everyday is enough to get me teary eyed. I hope the world will be good to my boy, he's so dear to me, I hate to think of him getting his heart broken out there, feeling alone, or feeling like he can't be himself in order to be included. He's just so wonderful, & I don't want him to lose that as he grows. I know I can't shelter him forever & I know he can't be innocent forever, I wouldn't want that, I just always want him to shine with his light & not get tainted or scared by all the bad that is out there.

Biggest Date Night of the Year - USAA Christmas Party!

2011-12-04T22:13:00.000-07:00

Last night was the big night, the date we look forward to all year - USAA's Christmas Party!

And this year I wasn't PREGNANT! Ha ha, so much better!

The theme of the year was Viva Las Vegas - walking into the Alamodome they had show girls in glittery gowns, but on stilts so they were like 8 feet tall. Each year the main entryway is decked out a little differently for the theme:

The chandeliers & golden arches were so Vegas, the pics didn't do them justice.

We weren't sure how many people we'd get to see since the party was SO huge, but we found a few friends quickly who had seats open at their table, so we settled down to a wonderful dinner & a heaping pile of desserts. While we ate a group called Zuma Zuma performed. I guess they'd been on America's Got Talent - they were acrobats & dancers with a Jamaican feel.

One of them limboed so low - the pole couldn't have been more than a foot off the ground. It was pretty amazing.

After eating we wandered around the party, ran into several more of Josh's coworkers & friends, saw bits of the side acts, & played Black Jack with a couple who'd been with the company for 36 years, then retired 10 years ago, but still come to the parties. I hope we get signed up for that retirement package!

The big show of the night was Huey Lewis & the News. I LOVE them from Back to the Future, The Power of Love, that song warms my heart so much.... when you're the youngest child (and the only girl) a lot of your childhood is spent wanting to be included with your big brothers. I remember watching Back to the Future with my brothers countless times, listening to that song as the movie opens, & being excited to be included with something that felt "so grown up."

Any-who, as a band their hay day was a long time ago, but they're good sports about it - joking about their age, and really making a show for us. When they weren't singing they made us laugh & encouraged us to sing along too.

We started watching the show from the side, but then looking across the crowd I saw one head sticking up above the others.

Our friends the Ottleys! Paul joked that he's a natural meeting spot.

And it was true - once we got close to them we saw that our Bishop & his wife had found the Ottleys too. : )

Huey said that unless you've been to their concerts before you wouldn't know this, but they actually sing a capella too. They did some old jazzy songs that were amazing - Josh & I never stopped dancing (though in a group that size you don't get to move much).

What a fun night! We're already looking forward to next year.

Kid Updates:

As of this morning Elise has 4 teeth - 2 bottoms & 2 eye teeth. Here are the pics of our tree decorating too:

Turkey Office

2011-12-02T22:48:00.000-07:00

This afternoon while Elise napped Caleb & I laid on the couch. He put a pillow behind my head, then told me to put my legs down because that's how people sleep, then he went to the opposite side of the couch & did the same. He even insisted that my feet go on his belly so that my legs would be straight, until I suggested that my legs go on the outside of our sleepy leg sandwich.

While we laid there looking at each other, Caleb told me everything about everything. I loved to soak up every word. The part that stands out best went something like:

Caleb: "Daddy's office is now a turkey office!"
Me: (Staring at Caleb dumbfounded, then we both break into hysterical giggles.) What do you mean Daddy's office is a turkey office - are Daddy's bosses turkeys?

Caleb: No.
Me: Are the people that work there turkeys?

Caleb: Yes, they are.
Me: What do they do all day in a turkey office?

Caleb: They play ball with their own things (cups hand indicating a ball).
Me: Really? Daddy's at work to play turkey ball?

Caleb: Yes, and the turkeys throw the ball way WAY up there, and all the way across the room until it comes back to them & that's how they win... (the ball-game explanation went on for sometime, it was hilarious. If only Josh could get paid to have such fun all day.)

In other news, we finished decorating the tree tonight... the lower branches are pretty heavy with ornaments that are all grouped together tightly by color. Caleb said he was putting them in their families. You know? With our little scrubby tree it really doesn't look that bad - I'll let Caleb revel in the branches he was "in charge of" rather than be the anal mommy that has to fix it (which I'd planned to do right from the start - no judgement to the redecorators out there).

Happily, I got to dance with Caleb again. : )

I always feel bad when I don't have much to say about Elise, so today's short report on her is that she LOVES pears. I sat down by her to share my pear & as soon as she saw what I was holding, she got up on her knees (like she's going to pray/kneeling) & started bounce/rocking with glee. She kept that up the whole time we ate.... I think I know what one little girl's getting in her stocking!

She sure can keep a beat - I had her on my hip while we watched a song on TV this week and she kicked me in the bum perfect with the rhythm for the whole song. She must be Josh's daughter because she sure didn't get that from me!

Catching Up with Kids - Christmas Dance Party, Teeth, Sayings... ah everything!

2011-12-01T20:53:00.000-07:00

Doing my post about Cincinnati has taken forever, but I don't want to miss anything about the kids, so here's what I can remember in no particular order.

Tonight we put up our Christmas tree... both the kids were SO excited. Elise always likes new things, but Caleb especially is thrilled for this Christmas - he remembers all about Santa, how it's Jesus' birthday, he even remembered that Jesus was born in a stable without any promptings. This kid LOVES Christmas.

Since the activity was so festive, I put on some Christmas music. Jingle Bell Rock came on, which is hands down Caleb's favorite Christmas song, so he started to belt it out at the top of his lungs. I grabbed Josh from the couch so we could dance, but when the kids saw that they wanted to dance too. I grabbed Caleb's hands to dance & showed him how to spin, then I got down on my knees so he could spin me. It was such fun & looking down at that beaming adorable face of my still innocent & not "I'm too cool for this Mom" child my heart just soared.

The next song was slow, but Caleb still wanted to dance, so I scooped him up in my arms & we waltzed for a little while. But for the rest of the night, I kept getting requests, "Mommy, will you dance with me" & each one made my day.

-----
Caleb's funny saying of the day - Elise was making some terrible noise while we played so I said, "Elise, are you a baby or a monster?" Caleb from across the room said, "I don't like monsters. Eek." What was funny was that he said it completely calm - almost bored & monotone, then he just said the word eek, he didn't scream or squeal. I looked at him & he looked at me & we both busted up laughing.
-------

While we were away Elise was hard at work (sadly for Grandma) We came home to find our girl with 3 TEETH instead of the 1 we left her with & a fierce yeast-infection diaper rash. She has two on the bottom & one eye tooth on top (with another set to arrive any moment) & if you were worried about the other thing, it's all over now. What a relief!

Grandma did so well to love on our sad girl, but I think my theory still holds out - screaming makes eyelashes grow:

This pic really doesn't do them justice - they're so long & thick it's amazing she can even open her eyes.

Grandma was a saint - going to the park, missing sleep to help the sore lady baby, what a trooper:

On Grandma's last night, we needed to get some toys for a needy child that Josh had sponsored through work - he was a 4 year old with the same interest in toys that Caleb has. I was a little worried about taking Caleb to buy toys that he liked then not let him have them, so before we walked into the store we talked about other kids who don't have toys & don't get to live with their parents & who need help at Christmas. We told Caleb that it would be his job to find toys to make this other little boy happy & he did a great job! He helped pick everything out, wrap it, and never once tried to swipe a toy or complain. I was SO proud of his Christmas Spirit!

Our Trip to Ohio

2011-12-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

Time to recap our weekend away....

We arrived in Cincinnati late Thanksgiving morning & had a lovely feast waiting for us (courtesy of the Groom's mom). We ate, I played air hockey with our nephew Coen (who only barely beat me), we all played Monkey in the Middle while watching football, & then we played Wii games until we were exhausted.

BUT the rest of the family was arriving that evening & they called to invite us along for dinner at a fabulous restaurant downtown. How could we say no to that? Just outside the restaurant was Cincinnati's Fountain Square which had been converted to an Ice Skating rink for the holidays. Everything was a perfect picture of the holidays & it was extra special to spend it with the family we rarely see.

(After dinner, Josh & I were so full that we went back to the hotel & exercised in their gym till nearly midnight... quite a long day for those of us that got up at 4 am!)

The next day we slept in & slowly got ready (heaven), then went with Coen & Grandpa to the Newport Aquarium which is "on the levee" a really cute entertainment & shopping center right on the Ohio River.

The Spider Crabs are terrifying! Seriously, Coen wouldn't go near the tank until Uncle Josh bribed him with a dollar.

Leave it to these two to find the video game in the aquarium... it's like DDR but with Frogger.

I think my camera is going bad... in indoor lighting everyone gets fake tans:

This was SO cool - a snowy scene was projected on the wall. Stand in front of it, and the snow builds up on your shadow. Once there's enough snow, your shadow becomes:

A Snow man! We all made them, it was so fun (and would be a great idea in TX).

Narrow Jelly Fish tanks make for fun pictures:

They had a huge maze of walk through shark tanks.

And look who else was in with the sharks, SANTA!

They had a scuba Santa show in their theater, this is the show from the back side.

Measuring to see if this shark could eat me... yep, no problem.

Coen too.

See the big tank? This is how you exit, looking down on all the tubes you've walked through.

Then we went to Johnny Rockets for lunch.

Sweet Potato fries & a chocolate-banana-PB shake.... the best we've tasted. We're in so much trouble because there's a Johnny Rocket's on our cruise ship.

Enjoying the river.... and killing time till wedding prep.

"Aunt Kim, will you please take my picture with that?" How could I resist....

I really loved Cincinnati. The look & feel of the city reminds me so much of Portland that I felt right at home there.

Wedding time! The Madison South was such a lovely venue, & we had a great time. I had a video camera for the ceremony, so I don't have too many shots, but maybe I can snag a few of the professional ones when they're ready (oh if only Tiffany would share them... lol).

Josh with all his siblings!

After all the fun of the wedding, we spent a free day having brunch downtown with the fam, then we went exploring. There are lots of sky bridges in Cincinnati.

Us with Fountain Square & the Christmas tree in the background.

In the Hilton we found a Gingerbread skyline, it was SO cool!

Overlook at Eden Park:

A cozy spot that Josh tried to convince me was perfect for making out. I declined, but gave him a few kisses for being so cute.

A real phone booth! Can you believe they still exist? I made Josh get in & pretend to be Superman.

We went Geocaching & got so desperate to find the one we were looking for that both Josh & I looked up this statue's skirt. I can only imagine what the other park people thought.

I found my first Geocache! We always go, but I've never found one, it's always been Josh looking while I wrangle kids or a friend finds it, but this one was all me. The box was behind the word "Water" on the fountain.

That night we went out with the newlyweds. They took us to a great little diner that had made it on the show Drive Thrus, Diners & Dives on the Travel Channel. You can't go to Cincinnati without having the chili, so Josh got his on noodles with a mound of cheese (the true Cin-ci way) & I had mine served up on chips as a taco salad (the true Dunn family way). Yum-O!

Then we went to the Cincinnati zoo for their zoo lights. It was amazing - every area of the zoo was decorated. I can't imagine how long it took to decorate. This is just the walkway to get IN the zoo!

What cool newlyweds to spend their time before the Honeymoon with us - we sure appreciated it!

What an adventure! We had an amazing time.

The Early Bird Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T21:06:00.000-07:00

Since we're flying away Thanksgiving morning, we did our family Thanksgiving today. Our feast was delectible - fluffy rolls, herbed turkey breast, creamy mashed potatoes, cranberry spinach salad... come to think of it, everything (even the salad dressing) was made from scratch except for the stuffing.

Sorry, I hate the stuff, so I cut that one little corner. I did spruce them up with onions & celery.

Oh, and Grandma made pumpkin roll for dessert. We're in heaven since it is one of our favs, but I haven't ever made it since it intimidates me like crazy.

We were seriously in heaven.... but maybe Elise was the most excited:

I remember imagining Elise before she was born, thinking about her being old enough to eat Thanksgiving with us & how this would be the wonderful baby-age that I just love & now I'm here, experiencing it. That image got me through some rough patches when Elise was new & I was healing still. Ah, I'm SO grateful to have made it this far & to have such wonderful children.

Children that I have to leave tomorrrow.... ack! Don't think about it or you'll cry - back to the post Kimberly! Here are the rest of the feasters:

(Do you see that chunk of meat on Caleb's plate? He insisted on having the biggest slice.)

Putting the kids to bed tonight was kind of ceremonious since we're going to miss them so much. Josh & I were putting Caleb to bed & Josh asked if we can sing the missionary song. Caleb said "No no no no no" but he sang it to the tune of the Missionary Song.... So we sang it, both verses, with only the word no. Caleb thought it was hilarious.

Check back next week for all of our Ohio adventures!

The Kid's Last Week - Cute Caleb Sayings, Plus Lots of Pics & Vids!

2011-11-22T07:42:00.001-07:00

Holy cow, so much is happening these days, that I've hardly had a chance to get to the computer, so I'll break everything up into 3 sections. This one is all about us having cute kids, the others are the Warrior Dash & Josh's b-day, so keep looking till you see them all. : )

Caleb learned about hopscotch at the babysitter's last week. He was so excited about it that I bought some chalk & we made our own at home. It turns out that 'hopscotch' is just Caleb's word for all chalk drawings & he loves being out there to doodle, & hop.

Since starting this, he's started drawing his first people which I think is really exciting. They don't really look like people just yet - but he clearly states the parts he's drawing as he goes & I think they're great for a 3 year old. The idea may have stemmed from this face that we made while we were having a back porch picnic:

After we lined up the pieces for a smiley face, Caleb said that it was Caleb, but he was worried that his face didn't have a head. I drew a circle around the face & everything was better.

This one is Elise ("Her head, eyes, & a chin!"):

He also drew Grandma Schmidt, but she & I agreed that it looked like a butt with legs & eyes, so I won't bother posting that one. : )

Last week Grandma Schmidt arrived for her visit with us. Both of the kids are in HEAVEN with someone new to show off for. Caleb always wants her to come outside with him & Elise races across the floor to get her when she comes up or down the stairs.

Let's see if I can remember all of the Caleb sayings I wanted to share....

"Mom you have long arms."
"Thanks for noticing Caleb."
"Monsters have long arms."
Feeling a little worried, "Caleb, is Mommy a monster?"
"No." completely casual, like he'd never made any kind of implication at all.

Today at the store I did something smart to save some money. I was so pumped I said, "Caleb, who's the smartest Mommy ever?"
"Daddy!"

With the chalk, we've been drawing little Twitter birdies outside lately. Caleb loves the birds, & since we were having lunch outside, Caleb scribbled a bunch of red in the bird's mouth & then told me it was a fish because birds like to eat fish.

Also during our lunch date Caleb was telling me about one of the birds we'd drawn, "That birdie has a head, & it wears underwear so it can fly." (Superman birdie maybe?)

Warrior Dash - my first race & an awesome group date

2011-11-22T07:42:00.000-07:00

Awhile ago my friend, Michelle, asked me about doing the Warrior Dash. I told her that I wasn't a runner, but I still kicked the idea around. Races have big price tags, so I mentioned it to Josh & he was thrilled - only he wanted to do it too!

I told Michelle that I was in, but that Josh wanted to come & do it with me (not race off & get a great time like he could on his own). Having Josh with me snowballed the whole idea until we ended up with a group of 3 couples & 2 gals making the Dash.

The race was about 3 miles with about a dozen obstacles as well as muddy ditches & slopes. We climbed up & over walls, ropes, & cars. We slid through mud & down a super tall fireman's pole. It was awesome! Our whole group did every single challenge - even the ones we were scared of (or were too tall for). It was such a blast & we're all hoping the race comes back next year so we can do it again.

The Ottleys brought their waterproof camera along, so we've got LOTS of footage to share. Here are some of my favorite pics, a slideshow with commentary, & even a video of the clips we took as we raced.

How Warriors start a race - those fireballs were hot!

Josh's Birthday!

2011-11-22T07:26:00.000-07:00

Josh's birthday was on a Sunday this year. We agreed that since we were doing the Warrior Dash that weekend, & going out to Tiffanie's wedding next weekend, that we'd skip a birthday party/celebration.

BUT a guy's still got to blow out candles on his big day, so we asked our Dashers & neighbors to join us for a slice of pie that evening.

Who was the most excited? Guess:

It's funny how we said we wouldn't have a party, but when you get that many friends in one house it just kind of becomes a party no matter what you'd said before. We feel so blessed to have such wonderful people to step in as family.

Happy Birthday Handsome!

The Need to Post Look Back on Elise's First Step, Party Time & 6 Flags

2011-11-14T20:22:00.000-07:00

We've been in such a rush around here lately, it's been hard to find the chance to post. The biggest news of our house is that Elise took her FIRST STEP! That doesn't mean she's walking & running around the house yet, but she is getting more & more confident to stand on her own & try to do more physically.

The step happened on Thursday - She was standing at one play table & wanted to reach over to the other. When she judged the distance & saw she couldn't reach, she let go & stumbled one little step over to the other table. It took my breath away - that's my girl! This is her afterwords so you can see the distance she crossed.

That was then, now she's a little standing diva. With help from Daddy she's been standing on her own for awhile, but now she'll let go of you to stand, or even go from bent over to standing all on her own. She generally does this when it means she gets food - man this girl loves chow. Today she and I were having a banana picnic on the floor & between bites she'd hold onto my knee & bounce her bum up & down in a little excited dance, then she'd pop up to full standing when she was ready for the next bite. Such a cutie.

Last week TX had a little cold front come through. I know you'll think we're sissies, but here's how we did a family walk in the chilly 55 degree air:

Our cute Eskimo baby:

"Let's go already, stop taking pictures!"

This weekend was also a time to celebrate! Our buddy Annabelle turned 2, and the party was ON! Can you tell what the theme was:

The party was in the Mickey Mouse Club House! Minnie was the main character for Annabelle, but Mickey was also used for the boys. This seesaw was a big hit with Caleb:

So was the beanbag game!

Caleb was a big fan of the cupcakes - cake with cookies on top? Oh yeah (no smile - mouth full of Oreos):

Annabelle was so sweet - she fed her new doll some frosting with its little pink spoon:

Minnie Pinata!

It proved to be confusing & delightful at the same time:

"Can-DAAAAYYY!" Caleb made out with quite the stash.

After party time, Mom & Dad were off for a little date to 6 Flags! We've always wanted to go since moving here, but I've been too pregnant & we've been too cheap, but last weekend neither was a problem with some free passes! Goliath was our favorite, but Superman was very cool flying down the sides of the quarry walls. Hooray!

My fav pic of us that day:

Josh's fav pic of us that day (I couldn't tell if I'd pushed the shutter button on my phone, whoops!):

Food Views

2011-11-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

This week's been all about the power breakfasts:

Then there's this cutie - "Do you know how hard it is to eat one of these things with just one little tooth?"

She's also started doing a cute cuddle move, where if you lay on the floor, she'll crawl-race to you, duck her head under yours & snuggle. It's too cute.

The 9 Month Check Up & a Duo of Turkeys

2011-11-07T20:21:00.001-07:00

Today was Elise's 9 month check up! This can be summed up in the doctor's own words as she flipped Elise over to check her bum & Elise raced off like a flash across the examination bench giggling to me, "She's awesome."

Her stats for this visit - Height 29 inches (95%tile), Head Circumference - 17 inches (25%tile), Weight 18 lbs 11oz (50%tile).

Otherwise, Elise is on track with her milestones, she's eating great, she's off the reflux meds, & she's just a great little lady. Only one shot today, which she dealt with like a champ, & no complications with her cold either (I was glad to get her ears checked, just in case).

I wanted to take a glam pic, but she had a crusty nose all day... maybe later in the week.

While Elise napped, Caleb & I set to work on some Turkey crafts. I wanted to make a TP roll turkey using Caleb's hand prints for feathers, but when some of the delicate work came up, Caleb needed a distraction so I made a hand turkey for him to paint. Caleb was SO thrilled to paint.... but the turkey got a little lost.

(Tongue out - the sign of a true artist... or Grandpa Dunn trying to write legibly)

Here's our proud display which I'm calling A Duo of Turkey (like they'd say on the fancy cooking shows that I watch religiously):

Oh, and I can't forget the Caleb observation of the day - we watched Clifford & a baby was crying. The mom was trying to console the little baby, but he was really sad. Caleb watching the scene unfold said, "He needs I am a Child of God." Caleb was right - it works to calm our babies down!

Here's another almost first that I'm so excited about - Caleb was pleasant dinner company tonight! He ate his dinner without drama, we chatted, & played with Elise. It was such a blessing on a night when Josh was at school & dinner is usually a battle. I think the trick was that earlier in the day I was debating what to make, so I showed both recipes to Caleb and let him pick, then at night I reminded him that this was the food that he'd picked so he needed to eat it happily.

I'll have to start trying that more often!

Views from the Week - Super Girl Undies & Building Lessons

2011-11-06T19:50:00.000-07:00

My head's been in such a sleep fog this week that I haven't blogged much, but I do have a few pics & stories to share from the week, so here goes:

Elise is super wiggly when you change her. She just doesn't want to be pinned down when she could be exploring. Well one thing led to another this week and somehow she ended up sporting....

Super Girl onesie undies. It was a bit silly, but I kind of liked it too.

She had one big explorer set back this week when she found that she didn't fit in the space between the couch & the wall.

Poor Baby! She tried & tried. Going in, getting stuck, backing out, crying, then trying again. I think she's learned to stay out now, but she sure was determined to try every angle first.

Being stuck in the house sick, kids start getting inventive about play. Once again we've proven that an empty box really is the best toy. Caleb got a cool new place mat this week (but the picture is of him using the box as a car ramp):

Both kids have been crazy for soup cans too - Elise pushes them around & sucks on the edges (eww) & Caleb builds. Yesterday we had a little lesson on the geometry of pyramids. He loved it & would have built a pyramid to the roof if I'd let him (& if we'd had enough cans).

"Dem-o-lish-in" time!

Last thing - tonight I was helping Caleb finish up dinner & he invented a game when we gently bump heads together then we say "Love you." Melt my heart, I like that game. : )

Here's hoping for a healthier & more exciting week!

A Quick Post of 2 Firsts & Elise's In & Out Day!

2011-11-04T22:32:00.000-06:00

Today is Elise's 9 month birthday. Since she spent the day covered in snot, with droopy sick eyes, & sleeping, I'm going to save her glamor shot & stats for when she's feeling better. I will say though, that I'm thrilled to be at this place - 9 months in, 9 months out, I love getting to this part past the pregnancy. I feel like my old self, she's an open book to me now, I know all her tricks, & every minute spent with her just bursts with her own special personality.

Even though this is Elise's big day - my 2 "first" stories are about Caleb. The first first (which we are THRILLED about) was today at lunch when Caleb just stopped what he was doing, said he felt like he needed to poop on the potty, then went and did in fact poop a truck load on the potty! Normally when this happens, it's because he's already started to poop, or he just wants a distraction from being forced to eat, so I couldn't believe my eyes when he really did it! We piled on the positive reinforcement - a treat, a new car from the car bag, & a proud call to Dad to tell him the news. Oh please, let this just happen & let him be potty trained before grade school!

The other first is that I think Caleb told his first joke tonight. We were on the way to bed and going through the gate I sang "Break on through to the other side" which Caleb LOVED & repeated back. Up in the bathroom for brushing teeth, Caleb sang to me, "Break on through to the other side.... (dramatic pause while looking at me to be sure I was listening to him) of a CLIFF!" Then he went crazy with laughter. When I laughed at him & his reaction, he told it to me again, "Break on through to the other side.... of a CLIFF!" Bwahahaha

Maybe not quite ready for a comedy club, but it got me giggling for sure.

The Halloween Round Up

2011-11-01T11:28:00.000-06:00

Being sick on Halloween is the worst. But since it's a holiday that you can't reschedule, we made Caleb & Mom rest up all day, then we went out at night. Since I was already feeling dead....

I figured why fight it & try to look cute? I'll just be dead. Here are the cute munchkins, ready to hit the streets!

We met up with our best neighbor friends & trick or treated till the buckets got full (which in a neighborhood as dense as ours it only took about 3-4 streets).

Some houses were sweet & some were scary. A lady on our street had a bowl with a hand that grabbed you when you reached in for your treat. It spooked Caleb so badly that he jerked back & threw his candy across the porch! After that, when he sensed a trick, he'd send me in for the treat instead.

Elise's favorite part of the night, eating the fallen antennae:

Our Clifford started coughing uncontrollably from the running around, so Mommy carried him for the last few houses, then we went home. The bucket got full even in the short time we were out & Caleb was quite happy with his loot. He also really enjoyed handing candy out to the kids that came to our house.

Dad was feeling bad that Elise didn't get to join in on the celebration. He asked me if she could suck on a sour twizzler, to which I replied, "THAT'S NOT A GOOD IDEA." I went in the kitchen, came back, and Elise was hunched over in Josh's lap, with her back to me, clearly sucking on something....

Dear TX state social workers, please note what I said, & don't take my baby away. I am a fit mother (but I married a big kid).

The best part of Elise's costume were her wings, but they're kind of hard to see when she's being held. Here they are in action:

So Much to Post: Trunk or Treat, Standing Practice, Halloween Decor, & The Sweetest Bro EVER

2011-10-30T22:04:00.000-06:00

Lots to post, so let's start with some views of the week:

Caleb's been quite the artist this week. He picked a little pumpkin to paint & when he loved that, we also tried some water colors.

He called them his "Masterpieces." SO cute!

Oh & here's the pumpkin too.

The artist used every color.

The water colors spilled so we had to adjourn to the backyard.

But sloshing the water proved just as fun!

Other discoveries - toilet paper is never the same after it has been unrolled. It doesn't help when the 3 year old tries to roll it up.

Now for the Halloween Preview. Our ward held a chili cook off & trunk or treat. This year I tried to actually put some effort into it, so our car had a theme around Caleb's costume. Want a clue?

Ta DA! (to quote Cleo, Clifford's friend)

There's Clifford, our little red dog (he insisted that he was little & not big):

And even though Halloween is one of the worst holidays ever for babies, here's Elise in the spirit of things:

Our LADY BUG!

Her favorite part of the night was when her antennae fell in her face & she got to suck on them.

You see that Josh was the graduate, but what was I? "Hi, I'm Emily Elizabeth & this is Clifford my little red dog!" That's right. I popped on a blonde wig & was Clifford's owner & best friend.

I was asked to be one of the judges of the chili cook off & this is what we were up against, 21 CHILIS!

Getting excited for trunk or treating coming up!

In the doghouse, Clifford had his dog bowl, his 2 best friends, his book, & his framed picture of him & Emily Elizabeth (which I colored - I was pretty proud of it).

I loved my trunk & had lots of kids (even some 16 year old boys) tell me how much they liked it & how much they loved Clifford!

Caleb trying to chew his first Milk Dud... it was pretty funny.

After the party we all got a little silly with the costumes - first Josh looked like a white trash band member:

Then Caleb too:

Then things got a little buggy (I love how it looks like Elise is busting a gut 'cuz Dad is so funny.)

Last night after the fun, Caleb's cough went outta control & he had a mild fever. So today was a sick day at our house. But even when sick, Caleb can be the sweetest brother ever. Elise was crying after nap & before I got there, Big Brother stepped in with a "calm down song."

Big Girl is making big strides these days - today during standing practice she was up for 13 counts. I started recording when she was doing so well, but she didn't stay up that long again.

Tonight was the night for pumpkin carving. Here are my two artists hard at work.

Caleb really wanted a happy face, so we tried for goofy eyes, & then used the mouth to represent Elise's mouth - one popped tooth on the bottom, 2 bulgy fang lumps on top.

Hooray for the end! More about Halloween soon!

Caleb's Thankful List

2011-10-27T20:56:00.000-06:00

Tonight I asked the Doodlebug what he liked about today that we should thank Heavenly Father for in our prayers.

"Kinsey turned my diaper around!" (then he laughed in a maniacal crazy-eyed way.)

Kinsey babysat tonight so Josh and I could go to a work party. While we were away Caleb pooped, Kinsey cleaned him up & somehow he ended up with a backwards diaper. I don't know if Caleb talked her into that, or if she thought that was the way it went, but either way my hat's off to her. Getting the straps on when you can't see where they're going would be HARD!

Playtime is Just SO Cute

2011-10-26T21:43:00.001-06:00

Today Caleb built his very own fort. I was told that I was trapped inside of it, but there was an escape route just big enough for my two crawling cuties. Elise wouldn't stop smiling & clapping for her Big Brother, so I broke play rules, dashed for the camera, & snapped a video.

Not much else to report today - Caleb loves telling me "Don't worry Mom" & instead of saying, "Me too" he says, "Me three" which we think is adorable. For our FHE tonight (we do it on Wed since Daddy has class on Mon) Caleb painted his pumpkin & practiced being a missionary. He LOVED the paints & is quite the artist, and thanks to the Missionary Song they've been singing in nursery, Caleb's all excited about being a missionary someday.

Where the Brown Crumbs Grow

2011-10-24T21:33:00.000-06:00

Oh 3 year olds... the things they think & say.

Tonight I was pretty pooped, so before the kiddos' bedtime I laid on the floor to just let them climb all over me. Quality time with no effort on my part. Awesome.

While the kids chased each other back & forth over the Mommy bridge, I reached my hands up behind my head & took it easy - ahh the good life.

Then Caleb crawled past my head & froze.

"Mommy you've got crumbs!" (He then preceded to dust off my armpit stubble.)

"Oh Caleb, those aren't crumbs, they're hairs growing out of my body." (Caleb's eyes get wide & he pulls my sleeve up revealing all of my once-clean-shaven-yesterday-morning pit.)

"We've GOT to get these OFF!" (Brush, brush, brush the pit.)

I just laughed, "Oh Caleb, you're right, but they don't come off like that." & scooped him up in a hug.

Oh dear... if this is the age when personal hygiene gets noticed, then I'm going to have to step up my game. : )

PS Elise's first tooth is all the way through the gums now & much easier to see. She'll show it off with big grins all day until I put the camera up to try to get the shot, then she'll get shy. She smiles best when she's making eye contact with you - put the camera there & life just isn't as joyful for our little social ~~butterfly~~ ladybug. I'll try to catch it soon though!

Views of the Day - Sunday's Fashion & Soup Du Jour

2011-10-23T21:36:00.000-06:00

It's been a long week with lots of alone time & tonight's another lonely one. Poor Josh is stuck doing a change at work till 2 & rather than stay up blogging or working on anything important I think I'll just curl up with a movie in bed till I fall asleep. :(

Here are the cute views of the day:

"Dad, being the EQ President can't be that hard, lemme see this stuff."

"See? That's all you needed. It's child's play."

Like the lady's fashion today? I was wearing that necklace first, but Elise swiped it as a fun chew toy accessory. It was her Great Grandma's necklace & I'm sure she'd be tickled to know Elise was enjoying it.

Dinner tonight was Minestrone soup. Rather than listen to complaints about the chunks that seemed sketchy, I tossed half of the soup in the blender, & *ZIP* dinner for Caleb & Elise. I heard no complaints - just thank yous & a request for a straw:

Oh why not? We'll work on table manners before he starts dating, for now let's worry about potty training, not pushing, & not swiping toys from little sis.

Lots & Lots of Pics - Fort, Never Ending Craft, First Tooth, & First Spaghetti Face

2011-10-21T23:28:00.000-06:00

Boy do we have a lot to show for the week. I guess I'll kick it off with the awesome tunnel fort that Dad, Caleb, & Elise created:

Entering the fort..

Once inside, it's a great place to chill with a buddy:

... or just kick back & put your feet up (literally):

For Family Home Evening this week, I prepared a little puzzle that we glued together. Caleb went crazy for the glue... who knew? So the next day we tried a little craft that I'd seen on Pinterest. Little did I know that it was the craft that just kept going....

The idea is to do illustrations like Eric Carle (of The Hungry Caterpillar fame). Start with lots of colored paper and SCRIBBLE...

This may get your hands dirty:

Then chop up your scribbles into lots of pieces:

Then glue them together with no rhythm or reason:

Until you've made lovely collages:

Caleb with our 3 finished projects.

I said this was never ending & I mean it. This craft just kept on giving. Caleb loved gluing them together, but then the next day we did a little cutting to make door decorations for the kids' rooms.

AND the craft kept going, because our scraps became:

ROADS! (Caleb, strips of paper, of course they were roads, why didn't I see that first?)

One craft (better yet, one price tag): 3 ways to entertain & 3 treasures. The letters are on the kids' doors, and the other collage (which had some stickers & Mommy drawings of some of Caleb's favorite things so there was no way I was going to chop it up) is hanging over Caleb's bed to help him have happy thoughts while he sleeps.

For some reason Caleb's been scared of monsters in his room this week. I hope the collage & Clifford the watch dog are helping.

Then there's my big girl Elise. She's a climber - on Sunday she climbed up a folded chair just like a ladder on a playground in her slippery Sunday shoes! Then I caught her climbing up in her baby chair, though she must be too heavy for it now since the bottom came undone.

Elise's big news of the day was that her first tooth finally cut through. A little corner on her bottom, left, front tooth was the first to make it through the finish line. And funny enough, it happened while she napped! No crying, no drama, no medicine, talk about a wonderful little girl! I hope they're all this easy.

I don't have a good pic of the tooth since it's just barely coming through & Elise keeps her tongue on it since it feels so new, but here's the pics of her first spaghetti dinner to celebrate the new arrival. Elise was in heaven eating this (be warned, these pics are both cute and disgusting at the same time):

This pic makes me laugh - big red slimy face, with green broccoli in her mouth. Like I said, adorable & disgusting.

I'm sure I'm forgetting all kinds of other wonderful things about this week, but this is a great recap for now & we'll see if my brain can get anything else out tomorrow. I'm beat. 'Night!

Been a Bit Busy... so here are the cute kids

2011-10-17T20:52:00.000-06:00

So on Sunday Josh got called as the Elder's Quorum President....

Then I got called to be the Primary Secretary.

So, we're a little busy this week trying to get a handle on our 2 new organizations. Neither of us has a clue what we doing just yet, but hopefully the Lord knows.

So after dinner tonight I was bustling about, listening to 2 happy kids banging around some tupperware, but when I turned to see what was going on... I didn't see any kids!

Yep, Elise had crawled right up into the cabinet & Caleb (recognizing a fabulous idea) went right along. But with 2 kids in the cabinet, there isn't much room left for tupperware, so, WHOOSH, our it went.

The Instigator:

The Conspirators:

This reminded me of days long ago, when my big brother Bryan & I would slip through the back seat into the trunk of our car to "hide" from mom. She knew all the time what we were doing, but acted so surprised that we sure felt sneaky.

In other news, Elise continues to love her veggies:

The big smile was because I was singing, "Elise the orange nosed reindeer."

And we went to a really lame, rip-your-face-off carnival. I won't bore you with the details, but here's a few pics from our attempt to live it up Harvest Style:

Pro Pics Came!

2011-10-15T21:40:00.000-06:00

Today I got the digital copies of our family photo shoot! I'm so excited to print these out to display in my home.

If anyone is looking for a photographer in the San Antonio area, I can't recommend my friend Amy Nelson enough! She did a wonderful job with our group - from grandparents to babies - but she also does weddings, engagements, maternity, senior pics, all kinds of shoots. Check her out!

I love my family! *The Big & Little Versions*

Views of the Day - Finally Some Quiet & My Kitty Luncheon

2011-10-14T21:35:00.001-06:00

We all love Elise.

There's no doubt about that.

But that girl's got a cry. Woo. She's got a screech that is just awful. Seriously, not even a mother could love it.

It. Not her. We love her.

But then something amazing happened. She binked!

Caleb never used his binkie, so I kinda forgot that some kids do this, but she brought it out of her crib with her and - ahhhhh, silence while I made her lunch. It was incredible.

I also had a lunch date with Caleb today - he set 3 chairs together and said we'd sit there together, then POOF he turned into a kitty & curled up in my lap to get pets (back rubs). It was so sweet.

Tonight is the stake Father/Son camp out, here's Caleb all ready to go:

The red was my idea so Josh can keep an eye on him in a crowd, but the double hat thing? I don't know how that came about. I also don't know the details of the camp yet, but the boys did call to say goodnight & Caleb turned into a cat again. He must be well. : )

So what were the girls up to tonight? I made some Pumpkin Ginger Snaps & we went out with our neighbor girls. It would have been perfect, except for a slight diaper mishap ending in mom & Elise getting soaked while we were out shopping. Hopefully there will be less pee in our future Girl's Night shopping trips (something that I've been excited for ever since finding out I was having a daughter).

Now, just the random stuff that I don't want to lose...

Caleb as an inchworm crawling to his room after bath:

"What's that little guy mom?"
"He's a piston"
"I love him, I love that piston."

She held her own bottle for the last ounce. He he! What fun!

Caleb as Superman! I've been saving this costume for a year, but Caleb HATES wearing it... I guess I'll try to sell it on Craigslist. Bummer.

Elise's First Clap & Our House by Caleb

2011-10-13T21:08:00.000-06:00

In yesterday's video I made a note that it looked like Elise was trying to clap, & I must not have been crazy after all because today she did at lunch time.

What caused the enthusiastic applause? That'a girl! Love those veggies & whole grains early.

Getting ready for nap, Caleb told me all about eco-houses (thank you Bob). When he paused to breathe (sometimes he runs on so much he kinda has to gasp a bit), I asked him what our house was made out of.

"Wood! -pause- And walls, and a bamboo roof, and a picture of doggies on it,10doggiesalltogehter." (I tried to write this as Caleb would talk, slow, then speeding up with enthusiasm.)