Fire Breath

Kids eat free at a local sandwich shop on Mondays, so last night we ventured out in the hideous weather for dinner.  Caleb was insistent upon wanting these chips instead of the customary, plain Sunchips.  The little dude ate half of the bag, saying, "I wike dese.  My mouf is just a wittle bit hot."  He did consume two full glasses of water to accompany the chips.

Looking at the Lights

We were sick off and on most of last week.  It was two days of sickness, one day of everyone being perfectly fine, two more days of sickness.  Yuck!  On one of the days that we were "perfectly fine" our good friends asked us to go walk around and look at lights.  It was a lovely evening and great times with our friends!

Carriage with Horses

Jonathan, Caleb and I have been reading about horse-drawn carriages in various books about the "time before cars".  After a bit of quiet the other day, I went to check and what did I see?  A carriage with some "horses" pulling it and two little Guild passengers.

After a bit they wanted a live horse instead of the dangling stuffed ones.  Guess who got to play that part?  You guessed it... one momma/horse coming right up.  Giddy-up!

Daddy playing and singing

The daddy in this house sings well (he sang to me at our wedding so he's also very gutsy) and he plays the guitar.  He plays less often than the momma would choose, but he is quite busy with working and wrestling with two boys and the list goes on.  So, we enjoy the sweet moments when they come.  We sang Christmas songs the other night and the boys got their moment of fun when Daddy let them strum.

Party!

We were able to be part of a celebration at our church with many from around the city... Affordable Christmas.  It was a day of activity as we took turns being at the festivities and staying home with the kiddos.  Our small group joined us in being part of the fun, and our house was the sending station and the kids' play area.  Jonathan and Caleb had a grand time, and the end of the evening was capped with dinner together and a "magic show" by the kids.

It was a three, four and five year old kind of "magic show" so there was just a lot of laughing and jumping around. 

24 plus 10

My 24th plus 10 birthday was a bit ago.  The boys wanted to make me a running shoe cake so Daddy sweetly agreed.  There were also some very sweet cards made by my boys and my nephews.

Boiling, like water

Jonathan: "Mom, my tummy feels like it's boiling and I need to toot."
Me: "What do you mean by boiling?"
Jonathan: "You know, bubbling like boiling water."

This conversation occurred right before some problematic bathroom time this morning.  Our conversations are never dull.

Party Time

Caleb's party was a grand time... some of his favorite people were there (although not all pictured) and he had a dinner of his favorites followed by a truck cake made with love from Daddy.  I did manage to put a game in the mix: pin the wheels on the car.  It was cute and the kids had fun.

 The boys at the party: Jonathan, birthday boy Caleb, Jake, and friend Luke (Josh not pictured)

 The truck cake

Neighbors: Luke and Steve

I don't think I adequately captured Caleb's delight (with photos) in having the cake in front of us with everyone singing happy birthday.  It was priceless.  He glowed (and not from the candles).  I think the camera battery died before the end of the party: Bruce and Stacey got him a Bob the Builder video that the boys watched at the end of the night... couldn't have been a more fitting end.  Family movie nights with Bob the Builder are Caleb's favorite!

The Day of Birth

We celebrated the littlest Guild's actual birthday by awakening him with a birthday donut cake and singing.  He loves it, and just lights up to be honored like that.

He opened a remote controlled car from us and a lego toy from Jonathan.  It was a small blessing that Jonathan had preschool for part of the day.  We had enough work on his character refinement for the first two hours of the morning that we decided his stint at preschool was a welcome break!  Caleb enjoyed having his run of the house (and the toys) for the morning.

We all enjoyed dinner out and Jamie put the finishing touches on the cake for the party on Friday.

Happy birthday, big three year old!

Two No More

The littlest Guild is three today.  Three precious years old.
At three, Caleb:
- Still loves to rock in the chair with his momma.  This was the first item on the list because I LOVE this and the boys know it.  Caleb (and Jonathan) tells Jamie that "momma loves to rock with me."
- Plays cars at most any given moment... he loves for us to play with him or he'll play by himself.
- He's the includer.  Anytime something is going on and he feels like one of us is missing out, he goes to find them.
- He's loud.  He still screams very, very loudly when displeased.  As I predicted, we don't often wonder what he is thinking.
- Caleb plays so well by himself.  When we arrive at my sister's house to play, he immediately asks to play in the basement and will play down there by himself for a very long time.
- Talks like crazy and sings "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" most every day.
- Loves strong flavored foods: olives, pickles, some spicy foods, marinated peppers.  Dislikes very little but has recently turned down mashed potatoes and stuffing.
- Sings a made up song "Mr., Mr., Tayebs, Mr. Tayeb" that Jamie started singing to him when they were playing.  It came from the wacky brain of the daddy, and it has stuck in the little man's brain.
- Likes to ride his bike, his tricycle or his scooter.
- Loves, loves, loves to dig in the dirt.
- Is a strong little boy who is a good match for the strength of his brother :+)
- Usually has a favorite color and it is most always: green.

Caleb, my sweet three year old, Happy Birthday!  We love you.  It delights me to see you each morning and put you to bed each night.  Can't wait to share "three" with you!

Big Man

Caleb to Jamie: "Daddy, you a big man.  You can do it!"

Dinner of a Different Kind

After the Thanksgiving and birthday eating extravaganzas I was unmotivated to prepare an actual meal.  I had some errands to run and suggested that we just do a hodge podge of favorites.  The result was met with great reviews from the littlest Guilds: "please can we have this dinner, again?"

What are the favorites, you ask: popcorn, squishy eggs (my children love hard-boiled eggs with a little salt), oranges and apple slices.  Maybe a little chocolate for dessert?

Daddy-o

If you haven't caught the memo: I'm not generally very sentimental or sappy.  However, having these children has at least given me pause for a few tears in the last couple of years.  It has also given me an even deeper love for the man that these boys call, "Daddy".  His birthday was Saturday, and the boys were beyond excited to make gifts for him and wrap the gifts.  They made at least eight pictures for him and gave him some books from their shelves that they were sure he would like.  They were also most excited about the prospect of cupcakes.  Birthdays are to be celebrated... so celebrate this wonderful "boy" we did!

 The "wrapping" for one of the gifts

 Daddy, in all of his Hawkeye gift attire

The much awaited cupcakes

Happy Birthday dearest James, Daddy... we love you!

Deck the House

The boys wanted lights.  On the house.  On the backyard canopy.  In their rooms.  On the tree.  Life holds lots of things to which we must say "no" so to this we said, "yes, yes, yes, yes".

 We put up our fake tree.  We seriously considered making this year the inaugural real tree, but we opted for simplification and using what we already had in house.

Race

Carla and I ran a "turkey trot" to start off a lovely Thanksgiving Day.  The weather couldn't have been more perfect, and we enjoyed our start to the day.

 Jonathan has been asking to "run a race" since he visited my dad's cross country team practice in late August.  Today was the day: his first "fun run" was indeed fun for the little man.  He took off like a shot when they said go and managed to run the whole race.  After we were done he asked why he didn't get to run as far as I could.  "Next time, how about if I get to run as far as you, Mommy?"

 Jamie and I ran with him as we weren't sure exactly how far it was, and we didn't want him to get lost in the shuffle.

Caleb was happy to spectate and eat a bagel.  He was a little irked that he didn't get a shirt with a turkey on it.  Next year, kiddo...

Wittle

Jamie and I love, love, love the way that Caleb pronounces some words with "l" sounds.  The other night as we were laughing about his words, Jamie said, "I don't want Caleb's fun way of saying those things to end."

Some of our favorites:
"Wittle" instead of little
      Just a "wittle" bit
"Wike" instead of like
"Wot" instead of lot
       I "wike" it a "wot".
"Waughing"
       I was just "waughin"

Caleb, sometimes we wish just a "wittle" bit of you would stay small a bit longer.

The Includer

Neither of my children are of the "peacemaker" variety.  Nor are they ones to work hard at pleasing people.  They appreciate encouragement, of course, but what makes them tick is not knowing they've pleased us.  However, Caleb does have a little "includer" in him.

Whenever we discuss thankfulness, Jonathan is always thankful for "my daddy" and a few other assorted things.  Caleb, being ever so kind to his momma, always looks at me after Jonathan is done (and usually hasn't mentioned me) and says, "I thankful for you, momma.  And daddy, too."

Running

James and I run.  He started running when he met me... supposedly to impress me.  That is a funny story for another time.  We ran a marathon together BC, and we still find enjoyment in the sport.  Jonathan, liking to be like his father, decided to go for a run the other day.  Caleb rode his bike.  Daddy coached them in the finer points of 'pacing'.  

Tidbits

 - Caleb is potty trained.  I am well aware that we could regress, but it seems as though the LONG three weeks of cleaning poo out of underwear and being on guard for pee at all times has ended.  Success for the littlest Guild (with a little help from Bob the Builder)!

 - Jonathan spent over two hours putting together a lego semi-truck from Grammie and Grampie yesterday.  His stubbornness has its upsides.

 - We have stuffed animals for pets, now.  Three stuffed dogs.

 - The marathon of perfect weather that lasted for two and a half months seems to have ended with cold rain this week.

 - Our current reads include:  Fly Guy books, non-fiction truck, tractor and nature books, and books about fall.

 - Caleb's favorite song from the options in the car is "Peter Cottontail".  Jonathan's favorite: "Humpty Dumpty"

Some random pictures to follow...

Leo the Lion

In an era of my husband's life before me, he helped out at the camp he had attended as a child.  He carried on the tradition of storytelling started by his father.  One of the stories shared was "Leo the Lion".  When we were having a campfire with our good friends a week ago, the topic of Leo storytelling came up.  I had never heard Jamie tell the story.  After just a little coaxing, Jamie appeased our requests for a rendition of Leo.  The boys were delighted.  They have requested encores of that performance ALL week.  "Daddy, can you do just the last part of Weo", "Daddy, just do the part where Leo burps."

 My boys, delighting in the story told by their Daddy.

My man, in all his storytelling glory.

Trick or Treat

My boys don't have a great affinity for costumes, and they probably get their lackluster attitude from their mother.  I have never given much effort to "dress up" events.  However, the boys were thrilled to wear their baseball jerseys and "bat hats" for a little trick or treating with our neighbor friend.  Jake and Josh joined us for a bit and Jake was a baseball player, too.