Our Year!

Since it is just me and the boys tonight celebrating the new year to come as Dan is at work, I has an idea to make a list of our past year to look back on. We will see how many things I come up with.

1.We went shopping for a king size mattress when I was 8 months pregnant. Dan wanted me to lay down on them and see what I thought was comfortable. This is obviously coming from a man. I had to trust his judgement. I forewarned him that my water could break on the new mattress. Luckily it didn't.

2. Dan was promoted to lead man.
3. My motherinlaw taught me how to crochet. I made about 6 scarves in the last couple weeks of my pregnancy.
4.Dan went to the ER 4 days before we had Elton and found out he had gallstones.
5. The birth of our second son Elton Avery Bonnes on February 22.
6. Dan had his gallbladder removed when Elton was 3 weeks old.
7. I took 12 weeks family leave off with the birth of Elton.
8.My parents came to visit and meet Elton when he was about 6 weeks old.
9. Elton was baptised at Twin Falls Reformed Church in April while my parents were here and we had a gathering after at my inlaws.
10. I accepted a new position at work as the Childbirth Education Coordinator and went to prn on OB.
11. At the end of April we flew to Texas for a family wedding. Elton flew for his first time and Caleb was the ringbearer.
12. We got to tour Crawford, Texas (home of George Bush's ranch).
13. Caleb got to go to Chuck E. Cheeses on our trip for his first time.
14. I went to the cabin in the mountains with the boys, motherinlaw and niece for a few days before returning to work.
15. After getting home from Texas we switched realtors to try something different to get our house sold. Were very displeased with the realtor we switched too.
16. Put a contingent offer in on a house that we liked hoping ours was about to sell.
17. Made it to the family cabin once with Dan and the boys. Caleb had hand, foot and mouth that weekend.
18. Started this blog in July.
19. Received a letter from a girl I grew up with, apologizing for picking on me when we grew up. I had not seen her or heard from her since we graduated high school. This was quite a shocker.
20. At the end of July our offer on the house with the contingency expired.
21. Our house showed on my birthday (August 6th) and was the showing we sold our house on. We received the offer 2 days later.
22. We scrambled and organized as we tried to coordinate the closing on our old house and closing on a new house. The house we had previously attempted to buy sold in the one week between when our offer went up and the offer on house we were selling came in.
23.My mom flew down at the end of August to visit and extended her ticket 10 days to help us with packing and moving. She was here 2 days short of a month.
24. Our new nephew/cousin, Jackson was born at a whopping 10lbs 7oz.
25. We closed on both houses September 12.
26. We began our move September 13th and had everything moved by the night of September 14th.
27. Dan got very little sleep in the month of the house sales in stress and prep of moving. On the day we moved our furniture Dan was up for over 24 hours straight as he had to go to work that night. I prayed he would not fall asleep on his 40 mile drive either way from work.
28. At the beginning of October, friend's of ours lost their husband/dad as he fell asleep on his way home from work and hit a tree. I had to explain to Caleb that his friend's daddy was in heaven with Jesus.
29. We celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. We went to Boise overnight to the Anniversary Inn while my parents stayed with the boys.
30. We celebrated Caleb's 3rd birthday with "Thomas The Train" being the theme yet again. He knew his whole alphabet and could count to 20 by then.
31. My parents brought down there old motorhome from Canada for our family and stayed a couple of weeks in their "new" bedroom quarters. Caleb calls it Nana and Papa Jack's room.
32. Max killed his first mouse. Who needs a cat?
33. We had a wonderful family Thanksgiving at Dan's parents' house.
34. We set up our tree for Christmas and Caleb was totally into the prep.
35. Caleb's new favorite movie became "The Polar Express".
36. We added a new puppy to our family - Bingo!
37. We had a eggnog and fondue party on the 23rd of Dec.
38. Dan had the whole Christmas weekend off work.
39. We held Christmas at our house. Dan cooked a wonderful 16 pound prime rib that was to die for!
40. We got to watch Elton grow before our eyes and accomplish many firsts.
41. Caleb and Elton became roomates in the new house and love it. Caleb tucks Elton into his crib every night and Elton has begun to return the "goodnight hug".
42. Max learned how to use a doggie door and enjoys the freedom of going in and out whenever he pleases.
43. I still attend Weight Watchers weekly if possible and am back on maintenence.
44. Dan loves that it only takes 45 minutes to mow our new yard. That beats the acre we had before!
45. Caleb gained a park only 5 blocks from our house that he calls "my park".

This was our year. I am sure I have forgotten something and may add to this later. I am getting ready to introduce Caleb to some sparkling apple cider to celebrate the New Year to start tomorrow. I feel very blessed as we enter 2006!

Our Christmas Weekend!

Our Christmas weekend started out Friday afternoon with my preparations for our eggnog and fondue get together. I spent the whole afternoon in prep as we decided to make 2 cheese and 1 choclate fondue. This involved grating like 16 cups of cheese as well as the rest of the prep. I was calm until it was time to actually get the fondue pot going and then got nervous. I have never actually made fondue before and hoped I wouldn't mess it up. Dan was great and helped out a lot. Everything was ready by the time the doorbell rang with our first guests.

I had a surprise planned that I didn't know for sure whether it would happen or not. I had attempted to get in contact with Santa to see if he could attend. As I communicateds through others I wasn't sure whether he would make it or not and so I did not share with anyone that me might make a visit. Thus, when the doorbell rang at 7:30 and I sent Dan to answer, he was quite in shock when he Santa at the door and didn't know whether to let him in or not. Dan was quite confused. Santa hung out on our couch while Caleb was first to sit on his knee and receive a candy cane. He made sure that Santa knew that we had a chimney for him for the next day and that he would be leaving milk and cookies out for him. The only kids not scared of Santa were Caleb, Elton and yes, our dog Max (he took a turn on Santa' knee too).

Saturday morning Dan and Caleb dropped myself and Elton off at Moxie Java so I could get a coffee and so they could do a little last minute shopping. Then we went to our church's candlelight Christmas Eve service where Caleb got to hold and blow out Jesus' birthday candle. He did very well for the service and kept wanting more music. When we got home Caleb wanted to get his jammies on because he told us that after he went to sleep, the Polar Express was going to wake him up and take him to the North Pole while he drank hot choclate. He got Santa's snack out and then the boys went to bed.

At 7am we got up and went to check the stockings out. Santa's snack was gone and the stockings were full. Caleb got his D199 engine he had asked for and Elton got his first train. The dogs loved their stockings too. Max has always thought he is a person and you would have a difficult time convincing him otherwise. He was very satisfied with his treats as you can see in the picture. He didn't move from that spot on the couch until early afternoon on which he promptly returned after a quick trip outside to take care of business. After the stockings, we proceeded to the Christmas tree to open presents. Elton received his own train table as Caleb had requested for him and both boys received some more train stuff with a few other gifts. Caleb was quite excited that Elton could now share his train stuff with him.

After opening gifts we met Grandpa and Grandma Bonnes at IHOP for breakfast. This was difficult for Caleb as he had to leave his toys. We then hung out until about 1:30 when the prep began for our Christmas dinner. We put on the 16 pund prime rib packed in rock salt and I finished the trifle I was making. Dan's parents, siblings, and our nieces and nephews were here for our dinner. The prime rib was cooked perfectly (Dan gets the credit) and melted in everyone's mouths. The rest of the dinner was great. When clean up from dinner was done we moved on to our family gift exchange which the kids were more than ready for. There was wrapping paper everywhere and fun was had by everyone. Then dessert - trifle was a hit!

Everyone headed home and as you can see by the last picture, dogs and kids were passed out. I felt like I could, but hung in there. All I can say at this point is, what a fabulous Christmas!!
We are so blessed!!

Christmas Spirit

I feel so blessed this year to have such a wonderful husband and children. What has put me in the Christmas spirit the most this year is knowing that Dan and I have the whole weekend off work. That is pretty incredible with us both being in professions where we work 12 hour day/night shifts. I will have the whole weekend with my husband and children!

We are having friends and family over tomorrow night for eggnog and fondue. Then on Sunday, we will have Dan's family over for a prime rib dinner. Appreciating friends and family is very important.

My children have been the next biggest influence in putting me in the Christmas spirit. Caleb is so into it this year. Earlier this week I found him lying under the Christmas tree singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town". He has mastered all of the words frome watching "Polar Express". You can also ask him who's birthday it is on Christmas and he will tell you "Jesus". I took the boys with me to the grocery store tonight to get our supplies and Caleb could be heard singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" throughout the store. I even joined in a couple of times.

What saddens me and frustrates me though is the whole issue of saying "Happy Holidays" vs "Merry Christmas". How did this turn into the mess it did. I am a "Merry Christmas" person and am not ashamed to say it loud and clear to anyone. I also have become discouraged over the past couple of years by the increasing commercialization of Christmas and focus on presents. I am focusing in on these things less and less and do not feel presents should emphasized as much as they are. I hope my kids can learn from me and not feed into these things.

I feel like my family has made this such a wonderful Christmas that I don't need anything else!

Potty Training

It would seem that Caleb has decided he is in charge of potty training Bingo. While he himself does not have any interest to master this, he is reallly taking it serious when it comes to his puppy. Tonight I found him standing over Bingo on his "potty paper" singing his "potty song" to him to get him to go pee and informing his brother Elton not to touch the paper because it is "potty paper".

The boys are in bed and Bingo and I are enjoying some bonding time. He has been napping and actually started eating a little tonight. I am happy about this as I am hoping his moving to his new home won't be too stressful for him.

A New Addition To Our Family

Thanks to an excellent work evaluation I had a couple of weeks ago which resulted in a lovely check in the mail, we have a new addition. This morning the boys and I drove to Mountain Home and picked out "Bingo". Caleb has been asking for a "Bingo doggy" since last summer. Mommy has been wanting another Pekingese for a long long time. Thus our new addition. He will be 6 weeks old on Wednesday.

I would have to say that Caleb is in love (well so is mommy too). He is already very protective of him and just wants to help him eat and go potty. He says that he is going to hold him, hug him and kiss him and even told me to be gentle this morning when we were looking at him. He also wanted to know if Bingo would enjoy watching movies like "Polar Express" with him. When we made our trip to Pet Smart this afternoon he really thought we should be taking Bingo with us. Someday! However with both of the boys on my own, Bingo being so tiny and it being so cold out he stayed napping at home. Caleb picked out a Christmas stocking for Bingo and all was good.

Our Week

We are starting to introduce a sippy cup to Elton for practice. He hasn't quite got it figured out, but he know it goes in his mouth. After Dan made Caleb a CD of Christmas songs this week, I got both boys to go down for a nap at the same time with both of them together in there room. The picture of Caleb was taken right after he woke up and told me he had had a good nap. I say the hair is the proof!

Caleb is having fun learning Christmas carols. I found him lying under the Christmas tree this week singing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" with all the correct words. He has really been getting into singing the last couple of months. On Sunday he is supposed to get up at the front of our church (about 1000 people) and sing the song they have been learning in children's church.

The weather is the coldest it has been here in the 6 years I have been in Idaho and the snow isn't going anywhere. We will definitely be having a white Christmas this year.

Narnia

Grandma & Grandpa watched the boys for us yesterday so that we could go see "The Chronicles Of Narnia". What a wonderful movie! I would have to say I left the theatre excited and with hope. Hope for and about many things today that I can't even begin to get into right now. However, I definitely recommend seeing this movie. I know we will be buying it and hope that Hollywood can keep up the standard they have set for movies to come. We will be buying it.

Our senior pastor, wife and son were two rows ahead of us. Our church had been talking about the movie and even did a two week class about the book and C.S Lewis (I wasn't able to make it, but wish I had).

Almost Famous!! - Curtis Lowton

Here is one of my best friends that I went through school with from Kindergarten to graduation! All of us in school predicted entertainment success for Curt. He has written 2 books now and is in the process of trying to get published. From high school operettas to now he has come a long way!

The Boys With Santa

After talking about it for months, Caleb got to go see Santa. Of course he let Elton come too. He was an excellent big brother and made one request for himself (D199 -a diesel train) and a train table (so he doesn't have to share his I am assuming) for Elton. This is the first year he hasn't gotten upset once he got up to Santa, and I don't think Elton had any reason yet to be wary. I have never seen Elton get upset about going to anyone. Caleb went to bed tonight talking about putting out treats for Santa on Christmas Eve. I can only imagine what kind of dreams he will have tonight! There is such excitement and anticipation when one is a child!

A Moment Of Reflection

It was as I went to the mailbox to get our mail and opened it that I realized one of my most favorite things about this time of year-I love the Christmas cards and annual updates that we get from friends and family!! It is so exciting to hear from everyone and this is always why I consider it so important to get my own cards and letters done. I will hopefully be mailing ours out later this week. I just wanted everyone to know how blessed we feel to have so many wonderful friends and family around the United States and Canada.

I have all the memories of growing up and all the wonderful times spent with all of you. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful holiday season!

SHEZZA

Check out this website and listen to the music samples. This girl grew up in my hometown and I knew her. She was a few years older than I. I am so excited to see her mission now!

Entertainment Hits In Our House

On Friday night Dan and I finally got to see Polar Express. Right away I knew Caleb would love it. All he talks about these days is Christmas and Santa (he also knows that Santa comes because it is Jesus' birthday), and of course all he plays with is trains. Which means this movie has the perfect combination. Dan let him watch it on Saturday morning and it is now the only thing he requests to watch. I'm sure he has seen it about 6 times now. He talks about how he wants to ride on and drink hot choclate on the Polar Express. It is too funny.

Elton on the other hand is enjoying the Baby Einstein movies. Tonight when I was making dinner he started saying what I thought was "ba" and so I repeated it back to him. He was in his saucer watching his movie and as I would say it back to him he would say it again. After a minute it clicked and I realized that I think he was really saying "blah" trying to make the sound of the dragon. It was like a game we were playing repeating it back and forth pretending we were the dragon. I am just amazed at how interactive he is because Caleb was not at all like that.

We had our first snow today. Caleb was so excited when he saw the snowflakes this morning that he wanted to go "throw snowballs". Unfortunately I had to explain to him that there wasn't enough to make snowballs to throw. I got him a new pair of gloves with numbers on the fingers yesterday and it seems like he is quite eager to try them out. Hopefully for his sake we will have enough snow soon that he can learn how to make a snowball so that he can throw it!

A Full Family Weekend!

First of all, let me say that we did not do the "Black Friday" early morning shopping thing!!
The boys and I started out by going for coffee and cocoa, and then stopping at Costco to order our Christmas cards. Then, later in the day we hung out with Dan and went to the mall just to walk around and look. Caleb wanted a "Happy Meal" from McD's, so daddy had to get something to.

Saturday morning, Dan and Caleb got out the Christmas tree and decorations while I was at Weight Watchers. Saturday afternoon, Elton hung out at grandpa and grandma's while we took Caleb to the movie theatre to see "Chicken Little". He was excited about having "movie candy", which I actually smuggled in from my earlier stop at the Dollar store. We enjoyed the movie and it was just about the right length as Caleb was just starting to get antsy as it ended. Saturday night we decorated the tree and hung out.

Sunday morning we did our usual coffee stop and then church. This afternoon I worked on some little projects around the house while Dan changed our dining room light and bathroom light. When he got to the bathroom light we discovered we were going to have to fix some paint to make things look right of which we didn't have any paint from the previous owners. It was then that Dan said we may as well try a new color and repaint the bathroom. He ran out to Lowe's and by the time dinner came the bathroom was repainted with a new light and bathroom fixtures.

All in all I would say we had a full day with the three men in the house in the bathtub together before bedtime. I believe that now it is my turn!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone and hope you had a great day! The boys and I hung out in our jammies until about 10 this morning. I made a pot of coffee to get going and got us all ready for the day. At 1 we woke Dan up so that he could make it to the family gathering before he had to go to work.

We went to Dan's parents' house and had a great meal with family. Caleb got to sing "We Are Thankful" before grandpa did the formal blessing. Caleb had been talking about Thansgiving and turkey all week. He managed to eat 3 helpings of turkey, drank lots of punch, had tons of whip cream with the pie he didn't touch (he had to have more whip cream added 4 times) and left grandma's house eating marshmallows and choclate covered raisins. The kids had tons of fun playing and none had naps. Caleb fell asleep on the way across town tonight. I managed to get him in the house, get his jammies on and put him to bed without waking him. This has never happened before and since it was only 7pm I am concerned he will wake up very early in the morning. I guess we will see.

As you can see, Elton had fun and is thinking he needs to learn stairs now. Anissa, Carla and I managed to slip out of the house and leave the kids with grandpa and Chris while we went for a 2 mile walk on the canyon, which was very refreshing and much needed after all of the food we had consumed!

Family Pictures

These pictures were taken last Sunday at my inlaws' house after Jack's dedication. Grandpa and grandma have been blessed with 5 grandchildren in 3 years giving them a total of 8 so far.

I think next year things will be pretty crazy with 5 toddlers running around, but it sure makes for some excitement!

Nine Months Old!

Elton was 9 months old yesterday!! Time just seems to go by so fast. We have converted his tub to the sitting stage and he does really well with it. Today he started saying dadada. Unfortunately Dan was at work when he started saying it and so hasn't heard him yet. He now says mamama, babababa, and dadada. Caleb was such a quiet, calm baby that he never said or was in any big hurry to do anything.

Caleb is now having fun trying to encourage Elton to do things that he knows he shouldn't and then likes to tell him "no no Elton" and laugh at him. Elton however, does not seem to have any comprehension yet of what the word no means and thus sees nothing wrong with keeping on doing whatever it is he was doing.

Accomplishments Of Our Week

Elton is crawling so much now and getting alot faster. The one day this week he couldn't even keep his pants on as you can see. He is also very interested in how Max and Caleb manage to get in and out the dog door. Today he discovered our stairs leading up to the bedrooms and was trying to pull himself up them. I don't know why he has to be in such a hurry to figure things out!! He even has Caleb trying to teach him the alphabet as you can see from the last picture. I guess he is just determined to try to catch up to his big brother.

Caleb has learned "We Are Thankful" and sings this as a blessing at our meals now before we eat and is very proud of himself. One time I forgot to wait and he got quite upset with me.

My big accomplishment this weekend was getting all my china cabinet unpacked. I had not unpacked and put anything in it yet as I knew we would be moving it to have flooring done. Only one crystal glass got broken on the move, but unfortunately it was one of my great aunt's.

Dan stained our stair rails that we had put in as fillers so the kids couldn't go through them. It seems like one thing at a time we are getting things done!

Little Minds At Work

I guess I am fortunate that the worst word to come out of my 3 year olds mouth to date is "stupid", but I still don't like it and am trying to teach him that it is a naughty word and that there are repercussions for using it. So what does that mean? He now says "stu" and doesn't finish it to see what my reaction will be. The last time he did this I said "what did you say". Guess what the response was? He said " I said I eat stu for lunch". I couldn't believe it! How do their little minds come up with this at such a young age?

Elton is now trying to get through the dog door. Why shouldn't he? He sees Max going through it and occasionally Caleb so I guess it's only fair he should get to try it too. Two arms have made it through and one of these times I'm sure there will be a tumble down the stair that awaits him on the other side.

Sunday Afternoon

This is how I just found the boys. After spending the afternoon doing odd jobs around the house I guess a little down time was needed. Maybe I should go take a nice hot bath now!

Elton Inspecting The New Floor

Here is Elton trying out the new floor. It really hasn't slowed him down and he is getting around quite well. He will even stop crawling to push himself into a sitting position. He likes to follow Max around

I Not Need A Nap!

Caleb never seems to think he needs a nap anymore. He tells us "I not need a nap, I a big boy now, I not tired". He always falls asleep at some point in the afternoon wherever he may land, but not where or when we want him too.

Flooring Done!

They finished putting our flooring down late Tuesday and just had to come back yesterday for a few minutes to put the sealant on the seams. The floor looks great! It is a huge improvement on the old dirty carpet that was there. When they took the carpet up, the carpet pad underneath just fell apart in chunks. Dan got all the floor boards back on. We were thinking he was going to need help to get the china cabinet, fridge and a few other large items moved. However, I had to go to a meeting at the hospital yesterday and when I got home he had gotten everything moved with the help of Caleb! Caleb thought he was helping, but we owe the credit to the moving sliders we had. I couldn't believe Dan was able to move everything himself! That, or I guess I could also say that I have one strong man!

Family Trips To Come

We are now the proud owners of a 1976 Avion motorhome that we acquired from my parents. I went on camping trips in this motorhome when I was a teenager. With a little TLC we will clean it up and next spring we will be able to head out with the boys camping. It is funny how my parents were trying to sell it and we had been considering options for us to start camping and the two just came together. We now need to think of a name for our family travel unit. Any suggestions? I would like something fun and adventurous.

Update On Our Lives

Nana and Papa Jack's visit is nearing an end. They plan to leave tomorrow morning to head home to Canada. They need to get their flu shots and Papa Jack has some hunting to do to try and "provide meat for the family". Nana joined Weight Watchers about 5 months ago and to date has lost almost 45lbs. She is doing great and looking great.

Claude Brown's is coming this morning to the house to begin removing some of our old carpet and installing linoleum in our hallways, laundry room, kitchen and dining areas on the main floor. This will make our high traffic areas so much more functional and easier to keep clean. However it is probably going to make Elton's crawling circle a little more slippery as he has begun mastering his crawling circle around the main floor.

Max has mastered his doggy door and has begun to enjoy the freedom of going in and out as he pleases.

Dan is comtemplating the project of taking down wallpaper on the main floor so we can start to attempt painting. For our sakes, I hope the wallpaper is easy to remove and the project doesn't become too overwhelming.

Three Year Check Up

Caleb went in today for his 3 year check up. He weighed 28lbs and is 36". He was not thrilled about getting shots, but Dr. Trotter did give him some McDonald cookies. He was declared healthy and set for another year. This afternoon he got to go to Home Depot with daddy and soon forgot about the shots.

Elton went with us so I weighed him to find out how close we were to needing to switch car seats. He is weighing in at 18lbs 14oz. We will have to switch when he hits 20lbs. Both boys got their flu shots and so are hopefully set for the winter.

Our Halloween

Caleb woke up in an excellent mood this morning and wanted his Woody costume on as soon as possible. I made him eat breakfast first and then figured he may as well get his money's worth out of the costume. I then decided that Elton may as well wear his for the day too. We finally made it to the pumpkin patch this morning after trying last week when they were closed. Caleb was really good this afternoon and took his nap, so when he got up, I took him to the Halloween carnival at the girls and boys club at the CSI campus. He was really excited and did really well going around to the booths. Then we came home to eat dinner and headed over to our neighbours' whose little boy is the same age as Caleb. We found out on Caleb's birthday that Ty was going to be Buzz Lightyear and since Caleb was going to be Woody, we thought it would be quite appropriate to go trick or treating together. Needless to say, they had a blast. The first couple of houses Caleb was pretty quiet, but then he got into things and was yelling "trick or treat" really well. He was also very good at saying thank you for his treats. Elton hung out at home in his Tigger costume with Nana and Papa Jack answering the door. Unfortunately, Dan had to work.

Halloween Party

Dan and I had a Halloween party we went to on Saturday night. One of the anesthesiologists I work with hosts a party every year at the Turf Club. This year they had a live band, "Raising Cain", who were great. We went as "The Naughty Nurse and Dr. Phil Good". We had lots of fun dancing. It had been 2 years since the last time we had gone out dancing so I think we were due.

The Birthday Party!!

We started Caleb's official birthday celebration by letting hin open our gift and gifts from grandparents yesterday afternoon. Then the prep for the party began. Dan and Caleb went for a haircut while I got the house ready. Anissa, Chris and the kids came over for a prime rib dinner which was wonderful. Then we got ready for round two - the birthday cake. Caleb had some of his other friends and cousins over for this. He successfully blew out his candles while getting his chin stuck in the cake! As soon as the kids got done their cake and ice cream, they were eager to move onto the presents. It was cute to watch how each kid wanted Caleb to open their gift. This has been the first year that all of the kids are totally into and understand the whole concept of a birthday. They all had fun playing with Caleb's presents and I would say the night was a success. After the guests left Caleb had to take a bath with his new bath toys he received and then went to bed with me reading him stories from his "Big" Thomas book that Grandpa and Grandma Bonnes gave him. We will see if he sleeps in this morning after the excitement or not!

Scientific Personality Test

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Today was officially Caleb's birthday, but we are waiting to have the party on Friday because daddy has to work tonight. We let him open one gift though- his gift from my parents that he has been hoping for for months. He got the roundhouse for his trains. He was so excited he couldn't stop saying thank you. Papa Jack helped him set it up where he played until he went to bed. He didn't have time to eat tonight and wasn't quite ready to go to bed, but it was all good! I would tell him "Happy Birthday Caleb" and he would say to me "Happy Birthday mommy". Elton had a blast with the paper and was squealing and screaming as he was playing with it. He was definitely more than happy to help his brother get the paper off of his gift.

Three Year Old Picture!

Here are Caleb's 3 years old pictures we had taken at Kiddie Kandids. He did really well and then fell asleep for his nap while I was picking our pictures. It's hard to believe he is 3 today! The time has flown by.

Our Wonderful Belated Anniversary!!

My parents arrived for their 2 week visit on Sunday. They had said they would watch the boys overnight for us to go away for our anniversary which was a few weeks ago.

It was well worth the wait!! We went to Boise for the night. We went up early yesterday, had lunch, went got the boys a surprise for when we got home, saw a movie and went out for sushi. Then came the highlight of out trip. I had booked a room at the Anniverary Inn (www.anniversaryinn.com) that has different theme rooms. We went with "Sleeping Beauty's Castle. When we got back to our room we got to enjoy the evening with wine, cheescake, the jetted tub and a movie (Fever Pitch) with our widescreen TV above our bed. Then this morning we were served a wonderful breakfast at the time of our choice. We greatly enjoyed our time spent together and the ambiance of our trip. This is our first time doing something like this and time away from the boys. Nana and Papa Jack said the boys did great.
Caleb was excited at receiving "Arthur" (a wooden train to go with his Thomas stuff) and Elton got his first teddy bear "Mocha" that we made for him at the "Build a Bear" store. Caleb has his Fozzy bear that we made him previously.

Thanks to Nana and Papa Jack for helping us celebrate our belated anniversary! It was great!

8 Months Old!

Elton is 8 months old today! He is not pulling himself up standing, but stays up really well once we help him up. I'm in no hurry for him to do this on his own as he is already doing things so much sooner that Caleb did. He has now moved on from saying mamama to bababa. We are still working on dadada!

Caleb will be 3 on Wednesday and is very excited that Papa Jack and Nana (my parents) are coming for the occasion. This is his first birthday they will have made it to. He is talking in complete sentences now, counts to 20 and knows his full alphabet. Last year at this time he was only saying a few words. The other day he told me what a pretty shirt I had on and then later told me what a good dinner I had made and thank you. He was such a little gentleman! I hope this is how he grows up and continues to treat women.

So Much Fun = Oh So Tired!!

The boys love going to Classy Castle and playing with their friends. When I picked them up today, Annette told me Elton just crawled and played all day with the kids. Caleb was excited to tell me about his adventures with his friends outside in the play yard. After we got home,
Elton played (or you might call it danced) in his jolly jumper. By the time I went to feed Elton his baby food for dinner I could tell he wanted to eat so badly, but at the same time was so tired.

Partners In Crime

Elton has only been crawling a week and this is how I found the boys tonight in the living room. They are both quite amused by each other and I know we are just at the beginning of days to come. I am glad they enjoy each other so much!