Playing with Dad

Second Child Syndrome

So, I am the typical parent where the second child's picture is taken a fracture of the amount the first child's was taken. So I have been trying to take more pictures. I still don't like Vista, and it is a huge deterrent for me to update the blog. Well, enough of the excuses. Here are a few pictures...

Going for a little hike. The kids love to get outside with dad. We have some trails not too far from our place.

Lately Paul has been making faces whenever I try to take his picture. It makes it difficult to get good ones, but he sure is a fun kid.

Paul and his new picture face.

We took grandma to a baseball game and saw the July 4th fireworks. It was a great show.

Cheese!

This is Caleb asking to go outside even though it was raining. "Maybe if I make the most desperate face I possibly can she'll give in and say yes."

Look at that sweet face!

Paul's new found love, baseball. Thanks to The Sandlot he has also picked up on some bad language. Say good-bye to that show for a very long time. :(

Birthday Boy

Paul had his fourth birthday. A couple weeks ago I asked him what kind of cake he wanted and he replied, "a bird cake with a fox on it." HUH? I couldn't determine if this was something he saw walking by a bakery in a grocery store or if it was from his imagination. So I took him to a bakery and let him flip through the cake binder. He wanted every cake he saw, naturally. No bird cake in the binder though. He was stuck on a Tinker Bell cake (heaven help me I'm thinking) until he saw Spiderman (my saving grace). Spiderman it is, and the cake was so easily duplicated that I decided to do it myself. TA DAH!

Spiderman party with sticky hands, silly string, and rubber spiders. The kids were happy, and Paul had a blast. After all the kids left the party Paul was complaining that he was cold. The only times that happens is when he's sick. Sure enough he ran a fever for the next few days. Poor kid sat on the couch not feeling well on his birthday. At least he had a good time at the party.

Red Handed

I found Caleb hiding with a nearly empty bag of chocolate chips. The little sneak retired to that little spot several times during the day with his blanket and bear. I thought it was rather cute until I realized the real reason why he was hiding there. He's a sly one.

Some other tidbits on Caleb recently is that he is finally saying daddy "deedee" and mommy "meemee." He was saying mama before, but finally figured out daddy and then mimicked the sound for mom. It is so endearing to hear your own child start speaking.

Caleb likes to stick things in his ears. He has a fetish. The other day he had dryer lint stuffed into both ears. Nothing has gone in that can't come out yet, thank heavens. His favorite things to put in his ears are long skinny objects like crayons, Q-tips, and bobby pins. I open my bobby pins with my mouth and I can think of very few things that taste worse than ear wax.

I Turn My Back For Two Minutes

The other day Paul came to me while I was blow drying my hair. This is nothing new. My kids always want to tell me something as soon I close the bathroom door to shower, go to the bathroom, blow dry, whatever. There is some sensor that says "Mom's busy," so they decide to need an extra amount of attention. Anyway, Paul came to me frantic not able to complete a sentence. So after several attempts to tell him I'll be done in a couple minutes I give up and look into the problem. I find Caleb on top of the high counter with a lolly-pop. I had forgotten it was up there, but Caleb didn't. He wheeled his Cozy Coupe into the living room, climbed on top of the car, and got on to the counter while I was drying my hair. I have two very good climbers.

Good News!

Some really good news about Pat's work. We have been anticipating a transfer to another city for Pat to take a promotion. He was offered an interview in Texas when Denver came back and offered a promotion for him to stay in Denver that was too good to turn down. So we are here in Denver for another two years. Staying in Denver means that we don't get a "backyard house" quite yet though. We are excited that we won't be moving right when my brother moves back, and we also love all our friends here in Denver and it would have been hard to say goodbye. So we're staying put for now.

Congratulations Pat! Here's a little shout out to my husband. I love him so much. He is such a kind and patient man. Thank you for working so hard for our family.

Easter

We had a couple Easter Egg Hunts prior to Easter day, which the kids loved, but when it came to Easter morning they were hunted out and I ended up collecting the eggs around the house (full of candy) later that day. It was somewhat of a letdown for me. I anticipated two sets of excited eyes searching the house and getting hyper off of too much candy. Oh well. Our highlight this year was the egg dying instead. The kids loved it. Caleb ended up spilling and cracking eggs, but he was happy.


Lily, Paul, and Mason

Candy!

Hmm, it's a good thing he spilled orange and not blue or purple.

Cousin Chris and Sarah


That week my brother and his family came to town. They were here looking for a house. They're moving back to Denver in a couple months, yeah!!!

Winter Hiking

We love to hike and a few weeks ago we had a warm spell. So we packed the kids up and went hiking with grandpa. I was hoping the snow would be melted away with all the sunny days, but to my disappointment there was still snow and a LOT of mud. We still had a good time. It's hard not to have a good time being in the mountains with your family on a sunny day.

Piggy Banks

Pat's father came for a visit and he had a pocket full of change to give the boys to put in their piggy banks. They didn't have piggy banks to put the money in, so dad and grandpa helped the boys make piggy banks out of some canning jars I had. The kids love any opportunity to paint. Thanks grandpa!

Highlights From Boise

Caleb's first movie. We went to see The Princess and the Frog as well as Chipmunks 2. Caleb's attention span isn't quite ready for the movies, but it was fun to try.

The giraffe slide at the zoo was a hit.

Just me and my grandma.

Paul is always good for smiles. I wish sometimes he moved as slow as a turtle.

My mom put one drop of food coloring in a pitcher of water and 'vuala' the kids thought they were painting the sidewalk. An easy hour of entertainment.

Cheese

What kid would turn down a popsicle in 40 degree weather? I think my kids went through 3 boxes of popsicles while we were there. Grandmas's a sucker.

The trampoline is always the favorite pastime at grandma's.

Our Little Mess Maker

Caleb has always been a good eater, but he sure can make a mess. We call him our little mess maker. I know that it has a lot to do with his age, but man this kid can whirlwind his way around the house like nobody's business. If mess making could be quantifiable like running the 100m in 9.5 seconds I think we'd have an Olympian in training.

The other day Caleb found some chocolate syrup that Pat had made for a dessert. I noticed pretty quickly, but I wanted to get a picture. By the time I got the camera he had the chocolate smeared all over his face. I took a couple pictures and put the camera down to get a wash cloth. By the time I got back to him he had quadrupled the mess, but man he was HAPPY!

Happy Boys

I just love it when they get along.




This is what more sprinkles than ice cream looks like. Paul used the entire can of sprinkles on one scoop of vanilla. I couldn't get too upset because I know that I did the same thing when I was kid, and secondly I was the one to give him the sprinkles and walk away. What did I expect?

Sick AGAIN

Some people were asking about us, and then some rumors started spreading that we were in the hospital. We are not in the hospital, but we have been sick AGAIN. It didn't seem that big of a deal at first, but this little bug is lingering.

We have been sick frequently over the last 9 months, and it's getting old. It's not just us; everyone we talk to here in Denver has the same story. It may be because last winter was warm and last summer was cool, but it's just a theory. A couple weeks ago I had a scratchy throat that turned into a cough. A week later Paul developed a cough and a fever. It felt like the Swine Flu all over again without the body aches. Caleb had a well baby check-up with immunizations and Paul wasn't getting better, so I made Paul a sick visit appt for the same time. My main worry for Paul was he stops eating when he gets sick. We thought an IV might be in store. Caleb woke up the morning of the appt with a cough and fever.

At the appt the doc examined Paul and told me the amount of liquid he was drinking (8oz/day) was enough for now and to give him another day a half to see if the fever would break. He said that a virus fever shouldn't last more than five days. On the sixth day the fever broke and Paul started eating. Yeah! A sigh of relief.

Caleb, on the other hand, was examined and wasn't in the clear according to the doc. He sent us home with a nebulizer and a prescription for Albuterol. I wasn't completely convinced that Caleb needed it, but a day and a half later he developed obvious wheezing and a croupy cough. We are doing regular breathing treatments with him, but he still has a fever. Monday will be day 5 for the fever so we're hoping the end will come by Tuesday. Paul still has a cough and I am guessing Caleb's will hang on for a while too. In the middle of all this mayhem I got food poisoning or a 24 hour bug that had me hanging over the toilet. And now Pat is coughing... Times like these make me appreciate when we are in good health.

We are not in hospital thank goodness.

Crafty

Paul loves to do crafts. He got a bunch of craft supplies for Christmas. Paul has discovered the stapler, and wants to use the stapler instead of glue. It is less of a mess, but I have stepped on a couple staples in the carpet lately, and I think I prefer the glue. Caleb painted for the first time the other day. He did really well. No paint got on any surface that couldn't easily be wiped off. However, he did taste the paint a few times. The paint was labeled non-toxic, but by his reactions it still didn't taste good. I am not sure why he even tried it a second or third time. I guess if at first you don't succeed, try try again.

I made masks and capes for the boys this last week. They've been superhero playing. It's the equivalent of princess dresses for girls I suppose.

Christmas Cajun Style

We had a great Christmas in Baton Rouge, LA. I always love being with family. We did a myriad of fun things. We visited Granmommy almost everyday. The kids enjoyed teasing the dog and playing outside. I had some free time with Pat there to entertain Paul while Caleb napped. I think that was my favorite part. I got my first tick while walking around a civil war battlefield. I didn't even leave the hiking trail. I don't even recall brushing up against anything and Ticks aren't even in season. I can only imagine what it would have been like for the men that camped out there when they WERE in season. EEWWW

We went to New Orleans a couple times, going to the Bug Zoo once while there. The kids loved it. They also loved our trip to Mississippi to visit Uncle Bill and Aunt Ann. They have a farm where the kids got to shoot guns and fish. Paul had the opportunity to ride the big tractor, but chickened out. I shot a 22 (my favorite type of gun) and did better than all the men. :) They all had turns with a new pistol Grandaddy bought. They were kids in a candy store. It was a great Christmas!