The boys

After Kaden got dressed today he asked me to take his picture...to show off his new jeans I guess. :) Caleb was also wearing a new outfit (one we got when he was born! I love when you get new things when they are born and you get to use them much later makes the celebration last longer!) and since it's hard to get both of them to pose for pictures I thought I better take advantage of the opportunity. So here's some silly pictures of the boys laying on the floor and then posing by the fireplace...our favorite pictures spot. 

Looking Good

We got Caleb all dressed up for church on Sunday and thought we'd snap a picture of our smooth looking baby. I just love him in his little blazer! And I love how he posed himself in the second picture! :) Seems like just yesterday and Kaden was wearing that same coat! 

  I did get away for a great girls day on Saturday. We went to Olive Garden and it was AMAZING! When you don't have something for a long time and then you get to experience it again...it's so good. And of course nothing tops Target and Starbucks! Matt and the boys seemed to have a good day too and they all got toys when mommy got home! :) On top of the girls day out, I also got to complete a half-marathon on Saturday. I was so thankful that God allowed me to run it and that He helped me get a time of 2 hours and 13 min. Not to shabby. 

  Hope everyone's week is off to a good start. Jesus loves you.

Live and Learn

Kaden and Caleb had two friends over today...and being the crafty (yeah right) mother that I am, I thought it would be fun to make something while the boys were here. I had this great idea to make shakers...you know the little things you shake and they make noise and are just fun to dance with and play with. I figured I had paper plates, rice, a stapler, and crayons and stickers for decorating. So we went to work on our project. The boys did great decorating the plates and I got busy stapling the plates together so we could put the rice in. By the way, stapling two paper plates together in a perfect circle is much more difficult then it seems! I got the rice poured in, closed up the plate, and gave it to Kaden to shake. It worked great. I even shook it over the counter a couple of times just to make sure the rice wouldn't fall out. The other three boys finished their project but weren't into shaking it around so they ran off to play. Kaden on the other hand was jamming to the music and shaking himself all over the living room...and then he pointed out that his rice was leaking out....all over the living room! There was rice EVERYWHERE! My friend showed up to pick up her boys and I explained that she might not want to let her boys shake the plates...then she pointed out that if you glue the plates together first and then staple them things are not as likely to leak out...that would've been a good idea! So as soon as they left we vacuumed up what we could...but I'm pretty sure we'll be finding rice all over the house for a very long time! :)

Our Turn

Well, Matt and I finally caught the stomach bug from Caleb. I'll spare you the pictures and the gorey details! :) Let's just say the hour between 3:30 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. were pretty miserable. Praise the Lord, I'm feeling better now and have even kept my coffee down...probably not the most nutritious thing to drink after being sick...but I'm a big fan of my one cup a day! So far we've just spent the week in recovery mode...hopefully by this weekend we'll all be feeling better. I may even get away with some girlfriends to San Angelo...a 2 1/2 hour plus drive to meet half way...and to get to a decent resteraunt, Starbucks, and Target! Sad when that's the closest Target! :) 

  The picture is of the boys playing in my bathtub. That's their favorite place to play when I'm getting dressed and ready for the day...at least it keeps them contained! :) 

  Hope all is well on your end. Jesus loves you!

200!

So this is my 200th blog...Isn't there a prize or something?! :) The first two pictures are of Kaden and Caleb jumping off the fireplace...probably not the safest past time but they get such a kick out of it...and Caleb doesn't actually jump by himself we have to help him down.

  The other pictures are from this morning. The boys were dancing around our bedroom with the little rings from Caleb's stacker toy around their feet and arms. So cute..and that was the high point of their energy. Caleb, who threw up at breakfast again, was pretty mellow all day and Kaden has come down with a cough/fever cold and took over a three hour nap today. Neither of them are eating much so they don't have a lot of energy. I hate seeing them so sick, sweet babies. Hopefully they'll be feeling better tomorrow. Good thing we didn't have much planned for the three day weekend.

  Hope you all are having a good, sick free weekend! 

The happenings

Not a whole lot going on here in Del Rio and I still haven't quite figured out how to download pictures onto the new computer and then find them again! :) So that is one explanation for the lack of posting! Caleb must have caught via computer the stomach bug that Hope had because he also woke up at 12:30 crying and had thrown up all over! I just felt so sorry for him. Caleb and I spent the rest of the night camped out on the futon trying to sleep. He's doing a bit better today (this happened Wednesday night) but is running a low fever and isn't eating much. I'm so thankful as this is our first sickness this season. At the same time, I'm anxiously watching Kaden to make sure he's not getting sick. Oh well, guess we'll take it one day at a time! Good thing we don't have much planned for the three day weekend. 

  Really that's about it on the excitement meter...We did go bowling yesterday with some friends which was so fun to watch. The boys would get so excited every time a pin fell over...no matter how many pins fell over. And when I say excited, I mean jumping up and down, whooping and hollering, high fives all around excited. So cute! 

  I hope everyone has a good weekend...I now have Caleb sitting on my lap eating kix cereal so maybe we're on the mend which is great but it's making typing much more difficult! :) Until next time...Jesus loves you

  

St. Louis

Just a few random pictures from our awesome time in St. Louis. Why does time go so quickly when you're having fun!? God always uses Elizabeth in my life to challenge and change me...things that I need but not things I always like! :) But she is a true friend, she sees the worst and loves me anyways. Kaden also made fast friends with Huntly (who is also 4 but quickly assured Kaden that he was a young 4 because he just turned 4 and he was an old 4 because he is almost 5) Kaden and Huntly were insperable the whole time we were there, it was so fun to watch...even at night when we had to keep telling them to settle down an stop talking! Seth and Caleb were pretty good friends too... as long as they stayed out of each others way! I didn't get pictures of Thad and Maddison...because again I am horrible at taking pictures but I'll just tell you that they are beautiful! 

Grandma's 80th Birthday

 I just realized as I started to write this post that I don't have any pictures of my Grandma at her own Birthday Party! Yeah, I never claimed to be a good picture taker! But here are some shots of the boys at the party with their Grandma, cousins, and Caleb exhausted after the party! It was a fun day filled with family and people that I don't know! All the family got together for lunch and then from 2-5 was an open house. Grandma enjoyed it so that made the day perfect. 

Home Again, Home Again

Praise the Lord, we are home safe and sound...and healthier then when we left! :) We had an awesome trip up north to both sides of Missouri ( from Kansas City all the way to St. Louis). The farm is such a special place and I am always so blessed to be there. We got in on Thursday and had most of that day and all of Friday to just be on the farm. We got to "play" in the snow...and actually the snow was just perfect...there wasn't much of it and it melted within two days! :) It was perfect for Kaden too! He couldn't believe how much snow there was, he'd never seen so much snow and thought the farm was the greatest thing ever. I didn't bother to tell him that these were juts patches of snow! I love the picture of Kaden showing Caleb snow for the first time. Kaden even got to ride with my Uncles and Great Grandpa to feed the cows...he was very impressed, especially with the amount of cow poop! Kaden and Caleb were also very impressed with their cousin Joanna! Boy, was she awesome to have around! It was almost like have a free babysitter whenever she was around!

  Saturday, was Grandma's Birthday party, which was so much fun and a great time to watch all the generations interact and the second cousins play. The pictures for that are in the other post. 

  Sunday, we went to church and then headed to St. Louis to see Elizabeth! Also in the other post.

  We were back on the farm Wednesday afternoon and we left on Thursday...way to fast but we enjoyed every minute of it. It's always so good to reconnect with everyone and my heart just thrills to see the boys loving on my grandparents who are so precious to me. I'm always blessed by the realization of heritage that comes from being on the farm. I am so privileged to come from generations that love the Lord and I'm so grateful that I can pass that onto my children. 

  

I'm leaving on a jet plane...

Just a note to let everyone know that we are headed to Missouri for a week...yes I know I'm heading north in the winter...crazy. But it's my Grandma's 80th birthday and that only happens once and then for a few day we (the boys and I Matt is staying in Del Rio) are headed to St. Louis to visit my dear friend Elizabeth. I just didn't want anyone to fear that I had stopped blogging or something! :) I'm sure I'll have lots of farm pictures and Michelle freezing in the cold pictures to post. 

  Oh and by the way Matt wants everyone to know that this is my first blog from our new iMac computer!...which will be even more exciting when I learn how to type on this tiny keyboard with out so many typos! 

  See you in a week!

Just to say...

HAPPY NEW YEAR~ May God continue to guide and keep you all as you keep looking to Him!

Flashback

It's Sunday afternoon and I am having a major flashback to being four years old! Kaden has one of his best friends Mariah over to play this afternoon. It all started when it was time to leave church and Kaden started crying because he didn't want to leave Mariah. Matt's gone for the weekend so I figured it would be fun to have Mariah over and something special for Kaden. All of the sudden, I remembered being four years old and planning with Julie or Bethany who would ask whose parents if we could come over to each others houses to play. I remember going up to the parents with big smiles and saying "PPPLLLLEEEAAASSSEEE!" and trying to look hopeful but not pathetic all at the same time. And I remembered how excited we were when they said yes! And now flashforward to 2007...I'm not four...I'm the mother and I got to say yes to two hopeful little faces and watch how excited they were to have the afternoon together. Amazing how some things never change!

Blocks

Grandma Wood bought Kaden and Caleb each a set of wooden building blocks for Christmas. Today, Kaden made his first (of many, I'm sure) tower- building-house- castle...it went by several names! He was so proud so we snapped a picture...and I thought I'd get the picture of Caleb crawling toward the blocks to knock them down! :)

Christmas pictures

Stockings in Bed

Caleb figured out he could make his flute into two pieces...


And now those pieces are weapons!

Playing with Rocket

Strong boy!

Armed and dangerous!




Caleb playing in the box...lots of fun...until it tipped over!

Just a few pictures from Christmas morning. We had an amazing day. Even though we missed family, it was so nice to just be home and enjoy a nice, quiet, slow morning. When the boys first woke up we did stockings in bed. Then while the boys played with their stocking toys, I got our special cinniamon roll breakfast ready (Kaden has been asking for them for weeks, since I've been making them for everyone else! After breakfast, we read the Christmas story and opened gifts. The boys really enjoyed all their gifts, but I took pictures of them playing with Rocket (from the Little Einsteins) since that was their joint gift and they LOVED it! And so far they've done really well sharing it. After presents, we just played and got lunch ready (dad and the boys came but mom was working). Once lunch was cleaned up we watched a new Bibleman video with Kaden and then headed out to play T-ball and golf. I was so impressed how fast Kaden caught on to the games! Christmas evening we went to a friend's house to play games and then home to bed. Just a good day, thank you Lord. Matt and I just kept praising God for the gift of being together. I know so many who are apart from their family, and they are in our prayers.

And now I'm off to take down the Christmas decorations...So much fun to put them up but not so much fun to take them back down! :)

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to tell everyone Merry Christmas. I hope that your Christmas is blessed by the joy of the Lord no matter what the circumstances you find yourself in. May His peace by yours now and always. My prayer and my hope is that this year, I can just sit and enjoy the people that I love and the blessings that I've been given. And treasure these things as the gifts that they are...all the while realizing that I have done nothing to deserve such grace and love, but that God is good and chooses to be gracious. Not that life isn't hard and frustrating and oh so very painful at times...but God is still good and still gracious and always sovereign on His throne. May this hope be yours and mine on Christmas

Binky

Neither of my children have ever used binkies or pacifiers. Kaden prefered nothing and Caleb loves his fingers. So I found it hilarious on Sunday when Caleb came out of his room sucking on a binky...backwards! He found it in his basket that we keep up on his changing table and thought it was just the greatest thing. I didn't bother to show him that it was the other side that was supposed to go in his mouth...why get him attached now especially when he's just as happy to use it backwards!

Zoned

This is what happens when you put moving pictures in front of my children...especially moving pictures that sing and dance...I'm thinking it's a good thing we don't have cable! :)

Christmas Party

Just wanted to put up a few pictures of the teen Christmas party. We had a blast. The kids were awesome at helping us put together a fajita dinner (yes, I know very Christmas like..but her we are in Del Rio) and it was awesome. The only problem being we made so much food...and our teens eat nothing...you think we would have learned that by now...oh well we're having fajitas for dinner again tonight! After dinner, we played a game where everyone has a piece of paper on their back and everyone runs around writing nice things about that person...it's a feel good game! :) Then we did the white elephant thing (hence the neon orange hat in the pictures), and another present game...after that we headed down to the chuch to play sardines (think hide and go seek backwads in pitch black...lots of fun!) We are just so blessed that these kids think we're cool enough to hang out with! They are so much fun and we can't wait to see what God does in their life!

Christmas Cookies

Yesterday, Kaden and I made Christmas cookies together...so much fun! I was amazed at how much better he did this year as compared to last year. He was great at cutting them out, picking them up, putting them on the pan, and eating cookie dough...so much so that when I was done taking pictures and went over to help him he said, "Ummm...why don't you go back on the other side and take pictures." :)

We also decorated Gingerbread houses yesterday... we didn't make them from scratch though! A lady at church gave us some to decorate and the boys did great. Even Caleb did a good job putting on the candy...as long as mommy kept him from eating them!

Hope your Christmas season is blessed!