Fall moments with brothers

We'll start with Jon David. Man, this kid is growing up... It's kinda chilling to watch it. He has decided that he wants long hair for now. And we have decided to let him have it. This school year has presented him with a few unexpected challenges, but God is faithful, and Jon David has become a little more mature through life's lessons. He is applying himself in his school work right now and doing well.
After ending his soccer season with a bang--4 goals at one of his last games--he is playing basketball, and loving it! Yea... shoulda given the brag post warning I guess. Sometimes, I feel a pang in my stomach when I think that he is past the little kid stage... There are many days when he comes home from school, plays outside, comes in for dinner, and then wants to play a video game before bed or something. Our interactions are becoming more rare. We did have a little date, though recently. Well, I like to call it a date. I took him to buy some new shoes, just me and him. He was thrilled! I bought him a pack of gum at the check out, and this thrilled him to no end.
During the drive, he did say that he was starting to "like girls." AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!
Don't worry. As it turns out, after my initial cranking of the air all the way down, and straining with every inch of my ear drum to hear his answer to my question: "So what do you do with the girls. Just hang out or something?" He answered that they were just friends, and that they just sometimes played together I guess. So I think I misunderstood him. Whew!! Yikes... and at the same time, maybe I'm not too far away from that.



Luke James... the other day in the car, he told us that if you don't win at soccer, its' OK, you still get junk food. :)
He and Jon David have both been praying differently lately. They are processing things differently. Luke recently said that the people at church said that if someone does something bad to you, that you should do something good back. I told him that the bible says that too. Ha! On a separate occasion, he said that the people at church said that the bible is like a mirror. Thank you Southside children's ministry, for these great conversation moments!!! Thank you God, most of all.
Luke and Jon David are a huge help with Caleb.


Here is Luke, swinging Caleb. Caleb loves it when Luke gives him an underdog.

And last but not least...

Caleb's clothes and crack-ups

Well, I debated about whether to blog about this or not. I hope that this post is not taken as an overly bragging post... I just feel really blessed, and thankful for the people who have given us clothes for Caleb.
Above, if you can get past this priceless expression, he is wearing one of my favorite shirts. There is a monkey on it. Sadly, he is already outgrowing it (you can see the neckline getting a little stretchy).

Don and I recently realized that many of Caleb clothes say things like "monster" or "rascal"... I hope that these are not self-fulfilling. Ha!




Caleb is a trip. Some days, I feel like my sweet 14 month old has turned into a viking. He just shows no fear, and charges forward around the house experimenting with toys, grabbing, throwing, etc...
Here, he is swinging around the magnetic rod that goes to our "go fishing" puzzle. Did he hurt himself? Nope. He's tough!
He does love balls, and is quite good at throwing and rolling it. I love doing this with him.
And I should interject at this point that Caleb seems very smart, and loves to cuddle too. I think I may be overdoing the warrior profile. He loves for me to read him books, and is catching on when Daddy says "gentle" so that he will stop hitting. :) He loves his brothers, and will sit with them on the couch, play with them, and also tolerate them when they are a little rough with him. Back to the craziness: in his defense, sometimes he has to be a little crazy to get around in this household. ;0

The guys watching AFV. I admit, sometimes, I like TV!!

The taco and Coach Saban

Luke's kindergarten teacher assigned each child from the class a "community helper" to dress up as for their parade on Friday. Luke's assignment was a coach. Ha! I was so thankful. He liked it so much that this was his costume all week-end, trick-or-treat and all.
Jon David wore an army costume for his school party on Friday (sorry, no pic of this one), and borrowed our friends' home made taco costume for trick-or-treating. Let me just say that this was a true taste of celebrity. Everywhere we went, people were pointing to the "taco"! I thought Jon David would love the attention. I think he did at first, but the weight of the thing, and the constant barrage of comments got to him after a while. He wanted to take it off. It's hard to be famous! Poor guy. ;) Brandie and Joey, thank you guys so much for loaning us your art work--a Wilmore costume winner last yr, no less!!!

Above: Brandie holding Caleb. Thanks again! Btw, I just threw on a make shift Jedi costume on Caleb--left over from the older boys' b-day parties in the Spring. Poor kid. What do you do? He is the third... Oh well, at least he wasn't tormented by a stuffy costume, right?...

Above: Jon David with his school friend, Jacob. Sweet boys. Like Jon David's hair? Yes, it's long. And yes, he likes it that way. We have decided to let him grow it out if he wants to. My sweet little skater dude.

Field trip with Luke

To the pumpkin patch at Bi Water farm!







Mom, I have to openly apologize to you for not having taken a single picture of you or of us together while you were here... Perhaps I was truly enjoying the moment too much! :)
I had a wonderful time on your birthday date.
Mom and I had dinner together, and it was so special to be a part of her celebration. Each one of us (Dan, Dave, Sarah, and me), got to take her on a date. I loved it so much, and am very grateful that God gave her to me to be my mother. Thanks, Mom. I love you!!! I'm debating about how much to blog about all of this.
More later!

Why I can't get anything done.

Don has been calling Caleb godzilla, a nickname I am not fond of: for one thing, it's an exaggeration. However, like most exaggerations, there is some truth there...

As terribly blurry as this picture is, you can still make out the print: "little monster." You can't see his hands, so technically, he could be armed and dangerous. OK, he is not armed. But he is arguably dangerous.
Here are a few illustrations of my precious treasure making everyday chores very difficult.

First of all: the dishwasher. A Caleb Thomas favorite. He finds it irresistible when it's open. When we close it, there is much fit throwing and thrashing about.


I thought I would try to vaccum our disgusting floor--which by the way, stays disgusting almost all the time.
So, attempt number one:
Don't let this innocent look fool you.

Mmmm Hmmm. See what I mean?


Below, Jon David is um, helping??

And below, this was taken during the actual act of vacuuming! Yep, imagine the loudness and all. So during some of the chore, I had one arm holding the vacuum, and the other holding Caleb back. It was quite a work out. Some of you might suggest that I do this while he is napping? But if you think about it again, you might conclude that this is not such a great idea either. However, believe me, I am open to ideas at this point.

And then, there's the old trusty dump-a-box-out activity... ugh.


OK, so eventually, I settle him in front of a video. I think I asked one of the boys to sit with him. This often helps a lot. He loves his brothers. Notice the location of the sippy cup. Hee hee.
I return to the kitchen to load the dishwasher :)


A few blissful minutes of uninterrupted cleaning pass. When I return to check on things, here is what I find:

Unusual you ask? Nope.

Oh, and finally, Caleb has discovered that the pantry is a treasure chest of food. He has learned the art of providing his own snack. I have seen him retrieve his own cracker and feast all by himself. Here is further proof of said pantry discoveries and experiments:

Did you miss it? Let me help:



Ah. The joys of children. Yes, they are a joy. They are. They really are. I love them. I love toddlers too. I do. I really do. :)
Really, I do.