quotables

Telling me what Caleb would prefer...
That will suit Caleb just right!

Every time I'm on the phone...
Mom, who ah you cawwing on?

Explaining how she found an item in Caleb's new I Spy book...
It just CAUGHT me in the eyes!

Caleb's method of face cleaning (which does not work, I might add)...
When you haf penuhbudduh an' jewwy, you can jus' wickit. Dat's anudduh way to cwean it!

What Caleb calls his new leopard (which had me stumped for a while--what was he saying??)
Wilpuht.

garden update

Things are beginning to grow...so exciting!

that stinker ate one of the plants in my garden!

tootie

Poor Bobe. About a week ago he woke up with a pretty bad stiff neck...and so we missed church for the second Sunday in a row. What a sick patient! Whoooee! Jess, he reminded me of Tootie from Meet Me In St Louis.

* bobe is 3 *

* A BIG POST FOR A BIG DAY. *

Combination Father's Day & Birthday decorations.
That works when the celebrations are close together and they're both boys! :)

(So, which color should I paint my mantle?)On his birthday he went golfing with Daddy.

Then he decided to play an extra 9 holes himself.

Later we went to the store and bought him a t-ball set and a few others outdoor toys. Thank you, Granny!

He surprised us by being quite a good little hitter. He smacked that ball!

Party ti-ime!

Thanks, Mom and Susie, for all your help in making Caleb's party a success!

What a picture! Oh my.

Bring out the cake!

For a couple weeks now, Caleb has been very uneasy about the whole "party thing."
Once that cake came out and people started singing to him and looking at him, that was it. He was done. He threw that hat down.
"No, I don't want a party!"

Maddie trying to rescue the situation and put his crown back on.
Caleb does NOT like to be the center of attention.

Granny and the melting CBMcG Express.

Blow, Caleb!

It's gonna be okay, buddy.

Okay, some train cake. Things are looking up.

Gee, maybe having a party isn't so bad after all.

Maddie, telling all the family about the gift that she got Caleb--that he's opening right now.

Caleb's cousins and Aunt Shawn also got to be here for his birthday party, what fun!
(Jess, that's your gift, thanks! He loves it!)

Braden and I bought him a bunch of animals--only ones with sharp teeth, of course. As he opened them, he lined them up one by one.

Then he got the dinosaurs from Garrick and Tarrah!

What a minute, who's birthday is it anyway?
Squirt guns from Bubbie and PopPop were a hit. Except Tarrah didn't appreciate it too much when she was sabotaged.

Party's over, bathed and clean, reading new bedtime stories...

...along with some of Caleb's famous cheeksmushing.

What a party, what a day, what a boy!
We love you, Caleb!

(PS--Braden & I could hear Caleb singing, talking and playing with his dinosaurs in his bed until well after 10 that night. I think he had fun!)

madeleina ballerina

Leaving for her class recital with the picture she colored for Miss Lena.Singing a song.

Group dance.

Walking on pointed toes.

Performing the choreographed dance.

Watching 3 and 4 year olds perform a choreographed dance is quite amusing, especially when half the kids are your friends' kids. It's adorable one moment and then hilarious the next!

lunchtime conversation

Mom, can I have another rock?
A rock??
Yeah. One of those little rock cookies.
A scone?
Yeah, a stone.
Caleb repeats me: A scone!
No, Caleb, it's not a SCONE it's a STTTONE.
Uh, no, Maddie, it's called a SCONE.

this kid...

...lives in a constant state of mess! (And this is just lunchtime.)

success!

He's wearing a bandaid! Two, actually. Up until now, Caleb's classic line everytime he gets a cut: "No, I don' need a bandaay. It's ge-ing bettow aweady! It doesn' huht a'y moh!"

Nothing that picking out a special box of bandaids,
a big sister agreeing to wear a bandaid for The Cause,
and excessive admiration of the bandaids couldn't fix. I should have thought of this months ago!

Now if I can only figure out what to do about medicine. ("No, I don' need a'y mehcine...")

what's gone is gone.

At breakfast Maddie was showing Caleb how long her hair is, holding it out in her fingers. Caleb tried to hold his hair out in his fingers, of course unsuccessfully. He turned to me, "Mom, I wan' my hayr back."

Sorry, Bobe.Can't help ya with that one!

caleb's latest phase

Leaving the lunch table to run to the kitchen mirror to see chewed up food in his mouth. Ah, boys!

oh, the power of dinosaurs with sharp teeth.

We spent Tuesday evening visiting with our friends Kris and Jess. Jess was having her appendix removed, and so we went to the hospital to be with Kris in the waiting room during the operation. We walked into the hospital, stopped to get our visitors passes, and were helped by an elderly man and woman at the front desk. They were very friendly and noticed that Maddie and Caleb were both holding dinosaurs.
"Oh boy, are those dinosaurs?!"
"Yes!" said Caleb.
Then Maddie piped up, "They are dinosaurs and there are 5 of them and Caleb got them from Mommy and Daddy as a treat for going POOP on the potty!!!"

(I cringed.)

It's true. Oh, the power of dinosaurs with sharp teeth! Yes, my boy is potty trained. I totally forgot to mention it, probably because it was so uneventful. He was a breeze compared to Maddie! He initiated it, it all clicked within about 2 weeks, he had just a handful of scattered accidents, he loves his briefs and doesn't like to wear diapers anymore. It's great!

summer fun

Some fun things we're trying this summer...

I found these open faced sandwiches on Martha Stewart's website. My kids will love this!

I found this coloring project on one of the art blogs I subscribe to. It's a really good activity to strengthen your child's visual discrimination skills. I am modifying it for my kids as they are younger, and we'll just color in the black and white image posted there.

And one more--the cover of this month's Martha Stewart Living. I just thought it was such a simple and fun idea for a 4th of July dessert. She uses vanilla ice cream, raspberry sorbet, blueberries on top, but the best part is that the spoons are cookies! She makes sugar cookie dough and uses a knife to cut out spoon shapes. I'm thinking I'll have to make sure to bake them nice and crisp, and then make sure the ice cream is pretty soft or we'll end up with two frustrated children and a lot of broken spoons. Can't wait to try it!

Uncle Bubba's Seafood Nachos

One of the challenges of living about 5 minutes from both sets of our parents is that generally you have to celebrate your birthday twice. Two parties, two cakes...it's a pretty tough life.

We just celebrated my birthday with my outlaws ('in-laws' to most people), and we had a feast! Susie fixed a lot of delicious seafood for me, but my favorite dish was these awesome nachos she served for appetizers. (I think I ate more appetizer than dinner--oops!) If you like seafood and you want to serve something extra special, try these. They will not disappoint! They are from Paula Deen, after all, and come on now, any nacho recipe that starts with 'Uncle Bubba' just has to be good!

Uncle Bubba's Seafood Nachos (courtesy Bubba Heirs)
Serves 4-6.

1 large (16 oz) bag tortilla chips
2 c. shredded sharp cheddar
2 c. shredded pepper jack cheese
1 T butter
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz lump crabmeat, picked clean of shells, chopped
1/2 lb shrimp, boiled, peeled, deveined, tails removed, chopped
1/2 lb scallops, muscle removed, chopped
1 c. heavy cream
1/2 t. garlic powder
2 c. grated parmesan
salt, freshly ground pepper
Toppings:
1 c. shredded iceberg lettuce
1 c. pico de gallo
10-12 pickled jalapeno slices
sour cream

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.

In a large baking pan or cast iron pan, place a layer of the tortilla chips and cover with the shredded cheddar and pepper jack cheeses. Bake the chips for 2-3 minutes, or until the cheeses are melted. Remove the dish from the oven and set aside.

In a large saute pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter and saute the garlic until soft. Add the crabmeat, shrimp & scallops and saute for 3 minutes. Add the cream, garlic powder, parmesan, salt and pepper, to taste, to the seafood and stir for 2-3 minutes until the sauce has thickened.

Remove the seafood mixture from the heat and pour over the tortilla chips. Top the nachos with shredded lettuce, pico de gallo, jalapenos, and a large dollop of sour cream. Serve immediately.

little pitchers have big ears.

I've been saying for some time now that our cute little boy has some mighty big ears. Braden has always brushed me off, naaah. But the other night at dinner after I mentioned it again for the hundredth time, he pulled out the ruler to set the record straight.I was right.

Caleb's ears are just 2mm shy of my own. Oh dear!Don't worry, Bobe. We still love you!
(And you'll grow into them.)

fresh and fruity

On Wednesday the kids and I picked 8 lbs of fresh spinach......and 13 lbs of strawberries!My kids are awesome pickers!

espresso

This is my espresso from my birthday lunch. My parents have several different espresso cups & saucers that my grandparents saved from when they lived in Italy in the late 1960's.

There's something about these cups I just love.