7 Year Old Honesty

Caleb's prayer at dinner tonight:

Dear Jesus,
Thank you for our food. Thank you for the beautiful day. Thank you for my family... (5 sec. pause)
And Myah...
Even though she cries a lot... (another pause)
And it's really loud...
Amen.

She Walks - Finally!

Myah has finally decided to start walking. Granted, it's still not something that she does unless she wants to, but at least it's starting to sink in. When she went to the doctor's office for her 15 month check-up she showed a bit of her 'true colors'. The doctor smiled a very knowing smile and said, "My, she's quite strong-willed isn't she?" I have to laugh because it doesn't matter what it is, if Myah doesn't want to do it, good luck getting her to. My girl can be sweet and silly one minute and stubborn and demanding the next. I guess we better watch out - we've been told this is just preparation for the teen years.

Myah took her first 'step' in November over Thanksgiving. It was literally one step. Her balance is absolutely amazing and it's totally been a stubborness issue - she just hasn't wanted to walk. Over the past few months she's taken a few steps here or there (all on her terms) but tonight was the first time that she walked any distance beyond a few feet. Hopefully we're turning the corner with this. Now we need to work on the little old woman walk. lol

Silly Baby Girl

We were eating lunch and Myah was in such a silly mood that I just had to grab the camera.

Why we love Phoenix

Today is January 19. Do I really need to put a caption with these pictures?

Please don't send hate mail. :-)

Birthday Cake

Every year the kids get to make and decorate their own birthday cake. This year Caleb made a confetti cake with chocolate icing. On top of the chocolate layer he added another layer of icing to make an American flag, then he finished it off with sprinkles. Just to answer your questions: Yes, it was all his idea and he decorated it all by himself. No, I don't normally let my kids lick icing off of knives, but he is seven, he was being supervised and it was a very dull butter knife. Yes, he's wearing an apron.





Caleb got so excited after blowing out his candles, he forgot exactly how many fingers to put up. At least that's what I hope happened - if not, I need to have a talk with his math teacher.

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Caleb hit the big 7 today. Man is he getting old! He woke up this morning convinced that he grew an inch overnight and declared that he is ready for second grade now. Every year on his birthday he gets to have anything that he wants for his birthday dinner. Usually this involves some type of fish or shrimp since that's a rarity in our house. This year, he decided to go a different direction.

Here's a little bit of the background: The school Caleb attends does not have a cafeteria so the kids bring their lunch everyday. He usually gets a sandwich, cheese stick, fruit and crackers. Several of his friends take Lunchables. Caleb has wanted to take a Lunchable to school for the entire year. To help him understand why he can't, I explained that Lunchables are too expensive and the food in them is not very healthy for a growing boy. I did tell him that if he still wanted one, he could have one on his birthday. Guess what? He remembered. He decided he didn't want to take it to school, because apparently all the kids try to snitch the 'treat' that comes in the box. He decided that he wanted his Lunchable for dinner. I offered shrimp, I offered fish, I even offered steak. Nope. He wanted a pizza Lunchable.

Have you ever bought a Lunchable for an overly excited child at 6pm at the grocery store? It makes you feel like a bad mother. We get to the cash register and Caleb is dancing around singing a song about his lunchable. The cashier gives me a knowing look and says, "Too rough of a day to cook tonight?" How do you explain that you're not too lazy to cook, only that your son has been looking forward to this moment all year? You don't - you just smile a half smile, pat your child on the head and let him carry his precious cargo out of the store.

I did have to laugh at Caleb while he was eating his pizza. He declared that he didn't really like the sauce because "it doesn't taste like our normal sauce - it's probably non-organic". Seven year olds can be soooo picky.

Future Member of Dancing with the Stars...

Could Myah have a future on 'Dancing with the Stars'? While ballet lessons and tap classes may change the future of my prediction, at this moment I'd have to say 'no'. It's not that she doesn't try, it's just that whole rhythm and beat thing. This leads me to go back to the age old question of nurture vs. nature. Is it genetic or is it my influence? I hope that her biological mom was rythmically inclined because, while I'm ashamed to admit this now, the past cannot be undone: I was on the cheerleading squad in high school. I was also given the nickname 'Robo-dancer'.

Buddies and Bowling

While in PA we get together with my Mom's side of the family every year on Christmas. This year, due to travel for ourselves and my one cousin, we delayed the get together until Saturday. There's always a lot of kids, a lot of food and needless to say, a lot of noise. It's always a blast and a great way for everyone to catch up with each other. And to think that I thought it was hard to get three kids to look in the same direction at the same time...




Before we left for Phoenix, we had to take Caleb bowling. I'm not sure why, but the child loves to bowl. We decided to take him bowling for an early birthday party. My dad, Rob, Caleb and I all bowled a game. Needless to say, Caleb and I were not in contention for first place. In fact, I'm ashamed to say that I didn't even break 100 - I got a 99 - with the bumpers up. I like to tell myself that I scored that low on purpose. So Caleb wouldn't feel left out...

Celebrating Christmas - A Day Late

Christmas day was spent either inside a car or inside an airplane. It was a long, long day. A special thank you to Alex for giving us a ride to the airport at 4:00am on Christmas morning. Their son Leo gave Caleb and Myah stuffed animals for Christmas - Myah's was a girl moose and Caleb's was a boy moose who's antlers lit up. It kept him very happy on the plane - thanks Leo!
We celebrated Christmas the day after with my parents in PA and my brother and his family. We hadn't seen their little boy since he was 5 weeks old and, boy, has he changed. He has already surpassed his older cousin Myah in size (not too hard of a feat, but she is six months older than he is). The kids all had fun playing together but I never realized how hard it is to get three small children to sit still and look in one direction at the same time. I don't think it happened the entire time we were in Pennsylvania.

Looking up the chimney for Santa.

Josiah, Caleb, Myah and Dodge (my brother's dog)

Watching Josiah open a present.

Myah got her own purse, so hopefully she will stay out of Mommy's.

Myah had to hand each piece of wrapping paper to someone before she would pull off another piece.

Caleb's beloved Star Wars Legos - the one thing he specifically asked Maw-Maw for.

Chewing on a Light Saber - thinking about joining the dark side.

Helping Pop-Pop open his present.

Getting ready for Christmas dinner.

Myah's favorite thing? You guessed it - bread!

Christmas Eve

We let Caleb open his presents on Christmas Eve because we had to leave the house at 3:30am on Christmas Day to catch our flight to PA. Santa doesn't do 3:30am and neither do we. In case you are wondering about our lush, beautiful Christmas tree, it is the first year we bought a live tree. We've always had fake trees because we are never around after Christmas to take it down and don't want to come home to a big pile of needles. For the past several years we've had a huge 15 foot, pre-lit tree. However, this year we couldn't put it up because we no longer live in a house that has a two story room. Rob and I were fine going 'treeless' this year, but Caleb was insistent that we have a tree. So, in my infinite wisdom, I suggested one of the potted trees that we saw at Walmart. They were only $15 and since it's in a pot, we could have a nice houseplant after Christmas. When Caleb and I got to Walmart and I started pulling individual trees out of the bunch (trees look so much nicer when they are clumped together) I noticed how much they resembled Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. Caleb didn't seem to notice, or care and went on to decide which tree was the best looking. After purchasing the tree, we proceeded to load it into the front seat of the Mustang (not the smartest car to use) and brought it home where Caleb happily decorated it.

Our beautiful tree in all it's glorious splendor.

Caleb is very excited over the size of one of his presents.

Pondering how to mine crystals.

Very excited about Wall-E (the robot) pajamas.
He was even more excited when he first opened them and thought they were sheets. Go figure.