Little C's Birthday Party

June 26, 2010

Caleb had his 2nd Birthday party today. It's hard to believe that our baby is almost TWO! Caleb is such a ham. He loves to tease and joke around. He has the funniest belly laugh you've ever heard and tries to be just like his brother. Caleb is growing like a weed and I'm pretty sure he's heavier then Isaac now. However, he hasn't quite caught him in height just yet. Caleb is talking up a storm and his favorite thing to do is read books. He loves to read anything about farming, tractors, trucks, you name it! It's amazing how much he is talking and you can already hold a conversation with him. He's too smart for his own good!

We had a small gathering at our house with family members. We enjoyed the evening with Grandma and Grandpa B, Grandma and Grandpa K, Uncle Nolan, Aunt Gina, and cousin Caden. We knew that Isaac wasn't going to understand the whole present thing so we got both Isaac and Caleb a present to unwrap and we'll probably do that until they're old enough to understand the whole birthday concept. It was a nice day for the party. We spent time outside on the swing set and in the kiddie pool. Then we had sandwhiches from Oak Tree BBQ, chips, pop and cake and ice cream for dessert. Caleb enjoyed all his presents. He ended up getting a big wagon for his tractor, as did Isaac. He got about 5 books, money towards his new swing set, bubbles and a big rig truck! Lets just say he hit the jackpot! Grandma Bronson made his green tractor cake and Grandma Kooiker made another chocolate cake. After cake and icecream it started storming so we all hung around the house and watched Shrek until the weather calmed down enough for everyone to leave.

Thanks everyone for making Caleb's day a memorable one. We missed you Aunt Erin, Great Grandma and Grandpa Winter!

I'm still figuring out the new camera so the pictures aren't quite as clear as I would like.

Boys testing out new shovels from Aunt Gina, Uncle Brad

& Cousin Caden

Caleb testing the slide on the new swing set

Time to open presents...

It's a book~ his favorite thing!

And a wagon for his tractor!

Testing the wagon out~ yep works pretty good

Mommy, Daddy and the little monsters!

Isaac got up and ran over by the camera and started making

faces so Caleb would laugh for the picture. It was hillarious!

Daddy and his boys~ a dream come true!

Reading time with Mommy~ Mommy is the best reader,

just ask them!

Caleb's Tractor cake made by Grandma Bronson

He loved his tractor cake

Isaac, Caleb and Caden ready for cake!

The boys "patiently" waiting for cake

Happy Birthday Caleb Benjamin, we hope you had the best birthday a 2 year old could ask for!

Go away nasty flu bug!

Our house seems to be the prime location for the nasty flu bug. Last Thursday on the way to Grandma Kooiker's house, Caleb threw up in his car seat. Luckily it was his turn to stay at Grandma's. He ended up throwing up a few more times throughout the day but it was over with by 1:30 or so. Sunday morning (Father's Day) I woke up with the flu and had it from 7 am-5pm. Monday morning Ross woke up with it and had it from 7am-9pm. Tuesday morning Isaac woke up with a touch of it from about 7am-2pm. Grandma Kooiker also got it on Monday. So I've been cleaning the house like a mad woman, washing loads and loads of laundry trying to get these nasty flu bugs out of our house. It's a fine and dandy time for our washing machine to leak during every load! Not to mention, Caleb's birthday party is Saturday afternoon.

Hopefully we're all in the clear now but boy has it been a rough week. 3 of us just had the flu a month ago so it's quite frustrating to have it all over again so soon.

I can't believe my baby is almost 2. We're having family over for pork sandwiches followed by cake and ice cream. It sounds like it might be hot so I am guessing the boys will be swimming in their little pool part of the time.

Stay tuned for photos after the party!!!!!

Finally pool time!

Well the boys have been in their pool a couple times but it's always been so cold for them. With me working a lot lately, by the time supper is done it's nearly 6:00 and the pool is cold. I finally moved the pool out from under the trees so it stays warmer and we had a hot/humid day today so they spent about 4 hours in the pool and loved every minute of it. I bet they'll sleep good tonight!

Isaac is such a daredevil. He loved running and jumping in the pool and then sliding down the slide backwards. He's such a ham! We're hoping to order the boys a wooden swing set in the next couple days so hopefully we can get it up this month.

Memorial Day Weekend

We didn't do a whole lot for Memorial Day weekend. On Friday I went in to work for a while since one of the other secretaries was on vacation. Friday night Ross and I took the boys out to eat at the Doon Steakhouse. It's always an adventure to take 2 toddlers out to eat. I guess I never expect anything less than having everyone there look at us at least once! Ross did have to take Isaac outside for a "talk" but he came back and behaved well behaved. After eating we took them to the park and they loved that as usual.

Saturday the boys and I headed to my parents house for the big garage sale. I had a ton of baby clothes to get rid of. We were quite disappointed with the turnout. Not many people stopped by and I only sold $15 worth. We're hoping to do it again Pioneer Days weekend for a better turnout like last year.

Sunday we had a relaxing day at home, at least that was the intent. It is really becoming obvious that we now have almost 2 TWO year olds. The fighting and temper tantrums were about enough for this Mommy. Monday we went to my parents for the day, just to get out of the house. We had dinner with them and then enjoyed the afternoon. We went to the park and I got some pictures. My goal was to get some good pictures of Caleb for his birthday invitations. I got a couple of Isaac too. In case you are wondering, his owie on his cheek is from falling off of a truck at daycare. It started out as just a small scratch but since the boy won't leave it alone, it's only looking worse and worse :-(

Caleb is 23 months old now. He's still my laid back boy but he's starting to show his temper now. He feeds off of everything his big brother does and it can get quite out of hand. I keep telling myself that this too shall pass. I love my boys more than anything, but I will admit this is a very hard age right now. It's hard for me to take the boys anywhere by myself. Right now we're focusing on spending time with one of the boys one on one. I think it makes for better behaviors when they get some alone time.

Caleb will be celebrating his "golden" birthday on July 2nd. We have a wedding that weekend so we're going to celebrate his birthday the last Saturday of June. Hopefully we have nice weather so they can spend some time in the kiddie pool.

Where is the warm weather

It sure has been cold here this last week or so. It does not feel like May. May 2nd we went over to cousin Caden's to celebrate his 6th birthday. Isaac and Caleb love cousin Caden and they could hardly wait to see him when we told them where we were going. Caden is a good cousin and plays very well with the boys. We enjoyed spending time with him, his parents, his grandparents, Grandma and Grandpa K and Uncle Nolan. We had tacos for dinner and cake and icecream for dessert.

Mother's Day was Sunday and a good day for the most part. Daddy let me sleep in until 8:00 which was nice. When I went downstairs the boys greeted me as usual. Caleb kept saying to me "Mommy fowers". The boys and Daddy got me a dozen red roses and a nice card. It was so sweet. I was sitting on the couch with Caleb on my lap and then I got another (not so great) present...he puked all over me. We got him all cleaned up (and me too) and he seemed fine. He was playing with Isaac and acting normal. I figured it might be either an ear infection or sinus infection as he's thrown up from those in the past. We went to church as normal and then out to eat for dinner which was nice. Caleb didn't eat much so he had a lot of 7 up and that was it. It was midnight and he threw up again. Very strange and I still did not suspect the flu. I took the boys to daycare on Monday and Caleb went to the doctor. His ears were fine but he does have a lot of drainage so the doctor put him in zithromax for a sinus infection. Monday at 3:30 daycare called and said Caleb threw up again. Monday night is when the flu hit full force and finally ended at 7 am Tuesday morning. The saddest thing is watching your little one throw up when there's nothing left to throw up :-( So now the rest of us are just hoping and praying we don't get the flu. We also hope it warms up and we don't have to deal with any sickness for quite some time.

Here's a few pictures I took over the past couple weeks. We didn't get a Mother's Day picture because Caleb wasn't feeling well so we'll get that done one of these days.



Boys watching Daddy grind feed


Isaac trying out Cousin Caden's drum set

Yep he's a good drummer!


The boys and Sam greeting Daddy!


Silly faces after bath


The boys and Caden waiting for cake


Caleb sitting on Isaac's lap per Isaac's request!

Boys will be boys

I swear we've reached this time in Isaac's life where he has something interesting or funny to be told each week. Last Monday I picked the boys up from daycare. It was a rainy day and had rained quite a bit the day before so going outside did not happen that day. Anyway, I picked Isaac up and his jeans were soaking wet. Well come to find out Isaac and his friend decided to go outside by themselves and slide down the slide which included a big puddle at the end of the slide. Yep that's my boy!

Grandma K gave the boys haircuts and they sure are cute. Caleb really looks grown up now with his haircut. We've been spending more time outside after work/daycare so that's always nice. However, I usually do have to put up with a few meltdowns because they want to go for a tractor ride. I guess Mommy's wagon rides just don't cut it some days. Its times like these I wish we had one of those buggy's to put behind the bike. Right now we only have the little carrier behind or bikes so I can only take one at a time.

It's hard to believe that Caleb will be 2 in 2 short months. Isaac is 2 1/2 and really growing up. All this time he's been uninterested in potty training but he's beginning to show some interest. He's sat on the potty at home a couple times and one time he did it without me even asking. That's a huge step for him in my book. He hasn't ever gone on the potty but he'll do it in his own time.

Friday night we took away the beloved paci or ni-ni. I was really anticipating the worst, some sort of drawn out temper tantrum for hours on end from Isaac. He really surprised me. They both surprised me. For about 3 days I told the boys that the Paci fairy would be coming to our house to take all of their paci's to the babies at daycare. I told them that the Paci Fairy would leave them a new toy for being such big boys. Well Caleb wanted the toy NOW and Isaac wanted "no paci fairy". So Friday rolled around and I told them to kiss their paci's goodbye that morning. Caleb got his at nap time at daycare but Isaac hasn't had his at naptime for 6+ months. I hid all the paci's and left their new toys on the table. When they got home they were so excited. They each got a barn with a tractor, fencing and animals. It's been a big hit. I also bought a teddy bear making kit for them and we made their teddy bears before bed. Teddy has turned into "night time bear" for each of them so I think that helped. Isaac did good and cried about 5 minutes and slept the rest of the night. Nights have gone pretty good and we don't hear much out of either of them. They've only asked for the paci or ni-ni a couple of times. Naps at home didn't happen as we were out and about all weekend. Naps didn't even exist on Saturday until about 6 pm after Caleb had a screaming fit and Isaac was exhausted. Now that they're back at daycare I am hoping they'll be back to their routine.

Here's a few pictures I took of the boys with my new camera.