She eats the cake

Finally she gets into it, and chows down on her yummy birthday cake....it was a slow process!

dah boys in the basement

The bear party takes on a new meaning when you let the boys take charge of the events!

Mr. Robot-o

David provided the entertainment while Abby opened her presents!

 

Eating the Cake!

My First birthday cake! Mmmmm yum. I think it was a hit! Took her a bit to finally get to the cake but once she did she finished it off. 

Happy Birthday Abby!

We had Abby's First birthday Party here tonight. It was lots of fun! I have lots of pictures to show ya and some video's too! Her theme was "My Beary First Birthday", see she has a bear that she adores, she will not sleep without it so we went with the bear theme. The evening started off with dinner, then a game of Blurt for Abby! What is this you ask, well it is a modifyed version of the game Blurt. We thought up words pertaining to Abby, read the definition and the contestants had to blurt out the answer. We had team kids vs, team grown ups. The kids totally won... After our game the winners helped bring in the cake! Abby took forever to eat her piece. Ate it like a true lady...I don't think she was very messy at all. When I think back to Josh he was covered from head to toe! Finally Abs got to open all her cool gifts, she did very well! Thank you Family!

Her First Giggle

Seeing how I figured out this video thing....Here is Abby's first giggle caught on tape. It is from April 2005. Pretty cute if you ask me.

Testing out the video link!

I am seeing if I can actually use this video thing-a-ma-jig. Matt K was king enough to educate me on how to do it...now we will see if I am a good student!
This is from June, Joshua's birthday. Darth Vader came to visit and it really left an impact on poor Caleb. All he has to hear is the Vader March and it sets him off. Hope this works!

How can They be so Different!

Tonight we were getting things ready for Abby's birthday party on Monday. It is her birthday TODAY! She is officially 1 year old. I can't believe it was only a year ago we met her for the first time. I can remember the day still all to well...The painful parts are hard to forget! Abby was born at 6:25pm November 26, 2004. It was a Friday and she had me busy the whole day at the hospital. We were there just before 9am, and it felt like it took forever to get things rollin. We feel very blessed to have her in our family now.

Okay but back to tonight, the boys decided to help me make abby's birthday cake. They were super helpful! When it came time to clean up Caleb definitely took the cake...hee hee. He couldn't get enough of the batter.

Now Josh on the other hand....I think the sugar got to him. He kept leaving the kitchen to return in some unusual costumes....As you can see. Ryan and I have never laughed so hard. Gotta love him!

WuHoo We Are All Moved In!

The Day has finally come and we are in our new house. This Saturday we had friends and family help us load up and unpack into our new home. They were so wonderful and helped out sooooo much, thanks guys! My dad fixed up a few things that the building inspector had pointed out so the house is as good as new! The rest of the grandparents were so helpful with babysitting for us, it allowed us to get everything done on the weekend. The rest of you that helped were unbelievable thank you just doesn't say enough.
We have had three sleeps here so far, it has been great. We have had a few funny moments discovering the new house though. Yesterday morning we woke up freezing couldn't figure out why it was so cold, turns out one of the kids had discovered the furnace switch on the wall and shut off the furnace, man that was cold. Monday afternoon the kids were in the basement playing and I was upstairs cooking dinner all of the sudden one by one the lights started to go out. I couldn't figure out what was going on until I heard this click, giggle giggle, click giggle giggle. Josh had found the electrical box downstairs. Now if you know Josh and his fascination with being electrocuted you would see the irony. You should of seen his face when I explained the severity of what he was doing and how dangerous it was...Trust me it was priceless. I don't think he will ever touch the electrical box again let alone go in the bedroom where it is. The next thing is a funny one for me....Just take into consideration I do have some blonde in my hair. When we bought the house we probably had it pointed out to us a gazillion times that the appliances were upgraded, obviously a typical realtor selling feature. So this dishwasher had some high expectations placed on it. Well last night I was ready to test it out for the first time, it was all loaded up detergent in place I closed the door and hit the normal wash cycle and off it went. I was soooo impressed, it was the quietest dishwasher I had ever not heard. This morning when I woke up I was so impressed by this dishwasher that I felt the need to point out to Ryan how stinkin quiet it was I went on and on about how I could not even hear it not at all. Well guess what people...Turns out this fancy dishwasher is a little bit more high tech then I thought. So high tech in fact that apparently I hadn't even turned it on. Yup that is right it was so quiet it wasn't' even running. Am I smooth or what. Not only do you have to hit the cycle you want but there is even a start button. Yup the blonde in my hair is really showing now.
OH I almost forgot the most disgusting, horrific positively revolting task I had to do. You see the previous owners had a dog a rather large dog, and well it turns out that the back yard was this dogs pride! I have NEVER seen so much CRAP in my life. The kids were dying to play on there new playground so I figured I should scan the area to make sure it was safe first and OH MY WORD, the whole yard was covered in POO! As I am cleaning up the doggie doo doo I am gasping and telling Josh that this is going to make me puke. He simply states "Mom I think you should let Daddy do this." I think Josh was right I really should of because that was so gross. All I can say is it may be a bit longer before we get a dog after all! If Ryan had to clean that I am thinking a dog would not be in our future , EVER!

We are loving our new house and can't wait for anyone who hasn't seen it to come on over for a visit!

To Tell The Whole Truth and Nothing but the Truth..

Last night I attended Just 4 Me at our church. Ryan's mom spoke about parenting and providing our children with the Foundation to live life as a Christian. To teach them that as Christians we have a higher standard to live up to then society standards. Sharon had a list titled the ABC's of parenting and it was amazing. It was such a helpful tool of basic things we want to teach our kids, do as a family and simply remember as parents. Sharon did an excellent job it was so informative and helpful. Once our evening was finished I left with Cara Lee for our drive home. Of course I couldn't wait to get her opinion on a incident that happened in our home earlier that day. I hadn't thought much about it until this evening workshop. Sharon reminded us that our children are always watching us they take in the good but they also take in the bad. She was talking about telling a little white lie and how for children that is setting an example that sometimes it is ok to lie. HMMMMM do you think this struck a nerve? Let me tell you about "the incident". While we were at home earlier that day Caleb was flipping through a book at the coffee table. Josh was running around chanting something or other most likely "I am Luke Skywalker ready for battle", whatever the case something struck a nerve in Caleb. All of the sudden he started to push the book back and forth and proceeded to rip the last page out the book. I yelled for him to stop, ran over and once I arrived I saw what I feared was true. He was ripping a library book, one from Josh's school which Josh had chosen and brought home during library time at school. So now Josh is fully aware of this and that it is his book from school. Josh's immediate reaction is oh oh I have to tell my teacher that Caleb ripped my book. I cut him off and said oh I think I can fix it, ran and got the tape to fix the book made it look as good as new. Caleb assisted me then was sent on a time out. Josh kept saying I have to tell my teacher they are not going to be happy. Every time I heard him say this I could feel myself thinking oh man I hope he doesn't say anything tomorrow no one will notice as long as he doesn't say anything. But of course I said nothing thinking Josh will just forget about it. We all moved onto other activities and never spoke about it again. Now I am totally thinking about this book during the ABC's of parenting and setting the example of truth. I gave myself an out though if CaraLee thought it would be alright then I could just return the book and never have to say anything. I told her what happened and before she had a chance to offer her response I knew I couldn't let this go. I changed my question to her a bit, I asked her if I should have Caleb apologize and go and talk to the librarian Mr. Graham. Now you need to know this would be extremely hard for Caleb he is shy as it is and to fess up and verbalize this to an adult would be difficult. Cara Lee suggested I have Caleb make a card for Mr. Graham, excellent idea. And I figured we could take Josh to see Mr. Graham before class starts in the morning to show him the book and tell him what happened. So that is what we did. This morning Ry took Josh to see Mr. Graham and when I came to pick Josh up Caleb and I dropped off a card Caleb made for the librarian. When we left the school I asked Josh what Mr. Graham said Josh's response was oh he told the whole class what happened at library time and told us that Caleb is bad. I nearly busted a gut, this is the perfect example of a child adjusting a story. I called Ryan when we got home and asked him how Mr. Graham reacted Ryan said he was super nice and thanked Josh for bringing this to his attention.
We did it we told the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

I was told tonight!

While I was making dinner this evening Caleb informed me that he has a new brother. Oh I replied, who is your new brother? He said well he has purple hair and I play with him all the time. I asked his name. Caleb stated it is Nalen. Hmmm that is a neat name I told him. Then I asked if he is your brother is he my son? His first answer was no he is my brother so I explained to him that Josh is his brother because he is my son, so his answer was yes he is. I asked well why does he not live with us. Caleb said well he might come. Our conversation ended there. When Ryan walked through the door the first thing Caleb told him was that he has a new friend named Nalen with purple hair. Welcome to the family Nalen with purple hair:)

My Hubby!

Ry was telling me today that he was reading the blog and was loving the story on our kids phases! But he also informed me that my grammar is not so wonderful. So Ryan for your benefit I will try my best to get my than and then's right and my there and theirs together! Wish me luck:)

Parent Teacher Meeting!

Today was the day! We met with Mrs. Mitchell Joshie's kindergarten teacher. It was quite funny because the letter that came home stated that if you had concerns you could set up a time to meet with her or she would set up a time to meet you if she had concerns. Of course there was no concerns but we really wanted to see how Josh is doing! We went today at 1:15 and had a 15 minutes with the teacher. All is well in kindergarten world. He is right on target, slightly ahead with his letter recognition and counting but honestly the standards aren't very high. All they are asked to do at this point is count to 10, write their name and do a couple other letters. He is right in the middle with his peers. We were extremelyy curious to know how he was doing socially as there are many buddies in his class that know each other outside of school, and he did not know anyone. She said he is a confident boy who is not afraid to ask others to play but also chooses what he wants to do instead of clinging to certain peers. The big question was is he being silly or rude as we have seen this side at home or when I have been his teacher in Sunday school. Mrs. Mitchell made it very clear that there is absolutely no concern of him being rude or silly, she told us never to worry about that in regards to Josh. Just goes to show they save the best behavior for Mom and Dad ha ha!

Kids and their Phases

Why is it that when your kids are in the middle of whatever phase it may be that it feels like there is no end? We definitely have gone through some pretty interesting phases but yet we always seem to do just that, go through them. Both Caleb and Josh have had their moments.

Josh's most memorable phase would have to be the "Crazy Germ Man" one. There was a span of 8-10months where he was completely obsessed with getting his hands dirty. He would not eat with out having a cloth by his side, he was constantly asking "if I touch this with my hands can I still eat this", and the hand patting together routine to get rid of excess germs. Now if you were able to see Josh before this phase you would of known how completely opposite this really was. This is all coming from the boy who picked up dog poo when he was 2, when eating had food all over his face and hands, and his whole motto was the dirtier the better. So now you can see why we were beginning to wonder what was going on. Of course looking back I can now see that "Crazy Germ Man" was one of Josh's many phases. His most recent behavior was not getting himself dressed. I am SOOOOOO pleased to announce that this phase looks like it is fading. All week he has been more than willing to do EVERYTHING himself. His philosophy is that in doing this everyone will think he is a 6 year old, and trust me it is working by all of us his disguise as a 6 year old is working.

Now Caleb's phases aren't quite as dramatic but yet are still very memorable. One of his phases I remember the most is his "Sneaky Man" phase. This boy could disappear in seconds, thankfully most time it happened at home. Although there has been two incidents in the mall, blocking doors off to hunt down the missing child who of course was hiding happily in the clothes rack. At home it was always a lot more destructive I would blink he would be gone. Most times he would just be off playing quietly by himself on other occasions he would be in adventure mode. Adventure mode typically meant sitting in the kitchen sink, climbing on top of the kitchen counter, searching the cupboards emptying the oatmeal all over the kitchen floor, putting all the extra toilet paper rolls into the toilet, or a true favorite dropping toys down the vent in his bedroom. Now these things didn't' just happen once they happened several times. As awful as these things sound I could handle it cause at least I could find him. The WORST "Sneaky Man" incident was one afternoon the phone rang I answered it, it was no longer than a 5 minute conversation and of course when I hung up Caleb was no where to be found. After searching the house for 10 minutes yelling for him at the top of my lungs, panic set in. I checked every dangerous spot you can imagine, I checked all the doors and windows making sure he didn't' get out but still no sign. Than I figured he must of gotten out. I went up and down our street calling and calling. I was terrified, ran to the neighbors with poor Josh behind me trying to keep up. As I am standing there knocking on their door I keep thinking I can't leave the house what if he is hurt, so I run back leaving Josh standing at their door knocking. I did one more top to bottom check of the house and there behind the door of the playroom is our little red head playing with his cars. So after finding him I than had to retrieve my other son from my neighbors door where he was still standing all alone. Good think I only had two kids at that time, I was pregnant with Abby when that happened. Thank the Lord that phase has passed.
His latest phase is screaming at his brother when he is mad. I did not know he could be this loud or has that much to say when he is angry. We are continually working on it and we all know that this too will pass!

One More week....

One week and counting til the move! I can't wait I hardly remember what our house even looks like. It is kinda funny, it is really the largest purchase we will ever make and I have only been in it twice, and never without the owners being there. I am trying to plan out where I want to put my furniture and I can't even remember the simplest of things. The color of the carpet? The cabinets? I have no clue to the colors of most of the walls either. We are hoping to get possession a couple days early so we can do some painting, but I am worried that won't be happening. So that means we will have to work at that after our move. We could wait to move in but who wants to do that? And if we don't move on the 19th the following weekend is Abby's first birthday and I really don't want to be moving on her birthday I want to be settled in!!!! I just can't believe it is only a week away, thank goodness our parents have been so generous to us in letting us live here so long!
The downside to this excitement is the actual move...dun dun dun dun. Didn't we already do this once? We have some stuff with us but most of our belonging are in storage at Ry's parents...thank the Lord for them!!!! So we will be bringing things from two locations. The reward will be sweet, to have space again for the kids to play without having them in my back pocket all day! Although I think there will be many little conveniences we will miss, having the grandparents right upstairs too:)

We gave the kids the camera and this is what happened:)

 

Look at me I can pull myself up!!!

 

Caleb Says the Darn-dest Things

Last night the douglas boys oh ya and one little girl went over to play at their favorite cousins house and to watch the hockey game. The kids played and played and had a great time. While playing there Caleb had come across a stars wars wrist band, and had been wearing it during his playtime. When Ryan brought him home he had his jammies on and I guess the wrist band was hidden on the arm under the jammies. When Caleb woke up this morning and was getting dressed he discovered what was on his wrist. "Oh Oh daddy, I get forbout this I have to give it back to Uncle David." Yes Caleb did get forbout it. Oh ya and don't worry Uncle David he will return the Star Wars wrist band asap, I am sure you realize it is missing:)

1,2,3

Caleb has impressed us all by counting from 1-30! He sits at the kitchen table right now and has for the past 15 minutes just counting through his favorite blue book!

Episode III

Well it has been at least 6 months and Josh is still strongly wrapped up in his passion of Star Wars. Yesterday as some of you may know Return of the Sith came out on video. Now we have not let Josh watch the newer Star Wars movies he is still a bit too young, but he has watched the older ones, Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and his favorite Return of the Jedi. As I was putting him to bed last night we could hear this strange sound, I looked at Josh and he was wide eyed. With that look we both made the connection to the strange sound we were hearing, it was the sound of a lightsaber battle. He asked "Why on earph is that sound coming down here?" I told him that Uncle Shane had got the new Star Wars movie the one about Darth Vader. Josh's reply "Oh my goodness can you even believe that Episode III is on upstairs right now, I can't even believe it. Mom can you you believe you are old enough to watch Episode III?" He sat there so content trying to listen for battles, he did ask though why is there no talking? I told him I would go ask Auntie Becky and Uncle Shane to turn it up for him. With that I tucked him in and he blissfully fell asleep to the tune of lightsabers crashing together.

lil' chick

Trick or Treat

Yesterday consisted of more candy than I realized existed. Both boys had Halloween party's at school filled with treats upon treats. Sounds like they had fun, Josh went to school as the Cat in the Hat and Caleb was a Lion. When I picked Josh up from school he was so excited about all the costumes he had seen and highlighted his favorites, we picked Caleb up and he did the same, than we ventured to the grocery store to pick up a couple things. While we were at the store I noticed a drastic change in Josh. He went from non stop talking to complete silence and his color completely gone, he was white as a ghost. I hustled through the store and got back in the van as soon as we could. On our drive home I was told "Mom I am going to barf up" I pulled into the driveway and got him out as fast as I could. Nothing happened. I brought him in and got him settled in our bed with a bowl just in case, and than went to bring the rest of the crew in. By the time we got back inside it had happened, Josh had barfed up, some in the bowl but most of it on my bed! The poor guy, the rest of his afternoon consisted of more of the same. Of course any talk about trick or treating and he was confident he would make it. As the evening approached we headed over to David, Connor and Emily's for trick or treating our buddy Ben met us there and all the kids even Josh trick or treated for almost 2 hours. They had a blast and Josh was a trooper despite his poor stomach he was determined to trick or treat and he did. The mommy's hung out and greeted other trick or treaters and the daddy's toured the neighborhood with a whole crew of characters. Last night we sent out a chicken aka Abby, a Lion aka Caleb and Luke Skywalker aka Josh and they were accompanied by a teenage mutant ninja turtle aka Ben, a jaguar aka David, a caterpillar aka Connor and a bumble bee aka Emily.

The troops