Genetics!

So this is where Caleb got his curly hair! This is my wonderful Dad. You can barely see it in this picture, but these guys are twins.

Happy Birthday Mark!

So Mark turned 31 yesterday! I didn't forget to post, we just had a busy day! But I wanted to post some things I LOVE about him!!

* He comes home from work and makes each one of kids feel special and let them know how much he loves and missed them

** He will always kiss me goodbye and when he gets home from work

** He will always let me hold his hand

** He remembers things I didn't think he would remember

** He loves to pamper me

** He will watch the kids when I need a break

** He teaches our kids (and me) gospel principles

** He is patient with me and lets me have my "GIRL" moments

** He will feed Caleb and change his diapers when he's home (without me asking)

** He does the dishes after dinner (without me asking)

** He makes a KILLER steak (about as good as Ruth's Chris)

** He will give me a foot rub for no particular reason

** He is very musical and sooooo talented with it!

** He compliments me

** How he "tries" to annoy me (in reality, I am better at annoying him)

** He is such a hard worker that when he puts his mind to something, he gets it done with perfection

** He is not afraid to kill bugs for me

** He adores his family and is the most important thing to him

** He is a person anyone can get along with

** He is agreeable

** He is very creative

Happy Birthday Babe! Hope it was a good one!!

Squishy Soda???

So you are asking what squishy soda is.....Well, Elli came up with this. When we got home from church and started making something for lunch, Elli was talking about squishy soda. We asked her what it was and she showed us. She was holding a can of soda that had the top part broken off. (The thing that opens the can.) Well, there was a little hole on the top of the can where the thing broke off. Elli was able to "squish" the sides of the can and pop would come out. Hence....Squishy Soda.

Where do they come up with this???

GREAT NEWS!!!

Braeden & Elli both slept in until 9:00 this morning!! This never happens. Their usual time of waking up is 6:00 AM on the dot! Unfortuneately I got up with Caleb at 6:00. I did get to go back to bed for an hour when Caleb fell back to sleep and the other kids were still sleeping!! This, everyone, IS GREAT NEWS in my book!!!

Cute Words!

So last night I was putting the kids to bed and Braeden asked me if I would read them a book. Well, I hate to admit it, but I told him that I really didn't want to and that he should read it to himself. This is what Braeden's response was....

"Mom, I want you to read it beacuse you have a beautiful voice."

Boy does Braeden know how to use his cuteness to get what he wants. Well, I ended up reading them a book!

Memorial Day Weekend

So we had a fun Memorial Day Weekend! We were going to go to California to visit friends and go to the beach, but Mark had something else going on this weekend, so we ended up staying home. But we decided to take the kids golfing at Golfland on Saturday. They had a blast.

Elli had a unique way of golfing. That's probably how I should have golfed. It would have worked better for me.

Then we hit it up at the bumper cars. QUESTION???? Why do they call it bumper cars if all they do is yell at you not to bump the other cars??? Do you know the answer to that? Anyway, that was fun!

This is Elli mad at me for not going on the bumper cars again after we went on our ride.

And this is Elli 30 seconds later having fun climbing on the fence! WOMEN!! We can change our attitudes so fast!

Then on Monday we went to Mark's cousin's house and swam and had a BBQ. They have the perfect backyard for kids and Braeden and Elli were well entertained!

The pictures can explain themselves. They had a fun swingset, a big Water Slide, a trampoline, Ping Pong and a swing that hung from a tree!

This is Carson holding Caleb! He was so cute with Caleb. He wanted to hold him a lot.

Last Day of School!

So I asked Braeden if he wanted to get his teacher anything for being a great teacher and this is what he said...

"Ummm, let's get her a flower and some weights." I asked him why he wanted to get her weights and he said, "Because if she doesn't have any, it would be nice to get her some." So we just ended up getting her some flowers.

Helloooooo Gorgeous!!

So Elli's Dance Recital was last Saturday. She was so excited to do her dance on the BIG STAGE and just couldn't wait any longer. When I dropped her off where her class was, she didn't even look back at me. So I thought things were going well. Well, her song came on and she did the first move and then FROZE. She looked around and I could tell she was looking for us and didn't know what was going on. In the picture with Braeden, that is how she was for a while after I picked her up. She said it was dark and she couldn't find us. She was scared and I could tell she had been crying. I was kind mad at the studio for not letting the little girls go to rehersal and do their dance once on stage. She would have at least know what to expect. But it was cute anyway. There is always a little girl standing there doing nothing and it had to be mine this time. She knew the dance and would do it full out in class all the time. But I guess we have many years of dancing to come.

Thanks Mom, Dad and Kara for coming and taking up your Saturday for our little Elli.

OOOOOooooooooohhhhhhh.....

I love this boy!!

Orange Juice????

OK, so I got out of bed this morning and a few funny things happened. I walk out of my room and both my kids are holding and orange......with a straw in it. I think this may be saying that I buy Tropicana's Orange Juice toooo much. They have seen that carton in our house so much and decided to put a straw in an orange like the carton does. Can anyone agree with me... good OJ is VERY important and must have EXTRA PULP!! :)

Then after I fed Caleb, I was changing his diaper and Elli says..... "Ooohh, he has a cute bum like me!" And then she proceeds to pull her pajama pants down to show me her bum. And yes, I had to agree with her, she did have a cute bum like Caleb.

You're UNBELIEVABLE!

Just some pictures we took when our cousins came over to visit.  Baby Eli was born in January and has grown so fast.  Makes me never want to let this precious stage of Caleb get away from me.  I try to savor each moment with him and make it last as long as possible.  Cause right now he can't talk back to me, fight with his brother or sister, or destroy things in the house.  He just eats, sleeps and poops!  I have the hugest crush on him.Like Elli says.... "He's so precious!"

With every kid we have had, I have had a sister or sister-in-law pregnant with me.  So each of our kids has a cousin on each side of our family.  Some of them are days apart or only months apart.  We are so lucky to have have that.  What good times!!

"I Wanna Be Loved By You!"

So Elli is doing a dance to "I Wanna Be Loved By You" and it is so cute.

Well, I can't believe this has come and gone, but Elli's dance recital is this Saturday.  They had pictures taken last Friday and I couldn't believe how cute she looked.  I can't wait to see her perform on the big stage.  But these were just pictures we took in the other room before they got the real ones taken.  Elli truly thought she was a PRINCESS.  She was in heaven being in that costume.  I couldn't believe what a BABE she was with make-up on.  Daddy's keeping her locked up!

Kindergarten!!

Braeden's school had a kindergarten celebration for all the kindergarteners.  It was really cute.  Each class sang 2 songs they have learned through the year.  Braeden took this performance seriously which made me laugh because he was so cute about it.  His teacher sent home the words to each song they were singing and Braeden would come home and practice them.  Elli has heard these songs a lot through the year and during the performance she sang along with his class which kept everyone sitting by us entertained.  But it was great fun!  My mom and dad came out for the celebration and brought us dinner.  Thanks again parents! 

WHERE'S BRAEDEN?

These next few pictures were for the last song that they sang and this was Elli's favorite song.  She went and stood by Braeden and sang together.  They were so cute together.  Braeden was putting his arms around her and they were dancing together and everyone around them couldn't stop laughing at them and thought they were so cute.  

I just want to write down for journal sakes that I am so proud of our little Braeden. He has grown up so much this year, which by the way, makes me mad because it seems like yesterday that we had him.  Now he is 5 years old and I can't believe how big he is.  Mark and I tell him all the time that he needs to stop growing and be little again.  He always tells he can't do that but I wish I could make it happen.  But really, this kid has made me so proud this year.  His teacher was having a hard time keeping him calm and on track with things, but I really think he has finally learned to relax (well, at least at school) and listen to his teacher and be a good student.  His teacher emailed me the other day and wants to somehow keep in touch with me through the years so she can know what he decides to be when he grows up.  She is so impressed with him and thinks he will become something special when he grows up.  She says she is really going to miss him and has grown attached to him.  I was picking him up from school on Friday and I saw Braeden start running for my car and then turned around and give his teacher a hug.  It was so cute!  I am just so proud of him and miss him so much when he is at school.  He is so sweet to his new brother and such a big helper.  I have the hugest crush on him!  

This is a him sitting next to his teacher.

My new LIFE!!!

Well, since my life recently has revolved around taking care of Caleb, this is all I have to post. He is an amazing baby!! He is so sweet and I can't believe how good he is. He only cries when he is hungry or needs a diaper change. Even then, if I don't smell the poopy ones, he hardly lets me know. He is so easy going and such a blessing to any family who has just had their 3rd baby. He is a great sleeper and let's hope it stays that way!! I am not nice when I am tired.

Now the only problem (or maybe it's not a problem) is getting Elli to not bug him so much. I guess it is payback since my Mom "SAYS" I always bugged my younger brother and sister. Ya right Mom, not little 'ol me. But she is a big help when I need someone to give him a bottle. For me, being a nursing mom, I need a break once in a while. You gotta love those pumps. But you can count on Elli saying "Oh, but he's so pwrecious," when I ask her to leave him alone. She just loves him so much. I am glad there is no jealousy from her.

We have a little set up on our chaise lounge next to our bed for Caleb when he is sleeping with us at night. The other morning, Mark had put him on it and I went in to check on him a while later and couldn't find him. Well, I looked around for a little bit and found him just lying on our treadmill. Elli had picked him up and set him on our treadmill. She thinks it's fun to do that because I found him on the other side of our room just this morning too. She makes me crazy because she doesn't understand the whole "Hold his head up" concept and who knows what she does when she moves him. Anyway, other than that, we are doing great and couldn't ask for anything better.

Caleb James Baker

HE IS HERE!!!

April 24, 2008

All day Wednesday I felt contractions that were pretty consistent, but not close together. I thought maybe something would happen that night, but didn't want to get turned away at the hospital and being told I wasn't ready to be admitted. But at 11:00, my water broke and off to the hospital we went. And by 3:33 AM, Caleb was here!!

He was 6 lbs, 10 oz.

He is such a sweet baby and doesn't cry much at all. We are very blessed to have this little guy added to our family. He has such cute brown, curly hair. I have always wanted a kid with curly hair. But things are going well and we are going home today. Can't wait to sleep in my own bed!!

Just a few pics of us at the hospital.

Elli and Braeden have been so excited to have this baby and it was so cute seeing them walk in the hospital room waiting to see their new brother. Their faces were unforgettable when they saw Caleb. They loved holding him and Elli kept saying, "AAaaaawww, he's so precious." Can't wait to see how they are when we get home. We will have such great helpers!! Braeden is already talking about playing with him and hoping he likes the same toys he does. All while I was pregnant, Elli told me she had a baby in her belly. But hers was a girl. At the hospital, I was informed by her that the baby was a TOY BABY! I love kids imaginations.

Anyway, things are going great! I am glad the whole labor and delivery is over, but who wouldn't be!!