Where did this kid come from??

So Caleb has been quite the comedian lately. These 3 pictures happened within a couple days.

Caleb found Elli's roller skates and put them on and walked around the house while playing her ipod.  I couldn't stop laughing. I love him in his underwear!

Caleb is the only one out of my kids that likes to get dressed for the day. My older 2 will stay in PJs all day if they could (and some days they do!!)  Well, Caleb was trying to get himself dressed and found this in the closet and put it on. This was Elli's when she was 18 months. Look at that cute belly button!! 

So glad Caleb isn't afraid to show his feminine side!!

We got Caleb some swim fins and they are pretty funny looking. But he walks around the house in them all time. 

Once a month on a Sunday, we get together and have an FHE / Dinner with my family. Melissa is the only May birthday in our family and she chose to have tortilla soup for dinner.  Well, Paul (Lisa's husband) is the BEST tortilla soup maker!! He won't give out his recipe, so I just try my best to copy it, but no one beats his cooking!

I guess when it comes to tortilla soup, Paul just has to do it himself. He didn't let any of us help bring anything. He wanted to make it all. So we let him and he showed up with a case of orange soda. Everyone got their own bottle!

Here is the kids' table. They were in hog heaven with their soda. 

And here's the adult table. No one talking... just getting down to business! I thought this was pretty funny!! Love my family!!

Thanks Paul (and Lisa) for an amazing dinner!!

Sea Life Aquarium

Elli's Kindergarten class went to the Sea Life Aquarium at the AZ Mills Mall and I decided (with a lot of persuasion from Elli) to be a volunteer. 

I was only in charge of Elli and Shanti. There were a lot of parent volunteers so it made it easy that I only had 2 kids!!

Elli's class before going in. The little boy in the USC shirt is the boy who Elli keeps telling me is "handsome." She has a little crush on him and it's funny because she gets shy around him. It's funny that he wore a USC shirt.... Elli's dad will approve of him!! :)

I have never heard of this aquarium. It's been so long since I've been to the AZ Mills Mall. And this place was pretty darn cool!! I think it's my favorite aquarium!!

Starfish they got to touch

It was fun for the kids because they would stick their heads in those bubbles inside the aquarium and they thought it was the coolest thing ever!!

Pretending to be inside the aquarium

There was a little play area at the end and instead of playing on the equipment, she decided to draw. Such an Elli thing to do! So I left with a bag full of paper that Elli drew on and HAD to keep.

 Then we had a picnic lunch in front of the school. 

All of her girlfriends! Elli loves and talks about her friends in her class all the time!!

What a fun Elli we have!! So energetic and happy (with some attitude on the side!!)

I'm glad I went with that little girl!!

Swim Lessons!!

Caleb has been in swim lessons and is actually doing pretty well. He knows how to swim.... except he forgets how to lift his head to take a breath. Kind of an important issue when your swimming!! So he can't go very far distances.

But he absolutely LOVES to go swimming!! He gets so excited to go to swim lessons! Even though every time he has gone, he freezes. It still is so cold to go swimming. (At least for wimpy me)

He has a great teacher, Miss Sarah. She is an fitness junkie. She does so many different activities and classes with kids and adults. I wish I had that kind of attitude towards exercise!!

(www.urbanswimandfitness.com)

He is supposed to hold still for 10 seconds for this part of swim lessons...... to this day, he only gets to 5 seconds before he starts wiggling. He just can't hold still.

And for this too.... he can't seem to hold still for very long.

He is so very cold in this picture. He was ready for a towel!! Love this kid!!

Last Saturday, we went swimming in the backyard with the kids and Caleb used the noodle a lot to swim with. We have a little kid area where Caleb hangs out and swims too.  Well, he kind of fell in by that area, but also out kind of far. I was watching him and ran over to save him. But he was swimming towards the steps and actually saved himself. It took a lot of work from him to do it, but he swam to get to the step. I was pretty proud of him!! As soon as he got to the step he was crying and gasping for air because he doesn't know how to come up for a breath, but I let him do it. Go Caleb!! Swim lessons have paid off.

Dairy Queen

Mark went on a business trip to California for a week. And the kids were being good and we ate dinner early, so we decided to head to Dairy Queen for a treat! My kids really haven't been to DQ much. But they sure loved it! 

These are pictures from my crappy camera phone. But I sent these to Mark while we were there!! 

Must be my daughter... I love cherry dipped cones!!

They now keep asking me if we can go back. Might not take much for me to yes though!!

The ipod

Braeden had his mind set on getting a ipod touch! So Mark and I told him that he had to earn his own money for it. We told him to earn $100 and we would get him a ipod touch (a used one from Craigslist :)

So Braeden slowly started making some money from his chore chart. Then he got the brilliant idea of making duct tape wallets and selling them. He actually sold quite a few of those. The closer he got to a $100, the more chores he did around the house and thinking of different ways to earn money. 

Well, he got to a $100 and this was his very first $100 bill. He did work very hard for that money and now is a proud owner of an ipod touch. 

Go BRAEDEN!!! 

And Elli just wanted her picture taken!!

Kindergarten Open House

Elli's class had an open house to show the parents all the fun things they have been learning. Elli couldn't wait for this night to happen and kept asking me when it was happening! I was lucky to just go with Elli... Braeden was at scouts and Mark took Caleb with him.

I guess they use those strawberries for counting. She was rolling the dice and doing subtraction. 

Showing me she can count by 5's

Reading me a page from this book.

This was crazy to me. Elli went back to this station 3 different times. She LOVED holding these gross worms. They were the longest earth worms I have ever seen. 

Reading s story with a puppet!!

Elli is so ready for 1st grade. She is such a smartie pants and we just adore our little girl!! 

Out of the Terrible TWO's ????

So Caleb has finally turned 3. He was the child who entered the terrible 2's the second he turned 1. He has definitely gotten better, but still is a bundle of energy! Lots of energy!! 

But we love this little guy!! Even through his temper tantrums and stubborn ways!! It IS a good thing he is so cute!! We love his cheezy smile, his kisses, his "Dank Do's" (thank you's), and all the cute words he says!! He is just so scrumptious and I can't get enough of his cuteness!!

His birthday was on Easter this year, so after we decorated our Easter eggs the Saturday before, we ate some dinner, opened presents and ate cake!! Caleb was so excited for his birthday. For 2 weeks before, I kept getting him excited about presents and cake! It was a simple little party with just our family, but Caleb thought it was the best thing that ever happened to him!!

I get so tired of toys with little pieces that get thrown around and make big messes. I was at the store for a long time trying to find things that were fun for him, but not annoying for me.

This was a big hit. He loves this thing!! 

A bubble machine!!

A Buzz chair! 

 And some other little things, but why bore you!!

 He really wanted a Buzz cake. So I made some brownies with frosting and got some little Buzz figurines and called it good!! Again, Caleb thought it was the coolest cake ever!! 

We really do love this kid! He has been an exciting addition to our family and life would just be plain boring without him!! I think every family needs a Caleb in it!! 

Happy Birthday Little Guy!!