Thanksgiving

Well, as usual, I am behind on blogging. Better late than never, though:) I wanted to briefly post about our Thanksgiving. We went to San Antonio to visit Jeff's sister Lauren and her husband, Warren. Mom and Mo went down also, so we had such a good time. It was a long drive (12 hours), but well worth it. The boys did great on the drive and slept most of the way. Lauren's first Thanksgiving in their new house, was fabulous...and all the food was delicious (here are the two chefs in the kitchen). Thanks again for having us!

While we were there, we went to the Alamo, ate on the RiverWalk and took a boat ride, took the boys to a few museums, went to SeaWorld (the boys loved) and had authentic Mexican food. It really was a great trip. Here's some photos.

Where did Fall go?

I can't believe it's the end of November! Where did Fall go....I think we were so busy it passed us by without us realizing it. We had a super busy few months: football,my birthday, a trip to China, pumpkin patch, and Halloween. Since we are gearing up for ou Thanksgiving trip to San Antonio and Christmas, I thought I should wrap up Fall:)

Our trip to China was amazing!I took so many pictures that I am still sorting them and narrowing them to fit into my photo book=) Jeff and I had a wonderful time; it was a once in a lifetime trip that I will never forget. Jeff is a seasoned traveler, but it was my first time out of the country. I was so happy to be able to experience it with him and have him show me everything. The food was to die for- we ate everything from pigeon to pig ear to fish eyeballs. We saw so much- Yellow Mountain has to be the most beautiful place in the world. I mean it was breathtaking and getting to hike 15 miles up and down the mountains was just amazing. We saw a temple with the monks, a historic old town, a cave, and so much more. Everyday was filled with a new adventure. I'm so thankful Jeff took me this time.

Halloween was a week long event this year, as it always is. Cal and I went up to Boo at the Park which was fun. He had his school party which I baked cookies for and went to. Then, we had the Cole's annual Halloween Party. It was a lot of fun. We dressed as the wicked Wizard of Oz. I was demented Dorothy of course with a cut up toto in my basket (ha), Jeff was the Tin Man of terror, Carson the scary Scarecrow, and Cal was the lion. For trick or treating, we went with Amy, Lexi, Colleen and Madi. The big kids got to go seperately so they didn't have to wait for the wagon. Cal was Thor the Thundergod (Jeff said he was getting too old to be cutesy, although I disagree). My little Thor was so funny. He tried to go into several peoples houses, especially if they had a dog! And, he wanted to ride in the wagon after each house and refused to let go of his bucket of candy. It made the evening quite interesting. But, they had so much fun and I'm glad we got to go with friends. Jeff was at the Chiefs game that night.

Birthday Blunders

Well, it's taken me a whole month to get over the trauma of the world's worst birthday party. But, I feel like I have to write about it and capture the memory of it. It has been a month since Cal's 2nd birthday party, on August 13th. It inarguably has to go down in history as the worst party. I was so looking forward to it. Shirt, check; cake, check; food, check; family and friends, check; presents, check; injuries, check!!!

Originally, we planned to have it at the house and just do a small gathering with snacks and cake and ice cream- since his first birthday party was the hottest day of the year and we thought we might have a few heat casualties. At the last minute, we changed our plans and moved the party to the park- since it was supposed to be a beautiful day. And, my little Lightning McQueen loves the park. As Jeff and I were getting all the food set up, Cal and Carson were playing with my dad and brother. Carson was running with the football and tripped and landed on his shoulder. He was complaining it hurt, but I thought it's just bruised, we'll put some ice on it and it'll be fine. Certainly wasn't his first tumble. Then, we sang "Happy Birthday" and everyone was having a great time....when I was turned around cutting the cake....Cal fell off the picnic table bench onto the concrete! My heart litterly sank when I heard the noise. I knew exactly what it was. The lump on his head was literally the size of an egg. We took him to the ER just to make sure it wasn't a concussion. After spending the entire 2 hours of his birthday party there, he was fine. It was definitely bruised, but he was acting completely normal. We went back to the park, and everyone had waited. I couldn't believe the support and love we had. Cal opened his presents and received tons of wonderful gifts. But, it was an emotionally draining day for all of us. I think I cried more than Cal did=(

On Sunday, Carson was still complaining of his shoulder hurting so I said I'd make an appt for him with the doctor on Monday. Turns out, he broke his collar bone!!! Then, of course I feel terrible for freaking out about Cal's head and assuming Carson was totally fine. He has been in a sling for about 4 weeks, and was able to get it off just this week. He still has a couple weeks before he can get back into football and sports, but it is healing pretty well.

That same week, on Tuesday- Cal got sent home from daycare for a bloody stool. Turns out he had a polyp and the doctor said he might need a colonoscopy. My first thought was- is it related to his head injury? Thankfully, no. But, we had to go up to Children's Mercy and get an xray. The GI specialist said it probably passed and just to keep an eye on it. No more blood- so I think we are all on the mend now=)

Happy birthday, Christoher Alton!

To my sweet baby boy Cal,
Happy Birthday! I cannot believe you are already two. You are growing up so fast; I am amazed how these 2 years have flown by. I remember the day you were born, like it was yesterday. You are such a special boy and I love you more than you could possibly know. You have such a great spirit; you are full of life, curiosity, playfulness, and fearlessness (sometimes stubbornness too). I am so proud of you; you are so smart and clever. You knew all your animal sounds and at 18 months and easily were saying 40-50 words. At 2,you know your shapes, colors, ABCs, and can count to ten. Your vocabulary is too large to count, and you repeat EVERYTHING and can even sing songs now! You are non stop motion, from the time you wake up until you fall asleep- so much so that you could care less to stop to eat, drink or go potty. Right now, Cars the movie is your obsession....you love Lightning McQueen and race cars, in general. You say, "I speed" and "Ka-chow" all the time.

I love just to look at your adorable face and watch the changes in you, because they are daily. We are so blessed to have you, and you are lucky to have a family that loves you so much. You have the greatest big brother in the world. Carson loves playing with you, reading to you, teaching you, and just being with you. Although, at times he torments you just to see your reaction, he loves you so much and he is your protector. I look forward to watching your brotherly bond grow and strengthen over the years to come. You want to be just like him, and if he leaves the room, you cry, "Darson come back." You love hearing him play guitar, and dancing along to it. He's even learned to play some of your favorite songs by the Wiggles=) You also love to watch him play sports- baseball, football, and basketball...you don't care. You love them all, too!

On this special day, I just wanted you to know how much you are loved. Happy Birthday, my sweet little angel.

Love, Mommy

New room!

Finally, after over a year in our house, we have one room painted=) I have been itching to do Cal's room since we moved, and we figured we would do it as part of his birthday. He is still in his same toddler bed, but we painted, added some new handmade artwork, and Jeff put up wainscoting. We also had a casualty in the process- his bookshelf completely broke. So, we need to replace it and I want a new quilt and rug. But, it is exciting to see the transformation- Cal's blue room! Here are a few pics, and hopefully most of you will see it at his birthday party! It was a lot of work, but I am really happy with it.

Jeff's Birthday!

On July 20th, Jeff celebrated his 34th birthday! We had several celebrations to celebrate. The weekend prior, we went over to the Schweer's and had a wonderful dinner. They made fajitas and I made an Oreo cake for dessert. We played spades while the kids all played, and the guys apparently are on a streak and won for the third straight time! Game is on though, and the ladies are sure to come back for redemption.

Since his birthday fell on a Wednesday, we didn't get to do much since we had swim lessons and Carson had football camp. But, Jeff's dad and Michelle came over to wish him a happy birthday. The weekend after, we had the end of year baseball party on Saturday. So, Sunday, we took Jeff to Texas Roadhouse to eat, and both his dad and mom joined us. Then, Carson and I took him to see the new Capt. America movie. Grandpa took Cal with him and we went over afterwards for some yummy ice cream cake.

Finally, we got Jeff a smoker for his birthday. This weekend was his first attempt at smoking meat- he did a brisket, ribs, and burnt ends. It was incredible. Absolutely delicious! But, poor Jeff stayed up all night tending to it, so he was almost too tired to enjoy it. Almost...haha. We had the Schweers over to help us eat some of it. Cal and Lexi just love playing together. Here are some pics- one was Lexi in time out...and Cal had to go sit right next to her. Probably not the best idea, but it was too sweet not to capture=)

Swim lessons

July has gone by so quickly! I don't know where time goes. This month, both of the boys have done swim lessons.


We enrolled Cal in parent/tot swim lessons this year. He was one of the younger ones, so he wasn't as good as some of the other kids. But, he's such a little fish...he absolutely loved it! They learned front and back floats, gliding (Cal referred to them as blast off), and front and back strokes. They also got to jump off the sides and on Thursdays they actually got to dive off the diving board. Now, Cal is fearless about everything. True to his character, he ran out to the end of the board like he was going to take this big jump and stopped dead in his tracks at the end, when he looked down. It was histerical. Dad had to push him in. Of course, he was wearing his life vest, and the instructors were waiting at the bottom to catch them. He also had his first public meltdown. They give all the kids a ball to hold and play with during class, but they have to give it back at the end. Well, Cal was not having anything to do with that. "My ball, please ball, I want ball, more swim, " he screamed as I'm trying to get him out. I told him he could play with the ball tomorrow..."no morrow" and I told him you have balls at home..."no my balls". Then, we get to the car and he does the arching his back squeling to get in his car seat...after trying to reason with him and only getting more of a tantrum, he finally got a little swat. After day 3, he figured out the routine and it was much smoother. Here are some pics when Daddy took him, and also one with his instructors on the last night. They got their certificates (and cookies).




Carson is still in his lessons. We had to wait till baseball and football camp were over before he could do it. But, he's enjoying it. They are learning the proper strokes,basic lifesaving, diving, etc. So, it's good for him, since he hasn't done swim lessons since he was really little. Oh, to be 11 yrs old and get to be at the pool all day, everyday in the summer!

4th of July Fun

Catching up on some blogging. On 4th of July weekend we went over to the Cole's for an early 4th of July barbeque/ pool party on Sunday. The boys had a great time swimming, and it was so humid, that Jeff and I were glad to spend some time in the pool as well. While Jeff manned the fireworks with all the kids, I kept Cal entertained in the pool, then on the swingset, then in the pool....I was exhausted after a long day of chasing him around. Carson was more interested in lighting the fireworks then actually watching them. I guess that is the age.

Later that night, they had a great fireworks display. As Cal called them, "kabooms". Cal was so pooped- he crashed out right after they started the big ones. I'm not sure how anyone could sleep with all the booms- but he managed to, with some snores in there too=)

On the 4th, we hung out at home most of the day. We did our small fireworks in the driveway, and watched the Gardner fireworks at the high school from our back deck. It was a nice end to a busy weekend

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Weekend Fun

We had a great weekend! On Saturday, after talking about it for weeks and weeks- we took the boys to see Cars 2. Cal wore his Lightning McQueen shirt that Grandpa got him and took his little cars with us to the theater. He loved it! He's obsessed with Lightning and Crs right now. He sat pretty well throughout the movie, only getting squirmy a couple of times, which was easily fixed by popcorn and twizzlers=)


After we got home, it was so hot- we turned the sprinklers on and let the boys run around and have some good old fashioned fun. While they ran around the yard, we grilled out some delicious steaks. Cal refused to take his Lightning shirt off, so we put a little swimmers on and he played in that. Carson chased him around through the sprinklers. Here are some fun pics of the boys.




Cal also decided to make sure the dog's water was cold....






Sunday, after church, we had Jeff's mom over for dinner to celebrate her birthday. We had a yummy dinner and the dessert was the best part- Death by Chocolate! Happy Birthday, Maggie!

Ow Bout?

I have always tried to give Cal choices, and give him some sense of power and confidence to make his choices. So, I usually ask him would you like chicken or spaghetti for dinner, grapes or apples, baseball or cars jammmies, etc. Well, recently his favorite word has been "no". He says, "NO chicken, NO spaghetti". Now my little smarty britches has taken it a step further. He says no to all my suggestions, then proceeds with, "Ow bout (how about) french fries, ow bout strawberries, ow bout fish sticks?" Basically, he's giving me his menu of choice! I will admit, that the first few times he did this, I had to make what he asked- just because I was so impressed by his negotiating and it was just too darn cute. However, after asking for french fries every night this week- Mommy has started negotiating back. Tonight though, he asked, "ow bout bocli (how about broccoli)" so I did give in to that one=)

Hmmm...will he have a future in law or politics?

The Blueberry Patch

Yesterday morning, while Carson and Jeff had baseball practice, Cal and I headed to the Berry Patch with Amy, Lexi and Ali. I never knew this place existed until a friend of mine had gone there (Thanks Kristen). It was similar to Louisburg Cider mill- except with blueberries. But, what a fun little outing we had! Cal and Lexi had a great time picking and eating the blueberries. They must've each eaten a pound of berries by themselves, we couldn't fill the buckets fast enough=) Cal also liked to throw them in the bucket as if they were balls. He went in between the bushes and played hide and seek, and liked to run up and down the rows. I think the highlight was the ride on the blueberry "choo choo" train.


We picked a bunch of blueberries and grabbed a few muffins to go. We ate lunch at the picnic tables out there. It was a great morning. Here are some pics (the fourth one is him eating a blueberry that wasn't quite ripe):

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