a bike ride

|she loves to pick weeds flowers whenever we are outside|

We took the kiddos out for a bike-ride the other day. Caleb is actually doing really well riding his, but Makayla still needs a lot of help i.e. Mommy bends over the whole time pushing her along and wondering when she got so old that her back hurts so much. Then we noticed half-way through that her front tire was flat - no wonder she was so hard to push!

We ended up at the swings, but didn't stay out too much longer because it was so hot - it was close to 100° that day.  I think Caleb could have stayed out there all day though. The heat doesn't seem to phase him as much as it does the rest of us.  Poor Makayla is always dripping in sweat and looks miserable while Caleb just glistens.  We decided all future bike-rides will be happening after dinner when it's slightly less hot outside.

I cannot believe that we are already smack-dab in the middle of summer.  I will be back soon to talk about how Caleb is five years old now and is going into kindergarten, and how just typing that sentence makes me sad and happy and scared and excited all at the same time.

an easter party

{can we discuss for a moment how she has grown out of her toddler-ness overnight? look at how tall and skinny she is!  no more baby chunkiness!  it seriously hurts when i think about how quickly they are growing up on me.}

{after i snapped this picture, she said "no more cheese, mommy!"}

We have already begun our Easter festivities around here and are having lots of fun. Caleb asks every morning if it's Easter yet, and every day I tell him, "No, not yet, but soon." Then we look at his calendar and talk about how many days we have left. It's so fun to see how excited he is, which of course gets Makayla excited as well because she has to do whatever big brother is doing!

Last weekend we went to an Easter party at a nearby park. It is hosted every year by an incredible organization that our family has become incredibly grateful for. (You can see pictures from the party last year here.) We had so much fun and could not have asked for a more beautiful day! It certainly felt like spring that day, as opposed to today where I think we hit a high of 39 degrees. 

We are home this week enjoying Caleb's two-week Spring Break from school.  We have been doing lots of coloring and crafting, playing dress-up, building tunnels, and potty-training Miss Lady.  Fun times!

valentine's day

Last night, we got Caleb's Valentine's cards all ready to go.  He was really excited to sit down and write his name on all of them.

While he worked, Makayla played a game.  She must have inherited her daddy's competitive nature, because she looks very intent here.

When I told them that it was almost Valentine's Day and that Caleb's class was having a party, this is how he felt about it.....

And this is how she felt about it.....

So today, Makayla and I headed up to Caleb's school for the big party.  It was so cute to watch all of the kids hand out their Valentine's and get so excited and tell each other "thank you".

He was very excited when his envelope was full, and he dumped it all out to go through it as soon as we got home.  Kind of funny seeing as how he doesn't really eat candy!

Makayla cracks me up because she just walks right into his classroom like she belongs there and makes herself at home.  She doesn't seem to be aware of the fact that everyone else is older than her!

And now I am off to snuggle up with my favorite people!  I hope everyone has a lovely day!

|valentine's cards found here|

the things they say

Our little people say really funny and adorable things and are constantly making us laugh. Oftentimes, they can not even be in the room, and Husband and I will just sit and recall the things they said and did that day and find ourselves hysterical.

So, I thought I'd do a post on a few of their recent sayings. I know these are probably not as funny and cute to anyone else as they are to us, but it's my blog, so there ya go!

~ Never wanting to miss out on anything, Makayla is always very sad when it's nap time. As I carry her upstairs, she has started to call out, "Caleb, help me!" to which Caleb responds, "No, I cannot help you right now!"

~ The other day the kids were eating popcorn in the den while they watched a movie. Well, I walked in to see the bowl turned over on the sofa and the popcorn spilled everywhere. After cleaning it up, I told them that if they wanted to eat in the den then they had to keep the food on the table or else they would only get to eat in the kitchen. A few minutes later, Bobby walked in to see them both sitting on top of the coffee table with the bowl between them. He asked them what they were doing and Caleb pointed to the sofa and said, "We made a great big mess!".

~ Caleb calls pajamas "jamamas". I do not correct him as I think this is adorable.

~ Caleb says "I so much love you" instead of "I love you so much". Again - no correcting from me! In fact, we've all begun to say it this way!

~ A lot of times when you go to give Makayla a kiss, she will cover her mouth with both of her hands and play hard-to-get. Even though you can't see her mouth, you can tell from her eyes that she is smiling under there.

~ The other day in the car, we came to a stop at a red-light and Caleb, with much enthusiasm, said "Good job stopping the car Mommy!".

~ Caleb's saying lately is "Ughh! Good grief!". Thank you Charlie Brown.

~ Makayla points to any bird that she sees and says "Bald eagle!".

~ When Caleb wants to encourage me in something, he will say, "You can do it!  You're a big mommy!".  I guess since it's a good thing to be a "big boy", then being  a "big mommy" must be even better, right?

~ Sometimes at dinner when it's time to pray, we will all hold hands and then Caleb will say "Ready, set, close your eyes!".

~ Makayla thinks that her name is "Baby", which is entirely our fault. We've called her this since day one because we were trying to make it easier for Caleb to say at the time. We never realized how the name would stick!

I sure do love them!

a christmas recap

Christmas this year was on a whole other level. Caleb really understood and got it all in a way that he hadn't before - which made it both a lot of fun and exhausting! He started asking for Christmas back before it was even Thanksgiving. He would look at the calendar and ask why Christmas wasn't on there yet and he would look in the living room and ask why we didn't have a tree yet. I think that he was genuinely concerned that everyone else was having Christmas and we were missing it! When it was finally December, I put the little Christmas picture onto his calendar that hangs on the fridge. When he saw it, he got so excited and said, "Good job mommy! Good job putting on Christmas picture!" And when he saw us putting up the tree, he literally gasped and said, "It's beautiful! Hooray! We decorate the Christmas tree!"

Once it was decorated, every time he would walk past the tree, he would stop and give us a hug and in a very sweet, quiet voice he would say, "Merry Christmas mommy and daddy." Ummm, talk about a heart-melter!

We also decorated our annual gingerbread houses. We got each of the kids their own, so as to avoid any unnecessary arguing. They did both get upset because their tiny fingers just could not hold onto the little pieces of candy. Next year, I will definitely only put out larger pieces for them to use. Still, it was fun, and I love seeing their masterpieces displayed all month long.

I'm sad as I go through our pictures because there is so much that we did that I didn't get photographed.  I want to capture it all, but when you are dealing with two little people, you really need both your hands free and not holding a camera! Something else for me to try and improve on this year.

I used to be sad to see Christmas go, but I have to say that this year I really wasn't. I still love it and it's still my favorite time of year, but this year I was definitely craving routine and simplicity. And I knew that the kids, especially Caleb, needed that too.

So here we are, mid-way through January and considering this blog updated!  Now onto current events!