Please, Baby, Please!

I think I first got this book before we got married. I remember finding it in the library where I worked and just LOVING it. And Ella LOVED it, too. She could quote every page, and it became one of our routine night-time stories. Then, she got older, and it got pushed to the side.

Then Kamden found it! And it became one of his favorites! And he could finish the lines, and again it became one of our routine night-time stories!

But then he found "I Love You, Stinky Face" and "The Stinky Cheese Man" and "I Love You, Forever," and I can't remember the last time we read "Please, Baby, Please."

Picking up toys around here is usually a bit of a struggle. We have no problem singing the Clean Up song, but a major problem when it comes to acting on its prompts. So I've noticed that threatening to throw whatever doesn't get picked up in the trash works for Kamden.

Tonight, he had some blocks scattered in the floor in our bedroom. Here's our exchange:

Me: "Kamden, pick up these blocks before bed!"
Kamden: "I don' wont to!" (I am spelling "want" the way he says it...I hate misspellings.)
Me: "Okay, I'll just put 'em in the trash!"
Kamden: "No, no trash! Pwease, baby, pwease!!"

You see, there's a page where Baby is throwing her diaper in the toy box and the text says, "No, in the trash! Baby, baby, baby, please!" And he remembered that!!

I know I just posted, but I really wanted to make sure I got that little bit down. And the rest of the story...well I was just so proud that he'd put it together, especially after not having read the book in so very long that I just hugged him and told him he was awesome and picked up the blocks myself.

Didn't really grab that teachable moment, did I?

Oh, well. Next time!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game!

When I first met Kaleb, I learned that he was really into baseball. Like, really. And I am very much not a sporty girl. But because I wanted him to like me ;) I learned everything I could about it!! And whenever we finally got together "for real," we made it a thing to go to an Astros game every year or so. Behold our family's growth through Astros games!

That April 2009 one is when I was 8 months pregnant with Kam, and in the August 2009 one, he is about 4 months old. We skipped last year, so this is the first game that we've taken him to that he could actively participate in. Ella has been going at least since she was 3, and she probably went before that, but I don't have pictures if she did! She remembers everything...she reminded me that at the last one we went to there was an eagle flying around. No clue!!

We got some great photo op time while Kaleb waited to get our tickets!

 Of course, the kids have to get a prize for going to a game. Kamden chose this bat...

 And Ella chose this ball!

 We bought a $6.75 thing of popcorn just so we could get that helmet they're trading off with up there:) Well worth it!!

 The kiddos with Craig Biggio and Carlos Lee! This was after the game. Doesn't it look so real?? Haha!

We all had a GREAT time. I am so glad we got to take them this year. They only got squirmy close to the end, but they stuck it out. And the 'Stros actually won!! Unbelievable!!

When it rains...

...we bake!

Today, we had the very unusual blessing of having RAIN!! All morning!! Which meant Ella couldn't go play with her friend across the street until it stopped. She was pretty bummed, so we decided to make something! Her first idea was chocolate-covered strawberries! Wonderful! We have strawberries and white almond bark. Let's do it!!

 We each tasted a strawberry, just to make sure they were still good...

 ...and they weren't. That's okay! Bigger and better things:

These are definitely my go-to dessert. Not only are they DELICIOUS, I almost always have the ingredients on hand!

 

 They were SO good. Maybe half of those are left right now;)

The rain stopped by noon, and Ella got to play with our neighbor while I attempted to get Kamden down for a nap before we went to visit his new sitter. I thought it went really well! He seemed to like her as much as he likes any other new people who give him a sucker! I didn't get any pictures of that, though.

When Kaleb came home, we all went out to eat for supper. Ella wanted Mexican, so we went to our usual Mexican restaurant, La Cantina. Mistake. It was SO incredibly loud. I seriously thought I was going to just lose it on the people at the table next to us! We all agreed it would probably be our last time there. It's just not worth it!!

We came home, got ready for bed, and got the kids down. Then, around midnight, someone came plodding down the hall...

When you wake up in the middle of the night and Daddy is still up playing Call of Duty, you get to sit with him until you fall asleep! Good rule, right??

Evenings at Our House

Sometimes we sit, and enjoy the outdoors...

 Sometimes we dance over the toy-strewn floor

 Sometimes we gather in Daddy's shed...

 And cover our ears, when it's too loud for our head!

 We love to help Daddy...

 And we sometimes do weird things!

But my favorite part of the day is our bedtime routine!

Where we jump into bed and read a story or two,

And ask God to help us sleep the whole night through!=)

(Hey, it's practical!!)

Goooooood Mornin'!

Here's what I left in bed this morning!

Sweet, sleepy babes!!

They woke up shortly after this. It was the second time for each of them. Ella found our bed around 5 or 6 this morning, and Kamden found it closer to 7, I believe. Kaleb was getting up for work, so I'm guessing it was 7. Again, success! Since I consider that a full night in that big boy bed! Last night was a little easier and quicker. I had him lie down while I read 2 books (his favorite two...The Stinky Cheese Man and I Love You, Stinky Face. Such a boy!) and then we prayed and sang songs until he was out.

I adore days where we have nothing to do!! We had a little bit of outside time this morning before it got too unbearable.

I have a HUGE praise!! We recently found out that our friend who's been keeping Kamden during the school year since he was born won't be able to keep him this year:( After my initial panic and hysterical crying, I got myself together and contacted some of the ladies I've met at our new church (more on that later!!). They suggested several options, and after weighing them all, Kaleb and I had kind of settled on one that we really wanted for Kam. She comes very highly recommended by a few different people, and seemed sooo nice on the phone when we spoke. We were just waiting to hear if she would have a spot for him when school starts...and she does!!! It will also be $20/week less than we'd been paying, which will be made up for the fact that with our other sitter we didn't pay when he didn't go. But that is definitely something that we can swing! I'll be going to meet her and fill out paperwork tomorrow. I am just so very thankful that it happened so fast and without any stress at all!! God is so good! And I KNOW that I never would've found her if it hadn't been for the new friends at our new church. Isn't it amazing how He just works everything out before we know what needs to be worked?? I promise for an update on our fabulous new church later this week.

Can ya believe it? 3 posts in 3 days! Don't worry, I'll try not to jinx it:)

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes...

Can someone please tell me how this...

 turned into this...

so quickly??? Sigh. Saturday night, I put Kamden to bed a little late, around 9:30 or 10. I left the room and heard him crying for me, but thought he'd go back to sleep. About 5 minutes later, he was walking out of his room. What?? I tried to get him to show me how he climbed out of his crib, but he couldn't do it again, so I put him back down for the night. Kaleb and I were up late and finally went to bed around 3 a.m. We heard a thump, then looked up to see what looked very much like Kamden's impression of a grumpy bear walking into our bedroom. He acted like he was still half asleep and climbed in our bed. I asked him both times if he was hurt, if he fell, etc., but he said he was okay and we didn't see any bruises. So yesterday morning we went ahead and converted his sweet little crib into a toddler bed.

We spent the day in Starks yesterday, just relaxing, visiting, and swimming.

We got home really late, and Kamden was already asleep so we put him in his bed. He immediately woke up and wanted to play. I know this because he told us :) It took over an hour of us taking turns sitting by his bed and rubbing his back and singing for him to go to sleep. BUT...he didn't come stumbling back into our room until after 8 this morning!! So that's definitely a success!! I also consider it a success that our little dear who climbs on EVERYTHING took over 2 years to figure out he could climb out of his crib:) We're hoping that with a routine evening tonight, he will go down easier. We shall see!! Can't quite let him cry it out at night when he can get out and roam around the house! And I really don't think I can put a lock on the outside of his door. Or a tent over his bed. We'll just pray this works!!

*Oh, and yes he is wearing his Spider-Man underwear in the bed pictures. Potty training is very lax at our house. I was all gung-ho in the beginning, but I just don't think he's ready. He asks to potty at least once a day most days, and on days like today he asks to wear his "Pie-Man Un-Wear" and he gets to if he goes on the potty. But then he moves to a diaper if he tee-tees in them. Which he did about 30 minutes after I put those on.

Summer!

I tried for hours to put pictures on here and it was taking FOREVER. So maybe next time:)

I am going to just skip everything that's happened in the last few months because, honestly, everyone who reads this is also my FB friend, so you've already seen all the pictures from Kam's fabulous 2nd birthday party (which turned out to be airplane-themed, not Mickey Mouse:) ) and you know that the school year ended beautifully. We had a great start to our summer! We brought Ella back down after her graduation in May and had some relax-time at home. I got out of school a week later, and I know we didn't do a whole lot, but it sure feels like we have just been going non-stop! I have NO clue how it's already July 10.

We've already had our 2 family vacations this summer. We went with my family to Galveston & Kemah, where we had an AWESOME time at Schlitterbahn Water Park and at the beach and the boardwalk in Kemah. Then a few weeks later, we had a relaxing vacation with Kaleb's family at a lake house on Toledo Bend. Days of tubing and soaking up the glorious sun were treasured by all of us!! We are so incredibly blessed to be able to take trips like this with our families!! And then we have another small trip planned for the first of August. Kaleb has an election seminar every year in Austin, and this year Kamden and I will get to go with him! (Ella will be back at her mom's by then.) For the next couple of weeks, we are just going to try to do fun things around the house so the kids don't get bored! And I will hopefully find some time to work on my classroom.

I ended the school year at 45 lbs lost, and at one point this summer I'd gotten to 49 lbs! But now it's back to 45. I attribute that to the complete lack of willpower when it comes to vacations, eating out, family get-togethers...all of that. BUT I also got TurboFire for my birthday a few weeks ago and am on Week 3 of it right now, and I REALLY think that I have got to be building some muscle, too!! I am definitely feeling it BIG TIME. I took my measurements in week 2 so that when I get a month or so into it I can use the inches to judge instead of just the scale. I get so focused on those stupid numbers!! I'm really trying to just let my clothes and my eyes tell me. I have kinda stopped Weight Watchers. It was AWESOME and I completely owe those 45 lbs gone to it!! Well, it and C25K and TurboJam and walking and running on my own. But I haven't been tracking, and it costs money, and I know what I need to do, so I'm just gonna do that:) I have never felt as good as I feel now, and I can honestly say that this is the smallest (I hate to say that because I definitely do not feel "small") that I have EVER been as an adult. In fact, I am below the weight that I put on my driver's license when I was 16, which was a lie even at the time:) So I am becoming okay with the fact that I might not get down to that magic "145" before we start trying to get pregnant in the fall. I just want to feel the best I can feel and look the best I can look. Woo hoo!!

Kamden has become really, really fast and really, really talkative. He talks all.the.time. Even when he doesn't have anything to say! He's started this thing at the dinner table. Kaleb and I will be having a conversation and he just starts in, "Um, Mommy, and, um, Daddy, and swimming and, um, *smacks tongue* snake dead..." he just strings together whatever words are in his head at the moment, just so he will have something to say! It is hilarious!!! He also started telling us, "I didn't do ANYsing!" in a super sweet voice, so sweet that you expect him to bat his eyes while he says it. This is in response of doing something wrong, of course. He and Ella love having scooter races through the house, and we've had to move them outside because we found scuff marks on the floor today since they have started riding fast then jumping off and letting the scooters go and run into things.

So that's what's been going on around here! I always say that I'm going to do better at blogging and then I never do, so I'm hoping maybe if I don't say it this time that maybe I actually will:) That way I don't jinx it:)