The Bordelon Bunch

A Cajun Christmas

2012-01-01T13:26:00.000-06:00

The holidays seem to come and go don't they? You spend all of this time preparing for this big event, and then the next thing you know it's over in a flash. Christmas this year seemed to be just that, a flash! Because our families live in two different parts of the country, we have to alternate our Christmases and this year we headed down south to Louisiana to spend Christmas with Chris's family. We had a celebration at our house the day before we left so there wouldn't be so many things to travel with and then the next day Caleb and I were on a plane to New Orleans. The Sunday before we left though, Nana, Papa, Uncle Kent and his girlfriend came over so we could exchange gifts.

Caleb was so excited to get a Wii! His reaction was, "It's just what I wanted, how did you know?!" We spent the day opening gifts and eating lots of yummy snacks as well as setting up Caleb's new game from Nana and Papa!

That following Monday, Caleb and I were leaving for New Orleans, so that afternoon we headed to the airport and were ready to see Gran and Pa. It was nice going a day earlier than everyone else because it gave Caleb time to spend with just his Gran and Pa who he hasn't seen in forever. The weather down South was SO BEAUTIFUL, that we took Caleb to the park that his Daddy grew up playing at with his Pa and he met up with his cousin Lyndsie while we were there and we even helped Aunt Amy save a baby chick by getting her close to her mother.

After the park, it was time to head back to the house because Nana and Papa and Chris would be there soon. Caleb ended his day curled up with Papa on the couch reading a story!

The next day we spent shopping at the LSU and Saints stores and that night we went to City Park with Aunt Amy, Uncle Keith, Lauren and Lyndsie. The place was full of people, but the kids loved looking at all of the light and visiting Storyland while we were there. Not many of my pictures turned out from this place, but it was absolutely beautiful. They even had one whole section set up where they ran trains through a mini New Orleans!

After a night full of fun at City Park, the next day we woke up and headed downtown to the aquarium. We spent the day looking at animals and wanted to go to the French Quarter, but by the time we finished we were all exhausted and ready to head back to Gran and Pa's house.

It was a long afternoon, but before leaving downtown we had to ride the street car or "train" as Caleb called it.

Our next few days were spent across the lake in Folsom, with Mother and Grams. We always spend Christmas Eve there and have a big feast. Caleb had the chance to spend some time with more cousins, play football, and we had a little birthday cake for Baby Jesus!

After lots of snacking/eating and opening gifts, we took family pictures which were pretty special. Caleb is part of a 5 generation on Chris's side of the family.

After a long Christmas Eve, we headed back to the hotel to await Santa the next morning. Caleb was surprised that Santa knew how to find him in Louisiana. So we opened a few gifts and then Santa told Caleb that one of his gifts was too big to bring to the hotel so he left it at Gran and Pa's house.

Of course as soon as he saw it and unwrapped it he had to take it for a short spin before everyone else came over to celebrate Christmas!

Once everyone arrived, we began opening gifts with the little ones and ended our Christmas with a trip to LaFreniere Park to see the lights.

We had a wonderful time in New Orleans for Christmas. We wish that Bruce, Sallie, Meg, and Morg could have been there with us, but it was nice to see and visit with everyone else since it's been such a long time. From our family to yours, we hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and that 2012 will bring you lots of love and laughter!

Dashing through the Snow to ICE we go!

2011-12-02T21:23:00.002-06:00

Who would have guessed the week of Thanksgiving would have gone by so fast. After a very short and sad trip back up North, we made our way back to Texas to enjoy the holidays with Nana & Papa.

The day before Thanksgiving, while everyone else was preparing for the big feast, we decided it would be a good night to take Caleb to see what the big fuss over ICE is all about. WOW!! Let me start off by saying that I did not realize how big the Gaylord Texan is! It seemed like we walked forever and a day to get to where the cold icy land started. We did have to stop and admire all the wonderful trains and Christmas decorations the hotel had to offer and we actually got a few good shots in the process with the camera!

This is where the fun really began! Our first stop was the ice slides and every single one of us went tubing down the slide... even NANA!! :) The pictures from the slide turned out blurry so I don't have very many to show, but let me just tell you that this was probably the best part of the night. Watching Caleb's sweet little face as he zoomed down the slide was pure happiness!

So after about 4 times down the slide we saved our last few passes for after the ICE exhibit. We headed on over to find our parkas and learn all about how ICE is created! Can you believe they fly people all the way from China to make these sculptures?!?! I was amazed at what I learned!

I really thought that Caleb would get whiny because they keep it so cold in the exhibit {3 degrees}, but I think there was so much to keep him distracted that he forgot his little lips were trembling while looking at all of the Shrek ice sculptures!

If you can't tell by the pictures, I think Papa was having more fun than anyone! He and Caleb were like two peas in a pod leaving the rest of us behind while they walked through the maze of magical ice hand in hand! Seriously, if you live in the area and have never been to this... it's pretty dang cool! It's hard to believe that people actually hand carve these massive blocks of ice, and of course they saved the best and most precious for last!

What a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season! :)

A Man Beyond Words

2011-11-17T15:47:00.007-06:00

My heart hurts today. I cry for a woman that is undeniably amazing, I cry for people that make up the family of an incredible man, I cry for 228 Winding Lane, and I cry for another family that was without a doubt fortunate to be raised next door to 2 of the most wonderful human beings on the face of this Earth.

Wilbert E. Brandon, "Wib", or Wib-head as my Dad called him, became the angel he was always meant to be today. I imagine that if he had any say in it with God, his wings are distinguished with Chicago Cub emblems on them, with the hopes that he will still see them win a World Series someday from the BEST seats in the house! He was a man of many characteristics, but the only ones that I ever knew or saw were kind, loving, passionate, loyal, trustworthy, honest, dependable, and humble to name a few. While he was not related to me by blood, he very much was apart of my family in my heart.

I grew up next door to this wonderful man, and many of my childhood memories involve him and his wife. For as long as I can remember, I have ALWAYS considered Mr. and Mrs. Brandon apart of my family, they were my grandparents next door. The memories that flow through my mind right now are those of Mr. Brandon whistling at my brothers and I through his bedroom window as we pulled in the driveway coming home from ballgames. It never failed that he would be there waiting to find out if we won or lost... no matter how late it was. Through that same window, you could always count on there being a HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign to whoever's birthday it was in my house. He had this super cool blue mo-ped that he would take out for a spin around the neighborhood especially when his granddaughters were visiting... I was lucky enough to be considered apart of that special group of girls and he never left me out. I remember hot summer days walking next door to find him sitting in a lawn chair out in his garage watching his favorite baseball team on an old tv with a box fan in front of him, his huge freezer full of popsicles which he always remembered to give me anytime I was over there. He was there... always. Birthdays, baseball games, school programs, trips to the hospital, barbeques, moving day, family losses, even the funny moments such as your oldest brother falling through the ceiling (true story) or your other brother crawling out the back door because of smoke from a piece of burnt toast! Even after we moved to Texas, him and his wife were still very much apart of our lives.

I consider my family, the family that grew up next door, just as blessed as his real family to have known and loved him. He truly was one of a kind and to know him was a privilege. I can garuantee that anyone that knew him would say the same thing. He loved us unconditionally... he may not have said it very often, but we all knew and felt it. I don't know what heaven is like, but I do know that it just got a little bit better. What I adored the most about this man is his gentle eyes, his loving smile, and his hearty laugh. I will miss him everyday, but I know he lives in my heart and he is watching over all of us from above.

Rest in peace Wib. I hope heaven is filled with a comfy chair, remote control, tv, and a winning cubs season for you! Thank you for being the man you were to my family and loving us like we were your very own. I LOVE YOU!

RACK'ing

2011-11-14T19:43:00.000-06:00

Today was one of those days where I feel like things happened for a reason. Have you ever had one of those days before?! Well, mine started of with all of the fun Thanksgiving activities I had planned for my little firsties. We were doing an "I am thankful for..." activity when one of my sweet little boys touched my heart with his writing by saying he was thankful for what he has and how it made him happy. A little back story on this special kiddo... he lost his mom this summer to cancer. To hear a 7 year old tell you that he is just grateful for what he has in his life is heart wrenching, but also very humbling. As the day went on I decided to visit one of my favorite little family blogs and saw this sweet post. Now I've seen a lot of this on my new obsession with Pinterest, but I LOVE LOVE LOVE Cara's idea about making this a family tradition.

So often we take life for granted and the blessings that God has given us. So this holiday season my family and I are starting a tradition of giving back. Hopefully this is something that we can continue to do each month through out the year since people are ALWAYS in need, not just at Christmas time. My hope is that by sharing this idea, it will spread to each person that reads just like it spread to me by reading Cara's blog! So, put on your thinking hats people and let's all do away with the selfishness and join in the RACK'ING fun!! You never know who's heart you could potentially touch!

Here is what my family had in mind for our random acts of kindness!

1. Donate books to a daycare, pediatricians office, etc.

2. Tape quarters to vending machines around town.

3. Buy a hot cocoa for a Salvation Army bell ringer.

4. Adopt an Angel from the Angel Tree.

5. Tape candy canes & happy notes to cars in a parking lot.

6. Bake & deliver goodies to our local fire station.

7. Take donuts to our local police station along with thank you notes. (Cliche I know!)

8. Call an animal shelter to see what they are in need of and make a donation.

9. Pay for someone's meal in the drive thru.

10. Leave goodies for Caleb's swim teachers & daycare teachers.

11. Donate to the food pantry.

12. Give the janitor at work a little holiday cheer with an unexpected gift.

13. Deliver balloons & treats to the children's hospital.

14. Make cards & treats for a local assisted living center.

15. Tell a soldier thank you and buy him a meal.

16. Bake Christmas goodies for neighbors.

17. Donate clothes and toys to a homeless shelter or church.

18. Leave a "Christmas tip" for a server at a restaurant.

19. Mail a "just because" card to an old friend... old school style.

20. Pass out little stockings of candy to the airport workers since we will be there that day!

21. Help someone load their groceries into their car.

22. Give movie giftcards to a sweet couple or teenagers for a night of fun.

23. Pass out $5 giftcards to Barnes & Noble, and Starbucks.

24. Take an all night drugstore employee a Christmas surprise.

25. Read a Christmas story and sing carols as a family.

Remember... Kindness is Contagious! I hope it got a hold of you and you spread a little holiday cheer yourself. Please leave a comment if you plan on doing this or something similar with your family this holiday season!

31st Birthday Chicajo Style!

2011-09-27T20:58:00.000-05:00

No my title is not a typo. I celebrated my 31st birthday in my home state and we went to "Chicajo" for the weekend. Caleb had a hard time pronouncing CHICAGO so the closests we got to it was Chicajo... it was pretty cute! Anyway, the fam and I packed up our suitcases and headed to Chicago for the weekend. It was such a beautiful perfect weekend! We flew out of Dallas, Thursday night after work and arrived at our hotel pretty late Thursday evening. I was hoping in honor of my birthday Caleb would allow all of us to sleep in a little bit but seriously, who are we kidding. So bright and early Friday morning my sweet little boy came jumping up on the bed shouting, "Wake up! The sun is out!" Since we did not have a car and we were waiting on my parents to get there we decided to order room service before heading to watch my boys in blue play!!

A few hours later we were ready to make the drive to Wrigley Field for a Cubbies game. I was really worried Caleb wouldn't make it through the whole game, but he was SO GREAT!! He was able to take a good nap on Grandpa's shoulder before the game started so that probably helped! Of course there were lots of treats like hotdogs, ice cream, m&ms, pretzels, and other things, but he really did well. The best part of the game was the 7th inning when we were finally able to sing Take Me Out to the Ball Game. Once we were done singing Caleb was ready to go home, but he lasted a few more innings before the Cubs decided to almost blow the game and send it into extra innings! YIKES!! Anyway, we could start to feel the breeze off the lake and the sun was going down so we decided it was time to go. Even though we didn't stay for the whole game, my boys did end up winning GO CUBBIES!

It wouldn't have been a trip to Wrigley Field if we didn't go stop by to see the infamous Harry Carry!

After a day at the ballpark, Saturday my parents took us downtown before heading back home. We got up and went across the street for breakfast where they had this pretty little corner display of fountains and a trail. So after we ate we went to take a few pictures before leaving.

So off we were to downtown Chicago and headed to Shedd Aquaruim which by far is probably the best aquarium I have ever been too. We had a little bit of a wait to get into it, but the day was beautiful and the aquarium is located right on Lake Michigan, GORGEOUS! We pretty much spent the whole day there and Caleb loved every second of it. We saw everything from fish and dolphins to Dora/Diego 4D and Anacondas... yes I said Anacondas. I was not a fan of that section of the aquarium. I took a picture of that thing and you will be able to see WHY I was ready to leave!

It was such a long and fun day that poor Caleb passed out on the way back to the hotel. We figured that since we had been out all day and we weren't exactly familiar with downtown Chicago, that we would pick up some sandwiches on the way back to the room and just have a low key night which was exactly what we all needed. We took showers, ate, read books, watched football and just had a relaxing end of the night!

Our last day in Chicago, wasn't quite as nice. It was cold (well what we consider cold in Texas anyway) and rainy and that was the day we had decided to go to Navy Pier and the Children's Museum. The good thing about it was that the museum was actually apart of Navy Pier so we didn't have to be outside very long. Caleb was in exploration heaven in this place and I so wish Dallas had something like it for kids because it was fantastic!! There were different rooms for every type of exploration!

The Move Room

So this room was all about play. Run, jump, bounce, hop, skip, climb, crawl. One little area had tires stacked up and you could climb to the top and ring the bell. Caleb almost made it all the way up and then decided he didn't want to go any further!

Chicago Fire Department

Caleb's favorite section! And when I say favorite I mean we had to carry him out kicking, screaming, and crying! It was definitely cool though. The area had a room that was filled with gray nets draped from the ceiling to teach the kids how to stay low to the ground during a fire and crawl through smoke. Another part of the room had phones set up to show how to dial 911 and dress up clothes for the kids to dress like firemen... ADORABLE! They also had a fire truck that the kids could climb on and a place where they could shoot water at the fire in the windows, SO COOL!

Water Room

Ok so how cool is it that this museum had a room where kids could just go play on a huge water table in raincoats?!?!? OH MY WORD... they had raincoats of all sizes and colors, it was so fun and cute!

Dinosaurs!

How fun is it that you could dig for dinosaur bones?!?! I have a little palentologist on my hands for sure!

Seriously this was probably the best birthday ever! Even though we did have a huge plane delay on the way home, I wouldn't have done anything differently, it was great!

I'm 4! Let's PUMP IT UP!

2011-09-11T19:43:00.000-05:00

Part II of Caleb's birthday celebration came the following weekend when we actually had his party. Earlier that year we went to a party for our sweet friend Milan who had her party at Pump It Up Jr. and I found myself loving the idea that it was indoors, closed to only OUR party, and I didn't have to do anything but bring a cake and take pictures... YES PLEASE!!! So this summer I made that phone call and we were set. I'm so glad we decided to have it here because everything about it was fantastic! The staff was AMAZING with the kids, it was cool (weather wise and fun wise), relaxed and best of all the kids had a BLAST! I would highly recommend this place to anyone looking for a party place idea. The Frisco location was outstanding, seriously!

So, on to the party details. Since I was actually able to concentrate and focus on the party this year I found myself reviewing a ton of pictures for this post, so we are going to break it down into parts!

THE INVITE

One of the teachers I work with has a daughter who has made Caleb's birthday invites, our Christmas cards, and other things for me the past few years. Anna is amazingly talented and I LOVE everything she has ever made me! I am trying to convince her to open her own Etsy Shop!

THE GUESTS

Not everyone that came to the party are pictured below, however I did get the majority of them! We were so blessed to have so many people there to help celebrate our little guy's birthday!

The Economidis Family Lisette, Milan, Michelle, Gavin & Ariah

The Guinn Family Ms. Amy & Reagan

The Means Family The Lawyer Family

The Rasoi Family The Hailey Family

Aunt Ashley The Siebenhausen Family

Baby Aidan (the rest of the Diaz Family went missing)

Papa & Nana Grandma & Grandpa

and of course...

The Birthday Boy!

(Hmmm, I think he's not so happy because I kept interfering with his playtime for pictures!)

PUMP IT UP TIME

Once everyone was there it was time to party and boy did these kids (big and small) know how to party!

THE EATS

A sweet mommy friend made Caleb's cake this year and it was to die for! Not only was it a Thomas cake, but it also had an M&M filling it it which is Caleb's FAV!

By far this has been my favorite party of Caleb's. It was so easy and fun! He had such a great time, and was surrounded by wonderful friends and family. Now it's time to start thinking of ideas for next year... sigh! :)

4 years old... WOW! These are moments that make my heart happy now, all of the moments we share with this beautiful child. Life has it's ups and downs, but nothing is better than THIS!

Here's to a wonderful 4th year of your life sweet Caleb. We love you to the moon and back!

Four Years Old

2011-09-11T18:11:00.000-05:00

So I know I'm a few weeks behind on this post, but with school and everything else that has been going on, life has been a little hairy! Better late than never though right?! So on August 30th, my sweet little boy turned 4 years old. Little boy is definitely what he is now. Since his actual birthday fell on a weekday we had a regular day of school and work, then just had the family get together at Gattitown for a mini celebration. Nana, Aunt Ashley, Grandma and Grandpa all showed up and we had a fun night of pizza, a movie, and games! The day started with the birthday boy in his birthday shirt and a crazy wet head thanks to Daddy!

Well of course that shirt didn't last all day at daycare so when we finally got home we had to change before heading out to our night at Gattitown. Grandma had made a couple of signs to welcome the birthday boy home.

Anytime we go to Gattitown Caleb never wants to eat... it's all about the games. So after about 11/2 slices of pizza C was ready to hit the Midway!

After schooling Aunt Ashley at a game of air hockey we were off to the next hot thing... bowling!

He seriously loved it and he was so darn cute playing it too. Even though it was his 4th birthday, it was still a school night so we had to get going shortly after. If any of you know Caleb, you know how much he loves trains so we had to make one last stop before calling it a night.

Happy 4th Birthday Stinker!!! We love you so much!

First Day of Preschool

2011-08-29T19:19:00.000-05:00

SERIOUSLY?!?!? My three year old started preschool last week! :( I really cannot believe how fast time goes by. Man, does that make me sound old or what?! I remember rolling my eyes everytime I heard my mom say that HA!
Last week was the first week back at school for both Caleb and I. We both had new adventures awaiting us as Monday morning rolled around. Bright and early we were up and at it back at our usual morning routine of getting dressed still half asleep, eating a quick breakfast, watching cartoons and then out the door for a long drive to school. Caleb was asking for DAYS when school was going to start because he was so excited to see his friends. I was really proud of him as he carried his Mickey Mouse backpack into school ready to learn!

What a great day we both had and it was so fun to share a special day for both of us together! Here's to a wonderful year in Preschool and First Grade!!

Final thoughts of a 3 year old

2011-08-11T20:03:00.000-05:00

My sweet little boy is about to turn 4, can you believe it?!?! I cannot believe that he will start his first day of preschool next week... it's scary to think that Caleb is actually old enough to be one year away from possibly starting Kindergarten, OH MY WORD!!

With the stress of me starting back to school as well, I wanted to do something fun with Caleb in his final days as a 3 year old. As we drove to Sherman today, I remembered seeing a sweet little family post a blog the other day about interviewing her 4 year old and I thought this would be a great idea to do with Caleb! I mean after all the kid is all for talking about himself and telling stories! Here are a few of the questions I asked Caleb on our car ride:

Q: How old are you?
Umm, free (three).

Q: What's your favorite color?
I liiiiike green and blue. What other questions do you have for me?

Q: Who is your best friend?
Umm... Danny.

Q: What's your favorite animal?
Uh ants because I like them.

Q: What's your favorite thing to eat?
Green beans and samiches (sandwiches) This is also what we had for lunch today.

What's your favorite kind of candy?
Mommy I love mlm's (m&m's) and lollipops.

Q: What's your favorite cartoon?
Oh I like all of the cartoons. Dora, Diego, Backyardigans, The Fresh Beat Band and Max & Ruby.

What's your favorite toy?
BLOCKS!!

Q: Who's your favorite person in the whole wide world?
DAAAANNNNYYYYY

Q: What's your favorite song?
The Thomas Song! There's 2, there's 4, there's 6, there's 8...

Q: What makes your heart happy?
When you kiss me.

Q: What makes your heart sad?
When no one plays with me.

Q: Where is your favorite place to go?
Uh to the airport. I like to look at planes.

Q: What is your most favorite thing about Daddy?
When he comes to my house from work.

Q: What is your most favorite thing about Mommy?
When you hug me and kiss me?

Is that it Mommy? I want to take a nap. But when I wake up you can ask me more questions.

I couldn't think of any more questions to ask him so I let him take a nap! :) 19 more days and I will have a 4 year old! My heart is happy and sad at the same time.

Giving Back to a School

2011-08-07T15:21:00.002-05:00

Hi Everyone! My name is Jennifer and I am a first grade teacher. I wanted to share a story with you today about my second home, my school. Tom Landry Elementary has been my home going on three years now. It is a Title I school filled with many children that thrive beyond their obstacles and everyday challenges they face in their lives. Our school has been up and running for over 10 years now, however we have only had a functioning PTA for the past 2 years. I have been blessed to be apart of this school, it is a place that amazes me everyday and truly has developed a sense of "family" for anyone that walks through the doors.

My goal for this post is to give a little something back to the place and the children who learn in it that have given me so much insight on life. Not only am I a teacher and a mom, but I'm also a consultant for Scentsy. Scentsy is a company that is based on something we all should feel and experience in life, generousity. With your help, that's exactly what I would like to do for my school... GIVE! From now until September 30th, I will be donating 100% of my commissions to the Tom Landry PTA. For the remaining month of August, almost everyone on my website is 10% off and starting September 1st, the company will be launching their new Fall/Winter line with some amazing new products!! Scentsy is the PERFECT product for teachers to use in their classrooms because it is flameless and absolutely safe around children. Who doesn't need a classroom smelling like a little piece of heaven with 20 some little bodies running around?! :)

Every little bit helps, and I thank you in advance for reading my story as well as purchasing any products that you might decide on from my website. Thanks again and happy school year to all of you!

To help Tom Landry's PTA please visit:

http://jenniferbordelon.scentsy.us/

The Aquarium with the Hailey Girls

2011-07-26T13:25:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Caleb and I ventured out with our sweet friends Lacey and McKynzi. Lacey and I played volleyball in college together and we were also soroity sisters together. I take pride in the fact that I introduced her to her now husband who was a good friend of mine before Lacey came to school! :) Anyway, we literally live about 15 minutes away from each other and do not get to see each other as often as we should, but I'm hoping after the time that Caleb and McKynzi had together on Monday that will all change! With the end of summer approaching more quickly than we would like, Lacey and I decided to take the kids to the Sea Life Aquarium in the Grapevine Mills Mall. Before we left though we had a sweet little donut date at our favorite donut spot near the house. Caleb and McKynzi discussed how delicious their chocolate sprinkled donuts were and then we were on our way!

Let me just tell you guys, if you plan on visiting this aquarium here's a couple of hints:

1. Purchase your tickets online and do it about a week before your actual trip. You get a discount and you won't have to wait as long.

2. GO EARLY!!! Oh my goodness the line was crazy long by the time we got to the front of the door to buy our tickets. We were so thankful we went when we did otherwise our little cuties probably would have not made it in that long line!

When we first got to the aquarium I was afraid Caleb was not going to make this experience very enjoyable...

He was a little upset that he couldn't stay by the small tank that they had to look at the fish, and he DEFINITELY did not want to wait in line. Once we got inside however, they had so much fun together looking at all of the different sea animals!

Sweet McKynzi wasn't quite sure about some of the animals at first. The best part was when we got to the glass walkway... heaven for bid McKynzi was NOT going to walk across that! I can't say that I blamed her though because it was a little weird walking through glass and sharks, fish, and other things swimming all around you! We finally got her to walk through though while Caleb held her hand!

After we made it through that obstacle we came across the section where you actually get to TOUCH some of the animals! Caleb was all about this!! His little curious brain never stops, so when he was asked if he would like to touch a seastar he stepped right up!

If you have little ones, this is a great aquarium to take your kids too. It definitely was good for younger children. We had such a fun day with the Hailey girls! I hope we get to hang out again soon!

A Swimmer in the Making

2011-07-22T18:16:00.000-05:00

CAUTION!!!! Proud momma posting here so get ready! Words cannot express how proud I am of Caleb this week! This week was his first time in swim lessons (keep in mind it's only been 5 days) and my little boy made my eyes tear up today with his accomplishment already!!

So a few months back my friend Brandie had posted about her daughter going to swim lessons at Emler's Swim School. At the time, I really wanted to enroll Caleb in a class as well but knew that with school and everything else that was going on, it would be rough. So I decided to wait until this summer. After spending a week at this place I'm so disappointed in myself for not enrolling him in the beginning of the summer!! These kids that work there are absolutely amazing instructors!! Mr. John Michael has made Caleb's swim class so fun! Each day the kids have a different theme and look for different things. Monday they were at the luau looking for fish, Tuesday they went to Outer Space, Wednesday they were at the circus, Thursday they were pirates looking for treasure and today they were searching for the Sheriff!

My little Sheriff today swam his first swim on his own and I couldn't have been prouder!! Check it out!!

Can you believe that?!?! After 5 days my little guy is becoming independent!! Seriously you guys... if you are looking for a FANTASTIC place to send your child for swim lessons I would recommend this to anyone. It's a little expensive, but I totally think it's worth the price! I can't wait to see what he can do by the end of next week!

Sweet Sophie

2011-07-22T13:25:00.001-05:00

Yesterday, Caleb had the opportunity to meet a new friend named Sophie. Sophie's mom and I worked together the past few years and over the years we have always said that we should get the kids together to play sometime and just never have until this summer. After many conversations about what our child are like, the trials and tribulations we are dealing with in our "3's" Kristen and I have said numerous times that our children are MADE FOR EACH OTHER!!

Monday morning rolled around, and Kristen, Sophie, and baby Eva showed up on our doorstep and it was non-stop laughing, screaming, giggling, and playing from that point on! Let me just tell you that I think my sweet little boy fell in love shortly after Sophie arrived. Sophie might be the coolest chick Caleb knows due to the fact that she was all about playing with some trains AND she even knew who Thomas the Train was! Caleb was super impressed by this for sure!! Major bonus points for Sophie right off the bat for knowing this information about one of Caleb's favorite friends!

So after a few minutes of playing, showing Sophie our house, and toturing our sweet little dog... it was time to wash our hands and make yummy s'more cookies! The kiddos were so happy to help bake the yummy treat and even snuck in a few marshmellows before lunchtime!

After sticking our delicious cookies in the oven the two peas in a pod were off making mischief again, chasing the dog around, making a surprise birthday party, and giving us medicine. The pizza man showed up with our pizza and we had what I like to call a nice little "Texas picnic." I say this because for those of you that live here... you know it is WAY TO HOT TO GO OUTSIDE AND HAVE A PICNIC! So we improvised and spread a blanket out on our living room floor and had a little picnic indoors with air conditioning, Texas style! :)

Guys, this little girl IS TO DIE FOR!! Omg, she is soooooo stinkin' cute! Not only did she win MY little love's heart over, but she totally won mine over too and even had me thinking that having a little girl of my own would be so much fun!! Her sweetness and sassiness is priceless! She's definitely got some spunk in her step and she totally was not afraid to hold her own against my fiesty little guy... LOVED IT!

So after a few hours of fun for the sweet new friends, and a few hours of Kristen and I being able to just let them play and enjoy being with another adult, it was time for Sophie to leave. I'm keeping the following pictures for the future... you never know what it holds! :)

Is it just me, or does anyone else sense that love is in the air?!?!?!?!

Thanks for coming over to play Sophie!! I hope we have many more play dates in our near future!

Just Keep Swimming

2011-07-18T18:01:00.000-05:00

Today was Caleb's first day of swim lessons. For the next 2 weeks we will go every day Monday-Friday and let me tell you how excited my little guy is about this! I had every intention of enrolling Caleb in swim lessons last summer, but the summer went by so fast that I never got around to it. So when this summer approached and I realized that we would not be taking any trips or traveling, I told myself that we had to do it no matter what.

This little adventure started off last month when I made the mistake of taking Caleb with me to enroll him in the class. He was so excited about it then that when he didn't actually get to go in the pool... it was like I took his favorite toy away from him and the whole car ride home I heard how awful it was and that "you are never going to take me back there!" YIKES!! I mean to tell you he was U-P-S-E-T!! So today when I told him we FINALLY get to go to the "lesson pool" as he called it, he was so excited! So excited that he even took a nap without fighting me. So after lunch and our much needed nap I loaded Caleb up and we headed to our very first swim lesson.

We got there a little early so we had to sit and wait our turn... which my little guy totally was not feeling that, however he made it the 10 minutes that he had to wait and finally his time had arrived.

Caleb's instructor is GREAT with him. There were a totally of 4 kids in his little group and they all did an awesome job looking for fish, going to the luau, kicking, & floating on their backs!

I cannot wait to see what Caleb is able to do when we are done in 2 weeks!

Date Night with my Boys

2011-07-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

So our Saturday was a super fun and busy day! It started off early in the morning with our garage sale (which btw was SUPER hot) and ended with Date Night with my boys. Anyone that knows me knows that I am a huge Harry Potter nerd. I still remember the first time I ever read Harry Potter and the Sourcer's Stone in college for my Ed 25 class assignment. I was HOOKED immediately. From there on, I read every book, sometimes going out late at night to stand in line to get it, and saw every movie. Chris never understood my love for this fictional character and often got irritated when I would spend hours reading chapters and ignoring him! :) No matter how hard I tried I could never get him interested in it... not even the movies, until last night.

Thinking I already knew the answer to the question I was about to ask him on Friday, to my surprise Chris said he would go see the last Harry Potter movie with me! I WAS SO EXCITED!! So of course I could not take him to this fantastic movie without catching him up on all the details from what he has missed in the years before. Like a great trooper, he listened to me spill my Harry Potter knowledge out all over the place (I'm sure he was sitting there really hearing Wah wa wah wa wah) and then even attempted to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows Part 1. He made it through most of it but was ready for bed the last 30 minutes. So needless to say when Saturday afternoon rolled around I was ready to go to the movies and see the finale of one of my favorite series.

I'm not going to lie... my heart was a little sad when the movie was over and I realized I had no more Harry Potter movies to look forward too, BUT what a fun night I had with Chris. He watched the movie and when it was over he said he actually liked it because it had a lot of action in it. I'm sure he was saying some of that not to hurt my feelings, but I'm glad he wasn't completely bored!

So after the movie we headed over to my brother and sister-in-laws house to pick up Caleb. For a few weeks now we have wanted to take Caleb to Speed Zone so he could ride the race cars and play putt-putt. Unfortunately when we got there though we realized that Caleb is still too little to ride the race cars BOO! Oh well, we had just as much fun with our first experience with putt-putt!

I was so proud of my little guy! He made it through all 18 holes of golf and actually did pretty good on putting. He even got to the point where he wanted to hit Daddy's ball too! There were a few times after hitting the golf ball about 7 or 8 times he would pick it up and move it closer to the hole (smart kid), but for a 3 year old he did amazingly well! I wish I would have had my good camera though instead of the iPhone because trying to capture a picture of his tongue sticking out while swinging the club was almost impossible. What a fun night we had on Date Night!

To wrap up our story here is a short video of Caleb's first attempt at putt-putt!

An update on our family of THREE!

2011-07-15T17:42:00.000-05:00

So much has happened since I last posted on this little blog of ours. I'll start with Chris and I first because let's face facts... the only reason why people really read this blog is to know more about our little boy! :) That's ok, that's how it should be!
This past fall Chris found out that he passed his CPA exam and is now a licensed accountant. After all his years of hard work he finally has that certificate with his name on it. Now I just only hope and pray that the hard work will pay off and benefit our family in the end!

I also have something to celebrate in my professional career. After 8 long and fun years of teaching Kindergarten, this school year I will be trying something new and teaching First Grade. I have so many mixed emotions about it which most of them are good, but I can't lie... I'm scared at the same time!

Now to the interesting part, my sweet Caleb! Let me just start off by saying that this little guy is a complete and total mess, but we love him all the same. Since I last blogged, Caleb has been to Illinois not once, but TWICE! He went once during Spring Break with me and then again at the end of May with Grandma and Grandpa. While he was there he was spoiled rotten like always and had a chance to spend lots of time with his 3 cousins (Lauren, Alyssa, & Olivia) as well as his Uncle Tim and Aunt Jen. He got to go fishing, play in the garden, chase rabbits, go see trains... the typical boy things I guess you would say. Caleb was also the ring bearer in his first wedding this past June for his other Uncle Philip and his new Aunt Ashley.

That pretty much sums up our past few months. Like I said in my previous post, be on the look out for some great things in the next few months! Monday we start swimming lessons!! :)

A Blog Makeover!

2011-07-12T12:15:00.000-05:00

I know... I'm horrible. I signed in to blogger today and realized that I have not posted anything about my sweet guy since January!! :( There are no excuses for my abscence other than just being lazy. So this week I'm making over my blog and going to give this thing another go. Hopefully I will be able to update it more and keep everyone posted on what is going on with our lives. We have lots of exciting adventures coming up in the next few months starting with swimming lessons, back to school, a new teaching position, and birthdays!!

P.S. Caleb says HI!

Generosity comes in ALL sizes

2011-01-19T12:29:00.000-06:00

Children never cease to amaze me. Not just my own, but my kids that I am surrounded by at school as well. They truly are like little sponges, ready to soak up ANYTHING and EVERYTHING. Today, it was very apparent to me of how generosity comes even in the smallest of people! :)

I have a student in my classroom that really struggles. He is what we teachers call a "young 5" which basically means he has an early birthday. On top of having an early birthday, this student of mine also has some limitations. When he first arrived in my class he wouldn't talk. Wouldn't might not actually be the right word, couldn't may be more appropriate. You could ask him questions and he would just stare at you as if he didn't understand. We slowly made progress up to answering yes/no questions, and as of today he will answer in short phrases which makes me SO EXTREMELY excited everytime he attempts!! Anyway, the point of the story is that I have another little friend in my class who has taken him under his wing. Knowing that this little boy cannot always express what he needs or wants, his buddy is right there waiting to help him out... taking care of him, watching out for him, encouraging him, and being so generous with his friendship!

Example #2: Another Kindergartener, in my teammate's class, walked by me today and I noticed she cut all of her hair off. This little girl had LONG beautiful hair down to her waist. When I first saw her I thought to myself, "Why would her parents cut her hair?!?!?!?" When she saw me looking at her I told her that I noticed she got a haircut and her reply was, "I gave my hair to someone who didn''t have any!!" Come to find out, she donated her hair to Locks of Love. The amazing part of this is that it was NOT her parents idea... it was hers. SHE wanted to give something of herself to someone who didn't have anything!

Example #3: My very own child. After picking him up from school today we were on the way home when my lovely car started screeching. It's been screeching for about a week now and I guess its time to take it in and get new brakes. Caleb heard the screeching today and here is how our conversation went:

C aleb: Mommy what's that noise?

Me: It's my brakes buddy, Mommy needs to get them fixed.

Caleb: Mommy are we going to the store to have them fixed?

Me: Not today buddy.

Caleb: Why not?

Me: Well, we have to go home first and we need money to get the brakes fixed/

Caleb: Do you have money Mom?

Me: Not right now I don't Caleb.

Caleb: I have money in my pig.

Me: You're right you do!

Caleb: Mom, you can have the money in my pig if you want it.

I was literally in awe and he melted my heart with that last sweet little sentence!! We can learn so much from children. This is the age where they do not have a filter or guard up and you get 100% complete honesty!! Wouldn't it be great if our world had more generosity in it??? WE could definitely learn a lot from these little but incredibly smart children! I hope as Caleb grows, he doesn't lose this wonderful quality that I wittnessed today. It brings pure happiness to my face that my 3 year old has such a wonderful and kind heart already!

Giveaway!

2011-01-17T02:53:00.000-06:00

Listen up all you crafty people!! Go visit this AWESOME website for some great ideas and a fantastic giveaway!!

http://bit.ly/f7pz6v

A New Year

2011-01-04T23:24:00.001-06:00

As I sat down to make my New Year's Resolutions, or what I wanted to change in 2011, I began to realize that I had a very long "to do" list. There are a lot of things I want to change or do differently this year, but I have to be honest & realistic, some of them might not actually happen. As my anxiety and skepticism started to set in I logged on to my blog and something popped out at me.

When I first found out I was pregnant, I was telling my friend Alison what I originally wanted to do for Caleb's room (a sports theme). She told me about a girl she went to high school with and her sweet little blog and that I should go check it out because she had just decorated her son's room. So I found myself on this girl's blog, who I didn't know, and was absolutely amazed at how adorable the room was. As time went on I kept reading her blog because she had such cute and creative ideas that she was doing with her son. Anyway, I happened to notice one of her latest posts & thought this was a perfect way to begin the year with all the changes I want to make:

Each Sunday I'm going to choose one of the topics from the list below, read that scripture, really focus on what it means, pray about it and watch how God works! I have made a list for Caleb, Chris, myself, and our family, some I borrowed from Brittney, and then came up with some on my own.

Caleb:
for peace (Exodus 23:20, Philippians 4:7)
to trust (Proverbs 3:5-6)
to know Jesus Christ (3 John 4)
his future (Isaiah 58:11)
his faith (Hebrews 11)
his happiness (Proverbs 15:13, Gen 21:6)
his friends (Proverbs 18:24)
taking correction (Proverbs 29:17)
his mind (Colossians 3:2)
his ears (James 1:19)
his eyes (1 Corinthians 2:9)
his heart (Psalm 119:11, Jeremiah 24:7)

Chris:
his job (Psalm 90:17)
as a provider (Philippians 4:19)
his health (Psalm 91:14-16)
as a Daddy (Proverbs 17:6)
his friendships (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
his attitude (Psalm 100:4)
his relationship with God (Ephesians 4:1-2)
his self-image (2 Corinthians 3:18)

Me (the longest list of all):
as a wife (Hebrews 10:24, Proverbs 21:9)
as a Mommy (Deuteronomy 6:6-7, Proverbs 31:28)
for rest (Matthew 11:28)
my friendships (Proverbs 17:17)
as a housewife (Colossians 3:23)
my self-image (Romans 12:3)
my temptations (Genesis 3:12)
teaching (Judges 2:10)
patience (Genesis 29:20-28)
my attitude (Numbers 13:25-29, Matthew 15:18-19, Luke 12:13, Proverbs 15:15)

Our Family:
our plans (Proverbs 19:21, Jeremiah 29:11)
for Chris & I as parents: (Deuteronomy 6:5-9, Proverbs 22:6)
our marriage (Ephesians 5:21)
our fears (Psalm 27:1)
as a saint who sins (Romans 6:12)
pressures (Exodus 16:2-3)
our home (1 Samuel 3:13, Ephesians 6:1-2)
money (Luke 12:33, Proverbs 21:20)

I'm extending this invite to anyone else that would like to participate as well! For January these are the topics that I have picked:

January 2-8: Me...teaching (Judges 2:10)

January 9-15: Caleb... his mind (Colossian 3:2)

January 16-22: Chris... his job (Psalm 90:17)

January 23-29: Our family... marriage (Ephesians 5:21)

Christmas in Texas

2010-12-31T20:55:00.002-06:00

My Christmas spirit came back to me this year, and I think part of the reason was because we were at our home for Christmas. Don't get me wrong, I love being in Illinois & New Orleans for Christmas too... but there is something about waking up in your own bed, being with all of your own things, & watching your kid being able to open and play with his new toys Santa brought him right away.

Christmas eve is probably my favorite part of Christmas. I think that the next time we have Christmas at home we are going to start the tradition of our big dinner on Christmas eve instead of Christmas day. Some of our traditions we already have are new pjs, Christmas movies with popcorn & hot chocolate, opening one gift, reading The Night Before Christmas, & of course preparing for Santa!

I was so surprised that Caleb slept until almost 9:30 Christmas morning! I was also VERY UPSET with myself for not having the camera ready right away as well. I still wasn't sure how much Caleb really understood about Santa. We talked about how Santa comes when we are sleeping, & he leaves us presents if we are good, & we also want Santa to be able to see all the little boys & girls so we leave him cookies so he doesn't get hungry during delivery; but I was not expecting my little guy to get so excited when he saw that the goodies were all gone that we left for Santa! He immediately said, "MOM! He was here, Santa was here! He ate all the candies & cookies!" Hopefully I will remember this cuteness for next year & have the camera ready to go! :( We did however catch a little clip of Caleb finding his fish "MEMO" (really it's suppose to be Nemo, but it comes out Memo) on tape though!

Christmas 2010 from Jennifer Bordelon on Vimeo.

A few days after Christmas, NaNa & PaPa were home from New Orleans so we went to their house to have Christmas with them.

I think overall, Caleb had a really good Christmas. I hope that his 4th Christmas is just as memorable as his first three & I'm sure it will be!

Christmas with The Jacksons Part III & IV

2010-12-30T21:55:00.000-06:00

Universal Studios & Magic Kingdom
Can I just tell you how excited I was to go to Universal Studios?!? My mom wasn't feeling well so she decided to stay back at the hotel with Caleb & Olivia that day because we figured they needed a day to rest so they wouldn't be cranky for Magic Kingdom. They had their own little fun though while we were at Universal Studios. Caleb got a taste of what it would be like to have a baby around.

So while the 2 little ones were having a fun day with Grandma, I was having my own fun day. I have always loved Universal Studios. The Incredible Hulk coaster has always been one of my favs, this year however I had a NEW reason to go to Universal... The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. OMG SO MUCH FUN! The main ride was broken (huge bummer), but this place is its own little theme park!! You have to have a ticket to get in and there were literally lines waiting to get into the stores!! There was the Hogwarts express, Zonko's, Honeydukes, The Three Broomsticks, Ollivanders... spectacular! The best part of Hogsmeade (a wizard city for all of you non-HP nerds) was the butterbeer of course! If you ever have the chance to go, I highly recommend the frozen butterbeer, they say the on-the-rocks kind isn't quite as good.

"I only hope that we never lose sight of one thing–that it was all started by a mouse."~ Walt Disney

Magic Kingdom... where dreams come true. Our last full day in Florida was spent at Magic Kingdom, the perfect place to end your vacation. There really are no words that can express Magic Kingdom, it's just pure fantasy, history, imagination, adventure, learning & so much more. It's a place where people are all the same & even grown-ups are kids! :) So I leave you with just pictures from our day at Magic Kingdom because after all, like Walt says, "pictures still speak the most universally understood language."

I hope we get to take Caleb back one day when he's a little bit older. Disney World truly is a magical place where anything can happen! :)

Christmas with The Jacksons Part II

2010-12-30T15:49:00.000-06:00

EPCOT

Did I mention that before all of this Florida business happened, I was in Las Vegas celebrating my best friend's 30th birthday?! I didn't?!?!?! Well, I was & if you know anything about Las Vegas Blvd. you walk.... A LOT!! Which leads me to my current post. I don't know how big the parks are at Disney World, but I'm sure it's safe to say that we walked at least 10 miles everyday! I'm not complaining or anything, but MAN my feet were killing me!! Anyway, enough complaining.

Our adventure with Mickey & his friends started at the fabulous Epcot. When we first got there, the first character the kids saw was Stitch.

I guess Stitch was too much for Caleb because after we rented the stroller, he passed out for about 20 minutes. The first place we went to was The Seas which was the Nemo ride. It was one of the few things that Caleb was going to know anything about so I really wanted him to see it. I hated waking up the poor little guy because I knew if I did we would all pay for it later, but I mean how many times do you ACTUALLY get to go to Disney World?!?! Thank goodness I didn't have to wake him up, he woke up on his own & I'm so glad he did because he absolutely loved it!! I didn't get any pictures inside of the ride because I couldn't figure out the stupid camera, but here are some of the shots we did capture.

The nerdy teacher in me LOVES Epcot. I love the fact that Disney has created a park that is so fun but yet Educational. We went on several other rides where we learned about space, our planet, dinosaurs and many many other things!

Ok, side note, can I just tell you how much trouble I'm going to be in when Caleb gets older?! A picture speaks a thousand words!

Cuteness right?!?!? My sweet little baby was hitting on Minnie Mouse! We found a spot where all the characters were so Caleb had a chance to meet all of his favorite friends!

After a long day at Epcot, we were ready to go. We had to get a few more pictures before we left though!

Christmas with The Jacksons Part I

2010-12-30T14:42:00.001-06:00

CAUTION! LONG POST!

Christmas this year was so much fun! Where do I even begin... well I guess I should start with the fact that our Christmas started in November at Disney World! Since Chris and I have been married, we have always alternated Christmases between our families. One year in Illinois and the next in New Orleans. This year my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary (amazing right?!) so we decided to head down to Florida and party it up with Mickey and the gang!! We went the week of Thanksgiving, and we were fortunate enough to spend a few days at the Nickelodeon Hotel, Epcot, and Magic Kingdom. Let me just tell you my little man was in H-E-A-V-E-N!! I mean seriously... he got to see all of his favorite characters in ONE trip!!

Our first stop while in Orlando, was the Nick Hotel. As soon as we got there, the kids wanted to go swimming, thank goodness for heated pools!! So we put on our swimming gear and headed down to the pool area, which we had a view from our room! While the kids were playing & swimming, my niece Lauren, was picked as a contestant for one of the games down by the poolside! She got to throw a pie in her dad's face (quite hilarious I might add all though she was very nice about it) & she was slimmed!

After a couple hours at the pool we decided that it was time to explore the resort to see who we could find.

After locating all of the HOT celebs at Nick Hotel, we went to our final show that night where my niece Lauren was picked AGAIN to go on stage and participate in another game... LUCKY GIRL!! The next morning we got up early to go eat breakfast with some of our favorite friends!! This was probably my favorite day at the hotel because Caleb had the chance to meet Dora and Blue, some of his favorites!

We had so much fun at the breakfast, but like all good things, it had to come to an end so we packed up our bags and headed over to our next stop. Stay tuned for Part II of our Jackson Christmas! :)

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas!

2010-12-25T19:55:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!! May your Christmas be filled with good tidings to you and your kin along with a cup of good cheer!! May 2011 bring you and yours a wonderful New Year!

Love,

THE BORDELONS

It's the MOST WONDERFUL TIME of the year!

2010-12-05T21:00:00.001-06:00

This year we are spending our Christmas in Texas, at our home, so to get ready for the holidays I couldn't have had better help.

UMMMM so who WOULDN'T be in the Christmas spirit with a helper like this?!?!? HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

A Time to be Thankful

2010-11-13T15:17:00.000-06:00

As I get older, I'm starting to understand what life is about and how more often than not... we truly don't appreciate what we have or what God has given us. It's very easy for us to look at the negative instead of the positive, it's easy to take advantage of the greatness we have and focus on what we don't have and wish we did, its easy to complain instead of praise, and it's really easy to ask why this happened to me instead of someone else. The last few weeks I have come across many people that are facing some difficult times in their lives and it really has made me stop and think to myself, "Wow... I really don't know how lucky I am sometimes." I think it's only human that we get caught up in our own world and forget what others might be feeling or experiencing, but especially this time of year and from what I have learned over the past few weeks, we all need to take a look at our lives and for once express our gratitude for what we do have. It's amazing how good THAT can make you feel when you actually think about it!

Darkness, sadness, loss, grief, all of these things are scary & trying and sometimes we think that we will never overcome it, but I read something the other day that really stuck with me: “The depth of darkness to which you can descend and still live is an exact measure of the height to which you can aspire to reach.” Over the next few days I'm going to post what my family is thankful for and I hope whoever is reading this can find something in their life to be happy about or grateful for... no matter how big or small it is.

I AM THANKFUL FOR...

my life
a healthy family
a safe place to call home
laughter
great friends
a rewarding job (even though sometimes its very tiring)
being a mother, wife, daughter, granddaughter, & sister
flip flops :)
sweet tea
music
chapstick
comfy sweatshirts
mom's cooking
good books
childhood memories
love
forgiveness
trying times

I know that last one may seem kind of strange, but if we didn't have difficult times to experience then we wouldn't have opportunities to better things. I'm thankful for this because without those times some doors would not close and others would not be opened.

Family Pics

2010-10-18T22:51:00.000-05:00

CALEB IS 3!

2010-09-06T13:43:00.000-05:00

A week ago today, my sweet little baby turned 3. Now to some of you, 3 doesn't seem very old, but when it's your own child it's hard to believe how fast they grow right before your very eyes!! I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this post talking about the details of the party, instead I'm just going to show you the fun memories we were able to capture!

But before I do that, I just wanted to give a special thanks to our parents who are seriously the most amazing people I know. They do so much for us and without them the party would not have been possible. To give you a few details of the party it was a Toy Story theme and we had all the kids wear their pjs and bring there favorite blanket and pillow. We had Toy Story games, watched Toy Story the movie, ate hot dogs, chips, popcorn, fruit, and had popcorn cupcakes!! It was a great way to spend the day!!

And of course what kind of party would it be without the best of people to celebrate with!!

And of course no party can be complete without wishing the birthday boy Happy Birthday!

You are growing before our very eyes little man!! I hope your 3rd birthday was the best yet!! We love you to the moon and back! :)

Stay tuned for a list of Caleb's FAVS at the age of 3! :)

Family Tradition

2010-08-23T19:01:00.000-05:00

When I was a little girl, I can remember my Grandma McCleery making this homemade chocolate cake that all of us grandkids LOVED!! Grandma would make the cake, along with her own frosting, and then it always sat on top of the stove in the dish. Every year someone would ask Grandma to make this cake for their birthday, holiday, or simply just because! The best part about this cake... I don't think any of us knew what was in it until we were older, much older and you will understand why in a minute! :)

So my dear friend/teammate at work is turning 30 tomorrow and poor Katie always gets shafted on us celebrating her birthday because its right when school starts. In effort to make her birthday a little more special I decided that I would make her birthday cupcakes using Grandma's special recipe... and of course with Caleb's help too (don't worry Katie, he didn't touch the batter until we were done with it, he just put the papers in the pan).

Miracle Whip Cake

2c. flour

1c. sugar

3-5 tbsp.cocoa

1/2tsp. salt

1 1/2tsp. baking soda

1c. miracle whip

1c. hot water

Mix the dry ingredients together then mix miracle whip & hot water. Add to dry ingredients and stir. Bake for 25-30 minutes at 375.

It's not as sweet as most cakes, but it's pretty tasty!!

I'm a big boy now!

2010-08-20T22:38:00.000-05:00

Caleb went potty tonight for the very first time! YAY!!! We've been working for months on the whole potty thing, and he will sit on the potty, but he wouldn't go. We were getting dressed for bed and Chris took him to the bathroom to try to potty and the next thing I heard was "That a boy!" So of course what do I do?!?!?!? I grabbed my camera and ran to the bathroom to capture the glorious moment!! :)

I'm so proud and happy of my little guy!! Now, let's keep our fingers crossed that this was not just a one time deal!! What a great way to end the week.

Sneak Preview

2010-08-18T23:29:00.000-05:00

It hit me today... my baby is really becoming a little boy. In just 12 days, we will be celebrating Caleb's 3rd birthday!!! I'm so excited about his party and since his invites turned out so stinkin cute I decided to give you a little sneak preview on what is in store! :)

Stay tuned for the red carpet event in just a few days!

First Day of School

2010-08-17T17:58:00.000-05:00

Monday began a new chapter in Caleb's life. We were very blessed and fortunate to have a wonderful mommy, teacher, & friend take care of our little boy for the past year and a half of his life. But unfortunately like all good things, it came to an end. Ms. Mandy was a huge blessing in our lives and Caleb truly learned a great deal from her... not taking him to her house Monday morning ripped me apart and gave me so many fears about putting him back in daycare. Who was going to hold him when he was sick or hurt? Would he have nutritional meals like Ms. Mandy prepared? Would he learn new things like he did every day with her? Would someone be emailing me sweet pictures of my little man and the fun things he was doing at school like Mandy did? Normally I'm not a picky person, but when you've had the greatest taking care of your kid for so long... it's hard to feel anyone will do better. So not only did Caleb's whole world get turned upside down Monday, mine did too. This is how our morning started...

Definitely not off to the best of starts and it really didn't get much better after this! He was such a bear Monday morning and was very difficult to get ready for his first day of school.

Even with the sad pouty face I must say he was still incredibly adorable in his new outfit! He definitely was not a happy camper though about going to school. So I tried to get him to take a picture with me on his first day of school and this is the best we came up with.

Yes it's a smile, but that smile didn't last long. Caleb had a really hard time understanding that he wasn't going to Ms. Mandy's house and when we pulled up to daycare it was not an easy task to leave my screaming child with a complete stranger. It broke my heart to hear my little guy screaming for me as I walked away, but as a Kindergarten teacher I knew I couldn't stay because it would just make it worse. All day I worried about it... this was new to me too because with Ms. Mandy there was not a single day where I worried about him, I knew he was in good hands. So when 3:00 rolled around I bailed out of school as fast as i could and headed to pick him up. As I walked to into his room he was underneath a table, playing by himself, and as soon as he saw me he ran to me hugged me real tight and said, "Let's go home Mom." I then find out from his teachers that he had a hard day... *sigh*

I hoping he will adjust to his new place, if not I might be calling Ms. Mandy and offering her double of what we paid last year!! :(

Mom, please don't go

2010-08-10T22:44:00.000-05:00

How does your heart not melt as soon as you hear those words REGARDLESS of how they are being used?!?!?!? Ever since Caleb was about 5 months old, when he got his first ear infection, his sleeping habits have not been ideal for 2 new parents who truly enjoy their own sleep. To be quite honest, Caleb did not start sleeping through the night until he got his big boy bed which was right before he turned 2 years old. Don't you feel sorry for us?! To this very day Caleb still fights sleep. Maybe its bad parenting, or just stubbornness on his part but its a battle that is never ending with this child.

I was putting Caleb in bed tonight and usually I lay down with him until he falls asleep. Again, I'm sure some parents are probably saying, "Oh you shouldn't do that," but this is one of the things I enjoy most with Caleb and you know what? He will tell me when I don't need to lay down with him for him to fall asleep anymore!! I will say though when he starts playing and being silly I get up and leave. He cries for a little bit and then usually puts himself to sleep. Tonight was a little different. I don't know if its because he's still adjusting to being back home after a long stay with Grandma & Grandpa Jackson or what, but he cried for quite awhile tonight so I caved and went back in his room. I walked into his room and he said, "Mom, lay down with me?" UMMMM HELLO!!!! Of course I'll lay down with you sweet boy. So we laid there quietly listening to his lullabies cd and just when I thought enough time had passed where I hadn't felt him move I decided to get up. As I was sliding out of his bed I felt his sweet tiny hand pat mine and the words that melted my heart came out of his mouth, "Mom, please don't go." So I laid back down and let him wrap his little arms around my neck and enjoyed every minute of it until he was fast asleep! :)

"A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home."

2010-08-09T22:48:00.000-05:00

Where do I begin... as you all can tell, it literally has been months since I have updated this blog. A lot has happened in the past 5 months, and while there really is no excuse I guess all I can say is I just lost my way. I won't bore you with the details, but it does lead me to the title of my post: "A smile is the light in the window of your face that tells people you're at home." In the past 5 months I've been to MY childhood home twice and to be perfectly honest, I think it's exactly what I needed to get back on track. Illinois is where I go when I need to remind myself of the things that are important, where my life falls into place and makes sense again. I surround myself with the people who love me unconditionally and accept me the way I am no matter what. Being home made me realize how fast life can get and how easy it is to get up in drama, materialistic things, and simply the things that don't really matter. So I came back with a clear mind and a happy heart however I left behind the one thing that means the world to me which was Caleb.

While it breaks my heart to be away from my sweet little boy for more than a few days, its something that I hope he gets to experience every summer while he is a child. I love living in a big city, don't get me wrong, but there is something about being in a small town that is comforting and allows a kid to truly be a kid. For instance; going fishing, riding a 4 wheeler, catching lightening bugs, riding a tricycle in the street and not worrying about traffic, chasing bunny rabbits, going to the park, being with cousins & grandparents... all of these things that Caleb experienced this summer are some of the happiest times in my childhood.

So, after a very busy and eventful summer, I've decided that it's time for me to get this blog rolling again. I can't promise that I will post every day, but I will be posting more often than I have been in the past 5 months!!

A Day Out with Thomas

2010-03-28T20:06:00.000-05:00

Well, Spring Break has come and gone... but what an exciting way to kick off Spring Break by taking my little man to see Thomas the Train!! Maybe because I'm not a boy, or 2 years old for that matter, but I truly don't understand why boys like Thomas so much. Whatever the reason may be, Caleb LOVES LOVES LOVES him some Thomas. Mom and Dad came into town to watch Caleb over the break because I was surprising Chris with a trip to Vegas for his big 3-0 birthday (post on that to come later). Well, needless to say things didn't start off so great. My parents and Caleb came to meet me at school and as I was opening the door for them Caleb triped and busted his lip, poor guy, and came pretty darn close to cracking his head open too (thank GOD he didn't). So after a few minutes of crying and lots of attention from Mommy and Grandma, all was right again and we were on our way to see that big blue engine!
There was so much to do and so many things to see we didn't know where to start. I was hungry like always after a long day of teaching so we hopped in line to see Sir Topham Hat while Grandma went to get us a funnel cake! We ate the delicious fried treat while waiting in line and waiting for Daddy to show up!

Once Daddy made it we were off and ready to experience the wonderful things that Thomas had to offer and of course like always... we had to stop and take a million pictures along the way!

Notice we were not quite finished with our funnel cake yet!! :) We walked around for a while and Caleb got to see all the trains (we also got to see him pitch a fit when we had to leave the trains), then we went and bought some souvenirs to remember our day. After we left the souvenir shop it was time to go for a ride! Caleb kept saying, "All Aboard!"

Caleb was so content on the train!! He loved looking out the window and feeling the breeze on his face, dancing to the music that was playing, hearing the horn tooting.... it really was a great way to start the break!

Like I said, Spring Break started off great!! Caleb was so happy that his Grandma & Grandpa were here and he got to see one of his most favorite shows in real life!! Stay tuned for more updates about Spring Break!

A Texas Blizzard

2010-02-23T14:10:00.000-06:00

So it's funny being from up North where you truly HAVE expereinced a blizzard or ice storm before and then moving to Texas and thinking people are crazy when they just see a little bit of snow. I mean seriously it's like a zoo down here as soon as you hear the word snow! Now, call my crazy if you want or maybe I've just become a "Texan", but a few weeks ago it really did seem like a blizzard down in the dirty south! The snow started falling and didn't stop all day long. It was one of those heavy snows where as a teacher, you were just wondering when they were going to make the announcement that it was going to be an early release day... but that didn't happen. It did happen however later that night!! Friday morning we woke up to a beautiful white blanket laying in our yard!! Caleb kept looking out the window begging to go out to play in the snow, but I'm kind of a softy when it comes to cold weather so I kept finding reasons to prolong it! Finally after a lunch and a nap I decided to bundle my little man up and head out to experience some fun times in the cold cold snow.

It's funny watching a toddler try to walk through the snow. Caleb took one step and kept saying, "I can't Momma I'm stuck!" So after a few steps and showing him how to pick his feet up out of the snow we finally made it to the middle of the yard. Caleb gave me this odd look like, "Ok I'm here... now what do I do!" So we touched the snow and picked it up AND......... stared at it! :) That's it. I tried to show him how to make snowballs, and throw it up in the air, but my child seriously was not interested in it.

After a while I decided to aclamate my kid the way I was growing up in this stuff and just bombard him with a few "tiny" snowballs to the face (keep in mind I'm a lot nicer than my 2 older brothers so they really were tiny and I didn't throw them very hard) We laughed and played and I heard, "Heyyyyy.... that's not nice Momma!" as I continued to throw the snow at my child.

Well I then thought, HEY let's make a snow angel!!! Folks.... thats where our fun ended, after laying Caleb in the snow he was done and ready to go inside. No snowman or anything!! Oh well... at least we tried. I guess my baby is a true Texan! :) He prefers the outdoors when there is green grass and ground you can see! I did however catch one last picture before going inside and it was by far my favorite! I will forever remember our Texas Blizzard and the day I got to spend with my sweet child on this day!

Santa has a sleigh, but my Pa has a Wheel barrow!

2009-12-28T19:41:00.001-06:00

Well we finally made it back home after a week in New Orleans!! With our families living in different parts of the country, we only get to spend every other Christmas either in Louisiana or Illinois. This year we went to Louisiana and boy was it a trip! After traveling in the car and visiting an emergency care clinic the day we got there, I was loaded up on meds and not feeling so hot, but this definitely did not stop Caleb from having a great time! His Pa (Great Grandpa) is so much fun! Caleb loves the outdoors and for December weather in New Orleans it was definitely a good day to spend some time in Pa's backyard feeding the fish, swinging, picking lemons, and did I mention a wheel barrow ride?!?!?!?!

We Won A Giveaway!!

2009-12-11T09:26:00.000-06:00

Can I tell you how excited I am?!?!?! We NEVER win anything!!! So needless to say I was so thrilled to find out we were the winners of this fun and frivolous Christmas card giveaway.

Right before Caleb turned a year old, I stumbled across this website of a fun and talented Mommy who did all kinds of paintings on the side. Can you imagine being a Mommy, teacher, AND a home business woman?!?! GEESH!! Needless to say I hit her up real quick on making a fun sign for Caleb's 1st birthday and she did an amazing job!! It is now currently hanging up in my classroom so it's still getting great use! :) Anyway, since then she has branched out her business to many many more things (blog designs, home decor, christmas cards, birth announcements, invitations, etc.) and everytime she adds something new it's even more amazing than before! So if you are looking for something unique for your special little one, or even for your house check out her blog Oh So Spoiled!! Thank you Cara for creating the card... I couldn't be happier

Santa, Caleb and a Good Book

2009-12-08T21:29:00.004-06:00

UPDATES TO COME!!!! I'm working on our Thanksgiving Break post, but in the meantime enjoy this sweet little picture that was taken tonight with Santa!! I was really worried that this would be the year that Caleb took that AWFUL, everyboy has one, crying on Santa's lap picture... but to my surprise he didn't!!! It started off with Chris bringing him into the mall dead asleep, I mean out like a light. Well, we got him to wake up and while we were standing in line waiting we started talking about Santa's magical place. We looked at all of the glittery stars, presents, and Christmas trees galore! As we got closer to Santa, Caleb started to get a little fussy. I was keeping my fingers crossed the whole time and saying a prayer under my breath to please not let my child be the child that pitches a fit when it's his turn to sit on Santa's lap after waiting in line this whole time. When we were walking up to Santa, Caleb was taking baby steps and just looking at him like "Who the heck is this guy so jolly and fat?!" Then just like always, Santa used his magical ways and reeled my cute little boy in with a good Christmas book!! :) It was absolutely precious and sweet!
So maybe its not a picture of Caleb and Santa saying "CHEESE" or "Merry Christmas" to the camera, but how many kids can say later in the future that Santa read a book with them before Christmas?!

P.S. Santa if you are reading this, Caleb didn't really get to tell you what he wanted for Christmas so he wanted me to let you know that he really like Trains (Thomas specifically but any trains will do) and Mickey Mouse. Also since you are already reading this, I would like to know a really fast and easy way to potty train a 2 year old!!

“Today, see if you can stretch your heart and expand your love so that it touches not only those to whom you can give it easily, but also to those who need it so much.”

2009-11-24T20:47:00.000-06:00

That's exactly what my sweet little boy did for me today. Today was one of those days where everything seemed to go wrong. It was one of those days where all you felt like you could do to feel better was cry, until Caleb proved me wrong. We were in the bedroom and I was putting away the clothes (shocking I know), and it just hit me... I started crying and I mean uncontrollably crying and couldn't stop. Caleb was on the other side of the bed trying to get Noelle and all of the sudden his sweet little head pops up and just looks at me with the most tender face. Here is how the conversation went:

Caleb: Oh no, Momma is sad, why are you sad Momma? (As he walks to the other side of the bed where I'm sitting)
Me: I'm just sad Caleb.
Caleb: It's ok Momma (as he climbs up on my lap and holds my face in his hands)
Me: Thank you baby.
Caleb: You hurt Momma? Where are you hurt? I make it better.
Me: Yes love, I'm hurt.
Caleb: I fix it Momma... here hug.
Me: Thank you sweet boy, please stay this sweet forever.
Caleb: Ok Momma all better!

So needless to say I started crying even more, but this incredible little heart of his made my heart smile. It amazes me that my little 2 year old can be so aware of emotions and feelings. I truly do hope his heart stays that sweet and pure forever, I could not ask for anything more

Date Days: Daddy vs. Mommy

2009-10-29T19:02:00.000-05:00

This past week Chris and I each have had the opportunity to enjoy our little man for a day. Caleb's "Second Mommy" Ms. Mandy, had the flu and was not feeling great so Chris and I had to take a turn spending the day with Caleb. Since I was unable to be with Caleb on Daddy's Date Day, I only have one picture to show you... hmmmm, funny how THAT works out!! :)

On Monday, we got the phone call from Mandy that she wasn't feeling well and that school was going to be closed for the day. Well as you all know, life as a teacher is not an easy job to be away from. You can't just pick up the phone and call in and say, "Hey, I'm not going to be at work today, just tell the sub to do whatever." So, Chris called in and spent the day with Caleb. After sleeping until about 9:30 and doing some things around the house, they decided to venture out to Peter Piper Pizza. So Caleb spent the day with Daddy shoving his face full of "izza" and playing games!

Tuesday Ms. Mandy still was not feeling so well so it was Mommy's turn to stay home. Thank goodness I have amazing teammates who really come through for you in a time of need. Tuesday morning I decided that I would take Caleb to experience he's very first movie. I decided to go early because I figured if he didn't make it through it and got fussy, not a lot of people would be there, and if you go early enough it's only half price so no big loss!! So I packed Caleb up with his favorites (grapes, M&M's, and a cup of milk) and we headed off for Toy Story 3D.

We got to the movies and my little guy was PASSED OUT!!! I paid for my ticket, walked in the theatre and NO ONE WAS THERE!!!!! Caleb and I had the whole place to ourselves, what a PERFECT first movie experience! :) Caleb decided to wake up and the movie started and he was hooked!

I could not believe how still he was being!! He loved every minute of it with his grapes in his hand or his M&M's!!

As Buzz Light-year says, "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!"

What a great way to spend the day with my little guy! He wasn't a fan of the glasses so you missed a great movie in 3D, but after we left the movies we went to the Disney Store to buy some Toy Story PJs!! :)

The New Face of Scentsy!

2009-10-19T18:57:00.001-05:00

For those of you that have not heard I got involved in selling a great new product!! I won't bore you with all of the details, but I'm now a consultant for a company called Scentsy. It's a candle company that is wickless and the wax is leadless and is heated on what you call a warmer. They are cute decorative pots heated with a light bulb... PERFECTLY safe for children of all ages!!

Since I have gotten my kit, Scentsy has taken over a good portion of our living room. I have a ton of testers and the other night I had them out asking Chris which scents he liked and Caleb wanted to play along too!

After each time smelling a different tester this is the face my crazy child would make!

So what do you think? The new face of Scentsy?! Maybe without the drool spots on his pajamas and a little nicer outfit! :)

Pumpkins, Pumpkins Everywhere

2009-10-19T18:41:00.002-05:00

This past weekend we met up with Caleb's daycare friends and made a visit to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch. Now last year, Caleb LOVED the pumpkin patch!! This year.... not so much. I thought for sure he would go crazy when he saw Dora and Diego standing by all of the pumpkins, but my little guy had NO INTEREST AT ALL!!!

So we headed over to the animals which was actually one of the few parts Caleb did enjoy about our trip. He got to see the giant turtle that he wanted to touch as well as a pig he kept "oinking" at! He wasn't too sure about the horse at first, but Daddy finally got him to touch it.

Elli and Aidan had to join in the fun too!

After the animals we decided to move on towards the pumpkin patch. We saw a wooden train that Caleb was a big fan of, and then a real train pulled by a tractor... but Caleb wasn't a big fan of that one until the END of the ride.

Look how miserable this poor child is!!

We got one shot of Elli, Aidan, and Caleb all together but as you can see once again my little man was not really wanting to cooperate!!

Maybe next year Pumpkin Patch... Daddy seems to think it might have had something to do with the fact that UT and OU were on and Caleb wanted to watch the game instead. I think we just needed to bribe him with a Fletcher's corn dog!

Trick or Treat.... Sneak a Peek!!!

2009-10-15T21:09:00.000-05:00

This year Caleb gets to be something he TRULY LOVES for Halloween!! The past few years Chris and I have always decided what Caleb was going to be, but this year our big guy had a say in his costume!! Before I give you a sneak peek to what Caleb is going to be, I need to reminisce over the past 2 years of this precious boy's Halloween costumes!!

Halloween 2007

Our fighting Kangaroo!! Austin College was our inspiration for this costume!!

Halloween 2008

Donald Duck!! HA HA poor kid, his beak quacked and all of the kids loved it. Caleb really started enjoying Mickey Mouse around this time, so DADDY (Caleb keep in mind this was not Mommy's idea) wanted to dress him up as Donald.

And Halloween 2009...

Keep checking back to see real pictures of Caleb's halloween costume!! Thanks to our good friend Laurence (Caleb's "Uncle", he gets to be something he REALLY loves this year! He was SO EXCITED when we showed him his costume!

Look Who's Turning Two!!!

2009-08-24T18:08:00.004-05:00

This past weekend we took Caleb to get pictures taken and while we were at it decided maybe we should go ahead and snap a few family shots as well. I was so in love with Caleb's first year pictures that I decided to go ahead and go back to L.E. again this year and oh so glad that we did! Caleb did so well and L.E. once again got some great shots! Here are a few of my favs! :)

Oh how time flies and my BABY now looks like such a little boy!!

Ok yes, I KNOW... he will grow to hate these pictures some day but I SWEAR it was not my idea!! How could you not love these pictures though?!?!?!?

Anyone who has talked to see in the past few months knows that baby loves to learn and figure out new things so I think the these two pictures are precious, especially being a teacher!

And last but not least, here are a few family pictures we had taken!

6 more days, and my baby is a 2 year old!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Turning TWO means you get a NEW ROOM!

2009-08-16T17:14:00.004-05:00

So recently Caleb took a trip to Illinois (pics to come soon) without us and while he was away we took the time to re-do his room to a "big boy" room. Anyone who knows us, knows that Chris and I are all about sports so it's only natural that our little guy will hopefully follow in our footsteps... if he doesn't that will be ok too but we will probably be a little disappointed. :) So what was once a nursery full of turtles is now a room full of vintage sports!! The room isn't quite done yet, but its a work in progress and Caleb seems to love it!!

So this is C's new bed! The comforter was not exactly what I had in mind, but it's starting to grow on me!! The signs on the wall we got from Hobby Lobby and the Babe Ruth one came from Arlington Park when we went to a baseball game one day!

His new bed is a trundle bed so him and his friends will have plenty of sleeping room. Right now though we are using it as storage.

These are a few decorations that we also got from Hobby Lobby! The shadow box is full of vintage sports memorabilia I'm still not sure how i feel about this. Nana is on the hunt for some of Caleb's dad's old baseball tees, but for now we decided to hang the jersey's up! The lamp was also another purchase from Hobby Lobby... I swear that store has everything! :) This might be my favorite part of C's room. So yes, I am a Cubbies fan, BUT this cabbage patch doll is very very special!! It use to be my grandfather's and my mom had bought it for him a long long time ago. When my Grandpa passed away my mom received it back and last year gave it to Caleb. The C is a project I am still thinking about, we'll see how it turns out! :)

Like I said earlier, there's more to come!! Keep checking back! :)

Under Construction & Updates

2009-08-16T16:33:00.002-05:00

WOW!!! It's been awhile since I've posted a blog and so much has happened in our little man's life since April. I'm probably shooting myself in the foot by saying once again that I'm going to try my best to keep this thing updated since school is about to start!! Our little guy is about to turn 2 so there will be lots of events to talk about and see in a few short weeks. Meanwhile I am working on making this site a little more fancy and fun and I will soon have a few things to post about what has been going on the past few months (a trip to Grandma & Grandpa's without mommy & daddy, going to the aquarium, etc.) So hang tight and be patient while I slowly get this blog back on a roll!!

A visit from Grandma & Grandpa

2009-04-26T19:34:00.007-05:00

The Friday before Easter Grandma and Grandpa came into town for a visit. So on Saturday night we got ready for Easter by dying eggs. Caleb wasn't too sure about the dying eggs part, he just liked dropping the egg in the water and watching in splash every where... imagaine that, him making a mess!! Saturday night after dying eggs, Grandma & Grandpa headed over to Uncle Philip's house and offered to take Caleb with them. Who were Chris and I to opose such an idea!! So we packed his stuff up and sent him on his way to Uncle Philip's house!! We enjoyed a much needed night of peaceful sleep since our little guy does not like sleeping at all! On Sunday, when we went over to Philip's Caleb was having a great time playing with Allie and Uncle Philip. For a while now Chris and I have been wondering where Caleb has gotten his crazy personality from and on Easter I finally saw it... he is so much like his uncle it is scary! After dinner, Mom decided to give Caleb his Easter basket. My little guy still isnt too excited about the whole present thing yet, but he does love to pull everything out and throw it behind his back. As you can see... all of his toys ended up behind him! Next it was time to hunt for some eggs!! Caleb didn't do so hot at the Easter egg hunt at Ms. Mandy's house, he found 2 eggs (one for each hand) and he was done. Grandma however helped spark his interest in looking for eggs and after he found them all he wanted to keep doing it again and again. Over the past week, Caleb has learned many new words and tricks thanks to Grandma and Grandpa. Mom sat down to read his 5 Little Ducklings story with him and in the story their is a frog. Caleb learned to say "ribbet" this week and it might be the cutest thing ever!! We also got to make the infamous Sour cream sugar cookies while Grandma was here. I thought for sure Caleb would love getting messy in flour and eating cookie dough like I did as a kid, but I was sadly mistaken. He didn't like the flour at all and he just kept saying "yuck". Hopefully he will grow out of this stage, because he sure doesn't know what he is missing!! Then it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to leave. Grandpa helped Caleb put his money in his piggy bank, we put him to bed and the next morning they were back on the road. Caleb was so sleepy when they were getting ready to leave, he didn't want to wake up. He had such a great time with Grandma and Grandpa while they were here, but now he is going through some SERIOUS DETOX TIME!!! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa J.... we love you!

A Spring Day at Nana & Pa-paws

2009-03-22T12:01:00.010-05:00

Saturday we headed over to Trophy Club to celebrate Chris's birthday with the family. After we had dinner, Nana, Pa-paw, Chris, Caleb, and I went down to the pond and to the park for a little bit of fun. It was such a BEAUTIFUL day outside and it just reminded me of why I love the springtime so much!! We started off at the pond to feed the ducks. Nana and Pa-paws ducks are a lot friendlier than our ducks!! Some of them started to get a little TOO close!! Even though this duck wasn't afraid of Caleb, my little guy wasn't very interested in feeding the ducks much after the first piece of bread he threw... instead, he decided that he remembered how much he liked bread himself and decided to start eating it instead! Before we got ready to leave the pond we had to capture a few memorable moments on the dock. Thanks to Caleb's Aunt Jen, anytime he sees a camera now he stops for a pose and says "cheese"! After the pond we went to the playground. Caleb loved stomping on the woodchips and climbing on the jungle gym. He's favorite part of the playground though was the slides!!! And he even got to do a little bit of rock climbing! The last place we went before heading back home was the baseball field. Chris taught Caleb how to run the bases and touch each one. It was so sweet to see my boys playing in such a familiar surrounding that I grew up in. It made me excited for the future and the cool spring nights when Chris and I will be sitting on bleachers or in lawn chairs cheering Caleb on!! After sliding into home it started to get dark and Caleb was ready to leave the field. The last few pictures are pretty picture perfect though.... look out world a star is on the rise!! :) Thanks Nana & Pa-paw... we had such a great day with you!!

Happy Birthday Chris!

2009-03-22T11:20:00.006-05:00

Friday, Chris celebrated his 29th birthday. Nana & Pa-paw took Caleb for the night so we could go celebrate withe friends, dinner, and bowling!! We then had our family celebration on Saturday. Here are a few pictures we took Friday with good food and good company! We started our night out with a great dinner at La Hacienda Ranch, one of Chris's favorite mexican restaruants. Then we headed over to Main Event for some games and bowling! The Collins' The Siebenhausen boys David & Kym Kym & I The Boys The Guinns' Clint & Brodie The Bordelons' Happy 29th Birthday Chris, next year will be the big 3-0!!

PANCAKES!!

2009-03-15T21:52:00.003-05:00

Today was one of those days that I just did not feel like cooking at all!! It started when we first woke up this morning, and since I had a few errands to run anyway, I decided to wake Chris up too and take the boys for breakfast at McDonalds!! Over the past couple of weeks, Caleb has been a little under the weather with a horrible (YUCK as he likes to call it) nose, and somewhat of a little cough. Needless to say, my little boy who usually devours his food at anytime has only wanted fruit lately. I think that all changed today though when we went to McDonalds and ordered Caleb some hot cakes!! He loved them so much all he could say was "Bieee" (bite) and "mmm mmm". He ate 2 1/2 hot cakes today!!! What a little piggy!! I guess we will be making lots of pancakes at our house from now on... just call me the next Aunt Jemima!!

Auntie Kym & Uncle David

2009-03-14T10:53:00.004-05:00

Last night Chris and I had the opportunity to go out and actually be a married couple again! Some friends of ours got married back in January in Vegas, and decided to have a reception when they returned which was last night!! We had so much fun getting dressed up (normally my attire these days consists of a t-shirt that I don't mind Caleb slobbering on) and just being grown-ups for a few hours. Our good friends Kym and David offered to baby-sit Caleb while we went out and had some adult time and what a great job they did!!! When we got home our little man was already asleep and he slept until 9:00 this morning!!! Now for any of you that KNOW my little guy.... THIS NEVER HAPPENS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Kym and David must have worn him out to make him sleep that long. Here are a few pictures from the events last night: And here are a few pics of Caleb and David being "boys" at the house: Thank you so much Auntie Kym and Uncle David!! I know Caleb had a blast with you, and Chris and I had a fun night together too! :)