Yearly Photo Shoot

I'm a bit slow at getting those yearly studio shots for Caleb. He turned 2 in December but I'm only now getting around to it. My initial thought was to get only one potrait done at the studio. However, JC Penney Potraits said they would take more than 1 so that I could be free to choose and I got conned again into doing lots of shots and then having a tough time deciding which ones I wanted. She started me on a package that costs $80 (which to most people is pretty reasonable) but I had no intentions on spending that much. My final decision came down to a handful of shots and the cost was around $25. Yay. Due to my membership with JC Penney Potraits, they also gave me a link to be able to download all their pictures for free and to be able to post them on my blog. Extra Yay!

  

  

Swiper lives here

If you've ever watched "Dora the Explorer" with your kids, you'll know what I'm talking about. Swiper is the little fox that shows up and takes things and then Dora has to go looking for the item. Caleb loves Dora and we borrow the movies from the library whenever we can. 

In the last few weeks, we have seen him swiping things that belong to other people. Mostly food items - go figure! Once, I distributed Valentine treats to everyone in the family. Even Daddy had a piece on his plate. As we were all busy eating our treats, Daddy got up to go do something for a few seconds and when he came back he wondered why he didn't get a treat. I looked at Sydney and asked her if she took Daddy's treat and she looked around and said No. (Poor Sydney - the oldest child seems to be the first to be blamed for most things around here). Then we looked at Caleb and he innocently pretended like nothing happened. We started laughing as a family because he said yes to eating Daddy's portion. We told him that he couldn't have any more milk and he had to get down - which he happily complied - he knew what he had done.  

Another time, I was baking chocalate chip cookies in the kitchen and was letting them cool off on the kitchen counter. Without me realizing, Caleb was "swiping" cookies one by one off of the counter and sneaking into Daddy's office to eat them. Until Daddy came home and found crumbs on the floor along with his son eating cookies happily. 

Poor Sydney can't eat her food fast enough. If it's something that Caleb really likes, he reaches over and takes things. It seems like I have to have my eyes on him a lot lately. Hence, his new nick name is now Swiper! and you'll hear us saying "Swiper, no swiping!"

Pat on my back

I've been running at the YMCA by our house - it's so convenient and I like to work out with others. I've always hated running and don't like that feeling of being out of breath. Not to mention the way my legs and thighs feel the next day. I have so many friends that love to run and I always wish I could do the same. Well, I'm glad to say that I can actually run close to 2 miles straight now! 

Now that I'm used to it, I'm inspired to run a small race here in DeWitt in May. It's just a 3 mile (5 K) family race and I'm going to do it with a few other families in town. I feel like I should be able to train easily for a 10K race in Lansing, but I'm not pushing it. I just need to be happy about what I can do to begin with.  I give a pat on my back for it. 

A Mom With Some Time

I realized this evening as I was in between checking emails and looking up some information online that I actually had some time to myself again. The kids went to bed early. They had a full weekend with Grant and Robin visiting us. I think their dog Bruno is worn out too. Anyway, I realize that I have about 2 hours to myself before going to bed. What should I do? Too many choices. I could...

a) finish replying to 4 or 5 emails from friends abroad

b) blog away, like I'm currently doing

c) finish reading a book my mother sent me

d) start reading a new Karen Kingsbury Christian fiction book

e) scrapbook in the basement

f) watch some episodes of LOST online

g) make cards

....and the list goes on. There are too many things that I want to do, need to do and should do. 2 hours doesn't cut it. So, I'm just going to end the blogging and go to bed. Smart, huh?

Alive and Transported -- Toby Mac

Often times when I'm working out, I'm wondering what people listen to on their ipod. You don't have to wonder what John and I are listening to these days. TobyMac has taken over the house. Even the kids are jumping around and dancing hip hop to TobyMac. If you watched the SuperBowl at all, you would have noticed that they played "Ignition" by TobyMac. That's a rocking song. If that doesn't get you going in the morning along with your cup of coffee, then I don't know what will. Who says that Christian songs are boring? They need to tune in to SmileFM and I think they will find out that they are sorely wrong. 

On his Portable Sounds soundtrack, my favorites are Ignition, No Ordinary Love and Made to Love. Get the CD or get on his website if you haven't heard it yet.

Caleb's 1st Full Sentence

Sydney can talk - that must be in the genes as well. Must take up after her Mother. (smile)

Caleb is not much of a talker, but since turning 2, we hear him a lot more. Very encouraging. In any given sentence, I usually understand at least 2-3 words and can make out what he wants. Last week, I was busy looking for something in my office drawers and he came up next to me and asked "Mommy, what are you doing?" 

I stopped rummaging through the drawer and stared him in the face. I said "Caleb, that was your first full sentence!".  He said "yah" and walked away. I was still amazed and quickly wrote that in his childhood journal. Since then, I feel like I'm always waiting and listening to see what else he will say. I value his words.

It simply amazes me how he is learning so much at 2 and how he is progressing in so many ways. We are so lucky to have a boy like him. 

Sydney Reads

I have often made comments about Sydney's love for reading. We attend the DeWitt Library once a week for their special weekly program and the kids love it. We borrow an average of about 15-20 books at a time. If you were a fly on our wall, you would notice Sydney reading books on her own at any given time of the day. A few months ago, we realized that Sydney was reading very well and it wasn't from memory. Her preschool teacher thought that she was reading about 2nd grade level. Note: She's not even in Kindergarten yet. I didn't really know what to make out of that. Since that comment, I have repeatedly gotten comments about her reading from pretty much anyone on the street! Even a 5th grader at the library stopped to ask me how old Sydney was because Sydney was reading so loudly in a corner this week. 

We have friends at church who are teachers and they have made comments to me about talking to the principal at the Kindergarten that she will be attending - to make sure that they have programs that will meet her needs because of her advanced skills. I was a bit hesitant to follow their advice just because we are talking about just Kindergarten here. Right?

We have a parent meeting with the Principal next month to discuss these matters and we shall see what happens. Sydney also started doing Math worksheets that  I found online and she is doing 1st grade Math level as well. I am shocked and don't know what to do anymore. John says that he remembers having to do extra things in Kindergarten at some point because the teachers realized he was advanced too. This must be in the genes. 

The most amazing thing about Sydney's ability to read is not the reading in itself (although it is amazing and encouraging). It's the fact that she loves to read AND has started reading her Bible in the mornings. She shares with me different Psalms that she reads and I am just baffled at times. Yesterday, she asked me what "astounding" and "confounding" meant. I could explain the first one but said we had to get the dictionary for the other. With my daughter around, I feel like I'm back in school !

Peace and Quiet

I'm always mumbling to myself about peace and quiet around here - the need for it, that is. Then I finally get it and I'm at a loss. Let me explain more:

Sydney had a special Valentine party at her preschool this week and all the Dad's were invited. Being a Thursday and John had to teach 2 classes on campus, he could not get out of that. The teachers said it was fine for me to come but that I should get a babysitter for Caleb. Right. I asked everyone I knew (about 3 people) but no one could help. I just resolved to take Caleb along and not stay the whole time.

God is awesome. I love the way he works things out. The day before Sydney's party, I received a packet of info from MSU. Apparently, as an employee or student of MSU, we get up to 5 emergency child care at the Spartan Childcare Developement Center on campus. The amazing thing is that it is absolutely free!  Could this be too good to be true? I called SCDC and they said they had space for him. Bottom line, Caleb spent the whole day there and did very well (to the amazement of the childcare workers, who noted it was Caleb's 1st time there) and I was able to attend Sydney's party. 

While Sydney was at school, the house felt too quiet. I had to laugh at that one because I thought is was so ironic that I often wish for peace and quiet and when I get it, I don't know what to do with myself. Silly me. 

Kids tell it all

It's never happened before, but I left the van lights on while I was at the library with the kids last week. So you can imagine what happened once I tried to start the van? Yup- battery dead. Luckily, I had my cell phone on (which I often forget to bring along) and it's a good thing John was at home - only 5 minutes away. I took the kids out of their car seats and went back into the library to wait for John to come and jump start the van. As soon as we stepped back into the library, Sydney started proclaiming to everyone telling them about our van situation. Even Caleb joined in and found it funny. His words are not as proficient as Sydney's but nevertheless, I saw him walk up to someone and say "Uhh.. we stuck"...and proceeded to chuckle. Great! An embarassing situation for Mommy to be in and if it was just me, I would have quietly waited in the library and no one would have ever had to know. But nooooo..... instead, I was showed quite a bit of sympathy and had to tell each person who offered help that I was waiting for my prince to come rescue us all. Kids tell it all - no secrets hidden. 

Steelers seize Super Bowl

Needless to say, we are more than excited about the Pittsburgh Steelers winning the Super Bowl last night. We had a few friends over and it was fun to watch it together. The kids were up until half time and they had fun being with everyone. Before the game started, I reminded Sydney to pray for the Steelers - that they would win. She was all excited about rooting for the Steelers, as she has done many-a-time before. We also reminded her that her good friend Josiah was a Steelers fan! 

Sometime during the game, Sydney changed her mind and started cheering for the Cardinals. I thought maybe she was influenced by some of the boys in the room who were cheering for them. Later on, I asked her why she rooted for the Cardinals and she said "because they are the red team and that's my favorite color". Well, I told her that the Steelers won (since she went to bed after half time) and she responded with this: "In the next Super Bowl, the Cardinals will win!"  

One of our favorite plays was watching Harrison get Warner's throw and running down the sideline to the longest play in Super Bowl history. And Roethlisberger's passes were just amazing - what an arm! And there was little said about Troy Polamalu but he is just the best. He just shows up when you least expect him. Love it!