January Caleb-isms!

I have always admired the families that document their children's cute phrases and milestones.  That is something I have not been very good at.  I always wanted to document the cute things I heard when teaching Kindergarten but never did.  So this is my attempt at documenting those funny and cute insights my son gives us into his little world.  Kids really do say the cutest things and so hopefully I can keep up with documenting a few of our family's little moments.

After spending some time after school at a friend's house, it was time to go home.  Caleb began to cry in the car that he didn't want to go home because he was all alone.  He began to get very, very upset crying that he will always be alone and that we will never get a baby, and he will always be alone.  Then he said, "Mom, I don't even know what to do with a baby!"  He then told me that they were little and that a baby couldn't even play with him anyways.  It took a while to calm him down. (Poor guy was first sad he was an only child, and then realized that a baby may not be able to a friend for a while.) 

One evening we were watching a Hallmark Christian movie set back in the day of buggies and midwives.  A young female doctor went to help a mother in labor.  When she arrived, she was told the baby as stuck and the mother was having trouble.  The mother was obviously in labor and in pain.  Caleb looked up at me, "Mom, is that what is was like when I was born?" 
Me:  "Yes, you did get stuck and yes it hurt."
Caleb took a few seconds to take in the scene and then said, "I never, ever, ever want to be a GIRL!"

Driving home one evening, Caleb began to ask questions about how a doctor helps a dog.  (He really wants to be a veterinarian).  He then began to get upset because he didn't know how to take care of animals, and asked me, "What will happen if I don't learn how to take care of animals?"
Me:  "You will learn how to do it eventually.  Don't worry about it.  It will be ok."
Caleb:  "But what if I I try and try and don't learn how?"
Me:  "Sweetie, you have a lot a of schooling before that and by that time you will know what to do.  First you have to get through Kindergarten then High School and College.  It will be ok."
Caleb:  "But mom what if I try and try and try but never learn how to do it?  I don't think I will ever know what to do.  What will happen then?"
Me:  (Sigh) "Well if you never learn then I guess you will have to learn how to do something else."
Caleb:  (Crying) "But that is what I want to be!  I don't want to do something else!"

This week, we are watching a little 15 month old while her parents are on a cruise.  After changing her diaper, I asked Caleb if he would help me out and take the diaper to the garbage.
Caleb:  (very matter of factly)  "No mom she is your responsibility.  When I have my own baby, I will do that." (referring to a baby brother or sister)

Driving to school one morning, Caleb was talking about the name of one of his friends.
Caleb:  "Mom my friend Phoenix begins with the letter "P" but it sounds like an "F"."
Me:  "Yes, "Ph" makes the "F" sound."
Caleb:  "Yep otherwise he would be, Penix" (said with a 5 year old accent that makes the "x" sound pretty much sound like an "s")
Me:  "Mmmm...Yes that is true."  (In my mind I am hoping that that doesn't come up at school.)

 I love 5 year olds!  They are learning so much and tell you so much without any shame.  You get some fun surprises and interesting parenting moments!  Hopefully I will be better at writing them down.

Grandma & Grandpa Come to Visit!

We were lucky enough to have Brydon's parents come visit us over the long Martin Luther King weekend. It was exciting to have them come. It had been over a year since they had been to Texas and this is the first time they had seen us now that we were entirely unpacked and settled in.  It was a fun visit.  Unfortunately Grandma got pink-eye, but fortunately she didn't share and we were still able to see a few fun sights.  They even visited Caleb at school and had lunch with him.  He was so excited to show off his Grandma & Grandpa! 

Grandpa & Caleb running around the track after Caleb was finished showing off his new swimming skills to them at the Fitness Center.

Eating chocolate cake at Perini's Steakhouse.  This steakhouse is rated one of the best in Texas and the chef was invited to the White House for Pres. Bush.  It came highly recommend and the steak was very good.

We visited the Frontier Texas museum.  It was a very interactive display about the history of West Texas.  We had a lot of fun and learned a lot.

Of course we had to check out the Abilene Zoo!  It was a beautiful day in January.

The Lions were a highlight.  The male and female decided to be quite noisy while we were there.  Grandpa was pretty excited to see a lion and tell us about his latest visit to Africa.  They are beautiful animals and it was fun to see them being so active.  You can check out all the excitement in the short video below!

It is always so much fun to have family visit and see the life you have created in a new place.  Especially  now that Caleb is in school and Brydon has a job, it is fun to let them get a glimpse of our everyday life.  We were very excited to have them come out and look forward to the next time they can come out and enjoy all the fun in Texas!

The Best Gifts

Every once in a while you get the chance to have one of those life changing experiences that you will never forget. The Summer of 2001, I was able to have one of those experiences. For 2 months, I attended the BYU-Jerusalem Center in Jerusalem, Israel. I was able to study the Old Testament, New Testament, Jewish Traditions, Muslim Traditions, and the History of the Country. It was an amazing experience! We visited Biblical sites including: The Red Sea, Mt. Sinai, Jericho, Valley of Elah, Galilee, Nazareth, Bethlehem, and multiple sites within Old City Jerusalem. The adventures were endless. We spent 1 week in huts on the shores of the Galilee, climbed Mt. Sinai at 1 in the morning to watch the sunrise, snorkeled in the Red Sea, visited the country of Jordan, and spent 2 weeks touring the Pyramids, tombs, and historical sites of Egypt. Jerusalem is rich with culture, history, tragedy, and of course was an amazing place to study the life our Savior Jesus Christ. It is most definitely one of my top life experiences!

During my time there, I was able to collect many great souvenirs that we cherish in our home. However, when I came home I discovered a painting by Greg Olsen that I really wanted. It is titled "O Jerusalem" and is a beautiful painting of Christ on the Mt. of Olives overlooking the city of Jerusalem. I have a picture of me sitting on the Mt. of Olives with Jerusalem in the background and so the painting was very meaningful. Brydon knew I really wanted this painting but we could never justify the cost. I didn't want a small version. I wanted a large mantel size painting and I was ok waiting until we got just what I wanted.

Me on the Mt. of Olives Summer of 2001

This Christmas, we received an extra special gift. My parents gave us the painting! It is so beautiful and is the 15th Anniversary Edition. It is exactly what I wanted and we were so excited to hang it up.

So now I have an amazing picture of a trip that was truly a life changing experience and my favorite picture of our Savior Jesus Christ. Most definitely a gift that will be cherished forever.

"O Jerusalem" by Greg Olsen

 Thanks Mom & Dad!!!

Winter Break Adventures

For Winter Break, Caleb had 2 weeks off from school. It was so nice to have him home again, and I sure do miss him during the day.   Brydon was also able to spend a little over a week home with us, since he was only on-call at work.  It was so nice to spend some lazy family time together.  We really didn't do much.  We wanted to travel to Dallas but decided to just enjoy the comforts of home!  We only ventured out on a couple small outings.

The Adventures of

Carp-vs-Duck

One afternoon we visited the Abilene Zoo.  It was a great, relaxing trip.  But we found this battle between the ducks and carp really funny.  There is a small lake at the zoo where you can feed the fish.  However, the ducks were feeling rather aggressive and it became quite the battle for the food!  Man these fish have the BIGGEST MOUTHS EVER!



The ducks would just run over the fish.  It was hilarious!

In the end the Ducks won.  If they didn't catch the food before the fish, the would just stick their beak in the fish's huge mouth and take the food back!

Birds



We spent quite a while watching the Flamingos.  They are such unique animals and it was fun to watch them clean themselves.  Caleb would watch them and tell everyone around us how he is going to be a veterinarian someday.  He loves animals so much.

This big guy is apparently quite the scary bird.  Not a single duck would get near him to get any food.  So maybe the ducks aren't complete winners.  There is always a bigger fish (or bird in this case).

Fort Phantom Hill

Just outside of Abilene is an old Fort.  It was free to visit and got the kiddo outside, so we decided to check it out with a few friends.  The kids loved getting to run around and it was a really pretty area.  We ran around, took some fun pictures, and then ate a sack lunch.  It was a great end to our Winter Break!



Cactus on top of the chimney!  Pretty impressive.

Sure do love all these kiddos!!

Yep that is green grass in January.  Texas is awesome!

I was sad when I had to drop Caleb back off at school again.  Sure do miss having that little stinker around all the time.  It was great to have him around again for just a little while.  Can't wait for Spring Break!

Nope! I am not Crafty!

I have never considered myself crafty and I still really don't. I am good at stealing other people's good and easy ideas but admitting I am "crafty" is still difficult. I do "Projects".  Since Caleb started school I decided to do a few more projects.  They have possibly consumed large amounts of my time. But I think it is worth it, because most of them are gifts and there is nothing I like more than making gifts.   I started making gifts the year Caleb was born and I was on unpaid maternity leave while Brydon tried to squeeze in some hours as a waiter at Red Lobster.  During Brydon's time getting a Master's Degree, our financial situation was only worse so the tradition stuck.  Now I just like it so much and have a list of all sorts of stuff to do that our families are just stuck with them until I run out of ideas I guess.

  So here is proof that I am not very crafty!  ;-)

Now having 2 nieces allows me the opportunity to make any cute girly stuff I want to.

I was really excited to make my first rag quilt.  I love them and think they are so cute.  So I was so excited when my sister had a baby boy and said she liked them too!

I tried making burp clothes like my mother-in-law.  They didn't turn out as well as hers but they were fun and baby fabrics are just so cute.

Of course my biggest project was our Halloween Costumes.  It was fun to make a corset and hats, and things I never even knew I could make. This year I already know what we are going to be so I can start earlier and make the experience a little less stressful.

I have always wanted to hang a wreath on the door.  So I tried making this Fall Wreath.  I personally don't like how it turned out.  I wish I had gotten a fuller wreath to begin with and that may have helped.  But the rolled and fabric flowers are cute and easy to make.  The wreath total cost me $2 so I can't complain there.

For our family pictures I wanted a fun scarf but they are a bit spendy.  I found a tutorial to make this scarf and it ended up costing me $3.  I really like it and love the frilliness!

Last Christmas I made Caleb and my sister-in-law a quiet book I learned how to make at http://quietbook.blogspot.com/   So this year I just added a couple more pages to the book.  I designed the Cars page since Caleb loves that movie so much.  I was happy with how it turned out.

I tried making hooded towels and wash cloth puppets.  I really like making the towels and think I found an easy new baby shower gift. 

For my niece, I made a tutu.  Caleb was kind enough to model it for me so we could make sure it would fit.  Got to love easy girly stuff!  Poor boy is a good sport!

My nephew got a cape.  I made one of these for Caleb a couple of years ago and it was a hit.  I was happy to hear my nephew was also excited to become a Super Hero!

I got to make another ruffle apron.  I do love them! 

I designed this apron for my brother who will be getting ready to leave on a mission soon.  I dreamed up the weird idea and was really happy with how it turned out.  The bottom has a double pocket in black for the "pants" and then I just added the tie and name badge. 

Caleb LOVES soft things and has always been into silky textures.  He loved shirt tags as a toddler if they had a satin feel to them.  He often chooses his clothes by how soft they feel and is always feeling things.  When I found out about minky blankets with satin, I knew I had to make one for Caleb.  I found nice soft brown minky and blue satin and my friend helped me embroider his name in it.  It was a great surprise Christmas morning.  It was fun to sew a blanket and he loves it.  For my brother I made a red minky with black satin.  Caleb loved the red minky so much that he made snow angels on it and almost didn't let me mail it off.

I made this temple block on a Super Saturday for Caleb.  I really like them and am always amazed at the things Mod Podge can do.  That stuff is amazing!

I made 3 of these boards at the Super Saturday.  Brydon really wanted one in his office and they made good gifts as well.  I also made the magnets with my mom.  It is fun to make custom magnets and super easy.

Caleb actually helped me paint boards at the Super Saturday.  When I looked over at his painting, I discovered this gem.  We couldn't paint over it so we had him sign it and it is now on the back of Brydon's board.  So cute!

For Christmas I made this wreath.  It obviously fits our red and silver theme and only cost $12.  I can't decide if I should add more to it next year or not, but I really liked it especially since Christmas wreathes are so expensive. 

Right after I got my CriCut I had to try it out and so I made this plaque out of vinyl.  I am pretty excited about all the future possibilities!

Well now it is a new year and my list of projects for this year is all set and I can't wait to get started! 

 Nope I AM NOT CRAFTY!  I SWEAR!