Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving Eve

Tonight we had dinner at the Floyd's. Rhonda has to work tomorrow so we spent this evening with her.  Caleb and Elisabeth played guitar with Aunt Laura, read books, and played with the little Christmas tree that Grandma Rhonda bought for them.

Getting Crafty!

Here are a few pictures of the Caleb and Elisabeth making Thanksgiving cards for all of our family.  They turned out really cute.

Happy Birthday Hunter!

We went to another birthday party today. Caleb and Elisabeth's friend, Hunter, had her third birthday party at My Gym. Caleb and Elisabeth a great time playing, swinging, climbing, and playing in the ball pit. We are so thankful that God has provided our children with such sweet friends.

Happy Birthday Noah!

My good friend, Kim, had a birthday party for her little boy today. It was such a fun party. They had a bouncy house and hay rides. Caleb and Elisabeth had so much fun.

It's not easy being a grown-up!

I am thirty-one years old, but have spent most of my life feeling like a kid. Todd and I married young. We spent eight wonderful years of marriage only thinking about ourselves and each other. I married my best friend, so everyday was fun. We spent most of those years as a double income, no kids family. We lived pretty carefree, doing what we wanted, when we wanted. We loved it.

We celebrated our eighth anniversary, followed by the news that I was pregnant. We could not have been happier, until we found out we were receiving two blessings instead of one. Life just could not get any better.

We knew that our life would change dramatically. That sleeping in was over, date nights would be few, and that everything about life would change dramatically. We didn't care, we were too excited about our babies.

I say all of this because life was such a dream, it felt more like playing house than being a real "grown-up".

I remember the moment when I realized that I was officially an adult and there was no turning back. Four days after Caleb and Elisabeth were born we were planning to come home, only to find out that our baby girl was not going to be released from the hospital. Later that evening, she was admitted into the newborn intensive care unit. Before we left the hospital we walked to the NICU to see Elisabeth. It was a tough walk for me. I was still in a lot of pain from the c-section. I remember walking to the entrance of NICU and saying to the receptionist, "I am Elisabeth's mommy". And there it was a I was officially an adult.

Now, I encounter those moments everyday. Whether it is pulling an all-nighter with a sick baby, having consistent discipline, or trying to live out the Biblical principals that I am trying to teach our children. Parenthood is definitely not for the lazy or the weak.

I say all of this to tell my story of this week. On Monday,while I was putting away groceries, Elisabeth dug a can out of the trash and sliced her finger pretty badly. She was extremely upset to say the least. It was bleeding pretty bad. About twenty minutes later it finally stopped bleeding. I tried to get a good look at it and made the judgement call that I did not need to take her to the ER. When Todd got home I showed it to him. For those of you who know Todd, you know that he is very calm and easy going about this type of thing. He took one look at it and was pretty shocked at the nastiness of the cut, but by then it was too late to have it stitched up. We watched the cut carefully, but this morning decided that we should have the doctor look at it. I was sick and worried about this whole thing, because I was the one who had made the decision to not take her to the ER.

After a stressful morning and a hard visit to the doctor (Elisabeth gets upset as soon as she realizes where we are), we found out that Elisabeth's finger was fine and was not showing any signs of infection.

When I got home from the doctor I was telling my mom all about it. I ended the story by saying, "It is hard to be the mommy", to which she replied, "Yes, it is!"

The Entourage

Elisabeth is the queen of stuffed animals. She loves them so much. Her favorites are her pink puppy, Puppa, and her white puppy, Puppy (pronounced pup-EEE), but she loves all stuffed animals. At nap and bedtime, she wants to fill her bed with stuffed animals. Todd and I have started calling it her entourage. After she falls asleep, we go in her room and pull the stuffed animals out of her bed and put them around her bed. It is such a funny sight that we had to take a picture.

You Can ALMOST See His Halo!

In this video, Todd and Caleb were singing so sweetly about Jesus. It was a precious moment and I am so thankful I caught it on video. Less than a minute later, Caleb was feeling a little less spiritual. I guess we are all a "work in progress".

On a side note, other than having her feelings hurt Elisabeth was fine.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's 65th birthday.  Here are a few pictures of the family dinner we had for him.  Happy Birthday Dad!

Todd and Elisabeth playing with play-dough. 

Aunt Marolyn and Elisabeth

Can you tell that Caleb is all boy?

My mom with the kids.

She has got him wrapped around her little finger.

My dad with Caleb and Elisabeth.

Rockin' Out With Aunt Laura

Over the weekend we went to hear Laura's band play.  They did such a great job and Caleb and Elisabeth loved seeing Aunt Laura on stage.    

The Petting Zoo

We love taking Caleb and Elisabeth to the zoo. There is always something new to discover. Over the weekend we went to the zoo. For the first time, we took them to the petting zoo area. They had so much fun brushing and playing with the goats.

20 Months!

Caleb and Elisabeth are twenty months old.  I can't believe that in four months we will be celebrating their second birthday.  Everyday they find new ways to make us laugh.  

Caleb and Elisabeth's two favorite things to do these days are play outside and read books.  We spend as much time as possible playing in our backyard, going for walks, writing with sidewalk chalk, and swinging.  When we are playing inside, Caleb and Elisabeth want to be reading books.  They spend more time looking at books than they do playing with toys.  We hope that they will always have a love for reading.

One of the sweetest things is prayer time.  Before we pray, we tell them it is time to thank Jesus.  They will both fold their hands and then reach out to hold our hands.  The other night, Todd was saying a bedtime prayer.  Halfway through the prayer they both started saying,  "Amen".  I told him that was toddler talk for, "Your prayer is going a little long, Dad".

Bedtime Stories

This is a movie of Todd reading a bedtime story to Caleb and Elisabeth. The book he is reading is a really cute pop up book that my aunt got for the kids. I took this video because Caleb's reaction to the book was so funny. He truly got "freaked out" and nervous about the pop up pictures. The irony of this is that he is the brave child and Elisabeth is usually the shy and nervous one. We thought that Caleb's reaction was priceless. I am glad that I caught this on video, because after reading the book a few times Caleb has decided that he loves this book and is no longer scared of it.

Here Come the Cousins

Last weekend, my sister and her boys were in town for a visit. It was so much fun to watch all of the cousins playing together. Elisabeth loved being the princess of the group and Caleb loved hanging out with the big boys. Here is a movie that Todd put together of their visit.

Bubba and Gorgeous

I have been looking forward to the day that Caleb and Elisabeth would call each other by name. It is so sweet because Elisabeth has started referring to Caleb as, "Bubba" and Caleb calls Elisabeth, "Gorgeous".

Todd and I have many pet names for the kids. We call Caleb- My Boy, Good Looking, Bubba, CW, and Bubba K. We call Elisabeth- Gorgeous, Little Bit, Gracie Lou, and Sassy. I guess Bubba and Gorgeous just stuck . It is adorable!

The Quarterback and the Ballerina

Todd and I could not decide until the last minute what to do about Halloween. We decided that we would dress the kids up and take them to a few houses but keep it pretty low key. Caleb and Elisabeth looked so adorable dressed up. Caleb was a Florida State football player and Elisabeth was a ballerina.

We took them to two houses in our neighborhood. As soon as they figured out that people were given out candy they were so excited. We went to our next door neighbor's house first. After getting their candy, they sat down on their driveway and started trying to open it. Elisabeth even ate through a candy wrapper to get to the chocolate.

Then, we packed up and went to my parent's house. My sister and nephews were in town. Caleb and Elisabeth spent the rest of the evening playing with their cousins and eating candy.