Caleb's Presents

After swimming so hard at his party, Caleb came home and took a good long nap that afternoon. I eventually had to wake him up at 4:30 so that he'd still go to sleep at night time! He was a little groggy and not sure what in the world was going on!!

Opening Tutu's present - a lunchbox with his name on it AND a football!! He LOVED that!!! When we go have lunch with the boys at school, I've always packed his food inside Callie's lunchbox (which she is NOT excited about sharing by the way). So this is going to come in VERY handy!!

Aunt Kelli and Uncle Scott sent Caleb's gift back with us from vacation - a lawn mower! Apparently Joseph has the same one and was very excited for Caleb to have his own!! This is when Caleb finally started to perk up and "get it". As soon as he opened this present, he started saying "Lawnmower - me!! Lawnmower - me!!" and patting his chest. I think he finally figured out that this stuff was for HIM!! :) Sweet boy.

Can you tell that he was completely clobbered by his siblings during this whole process?

Some new golf toys...

Opening up a CARS bowling set!! He knew exactly what this was!!

Some LEGOS (he's a BIG fan of legos!!)

Our sweet friends the Michaels gave him this tent - it's set up in our piano room right now and they LOVE it! :)

Some new cars - ALWAYS a huge hit!!!

We had leftover party food for dinner and Callie declared that she now loves ketchup AND mustard on her hot dogs! (Josiah only just started eating ketchup on his several months ago...Jacob is still plain...)

Cupcakes again!!!

I still don't think he totally got it..

He sometimes does this little shy/bashful face...the fingers in his mouth are new...I think he's copying Callie who has started biting her nails....

Another successful blow out of the candles...

See the yummy filling inside? Delicious!!

He saw my phone on the coffee table, picked it up, and started swiping it! Like he seriously knows how to do it! What in the world!!!

He told me he was calling Tutu! :)

Then we put the older three kids in bed - who were BEARS by this point. They swam so hard all morning/afternoon and no naps and it was WAY time for them to go to bed. So we had almost an hour JUST with Caleb. It was so precious.

He is such a happy boy. So content. So appreciative (tells me "ta-tu mommy" for "thank you mommy" all the time. He is talking more and more every day. Still sings "We Will Rock You" all the time. Anytime he leaves my sight (to go upstairs, to go in another room, when I drop him off at church), he says "Bye Bye Mommy" and blows me a kiss. Everytime. And frankly he does it to anyone that he says goodbye to. The bakery man at publix. My friend at the playdate. He is so loving.

I had so much fun watching him just enjoy his toys. Without his VERY loving siblings climbing all over him. He tolerates (and even enjoys) them quite a bit, but I think he enjoys the quiet time by himself too. He is still quite a love bug and loves to be cuddled and kissed and held. He has just started asking for Jesus Loves Me AGAIN at night when I put him down in his bed. And it's hard to say no to that request!! Happy Birthday sweet boy - what a precious boy you are!!

Caleb's Birthday Pool Party

I was SO super excited to finally have a baby with a summer birthday - because it meant I could finally do a pool party! And Caleb is the PERFECT boy to do a pool party because he LOVES to swim!!!

We reserved our clubhouse by the pool and it was the perfect, easiest party! We invited our friends to join us at 11 am for lunch and swimming fun - doesn't get any easier than that!

It was another 100 degree day - so the pool felt great!!

David grilled hotdogs for us, and we also had mac & cheese, frozen gogurts, grapes, and chips (I think all Caleb ate were cheetos and grapes. seriously.).

Drew's mommy was my first piano student - he's getting so big!!!

KJ is in Caleb's classes at church - they are good buddies! :)

Surprisingly, we about had the pool to ourselves - it was perfect!!!

Saree and her mommy (who is getting ready to have baby #2 in a few weeks!) Nadine and I were at the hospital together - Saree and Caleb were born just a few hours apart!!! :)

We ate our cupcakes out on the pool deck. I decided that since Caleb isn't really into any "characters" that I would choose a cupcake that I thought would taste yummy - not look all cutesy.

I'm not sure that he totally "got" the whole thing - but he didn't cry (like Josiah did when he was 2!!!)

He did blow out his candles all by himself though! :)

...and then sat down to enjoy himself some cupcake!!

They were delicious (if I do say so myself!) it was a recipe from one of my Cake Doctor cookbooks. Sort of a copy of the Hostess chocolate cupcakes with cream filling in the center. They were awesome! (I have a better picture of the middle later on in the day...)

Cooper enjoyed his too!!

It was a SUPER fun afternoon playing with and celebrating Caleb. How thankful we are that God blessed our family with him - and for all these wonderful friends to celebrate with us!!

Family Bowling!

Friday morning, preparations were underway for Caleb's birthday party! I had some help in the kitchen making the cupcakes!! :)

Then after naptime, we decided to head out and go bowling! I had a groupon that I had bought several months ago and we still had it on our list to go bowling - so today was the day!

It was a rainy Friday afternoon and there were really only a few other people there at the bowling alley - it was great!! Caleb LOVED it - really thought he was hot stuff getting to do it by himself!

Callie OF COURSE did not want ANY help!

A little smile out of Josiah - he's a little bit of a perfectionist, and certain settings bring it out more than others. This particular day, we saw a bit of this and with the addition of the fact that he was tired and probably needed a nap himself made for a little bit of frustration on his part! We're working on it!

Everyone's happier after a snack!

Little bit frustrated, but trying not to let it show...

This was Caleb's first time - he loved it. Although after he'd let the ball go, he'd sit himself down on the floor to watch - it was a riot. We had a fun time watching him enjoy this - hard to believe that he is about to be 2!!!