Best Buddies

Everyday when I pick Caleb and Ace up from school their folders are always full of art projects that they made during art class. Caleb especially is always excited to show me what he made for me that day and I always love everything he makes but today he brought tears to my eyes. It was by far my all time favorite! All the kids in his class made place mats with a turkey on it that they colored and the teacher asked each child what they were thankful for and Caleb said that he was thankful for his brother, Ace. Aww..it just melted my heart.

Now that Ace is getting a little older they are starting to have so much fun together. They chase each other around the house for hours while laughing as hard as they can. Everything Caleb does Ace has to do too. If Caleb is sitting in his chair watching a movie then Ace wants his chair right next to his big brother. They are the best of friends and it makes me so happy.

Boys,
You bring me such joy, I never realized how rewarding motherhood would be. I sit and watch the two of you play ball, chasing each other around the house and it puts the biggest smile on my face. I pray every night that you will always enjoy each other, always watch out for one another and always be thankful that you are brothers.

I love you more than you could ever imagine!

A scary day...

ACE, you brought back lots of scary memories for us yesterday baby boy. When you woke up I could tell that you did not feel good but things quickly got worse. Out of no where you started breathing so hard and I could tell that something was not right. It was all so familiar to me because of what we went through with Caleb when he was a baby. You were trying so hard to breathe but could not get much air. I rushed you to the Dr. and he said that you had bronchiolitis. He gave you a breathing treatment and sent us home with a nebulizer so we could continue to give you the treatments every four hours but we had to give them to you more like every twenty minutes. Your Doctor said that if you did not get better in an hour we needed to take you to the hospital.

There is nothing worse or more stressful than watching your child doing everything that he can to catch a breath. You were such a trooper...you sat there like a big boy and let us put that mask on you to help you breathe. Daddy and I decided to try whatever we could to keep you home instead of the hospital because we remember how traumatic that experience was for Caleb and did not want you to have to go through that too. We had vaporizers in every room, water boiling at all times, vicks rubbed all over you and luckily it worked! Although, we did not get you to sleep until 2:00am because the medicine had you so wired, but once you fell asleep you were breathing much better.

I just want you to know that you have the best Daddy in the world! He slept in your floor next to your crib all night to make sure you would be okay. He was so concerned that you would need us in the night and we would not be able to hear you.

You woke up this morning still not sounding "good" but you were so much better! As the day went on you were wrestling with your brother and climbing on furniture so we new that we had our Ace back and we were so happy.

My world crashed yesterday baby when I could not help you. Mommy and Daddy love you so much and we are so happy that you are feeling better!

Trick or Treat

What a week! It was packed with halloween fun! Our festivities started last weekend with our neighborhood parade. They do this every year for the kids to get together and show off their costumes. It really gets them excited to go trick or treating and is always lots of fun!

Caleb came in one day and asked me if we could make caramel apples. I have no idea where he saw them or heard of them but I promised him that we could make some before Halloween. That was a fun mess! He did not realize how hard they were to eat. He really wanted to like them but a couple of bites and he was done. This made Jamie really happy! I did not even get one!

Halloween night was a blast! Melody and Aiden come over every year to go trick or treating with us. Last year was a learning experience for Caleb and Aiden but this year they knew EXACTLY what to do and they were ready to go! Our good friends next door, Carlee and Cade were with us this year too. Cade is only two so Caleb and Aiden had to show him how it was done. He will be ready next year.

Caleb went as a Yankee's baseball player, Aiden was batman and Cade was a Dallas Cowboy player. We tried to get Caleb to get a costume like all of his friends but he will not hear of it, he has to be something sports related. Last year he went as a Titan's player and this year we are all about baseball. It will be interesting to see what it will be next year.

Ace went as a bat and was not at all crazy about his costume. I have to say though, he was a real trooper, he actually wore his hat all night! He thought that he was as big as the other boys. We pushed him in his car but when he saw Caleb and his friends walking up to a house he had to go too! Luckily he never figured out that candy was involved, he would just walk up to the house and say "hi" and he was done...off to the next house.

Happy Halloween Boys! Hope you had a fun time!

We love you!

New school and Fall fun!

Sunday we attended the fall carnival at Caleb's new school, Hillwood Play Care. It was such a beautiful day to spend outside enjoying the fall weather. They had the big inflatable slides, train rides, games, face painting and lots more. The kids had so much fun and so did we.

We decided early in the summer that it was time to move Caleb to a place where they would really work with him and get him prepared for kindergarten. My niece Chandler went to Hillwood Play Care and I know how much she loved it and so did Jeff and Courtney. It was such a hard decision to make because Caleb does not handle change very well, or I thought he didn't. We talked about his "new school" for weeks before he started. We would drive by and look at the play ground hoping he would get excited about it. All he really got excited about was the football field across the street and even more excited when I told him that is where Uncle Jeff played football in high school. Anyway, on his first day he walked right into his class like the big boy that he is, gave me a kiss and waved bye. I was the one walking out the door crying like a baby.

Ace is starting next week and we are really happy about that! It was the best decision that we could have made! Caleb has only been there for a couple of months and we can not believe what he comes home telling us that he learned that day. He is so smart! :)

Caleb

Ace

Chandler

The Blue Dragons

Way to go Caleb #5! You did so good today in your soccer game! I am not sure how many you scored...we lost count! I think it was 4 maybe 5 goals!! It has been a tough season with soccer, you want to play so bad but your shyness sometimes gets in the way. You do so good at practice but when you get to the game I think all the people make you nervous.

I am not sure what was different today but you ran out there without a care in the world and you did GREAT!!! We are so proud of you! We keep telling you that it is all about having fun not winning and I think you had lots of fun out there today. ( of course, it did not hurt that you were scoring goals. ) After the game you told me that you were not ready for it to be over and you asked me if you could please play another game "in the morrow" (meaning tomorrow) You are finally starting to enjoy it now that you only have two games left. I was afraid that was going to happen.

And what a perfect day for your fan club to show...Daddy Bill, Nana & Nat, Uncle Jeff & Chandler. You are so loved baby boy! Always know win or lose how proud we all are of you!

Your Fan Club!

Carving Pumpkins

We got our pumpkins a couple of weeks ago and Caleb has asked me every single morning if he can PLEASE "put a face on them."I have tried to explain that we can not carve them too early or they will not be good for Halloween but how do you make an excited 3 year old understand that? I finally gave in this morning and we carved the pumpkins. I figured that Halloween only comes once a year so who cares if they go bad...we will carve another one if we have to.

He had already decided that he wanted one to have a silly face and one a scary face. Ace was not real sure what we were doing. He kept coming into the kitchen and growling at the pumpkin. For some reason he thinks a pumpkin roars like a lion???

Thanks sweet boys for such a fun morning! I love doing fun things with you!

Does anyone know how to keep a pumpkin fresh?????

No Training Wheels!

Well, Caleb had a very exciting Saturday and Mommy missed it! Jamie and Caleb were helping some good friends of ours move this weekend and they had an old bike from when their boys were little. Caleb wanted to ride it but it did not have training wheels. Jamie was holding it for him while he got on and was getting ready to teach him how to ride it and all of the sudden Caleb just took off! Jamie said he was riding it like he has been doing it forever up and down their long driveway. He was so proud of himself and I can't believe that I missed that! I had just been there an hour before.

Caleb was anxious to get home and take the training wheels off of his bike but it is too big. We sold his smaller bike in a garage sale this spring and bought him a bigger one and now I wish we had not done that. His feet can't touch the ground on his bike now so he has to keep the training wheels just a little while longer. He was a little disappointed but he loves his "big" bike so he is okay with waiting. We keep telling him that if he eats all of his veggies then it will make his legs grow longer faster. It is working so far...we will see how much longer it last!

Way to go Caleb!!! We are so proud of you!