Beach Time

August 2008 - Ormond Beach....We can't wait to have NEW beach pictures this year!

YAY! We are leaving for the beach today! I am so excited! We have been telling Caleb how much fun he will have playing in the sand and the water. I think he is the most excited about the sand. Just about everything is packed and we almost have the house ready to go. I dont know if I will be able to blog from the beach, so I hope all my loyal readers (if there are any at all, LOL!) have a great week!



Also, for a Caleb update. He LOVES to talk about shapes now. The whole ride in to work today, he was talking. and talking. and talking! He is pretty good at identifying his shapes now and we are starting to notice the road signs on the side of the road that look like squares, diamonds and triangles! It will be quiet and then all the sudden I hear "Dia-nond!!!" and will look back and there is Caleb pointing at a diamond shaped road sign. What a smart boy! It seems his speech is really taking off lately! It is fun to see what he is going to come up with!

I Luf u

"I luf u" The sweetest words a mommy can hear. Caleb always has been such a sweet baby. Now, he is even sweeter. Last night as I was putting him to bed he looked up at me, smiled and said "I luf u!" then laid his little head on his pillow. I told him "I love you, too!" He then repeated himself 5 more times....and it won't ever get old! He has said it quite a few other times the past couple weeks, but last night was just too cute the way he said it over and over. My sweet little boy is growing up and growing sweeter by the minute.

Hey Buddy

I think Caleb has his first best friend. This morning as we were leaving for daycare I asked him who he was going to play with today. His response without skipping a beat was "Kate!" They seem to feel the same way towards each other because whenever I see Kate, she always says "Hey Caleb's Mommy!"

This morning when we arrived at daycare, it was too cute. Caleb starts down the hall towards his classroom, waving at the walls, hitting the top of the trashcan, debates taking a sip of water from the water fountain and then dashes towards his room. As soon as he walked in today, Kate walks around the corner saying "Hi! Hi Buddy!!! Caleb! hey Buddy!!!" Caleb just smiles and acts shy, and then he finally waves back to her. "Hey!" Caleb says - he sounds like a Canadian when he says hey ... "Eh!!" Anyways, I take his backpack, hang it up and told his teacher that he was excited to play with Kate today. She said that the two of them do frequently play together and they play well with each other. When I turned around after signing him in, Kate (who had been constantly talking with Caleb since I walked in the door) and Caleb were getting down on their hands and knees crawling around. I was wondering if they were pretending to be cats or dogs because they were making silly faces. I took his lunch to the kitchen and peeked back down the hall where I could see the two of them sitting on their cubbies talking to each other...probably plotting their next big adventure!

Picture perfect weekend

If I could have an ideal weekend, it may be pretty close to the weekend we just had!

Saturday started off with the usual cleaning of the house. However, at 1:30, Stephen and I left for the Braves game in Atlanta. It was ARAMARK's client appreciation day, so we had a two hour tailgating party, complete with goody bags, raffles (which I apparently won, but we had already left and I have yet to hear what I got!), and yummy food and drinks. They also gave us $20 in Braves Bucks, so we could either spend it on food, drinks or merchandise. We decided to take some drinks with us after the party, and there were so many yummy snacks in the goody bags, that we decided to get Caleb his first tomahawk and Braves Baseball cap! The weather was PERFECT....in the mid-80's for the high and the seats were in the shade, so the breeze would blow every now and then to keep us cool. So nice! The Braves lost (we think it is the Lee curse as Stephen and I have never been to a game together, and we have been to quite a few, where they have won!) but it really didn't matter. We spent some great time together and had such awesome weather and seats! The All American Rejects had a concert after the game, so we moved down to the second row (only 10 rows down from where our original seats were) to watch the concert and watch the sun set over Turner Field. The game and concert were topped off with a trip to the Varsity! YUM!

Sunday was just as nice. We went to church and had a nice service. After the service was over, we let Caleb play out on the playground in the, once again, perfect weather! He had a nice time and we went home for lunch and his nap time. Stephen and I spent Caleb's nap time relaxing and watching a movie. When Caleb woke up, we went to the State Farmers Market south of Atlanta for some good fruits and veggies. When we returned home, it was play time in the backyard. Caleb even helped Stephen shuck the corn for dinner! He got a kick out of it.

Weekends like that are SO nice! I am already looking forward to this weekend, even though we will spend the majority of it getting ready for our VACATION to the beach!! YES!!!!!

Dancing Machine

Caleb has turned into quite the dancing and singing machine...in the car. Every night when riding home, he either wants to sing (we always have to start with the Dora theme song!) or turn up the car radio really loud and dance in his car seat. He has mastered car dancing...which for him consists of clapping, patting his lap, the head bop, swaying his arms from side to side, or "raising the roof." The latter seems to be his favorite and he has started to combine the head bop with raising the roof.

If he has requested to sing songs, he will quickly let you know that you have picked the wrong one by saying "noooo!" and signing for more. Kinda like hitting the skip button....

Passers by must think we are all nuts....because yes, even Daddy gets in on the action when we are all riding together. You know what, let them think what they want. Times like these don't last forever and I am perfectly happy being the crazy family driving down the road and raising the roof!

Half Day Fridays

A perk of working at Brenau is getting off at noon on Fridays during the summer. I have always enjoyed this perk, but this year has been an exceptionally good year for Half Day Fridays. This is how our half day Friday started last week. We usually start off with a nap! (Not me, just Caleb.) I will either take the two or so hours to clean the house or just catch up on daytime TV...the only time that I get to watch Days of Our Lives anymore...

After nap time, Caleb and I will enjoy a snack together and then head out for a fun activity. This time, we went to Discover Mills Mall to look for shoes for mommy (we tried this a few weeks ago, only I left my wallet at home!). After a successful shoe find, we continued to stroll around the mall. We had a nice time and came home to watch Dora The Explorer, you know - Caleb's movie star girlfriend! Other half day Fridays this summer have been spent at Monkey Joes, The Park, the indoor playground at the mall of Georgia and just chilling together at home in the baby pool. Such fun. I will miss getting to spend so much time with Caleb when the summer is over! He is such a sweet boy and is just growing up so fast!

Toddlerville

(Yes, this is an old picture...)


Welcome to Toddlerville! You know, the point where your laid back baby enters the phase of his life where he wants it his way or no way! I guess we are still pretty lucky. We have only had two meltdowns that lasted longer than 5 seconds...but geez, are they not fun! While Toddlerville does have it's not so fun moments like tantrums and meltdowns, there are always more good moments than bad, which I will focus on today. Maybe because they are happy moments or maybe because I am trying to forget about Caleb's minute long meltdown at the Chiropractor's office yesterday!



Funny Toddler Moment Number 1:

Because it is hot outside, I am starting to pick Caleb up with a juice box in the evenings. We have a long ride home and I learned this trick because there would be days where we would be 10 minutes in to our 30 minute ride home and Caleb. Must. Have. Water/Juice. NOW! And who could blame him, he had been running around in 90+ degree weather for the past 30 minutes. Anyways, yesterday on the way home, Caleb had finished his juice box and I looked back at him and he was letting his sock monkey drink the left overs. I made some slurping sounds, at which, Caleb promptly began to crack up. I love the things he thinks up in the car. (Another favorite is saying "bye bye" to the cars we pass, singing, and sharing his paci with his stuffed animals....usually putting it to the animal's mouth, but I have caught him putting it by the animal's behind before...and laughing at himself)


Funny Toddler Moment Number 2:

I love the fact that Caleb is starting to sing. Usually he will sing the last word of the phrase really loud and not say much of the first, but instead will dance around and anticipate the words he knows/the last words of the song. This Funny Toddler Moment would go better with video...



Funny Toddler Moment Number 3:

Anytime we see a black SUV, Caleb yells out "DADA!!!!" and points to the car. Stephen drives a black 4Runner and I think it is sweet! However, he will do that even when we are in the 4Runner or if he is with Stephen! Silly boy!



Funny Toddler Moment Number 4:

I drove up to daycare the other day and the kids were all playing outside on the playground. He saw me drive up. Make a surprised face and pointed at me with both hands, before running to the gate saying "Mama! Mama! Mama!!!"



Funny Toddler Moment Number 5:

Caleb's face when he eats a lemon. Enough said.... And he always wants more....



Those are just some of the things that make me laugh. I know there will be more in the fun phase of life called Toddlerville....

Happy Fourth of July!

The Lee Family spent the weekend down at the farm in South Georgia. It was a nice weekend. We spent the time relaxing, spending time with family, and for me, making Peach Jam. We went down there with four boxes of jars to fill up with the peachy goodness and filled up most of them! Stephen spent the time playing with Caleb, going on "ga cart" - golf cart- rides and tractor rides, and they spent some time playing in the sprinkler and the pool. I would say it was a great weekend all around!

Caleb's favorite part of the weekend probably had to do with eating peaches! The first day we were there, I asked Caleb to help me carry two peaches from the box full of peaches by the backdoor into the kitchen. Instead, he took a big bite out of each one, then held it up to me to put with the "peaches to be rinsed" pile. Silly boy. The box was finally empty, but the rest of the weekend, Caleb would walk over to the back door, look in the box and shake his head "no" when he discovered the box still no longer had any peaches in it. Every now and then, we would wash one off and put it back in the box for Caleb to discover. It was his first time to eat peaches straight off the tree, rather than being cut up for him and he loved it! He would eat the peach all the way down to the pit, and then ask for more! I guess it is a good thing we live in the Peach State!

It was a wonderful weekend. The kind I wish we had more of!

Wordless Wednesday

(I havent blogged in a week and I start back with a wordless Wednesday. What can I say, I have been busy!)