Happy Valentine's Day!

Just a quick post this morning, but could someone please tell me how my baby is old enough to be doing this all on his own?

Seriously? Writing ALL by himself?! My goodness how does time go by so fast???

I hope you all have a happy Valentine's Day! Mine started out with a really cute three year old asking me to be his Valentine. Then, his Daddy also followed suit. It will be a great day!

So happy to be home!

Caleb has been full of one liners lately, so I just had to get them down in blog-form. By the way, hello everyone. Long time no blog. I blame our house flood, but in reality, that probably has nothing to do with it. We have moved back in, though. Now we are in the process of cleaning. And cleaning. And cleaning. Love the new flat un-textured ceilings. Hate the dust!

Anyways, here are a few one liners from Caleb:

Me: (As we are passing the Processing plant yesterday...and it smelled worse than normal) Ew. It stinks today!
Caleb: (He sniffs) EEEWWW! It IS stinky today. Does someone need to go potty??
A few minutes pass... Caleb: I think a train back there went potty. He made it stinky!

Explaining to Caleb that we get to bring Lucy home tonight, as she has still been at the condo because we are getting our stairs stained. Caleb: Yay! Lucy can come home now because it wont rain on her inside anymore!

The other day in the car, we heard a train's whistle. Caleb: Hurry Mommy! I need you to hurry so I can see that choo choo train! (as we were stopped still in traffic).

Every time we went to see progress on our house. Caleb "I like the new (fill in the blank)!" Literally everything he saw, new or old, he liked!

Caleb to me a little while back when I was wearing a vest with (fake, no worries, PETA) fur on it: Mommy, I like your shirt. You look just like a dog!!" (He was so proud, too!)

We had to get a shower curtain yesterday. As we passed a toy section, every item Caleb saw he wanted. (typical child! ) Well, he would make the same comment. "OHHHH, Mommy! I like that toy. I wish I could have it!" (emphasise the WISH part when reading!)

As a man with a white beard passed us the other day at Home Depot: Caleb: Mommy! Look it's Santa Claus! Here at Home Peepo!"

That is all you get for now. I REALLY need to get these down on my blog as soon as he says them. I always forget by the time I sit down to write!!

OH! How could I forget!? Caleb actually read his first sentence a couple weeks ago! He has been learning words. He loves to read his friend's names. Well, he kept talking about his teacher's dog the other day named Tucker. So I taught him how to spell it and then put some words together that I thought he might know. He read it. Here he is with his first sentence! :) I am so proud!

So very thankful

There have been some small moments lately that have made me just so thankful to me a mom. (Ok, so I am always thankful, but these moments have really stood out and I hope to remember them always)

Yesterday, Caleb's teachers decorated the classroom for Christmas. They put up white lights all over the room, along with ornaments and they were playing Christmas music. Stephen picked Caleb up from school and they were playing outside. Well, as soon as they got back inside, Caleb ran into his classroom, jumped up in the air and landed with his arms and legs spread wide apart. "Ta-da!!!!!! Christmas!!!" he proudly exclaimed. I think Little Buddy is excited for Christmas this year!

They also recently made Thanksgiving Handprints for an art project. They had to tell their teacher one thing they were thankful for. Out of everything he could pick, Caleb proudly told them he was thankful for Jesus. What a sweet little boy!

We took Caleb for his first ride on the Macy's Pink Pig. A huge Atlanta tradition. His face was lit up the entire time as he looked at everything we passed. I hope I will always remember the look of excitement and curiosity in his eyes! His favorite part was when the conductor said "All aboard!" He ran to the front seat to begin his trip! After the ride, we went to Chick Fil-a for lunch. I think he may have been even more thrilled with who we saw there - a Chick Fil-A cow, than the Pink Pig!

Sometimes, after I get him dressed in the morning, I will tell Caleb that he looks great. His response? "Whistle at me!!"

Caleb is still talking about the holes in our house and if I mistakenly say "Let's go home," he promptly corrects me and says "We no go home. We have holes in our house. We go to Grandadddy's House!" I think he is ready for the holes to be patched up so he can sleep in his own bed. (We are very very slowly making progress and hope to get a lot done this weekend!)

The small moments make mommy-hood so worth living!

Drying Out

Yep. We are drying out. For those of you who did not see on facebook, Stephen and I had a massive flood in our house. A connecting valve for a pipe under our guest bath sink gave our and the pipe began gushing out water...when we were not at home. It had to have leaked about 1000 gallons of water during the day. It was on the second floor of our house, so it flooded the upstairs hall, soaking into the carpet in every single room upstairs, except for our bed room. It also went down the steps and through the ceiling into our kitchen, living room and laundry area and half bath downstairs. In the end, we will have to replace the hardwoods, ceilings, carpets, flooring in both upstairs bathrooms, the vanity in the guest bath upstairs, baseboards up and down stairs and repaint most rooms downstairs and hall upstairs. We will also need a new couch, tv and some other small items will need to be replaced. Thankfully all of our sentimental items and pictures came out ok. The verdict is still out on the laptop that was sitting directly underneath one of the major leaky spots. Honestly, I think we are just a little scared to turn it on. Said laptop is the home to oh so many pictures and documents! Hopefully, Mr. IT Man (Stephen) can get it fixed, or at least recover the documents.

Not sure when we will be able to get back in our home. I am really hoping to be in there for Christmas, but even at that point not everything will be fixed.

Yes. It is a big pain. We do have good insurance and that is assuring. I hate being displaced from our home, especially during the holidays. However, I know it could be so much worse. The flood occurred on Wednesday, the same day I experienced my first flat tire. We were stressed and worried, but thankful our entire house was not destroyed. As we sat in our hotel room Thursday night, everything was put into perspective with one phone call. We learned some devastating news about a friend and member of our church who was killed riding his bicycle. He left behind a wife and two sweet children. We now keep that family in our prayers and hold on to each other a little tighter. We will also take a flood any day.

So, as we dry out, we still continue to count our blessings. This Thanksgiving, we may not have our home back together, but we still have the people in that home....all together, and that is what really matters the most.

Happy Thanksgiving to all! Remember to count your blessings!

Happy Halloween - a couple days late!

Three is a very fun year for Halloween! Everything from pumpkin picking, pumpkin carving (ok, so he refused to touch the insides of the pumpkin for the most part. I finally convinced him at clean up time...), and of course, the trick or treating. He even wore his pirate hat the entire time! Caleb is typically not a fan of any type of hat for longer than 5 seconds!

Trick or treating was a lot of fun this year. Each house we approached, he would look for the "ring bell" and yell out "There is the ring bell!" when he would find it. He perfected his "tick or teat" and managed to score a bunch of candy, most of which he can't eat. Bummer! He doesn't seem to mind when we tell him he can't have something and we were sure to have a good stash of "Caleb-safe" candy on hand to help him re-fill his goodie bag.

I can't believe it is already November. We are in my favorite part of the year and it just seems to be flying by already! I want time to stand still. I want to see the Holidays this year through the eyes of a child. I want to soak each and every moment in and not pass days away without being appreciative for what I have. I think having a child makes this time of year so much more magical, and for that I am so very thankful!

Here are a few pictures from our fun Halloween! Happy November!

Happy Birthday, Caleb!

How you went from this:

to this:

in the blink of an eye is beyond me.

My goodness, my precious Caleb. Time sure has flown. Just over an hour ago, three years to this date you came in to my life. I never expected motherhood to be such pure joy. At three years old, you just amaze me with how smart and talented you are. You love music and will tap your foot or clap your hands to the beat of the music. Just a couple weeks ago, you actually drew a picture of a quarter note and correctly identified it on sheet music. You must be a musical prodigy. :) You also know all of your letters and can count to thirty all by yourself. You can read your friends names and are starting to familiarize yourself with short words as well. You started to tell us your letters (big ones and little ones as you say) at two and a half years old. It really was just so amazing to me!

The things you come up with to say now are also amazing. "What you said mommy?" You are also starting to get into sports. You take part in "playball" at school and your coach says you have improved so much since the start of the school year when we enrolled you in the program. Your daddy and I think you are great at kicking a ball and you have also gotten really good at hitting a baseball off the tee!

On this day, your third birthday, I just want you to know how much you are loved, my Little Buddy! I sometimes go in your room at night and pray over you while you sleep. I thank God for bringing you into our lives and pray that you live a long, healthy and happy life. I pray that I can make a difference in your life...teach you right from wrong, how to be a gentleman, and that you will grow up always surrounded by love. I really do not know how I got so lucky to be chosen as your mommy. You bless me every single day with the most precious smile and sweet little voice. My heart melts each time you tell me that you love me. I would give you the world if I could, as you have given me more than you will ever know.

Happy birthday, sweet Caleb! And many, many more!

Wordless Wednesday...

Ok, so technically there are some words... :)