Car Tent, Kids in Motion and Our Piggy

Caleb's New Car!

Nana and Papa got Caleb a new car tent for his birthday. They came over to put it on his bed this past Tuesday. He has loved it and has slept great in it every night. He likes to sleep with it all locked up (with velcro of course) and he feels safe in it. He even likes to put his toys in there so that Kathryn can't get them. She is always after his stuff! Thanks Nana and Papa!

Kids In Motion

This afternoon after church, Russ and I took Caleb and Kathyrn to a fun event called Kids in Motion. It is put on by the Junior League and it was so much fun! They had all kinds of cars for the kids to get in, plus an airplane cockpit, boat, and a fun bus. They had balloon artists and lots of bouncy equipment to play on, even a train to ride. Caleb had a blast. He got to play in the fun bus, see all kinds of other vehicles, slide down a bouncy slide and go on a train ride. We met some friends there too, so that made it even more fun!

Caleb sliding out of the fun bus

Savannah and Kathryn

Russ and Caleb ride the train with Jared and Jack

Russ and Caleb slide on their bellies!

Kathryn just chillin'

Our Piggy

It is hard to believe Kathryn is already 9 months old now! She is so much fun and so busy! She is crawling all over the place and is very fast. She goes straight for Caleb's matchbox cars and bouncy balls. Caleb is having a hard time getting used to her wanting all of his things. He is very good with her though and does share pretty well. She has started pulling herself up on everything now, but hasn't ventured out with any steps yet. We aren't encouraging that though! She is always so proud of herself when she pulls up and she has a big smile on her face. She also does a very good piggy face. She knows that we love to see her do it, so she will do it when she wants to get our attention. You can't help but crack up when she does it ~ it is so cute! She scrunches up her nose and breaths in and out real fast. She will do it when you ask her too, that is, only if she wants to!

Pulling up

Piggy face!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Sweet Caleb, it is hard to believe that you made your grand entrance into our lives 3 years ago today. These past 3 years have flown by, but daddy and I have loved every minute of it. You are such a blessing to our lives and have brought us so much laughter and joy. We have loved watching you grow and you are turning into such a sweet little boy. You amaze us everyday with your smart mind, your funny words and your precious innocence. You are such a little clown and you love to make everyone laugh. You always want us to be happy ~ we hope that will continue for many years to come. We love hearing your sweet voice ask us so many questions, we love to watch you jump around and act silly, and we love to hear you tell us that you love us just because you want too. You are such a good big brother and Kathryn is a very lucky little girl to have you. We know you two will be very close one day. We hope you have a wonderful 3rd birthday and that this year brings many more blessings to you. We are looking forward to watching you grow this year and seeing what God has in store for your life. We know He has wonderful plans for you! Thank you for being such a wonderful son. You are our favorite little boy in all the world. We love you more than you will ever know!

Love,

Daddy and Mommy

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

Caleb's 3rd Birthday!

We have been celebrating Caleb's 3rd birthday this whole weekend. He officially turns 3 this Tuesday, but we had his birthday party yesterday. He got to choose the theme for his party this year, and take a guess what he chose. Yep, his favorite, a CARS party! We invited 10 of his little buddies and 7 were able to come and celebrate with us. The children all played outside on Caleb's new swing set, they ate lots of cake and food from Flo's V8 cafe, they got car tatoos from "Ramone's House of Body Art", they got to color at "Mator's Markings" and they were able to get their picture taken with Lightning McQueen at the "DMV"and then put in thier own little picture frame. Caleb had a blast and he recieved tons of great toys. He was so excited to open his presents that he started ripping into them before anyone could stop him! This was the most excited I have ever seen him about presents! He also couldn't wait to dig into his cake. He decided a few weeks ago that he didn't want a Lightning McQueen cake (after I had already bought the pan), but that he wanted an orange car cake. I decided to make the cake an orange Lightning Mcqueen and he loved it. He ate about 3 pieces of it at his party! We ended up having a great time and enjoyed being with a lot of our close friends. Enjoy all of the pictures:

This afternoon after we went to church, Russ and I decided to take Caleb to see his first movie at a movie theater. We gave him Dr. Suess' book "Horton Hears a Who" for his birthday, so we decided he could go see it with us at the theater. He was so excited to get to go, but we had to explain to him that he would have to be quiet in the movie. We dropped Kathryn off to spend some time with Nana and Papa and then we took Caleb to the movie. He got to get a great big tub of popcorn ( which he at TONS of) and he got to share our cherry coke. He LOVED it. He did great in the movie except for the times he would ask us what was happening in a very loud voice! He loved it so much that he cried when it was over. It was a very cute movie and it kept his attention the for the entire hour and half. He definitely proved to us that he was able to go to the movies, so we promised him that we would do it again when another good movie comes out!

Eating his popcorn

Drinking his cherry coke

The Beach!

We just got back this evening from our first beach trip this year. We had a great weekend and really enjoyed staying at Russ' parent's beach house. My nephew, Roane was also there with us and we had a lot of fun spending time with him. He is 15 months old and is really a sweet little boy. Brad and Anna (Roane's parents) are expecting another baby in July, so they went on a much needed vacation. Russ' parents are watching Roane over the weekend, so we all decided to go down to the beach. I drove Dinah and the kids down on Thursday adn then Russ and his dad came down on Friday. The weather was beautiful and the kids enjoyed spending a lot of time outside. We only made it down to the ocean once because it was really windy and not real warm. The kids sure enjoyed it though. Kathryn loved sitting in the sand, and she liked eating it too! Let me tell you, it was an adventure for Dinah and I to get the 3 kids down to the beach by ourselves. I'm sure there were people probably laughing at us. We were exhausted when we got back! The beach house has a huge front porch, so we ended up putting the gate on the front stairs and then sat back and watched them play! Nana and Papa took Caleb and Roane to Brookgreen Garden's on Saturday so that they could see the little zoo there. Caleb loved seeing the otters. Later that afternoon, Papa took Caleb on a bikeride to the park up the road. He got to see a real mink catch a crab in the wild! Caleb did not want to come home from the beach. He cried and cried when he got home because he just wanted to stay there! We assured him that we would be back a lot more this summer. Now we have to focus this week on getting ready for Caleb's 3rd birthday party this weekend!

Enjoy the pictures!

Jack's My Gym Party

Saturday evening we went to celebrate Jack Poplin's 2nd birthday. He had his party at My Gym and it was a blast. Caleb goes to My Gym every week for a gym class and absolutely LOVES it there. He really has learned so much from the class and we have enjoyed it so much. I strongly recommend it to anyone with a toddler. We look forward to his class every Wednesday. Jack also goes to My Gym and decided to have his party there. It was the best birthday party we have been to yet. The kids played and played on the equipment. They played in the balls, slides, monkey bars, swings, played with bubbles, on trucks, at cake and lots more. Caleb was exausted after it was over and slept good that night. Happy Birthday Jack and thanks for a great party! Unfortunately, Kathryn had an ear infection that day and wasn't quite herself. She is getting better now and is a much happier baby!

Basketballs and Parties!

We started out our Saturday morning this past weekend by going to Russ' first basketball game with his new team. He and some friends from church decided to join the church league and Caleb is so excited to go and watch daddy play! He asked Russ if Tyler Hansbrough was going to be playing on his team. That cracked us up! He loves to watch the Tarheals play and can identify Tyler Hansbrough (he calls him the "beast")anywhere. Unfortunately, Caleb doesn't understand that Russ doesn't play at the same caliber as Tyler does (sorry Russ, we think you play great!). We had to explain that Tyler was in town for the weekend playing in the tournament, but that he wouldn't be at Carmel Baptist Church gym! None the less, Caleb was still excited to go and see the game! Russ lost the first game, but won the second game. He played great and made lots of baskets!

My 2 basketball boys!