Caleb's Birthday Celebrations!

Last week we celebrated Caleb's birthday. It is really hard to believe that he is already 6 years old! I remember each one of his birthday parties so vividly, it's amazing that yet another year has gone by. We had 2 small birthday parties for him this year, and he absolutely loved it! Because Easter was so late this year, it was the first time that Caleb's birthday was during spring break right in between Palm Sunday and Easter. We decided to keep his parties small because it was at such a busy time.

We celebrated his 1st party at the beach last Thursday (beach pictures will be posted later!). The kids and I went to Russ' parent's beach house for the week since it was spring break. Unfortunately, Russ was not able to come because of work so he had to miss the first party :( My sister in law Anna was down there as well as her kids Roane and Flynn. Caleb was thrilled to celebrate with his cousins and his Nana and Papa. We went to the Myrtle Beach Aquarium on Thursday morning to begin his party. He's been talking about going to the aquarium for months now, so it was the perfect time to go. The kids had a great time seeing all the sharks, fish and other sea life. It was very crowded, but it was still fun! Caleb's favorite part was when he got to touch and hold a horse shoe crab!






After the aquarium we went to eat lunch at Johnny Rockets. It's been so long since I've been there and I realized how much I missed it! I LOVE those burgers and it is such a kid friendly restaurant. We told our waitress that it was Caleb's birthday, so right before we got our meal, about 5 of the waitresses came up to Caleb clapping loudly and announcing to everyone that it was his 6th birthday. The look on Caleb's face was absolutely priceless. Once he realized they were walking up to him and talking about him, he didn't know whether he should laugh or cry. Of course, once he got over the initial shock, he loved the attention. I mean, this is Caleb we're talking about :) The waitress gave Caleb a Johnny Rocket's hat and pin. He thought this was soooo cool!

Check out his face!

That evening, we celebrated with cake and ice cream along with Caleb's favorite part, THE PRESENTS! Caleb wanted dinosaurs on his cake this year, so the Piggly Wiggly delivered. No, I didn't get to make his cake this year for the first time. I decided it would be too much trouble taking all my cake stuff to the beach and spending all afternoon decorating it. Caleb didn't care as long as it had dinosaurs on it :)

The kids wore dinosaur masks!

We drove home from the beach on Friday and then on Saturday it was party time again. We went to Frankie's Fun Park, a great place to play put-put and ride go-carts. We met Mimi and Grampy there, as well as some friends of ours to celebrate! The kids rode the go-carts, then we ate dinner at Johnny Rockets (yes, again!) and then played some put-put. Caleb and his friend Mac had a great time!

Here are Mac and his dad, Caleb and Grampy and Kathryn and Russ

Mac and Caleb

After put-put, we headed home to have a little celebration at our house. My Pop came over to party with us!


Here is cake #2 (sort -of). We had about half left from the beach cake, so I made it into a smaller cake, decorated it some more, and then added cup cakes and toy dinosaurs to it. Caleb thought it was a different cake!



Caleb was very happy that he got to have 2 parties, 2 cakes and 2 sets of gifts. It was much more low key then we've had in the past, but in a sense, that made it even better!

Happy Easter!

We hope you had a wonderful Easter Sunday celebrating the resurrection of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. As Kathryn put it this evening, we celebrate Easter because "Jesus is alive from the dead!" Praise the Lord!



I took some sweet pictures of the kids after church today that I wanted to share...

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Six years ago today, we welcomed this little boy into our family and our lives haven't been the same! In fact, our lives have been better than we could have ever imagined. Caleb brings us so much laughter and joy each day and we thank the Lord for him. We love so many things about him, especially his sense of humor, his honesty, his innocence, his love for his sister and brother, his determination, his love for Jesus, his energy, his imagination and soooo much more!

We love you with all of our hearts Caleb and we look forward to another great year!

Happy Birthday Caleb!

Our Muckdog, Ballerina, Pianist & Fashion Expert

Our Muckdog

Caleb started playing baseball a few weeks ago and he has played in 2 games. He loves it and is doing a great job. This boy has really impressed us by how hard he works at sports. He spends hours outside each afternoon working with Russ on catching, batting and throwing and each week he has improved. We look forward to watching him play a great first season!

Watch this video of Caleb's first game. He cracked us up! It is hard learning exactly what to do when you hit a ball...then see some cute pictures of him after the video.

Customize a free photo slideshow

Our Ballerina

Kathryn has been taking ballet for a few months now and LOVES it. She is our little ballerina and she always looks forward to her "princess" dance classes. She loves to twirl and dance around in her leotard and ballet slippers. I'm hoping she will keep ballet classes up for many years to come.

Our Pianist

Clayton is our little musician. This boy LOVES music and he is quite a little dancer. Whenever he hears any kind of music, he moves his shoulders up and down, waves his hands, bounces his leg and boogies on down. I have a cute video of him that I will share later, I just don't know where it is right now! He also loves to play the piano with Russ. He is hilarious because he doesn't just bang on the piano keys like Caleb and Kathryn did when they were little. He plays his notes one by one with each finger, then will roll his fingers to play some notes together. It is as if each note is perfectly planned and thought out. Maybe he will be our little pianist some day?

Our Fashion Expert

Kathryn has recently become OBSESSED with clothes. She thinks about what she is going to where all day long and has recently been picking out her clothes that she wants to wear the night before and laying them on her floor. She lays them out EXACTLY how she will wear them. Then, when she gets up at 6:30, she dresses herself completley, shoes and all. She is so proud of herself and feels so grown up. It has been difficult for me though because she has become very opinionated about what she wants to wear. She insists that certain things match and I hate to break her heart and tell her that they really don't! I'm trying to be patient and encourage her, while still trying to help her not look ridiculous when we go out! This evening, after she went to bed, I went in her room and found this on her floor: Notice the blue dress that she wants to wear to church tomorrow. It was her Easter dress last year and is a beautiful heirloom dress that my mom made for her with lots of lace and frills. She has this paired with bright pink sandals, white socks, as well as a new pair of underwear, a purse filled with things and a pink headband laying above the dress. Isn't that a beautiful combination??? She also has a sea shell bracelet on top of the dress! Then the outfit beside the dress does not match, but it is paired with sandals, yet another pair of underwear and again a new headband to wear with it. I assume that this is the outfit she wants to wear after church tomorrow. I'm going to have to try to talk her out of this combination early tomorrow morning. Let's hope there are no tears :) After taking a picture of her clothes, I looked over to see our little princess. Girls really are so much fun, fashion sense and all!