From my back porch looking in...

Backyard Bokeh

In honor of my lost 50mm lens...where in the world did I put that thing?

We love our new house but this is a very sad thing...

Directions to Target

Target is 17 minutes away!

Blue Bonnet Preview

Backyard Time...

Vote...

for your favorite egg on the side. Click on the picture to see each egg up close.

Happy Easter

Bathtime for the Crew

Baylor Easter Egg Hunt

Caleb at 3 years old:

Caleb turned three last week. Together we have been looking back at pictures of his first 3 years, and it is so fun to see how he has grown and developed. The last year has brought more and more independence. He wants to do many things on his own. He will often take his stool to different parts of the house, so he can reach things. Recently, he discovered he can use it to reach food from the snack department. He was thrilled when he brought me a Reece’s peanut butter cup to open up for him. Several weeks ago, we arrived home and were putting away our groceries. I had left the meat out on the counter because we were about to start making dinner. Several minutes later, Jon and I could not find it. Caleb had taken it and several other grocery items , stuffed them into the cabinet, and closed the door without saying a word to us. I am glad that we were using them immediately or who knows how long they would have been in there. Caleb’s fascination with cars and trains continues. He often plays by himself for a very long time in his “train room” (the living room) or in his “car room” (his bedroom). I am very thankful for this because this boy has completely stopped taking naps. We really have fought the whole nap thing with him for over a year. I would put him down consistently every day, and he just would not go to sleep. Then if we drove anywhere around 5:00 at night, he would fall asleep in the car and sleep until the next morning. Silly Boy! So we have recently stopped putting him down for naps. It is one less battle to fight.

Caleb still has a way to go when it comes to sharing with his sister, so that will be one of our goals for this year. He tolerates Abby and loves to play with her stuff, but doesn’t want her coming even near his toys. Still he can make Abby laugh anytime, and he seems to enjoy her company on his terms. I find such joy in watching them laugh together. Tonight in the bathtub, Abby was standing up, and Caleb was mimicking her. She was cracking up, and he loved the attention. I hope that they will be good friends and playmates as they grow. Caleb likes to go places with friends, but he seems to be the happiest to stay at home and play. He continues to appreciate order and predictability. He brings great joy and fun to our family!

Girl Clothes are SOO Fun!

UPDATE: Turns out jellies aren't the best choice for shoes for a one year old. I took them off when I noticed the awful marks they were making on her feet.

Expressions...

Offer made...counter-offer made, counter-offer accepted, inspection early this week! YES! And the owner can close by April 8! Thank You Lord for all of this!

We will soon return to our regular posting of kid pictures, more kid pictures, and more kid pictures... well soon as in about 3 weeks or so... I'll try to sneak a few on in between packing.

We found another house, and we are going to make an offer on it tomorrow. ... will update.

Another Update

We did not get the house that we had put an offer on. We are going to look at more houses today.

House update...

Looks like we will need boxes! Our negotiations on our house are complete. The inspection is done, and everything in the contract is signed off on. So now we need a place to live. First we will find out about the offer that we made last Thursday. I think those sellers were waiting to see what happened with our inspection. We still hope to get that house. I will keep everyone updated! Our closing date is three weeks from tomorrow.

Abby at 13 Months Old

Abby is 13 months old and showing her personality more and more. One major change this month is that Abby is completely weaned from nursing. We struggled with this process because she did not like whole milk at all. Finally, I started mixing flavored yogurt in with the milk, and she instantly drank it all. This is not my ideal situation because of the sugar in the yogurt, but I am so confident that she needed to be done nursing. In fact the day that she started finally taking in a good amount of whole milk, she started sleeping through the night, and she has basically slept through the night since then. I really feel that she just wasn’t getting enough milk from me. We tried many times to supplement with formula during that first year, but she just wouldn’t have anything to do with it! Her overall mood and happiness has improved a lot with the addition of milk. Poor girl was probably starving all of the time. I feel sad about that, but I also don’t know what I could have done differently other than trying to make her used to formula earlier on, but I didn’t do that because I wanted her to nurse for a whole year. Well we made it, but I guess I will do things a little differently if in the (distant) future there happens to be a number 3 Capron around here. Anyways back to Abby. She is still crawling with one foot and not walking although she can stand herself up in the middle of the room. She wants me to hold her hands and walk her all around the house. Abby adores her brother and his toys. She seems very happy when he will tolerate her around him while he is playing. This month, Abby has really started gesturing to indicate what she wants, which is a fun thing for us to observe. She has also perfected her pout face quite well. Words Abby can say are: mama, dada, daa (dog), nanananan (banana), and dede (Caleb???). Here Abby is playing in the "train room" while Caleb is unaware of the danger.
Abby loves this position. She "stands" like this all of the time. What a girl!

Waiting...

We may be moving. We have an offer on our house and are waiting for the results from the inspection, which was done yesterday. We also made a bid on a new (to us) house. However, we know of at least one other offer on that house. So we are waiting on the seller's decision. Waiting... waiting... woke up at 4:30 this morning... thinking about each and every scenario... got up at 5:30... waiting...waiting!

Flowers

Flowers... if only I could buy them at Walmart, and remember to water them and care for them. I guess I would rather spend my time taking pictures of them and editing the pictures in Photoshop.