Capron Playtime

I have to say that we are blessed with kids who really love to play with their toys. It is a blessing because they will play on their own and together for a good amount of time each day. It does have its downfall, which is a lack of a sharing spirit, and that is something we are always working on correcting. Mostly for my own record, here are some pictures of what they have been playing with today:

Abby and Caleb watched a Strawberry Shortcake show, and they have been so very excited to play with Abby's little Strawberry Shortcake dolls. In this picture, Abby is making the two dolls have a conversation with the Cars cars.

Luke isn't crawling, but he does want to stand up ALL of the time. Here he is at his music table. He was LOVING this!

Then just when I stood up on a chair to try to get a better picture, this happened. I just had to still snap the picture before I "rescued" the fallen boy.

I got him right back to standing at the table, and the tears immediately ceased. Like I said, he really likes this table!

Tonight after dinner was one of those rare moments in parenting where everything was quiet, and everyone was completely entertaining themselves. It is hard to believe that I ever have any moment in time when someone in the house doesn't need me, but tonight it happened for long enough for me to take note of it. Then I heard Luke's laughter, and there were Luke and Caleb playing with Luke's Christmas present, a Little People Zoo. What a sweet moment and site: my two boys enjoying each other.

This post makes everything sound so perfect in our day. That is certainly not my intent to create a facade that we have it all together all of the time. I do have to break up plenty of fights, and I have long ago run out of new ideas for how to play trains and cars with Caleb. But, it is good to see the kids enjoying their toys and each other at least for a little while each day.

Luke at 8 Months

Luke is eight months old! Here is what he has been up to lately:

*Luke just about has 4 teeth. The top front two teeth have been coming in for awhile, but they are just about through! This is a BIG relief for us!
*Luke loves his brother and sister- especially Abby. They can make him crack up just about anytime by jumping and saying boo. These are some of my favorite moments with my three kids.
*Luke is waving and clapping! I am such a mom, but it makes me so happy and proud!

*Luke babbles a lot and seems to be trying to communicate and "talk" with his babbling. He is quite loud sometimes too! (good thing with him being the third baby!)
*Luke is still waking up some at night, but after he started wanting to wake up every couple of hours, I started giving him a bottle of formula at night. That has stretched him out some. Last night he was only up once, which was glorious compared to what we had been doing! For naps, he goes down fairly easily for a morning and afternoon nap.

NOTE: Look at those pudgy cheeks! Oh my goodness!
*Luke does NOT like being dropped off in the nursery, but we are pushing forward. We will get this thing down eventually!
*Luke LOVES to be in the baby swing on our new swingset. He smiles and laughs and thoroughly enjoys himself.

*Crawling? Not yet, but hopefully soon. Luke scoots backwards a whole lot.

*Luke visited his foot doctor yesterday, and his foot is doing great. We will continue with brace wear at night for several more years and pray that his foot doesn't ever relapse. The doctor said that when he learns to walk, he will be his own little therapist as the walking motion with really help his heel and foot to continue to be in the correct position.

*Luke seems to be a fairly content (and SMILEY) baby, and we are enjoying him more and more each day!

NOTE: This picture was the last one in our photoshoot- for obvious reasons!

Caleb's BIG boy bike

Jon recently got Caleb a used bike from Craig's list. Thanks to some creative shipping and the Capron network of commerce, ( Thanks Uncle Jim and Aunt Maurine and Meek family for Storage and delivery). It is a good quality bike, and the price was great. However, when I saw it I immediately commented that it seemed way to big and that I didn't think Caleb could ride it until he is like eight years old. Of course, Jon was super excited and talked Caleb into trying it out, and he surprised me by being great at riding it. Now Caleb often asks if he can ride his "Eight year old bike" when we go on a walk . Way to go Caleb! You make your mom (and DAD!) proud!

What we are up to....

The most unusual and sweet thing happened to us when we returned home from Christmas this year. There was a swing set in our backyard! We have grilled all of our close friends and family, and we have no idea where it came from. The kids have been really enjoying it. If our secret santa is reading this blog, thank you so much for the gift of the swing set and for the gift of your time in setting it up for us. We are thankful and will use it a ton!

In other happenings Luke is nearly eight months old, getting his top teeth, and not sleeping that great at night. Last night I was convinced that I was going to let him crying it out a little bit, but when he woke up at 12 and 2:45 and 5, I gave in and immediately nursed him because I felt tired and knew that would be the quickest way to get back to sleep! You can see why we are in this situation in the first place! But, he is a happy baby and seems to be doing great in every regard. So, maybe tonight I will let him cry more or more likely I will just keep coming up with excuses! :)

This is a picture of our playgroup- 14 kids and 1 on the way. It started out with 4 kids less than 5 years ago, and now there are 14! We are blessed!

Christmas 2011

As is our tradition, we headed to New Mexico for Christmas this year. We had a great time enjoying our family, friends, NM food, mountains, and snow. Here is the story in pictures:
Opening presents on Christmas morning

A picture of nearly the whole crew... lots of chaos, but it definitely captured the moment

The five Pace grandkids

Me and my littliest

Sweet Girl who likes to walk around saying "Mommy the princess is ready for some milk."

Mom's grave marker- Katie, Jason, and the kids, and I went to see it on the 27th. Her grave is near a tree. Last year when she was buried, it was extremely cold out. This year it was warm and sunny.

Some pictures that I took of Mike and Tiffany. Aren't they a cute couple!

Our trip to Jon's mom's cabin in Tres Piedras, NM

Jon hauled the kids up and down the small hill a ton of times. They loved it!

The dogs thought it was great too.

Abby enjoying the mud. She was NOT happy when I "redirected" her!

"I can't put my arms down!"

Luke and his ouchie, hanging out inside the cabin (He fell on a plastic toy while we were playing at Katie's house.)

Luke bundled up and staying toasty in his stroller

And of course we have to include a New Mexico sunset