Just like Daddy

Colten loves his mommy, no doubt. He is my bud and willing to help me out throughout the day without much hesitation (most of the time). He's great while shopping, running errands and such a great BIG brother....but, oh how he loves his Daddy!!! There is absolutely NO DOUBT who his hero is. His daddy can do anything and everything. Throughout the day, when something comes up and either I can't do it myself or we lose something, Colten's response is always.."Daddy can do it." His daddy is by far the strongest, smartest, funniest, toughest, fastest person in Colten's eyes (I do have to agree with most of them). The best part is he will convince anyone of this if asked, no matter who it is.

He absolutely loves to help daddy do whatever it is. They are both outside now working on my car, actually. He soaks it all up and can give me detailed explanation of whatever they have done together, even days after the event. I really do think it is just about the sweetest thing and my children are so fortunate to have such a caring and involved father, for that I am so thankful!!!

Colten also loooves acting like he's "in charge" and the "boss" of something. Almost daily he asks me if he can be the boss of something. It's been a mix of different things...the boss of our dog Riley, the boss of his toys, the boss of Cambry's toys, the boss of the garage or his room, really it could go on and on. Of course, if we'd let him his absolute favorite request if the boss of Cambry. Most recently during dinner one evening Cambry threw her cup on the floor (which she finds hilarious). Caleb told her "no, that we did not do that at the table" and Colten just stared at her for a moment then said "I wasn't telling her what to do Daddy, I was just giving her your look." It was a pretty good imitation if I say so myself. He casually went back to eating and said "Just trying to help be a grown-up guys." Too funny, thanks buddy...guess we need a little help from time to time.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving this week everyone, I'm thankful for each of you!!!

Our Halloween

Halloween was full of fun this year. Colten had a fun fall parade and a fantastic Halloween party at school this year. This year Colten wanted to be Storm Shadow from G.I. Joe, one of his favorites!!!

Daddy, Cambry and Colten before the parade

the Froggy Fours class

musical chairs at the party

Cambry joining in on the party fun!!!

The night before Halloween we carved our Jack-O-Lantern...well Daddy did the work and Colten, Cambry and Mommy supervised and inspected the work.

the finished product, great job Daddy!!!

walking a little in Mommy's shoes (a new favorite)

We were so fortunate to have our good friends the Whitesides come down to SA for Halloween this year...oh how we miss them!!! Halloween morning we got ready, had a few fun treats and then met the Whitesides at Sea World for a morning full of more fun!!!

Halloween treats

the kiddos, not thrilled to be posing for a quick pic

waiting to see the daddies ride the roller-coaster

our family on the log ride

waiting for the trick-or-treaters to come

our turn to go out, what a cute bunch!!!

Cambry absolutely loved wearing her costume and walking the neighborhood. She followed right behind the big kids and went up to every door she could, not wanting to be held and toting her own pumpkin.

and her brother's as well

one tough "Storm Shadow"

getting lots and lots of goodies...

going up all by herself

The kids were anxious to get back home and pass out candy. They loved watching all the kids come up in their costumes. It was almost a race to see who could pass out the most and the fastest. Ashlyn even enticed some trick-or-treaters with glow necklaces and bracelets!!

We had a wonderful time Whitesides and enjoyed every minute of our visit. You guys are the greatest and we truly miss our times together. What a fun Halloween weekend!!!

Later in the week we celebrated my birthday with my parents coming to town for dinner. Thanks mom and dad for making my day extra special, love you both so much!!! And a special thanks to my mom who stayed a few extra days to help with sick kiddos and one tired mommy!!! You are the greatest!!!

Texas A&M, Tubes, and Teeth

Have been the themes for this week. It was SO fun to head back to College Station for the game. We all loaded up early Saturday and met my sister along the way to drop Cambry off for the afternoon (which worked out great, by the way). Thanks Aunt Chera, Cambry had a blast!!! Then the 3 of us headed to Aggieland!!!

So great to be back...

They boys at the game

Colten was really into it for about two quarters and right before halftime he was ready to head home. The band captured his attention, however and he did pretty well the rest of the game. He had no problems yelling as loud as possible (surprise, surprise) and getting into the excitement. We did go through almost all the concessions available...from popcorn, to nachos, peanuts, candy...and possibly something I've forgotten by now.

Gig 'Em

Playing on the field after the game

Even today on the way home he asked about the Aggie game and sang most of the fight song with me, I was impressed (it brought a tear to my eye)!!! :)

Monday was Colten's procedure and he did great. Sunday evening I noticed he was becoming pretty anxious about it at bedtime. He had a list of questions, mostly about why he had to be "asleep" during it. We explained as much as we could, and as much as he could understand. All went well, a few hesitations at the clinic and some resistance to wearing the hospital gown with Looney Tunes on it (at least it was blue). All was pretty smooth until he figured out we would not be going into the surgery area with him. Lets just say alot of kicking and screaming were involved, it was much easier at 20 months when he could not comprehend what was about to happen. Reluctantly, he let the doctor take him and had calmed down as we headed to the waiting area. WHEW!!! It was a simple and quick procedure and we were soon escorted back to recovery. He was a grouch and was definitely not ready to be woken up, but soon enough we were on the way home. My parents had come in the night before and were watching Cambry and were a HUGE help that afternoon. Colten slept a little after we got home and then was back to normal. He's been great since, only one time did he say "Mommy, I was very upset with you and Daddy when you didn't go with me to the back." And moments later he exclaimed "Now I'm just like you guys, no tubes"!!! Both Caleb and I had them when we were young. We are all thankful that experience is behind us.

Wednesday was my appt for my root canals. Everything went great and the pain has been extremely minimal. Nothing compared to a week ago, that's for sure. I've felt great and even went the the Spurs game that same evening. A BIG thank you to cousin Kristi for spending two days with us through that, we loved having you here!!!

Checking in...

Since school started things around here have been in high gear. This week especially has been a CRAZY one, but nothing a few meds and trips to the doctor can't fix (more on that later). The kids are great, Cambry had her 15 month appt and is right at the 50th percentile, 23 lbs. and 30 in. tall. She's perfectly healthy and had a hearty dose of immunizations plus her flu shot. She's growing and changing daily and has been so much fun, independent and strong-willed, but a joy!!! Colten's great, we've been G.I. Joe buddies most afternoons while Cambry is napping, and personally I feel I'm becoming quite the pro...take a look.

Sorting out the good and bad guys

Mommy's "good guy" team (not bad, huh?)

Colten's bad guys...ready for action

Colten, of course, could play for hours upon hours. But mommy, only has about one a day in her. He definitely has quite the imagination.
A few bath time pics...

Cambry's wild hair (courtesy of Daddy)

15 months already, boy the time has flown by!!!

So...onto our week. I started the week with minor pain in my tooth and jaw. It got progressively worse and I went in for x-rays Wednesday and discovered that I indeed needed not one, but TWO root canals, oh joy!!! So, I have been taking antibiotics to clear the infection, but the pain only worsened from there. Wednesday night was miserable and I could do nothing to ease the pain. Luckily our fabulous dentist quickly called a pain medication in for me the next morning. Well, with that the pain subsided immensely, but on came extreme nausea which has left me in bed for practically 24 hours. Only now am I feeling "normal" again with slight tooth pain, hopefully the antibiotics are kicking in. My root canals are scheduled for next Wednesday, but Monday Colten is having his tubes surgically removed. Not anything major, just another medical "experience" for our household. And after that...maybe normality can return??

We are taking Colten to his first Aggie game tomorrow and can't wait!!! Have a great weekend everyone and Gig 'Em!!!

End of summer...Beginning of school

Our last vacation of the summer was back to Port Aransas, but this time with my entire family. My parents, Chera's family and us. It was a great end to a fun summer!!! We had a wonderful, relaxing time staying right on the beach and spending lots of time together. The kids just played and played...on the beach, at the pool, in the condo, wherever they could. Colten had a blast running around with Sheldon. Cambry had lots of fun with everyone, especially cousin Kalyn who was a HUGE help!!! The adults got in a few game nights (despite Ricky's pleading). It was so great to stay all together in one BIG suite and enjoy our time. The weather really was terrific, the first day it was pretty cloudy, but the next two were full of sun!!!

Ready for sandcastles

Gettin' in on the action

Colten loved the boggie board (thanks Kalyn for sharing yours!!!)

Getting some help from Uncle Ricky

Running in the sand

Hard at work

The boys in the pool

Cousin Kalyn

Getting dry

My boys

Granden and Oni with the grandkids

The week we returned was also the first week of school. Colten's doing great and really loves his class and teacher this year. He's changed so much over the summer, it seems. Somehow going from 3 to 4 has made a big difference, he just seems so much older (makes mommy a little sad)!! It's going to be a great year, though.

On the way to school

Outside the classroom

Hope everyone had a terrific end to the summer as well. Come on fall, we're ready for you!!!

Doings and sayings these days...

Ahhh...I can't believe it is near the end of August?! It is so definitely true that time flies faster with each passing year. We have been busy since our return home from our trip. We have been to SeaWorld twice (I think), Llano once, seen all the cousins, and were in Lexington visiting my sister's family this past weekend. Somewhere in between all of that we had a few virus filled days in our household with Cambry getting the worst of it!!!

We are definitely ready for school to start back up and get into the swing of things, and I think Colten's pretty ready too. He has had several "moments" this summer wearing his mama down, but I think he's just itching to get back into some kind of social environment. Me too!!!

Cambry's great, just growing and determined she's twice her age and not afraid to let you know it. She is talking so much more now and very responsive and can mostly let us know what she wants at this point (so helpful)!!! She is signing more, especially "eat" when she's hungry. She will nod and shake her head for yes and no and makes an attempt to say them. She loves Rah-lee (our dog Riley) from a distance and gets so excited to see him, but a little anxious when he's right up in her face. She bolts to the door when Caleb gets home and over and over will say "hi da-dee" until she is picked up. My absolute favorite, though, is when she is looking for something or you ask her to find something and when she does she exclaims "there it is" (or close to it) so happily. She loves meeting strangers (especially in the grocery store) and will wave and say "hi" or "bye-bye" to almost everyone.

Colten is sooo into everything BOY these days...especially Transformers, G.I. Joe's and cowboys. So, I asked him recently "Colten, what are girls better at than boys?" (since it seemed not much in his eyes). His immediate response was "making lists and cooking salads". Wow, we have so much going for us ladies!!!

slip-n-slide fun

trying on mommy's jewelry

ridin' the 4-wheeler in Llano

riding together at home

such a big helper

and a little mess maker

Such fun summer days!!!