Bilibo

This is a Bilibo if you have not seen one before!  It is the toy that doesn't have a specific function...it is whatever you want it to be.  It is suppose to be a great toy for the kid who loves to play with a cardboard box.

Liddie got a Bilibo for Christmas, a red one too!  Anyhow the theme for this Christmas is that Parker liked Liddie's toys and Liddie liked Cale's toys.  Liddie finally took up with her Bilibo, sitting in it, standing on it, spinning in it and whatever else.  Liddie came up with a very unique idea for her Bilibo...it is a potty chair!  Hey how can I complain, easy to clean up, pour it out and wipe it out with a clorox wipe!  Needless to say, we talked to Liddie about this and she should not longer use her Bilibo as a potty chair!

Christmas 2008

We are blessed beyond measure!  We had a wonderful Christmas.  Although we traveled lots, we are blessed with family.  We started off in Grapevine while Brian took a class; then off to Tulsa to have a get together with Brian's mom's family; then to Springfield, MO to gather with Brian's Dad & his wife's famiy; then back to Tulsa to see my mom & sisters and my dad and brother & to gather with Brian's mom's husband's family (did you follow that???).  Santa came to Brian's mom's house for the kids.

Liddie was so in to Christmas this year!  She loved opening presents and really was just excited about everything.  Parker, of course loves Christmas.  Cale was oblivious to it all, but really made me realize how hard it is for kids to have birthdays around Christmas.  I know he will only be one, but thinking as he gets older how to make things work for him.  I can't believe he will be 1 on January 14!

We are home now and trying to get caught up and get back into a routine...I loved routine!

I smell chocolate!

Funny story:

We are driving from Grapevine to Tulsa to start our Chirstmas rounds.  Once settled and on the road, the kids are watching a movie, Cale is asleep and I decide it is time for a Momma Treat!  I pull out a half eaten chocolate bar that I have had with me on our trip and I would "sneak" a piece here and there.  Well with the drive ahead of us and a great book in hand (The Wednesday Letters) I thought I would finish up the chocolate.  I am in the front seat with my pillow between me & Brian, Parker is in the middle with Cale (diagonal from me) and Liddie is in the 3rd row middle. There is no way these kids see this chocolate because I have it sitting in the seat next to me closest to the console.  I get the chocolate "ready", I open my book and then broke off a piece of chocolate (a little slice of heaven!)...AND it was not two seconds later Lidddie said "I smell chocolate"!  I look at Brian and busted out laughing...I GOT CAUGHT!  How did this little girl "smell" chocolate from the third row from the first row???  This tipped off Parker and now I have to SHARE my chocolate!  She is female afterall!

Great Wolf Lodge - Part 2

We had a great time at the Great Wolf Lodge!  I highly recommend it for any family.  Also while we were there, we  did the Magic Quest...an interactive scavenger hunt.  It was really fun, Liddie enjoyed it as well, which is hard to find things that both of them enjoy because of their age difference.  Cale was happy as could be as long as he was in the sling, he even slept in it!

This top picture is one of my favorites!  I love pictures that are "natural".  This is one of the few times she would hold Parker's hand, usually it is "I want to hold Momma's"!

 

Great Wolf Lodge - Days 1 & 2 - Part 1

This week Brian had a class in the Grapevine, Texas area. We chose to tag along and let the kids have a mini vacation before all of the Christmas choas. It has been some great fun! Indoor water park, interactive scavenger hunt, arcade and so much more...even a full service Starbucks for me! Now that is a slice of heaven!

It has been a great week to be here, the last time I checked they were at 35% capacity...NO CROWDS! You can see by one of the pictures of Parker in the wave pool...He was the only one! It has stuff for the little ones and stuff for the big ones so it has been great for us. I have let Parker go do the slides and the big water structure by himself, but I won't let him go to the wave pool by himself. It has taken me back to my water park days when I was in junior high (Allison Woods...you remember!)

Liddie has so enjoyed herself...she will play in all the fountains and will let water fall all over her, but she will not down a slide for the life of her! She has enjoyed story time every evening at 8:00, and Santa has been telling the stories every night! How fun is that???

Baby Cale has gone with the flow all week. He has napped on my shoulder, played in the water and has been drug all around without compaint (Third Child).

Parker on the other hand has eaten this place up...went on the howling tornado with dad and rode water slides with me and just has had a blast!

Snow in Houston!

It snowed in Houston! Yes, you heard right, it snowed here! It is a rare occurrence and the kids were so excited! Parker dashed out the first time with shorts, t-shirt and flip flops; Liddie dashed out with a long sleeve (leaves as she calls them) turtleneck, panties and a hat (great combo)! This was just initially to see the snow...I cannot begin to tell you the excitement around here...you would have thought Santa arrived in the flesh!

The snow accumulated a little. It was odd to see snow on a Palm, imagine that! Four years ago Houston had their first White Christmas and we were in Springfield, MO. We were so disappointed then not to be home because that was a once in a lifetime occurrence in itself! We were excited to see this snow though! Of course, this morning you would not even be able to tell it snowed last night!

After dinner we let the kids go back outside for a few more minutes...better dressed though...Parker actually had a jacket and Liddie put on pants and crocs (go figure!). They threw little snowballs and just enjoyed the little bit of snow!

The Fruits of Parker's Labor

Parker is a golfer by his own choice. We have encouraged him, but not pushed him. Since he showed a real interest in golf, we encouraged him to try other sports too. Parker has tried soccer, basketball and flag football and he has always come back to golf. He did a little golf camp in the summer of 2004; then the following year he did a 3 day golf camp at a golf course that he now takes lessons at on a regular basis. I think that is where it really started taking off for him. Then in the summer of 2006 he played in the Little Linksters program though the South Texas PGA. He started in the Co-Ed ages 7-9 (5 hole modified). I will never forget that very first
tournament at a small little 9 hole golf course in Alvin, Texas. I am sure he was nervous as all get out...I know my boy! I didn't know what I was doing as a parent...I wasn't a "certified" caddie yet and really wasn't "allowed" to help him and all I wanted to do was hold his hand through out the tournament! He probably played 5-6 tournaments that summer. Then in 2007 he was really ready to get playing again and was excited about playing more tournaments, only this time he qualified to play 9 hole in his age group (7-9) which was a big change...yes 4 hole, but does make a difference in a kiddo. Oh, add on top of that I was pregnant with Baby Cale and had all the time sickness and it was a hard summer. Now with this most recent summer 2008 he is 10 and had to bump up to the 10-12 age group. His instructor felt with the age group bump, it would be best to bump back down to 5 hole and work his way up...there is a way to qualify for the next division up, I won't bore you with the qualification process, but it was Parker's goal all summer to bump up and he did the last two tournaments! He was so excited. Well for the first time STPGA is offering winter tournaments for the Little Linksters. Parker played in one the first week in November and then this past weekend, he played another. This past one was emotional for us...he placed 2nd out of 12 boys ages 10-12! Then on one hole he was hitting to the green from 50 yards or so from the fairway and his ball went into the hole! The picture of him standing by the pin was the hole that happened on. Brian said everyone was cheering, Bobbie and Alan saw it and were so excited for him too! Now for really seeing the fruits of his labor now that you have the full story...his very first tournament he shot a 44 on a 5 hole tournment...this past Sunday, he shot a 44 on 9 hole tournment and was one of the youngest in his division! If he continues to play on this track he will move up another division this summer! Although I don't think we are ready for that nor is he! To see him put so much effort into golf, and see him get excited about his lessons makes it all so great to watch him blossom and grow and to know as parents we have not forced this upon him, he is chosing it for himself. We are proud of Parker not for the second place, but for sticking with golf and giving it what he has and improving day by day, lesson by lesson, tournament by tournment and turning out to be such a great golfer! We love you Park!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Bobbie & Alan (Brian's mom & her husband) came and shared Thanksgiving with us. It was nice and quaint. The luxury of only having a few of you is that it is so very laid back and relaxed. We cooked in our pajamas, ate in our pajamas and later that evening changed into clean pajamas for bed! Brian fried our turkey, he did a great job...I am very proud of him for researching it and being cautious so everything went very smoothly, no accidents to report!

This is Cale in Liddie's little Indian hat from school. It actually fit him better than her (our kiddos heads measure a bit big, thank goodness Liddie has a head full of hair now to cover it up!). The next one is of Liddie wearing her Indian hat on the back of her head...she really didn't care for Baby Cale trying it on.

Then the following pictures are of our turkey I was so proud of!

Cale - 10 Months!

Our baby is growing like a weed! He is as mobile as one gets without walking. He pulls up on everything that appears stable and is in EVERYTHING...this will make it fun going to un-childproof homes over the Christmas holiday, hopefully it will enable me to maintain weight instead of piling more on!

The little Harvard t-shirt is from when Parker was little...Brian went on a business trip to Boston when Parker was little and brought him back this t-shirt...all three have worn it...maybe I will try to find a picture of all 3 wearing it and post it!

Liddie's Version of a couple of songs...

Row, row, row your boat
gently down the stream
merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily
like a butter dream.

ABCDEFG
HIKKLMNOP
QRSTUVWXYZ
Now I owe my ABC's
next time won't you sing
wit me.

Multiple Posts

FYI...When I post, I post several at one time!

Arm Art (Follow up to "Leg Art")

I was sitting in the office and Liddie was behind me drawing on her easel. Liddie became very quiet! When I turned around I saw her writing on herself! Of course this is not a washable marker...it is dry erase! We asked her what she was doing and why she was doing this...her answer "I wanted to be scary". I can't help but to laugh.

If you did not see "Leg Art" go back to August 1 and you will see the original Leg Art by Liddie!

By the way, we could not get her to put a shirt on yesterday! Not going to fight that battle. Yesterday morning it was in the upper 30's and Parker insisted on wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt to church. That is fine, not going to fight that battle, but there was one condition...if he insisted on wearing shorts and a short sleeve shirt he had to wear flip flops too and he could not have warm tea at church! He said he never got cold, but a mom knows that he really did!

Cops & Robots

Parker and Liddie have come up with the game of "Cops and Robots". I think they got it off of a show, but nevertheless they are playing together and using their imagination! Sunday after much encouraging, they went off to play. They came downstairs in this get up! Parker has an old flag football jersey on the bottom held up by tape, yes, scotch tape (that is why I hide and hoard scotch tape); and Liddie with a pair of Parker's shorts on held up by scotch tape as well. Both with hats and armed with a nerf gun.

If you click on the picture of just Liddie you might be able to see the scotch tape!

Liddie starts swim lessons...

Liddie started swim lessons a few weeks ago. She completed her two week session, meaning she had to go everyday for two weeks (so glad that is over!). This is Liddie with her instructor, Mr. Eli. She loves Mr. Eli and her spoiled her! There were days toward the end where I had to go to the pool and coax her out. She was the only one in her class so needless to say she had all the attention and easily wrapped Mr. Eli around her finger.

We started the weekly maintenance classes last week with a new instructor. Well, she cried through her entire lesson so we have rescheduled her weekly classes so she can be with Mr. Eli, and guess what...she is the only one in the class! The time is not the most convenient, but for her not to fear the water and enjoy class it is worth a little inconvenience. Once she has completed her float tests, I will consider changing her instructor, but for now the goal is to get her comfortable with the water and able to float if she were to ever fall into a pool.

Sleeping Sitting Up!

This is so sad! I am not a "cry it out" mom, but my sweet husband is looking out for me. He bought a sleep book to try to help us to get Cale to sleep through the night. I know it is better for him to learn to fall asleep on his own, I just have such a hard time letting them cry. The deal is to let him cry for 5 minutes, comfort him, repeat. Well, last night he cried his 5 minutes and settled down on his own (yea!). After a few minutes of quiet of course we check on him...and this is what we found! Poor Baby Cale sleeping sitting up in his bed! Yes, the poor baby is really asleep!

Cale plays in Chia's water!

This is Cale after he found Chia's water. Believe it or not, we were right there, but just did not have our eyes on him. He crawled over to her bowls and dumped over the water and started playing in it. It is so funny how he does his little legs in the water; this is exactly what he does in the bathtub! (I don't know how to get more of the clip uploaded to blogger, this is only the small snip-it it would upload)

Sweet Baby Cale

Just some random pictures from last week. I just think this shows his sweet temperament.

Again, he and Chia are buddies.

Halloween 2008 - Part 2

Okay, let this show you that the age difference between Parker and Liddie is pretty big...Parker being "Slash" from Guns N Roses (He knows about Slash from Guitar Hero) and Liddie being a "Flapper". The funny thing was as we were trick or treating all the adults knew who Parker was, but the kids did not! Parker commented that all the adults knew (except for one Asian man) and was surprised...I said "Honey, it is because most of them are mommy and daddy's age!". Trust me though, Parker really played it up, he always does though, he enjoys dressing up and playing a part!

Liddie absolutely loved it again this year. Parker really couldn't keep up with her. She didn't carry her boa around, it was "too itchy".

Baby Cale just soaked it all in and took the walking around like a trooper. He was a little puppy dog.

We have some neighbors, who either don't have kids or they are grown, who decorate every year for the kids. On year it was a pirate theme, another was Jack in the box & his wife (from the food chain), well this year was an alien theme. They "built" a mini UFO and dressed like aliens, it was great! I would attach pictures but they really didn't show up well.