The Birthday Boy...

So Kaleb had one heck of a years end! First there was Christmas, then a week later his birthday, and then a week later his big birthday party!! And he got presents at all three events!! Lucky boy! So, as mentioned before, my little man is now 4. (slight crying!) My baby is getting sooo big too fast! gahhh!! It has been a blessing to raise this boy and watch him become such a strong, intelligent soul. He is so smart, and caring, and loving - he's perfect...can you tell i'm partial?!! I love him so much.

Anywho, on to the birthday party - 5 pepperoni pizzas, 1 half sheet of cake, 8 3-4 year old kids, parents, and games later - my little man had his first birthday party! A few weeks ago he came to me and said "mom, i want a party for my birthday. with presents, and cake, and transformers, and friends. Can we invite my friends?" and I melted! So, i took on the challenge of entertaining several 3-4 year old little boys (and one sweet little girl who also braved the party)!! It was a blast! The theme was transformers (who could've guessed that! haha), we had blue, yellow, and white streamers everywhere - including his doorway to his bedroom which we did while he was sleeping so he would wake up to it! We posted a mini photo gallery on the wall of pictures of Kaleb from when he was in my belly up to his current pictures! It was great!

The kids did transformers bowling - i took toiletpaper rolls and taped transformers figures to them, set them up like bowling pins at the end of a long work out mat and let them bowl! They had a blast and did so well, and the little siblings got to joing in too! Then they played pin the tail on the donkey - some were way too good, and others pretty dang funny! Kaleb had a blast. His eyes tripled in size when we started singing happy birthday to him!

All that were here in our little apartment were: The Applehans (Michele, Jesse, Andrew, Tanner), The Zerbe's (Grandpa Greg and Princess Sindy), The Smiths (Grandma & Grandpa Smith, Aunt Katie), The Huff's (Mercedes, Josh, Annika, Sammy), Chandler Blazzard (mom, Debbie and sister, Morgan came later), and friends Alicia, Addi, Eli Stoner and Sy Callister! Talk about a house full!! It was a blast though! I hope that everyone had as much fun as we did, and i hope you all know how much Kaleb loved that you all came to see him and how much he enjoys all the gifts. We love you all!

One, two, three....FOUR?!?

My baby boy is FOUR. He is not really a baby anymore...he is a little boy. He is a handsome, smart, witty, clever, little boy. This makes me sad!! hehe...It went by so fast, there are still a thousand things I want to do when he is a "child" but I feel like it goes by so fast that I'm going to wake up tomorrow and he's 40...and we wont discuss what that will make me!!
Joking aside though - he is a beautiful little boy. He just started his CTR A class and really loves it. He has great friends and a great assortment of people to be around! I am thankful for the many influences he has in his life - all of you help him to be the amazing boy that he is becoming!
Well, as most of you know, his birthday is New Years Eve...but because everyone usually has their own family traditions we are celebrating it next weekend. So for now, I will tell you what we did on his actual birthday day - despite the fact that it wasnt a birthday "party", he had a great day ALL ABOUT HIM (and as he says his "four year old muscles")!!
First, we woke up and got to spend a few hours and Grandpa Greg and Princess Sindy (just for you Sindy!!) - Kaleb loved it! They brought all sorts of presents for him to open, a really cool dragon kite (which dad took him out to the park today to fly and he LOVED it!), a little gun that shoots little foam saucer things, magic coloring books, a gumball machine, a safari night light, and more! He hit the jackpot!! Not to mention, he absolutely loves playing with them so it was a perfect way to start the day!
Grandpa Greg and Princess Sindy also got Kaleb little light up sticks that could be made into bracelets! Kaleb proudly proudly made us all one - Daddy got the bright pink (slight chuckle), I got the bright orange, and Kaleb got the blue (of course!) He loved them! He made us wear them ALL day, and we did!! Dad even wore his hot pink glowing bracelet into walmart for all to see! :)
Then we went to Walmart and got Kaleb his "big boy" present!?! He got a brand new 8 inch portable DVD player! Mostly for the car because we drive SO much! So we thought it was a good gift for everyone! While dad ran in, me and Kaleb stayed in the car and were fast race car drivers! He was the main driver, but every now and then he would let me drive with my "pretend" steering wheel!Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Smith's and had CUPCAKES!! And Kaleb did NOT have a limit - it was his choice, so I believe he had about 4 mini cupcakes and 2 regular ones before he stopped! lol...great idea for a 4 year old late at night, aye!?! BUT - the real treat for him, he got to count down his first NYC ball drop at midnight! We let him stay up until midnight and enjoy new years eve with all of us! It was a blast...right at midnight he ran over to me and gave me a big kiss, then over to grandma and gave her a big kiss! A perfect way to start off the new year!!

Santa Came to Visit Us!!

Hello all! Sorry it has taken me SOO long to get this thing updated! Everytime I get on, I start messing with the backgrounds and main pictures and by the time I am satisfied, its midnight!!

So, background and picture is updated...we are happy with it - and its only 10:58 pm, which means I can get to a post!! So here goes...

CHRISTMAS!! I have never seen a better boy than Kaleb the two days following Christmas Eve! Every time we would think about doing something "naughty" he would ask me, "mom, is Santa coming soon?" and I would say, "yes, he'll be here tomorrow night" and he would go "oh, ok!" and stop whatever he was about to do!! The little stinkers learn early!!

We went to my parents house for Christmas eve. We spent it with Grandma and Grandpa Smith, Aunt Katie, Uncle Russ and all of us of course! It was a blast, Christmas Eve day we snacked and just lounged around and watched movies. We watched "The Nativity Story" before bed Christmas eve to remind us all why we have Christmas - although to Kaleb, its all about the presents!! Kaleb went down surprisingly easy that night! Although he kept telling me that he was going to wake up when Santa was here because "mom, Santa needs to talk to me". It was great!

Christmas MORNING! At around 5:00 am Kaleb was tugging at my cheek, "mom, mom, mom, mooooom, mooooooooooooooom" haha...finally I open my eyes giving him full reign to scream "SANTA CAME!" at the top of his lungs to make sure that I was awake! Joe rolled over and we grudgingly crawled out of bed. Before anybody woke up, we walked out to the tree with Kaleb - watching his eyes light up when he saw all the gifts under the tree was the highlight of the day. Nothing is greater than seeing the magic and wonder in the eyes of a child. Next we got Cameron up, who was less than enthusiastic to be up!! She nuzzled up to dad and stayed there for a while! We got everyone up and gathered in the living room for the REALLY good time to start! Around 5:20am everyone was up and gathered around as we started passing out presents. Kaleb went crazy! It was a blast seeing him tear into everything, have to open the box and see it before he could move on to the next toy to unwrap!! Cameron didnt really know what was going on at first, but once she watched brother a few times, she ran all around dragging wrapping paper here and there!

After we opened all the presents, we gathered around a few of the big ones and began tinkering away at them! Kaleb got a little "helihog" helicopter that flies by remote control. We all had a blast flying it through the air! Then as the boys cleaned up, me and mom started preparing Christmas dinner! Dad made a huge prime rib, cooked to perfection! We had delicious baby red potatoes baked in butter and seasonings (that I ate MORE than enough of!) and asparagus, and rolls, and CHEESE CAKE for dessert! It was a great dinner! The kids devoured the toys, the food, the environment! They loved it. I remember loving Christmas so much as a little kid, its just as exciting to me now, watching them take it all in. I love it! I love them!