Caelum's Army Crawling Adventure

And he's off! No longer do I have a happy little baby boy who sits on a blanket with his toys right where I place him! He started rolling around everywhere several weeks ago, but now--now he's off! Now he's an ecstatic little baby boy who loves to explore! :) This particular adventure took him from his original perch in the living room, all the way down the hall into Aile's room. He was laughing the whole time--so proud of himself! :)

Thanksgiving in Augusta, SC

As is the tradition with Sean's family, we loaded up the kids and headed down to Augusta, SC for Thanksgiving this year. We stopped on the way there and on the way back at Aunt Verla's house to cut the trip up a bit. This year, I'd say the weekend went pretty great! We only had one injury--sorry Uncle Ron, you know those young men are brutally competitive when it comes to their family football! We only had one absentee--poo poo on Zach this year! :) We even invited a family from our church to come join us! And--amazingly--all 13 children under the age of 7 got along famously all weekend with NO major disputes or meltdowns! Awesome! (Granted, 3 of those were under 1 year...and next year we'll have 2 more baby members of the clan!)

Once again, I did not get any pictures of the food! What is wrong with me?! I guess I was too busy eating... :) I didn't get any pictures at our game nights either...but I DID get quite an entertaining video of Lisa and Elaine at the Karaoke machine! :)

Also, I am not a professional photographer by any means, folks, but we are going to have to consider these pics of Caelum his 8 month pics. Unfortunately, he had a weird eye thing going on the week before and we had to cancel our picture appointment. So here's what we have:

This was hilarious! Brenner, Kaleb, and Megan were standing aroung the relish tray "sneaking" carrots, olives, and cucumbers. They kept sharing these conspiratorial little grins and giggles as if they were really getting away with something. After the veggies were gone, Verla filled the tray up again with blueberries, bananas, and grapes, and the three amigos kept right on munching.

While the 3 two-year-olds were chowing down, Aile was finding the dress-up clothes! (No shocker there...) She graciously paused in her "wedding dance" so I could take this pic.

When he was finished with his "secret" snack, Brenner was back to his favorite pastime--cars and trucks!

Ahhh--the picture just doesn't do it justice. Too bad the video is too long to upload to this blog...sigh. As you can see, Caelum didn't quite know what to make of it all either...

Thanksgiving with Auntie MJ and Uncle Don

We celebrated Thanksgiving and Sean's birthday with MJ and Don the weekend before the real day since we were going to be out of town. We always love heading down to "Maey Dane's house" as Brenner calls it. :) (In fact, just tonight he told me: "You know, I sure love Maey Dane!") Bummer--I didn't get a picture of the food table and pie and such! We had such YUMMY food!! :)

Weekend to Remember

I only have one picture, and it's on my phone, from this past weekend (maybe I'll put it on here later), but I wanted to be sure and add something about Sean and I's experience. We attended the FamilyLife Weekend to Remember marriage conference at the Chattanooga Choo Choo in downtown Chattanooga, TN. If any married (or engaged) couples out there ever get the opportunity to attend one of these weekends, DO IT! It was truly a weekend we will not forget, and our marriage has already grown much stronger just by going through the weekend! And we will only get better and better from here if we follow the Biblical principles that we learned!

The presentations were very thought-provoking and enlightening, and the speakers were real and knowledgable and you could tell they have personal relationships with Jesus that enable them to share truths about marriage that are relevant. The meetings were peppered with humor, a few tears, a few "aha moments", and a TON of information! But the weekend was not all about sitting and listening to someone else speak! The most moving and life-changing moments came from the interactive assignments and "projects" we completed as couples.

There were great resources as well...this is unfortunate as I now have a long wish-list of books and such that I would love to have! You might even see a few book reviews on here sometime if I ever actually get to finish any of the books I want to read and go through with Sean! :)

Anyway, all this to say, that I HIGHLY recommend this conference! And if you ever have the chance to go--DO IT! :)

Pump It Up!

We went to a birthday party last weekend for a little boy named Ethan that Aile is friends with. The party was at a place called Pump It Up!, a place with two "arenas" filled with various huge inflatables such as slides and jump houses and obstacle courses, etc. The kids had a blast! (And, much to the delight of their parents, also expended much energy and thus slept very well that night!) :)

Brenner loved going through the obstacle course (which Mommy had to go through with him about 8 times in a row until I thought I would simply collapse in a heap if I went one more time!), and the huge slides! He didn't, however, feel generous with his smiling face for the camera! Obviously:



It didn't take long for Aile and Ethan to become inseparable at the party, and they did everything together (including opening Ethan's presents) all the way up 'til it was time to go home! They held hands going down the slide I think every time they went! Hmmm....and we thought we wouldn't have to deal with boys until she was much older than this!!

"I like trucks, I always will..."

I don't know if you've ever heard that song, but it used to be one of Brenner's favorites from a DVD we have about trucks. "I like trucks, I always will! Big or small, I like them still...I like trucks! I like 'em!" We've heard it around the house many many times!

Anyway, one day the kids decided it would be cool to pose on Daddy's big off-roading toy, so up they climbed! They think it's just groovy that Daddy gives them rides through the kudzu on our hill to give them a glimpse of what off-roading feels like!

Rollo Skates

For the past several mornings, Aile and Brenner have been wanting to sing "I've Been Redeemed" during family worship. And I have been teaching them all the different verses that I remember so well from my childhood. Well, the other morning Sean introduced a new variation to the song. I'm sure you've all heard them: the satirical extra verses that were created by some bored soul to make children laugh--"You can't get to Heaven in a limousine...'cause God don't sell no gasoline" and the like.

Well, this morning Brenner hit the jackpot at a local garage sale and found the perfect pair of roller skates (he's been wanting some ever Aile got hers for her birthday). So immediately after lunch he put them on. After zooming around the house for a while, getting used to the feel of them and considering himself quite a pro already, he came out to the kitchen to see me.

"Mommy," he said. "Did you buy me these rollo skates?"

"Yes, Brenner," I answered.

"At that little flea market?"

"Well, it was a garage sale, but yes."

"I like these rollo skates, Mommy."

"I'm glad, Brenner. You're doing really well on them."

"But Mommy..."

"Yes, Brenner?"

"You can't get to Heaven on these rollo skates." (You'd sail right past those pearly gates, you know...)