Time for a pool table?

After the first hole Caleb came up with a new way to play golf.

Petting Zoo

Though it was actually part of the Day Out With Thomas event, the petting zoo was an event in an of itself worthy of a blog post. Normally I steer clear of petting zoos because I've heard too many bad things about small children picking up E. Coli and other germs from the animals. However, this particular petting zoo had so many animals! I thought it would be so much fun for the kids I just couldn't resist this time.

With Malachi being a year younger than Caleb he often has to watch as Caleb gets to enjoy something he doesn't. Caleb gets to play baseball while Malachi watches. Caleb gets cool new clothes, while Malachi wears Caleb's outgrown ones (and when Caleb was that little he wasn't into Superman, Ironman, and Star Wars so Malachi gets unhappy about not having superhero clothes like Caleb's new ones). Caleb gets to enjoy toys that are sometimes too complicated for Malachi. Caleb gets to stay up when Malachi has to take a nap. When Caleb had a birthday Malachi felt particularly upset, even though we didn't have a party and we made sure Malachi got to do everything Caleb did. In lots of ways lately it just feels to Malachi as though Caleb gets all the fun. Thus, at the petting zoo when I bought a cup of animal food for Caleb I ended up having to get one for Malachi too even though I knew we didn't need that much food.

Well, it didn't take long to learn just how much I had wasted the money on that cup for Malachi (which I had known would be the case, but I figured it was worth $1 to keep him from feeling left out). As soon as we got in there, the animals headed to the food and poor Malachi was terrified! It took a great deal of effort on my part to get him to stop running away and crying. He finally held the cup for a few moments to let some animals eat, but he never really relaxed and was more than happy to get on out of there. Thankfully Caleb did enjoy feeding the animals and fed lots of different ones. However, with respect to a donkey that was in there, Caleb told me, "I didn't feed that horse because it was making too much noise!"

My own experience in the petting zoo was a bit less than desirable. It was quite crowded with animals, kids, and parents. At one point I stooped down to get a better picture of Malachi feeding an animal and got bumped so that I fell onto my knee to catch myself. As soon as I felt something warm and moist I knew it couldn't be good. I had of course had the great luck of landing in fresh animal poop, and since I had on light colored capri pants it was real obvious. As if the nasty mess on my pants wasn't bad enough, the rest of the day Malachi kept trying to hold to me by grabbing onto that one particular spot. As I worried about all the germs I was carrying on my pants and how those germs could affect him with his heart condition, I couldn't help but remember why I never go into petting zoos!

Malachi was not near so excited about the animals as they were over that food!

If you notice, in every picture Malachi's free hand is held back to his side, an indication of how nervous he was around these animals. He didn't stay too long before he headed back out to Grandma.






Though all the animal were amazingly calm, Malachi said, "That big bird is reawwy mean! I no like it!"

Caleb fell in love with a little baby.

I think the little baby fell in love with Caleb too, or at least the food he had!

Day Out With Thomas!

To celebrate Caleb's birthday with his grandparents I took the boys back to my hometown to see Thomas. Caleb got to see Thomas 2 years ago for his 3rd birthday. Unfortunately we missed last year due to our travel plans for India (our trip ended up being postponed at the last minute, but by the time our India trip was canceled it was too late to get Thomas tickets so we still missed). This year it was great to have both boys along for the fun. When we first got there the boys, especially Malachi, were eager to participate in all the other activities, but I pulled them along to make sure we didn't need to be in line yet to board the train. Malachi was crying about not getting to play with the toy trains until he saw the real Thomas pulling up to the station. Then he went wild!!! He was so excited! Caleb was excited too, but since Malachi had no clue he would see the real Thomas he was beside himself with joy! After Thomas started pulling behind the station for the people to unload I went to take the boys back down to the other activities. Then Malachi started crying again, this time because I was taking him back to the activities that he had only moments ago been crying about me taking him from. Once he saw Thomas those other activities weren't so exciting anymore! It was a great day (though unseasonably hot!) with lots of fun. We ended the day by having pizza at our favorite local spot with my parents before I made the 2 hour drive back home. It's nice to finally be close enough to my family that I can go there and back in a day!

These little kids were so fascinated with Malachi!

What a happy little boy!

Pulling into the station with steam!

Watching Thomas pull up. Caleb is in the blue shirt all the way to the right, Malachi is in the orange.

Can you see the excitement in that smile?

Hugs from Grandma (my mom).

It's nearly impossible to get both boys to cooperate together for a picture!

Since we told him Thomas came to town especially for his birthday, he believed all the decorations in the train were for him!

I love the look of wonder in a child's eye!

Since he was sitting in my lap it was hard to get a good picture of Malachi, but he was having a great time!

Caleb's imagination was in high gear as he watched out the window.

Since the boys were so eager to have fun with all the activities we waited until time to go home to get pictures with Thomas. By that time Malachi was very tired, hot, and ready to go home. Both boys were cranky because I wasn't willing to spend a fortune on drinks or ice cream there when we were getting ready to leave. They could have cared less about the pictures and were very uncooperative! A smile from them was nearly hopeless. The sun was high (and HOT!) overhead which made the lighting overly harsh for pictures, and Caleb kept covering his face to hide his eyes from the sun. Hopefully we'll have better luck getting pictures with Thomas next year!




Two years ago for his 3rd birthday Caleb was a little more cooperative, and with the cloudy day the lighting was perfect. Here's a flashback from the past!

Happy 5th Birthday, Caleb!!!

Five years ago on April 20 our precious little baby Caleb was born. His birth was an indescribable blessing, a true miracle from God. Ever since he has been the sunshine of my life, my little angel, my little love. I remember during my pregnancy I used to tell people that he was an active little boy who never slept. I would laugh about him "throwing parties" in my belly because of how much he moved around all the time. I knew before he was even born that he would be a feisty, energetic little guy, and boy has he proved me right! At only a couple of weeks old he could hold his head up, and by 3 1/2 months he was sitting on his own. He couldn't wait to start crawling, walking, running, and climbing. Caleb is the sort of kid that keeps me always busy. He is full of energy and smart as a whip. He may not always be an "easy" child, but he is still full of love and affection. We are so blessed to have our special little Caleb in our lives! Happy birthday, sweet baby! No matter how much you grow, you will always be my special little angel baby.

Caleb as a newborn

1st Birthday

2nd Birthday - Notice the #2 clown candle? My mom put that on my birthday cake when I turned two, a cake with chocolate icing in a metal 9x13 pan. Needless to say, I chose to make Caleb's birthday cake myself in a metal 9x13 pan and used chocolate icing to match my own 2nd birthday. I have saved the candle for Caleb to use again with his own child one day.

3rd birthday - Notice the fire truck theme. Caleb has been in love with firetrucks and fireman since he was only 1 year old. He is still in love with them.

4th birthday - Since we thought we were leaving for India the next day (the trip got canceled at the last minute) I didn't have time to make a cake. However, we took him to the fire station, let him pick out his own gift at Target, took him out to eat, and then took him out for ice cream. I think he loved that more than any party.

5th Birthday - My handsome little boy is getting so big!

Instead of a party we decided to celebrate Caleb's birthday by a day of fun together as a family. We took the boys to Dollywood where they had lots of fun riding the rides. It was great because there was almost no one at the park so there were no lines. I had them announce Caleb's birthday on the train, and Caleb was so amazed that they knew it was his birthday. At the end of the Imagine show (Chinese acrobats) they shot out streamers, and I told him they did that for his birthday. He felt so special since to him it seemed everyone was celebrating his birthday. Though he always wants to play games we rarely let him. This time we did, and we made sure to choose an easy game in which you always win. He chose a teddy bear for his prize. Of course, we let Malachi play too, and he was excited to get his own stuffed animal.

The boys especially loved this ride that climbed into the air over and over, dropping down different heights each time.


After Dollywood we went to the local pizza buffet (it's better than Chuck E Cheese's) for some more fun. Caleb had lots of fun playing the games. Once the $5 we put on the game card was empty he was ready to pick his prize. He had been so determined to get one particular prize, asking for it after every game. I knew there was no way he could possibly have earned enough points to get whatever he wanted, thinking he probably chose something huge. As it turned out, however, we had 150 points, and the prize he wanted was 150 points. It made the perfect end to his birthday fun!






Here he is with the prize he just couldn't wait to get.