Caleb's Portfolio

For months I have noticed that Caleb is obsessed with my digital camera and the video camera. I would try to keep the camera up from him and monitor him when he wanted to use it but the kid kept finding it in all of my hiding places so I just started letting him use it. I have been amazed at some of the pictures he has taken. It is so funny to watch him meticulously steady the camera or arrange objects that he wants to video tape. He has learned to use all the "buttons" and takes his photography very seriously. I've included some of my favorites here.

I'm Back

O.K. I left my blog for awhile but now I'm back at least for now. Here are a few highlights of our family happenings from the last several months.

Caleb Retires His Crown

Although Caleb still puts on his crown once in a while, he has given the "King" gig up for the "Cowboy" gig for now. He loves his guitar and I swear he is able to play chords. His strumming really sounds pretty good if you can get past his almost yelling his favorite lyrics of "I lub Sally and Lightening McQueen. I lub mommy and my brodders when they not mean".

Baby Girl

Gillian Loves her "dog, dog". Carlee is very, very good with her.

Just had to add a few pictures of gillian. She is changing so much everyday. She is still very sweet but has a little temper when it comes to Caleb. She thinks he is teasing her most of the time so she yells or squeals, grabs things back from him and sometimes even takes a swing at him. I think this is all because he plays really rough with her soooo.......not so sure she is going to be that little femine girl we thought she would be but we adore her either way. Besides, I have to stick up for myself around Caleb so she really is no different. oh ya! still no hair.

Garrett's 16th B-day at D-land

Clara and Em


















Don't Ask about this pic.


In February, Mary and I took Garrett and some of his friends to Disneyland overnight for his 16th birthday. We really had a lot of fun! We rode our favorite rides, ate at The Cheesecake Factory, stayed up really late and played a few pranks well a lot of pranks! We all decided that "what happens in D-land stays in D-land."

Michael, Clara, Michael and Garrett

Spring Break at the Beach

We made a last minute trip to the beach during Spring break. We met up with the Watsons and had a super time. The weather was beautiful. Gillian loved playing and digging in the sand and she especially enjoyed eating it.












Beach Baby!










I love this picture. The little boys are
playing on the water's edge and Abby is
watching them a long way off. The mist
looks awesome!

Big Brother

Caleb is so sweet with Gillian. This picture shows that soft side of him. Caleb calls gillian "my baby" and wants to guide her around and help her all the time. Although gillian is very independent, she really loves her big brother and best friend.

Caleb Sings.....sort of

Today I heard what I thought was crying in the backyard. When I looked out the window, I saw Caleb in the sandbox playing his version of a concert to some of his make believe fans. By the time I got the camera the show was almost over. When he noticed me taping him, he threw himself into concert mode again. Watch both videos. The second one is hysterical. What in the world is he saying???? Well, When I interviewed the star after his performance he told me that he was singing, "Carlee, I lub (love) you foreber and eber. Lightning McQueen and Sally I lub you foreber and eber too." What a crack up!

Gillian

Here's a picture of sweet Gillian. She is 19 months old now and amazing us everyday with new things, words and expressions. She is starting to scream a very high pitched sound when Caleb teases her which is a lot of the time and then she swings her arms at Caleb when he is trying to hug her which is the rest of the time. We call her "Miss Independence". Her favorite words right now are "up, (like get up and get me something), we dance, no no, and outside." She loves to wear dresses and "pretty" clothes as she calls them. We are still waiting for her hair to come in. We love our baby girl!

Rainy Day Fun

O.K. so a few weeks ago we had a lot of rain. I guess my boys were bored because they thought it would be a good idea to give Carlee a bath since she was already wet. What a sight! Thank goodness it was a warm rain. By the time it was over, Caleb was pretty much naked. As his clothes got wet, he would lose them. I'll spare you the picture but you get the idea.

The King has found a Queen

While we were in Southern Cal. we stopped at my cousin's home in Lake Forrest and went to church with them. Caleb was in heaven because he got to go to a new primary class with his cousin's Nate and Kate and they all got crowns to take home.

After church we went to the Foster's house for dinner. We visited and the kids played. At one point, Caleb and Kate come out hand in hand with crowns and ball gowns on announcing that they wanted to show us their dance. So Julie put on some music and Caleb took Kate by the hand and led her thru a sort of waltz with dips and spins even. It was hysterical but they were very serious about their dancing so we just went with it.

When it was time to go, Caleb was heartbroken.....literally. He cried and hung on to Kate and kept saying, "I don't want to leave her." Oh brother.....if this is any indication of what is to come for him we are all in trouble. He was so distraught that we had to call Kate on the cell phone from the car so he could talk to her "one last time." What a kid!

Disneyland or Bust!

O.K. I know we seem a little obsessed with Disneyland. But we started taking the kids when Cam was a baby and we just keep going back. It never seems to get old for us. We always buy an annual pass so we feel like we have to get our money's worth. haha. We always spend 3 or 4 days in January there with our friends the Watson's. Both of our families have grown so much that it is a little crazy sometimes but we always have so much fun and the kids consider it one of their favorite traditions.

Caleb made it into Jedi Training this trip so he was very happy. He was a little nervous or maybe concerned while he was learning to fight as a Jedi but he took on Darth Maul and graduated with honors.

Christmas Vacation

We had 3 weeks for vacation this year so we packed our bags, loaded the car and headed down South for almost 2 weeks. First we made a stop at my mom's house in Apple Valley to visit and enjoy a late Christmas together. My brother was there and as usual gave my kids very thoughtful gifts. My mom made us a very nice dinner and had fun playing with the babies.

It was a nice visit.

We got back in the car and made our way down to Coronado. Grammy and Grampy were there so we got to have another late Christmas with them. The weather was beautiful and of course there was a lot of excitement with New Year's Eve around the corner. We did many of our usual or traditional things during our week in Coronado. We took several walks thru the Hotel Del and on the beach every day. We rode the ferry to San Diego and ate at Anthony's. We rented a buggy bike, played in the sand,visited museums, did a little shopping and ate way too much!

Baby Gillian at our hotel surrounded by her brothers as usual.

Grammy gave Gillian a baby doll for Christmas.

Firefighter Caleb on the Ferry from San Diego to Coronado.

We love Coronado!

Christmas Morning

Christmas was a little different this year. Since the babies were sick, my family didn't come to visit so it was just our family Christmas morning. I think this was a first. Santa was good to our kids bringing them scooters, race tracks, baby dolls, guitar hero and an air hockey table for our game room.
We enjoyed watching the babies eagerly tear thru presents and light up with excitement. Caleb went crazy. We all had some good laughs.
The older boys were happy with gift cards to book stores, clothing stores and game stores.

Even though it was a smaller crowd than we usually had, I still made our traditional Christmas dinner while everyone played with their new toys and rolled around in all the empty boxes and wrapping paper. haha.