Caleb Loves to Read!

I shot this of Caleb this morning. Isn't he doing great?!

Chocolately Goodness

Love chocolate? These are the way to go!! You might remember I fell in love with chocolate moouse cake earlier this year. So, the other day we had to bring dessert to a group dinner and I thought, how about a little spin on that chocolate heaven? I did some internet research, as I've never filled cupcakes with anything. I found some inspiration on this blog, which is hilarious, by the way, and decided to give it a shot. I made chocolate mocha mousse-filled mini cupcakes. The results were delicious. :)

And then just because I can, I made a cake for Philip to take to work tomorrow, Wednesday. It's lemon with raspberry filling. He's under strict orders to bring me back a piece. Mmmmm.

"Wait...Headrub First!" (100th post!)

That was the reaction I got from Caleb when telling the boys I was putting Andrew down for a nap this morning. For whatever reason, Caleb has become very fond of rubbing Andrew's head. He likes to rub it before Andrew goes to bed a night and at random times during the day. I think it's because he knows Andrew likes it and maybe it's one of the few ways they can relate to each other. So, we took a headrub detour on our way upstairs...which, of course, was followed by a second headrub detour for a rub from Joshua. :)

Andrew has recently started laughing, sometimes without direct provocation (read: tickling). The other night we were at the dinner table and Andrew was facing Caleb, who was maybe 4 feet away. Andrew was fascinated that Caleb kept bobbing around while talking and he started laughing. It was very cute. A baby laugh is one of the sweetest sounds in the world.

Geography Lessons

Philip really enjoys geography, so he has been teaching the boys about the world. Most nights at bedtime they spend some time looking at an atlas or the globe, talking about different countries and bodies of water and such. Caleb can now identify all the continents, and will even tell you "in between north america and south america is central america." When we were at the zoo, there some animal that lived in the Mediterranean region, so I asked him (thinking the answer would be no) if he knew where the Mediterranean sea was. Turns out his answer was, "between Europe and Africa"! Boy was I surprised! Caleb says he likes it because he likes "to see new things on the globe that he hasn't seen before." It's so funny listening to them from down the hall as Philip is teaching and quizzing them. I hear outbursts of things like "Algeria!" "Morocco!" "France!"

One night, Joshua came bounding down the stairs to give me a good night hug and kiss and informed me that the next morning he was going to take a boat to the United Kingdom...and then come back...all in the same day. Although, he didn't seem quite sure where he was going to get the boat from. Caleb apparently had plans to sail to Australia the same day. Busy, busy. One night during the "lesson," Joshua said, in his attempt to read the country name, said: (pronouncing each letter sound) "a-r-g-e-n-t-i-n-a...that spells...CHILE!" (pronounced chi-weee). Well, we'll get there. :) I love having kids who love learning!

Andrew frequently hangs out with them during book time at night, so maybe his first word will be "Antarctica" or something! :)

The Dedication

On August 24th we dedicated both Joshua and Andrew to the Lord at church. Joshua got "missed" because it was too difficult to get kids dedicated at "big church", but now that we're at a smaller location, we were able to. Philip's parents were able to come, so that made it extra special, and Caleb was able to help dedicate his brothers. It was also very special that the dedication happened on Big Grandpa's Birthday. That would Philip's grandpa who went to be with Jesus last August. Nothing would have made him happier than knowing two of his great-grandsons were dedicated that day. The funny part was that after the pastor prayed for Joshua and then Andrew, Joshua pipes up "Now let's do Caleb!" :)

In honor of the day, Grandpa and Grandma gave Caleb and Joshua Bibles. Caleb now has one that is an "easy reader" that he should be able to start reading himself very soon!

Put US In the Zoo...

So Caleb's favorite book to read aloud by himself right now is "Put Me In The Zoo". Well, Monday we took what has become our annual Labor Day weekend trip to the National Zoo and put ourselves in the zoo for a few hours. We had a great time and it was a terrific day to go. We got to see the pandas up close, which we never have before, and got to see an elephant being given a bath. The Orangatuns were also wandering around on the "o-line". We met our good friends, the R's, there. They also have three little boys. Sadly, one of them tossed his cookies around lunch time (and I don't mean his Chips Ahoys!), so they had to leave early, but it was fun to see them for a little while anyway!

We called this year's visit a success because
1. We didn't lose any children this year (thank goodness!)
2. We saw cool animals up close
3. None of our kids threw up (sorry Gabriel!)
4. The weather was great and we went early and beat the crowds
5. Caleb actually admitted he had a good time WHILE we were at the zoo!

Seriously, it was fun and we look forward to heading back next year!

Andrew lookin' ready for a Safari!

Mr. Elephant getting all cleaned upOne of the prized Pandas. You should have seen the telephoto lenses that were all around taking shots of this beauty!

Catchin' Up

I have been informed that I am slacking in my blogging. Apparently I haven't posted "in like, a month and a half!" (and that is a direct quote) Well, it hasn't REALLY been quite that long, but it has been a month. Sorry...not like I have anything else going on over here. :) LOL. So, what's new with us? If I could remember a month ago, I'd tell you. You see, everyone always jokes that having babies makes you lose your mind...I mean your memory....but the sad thing is that it's really true! I think part of the problem is that the mind just has to be focused on so many things at once, it's just hard to remember what any of them were! So, let's see....

Caleb update: Caleb is reading, reading, reading. His current favorite book to read by himself seems to be "Put Me In The Zoo". It's written by Robert Lopshire, but has a very "Dr. Suess" feel to it. Yesterday he read the whole thing in less time than it took to get home from Target...which is about 5-7 minutes. He was very proud of this feat! I am pleased that he reads with a nice cadence. Makes it easier to listen to! He's also working on his handwriting and improving.

Joshua update: He is lamenting the fact that he doesn't know how to write yet. Poor kid. Wants to be just like big brother! He is sight reading some words and making slow progress on sounding things out. We're not really working with him on it, just letting nature take it's course.












Andrew update: Andrew is neither reading or writing, I am relieved to tell you. :) He does, however, seem to be teething. Loudly. Yes, he's a little young. But we think Caleb went through some bad times like this when he was quite young. However, Caleb's first two teeth apparently arrived painlessly and stealthily. They came through during a two hour nap while riding in the car home from North Carolina when he was 5.5 months. He awoke...and there they were. Amazing. We're really hoping poor Andrew's screaming bouts end soon. He is awfully cute though, so we'll keep him anyway. :)