Caleb's 5th Birthday

Caleb turned FIVE this past weekend!  For weeks up until his birthday he would ask, "Am I five yet?"

Now that he is five he asks, "Am I still 5?"

We had a little party on Saturday and the weather was beautiful which was a good thing since all our games and activities we planned on doing at the park.  When our guests arrived we took kites, bubbles and our big bowling set down to the park and played for about 45 minutes.  Then we came back to the house for cake, ice cream and of course presents!  It's so nice that Caleb has made some friends at school and that they were able to come and celebrate with us.  

Blowing bubbles with friends.

Troy helping M get ready to fly a kite.  There is Josh and Simon in the background.

There was some horse racing with Caleb and his friend H.

Boys being boys.

Caleb and his Star Wars birthday cake.

Getting ready to sing "Happy Birthday".

Caleb and his friend M.

Caleb and his friend C.  

Caleb, with Simon's help, used up all the finger paint that very night!

Caleb and his friend H.  Caleb went to play at H's house last week after preschool and had a blast.

Here is Caleb with his musical card...he loves it!  

He has been begging for a card that "plays music" for a while now.

Funny little guy!

Here is the race car track that he got thanks to gift cards and money from family members.  

All the boys have loved playing with this!

We are so thankful for you Caleb and we are enjoying watching you turn into a thoughtful and funny young man!  May the Lord lead you and guide you in all you do!  We love you!

Wordless Wednesday - Musical Card

For his birthday, Caleb wanted a card that played music more than anything else!  This one played the Star Wars Theme Song.
His face says it all.

Linked to Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House.

Simon's 2nd Birthday

I can't believe my Simey is two!  Where has my baby gone?!  Since I left to go to Texas on his birthday we had a little celebration for him the night before.  He really liked that he got to blow out the fire on his candles! 

He dug right in!

Judging by the amount of cupcake on his face, in his lap and on the floor; I'd say he ate half a cupcake!

He was saying "Wash hands."  Hahaha!  His hands were cleaner than his face!

"Cheese!"  Now I know what he would look like with a beard!

After a bath...he opened some presents from his brothers.  A Leapfrog Tag Junior....

and a movie.

Toy Story 3!

We are so proud of you Simon and we love you very much!  May the joy you exude carry over into the years to come!  Happy Birthday!

New Testament Tuesday #8

I have to be totally honest with everyone here.  I am behind on the reading schedule and I thought I was only a week behind, but it turns out it's more like 2 weeks!  I have read up to 1st Timothy.  I am not giving up though.  My plan is to double up days and get through it because it is worth getting through.

I am at the very end of a study called "Daniel: Lives of Integrity, Words of Prophecy" written by Beth Moore.  If any of you have ever done this study then you can understand how consuming it is and how it's hard to stop to read anything other than the book of Daniel.  However, as I was reading 1 John, I came across some verses that tied some of things I have been learning all together for me.   1 John 2:15- (NIV) says this,
¹⁵ Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father^[a] is not in them. ¹⁶ For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the world. ¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 

When I read this it brought to mind the things that I have been learning and studying in this Daniel study.  These verses touch on several of the main points in the study.

1.  I can't love the world or anything in the world (our Babylonian culture) and love God.  I can't have it both ways.  I have to decide and resolve to be consistent in my walk.

2.  If Satan can't get me to worship him he will use whatever he can to take my focus off God (lust of the flesh and lust of the eyes).  In fact he's real big on helping me to keep my focus on myself (pride of life) .


2.  This world and all it's trappings will have an end.  I don't know when that will be and I don't have to.  I just need to be prepared every day to humble myself before God and be ready to do his will. 

I highly recommend the Beth Moore study on Daniel.  It has been extremely educational and life changing for me.  Let's encourage one another to stay the course with the reading and I know that God will reward our efforts when we ask for His wisdom and understanding.

Lord, please help me as I struggle to find a balance in my life.  Let your word be my guide and help me to measure all that I do by it.  In your wonderful name!  Amen!

Trick or Treat

Last year, when we lived in Texas, we had ZERO trick-or-treater's!  This year, I could not even count the number.  I was warned by a neighbor that there would be a good many and so I prepared by buying about 6 lbs of candy.  Before the end of the night it was all gone and I had to turn off the porch light knowing that there were still kids out there making their way around the neighborhood.  I prayed that there would be no tricks...there weren't.  All the kids were really nice and very polite.  It was really fun to stand at the door and look out at the neighborhood with the kids walking up and down the streets and the parents milling about keeping a watchful eye but chatting with each other as well.  Between my three boys we had a pumpkin bucket full of candy.  About 1/2 of it is gone now!  I think that next year I will find a costume for me as well. 

The Jedi attack the unarmed zoo keeper! 

Luckily he survived, thanks to the magic of a sucker.

For some reason he decided he liked his hat that night.

Or maybe it's the magic sucker.  Those things really do have a lot of power.

We are ready to go! 

Carnival and Pumpkin Carving

 Josh and Caleb wanted to be Jedi's this year so I bought some material and made their Jedi ware.  It was easy to do and the cost was minimal.  They already had the swords and the brown pants and white shirts.  I hope they want something this easy next year.

 There was an occasional sword fight.

Simon was a zoo keeper.  This costume was $10 at Target.  It came with a hat but he didn't want to wear it.

 At the carnival we bowled with a pumpkin.

 We played a bean bag toss game.

 We heard a spooky story.

 We tossed rings onto a spider's leg.

We ran away from our Mommy.

 We decorated yummy sugar cookies.

After a cupcake walk we ate our cupcakes.

And we fished for duckies.

It was a fun carnival and super fun to see all the boys and girls dressed up!

On the day before Halloween we carved out pumpkin.  I drew the face on and Troy and the boys did all the cleaning and cutting.

 Josh was the only one who was really excited about scooping out all the pumpkin guts!

 Simon was a good helper.

 Caleb helped too.

I love that face he's making.  "Ewww gross!"

Troy did a good job cutting out the face.

Josh being silly with a pumpkin "eye".  Yes, that is a piece of turkey lunch meat he's eating.  He's always eating something.

After our pumpkin was finished we brought him in to eat dinner with us.  I said the pumpkin prayer which I found at the Sunday School Network site.  I just pointed to the facial features and things instead of doing it while we cut the pumpkin.  I think the boys really liked eating their dinner with the pumpkin. 

Cakes Before Me Update - Turkey Cake Pops

I updated my Cakes Before Me Blog with some new pics under the "Portfolio" tab and also a short post about the new Turkey Pops.  I know I have been MIA for the last week or so but hopefully I will be able to get back into a normal schedule over the weekend.  Today is Caleb's birthday and tomorrow is his birthday party.  The weather should be beautiful so the plan of having it at the park is going to work great!   Have a great weekend everyone!

Wordless Wednesday - My 3 Sons

Linked up to Wordless Wednesday

Surprise Visit From My Sister Melinda

So I am standing in my kitchen, not this past Sunday night but the one before, and Melinda walks through my back door (which is in my kitchen) and it takes me like 15 seconds for a flood of emotions to go through my head.  At first scared, because someone is coming in my house without knocking and I know for a fact that all of my family members are in side.  Then denial because my brain does not know what to do with the image of the person I recognize as being there in my house.  Then astonishment that it really is her and she really is there.  Then surprise because I was not expecting her.  Then joy with tears because I am so happy to see her and so excited that she is there!  I literally peed a little in my pants during those seconds also because I am a big wuss and really if someone came into my house to attack me...I would probably pee and/or barf on them!  Just being real here.  I think she got it all on video, yay. 

Anyways, she stayed until this past Thursday and I was sad to see her go.  We got to spend some quality time together and the only thing missing was my other sister Melanie.  That would have made it perfect.  I will get to see Melanie on Wednesday though!  I'm leaving to go to Texas tomorrow and will be seeing my family and some good friends.  I am going all by myself.  I've never flown by myself before.  I've got books to read and Dramamine for motion sickness.  I'm going to miss my boys but it will be a good rest. 

Here are some pics of some fun we had while Aunt Minda was here.

We went and got pedicures.  I got dark purple and she got red.  Pedicures are my favorite!

We took a walk downtown and ate at Moe's and Ben and Jerry's.  

Caleb took this picture and the next one.

Minda and Caleb by one of the many Hokie Bird statues around town.

Chocolate ice cream goatee.

We went for a walk around the neighborhood.

We made a pirate pumpkin.  Arghhhh!

And of course there was lots of snuggles.

We also dressed the boys up in their costumes and took them to a fall festival at Joshua's school.  It was fun but really chaotic!  I'll do a separate post on that event as we took lots of pictures.

I love that my sister thought to surprise me and it couldn't have been timed better!  Thanks Minda, I love you!