Happy Halloween!

We had a very busy Halloween this year. We started out this Saturday with Caleb's Blast ball game, which was soooo cute. I just love watching them play at this age, it is very entertaining. Afterward, Caleb likes to watch some of the older teams play baseball. You can't call Caleb shy. He carried on a conversation with nice man in the stands on how he would play with the big kids "when he grew older."

After nap, we worked hard to make our favorite sugar cookies. I cheated and did all of the upcoming holiday cut outs at once. We made Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas cookies. I didn't think I would be up for making cookies after a few more weeks of this pregnancy. I froze the later two holiday cookies, and we enjoyed decorating the Halloween cookies. Caleb insisted on rolling out the dough with me, so flour was everywhere. But he is improving on his cut out technique.

Then it was time to get ready for Trick or Treating. Caleb wanted me to dress up with him, so I went as a witch.We stayed in our neighborhood which is pretty kid friendly. Caleb learned to search for the porch lights that were lit up. He had no problem walking to the doors by himself, but he often would forget to say Trick or Treat. That is until he was leaving, the he would say "Thank you, Trick or Treat, Happy Halloween" all at once. It amused the neighbors, we had several laughs. When returned home, he helped daddy hand out candy which was fun too. Only a few costumes scared Caleb, and he would just stare at them instead of putting the candy into their bags. Overall he had a successful evening with a bag full of candy to show for it.

"Hockey Air"

I came home yesterday to find an excited Caleb waiting outside. "Mommy, mommy, we got a hockey air table!" Apparently Greg had found a cheap air hockey table on Craig's list. Caleb was helping Dad unload the new toy when I arrived. He has become a great air hockey player over the last few months from all the game rooms we've visited. He came home today ready to play "hockey air" with Daddy. We are running out of room in the new game room already with all these great toys.

Today was the costume parade at Caleb's daycare. He was very excited to dress up as Batman. But every time someone commented on how cute he was as Batman he informed them "I am not the real Batman, I'm just a pretend Batman." I guess he just wants to ensure everyone knows the truth behind the mask. He continued to wear his mask out to dinner tonight as well. Tomorrow night should be fun.

Bed and Breakfast Getaway

Greg and I had a wonderful time this past Saturday at a Bed and Breakfast enjoying an evening to ourselves. Grandma was gracious enough to stay with Caleb and allow us one more getaway before Lexie arrives. We had to fib to Caleb saying we were going to work so he would be ok with us leaving. We enjoyed a relaxing evening starting with some light shopping around the local square. Then we went out for a steak dinner and a movie. It was nice to be able to watch a grown up movie again. Caleb seemed to have really enjoyed an evening with Grandma as well. He was able to manipulate her into doing whatever he wanted. He told on Grandma too, apparently Grandma kicked the soccer ball over the fence into our neighbors yard. (And I was worried about what Caleb might do.) Caleb was excited to see us Sunday afternoon, but after a few hours of following our rules, he asked "can you and daddy go back to work?" Grandma obviously is more fun than we are.

Here are some pictures of Caleb enjoying a much warmer and less muddy pumpkin patch outing. We met up with our friends Sarah, Teresa, and Addison. The kids had lots of fun on the bounce houses and running through the pumpkins. Caleb had to pose by every cartoon character he recognized.

Crazy Busy!

I have had a very busy past few weeks. My supervising doctor has been out, so I picked up some extra days each week while also studying for the re-certification boards. Finally took the boards last week, and we hired a new Physician Assistant to help out at work, so now I can focus more on the family and getting ready for Lexie. At least I have already registered for necessities at Babies R Us, and we have painted the nursery. That is as far as we have gone though. We haven't been home much recently to do more. Last weekend we went to the Pumpkin Patch. Unfortunately it had rained, so we had a very cold and muddy experience. But that didn't phase Caleb too much. We did lose him in the "big kids" hay maze. Scary for both of us for a total of 5 minutes. But he felt much better after going through the "toddler" maze, where we could see him the entire time. He also enjoyed the bounce houses and train ride he took with daddy. The funniest part was watching him pick out the pumpkins. He took that role very seriously this year. Wednesday we took Caleb to the Circus in Ft Worth. He was so excited watching the tigers do their tricks and the acrobats on the ropes. At one point he turned to me and said "mommy I want to go and do that", I explained how they had to practice often in order not to fall, he said " I can hold on tight so I won't fall". He almost headed down to the arena during the show. He did get to ride the elephant during intermission. He loved it! I am worried he may want to join the circus now. Then this past weekend we headed to Lubbock for my nephews', Logan and Dylan's, birthday. We partied at Mr Gatti's, eating pizza and playing lots of games. Grandma even rode the "rollercoaster" with Caleb. That was amusing! The boys had a wonderful time together and it gave me a chance to see my old college stomping grounds. Now we really need to get prepared for our new little girl!

Testing Boundaries

Caleb is becoming too smart for his is own good. We have been struggling with how to deal with his need to test his boundaries lately. One area we particularly have trouble with is bedtime. It has been difficult most nights to get him to stay in his bed after we tuck him in for the night. He seems to find several reasons to get up and "tell us something" or "member to get something." One night it was his stuffed animals. So he came to collect a few, including a small plastic lizard. At the same time Greg was threatening to take them away if he did not get in bed. Off to bed he went, for a few minutes. Then he sneaks back in to me and, as Greg is threatening to take away his animals again, Caleb whispers to me " but he can't take all my animals because my lizard is in my sock." Very resourceful little toot! We don't have a chance! One day last week we got a wonderful note from his teacher about how good he has been in class, that he follows directions and has been a good role model for his classmates. He was so proud, he had me read it to him several times and said "teacher said i have a good attitude." Then less than a week later, we received a note saying Caleb had made bad choices that day and did not follow directions which was "out of character for him", her words. (Unfortunately, I don't think it was too out of character for what we experience at home.) We had a discussion about how to act at school and how he needed to tell his teacher sorry. The next day his note told us how wonderful he acted and how he even apologized to his teacher. He is such a manipulator. I am really worried about our teenage years!