The First Measurement of 2011!

We have offical measurements today!

Joel weighs 25 pounds, 12 ounces and measurements 32 inches in length! Joel is in the 50-75th percentile for his height and weight!

Cade weighed in at 50 pounds and stands tall at 43 1/4 inches in height. Cade is in the 90th percentile for his height and his BMI is off the charts because he is SO THICK! You go my boy!

Keep growing my boys . . . I love you!

Trying to Talk!

Both the boys have been expanding their vocabulary these days!

Joel is attempting more and more words, and he runs up to tell me things often throughout the day (of course it is jibberish and I have no clue what he is saying) using his hands and facial expressions to get his point across! So so so cute! He is able to give the sounds for car, cow, cat, sheep, horse, dog, and elephant. He has become attached to a blanket bear and he is able to say bear . . . it makes my heart smile to hear him say bear! He will also say cheese, milk, but he doesn't have many other consistent words in his vocabulary that he says without someone else saying them first. We have been playing a chasing game in the house this week that I have named, GOTCHA. We run after each other and will point at each other saying GOTCHA when we get close to each other. Joel loves saying "gotcha" when we play. He understands a lot of words or phrases like, "Go sit in your chair," or "Let's go bye-bye." I think that he understands, "Let's change your diaper," but I am not for certain on that one.

Cade is growing in his vocabulary, phrases and knowledge of words. My mind is blank with new words that he has been using, but he will use phrases like, "It is so cool Mom. You have to see it." He will also use the word "actually" when he is talking too.

Last night, Bev watched the boys and they were all singing the song, "Days of Elijah" together (Cade's favorite, also in Nana's funeral). When the line in the song came that said, "There is no God like Jehovah," Cade said, "Grandma there is only one God. There are no other gods." How cool is that?

My Boys are Eating Me Out of House and Home!

It is so funny how my boys appetites have change in the last few months.

Cade has always been a good eater, but in the last 6 months Cade's appetite has changed. He use to eat almost anything that I put in front of him, with fruit being his favorite food. Maybe the main dish was not his favorite, but he ate it without much complaining and arguing. Well, life has changed. Peanut butter and jelly is our favorite, and nothing else seems to match up. Since Curtis and I are determined to not let our children be picky eaters, we only allow pb and j a few times a week, and have choosen to fight through the aruging and complaining of our 4 year old. I am not sure if our efforts will work, but our heart's desire is for our children to be thankful in all circumstances (especially when we don't like the circumstances). Cade's big HATE is . . . . sauce. Any kind of saucy food he is against - sloppy joes, casseroles with a cream of mushroom soup, spaghetti sauce on spaghetti, in lasgana, on pizza. Basically, I feel like it is any of the food that I prepare. I know he will be glad when summertime comes again and grilling is back on the list of food prep! The other funny thing about his food changes is that fruit is not on the top of the list. He does not care for grapes or clementines anymore, where he use to gobble any fruit down without thinking. When summer rolls around we will see what happens!

Joel is our big eater now, if we can figure out what he wants to eat. He usually eats something every 2 hours, so I am almost on my feet to figure out what he would prefer while getting some nutition in that little body. Cade has always loved pretzels since he was Joel's age, but Joel does not care for pretzels too much. He will eat grapes, string cheese, Goldfish, raisins, dried cranberries, Pringles, Ritz crackers, and granola bars (little nibbles) for snacks. At lunch time he is a big fan of Kraft Mac&Cheese, hot dogs, ham slices, and pizza! During dinners he enjoys yogurt, applesauce, and we attempt anything that we are eating, as well. He will usually eat a few bites of our main dish, but then we have to refer back to the snacks. He has eaten raw red or yellow peppers, cooked brocoili, cooked green beans. All of those he has eaten more than once - success! A few weeks ago he was eating 2 small jars of baby food a day, but he no longer is interested in baby food. He really enjoys feeding himself, whether with a spoon or simply dipping his hand into his yogurt. Trying to feed him is rejected quite often. This is quite a change that we have seen since Christmas time. When he was sick this fall, he really did not want much to do with food. He simply preferred momma's milk. Now I have a eating boy . . . if I could only figure out what he wants!

Cade Allen Odell!

This picture simply makes we smile! We were using these glasses to help us "track" down wild animals on our hunt - oh the imagination of our 4 1/2 year old and his old momma!

Impact Weekend 2011!

From January 6-8 Curtis and I took our high school students to Des Moines, IA for the Impact youth conference at the downtown Marriott hotel. This was a conference I went to as a high school student, and we have taken out PBC kids to the last 5 or so years. I really enjoyed my time with the kids, and I hope that they were challenged not to just be a believer in Jesus, but a FOLLOWER of Christ.

Because I was attending the conference, Joel and Cade stayed with my parents in Ames. Joel spent his first night without his momma in the house. He didn't just have to make it one night alone, but two nights and a day and a half! My mom said he cried a good 30 minutes the first night, but the second night went a lot better. I am very proud of my mom for not going and picking Joel up when he started crying. I know that was hard for her. After the new year started we "practiced" a few nights here at home. The first night Joel cried for over an hour, and I cried in my bed for the last 20 minutes. I was so glad when he fell back asleep and Cade didn't wake up. On the second night he woke up and cried for about 20 minutes. He still will wake here and there. Some nights I go pick him up and other nights I will let him cry. I don't know what it is, but letting my babies cry is the HARDEST thing for me. I feel like I am letting them down and making them fear that their momma has left them. I know that they will not remember these nights, but oh how they break my heart.

While in Ames, my Mom and Dad blessed the boys with a few Christmas gifts. Our Christmas was "ruined" this last year due to everyone having the stomach flu, so Mom sent a few gifts for the boys but they got lost in the mail. How did that happen? We do not know, but thankfully the package eventually arrived at our home after we got home from Ames (with a fun book for Joel and a new quiver for Cade). Mom also left a few gifts at their place in Ames to surprise the boys when they came for Impact weekend. Joel got a cool new Leap Frog brand car and Cade got a wonderful Toy Story book.

Cade's Artwork

Cade's scribbles are turning into artwork! He loves working at my desk by me when I am attempting to work on some Pampered Chef work. He uses my left over scratch paper and scribbles away. He resently started drawing his idea of a "person," which includes a circle with 4 appendages and usually 2 eyes. Rather cute!

Ice Fishing Boys

Curtis took Cade ice fishing on Monday. Cade was looking forward to ice fishing at Grandma Sparks' farm on Christmas day, but due to sickness he lost that opportunity. On our Christmas Iowa adventures we found some gloves for Cade that were like Curtis' "ice fishing gloves" - gloves to the knuckles and then mittens you can pull over your fingers. On Monday, the boys got dressed in their "farm" coveralls and headed out into the cold cold air! Curtis took Cade to a public wildlife area. Driving into the park they saw a big buck in the brush, which was very exciting. They didn't do much fishing on the ice due to an active little 4 year old, but Cade got to see Curtis' ice auger in action and they saw some small minnows. Cade did walk away from Curtis towards a spring on the small pond and one of his feet went in the water. Fortunately this water is only 3 feet deep so if he would have gone in further he would have been safe (for the most part). When the two boys got home, the smiles could not be wiped off their faces. They loved their time together.

Christmas with The Odells

We were feeling a lot better on Monday, December 27 (our 7th anniversary!), so it was the perfect day for the Lambert family to arrive for the Christmas festivities with the Odell family to start! We had a wonderful lunch together on Monday and then presents were quick to follow. The kids had a wonderful time being surprised and sharing in the joy of gifts. The favorite gift of all the presents was probably the Atari that Kim and Chuck gave Curtis. They had so much fun reminiscing about childhood Atarti memories (I guess I am a little too young to remember this "amazing" video game). Cade and Joel both got Pillow Pets from Pop and Grandma, which has brought Cade so much joy everytime he has to go to sleep. Cade also got a Thomas Trackmaster set, and Joel a fun Little People Boat (thanks Lambert family). Bev blessed me with a beautiful jewelry and some very soft pjs. When I put my pajamas on that evening Cade said, "Oh Mommy, you look beautiful." We feel so blesssed for the wonderful abundance of love we have felt this Christmas season. Thank you!



On Monday night Curtis and I got to go out for our anniversary. We have been given the gift of having Tom and Bev so close and this fall we have been using them for free babysitting to get a few more dates in than we have in the past. I have really enjoyed it, but our anniversary date was even more special because we didn't simple get dinner and go home but we also went out to a movie. We usually do not "splurge" like we did on the 27th, but we were given some money for our anniversary from a family in our church so we decided to enjoy the gift. We went and saw The Chronicles of Narnia, Voyage of the Don Treader. The movie was in 3D, a first for the both of us! During the week we adventured to our church gym a few times. It was a great way to let the kids run out their energy. We gave Jake and Caleb a Nerf Flag Football Set, so the boys enjoyed playing footbal (especially Caleb, football is his passion). Aly and I practiced a lot of volleyball, and she also enjoyed shooting hoops with her Dad. Pop and Anna enjoyed bouncing the ball with each other for a good amount of time, as well. On New Year's Day when we visited, Joel left the gym and adventured towards the church nursery. The kids (except Caleb who was enjoy Pop, Uncle Curtis, and Dad time in the gym) all wanted to play in the nursery with the toys. They "opened" a restaurant, stacked cups, and played with the farm set. I loved when Jake looked at me and said, "This is fun."

















My 29th birthday was on December 30, along with Kim and Chuck's 15th anniversary. Kim said that Tom and Bev's home was just like a cruise ship she imagined in her dreams of a 15th anniversary get-away trip! Curtis surprised me when I woke up with 2 wonderful presents - a new camera and a bike helmet. Two things I didn't think he would every buy me, he did! The camera is really nice and I am still learning how to use it. In the Spring I will get to break in my new helmet - yippee! Jake came over to play shortly after Curtis left to do some ice fishing with the men and Caleb, and I caught up on some house cleaning while the boys played - washed the floors, vaccummed, laundry. In the afternoon, all of the girls went to Tangled at the movie theater in Princeton. I treated the group to some delicious popcorn - that was fun (I don't know the last time I bought full priced popcorn at the theater)! The girls all loved the movie. Kim and Chuck went out to eat for a little time of celebration, but made it back to Wyanet in time for some yummy Twinkie Cake Kim had surprised me with.

















On New Year's Eve and New Year's Day we found the men parked in front of the TV watching college football. I guess it is only natural when one of them is a college football coach and the others so so so so so so passionate about the subject. Us adult ladies got the opportunity to do a little shopping on New Year's Eve. We were going to go earlier in the week, but Tom, Bev, and Kim all got the flu and were in bed. They all did not feel good from Tuesday on, but they didn't want to let the awful sickness ruin their week. I was so bummed for them. I really enjoy the chance when the three of us girls get to spend time together. It is fun to shop and find deals, but it is more enjoyable just to be together.