Wednesday, December 31, 2014
Callie and Her Pop
Callie and Pop are quite the pair. She loves to have him hold her, and he loves it too. They have each other wrapped around their fingers. It is quite cute to watch.
One of my most recent favorite moments between the two of them happened as we sat down to eat dinner the other night. I was preparing mashed potatoes for her, and she had eaten a few bites. Then Pop's spoon comes to her mouth with creamy jello. No more potatoes from Mommy. Callie are jello for dinner! It was quite funny and cute!!
Can't Catch Callie
Callie won't slow down for me to take pictures of her anymore. And she won't leave her bows in her hair. I know, we have serious problems?!!
I am not ready for "sitting" training, but I know I need to do it. I know in the long run it will benefit us and her. It is just hard to be consistent with it and practice. I am such a busy body and always being asked to do this or that, so I don't even sit. Will someone train me?!
So for now we have lots of blurry pictures and her super cute outfits are hard to see. These are memories that must be burnt in my head since I can't catch them with the lens.
Cutie
I just can't get over how precious she is. How am I ever going to let her grow up? I am not ready for the hurt and pain she will endure in this life. I am not ready for the talking back and arguing. I am not ready for it. I am not ready. Can't she stay little and innocent?
Joel Working
Being around the floor demo and installation caused for Joel to do some work of his own! All three days he would check on the man working on the floor to see how he was coming along. He couldn't wait to walk on the floor. Then one day he wanted the tools down from the closet so he could work on"fixing" his bed. He banged away, used his saw, screwed in screws, and wore his worker glasses. We had fun!
Kitchen Floor Demo and Install
The boys and Daddy started ripping out our kitchen floor midway through December. Our old floor has been cracked and chipping throughout 2014. We tried putting it off replacing it as long as we could, but decided we needed to take care of it before the year's end. With Curtis doing the demo before the flooring company came, we hoped to save some money. We did have a friend help with the demo too which was so nice to have some experience around.
Our new flooring was to take a day and a half to lay. Unfortunately, it took 3 long days which spread through a weekend. We endured life being interrupted, lunches out, and dinners with sporadic prep and clean up as our appliances were everywhere in the room. Curtis and I were both a bit disshelved. We love when the remodel is done, but we don't do so good in the process of it. Wow what God must feel like everyday as our lives are in remodel mode everyday. Thank you for your grace Jesus.
Monday Mornings
W. Lately Daddy has been coming home Monday mornings after taking the boys to school. Callie loves to sit with Daddy and play with him.
Cats
Pop and Grandma's cats have grown a lot since this summer. Joel LOVES them and can't snuggle with them enough. The orange cat is amazing. He will let the kids do anything to him. Callie can pull his hair and he won't hardly respond. It is crazy. The grey cat acts like a normal cat and runs away when the kids try to mess with it. The kids just love the cats. I unfortunately am the kill joy and don't like cats. I don't like the smell, the hair, and the extra responsibility. I think I am too practical. Hopefully Grandma and Pop will keep up the great work of providing our children with pets that don't have to come to our home!
Wednesday, December 24, 2014
Saturday, December 20, 2014
Deer Hunting
Cade got to go with Curtis shot gun deer hunting! How exciting! And they shot a deer! Curtis made an outstand 250 yard shot and took down a button buck. Cade was very excited and even loved the butchering process. What a special memory.
He can't wait to get his own gun and take his Hunter's safety course in a couple years!
Family Picture Time!
Our Christmas picture of 2014! Everyone was complient and we had a great camera operator!
Christmas Program 2014
We celebrated Cade's Christmas program the first Friday in December. The was the first program Curtis has seen of Cade's. He is always at a track clinic but this year he skipped it in order to come to the program. Cade did an excellent job. He knew every word and had great manners on stage. Our music teacher, Mrs. Batchelor, does a fantastic job. Our school is so blessed to have her.
Sunday, December 7, 2014
Thanksgiving Vacation
The oldest girls went shopping on Saturday. We grabbed up some good deals and I knocked off a few Christmas gifts on the list!
I am such a hesitant shopper and I always feel guilty about buying anything, especially for myself. I love buying for others and thinking through gift ideas. It is important and special to me to give thoughtful gifts. I think I got that trait from my mom. She loves to give gifts. The part about shopping I do love is the bargains! I can not pass up a good bargain. Items on clearance are just my thing. And because I am a bargain shopper I try to buy ahead and has gifts on hand so we don't have to spend as much when we do new the gift down the road. I think my tactics work. Of course we had to get some Starbucks before we headed home from our adventure!
Cousin bath time!
On Saturday the men went bird hunting up in Smith Center with some of the Lambert men. The ladies and kids stayed home. In the morning, the kids went to the Sterling library to watch How to Train Your Dragon 2. In the afternoon, we worked on Kimberly's Christmas tree and I took the kids to the park for a couple hours. It was 86 degrees on the van thermometer. We definitely went south for vacation! Crazy weather!
Aunt Kin and Joel getting the Jesse Tree ornaments on!
Dinner time! Aunt Kim fixed us excellent food while we visited!
Piano lessons! All the middle kids were interested in the piano so Grandma was giving lessons left and right between nap times and meals! What a treasure!
She LOVES her Grandma!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanksgiving day brought lots of food preparation and football! The Bears played the Lions which took the noon hour into the early afternoon. So before the game started we worked on some food, as well as after. Anna, Aly, Caleb, and Joel jumped in and helped with the potatoes or apple crisp. Kimberly had premade a couple casseroles which helped immensely. Curtis took turkey duty but was disappointed with its taste at the meal. We also had ham, my preference along with Cade and Joel's taste as well. I am not a big foodie like Curtis which can frustrate him. I eat to accomplish the task I filling my stomach, where as he eats to enjoy! We are such opposites.
During our dinner, Tom's chair got stuck in the floor vent and he started to fall over. His face was one of panic as he started to go down and didn't know where to grab. Everyone was concerned but then there was me, just giggling away in the corner. He cracked me up. He didn't fall. The chair didn't break, which I thought was the initial problem. The only injury was the vent bars which got bent. Ethan was extremely concerned for his Pop which was so sweet. It was a great memory from our meal time!
Aunt Kim did have the kids write what they were thankful for and read them during dinner. Oh to just have the eyes of children - simple!
Thanksgiving Road Trip
We headed out as close to 3pm when school let out in Tuesday to get on the road to Kansas for Thanksgivibg break! All of us Illinois Odell's squished into out van and made the trek! We were packed to squished capacity! Mommy and the boys were in the back, Grabdma and Callie in the middle road, and Daddy and Pop in the front.
Library Tuesday!
Happy library day! We visited the library in our normal Tuesday adventures. Callie was all over the place until the librarian, Mr. Rob, approached her and starting talking to her. She does not like men. Men freak her out and tears come soon after eye contact is made. As soon as he crouched down, her lip started quivering and tears came. It was textbook. I love her caution she carries with her. May her heart always be that cautious as aw approaches life.
Pretty Girl!
I took about 15 pictures to get this one photo of Callie in her dress on Sunday. She looked so adorable in the dress but she is just too quick these days to catch her on camera. If I get her to look at me she starts walking towards me and then all of the images are blurry. I love to capture our life on camera. I seem to have an awful memory, so freezing moments in time is so crucial for me. It allows me to remember life through the chaos of the everyday. It would be so nice to keep all of her cute clothes, but I know that isn't very economical when I can sell them so these photos allow me to remember without hanging onto the material. What a gift pictures are.
October 27 Callie Weight
Callie weighed 18# 11 oz on October 27. We weighed her at the Health Department.
Callie's Teeth
I am awful. I have not recorded when all of Callie's teeth have erupted through her gums. This is what I did get recorded -
Top tooth. Right back front molar. 11/30/14
Top tooth. Left back molar. 11/22/14
Top tooth. Right of center. 9/26/14
Top tooth. Left center. 9/11/14
Too tooth. Right center. 9/15/14
At this point 11/30/14 she has 9 teeth. 5 on bottom, 4 on top.
Saturday, November 29, 2014
Princeton Christmas Walk 2014
The kids and I got out and enjoyed the Princeton Christmas Walk while Daddy was out deer hunting on Saturday. We enjoyed some lunch at Kramer's Kitchen with Pam and Kaylyn, Christmas cookies at Heartland Bank with Tori (who also bought me Starbucks!), the Hallmark store, and a carriage ride to top off our day.
The carriage ride we didn't think would happen. We line was over 20 people long all day. We kept checking back but the line wasn't diminishing. After the Hallmark store, or Christmas store as he boys call it, we walked back down to the carriage ride line. The line was still 6 families long. The person running it said we would more than likely not make the cut off. I told Joel we wouldn't make and he was so disappointed. Tears. Tears. Tears. We started walking away and then i stopped to talk to him about it. We decided we would wait in line and even if we got to the front and the time for the ride was over, we would handle it. So our wait started. Thankfully the lady running the rides helped us out as made it work. The boys ended up going with another lady and her grandchildren. It was so sweet of the many adults who stepped out if line to allow the kids to go. What a special treat, and a fun way to start our Christmas season!
First McDonald's Fry
Yes this is Callie's first McDonald's french fry! Yes I feed my kids processed food! Yes I feed my kids healthy food! Yes this is just plain fun to mark down in her life when she made this "monumental" moment - November 21, 2014 at 4pm.
Turkey Feathers
Joel's class at preschool made a big turkey and sent paper home for the kids to each make their own feathers. Joel just wanted to color his, but after getting out the glitter and glue he decided a little 3D effect would be ok. We also attempted lacing pipe cleaners around in feather but it didn't work so well when Joel tried to lace. The paper was too thin and it ripped. So momma finished the lacing so we didn't loose our whole turkey feather. We had a nice little 20 minutes of fun!
Awana Family Fun Night!
The boys had a great time at Awana's 2014 Family Fun Night. Lots of games and running around. You can't go wrong with that. Plus Joel won the first round of the cake walk!
Friday, November 28, 2014
Joel's Coloring
Joel enjoys coloring and drawing, especially at the coloring table at the library. I think he is a great artist. He always has a story behind his drawings and I am able to make out what he is drawing. There is a reason for every mark he makes on his page, and he always wants me to understand what and why he is drawing what he has. It is so important for him to have me listen until he gets all of his thoughts out. I am not very patient. Lord, please help me work on this.
A few looks at his turkey! I just love his smile. I need to take a closer look at it more often! It is something special.
Can't Catch Her
Callie is on the move and capturing her on my camera is almost impossible without the photo being blurry. She is fast! The sweet days of cuddles are over and we are now on to the no nos. No fun. It is fun to watch her walk and follow the kids. She is a clinger, though, and always wants to be where I am when it is just me home. She doesn't really play with toys but carries items around with her. I hope she eventually will play with things, but if she is like the boys she will want to be a mover and won't get to the playing stage until she is four or five.
She is definitely something special!
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