This Man...

I am thankful for this man. He truly serves anyone selflessly, even strangers. God refines me through him! I am thankful! He is the perfect husband for me, and he is the perfect daddy to these precious boys! We miss him one long weekend per month when he leaves for army work, where, I admit, I'm unsure of exactly what he does, but I'm thankful for what he does. He serves his family in serving our country, and I'm thankful for the lessons the boys and I get to learn in watching him serve.

This passed drill weekend, he came home, and before even getting out of uniform, he spent time with his family...the boys {and I :)} treasure this man...

"We love you and appreciate you, Daddy!"

Caleb - 14 & 15 months

Life continues to fly by SO quickly, so here is a 'combo' update on the last couple of months for Caleb. We PRAISE THE LORD that he is doing great in every way!

Caleb, you are up to a runner's speed! :) You climb, run and walk so well! We're currently teaching you how to sit down and slide down from 'high' places (a foot off the floor) so that you won't fall and hurt yourself.

You are your brother's best friend, and he is yours! I am thankful for this gift! God has blessed each of you with the perfect playmate! Truly, you mimic just about everything Rhys does, so Mommy and Daddy are trying to encourage him to be the proper role model for you! :) I pray that you two will LOVE each other and always appreciate one another as God's gift to each other.

You are definitely determined! I call you Caleb Determined Wright! :) I can see a little bit of why God laid on our hearts to name you Caleb, after Caleb in the Bible! I'm excited to see your personality shining, Son, and I pray that you will love the Lord your God and live for HIM in all your ways!

You're {finally!!! :)} getting in your 5th and 6th teeth! Your teeth have been slower to come in, but that doesn't keep you from eating very well, for which I'm very thankful! You LOVE breakfast! You typically eat oatmeal, and when Daddy's making breakfast, you get biscuits or sausage cream cheese croissants. For snacks, you like peanut butter crackers, Chex cereal, Goldfish crackers, Graham Crackers, honey yogurt, and for lunch, you like chocolate peanut butter sandwiches (that's right...chocolate peanut butter) or a chicken & cheese grilled sandwich with apple sauce. For dinner, you pretty much eat whatever we eat as a family dinner...you LOVE Mommy's Santa Fe Soup...all those yummy beans! :) And you've been doing great with your veggies lately...green beans, sweet peas, corn, etc.

You still nap twice per day...typically 1-1.5 hours in the am and 1.5 hours in the pm. You also sleep great thru the night from 7p to 6a. Sometimes you can stay up till 8p, but there's no getting around you being an early morning riser! :) You come by it honestly, so I won't hold it against you! ;) I'll continue to enjoy our mornings together.

Thankfully, you enjoy room time! You'll play in your room for up to an hour both morning and evening. Then, you enjoy room time with Rhys for a while each day. I love to come in and play with both of you. You just run into me, push me over and slobber me with kisses! Thank you! :)

Your stats (as of 15 months):

weight: 22lbs 3oz (10-20 percentile) - you've gotten 'skinny minny' on us!

height: 31.5 inches (50-75 percentile)

head circ: 17.5 inches

Caleb Christopher, your mommy and daddy are so very thankful for you! I praise the Lord and thank your daddy that I get to stay home with you and Rhys during the days!! I cherish these days with you boys; I cherish you boys with all my heart! You are such a joy, and Mommy and Daddy look forward to many more years of learning, teaching and growing with you! God has blessed us with your life! Happy 14 & 15 months, Son!

XOXOXOXO

Love, Mommy & Daddy

P.S. The below picture is for Grandmom! Like your daddy, Caleb, you sometimes dump your bowl of food on your head. Thankfully, it's only been dry cereal, so far. Your daddy evidently liked to pour his grits on his head! Poor Grandmom! :)

Our Family Pumpkin 2011

I wanted the boys to have a carved pumpkin this year, so I thought it would be so much fun to make a family night out of carving it and roasting the seeds! I remember enjoying that as a child with my family! Well, maybe in future years! All we really did this year was watch sweet Daddy do all the work ("Thank you, Hun!"), while I reigned in our youngest. :) So, no roasted pumpkin seeds this year. Maybe next year!

We wanted a happy pumpkin!

One afternoon Rhys looked at our pumpkin and said, "Hi, Mr. Pumpkin." :) Sweet young imaginations. Such sweet minds!

First Fire of the Season & Caleb is WALKING!!!

We got to enjoy our first fire-pit fire of the season with Pappa & Grandmom a couple of weekends ago, and an outdoor fire just ain't a fire :) without metal hangers and marshmallows! Russell built a great fire, and Pappa made roasted some great marshmallows!

Caleb is a Pappa's boy, for sure...

Finally, proof of Caleb walking, and he gets more sure-footed every day! Hooray!!!

Welcome, Cool Weather & Pappa & Grandmom!!

With the start to Autumn, we've enjoyed some nice cool weather! It's great to pull out the cool-weather wardrobe for all of us, and it's always fun to pull out another season of clothes for the boys. It's been all-too-easy to 'pass down' clothes from one boy to another...I appreciate it! Caleb's wearing all the shirts, jeans, socks and jackets that Rhys wore, and it's pretty neat that they both started walking within their 13th months of age!

The boys enjoy playing around our fire pit, and I think they'll really enjoy it this winter when they see what it does! Holds fire and makes s'mores! :)

Caleb LOVES to swing!

The boys enjoy their new car mat...we're working on the concept of sharing. :)

I was thankful when Rhys came home from school with this Scripture verse (it's condensed for the children's ease of comprehension): "Be generous and willing to share." I Timothy 6:18

I definitely remind the boys of this verse at least once a day, and it's great to know that Rhys' teachers are encouraging the same!

Just another cute pic :)

I walked into our den a few mornings ago, and Rhys was just sitting alone on this stool, eating his granola bar and looking out the window. It was such a sweet moment that I wanted to take a picture to remember his precious quiet moment. He is SO his sweet daddy in MANY MANY ways!!!

Pappa & Grandmom have visited with us the last two weekends, and Grandmom has stayed with us this last week. It's been such a nice help and time of companionship. Most days, I don't get much adult interaction, so it's been nice to have another wise and experienced woman, wife and mom here with me and the boys during our full days! Pappa offered his Camelbak water bottle to Caleb last weekend, and he is a pro at drinking out of it, now! Yay for no-leak bottles!

I found Grandmom sitting with the boys yesterday morning...another sweet, quiet moment, where they were just sitting there, looking out the window...and I wanted to capture the moment.

What are we to do when Grandmom is not here next week???? I know that we'll be fine, but it sure has been a nice treat! "Thank you, Pappa & Grandmom, for coming! Thank you, Grandmom, for all of your love!"

McWane & Friends

We got to meet some friends at McWane Science Center a couple of weeks ago...there's so much to do there, you can be entertained for DAYS!!! We did all we could in a few hours! Thank you, Jenn, for inviting us, and thank you, Sarah, for coming to visit {before heading to AFRICA for the next three years!!! Wow! That's still sinking in for me!}!!! We had a WONDERUL time playing, visiting and just having a BLAST with all the boys!

First stop, the bed of nails, which, of course, the boys couldn't wait to try...
Christian braved the first try...

See the nails beneath Rhys???? Yikes! Apparently, it doesn't hurt or feel too uncomfortable!

I thought this was neat...the water pressure holding the balls up...I guess until someone nudges the ball off the water...

This was great...a jumping pad that lights up underfoot! Rhys is up in the air in this pic (gotta love that little booty up in the air! :))...

Rhys & Hutson wild & crazy...

Caleb gettin' in on the action...

Then, we went upstairs to 'The House,' where the boys had fun with water! What boy doesn't like to play with water!!???!?!??

Then, Rhys put on a little outfit and started dancing to "Old McDonald had a Farm" for us! :)

Then, all the boys 'fell' into the foam blocks...

We had a FUN time and look forward to another playdate with GREAT friends!!!!

Potty Training "Lock In"

Just over two weeks ago, we had what I'll call a "potty training lock" in at home! Daddy left for drill on Friday am and was gone until Sunday pm. The boys and I did not leave the house from Thursday afternoon until the next week! It was a LONG weekend, but I knew that the Lord was leading us into that weekend to potty train Rhys, so we stocked up on candy, juice, underwear and pulled out the portable potty and were off!

Sweet Russell even set a stop watch to go off every 20 minutes as a reminder for me to TELL (not ask) Rhys to go to the potty. The intervals changed to every 30 minutes the next day...every 20 minutes felt like we were ONLY pottying all day long...seems like the process of getting his underwear off, sitting him on the potty, 'doing his business,' pulling up the undies, washing hands, rinsing the potty, getting candy, etc. lasted 20 minutes! Then, it was time to do it all over again! :) And all that with another toddler literally hanging on me just about the entire time!!! {Caleb is at a very clingy stage...of course, only clingy for MOMMY! :)} So, the extra 10 minutes was nice for Mommy!

Long story short - and not short of PRAISES TO OUR LORD!!! -Rhys is officially potty trained! He wears 'nap-time' and 'night-time underwear' during nap and night-time sleep, but it's only underwear during the day! Woohoo!!! This Mommy is SO thankful and truly in awe of what our bodies are so capable of being trained to do! With lots of prayer (for my patience!! :)), time, practice and rewards, potty training is totally do-able!

During our potty training time, we made the MOST of whatever we could find to do inside and outside of the house...

4-wheelin' in the wee hours of the mornin' into the dawn... (potty breaks in the grass! :))

A little rain didn't stop this determined little fella...

Playing with trucks inside... (donning the new undies, of course!!)

{I love to watch him try to figure things out. :)}

Caleb joined in all the fun...Here, he's fixated on a movie, while Rhys and Mommy are focused on the goal at hand! :)

Spent a LOT of time outside! Here, on the deck...

Caleb eating graham crackers, while keeping us company.

And Daddy's been a big helper since he's been home from drill and work trips.

Whew! I will say that I still pray when we go out to run errands and on school days, asking that the Lord would continue to help Rhys 'get' the concept of using ONLY the potty, not his underwear, when he needs to relieve himself. God has blessed the prayers, the consistent & constant trips to the potty and all the help from Rhys' teachers, Pappa & Grandmom while they've been visiting and other friends. It's been a good journey!

A Labor Day Full of Friends, Good Food & LOTS of JOKER

We got to spend Labor Day at some friends' parents' home on the lake...just had a WONDERFUL time!! If you remember our weather that weekend, it was RAINY. However, we didn't let that stop our plans! Yay!! We drove on...

We met up with this bunch and had a fun-filled night and day of JOKER (a super fun game!)!! It was too rainy to play outdoors, so we made the most of the indoors! The girls STOMPED the guys on Sunday night, but the guys came back with a vengeance the next morning, and we ended up TIED!!! Thus, the perfect excuse for a future game with great friends!!!

Their little man, Hudson, is a firecracker! So independent and full of energy...descriptive of just about every toddler, huh?!?! :)

Their precious Anne Stewart...Well, all I can say is that Rhys has eyes for her, even if she is a few years older than he. :) They were holding hands at the get-go! I LOVE it! :)

And sweet Caleb...he actually slept most of the time we were at the lake, but that's a praise for any child away from home! He had a great time, too!

If we weren't playing, we were eating, and if we weren't eating, we were playing! Maybe we ate and played too much, but it was fun, and we look forward to our next trip (to the mountains, we go, we go!) with Jeremy, Becky and their kiddos! Woohoo!!!

I think of this Scripture in particular as I think over our Labor Day weekend with friends:

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching

Hebrews 10:24-25

So, see! We have excuse after excuse to keep getting together!! :) Praise the Lord!