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Stories |
11/27/06- Today, I got all the Christmas stuff out of the basement and put up the tree. Caleb was such a cute little helper. I checked all of the lights before I started to put them on. My wonderful mother-in-law put up our tree last year, because I was SO pregnant, and she did a FABULOUS job. However, when I took the tree down in January after they had left, I realized just why it looked so good- she had used 8 strands of lights! It's only a 7 foot tree!! So, I thought, "surely I have enough," and I started to wrap the tree. Well, I remembered watching her do the lights as I just laid on the couch last year, and so I was just trying to do as good a job as she did. Well, I got 3/4 of the way up the tree...and I ran out of lights!!!! I had to call her. It was so funny!
I'm excited about Christmas this year for both Caleb and Daniel. I know it will be a little more exciting for Daniel this year, because he can actually figure out what's going on and enjoy it. He was only 3 weeks old last year at Christmas! He woke up from his nap and I took him down to see the lights on the tree. He just stared at it and smiled- so sweet.
11/26/06- We all headed back home this afternoon. We went to church in Columbia in the morning and then stopped in Tullahoma on our way home for evening services. We were glad to make it home safely- "thank you, God, for us safely getting home," as Caleb would say.
11/24/06- Happy birthday, Daddy! Today is Aaron's 34th birthday. My brother Matt and I ran out to some stores around 8am there in Columbia. It wasn't too bad. We got a lot done in just a few hours. We got back to the house by 11am, which worked out well. Grandma, Jeanne, David, and Robin all showed up about 30 minutes after we got there.
The weather was just beautiful! We all played out side for a good while: whiffle ball, some guys played football, baseball. Daniel enjoyed being outside and crawling around. Caleb just loves playing outside and hitting balls. He is so cute- he thinks everytime he gets a hit, its a home run! So, he runs ALL the way around the yard while someone is "trying" to tag him out, and you can hear him huffing and puffing, "gotta get a home run! Almost there!" So cute.
We played some games and ate leftovers. It was a good continuation of the previous day...
11/23/06- Daniel's first turkey day! I thought back to a year ago when my ankles were so swollen and I was so huge, just waiting for my own "little turkey" to say he was "ready!" Hard to believe it's been a year...
We had a good day with family. My grandmother, Aunt Jeanne, Uncle Tim, and cousins David, Robin, Lisa and her husband, Jason, and their daughter, Milly, all came. It was Milly's first birthday, so we had a little party for her, which was neat.
We were able to have a video conversation with Gigi and Papa O, which was really nice. We sure missed them this year...
11/21/06- Unfortunately, Aaron's family won't be coming for Thanksgiving this year. Aaron's grandmother is not doing well and is in the hospital. They hope to come in a few weeks when she is out. It was disappointing that they weren't able to come, but they need to be out there right now under the circumstances. So, Aaron figured that we should just go ahead and go up to my parent's, since they were having a big group of the family.
Since I had already started getting things ready for our Thanksgiving at home, I called my mom to see what she really needed brought. Desserts were the big thing, so that's what I made. I made pumpkin pies, because you can never have too much pumpkin pie, and my parents planned on inviting everyone back the day after Thanksgiving, plus some cousins who weren't able to make T-day, so this way, we were sure to have enough pumpkin pie. I also made a Chocolate Harvest Cake that I found in Better Homes & Gardens. So, I had fun baking tonight.
Aaron took Caleb to a basketball game and Daniel stayed with me. I love each of my boys and I love watching them play together. However, it is nice to have one-on-one time with one of them sometimes. It had been awhile since I had just Daniel to myself at home. He is just exploring so much and trying to figure out so many things. I love this age. We were playing with some toys and he picked up a toy phone and put it up to his ear and smiled. He knew what to do with it! There is so much that he understands, but he's just not able to verbalize everything yet. But, I know he's taking in so much by what he hears and what he sees. I love my precious baby...
Caleb came home with a blue ring around his mouth from eating an italian ice at the basketball game. He cracks me up! He is so full of life. I gave Aaron his birthday present a few days early, which was a used, but in good condition, Playstation 2 (his other one had broke and it's been almost a year since he's played). Well, Caleb has just taken to it so well. He can just push those buttons and do the games. We couldn't get over it! So, when he got home from the basketball game, he wanted to play on the Playstation. Little stinker...
11/20/06- Today was a very long day, probably one of the longest I've been through with the boys. My dad's cousin, Freda passed away last week and they had a service down in Florida where she's lived the last 10-12 years, and then they were going to have another service in Louisville, KY, where she grew up and would be buried. My parents had planned on going to the Louisville one, since it's just a few hours away. However, we needed to leave early to get up there in time, because Louisville is on Eastern time and the visitation was at 1pm, and funeral at 2pm. I debated on what to do, whether I should go up the night before and stay at my parents, or just get up early and put the boys in the van, hoping they would sleep on the way up to meet my parents in Nashville. Well, I chose the second option and it worked out well. I left around 4:30am and the boys stayed asleep on the drive up. Caleb woke up as the sun was coming up, around 6am, and he was excited about everything. They were both still in their pajamas, so it was kind of neat for them to wake up in the van.
We made great time and Daniel woke up just as we got off the interstate to meet at Matt's house. My parents showed up 10 minutes later and they got in the van and we headed north. We stopped around Bowling Green to have breakfast at Bob Evans. Both boys were so cute. I had changed Caleb into clothes already while we were at Matt's, but Daniel was still in his blanket sleeper/pajamas. He just sat their at the table in the high chair ready to eat. I ordered a plate of pancakes off the kid's menu for the boys. I've been buying those mini pancakes and the boys just love them. Especially Daniel, because they fit right in his hand and he just gobbles them up! Caleb had already had a pop-tart in the van, so he ate some, but Daniel put away about 2 whole pancakes! Little chunk!
When we got back in the van, Daniel was ready for a nap and went right to sleep. I sat in the back with Caleb and we looked at some books and read together. It was really neat. He is doing such a great job of sounding out words. He still struggles on certain things, but overall he is doing great!
We made it to the funeral home in time and got to see lots of family, which was good. It was nice to catch up with some that I hadn't seen in awhile. Freda was a great lady and it was neat to hear about her life and all of the things that she did that not everyone knew about. I tried to prepare Caleb for the funeral, trying to explain that it would be like church- singing, praying, etc. So, in the middle of the service, Caleb whispers to me, "you're right, Mommy, this is like church!" Only a 3 year old...
After the burial, we went to a place that Freda and her sister, Anita, really enjoyed going to eat when they were in Louisville. We had a good time visiting there, and then we all headed on the road back home. We made it back to Matt's around 6:45pm and went out to eat with him at Logan's, and then got the boys back in their pajamas and headed home. I finally got home at 11:00pm. Very long day, but it was good that we went.
11/18/06- Today we went to Laney's 1st birthday party. The boys were great and had so much fun. We all had a great time.
Daniel is really starting to crawl on his knees and hands more. He'll still do the "combat crawl," ocassionally, because it's what he's always done and he gets around faster that way. But, he's really getting that body up off the ground. It's so cute to watch babies crawl! I love watching and hearing Daniel crawl. He makes all of these sounds when he's "on the go," so it helps me know when he's coming! He's such a cutie.
Aaron had his last Saturday class at church today and we met in Chattanooga at the house of some people from church. Then, I took Daniel with me to run to a couple stores and Caleb went with Aaron. That worked out well.
11/12-11/17- This week was our gospel meeting, so it was very busy, but a very rewarding week. We had a great meeting with Edwin Crozier, from Franklin, TN. His grandfather, mother, aunt, and cousins go to church with us in Chattanooga.
We kept busy throughout the week, trying to do fun things during the day and then be back for naps in the afternoon and then get ready to go to church each evening. We went to the park in South Pittsburg one day, which was nice. Then, I went early to Chattanooga a couple days so I could get some shopping done. I hope to be done in the next week!
Friday, I headed to Chattanooga early and we were able to get Caleb's haircut. I have always cut it, but I just feel like it's time for someone who
really cuts hair to do it. He has calics and his hair is so fine, so we went to Fantastic Sams near Hamilton Place. Well, Caleb did FANTASTIC! He was such a big, brave boy; they all just raved about him. He sat still and let the lady cut his hair and she did a really good job. I was glad he did so well. We went to Books-a-Million afterwards, since he had been so good, and he and Daniel played with the Thomas the train setup that they have there.
We met up with Aaron for dinner at a little place near church and that was nice. The boys were so excited to see their Daddy, and so was I. It was a good week.
Also, Tuesday morning was my last time to nurse Daniel. Sniff, sniff- no, really, I'm fine with it. I've been weaning him to a cup and he's been doing really well. I could just tell he was ready. It's been precious, but it's time to let him grow up and be a big boy drinking from a big boy cup.
11/11/06-Forbidden Forest evening! Aaron and I and the boys all headed over to the Bowens' house to get things ready for the evenings festivities. It turned out to be a great evening and we all had a great time. The boys mainly stayed inside with other adults who graciously watched them while Aaron and I helped with the "scaring" things on the hayride and in the woods. Everyone had a good time and Aaron and I were glad we went and got to be a part of it.
11/10/06- Surprise #1: While we were eating breakfast, Uncle Matt came! He took off the day from work to work on Nana and Papa's yard/landscaping. He presented the plan to them a couple weeks ago and they are already doing up beds of dirt and getting plants and digging up plants and moving them. Caleb was very excited about all of this and throughout breakfast, he kept asking Matt if he could help outside. He ran and got dressed and went outside ready to work. Matt gave him a little shovel and showed him where to dig a hole for one of the trees. Well, he just went to town on that hole. He was so proud of himself, digging away.
Surprise #2: Papa came home while we were working outside! It was so cute to watch Caleb help get dirt with his little shovel to put in the wheelbarrow. Then, Caleb used the rake to level out the dirt after Papa dumped it in the spot. Caleb worked all morning and even after lunchtime outside with Matt and Papa. He did great.
The boys and I got on the road around 2:45pm. They were ready for naps and it worked out again for a nice relaxing drive home, because they slept the whole way home. We made it home safely and looked forward to seeing Daddy.
11/9/06- Dentist day! Wow. I wish it had been this fun to go to the dentist when I was a kid! We walked into this place, and I felt like I was walking into a minature Chuck E. Cheese. They had riding toys, video games, climbing toys- they even had a little arcade room! It was a child's dream place. The people were very friendly and we had a wonderful experience. When I called last week, I asked them how early they saw kids, and they said a year old, so I asked if they'd see Daniel, since he was almost one, and they said "sure." They took us back to the room that they have designated as the "baby room," and asked if Caleb would want to be seen there or in a child's chair just across the hall. I asked him and he said he wanted to go to the child's chair across the hall, so he went there with Nana and I stayed withe Daniel in the baby room. Caleb did FANTASTIC. The girls/nurses just raved about him and how good he was and brave. It helped that they have tv's built into the ceiling so the kids can just stare up and watch while they're having their teeth worked on. Daniel was a little more difficult, but that's normal with him being so young. He doesn't like us trying to brush his teeth and he didn't like what the nurse was doing, but they said that's how it usually is with babies. After the nurses worked on their teeth and brushed them, the dentist came and looked at them. He looked at Caleb first. What a nice man. He just talked to Caleb so sweetly and praised him on how brave he was. He told me things look good overall, he's got good spaces between his teeth, which is what they like to see with kids, so the adult teeth have room to come in, but it looks like 2 of his bottom teeth (molars) are the beginning stages of cavities. I had kind of wondered if they were the last few months when I've been brushing his teeth. The dentist explained what he'd need to do and was actually willing to do it today if Caleb hadn't eaten anything this morning, but he already had breakfast. He said they'd be fine until the next check-up in 6 months, and he'd plan on taking care of them then. So, next time we go, he just won't eat anything in the morning and we'll go right in, and they'll do a local and take care of them. He stays away from putting silver in, which I'm glad about. So many kids at my school just have a mouth full of silver and it just looks so bad. Daniel looked fine and he said to just wipe off his teeth and gums with a washcloth after nursing to get that milky film off and just brush his teeth really good afterwards. Daniel is almost finished nursing, so he said that works out well.
We played a little bit more after the appointment and then headed back to mom's. We got back and packed a picnic and went the park. It had been a fun day!
11/8/06- Today we didn't make it to the library, because we were trying to get things ready to go up to Nana and Papa's (my mom and dad's). The boys have their dentist appointments tomorrow and with Aaron's dental insurance, the only pediatric dentists that take it are near Atlanta or near Nashville, and I actually found one in Spring Hill, which is just 25 minutes from Mom and Dad in Columbia!
I had planned on leaving in the morning, but didn't have everything together and Daniel was ready for his morning nap, so I just laid him down and finished getting things ready while he napped. Then we had lunch before we left and got on the road.
We stopped at my school on the way up, because I meant to get some things yesterday for this "Forbidden Forest" get together this Saturday, and I totally forgot. I knew I wouldn't be able to get in the school before Saturday if I didn't go today. I parked on the back side near the daycare and as I was walking toward the school, some of the high school helpers were coming out of the daycare. Denita (Dee-Dee) and Cynthia (Cee-Cee) saw me and wanted to see the kids. They took the kids in the daycare and played with them and visited with them while I ran over to the school to get what I needed. They just loved seeing them. I visited with them when I went back to get the kids and it was neat to catch up with them.
Before we got on the road to head to Columbia, I took the boys to Wendy's for lunch. I knew that would tie us over to naptime and then they'd sleep the whole way, which is exactly what happened. It was a nice, relaxing drive up.
My dad has been in Florida this week, because his cousin, Freda hasn't been doing well, and he went down with Uncle Charles to see her. He plans on being back home Friday. Mom and the boys and I went to church and Caleb and Daniel both enjoyed bible class. They are at a great congregation. The people there are just great.
11/7/06- Ran errands today and went to my school to meet with Mr. Mathes, my sub for the year. The boys played great while I talked with him about upcoming programs and different things.
Aaron took Caleb this evening to a college basketball game at Covenant College on Lookout Mountain. They had a good time together. Daniel and I had fun playing at home. He's such a happy baby. I just love his smile and how his eyes light up when he's happy. I love my boys...all 3 of them...
11/6/06- "Mommy, I want to have a family breakfast today!" That's what Caleb woke up and said this morning. So, we made pancakes and had a nice breakfast with Grandma and Grandpa Collins. Daniel still wasn't acting himself and was still fussy (I think he's trying to cut another tooth) throughout the morning. I didn't plan on taking him out, so I laid him down for a nap. While he was napping, I ran to the bank and Caleb drove his Gator around and Grandpa watched him. When I came back, Daniel was up and he was in the best mood! He woke up a different person, happy and feeling great! It was something else.
Caleb had wanted to go to Pizza Hut for lunch and Grandpa had said they would go while they were visiting, so we all went for lunch since they have the buffet. Then, they wanted to go to Wal-mart again, so they could see exactly what Caleb (and Daniel) wanted for Christmas and they planned on getting it today and having us hide it and wrap it up for them to open on Christmas. So, they both had fun in the toy section of Wal-mart. There's been one thing that Caleb has really talked about and he showed Grandma and Grandpa what it was. Then we picked out something for Daniel for Christmas and something for his birthday. Now, when it came time to get these things, the plan was for Grandpa to take Caleb to the dollar store across the parking lot while Grandma and I (and Daniel) got the things and put them in the van. The plan was for us to call Grandpa after the things were packed in the van so Caleb wouldn't see them. Well, we checked out and were heading out the doors when suddenly I saw Caleb and Grandpa sitting on a bench just past the double doors of Wal-mart!! Thankfully I saw him and was able to tell Claudette in time so she could stop the cart so Caleb wouldn't see his Christmas present in the cart! I looked at Aaron's dad like, "what are you doing sitting here!?!?!" and he just looked at me with a blank stare and then realized what he'd done, got up from the bench and took Caleb by the hand and just walked off to the parking lot. Claudette and I were beside ourselves! All we could think about was getting these things in the van without Caleb seeing them! Luckily, we were able to do it and we made it home without he knowing anything.
We had a good dinner and Grandma and Grandpa played with the boys before bed. They plan on leaving in the morning when Aaron leaves, so it will be before they boys get up. I'm glad Daniel feels so much better.
11/5/06- Daniel is 11 months old today! That means it's only one month until his first birthday! Time has definitely flown by this year. It's hard to believe my baby will be one.
Daniel woke up not acting like his usual happy self and you could tell he just didn't feel well, so I stayed home from church with him this morning. Aaron was leading singing at church this morning, so it made sense for him to go ahead and go this morning and then stay home tonight, if he still wasn't feeling well.
Cute Caleb story: Since Aaron was leading singing at church, Caleb sat with a couple at church who are great with kids. The lady asked Caleb where Daniel was and Caleb said, "He's sick and the medicine isn't working." However, the lady thought Caleb said the medicine
was working. So, she replied, "oh! Well, that's good!" And she told Aaron that Caleb just looked at her with this look (I can just picture "this look!") and he said, "it's
not good. The medicine's
not working." So, then it came time for announcements, and they announced that Daniel wasn't feeling well and that I was staying home with him. The lady said Caleb leaned over to her and whispered, "See. I told you he was sick." She said she had the hardest time not laughing out loud, because he just gave the cutest look when he said it. Oh, Caleb...
Daniel still wasn't feeling well in by the evening, so Aaron stayed home with him. It turned out, Aaron's dad and Claudette were on their way back tonight and would be coming in around 9 or 10pm. They came around 8pm and we had some frozen pizzas that I heated up in the oven. Then we were all ready for bed.
11/4/06- Oh, the leaves are so beautiful! We had the pleasure of taking a drive up through the country and over to Signal Mountain, outside Chattanooga. Little Ava from church turns 4 next week and her parents had her birthday party up on Signal Mountain at a GREAT park called the Pumpkin Patch. They rented the pavilion and cooked up hot dogs and brought chili and hot chocolate and chips. The theme was "monkeys," because Ava really likes monkeys and Curious George, so Melissa (Ava's mom) made an adorable monkey cake and cute monkey goody bags. She even had banana milk, which was a big hit. The kids had a BLAST, and so did the adults. There was this LONG slide and everyone had so much fun on that. Even Daniel went down it with us. The weather was a little chilly, but we were all dressed warm.
After the birthday party and playing at the park, Aaron and the boys and I went to another park while we were up on Signal Mountain, called Signal Pointe. Wow. What a neat place! You can see the Tennessee river down below and Lookout Mountain and downtown Chattanooga. The name fits the place: it was the point where they would signal during the Civil War. Very historical and very beautiful.
After Signal Pointe, we went over to our friends' house to hang out for a few hours, because there was another get together in the evening that we were all going to, and it would have been too far for us to go all the way back home. Josh and Rachele were nice enough to let us come over and crash for a few hours. The kids all played and Josh and Aaron watched football and Rachele and I made a cake to take to the get together.
The get together was a planning party for a Forbidden Forest that a family was doing for their daughter's 13th birthday. They have a lot of property and good amount that is woods, so the girl wanted to have her friends over and do a haunted/forbidden forest theme. So, we all put our heads together to plan for this event and had a lot of fun thinking up ideas.
Daniel was starting to have a rough time, so we headed home. It had been a long day for all of us, but very fun to be with friends.
11/2/06- We found out last night that Aaron's dad and his wife were coming through to see us on their way up to Illinois. They had mentioned something about it last week, but we never heard anymore, so we thought they weren't coming. But, now they are!
I spent all day cleaning and getting things ready. We have been on the go so much, I've gotten behind on some things. The last thing I wanted to do was run the trash to the dump, then get home and lay the boys down for their naps, and then jump in the shower before they came. Well, as I was pulling out of the driveway to go down our street to the dump, they were coming up our street! So much for that plan!! So, I turned around and met them in the driveway, and Caleb stayed at the house with Grandpa, and Grandma hopped in the van with me and Daniel (and the trash) and we went to the dump. When we got back, the boys played a while and then I laid them down for their naps and ran got a shower.
They had planned on taking us out to eat, so when the boys got up from their naps, we got ready to go and went to Cracker Barrel. Unfortunately, Aaron had his Thursday night class, so he wasn't able to go with us. Caleb had fun playing checkers with Grandpa while we waited for our food and then played with Grandma after dinner.
After Cracker Barrel, Aaron's dad wanted to go to Wal-mart to pick-up something for Aaron's birthday and they both wanted to get some ideas on Christmas presents for the boys. Grandma wanted to get the boys each a little something while we were there, so Caleb picked out a Cars book and Daniel just loved this little music boombox and laughed, kicked and smiled every time it lit up and played music, so she got that for him. He played with it in the van on the way home and just had so much fun with it!
Aaron was home when we got there so we all had a good visit before the boys went to bed. Bill and Claudette plan on heading up to Illinois tomorrow morning to visit with some of her family over the weekend.
11/1/06- Library Day! Today wasn't as crazy as last week. The craft today was a turkey headband with feathers. Caleb had fun making it, but he didn't want to wear it and get his picture taken.
After church, Caleb rode home with Aaron in the Camry. I was glad Aaron stuck a carseat in there before he left for work, because Caleb looks forward to riding home with his Daddy on Wednesday nights. Since Caleb rode home with Aaron, I ran to a store with Daniel, close by the church building to get some things for Caleb for Christmas. I just can't sneak things into the cart for Caleb when he's with me. He knows exactly what's going on! So, it's so much easier to go without him. They had some things on sale this week that I knew he'd like, so I wanted to get them while the sale was going on and it worked out great. Daniel was so good. I also went down the toy aisle for him to get some ideas for him for his upcoming birthday. It's so cute to put a toy in front of him and see his expression. There were several things he really liked and kicked and smiled at. It worked out to be a successful night.
10/31/06- "Toot! Toot! Trick or Treat!" That's what you would have heard if a certain little Thomas the train had come to your door! The boys were absolutely adorable! So cute and precious...
We went to Aaron's school in the morning to show them off and everyone just loved seeing them in their costumes. Then, I took the boys over to the school that Aaron taught at last year, because it was just around the corner, and they all enjoyed seeing the boys, too.
The leaves around Chattanooga and by us are BEAUTIFUL!!! They are definitely at their peak. Absolutely gorgeous... I love FALL!!
We went trick-or-treating around 5:30pm, and we could not believe how sweet our neighbors were. They had special things, specifically for the boys when we came. I thought that was so sweet! Then, we went over to our friend's house from church, who just live about 4 miles away, and they had a bag for each of the boys filled with candy and more. I couldn't get over it! It was so thoughtful of them. We drove over to some other people's houses that we knew and visited just for a moment while they gave Caleb his candy. Every house we went to Caleb blew his little whistle and said, "trick or treat!" and then when we left, he'd blow it again and say, "thank you!" He did great. Both boys were so cute and so good...
10/29/06- We all made it back home and had good visits. Aaron made it home and we made it home, so we're glad to be home together- yay!
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