Caleb 11 months

Caleb turned 11 months a week or so ago. Caleb is really on the go now. He is practically running along the furniture. He hasn't gotten brave enough to walk but will stand by himself for a few seconds. He now has 4 teeth, finally, two top and two bottom ones. He got his first hair cut this month. He now eating more table foods thanks to his new teeth he has now. He loves to laugh at his sister and get into everything he can get his hands on. He signs more and all done. He say ma ma and da da. Caleb is very sensitive to others around him. He cries if others are crying and if you tell him no don't do something, he curls his bottom lip up and begins to cry. He still loves to hold your ears and your nose to comfort himself. He is still on the small side but I'm sure he will grow into his own. He loves to laugh, she has the funniest Laugh, you can't help but laugh yourself. Calb is a joy and so much fun to have around. It's been fun having a boy around the house. It's a totally new experience for me growing up with all girls, I'm really enjoying it.

A visit from my Mom and Sister

I had a wonderful week last week. My mom and sister flew in from Utah to visit for a whole week. We had a blast. It was nice to have extra hands around to help with the kids, I don't really know what that's like, I do it so much on my own, not having relative near by. After a little delayed flight on Monday my family got here safely and took the rest of the day to rest.

Tuesday we took the kids to our favorite park, my mom loved the long winding path around the park and Caleb love the baby swing on the playground. We end up watching American Idol that evening, it fun to watch it with family instead of by yourself. You get to hear their option's on the performances. Sorry this sounds like a travel log, there was no other way to describe it. Well, any ways on Wednesday we stayed home and made some tote bags I had learned to make. My sister was dying to learn how to make them, and of course she was able to sew one in half the time it takes me, she talented that way.

Thursday we headed to the Beach in Panama city. We went to Saint Andrews beach, it's a state park, we wanted to avoid all the spring breakers down here right now. Jerry was able to get the day off to go with us, that was a real treat. It was a great day, the weather was beautiful. The water was a little chilly due to are recent stormy weather we had been having. The white sandy beaches never cease to amaze me, so soft and beautiful. Kate had a great time getting barried by her daddy again. Its a tradition the two do each time they are at the beach, it never seem to get old with Kate, she loves it. It was so nice to take my Mom and sister down to the beach. I have been wanting to take them the last two times they have come, but have been way to pregnant to go, or I was just about due and it wasn't safe to go. They had a great time, making sand castles and looking for shells on the beach. Thinking back on the week I didn't do a great job of taking lots of pictures which is unusual for me, I did get some of the beach though. Jerry enjoyed taking pictures of the Alligator wildlife preseve, right near the beach. You can walk right up to the water on this deck structure and watch for alligators. We got lucky and there was one right at the end of thr dock.

Friday, I think is when we went out to Lunch with Jerry to Ruby Tuesday's. My mom and sister got to be here after lunch to watch Caleb get his first official Hair cut. Caleb did a really great job of sitting still, they even gave him a cute certificate saying congratulations on your first hair cut, too cute. After that I took my family to the "I Create" place in town, it's a paint your own pottery place. We all had a great time painting pottery. I painted a little round keepsake box for my ear rings,my mom painted a really cute mug with Caleb's hand print and my sister paint a heart shape Keepsake box. They all looked great, I can't wait to see the finished results. Jerry was so nice he watch Kate so we could go and paint, and he told us to take our time. I had so much fun going shopping at Khols on Saturday, thanks for my new clothes mom! I found a great dress and some shirts for the hot summer approaching. It's been a busy week.

Sunday my family decided to primary to watch me sing with the children. It was crazy hat day and the Kids love it. The best singing class got to pick a silly hat for there teacher to wear, it was hit. Then Kate gave her first Primary talk as a Sunbeam, thanks mom for helping with her first talk. Kate did great she has most of it memorized and she spoke up and very clearly so everyone could hear her. She did a great job, I was so proud of her. It was great to have my family here to have them see a few of my kids firsts. Caleb's first Hair cut and Kate's first talk in primary. I wish I could share more of those with them. I miss being able to do that. Monday I had to sadly drop of my Mom and sister at the airport in Dothan, It was such a fun week, it seem to fly by. I am so grateful that they where able to come out and visit. I had such a great time and I hope they did as well. I know flying a a plane is hard sometimes, but I appreciate their sacrifice to be here. It's been hard for Kate the moment we walked into are apartment after dropping them off she realized that they weren't coming back and they were gone. She cried off and on the whole day saying I miss my Grandma and Amy. It was hard to watch, this was the first time it's really affected her this way. It's been a couple days now and Kate still gets teary eyes about grandma and Aunt Amy being gone. She said can we move by both Grandma so we can see them. I told her maybe someday, I don't know right now. All in all it was week to remember and I had a blast thanks again Mom and Amy it was wonderful to have you here.

Catching up, Updates, and Getting You up to speed!

I know it's been a while since I posted and I have a lot to catching up to do. My sister and mom came into town for a week and I've been having way to much fun with them to post anything. I will start from the lastest to the present. Make sure to stay tuned for the fun I had this last week. Picture are coming soon. To get you caught up a few weeks ago a friend asked me to take pictures of her boys. I thought it would be interesting to use different subjects other than my own children. I thought it would give me more experience trying to get a good shot of someone else children. Well here are my top four picks, there was a lot to choose from, but here is my lasted photography work. I really enjoy taking pictures. I'm not anywhere close to being a professional, I just enjoy taking fun pictures.

Jiffy Pop

The other day Kate said she wanted to get popcorn while we were at the store. I just happen to see Jiffy Pop and thought this might be fun for her. She said no no that's not popcorn, or at least she thought it wasn't from the outside container. Well we it was a blast. Kate had fun watching the ball of foil get bigger and bigger. She kept saying I hear something popping, what is inside that ball. I said it popcorn she said no it's not. Let just say after I open the top she was super suprized. It's like magic she said. I think the slogan they have on the outside of hit it right on the nose. The slogan is " It's just as much fun to make as it is too eat! Ahh gotta love Jiffy Pop. It's always fun to watch Kate experience firsts.

Twilight Party

I can't believe it's been a week already since I went to my friends twilight party. I had a blast, words can'treally describe how much fun I had. It was one of those things you just had to be there to really know how much fun we all had. It was giggles and laughs from start to finish. I got to carpooled with my friend Crystal, and to my suprise when I went to pick her up she had bought us matching Vampire T- shirts and tote bags with the cool pins with the characters from the movie. Oh and the best was she got us both braclets one that said I love boys that sparkle and one with Twilight on it with a diamond heart on it. How cool is she. Thanks Crystal you' re just to dang awesome. I was totally stoked I was all decked out for the party now. I enjoyed the chatting with Crystal on the way to the party.

My friend Stacy did a great job hosting the party. There was of course great food and good conversation. It took us about 40 min to bless the food, something about getting a bunch of girls together, must bring out the inner gabby in everyone. It was hard to be serious during the prayer because Kira had mention how most bless the food to nutritious and strengthen us, when it's all junk food, so instead as she got to that part in the prayer and slow giggle began to spread. I have to admit I was hoping she would say it quickly because I was about to start giggling as well. Kira blessed the food and said amen, right after the prayer everyone busted out laughing. The laughter from then on was just contagious. I laughed so hard that night I cried, and felt like I did a million crunches. At one point everyone was getting a headache from laughing so much, they start passing the Advil out. It just seemed like any thing that anyone said was just funny. I can't recall half the things I was laughing at.
Our friend Hila came into town and was able to attend and bring a trivia game with here. She says it was to easy, but I think it was just right. There where a few of them that stumped us pretty good. The coolest part was after the game Hila brought prizes, she actually got us all the real soil from Forks Washington. Hila lives very close to the small town. She even had someone take her picture digging up the dirt in front of the Forks city sign. How cool is that.

She also gave us vampire pins and my favorite was the plastic Vampire fangs from Forks, that were made in China. They tasted really nasty, which cause more giggles and laughs. Stacy also had gifts for us, she made us these really cool tote bags with our favorite quotes from the books.

It was so fun gabbing with the girls. It was 12:00 I think and we hadn't even started the movie. Well we couldn't not watch the movie no matter what time it was, that was the whole ideas, was to watch the movie. Needless to say at this point everyone had to check in with there loved ones and let them know they would be later than they expected. Everyone was really great an understanding. Jerry just said ok, have fun. We than watched the movie, I don't think I will ever look at the Twilight movie the same. It was interesting to hear everyone say what they liked and disliked. We finally helped clean up and headed home. The best was Stacy made it a P.J. party, what a great idea Stacy. I haven't had that much fun in a long while, it was good to get away and have some time for myself. I got the chance to leave my wife hat and mom hat at the door and just be Kristy having fun enjoying myself. Thanks you Stacy so much for throwing this awesome party I had a great time, and night to definitely remember. That was my best attempt at describing the night, my friend Stacy describes it so much better and in such great detail. Check out her blog to get the full description of what went down that night. I love her version of what happen she wrote it better than I could ever have even attempt to. My version just doesn't do it much justice. So go to http://thehappythomasfamily.blogspot.comor go to my links on the side to Stacy and Brian Thomas and look for the Vamp party, group pictures are include in hers. Thanks again to my wonderful husband for watching the kids and make it possible for me to go and for Stacy for hosting such a great party

Caleb's new pastime

As you can see Caleb has a new pastime, he loves pulling down all the DVD's. As soon as Kate, Daddy or I pick them up and put them back, it's a matter of minutes when he goes over and knocks them over. So I finally just gave up and the DVD have found a permanat home on the floor until Caleb goes to bed each night. It's seems like over night that Caleb was just sitting up not moving anywhere to crawling and pulling up on things and walking along furniture. He has really taken off this month. It's all coming back to me now this stage of putting everything in the mouth and pulling everything off of shelves. I didn't miss it, but what can I do, this stage to shall pass. I'm not going to stress about it as much as I did with Kate so it won't bother me as much. I am excited for Caleb not so excited about more housework.

Montana's Adventures

Montana's Visit to Alabama

We were so excited when Montana arrive from Jennifer's home in Arkansas to visit us in Alabama. We had such a great time. As a class project my niece was asked to draw a picture of herself and mail it to family and friends and in turn we would take her around and visit place and tell her all the places we took her too. We as a family had a great time doing this, thank you Montana for traveling as this way to spend time with us we had a great time with you. Jerry had tons of fun with Montana, he was really into it. Well this is the story of Montana's visit to Alabama.

Montana was so excited to visit Alabama she had never been here before. She was also excited to see her cousins Kate and Caleb. Montana love going to work with her Uncle Jerry, she got to fly a Chinook Helicopter and hang out the bottom of the Helicopter, Her Aunt Kristy hasn't even done that, all she has done is walked on the Helicopter. Montana must be s special girl to get to do that with her Uncle Jerry. She looks so awesome in her Test Flight Helmet. She talk about going to work with Jerry the whole next day. Well now it was Kate's turn she wanted to take Montana to her Favorite Park. Kate showed her all the ducks and dogs everyone was walking that day. Kate loved going on the swings and going down the slide together. They also had fun climbing trees. Montana even got to take a ride on Kate's dog Sadie, that was quite the ride. Montana wasn't sure about that one. After that Caleb wanted to take Montana to the Helicopter Museum on post to see all the cool helicopters. Montana even posed for pictures in a Plane, she was the pilot and Kate was the co-pilot, boy they made a great team. We then stopped off at the gift shop and Montana picked out her own toy helicopter. Kate and Montana had fun flying them outside the museum. Her Aunt Kristy wanted to take her to a new restaurant in town called "Santa Fe", Montana laughed so hard as she got to eat and throw her peanuts on the ground. She even got to sit on a bull outside the restaurant. Montana eat a Hot dog like Kate and had Mud pie for dessert. The flower and gummy worms were her favorite part. Last on our stops for Montana was a visit to the beach in Florida. Montana has a blast getting buried in the sand by herUncle Jerry along with her cousin Kate. She even found a few sea shells to take home with her. Montana loved feeling the water on her feet and the wind in her hair. She loved chasing the seagulls with Kate on the beach and watching them fly away. Montana couldn't stop talking about her trip here to Alabama, we sure had a great time as well and hope you come back to visit us soon. Thanks for visiting us all the way out to Alabama, I know it was a long trip but we are sure glad you came. We love and miss you Montana!

Sunday Drive

Last Sunday we took a nice drive in the car to get some fresh air, and well we just kept on driving and found ourselves at the Beach. It was a beautiful day and the water was gorgeous and Kate loved playing in the sand. We didn't stay long just enough to sit and relax and dip our feet in the water. Let just say it was a long drive back, it was fun driving down, just enjoying each others company, but by the time we drove home the nice Sunday drive so need to be over much sooner than it was. The kids were done, and wanted to eat and go to bed. It still end up being a great day minus the last part. Some time soon we will have to go down and actually take time and bring a picnic lunch and swim. If I am going to drive an hour and half with kids I am going to make it worth the trip. I love the Beach it's so beautiful

Frenchy & Bolt

Some of you are probably wondering what these two things have to do with each other, other than the fact they are both about dogs. Kate loves the Fancy Nancy series of books along with the new movie of bolt,. You have to read and watch these with her over and over, she can't get enough of them. Well, I heard Kate playing up in her room the other day and She was in her room with Sadie our dog, and she kept calling her Frenchy. Jerry went in to check and said who are you calling Frenchy, she said Sadie. She then proceeded to ask can we please change Sadie name to Frenchy, I want a dog name frenchy like Fancy Nancy does. We said sorry Kate, Sadie already has a name and we can't change it. Kate then tired it at another angle, she never gives up sometimes, she said well can we get a new dog. I said of course not Sadie belongs to our family and we love her and to want to keep her. So to no surprise for the rest of the week she would secretly calling Sadie, "Frenchy".

Now your probably wondering about what the movie Bolt has to do with this. Well after seeing in the theater a while back, we bought the movie yesterday. She watch is about 3 times, it was a catch up on cleaning day for me, so it worked out great. A special treat for Kate. Anyways, she said I want a new dog, I want a.. a... White dog, I wonder where she got that idea, hum. I said Kate we have a dog. Kate came up with yet another idea, she said lets get two dogs. She was trying really hard I have give her credit. I then told her that all we have right now is one in our small apartment. Only one dog will fit. Kate finally it let go for about half the day, then I see her at the sliding glass door and she asked if she could go outside with Bolt. I said where is Bolt she said right here, as she pointed down at the ground. I said oh ....OK sure you can. That is the first time she ever mention something imaginary to me. So she was out in the yard playing tag with her imaginary Bolt. Yet another solution Kate came up with to have another dog. I have to say she is very creative and inventive, she looked at ever possible option and found something. I later sent Sadie out in the yard and she started to call her Bolt..... Can't win.... It's not hurting anyone so I'm just letting it go at this point. Always leave it up to Kate to find a answer to anything. It's been fun watching her wheels turn in her brain on how she could get another dog/name change. To cute.

JUST... A Stay at Home Mom

Today I caught myself saying something that made me step back and rethink how I saying or phrasing things. I was on the phone with Caleb's Pediatricians office trying to set up a dermatologist appointment for Caleb's baby acne. It hasn't cleared up and she suggested we see what we can do to help clear it up. So back to my point, it's really hard to get into this particular doctor, it's pretty much months out until you can get an appointment. So the nurse set up an appointment to make sure I had one and then called me to say if she had an idea of my schedule she could maybe see about getting him in sooner. Well, I proceed to tell her I'm JUST a stay at home mom, my schedule is very open and flexible. She said oh that's helps and I'll just call them back to see if I can get something sooner that August 7Th. I hung up the phone and thought to myself, why did I just say I'm JUST a stay at home mom. Stay at home mom is a pretty important job and saying I'm JUST a stay at home mom seem to make it sound like it not of very much importance. So I vow to never describe myself as JUST a stay at home mom. I will say I AM a stay at home mom, or I could get creative and say Home Economic Engineer, or Home Educator, a Professional Jack of all Trades, or Home making extraordinaire. No really I'm just kidding about the silly titles mentioned earlier. I just had a realization that my job is an important one and to not classify it as JUST something. It's one of the most important Jobs I think I will ever have and I have to speak of it as such. Being a stay at home mom is a wonderful thing and I truly am blessed to be able to stay home with my kids. Not everyone is able to, I realize my job is one of the toughest, most rewarding I think I will every have. I know, I know, I'll get off my soap box now, I just had that realization today that I need to say or phrase my job description in a more positive light.

Relaxing Days

Yesterday was a pretty fun day I took Kate to story hour at the public library and then we went home for naps and then we headed to our favorite park. The weather was perfect. Kate loved running up head of Caleb and I and saying I'm going to beat you there. Where I don't know. There is a beautiful paved path around the entire park, about I would say 3 miles long. All the flowers and trees are in bloom it's one of my favorite times of year down here in the south. I'm not looking forward to the summer heat that is around the corner. After the park we went home and watched Kate's new movie Thumbelina. I think I have watched it about 8 times since we got it, which was this past Tuesday and it only Thursday. Then we took baths and spent some extra time during our story time to read the books Kate checked out. That was the first time she picked out her own books she did really well, the books where pretty good. The titles included "No Roses for Harry" and "Strawberry Short Cake fun", and "The Rainbow Fish and the monster caves". Kate loves to read stories, it's one of my favorite times of the day, when the day is done ,and you are sitting quietly snuggled up with your child and a good book. I know my day doesn't seem like much to most ,but it was just a really pleasant one that I wanted to remember. I enjoyed watching Kate play and reading books today. I know someday it's not going to be like this, relaxing, easy going kind of days. I want to take time to remember this moment.