Luke's first visit from the Tooth Fairy

Luke was so excited to lose his first tooth, and Caleb thought it was gross!

A fun hike on a fall day...

Wax in hair...

This post is to someday remind myself just how to get wax out of hair in the event (Lord forbid!) that it ever happens again. The internet says to use vegetable oil, which is probably the way to go on a person who can understand what is going on and sit still for more than 30 seconds. However, for a baby, I recommend lotion because vegetable oil gets everywhere when tantrums occur! It was a 3 hour procedure getting the wax out but, in the end, everyone survived! (And, thankfully, the wax was not hot when it was dumped on his head!)

The Turkey Trot

Luke ran the 1-mile Turkey Trot with Chris today.

We were all so proud! Caleb toasted Luke with a big cup of Gatorade.

Halloween, 2009

We had a great Halloween. Here we are carving our pumpkins.

Getting ready to go for the big night out...

Ironman, Spiderman, and The Dragon

Getting ready to "trick-or-treat" with cousins...

Some recent, random pics...

Luke, playing t-ball (called "baseball" around here!)
Caleb feeding Paul (probably rocks!) during the baseball game

A preview of Halloween to come...

Yes, he's learned to remove the air conditioning grate and stick various things in (this time, GOOD NIGHT MOON)---all while looking so sweet!

An afternoon walk......what we do best.

A fun day at Oak Mountain...

It's been one year since we were last at Peavine Falls. This time last year the waterfall was nothing more than a small trickle.

It was lots of fun but certainly hard work getting 3 little kids up and down the falls. We took turns with Paul and the backpack, and Luke & Caleb did amazing climbing up and down.

Video of Luke & Caleb at Peavine Falls

Caleb's birthday celebration TAKE 1...

These are all of Caleb, in his classroom. The birthday celebrations began here, and his teacher kindly got some shots for us.

Caleb's birthday celebration, TAKE 2....

Friday night, we celebrated with the grandparents. Sweetie, Nana, & Pops ate a delicious fish dinner (thanks to Chris, the "best cooker in the world"----so named by Luke) with us and we finished off the last of Sweetie's amazing cupcakes.

Caleb's birthday celebration, TAKE 3...

Last year, we had to cancel Caleb's b'day party because the morning of the big day we awoke to Paul and a 104 degree fever. We were then in the hospital for the next week. So....this year, we had to cancel again!! But, thankfully, it was for rain and nothing so serious.

We still managed to have a good time despite the rain and missing our friends.

Here's the amazing BUZZ LIGHTYEAR cake Sweetie got for us.

"The cousins" in their costumes.

An amazing Labor Day...

These first 3 pictures were taken at the Shrine of the Most Blessed Sacrament. ( http://www.olamshrine.com/ ) or ( http://www.co.cullman.al.us/Press/attractions_shrine.htm )

It is part of the Our Lady of the Angels Monastery in Hanceville, AL, run by the Poor Clare Nuns.

These last 2 are from the Ave Maria Grotto ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ave_Maria_Grotto ) in Cullman, AL. It was truly amazing......

This description from wikipedia says it better than I ever could: "The stone and concrete models are the work of Brother Joseph Zoettl, a Benedictine monk of St. Bernard's, who devoted some 50 years to the project, the last three decades (1932 to 1961) almost without interruption. They incorporate discarded building supplies, bricks, marbles, tiles, pipes, sea shells, marbles, plastic animals, costume jewelry, toilet bowl floats and cold cream jars."

We agreed it is amazing how such a unique gift could be used for God's glory. People travel from all over to see this place. We heard a family speaking Russian and we heard someone else speaking Italian while we were there.

Random fun...

Time for a haircut??? :)

Happy birthday to our sweet baby!!

Rise and shine, Little Man! Here he is, waking up on his big day...

Here he is with his cousin, Reese, reading a book...

Sweetie with baby Owen...
Paul with Nanny...

We had much to celebrate today...we are so grateful for this HEALTHY, sweet, independent, energetic, cuddly, hungry, growing, demanding, happy, fun, ball-loving boy!