Our Big Boys

So Aidan is spending his first night in his toddler bed. I can't believe that he is old enough to be in it. He looks so sweet. James is going to take a picture of him tomorrow during nap and I will post a pic! Hopefully he will sleep well!

Caleb went back to the ice rink yesterday and kept up his passion for falling! It was a little more watery so he was a little wet, but he also marched around the rink just holding James' hands! I think he might be a natural skater, with his dad from Michigan and his Papa from Minnesota!

Christmas Pics

I never seem to have time to do a Christmas letter, so instead here are pictures of our Christmas so far. We will be celebrating with my dad on New Years and I am sure I will have more pics to share.

We spent our Christmas Eve going to Morse Church (where James is directing the student ministries). It was a wonderful service and the boys even enjoyed it. Then we had dinner with Grandma French and Judy. It was wonderful to spend time with family.

Christmas morning the boys actually got up at their normal time...I however had trouble sleeping and was up at 6:45. We started off by having James read the Christmas story in a childrens book.

This is Aidan's second Christmas, but the first one he can participate in. He is very meticulous in opening his gifts. He must have every little piece of paper off the gift before he shows any emotion of what he received. He gave me each little piece of this gift.

This is from Caleb, who was sick all week so I had to go get the gift for him. When asked what he wanted to give Aidan it was "a big twuck with cars."

Caleb for his "big" present got hockey skates. They happen to match my new hockey skates. He has been so passionate about playing hockey lately that we couldn't resist. He will get to take skate lessons early next year.

Luckily, Leawood just opened a new outdoor ice rink that happened to be the only rink open on Christmas Day. Caleb did very well. He can stand by himself and take a couple of march steps. He could probably do more, but he likes to fall on the ice. He likes to pretend that he is being "checked by the guys". Did I mention that he loves hockey?

The rest of our day we were with James' family. The boys had a blast chasing Joe and Michele's kids all around the house. They never get enough of playing with the older kids.

We hope that you and yours had a blessed Christmas.

He's Done!!!!!

Done with what you ask! James took his last test today!!!!!

He is so excited....tonight was a night of wine and sushi!

There is a huge weight off of his shoulders. Of course he still is waiting for his scores, but it is definitely time for some well-deserved rest!

Way to go honey!

Just when he thought it would never end

So today James had a bit of a challenging afternoon.....

It started like this....Caleb came out of their room from nap buck naked with dark circles around his eyes....he looked like a racoon...now while one would think it might be from lack of sleep (he didn't so much take a nap) instead it is from getting in mommy's mascara.....so like a good daddy he goes into their room to get clothes on, clean up the mascara only to find.....poop everywhere...on Caleb's bed, on the boys floor, in their bathroom floor, in the toy room floor. Daddy is wondering if instead of mascara around the eyes is it something else....so he puts Caleb back in his diaper when he notices another diaper on the floor....he looks at Aidan who is also without diaper, but couldn't figure out how to get his shirt off...so Aidan also gets a new diaper (James mental note remember to check the crib after cleaning up poop)....the boys are sent to play in the living room.....poop detail is done.....checking on the boys and see water all over floor from cat bowl......boys are soaked completely.....the boys are sent to the toy room to play while daddy cleans up the water....instead the boys decide to play in their room taking out every piece of clothing from Aidan's dresser.....both boys are now in serious trouble...daddy puts both boys back to bed in time out, while he cleans the clothes up.....ooops forgot the mental note....Aidan now needs another pair of shorts.....

We'll laugh about this right? Actually I am laughing about it now....it may take James a couple of days.

Doctors and more Doctors

So this is my week off and the first 2 days were filled with running from Doctor to Doctor trying to get all of the appointments done while I was off.

Aidan had is 1 year visit on Monday.

Current Stats:

Height: 29.25 inches

Weight: 21 pounds 3 oz

Head Circ: 19.25

Percentiles: 16, 16, 95.....

As his MD stated he is definitely a Caldwell baby. Both boys have head circumferences at 95% or greater, but again as their MD says at least they are cute heads! :) Aidan is healthy and growing well. He got a clean bill of health. Yes!

Caleb, James and I had our eye appointments today. This is Caleb's first time. He did fabulous. He had fun teasing the optometrist, by telling him that he didn't know what the picture of the cake was. Caleb also got a clean bill of health for his eyes!

Since the boys did such a good job at the MD's we took them to Deanna Rose. Aidan is finally old enough to love the going into the goat pen. Unfortunately he wanted to get down and crawl. Yuck!

Words

It's amazing to see how kids put ideas together. Several months ago, I fell down the stairs and scraped my elbow pretty badly. I showed Caleb and told him that I hurt my elbow.

While in California a couple of weeks ago I fell again and scraped my hand an ankle. (Yes I know I fell twice. I have no idea what is going on.) Anyway, Caleb saw them when I got back and stated how my "elbows" were doing pointing to my scrapes.

Then he was dancing and hurt is toe. Yesterday morning he woke up and told me that, "Mommy, I touched my elbow on my feet!" Translation, "Mommy, I touched the owie on my foot!" It is so cute. He kept calling the bandaid we put on his toe, "Bangdaid"

Aidan is also starting to talk. He loves to say Daddy and when asked to say Mama he says Daddy. He is adorable.

Lots of Photos

So after my week away life got busy. We have so many fun photos I think this post will be mainly showing those special times you just can't beat.

Aidan's first haircut. He did fabulous. He is now a big boy.

We took the boys to Powell Gardens outside of Lee's Summit to see the butterfly migration. The boys had fun. The gardens are amazing.

Caleb tried to catch some butterflies, but we didn't see any while we had the net. The day was still called a success by him, because he got to see caterpillars and butterflies.

We had fun playing in the yard. Aidan cannot wait to be able to run by himself.

Caleb making faces.
This is the Eudora water our kids get to take a bath in......

Just kidding....Caleb won some bath toys that had "Inch worm green" bath mud that turned the water this funky color.

So life is good. I am so excited because after 5 more days of work I get 6 workdays off!!!! Thank God for PTO. We of course will be working on the house......but also playing with the kids. We hope you enjoyed the photos.

Coming Home and Lessons

So today I get to come home to my family....I cannot wait to feel their arms around my neck and to see their smiling faces.....I have learned on this trip probably more than the last time I went away by myself to truly treasure the simply things of being a family....

The hugs and kisses
The smiles
The firsts (Aidan started walking full on while I was gone.)
Eating supper and hearing about their day
Snuggles

I have truly missed you and I have surprises when I get home.... :)

I love you very much!

Missing my Family

So this is more for my family than anyone else....I am in Carlsbad California and my James, Caleb and Aidan are in Eudora Kansas......So many people tell me how much they love having time by themselves without kids and husbands putting demands on their time.....I agree, for maybe an hour or two......then I miss the

"Mommy, wake up it's time for brefast"
"ClapClapClap" (Aidan for more or Mommy depending on the situation)
Morning kisses and good morning sweetheart.


I hear so many women say that they love having a king sized bed to themselves.....I don't sleep well without my James.....So family know that you are missed......I will hurry home.

Remember the story Caleb and Aidan......Mama always comes home.....

Remember James FAFA!

I love you all......

Pictures!!!!

Yeah! We got our pictures that Julie Johnson took for us a couple of weeks ago. We are so excited. They turned out so good. She has such a natural style and captured our family playing together. Here is a small sample. Be sure to check out her website on our blog as well.

Aidan playing with his turtle.

Caleb would love to be a photographer and wanted to use Julie's camera.

Caleb helping Aidan to walk and Aidan loved it this time.

Aidan yelling, " I can do it myself!"

Caleb determined, "If you would just give me your left hand we could walk together."

Self-explanatory!

Boys Activities

I mentioned in our previous post that Aidan loves cake. Well it is not just chocolate cake he loves white cake too. One of the benefits have having a big family is the opportunity to celebrate birthdays multiple times. One of the benefits for Aidan is that means multiple opportunities for more cake! The picture below is after we told Aidan no more cake at a birthday party shared with Joe and Courtney. The green actually did come off and didn't permanently stain! :)

Caleb this week was given his first "Big Boy" puzzle. You know one not made out of wood, but one that comes in a box. His first puzzle is a picture of 2 airplanes. He is ecstatic. On Saturday morning he woke me up at 6:30 to play puzzles and has done so everyday since. He is a lot like is Great-Grandma Elsie who also loved to do puzzles. It is so fun to see the tradition carry on. Grammy, be ready when we come back to Chicago this one is ready for some puzzles!

So we have now entered the time of life where the boys enjoy playing together. We found that while we are cooking in the kitchen that they want to play together, so of course when you are their size where is the best place to play in the kitchen? Check out the video below!

The Summer of Travel

So as stated on our first post 2 months ago life was speeding up and definitely sped up. We can't believe that we are halfway through our summer already.

The trip to San Diego that was on the horizon occurred and went from one week there to four weeks. The kids had a blast with being so close to the ocean. Caleb went from being chased by the waves to chasing the waves and surfing. Aidan went from hating the sand to rolling around in it. Aidan also began to like being in the waves. James and I also very much enjoyed being in the beautiful weather and the ability to be outside with feeling like we were in a sauna.

My work as of today finally slowed down a little, although we have another trip back to Southern Cali the middle of August. I am looking forward to a few weeks at home with out the stress at work.

James finished up his two classes for the spring and enrolled in two more for the fall. He is enjoying some time off of hard core school although he is working through a couple of independent study bible courses. He is also looking forward to remodeling our master bath due to our bathtub breaking last weekend.

We also this summer took a week and went to Chicago to visit Mom and Steve over the 4th. We had a blast hanging out in the pool, food and conversation. We also enjoyed going to the Taste of Chicago. The below pic is from the center park area of the Taste. I highly recommend this if you've never been. We decided we want to try and do something like this every year. Next year we are thinking of the VP fair in St. Louis.

Aidan turned 1 this month and we discovered he LOVES cake. He will eat as much as you give to him. He loves following Caleb around and playing with balls. I think he will be our sports fanatic. He is not full force walking yet, but he has taken a few steps by himself here and there.

Caleb has discovered that he likes to swim, although with our travels no swim lessons have been had, the hotel in Cali and Mom's pool have convinced him that it is fun. He has started to make up his own songs and will be found walking around singing during the day. He also loves cars and wants to go golfing with Daddy.

That is all for now.

Hope everyone enjoys the rest of the summer.

Our first posting

Okay, so here's our first posting...

We are putting this blog together to let everyone in on what is going on in our family, and to put some funny daily happenings (because they're all too often!) in our lives. We will keep this blog updated regularly, and hope you all enjoy keeping in contact through it.

Lately, we have been extremely busy. Erin has been working a lot lately on a team trying to put together pharmacy software for her company. She has worked some long hours as of late, and the possibility/hope of another business trip/vacation is still on the horizon.

I, James, have been working hard to finish the semester out. I am taking AutoCAD (computer-aided drafting) courses, and am really enjoying it much. I am hoping that I can do this type of work in the future as a side business of some kind.

As for Caleb, he's quickly (in less than 1 year) gone from talking in syllables to speaking in monologues. Now there is a paragraph for every simple thought in this child's mind. He is having a lot of fun with classes at Gymboree and always wants to "go to work." I wish I could do that for my work, don't you?! He is also doing everything "by mysewf" lately. We are planning on taking him to swimming lessons this summer and some nature classes with the parks and rec in Lawrence as well.

Aidan is officially hilarious! He has a mind of his own, and is very stubborn. I don't know where he gets this from...maybe Erin because I'm never stubborn no matter what you say! Aidan is starting to cruise around the edges of furniture, and getting into papers is his favorite thing. This is truly the first time I can say, "My child ate my homework." We are looking at getting Aidan into some type of class as well, possibly with Gymboree.

We are really happy the nicer weather is here, with some aspirations of housework outside and spending some more time exercising and in the sun! We will post soon...

Love you all,

James & Erin