Caleb's 6th birthday

**Sorry that this blog is so outdated! We have had computer problems and were not able to access many of our photos for a while. I am going to try to do some quick updates to get our blog up to the present.

We celebrated Caleb's 6th birthday the second weekend of January at White Sands Bowling Alley. Thank goodness we planned an indoor party for that day! It was one of the coldest weekends of the winter, so anything outside would have been miserable. Almost all the friends Caleb invited were able to come, and Grammy and Pappy were able to be there to celebrate with us, so we had a great time. It was fun watching the different bowling styles of each of the kids, but with the bumpers up, everyone was a winner.

Christmas

For Christmas day this year, we celebrated with just our immediate family at our house. We had traveled to Biloxi the week before to celebrate with Barrett's extended family, and then his family came to our house the day after Christmas to exchange gifts. But for Christmas day, it was just the four of us. We had a really nice morning watching the kids open their stockings from Santa and their gifts from us under the Christmas tree. We had just enough time to open gifts and eat some breakfast before getting ready to go to the Waterfront Rescue Mission, which is a local charity, to help deliver meals to shut-ins and those in need. We were issued meals to deliver to three different homes, and we truly were blessed as we had the opportunity to meet some really neat elderly people who had lived in their homes for years and years and had seen the city transform around them. We were glad that the kids could participate as well, and I think it gave them a broader vision of how we can help others around us. After we had delivered the meals, we headed back home to fix our own Christmas dinner. We had a relaxing day and the kids got to play with their new toys. The next day, Grandmamma and Granddaddy, Uncle Tim, Aunt Susanne, and Elijah and Gracie Beth came just for the afternoon so we could exchange gifts. It was so nice of them to drive all that way for just a few hours, but that was just what worked into everyone's schedules, and it was so nice to get to spend that time with them.

Isabelle's favorite gift: play nail polish!


Caleb playing his new Nerf Wii game:


Isabelle's special gift from Grandmamma-the gold cross necklace that she had as a girl:


Caleb's special gift-Grandmamma's rock and gem collection for the future rock scientist (that is what Caleb said he wants to be when he grows up):


Uncle Tim with his nieces and nephews:


Our family Christmas picture:


Isabelle's masterpiece cake using her new Cra'Z'Cookin cake decorating contraption:

December activities

December is always a fast-paced month, but usually filled with similar activities each year. Isabelle saw a visit from Santa at her preschool and performed in their annual Christmas program. We baked some Christmas goodies and made sure that Santa had some yummy treats on his plate on Christmas Eve!
Despite the unusually cold weather we have had this winter here in the sunny state, Caleb and Isabelle had fun building a "fort" with odds and ends branches that they found in the field behind our house. They each had their own sleeping spot and talked about what kind of food they were going to have to find to eat. It was like their very own "Man vs. Wild" episode.

Isabelle with Mrs. Mackin and classmates with Santa:


Isabelle's school Christmas program:



Making some chocolate-covered peanut butter balls:


The Fort:

Isabelle's 4th Birthday

For Isabelle's actual birthday, we let her decide where she wanted to go out to eat for dinner. She chose Okinawa, a Japanese Hibachi Grill. We always enjoy eating at hibachi restaurants and seeing them cook in front of us, so it was a treat for all of us. For her birthday, they brought out a carved pineapple and some icecream for each of us. After dinner, we went back to the house to eat some cupcakes I had made for her, and to open her presents. Her present from us was a big girl princess bicycle with training wheels. She had been asking for a bike, so she was excited about it. Grammy and Pappy got her some drawing and stamp activities which she has enjoyed as well.


Isabelle's birthday celebration at school:


The following Saturday we celebrated her birthday party with her friends at Liza Jackson Park. Well, we took a chance having an outdoor party in December, but who knew that it would be freezing cold AND raining on the day of her party? We really didn't have a plan B option since we weren't prepared to have it at our house on base, so we just did it under the pavillion at the park and tried to make it quick. It really was a pretty miserable day to be outside, but we had faithful friends who showed up anyway, so Isabelle was happy. It stopped raining during the party so some of the kids actually went out on the playground for a little while, getting cold and wet in the process. Isabelle thought that was fun until she realized just how cold she was. Then she wasn't a happy camper. However, we survived and probably won't schedule an outdoor birthday party in the winter again!

Girls Weekend

The first weekend in December Isabelle and I had a "girls" weekend. The boys went hunting, so the two of us got to spend some quality time together. We had a lot of fun baking and shopping, but the highlight of the weekend was going to the Nutcracker Ballet. We went with some friends, and it was the first time she had seen a ballet. She got all dressed up and had a blast! Her favorite characters were Clara, the Snow Queen, and the Sugarplum fairies. She talked about it for days and now she gets so excited every time she hears the songs from the Nutcracker. I was glad she got to see it since she has begun to show some interest in doing ballet herself, and we are going to let her take a preschool ballet class after the Christmas holidays.

Ready for the Nutcracker:


At the ballet:


I asked her one afternoon if she wanted to bake some cookies. I kind of had in mind something fairly simple, like chocolate chip. However, she said she wanted to make sugar cookies and decorate them. So....several hours later, we had some sprinkle-decorated cookies! We had a lot of fun, though. I think one of her favorite parts of decorating the cookies is getting to eat the sprinkles!

Making cookies:


Just making sure the sprinkles taste okay:

November

The month of November brought a college reunion, fall parties, Indian festivals, and the celebration of Thanksgiving.

The first weekend in November we packed our bags and headed up to Jackson to Barrett's ten year college reunion! We also used the time we were there for Barrett to interview with MEA, a clinic he is looking at working with next year. Since Barrett was interviewing, MEA put us up in a hotel for the first couple nights. We got there late Thursday evening, and Barrett spent Friday morning touring several of MEA's local clinics. For lunch that day, MEA took us both out to Ruth's Chris Steakhouse for lunch, while my fried Parke watched the kids for us so I could go. While we were enjoying our lunch, Parke took the kids to the park. Toward the end of our lunch I got a phone call from Parke that Caleb had been hit in the face with the tire swing, and it looked pretty bad. So, Barrett ended up cutting his interview time short and we went to see if Caleb was okay. His lip was cut and bleeding, and the force of the swing had knocked his teeth pretty hard, so he was in a lot of pain. He had cried himself to sleep by the time we got there, but he started to perk up in a couple hours. When we got back home, I scheduled a dentist appointment for him just to be sure that there was no damage to his teeth, and there wasn't. So, the rest of the afternoon we just got to hang out at the Fowler's house and enjoy spending time with them. Our kids spent the night at their house that night so we could enjoy the reunion.

For the first part of the reunion, we attended a ceremony to honor two of Barrett's professors who had taught for 30 years at Belhaven. They had a panel of graduates at the front who shared their experiences of their time at Belhaven and how these two professors, Dr. Chestnut and Dr. Kelley, had influenced them over the years. It was a very special time to see what an amazing impact those men have had on so many lives! After the ceremony was over, we went to Redeemer Church, where the reunion dinner was being catered. For a Belhaven reunion, there were quite a few people there, and it was great to get to reconnect with people that we hadn't seen in years. It was really fun for me to get to spend time with Amanda Brack, my friend who played volleyball with me for two years, since I hadn't seen or heard from her since she graduated. We ate and talked for a while at the church, and then Barrett and I went out to Julep (a local restaurant) with Sarah and Jeremy Allen to get some dessert. It was about midnight when we were finished there and Barrett and I were exhausted so we headed back to the hotel for the night.

On Saturday, we went out to breakfast with Arthur Wadsworth at Broadstreet, and then drove out to see his new house that is being built in Flowood. Then, we headed back to Belhaven for a lunch at Gillespie Commons. They had a couple inflatables for the kids to play on, and we got to visit some more with old friends. That afternoon, we headed back to Tim's new house to relax for a while. For dinner that night, we met some friends at Newk's Cafe, and then headed over to Brian Perry's house for a party. We stayed at Tim's house that night and on Sunday morning went to church at Trinity. After church we ate a picnic lunch with some of our Sunday school friends out on the playground and got to visit with them for a while before packing up our stuff and heading back home. It was a whirlwind of a trip, but we had a great time!

Isabelle's school Indian Festival was the next week, and it is always so cute to see the kids in their hand-made indian t-shirts doing the different activities. I worked the sand art station again and watching two and three-year olds pouring sand into little jars is definitely interesting!

The three amigos- Emily, Isabelle & Ava:




Making a necklace:


Isabelle and Caleb both had Thanksgiving feasts at their schools before they got out for break, and Caleb had a Thanksgiving program at Rocky Bayou church. His class, along with the entire preschool and kindergarten classes, dressed up at indians and pilgrims and sang songs. They all had a turn up in front playing one of the instruments as well. It was so cute and they did an excellent job. Grammy and Pappy came into town just in time to see the program, and then spend a few days with us before Thanksgiving. We enjoyed going to Harborwalk and eating lunch at Dewey Destin while looking over the harbor.

Caleb as an Indian for the Thanksgiving program:




After Grammy and Pappy left, Barrett's family came in and stayed with us for a few days for Thanksgiving. It was a full house, but we had a lot of fun and everything went smoothly with getting the turkey cooked and all the food on the table in a timely fashion! The cousins had fun playing together, and we spent one evening out at Destin Commons enjoying some chilly winter weather which was a lot of fun.

The cousins on Grandmamma's lap:


We have so much for which to be thankful!

October

I always love the month of October, because it feels like fall is on the way, even if in Florida the temperatures still feel like summer!

Caleb began his soccer season this month and played on a team with older players. He was first placed on a team with younger players that were all much smaller than he was. So, he and his friend Johnny were moved up to the next age level. This was a great experience for Caleb because he actually really learned a lot about the game of soccer this year. His coach taught the team different skills and he learned more about how to correctly play the game. I could see a good bit of improvement over the course of the season for him. He had a lot of fun, too. Unfortunately, something happened to the pictures on my camera and they all look distorted. Almost two months of pictures turned out like that because I hadn't uploaed them in so long. So, you can get an idea of what was going on, but it's not very clear.

Caleb getting his medal at the end of the season:


We always make a trip to the local pumpkin patch in October as well. Caleb's class had a field trip there, so I took Isabelle that day so she could participate too. The kids had fun making a pumpkin craft, reading stories, and guessing which objects would sink or float in water. They each got to take home a small pumpkin at the end of the trip.

Caleb with some of his school friends:


Caleb lost his first baby tooth at the end of the month! It was loose for a little while, and one night at dinner, he got up and went to the trash can to spit something out. He had bit into a raw carrot and his tooth came out in his mouth, but he didn't realize what it was so we almost lost it! We figured out what was happening, and dug in the trash to find it! So, he put it in his tooth box for the "tooth fairy" (which he absolutely refuses to believe in) to come and leave him some money- which she kindly did, even though he didn't believe in her. His adult tooth has already almost filled the void of the baby tooth, so he really didn't have much of a gap for long.

Aunt Susanne and Elijah and Gracie Beth came to visit us the last weekend in October, so they got to participate in the Orange Fest with us. The kids dressed up and went "trunk or treating" at one of the local churches that hosts the huge community event. They got plenty of candy, and they played a few carnival games before we were ready to go home. Caleb decided to be the Bumblebee transformer this year (last year he was Optimus Prime) and Isabelle chose to be Snow White (not a big surprise!). We already had that costume, so that was fine with me! Elijah was a dinosaur and Gracie Beth was a mini version of Snow White- she collected her candy from the stroller. The kids had really wanted to carve our pumpkin, so I did that with them that morning. We had fun adding some "hair" to our pumpkin as well!

Our pumpkin:


Cousins in Costumes:


Snow White and Bumblebee: