Better late than never...4th of July!

Well we had a fun fourth of July, I just never got around to posting anything or any pictures of it...so here goes. We started off the day by going with my parents to watch the Edmond 4th of July parade and let me tell you that is the LONGEST parade I have EVER heard of! It was fun and we were there to watch my nephew Jared ride a horse in it so it was all good but we did get there at 10 (we thought thats when it started) turns out it started like at 8:45, we left at 11:20 after seeing my nephew and it still wasn't over!! Where I grew up it was like a 20 minute parade and you were done! Oh well, it was fun!

Next we headed home for nap time after we all ate at Ihop. Caleb took a nap and we got ready for what we thought would be a late night...well it turns out the rain canceled the fireworks that night so we just hung out at home and then went out on the front porch and watched the fireworks from there. We were actually disappointed that we didn't get to go to a big fireworks show, at Disney world when we watched them Caleb loved them and the noise didn't scare him at all. Oh well there is always next year! Here are a few pics from the front yard standing in the light rain and watching what we could see from there.

Family Adventure...

Brandon loves history and old stuff, and I am learning how neat it is to learn about history and to see old historical sites and after being on vacation and visiting old plantation homes and learning that my cousin who lives there hadn't even visited them...we decided to find out what was around Oklahoma to visit! So, a few weeks ago we went on a family adventure, Caleb is such a good traveler, we loaded him in the car and took off to Ponca City to see the Marland Mansion. It was a beautiful mansion built by an oil baron back in 1927. We both enjoyed just walking around and looking. The home was really cool to look at and the huge estate and grounds around it were very fun for Caleb to run free. We had so much fun we decided to visit somewhere every month that we hadn't been to. Anything that has some kind of historical significance or just somewhere we haven't been and would like to visit so we started making a list of future family adventures! We want Caleb to grow up and we ourselves want to visit places and learn what makes Oklahoma so great! Here are a few more pictures of the first of many adventures!

Potty Training....

Well monday July 13th we started potty training. For a long time Caleb has been showing signs of being ready to potty train. He is very aware of what he is doing, so we decided to give it a shot and see what happens. After reading lots of books, internet articles and this take on potty training http://www.mycharmingkids.net/ I decided to take the plunge!

So, Monday morning we got up and got ready and headed to wal mart for some supplies, juice, stickers for prizes, big boy undies (thomas the train undies and others), fun soap for Caleb, flushable wipes, carpet cleaner and pull ups. Then we headed to the library and I let Caleb pick out a few books then I picked out some that had to do with potty training. We came home and had lunch then it was nap time. When he woke up it was time to begin (I read it was good to start after a nap so neither I nor him was totally wore out). We put the big boy undies on and off we went, cold turkey so to speak. I kept giving him LOTS of liquids so he had many opportunites to succeed. By the end of the night we had a few half successes, where he started to go then he would fininsh in the potty and we went through 11 of the 12 pair of underwear. We went to the potty to 'try' every 15 minutes or so, I was worn out, and so was Caleb, he slept till 8:30 the next morning! When he got up it was straight to the potty and off we went to start day two. His favorite part was not putting the cool animal sticker on the chart, it was washing his hands! He loves to play in the water and the little monkey that he is, he can climb up on top of the vanity and do it all alone!

Day two we went through 10 pair of undies all day...by the end of the day it was starting to 'click' with him and he would come and stand right in front of you and just stare, I would say do you need to go potty and off he would run to the potty! Hes a quick learner and he was starting to get it. We stayed home from Monday all the way till thursday afternoon when it was time for swim lessons. He ONLY wore underwear except for nap and bed time, this allowed me to be able to tell when he was going or ready to go and he didnt have the crutch of the pull up, which is very similar to a diaper just alot more expensive. Wednesday and Thursday went well with an accident here or there but mostly successful.

Friday was day 5 and we went to lunch with my parents who had come to visit and let us play with a 4 month old foster baby they had. So we headed to lunch and had put Caleb in a pull up just in case. We went, ate and came home and he stayed dry the whole hour and a half! We were so proud, later that night we were meeting Brandons parents for dinner because it was his moms birthday, we drove to Shawnee and ate at Hamburger King and when we got done eating Caleb was still dry so I thought I would try and take him to the big potty and see what happened...and success! He sat up there like a big boy and went pee pee. This was his first experience with a big potty, he did great!

He is still having accidents every now and then but for the most part he is going 100% in the potty. Doing number two however is a little harder but he is getting the hang of that too. We went to run an errand on Wednesday and I didnt even put a pull up on him, no accidents, we just go to potty wherever we go and he always goes! Hes a little trooper! He has went several days where he hasnt had any accidents, so for a not even two year old I think hes doing great! And I think he looks too cute in his "big boy pants"!!

Trying to stay cool...

Caleb loves to be outside, so one day daddy brought home a suprise and blew it up for us. Caleb loves swimming and since we dont have a big pool, his little one does just fine most days. Caleb loves to help fill it up every couple of days and doesnt mind it being cold water either. He will play outside as long as I let him it is by far his favorite thing to be doing. Here are a few pics of him playing in the backyard.

On a side note we are loving Calebs curls right now, his hair has finally gotten a little thicker. We think it is too cute! Not his favorite part of getting ready for the day but it doesnt take too long to pick it out and put product in it. It is very long and goes to below his shoulder blades when it is wet...He wouldn't sit still for a good picture, I guess that goes with him getting older.

Enjoying the Rain

This morning we woke up to rain at about 6:30 when Caleb decided it was time to get up! Daddy went outside to get something and Caleb was right behind him. He sat down on the step and just enjoyed watching the rain. It was too cute! Then he had to 'show' us where the rain was. He is getting so big!

More vacation pictures!

Family Vacation!

This is the first of many many pictures to come! We were gone almost 2 weeks and were in the car a grand total of almost 2800 miles. Caleb did not cry one single time because of being in the car or having to get into the car! I was so proud of how good he did, (that is not to say we didnt have any early terrible two moments but not many of those either!) This picture is at a plantation house we visited while staying with my cousin who lives in Baton Rouge LA. We had a blast, we left of May 11th and drove to Baton Rouge and stayed until early (4 AM) Thursday. Then we headed to Orlando and met his sister and her family and the Disney portion of our trip started! We stayed there until the next Thursday when we went back for a break in the driving to Baton Rouge again and then left and finally made it home Sunday night! We are exhausted but it was an awesome trip. Caleb will not remember any of it but we did it before Brandons sister moved from GA where her husband is stationed in the Air Force. Next month they are moving to New Mexico for three years.

Here are a few more pictures and more to come soon!