caleb's 3rd birthday party

Caleb's birthday party was on his actual birthday this year since it fell on a Saturday.  We planned on having it at a park, and had to make a last-minute switch to a different park several days before.  It was a little unnerving trying to figure out where to have it on such short notice, but it turned out to be perfect!!  Caleb had chosen Thomas the Tank Engine as the theme of his party, and the park we ended up at has a miniature train that you can ride!

The night before his birthday, my parents, husband and I were busy assembling the cupcake train.  I had found the idea online and was excited about it.  I made the cupcakes and frosting from scratch so thankfully those were already done and we just had to frost them and put everything together.  The finished product...

At the party the next day, the cupcake train was the topic of deep conversation among the kiddos.

 We got to ride on the miniature train...

and the conductor even had everyone on the train sing "Happy Birthday" to Caleb!

We'd gotten train whistles as favors for all of the kids at the party, which I'm sure was appreciated by the other people on our train ride.

 After some lunch, Caleb opened his gifts.  I love his expressions in these photos...

And then he finally got to eat the cupcake that he'd had his eye on all day...

I was so glad that everything worked out so well.  A fun party for a fun three-year-old!

caleb turns three!

Dear Caleb,

On July 16th, you turned three years old.  Here's a bit of what you're up to these days...

For months, when people have asked how old you are, you've been saying, "I'm two! On my next birthday, I'll be THREE! Then you'd tell them that your birthday was on July 16th. You like to keep people fully informed. Sometimes, when you leave the room to go throw something out, you say, "I'll be right back. You have nothing to worry about." That is usually true. It's the times when you say, "Mama, don't look at me," or "Mama, don't come in here," that I know I have to worry. You don't give me much credit, but I'm clever enough to know that whenever you say that, I should look or come in immediately and see what you're up to.

You tend to be very precise about things. You like using the word "actually," and it's pretty cute when you do. Other things you say a lot:

"Yeah...sure!"

"Good job!"

"You're right!"

You can be rather encouraging for a three-year-old.

You still like to play sports of all kinds.  You like to read books and you like to dance.  You like playing instruments too...especially the drums.

To be honest, I'm still working on this post months after you turned three, and it's tough to separate what you were up to then from what you're up to now.  Not long after your third birthday, you developed a sudden interest in sword fighting.  It seemed like an overnight transition.  Now I have to look out for what you're choosing to use as a sword and how.  You like to count and can count up to 100 with a little help.  I don't think it'll be long before you're doing it all by yourself! 

For a while after your birthday when people asked you how old you were, you would say, "I just turned THREE!"  Now you just tell them that you're three.  I guess three is old news now.  I never used to wish that you would stay a certain age or stop growing up so quickly.  I think that might be starting to change.  

You love your dada and your time with him is often filled with fun and laughter.  But for the most part, you're still a mama's boy.  You also still like to snuggle us, and I treasure your sweet snuggles.  I am so blessed to be your mama, my sweet angel.  I love you with all my heart!

the next fraze addition...

due December 10th!

Castlewood Canyon

We have a state park pass that is about to expire so we decided to head to a nearby state park on Saturday to take advantage of it while we can.  Just wanted to post a few pics from our adventures...

Easter egg hunt

Caleb got to do his first Easter egg hunt this year.  It was a beautiful and fairly hot morning.  Here we are waiting for the start...

This is the square area that was roped off for Caleb's age group.  It was filled with little toys and candy, including foil-wrapped chocolate that had been sitting in the hot sun for a while.

Caleb was a little overwhelmed by the chaos and not so crazy about the messiness.  But he found some good things to put in his "Easter basket."

Caleb's chocolate-covered toes after the hunt.

Enjoying some of his loot...

weekend at the cabin

Our friends, Nikki and Ryan, invited us to spend a weekend with them at their family's cabin in Leadville.  They have two kids, Zeb and Jaya.  Zeb is just a month and a half younger than Caleb and they are buddies!!  It was so much fun to go up to the mountains and spend a couple of days at the cabin with them.  Here's a little taste of our weekend...

Hiking to the cabin (It wasn't that far, but look at all that snow!):

The boys got to go ice fishing...

and Zeb caught his first fish!!

Caleb got to ride on a snowmobile, which he LOVED.

And there may have been a dance party or two...these boys both love to dance!

If you'd like to see for yourself...

little drummer boy

It all started when we were at my sister's in Atlanta for Christmas.  Caleb got to play his cousin's drums and loved them.  My brother-in-law thought he showed promise and insisted they send us the other drum set that they had since they didn't need a second drum set and Caleb would clearly enjoy it.  So they did just that.  Here are a few pictures of how excited he was when we brought it down to give it to him...

And here are a couple of videos of what followed.  The first is of Caleb's excitement as we opened up the box to put the drum set together.  The second is of him actually playing.  He wasn't a fan of the pedal, so he improvised...

Christmas in Atlanta

We got to go to Atlanta for Christmas this year and meet our new nephew/cousin, Sebastian Oliver, who was born on November 30th.

 Caleb and Nathaniel got in some good cousin time.

And it even snowed!  So of course we headed outside for a snowball fight...

fresh photo shoot

In November, we had the chance to get some professional family photos taken, in part inspired by the plan to send out Christmas cards, and in part just because it had been so long.  We were only expecting to get 10 photos out of the deal, but we ended up with a whole cd full!  Thanks Fresh Photography!  Here are some of our favorites:

breck

We got to spend part of a weekend up in Breckenridge (a mountain town in CO) in early November with Jodie (my childhood friend) and Dan (her husband).  Of course, I don't have any pictures with them, but here are a few that I did get...
 

Caleb will hardly ever fall asleep in the car...especially when we're really hoping he does.  But as we drove home from Breck he just couldn't fight it...

family resemblences

When Caleb was born, almost everyone said he looked like Jason. These days, the usual comment is that he's a good combination of both of us. When we were visiting my parents back in September, we were looking at some pictures of me when I was a kid and couldn't help but notice how much Caleb looks like me in some of them. Here are a couple of favorites. I'll let you be the judge...

children's museum

This was our second visit to the Children's museum.  So fun.  Check out my little bubble scientist...

And a few other random pics...

 

fall fun

Just a few photos from the pumpkin festival that we went to, and one of Caleb in his Halloween costume.
 

trip to NC

In September, we got to take a trip to NC to visit my parents for a week. My sister and her family also came to spend a few days with us. Time with my family is extra special because it doesn't happen that often these days.  It was such a fun trip! (Note: you can click on the photos below to see them bigger.)

Caleb got to play in the ocean for the first time and loved it! He had fun jumping and splashing in the waves and playing in the sand...

We also got to go to the pool where Caleb got more comfortable in the water and tried out swimmies for the first time... 

On one day, we took a ferry to a small island where we went to a cool aquarium...

We also just spent time hanging around my parents' house and entertaining ourselves there. Caleb enjoyed playing golf with the new golf set that MorMor and MorFar got him. He also managed to break two of the three golf clubs in the set by the time we left. He's not the gentlest of golfers...

After my sister's family arrived, Caleb had a blast with his cousin Nathaniel. It's so much fun to get the two of them together!

And we finished off the trip with dinner out on my parents' anniversary. It was nice of them to share their celebration with all of us and a fun way to spend our last night there...