Caleb, Caleb, Caleb

I have no idea how he does it! I hide clothes and he finds them. I hid this fireman costume because it is way too small for him and then one day I see him with it on! Of course he had to complete it with the glasses, hat and rain boots - did I mention that we are in a drought with record heat?!? One unusual child...

Time with grandparents!

Our Nana came to visit us a couple of weekends ago and we all went to the zoo. After being in DC and getting to go to the National Zoo frequently, I didn't have many expectations for the zoo here. But much to my suprise it was wonderful! We went on a cloudy day so the temperature was great for the animals - our family & the zoo animals!

Joseph finished his second rotation - WHOO-HOO!!! - so we are going to celebrate by spending a long weekend in Houston with my family. We love to go there because we all get spoiled and the kids get LOTS of attention from the grandparents!

Backyard Buddies

We recently got a new swing set and the boys love it!

Caleb calls it his pirate ship, fort, or fire truck depending on what personality he is that day.

It is hours of fun & danger all mixed in one - every boys dream!!!

What I love about this picture is that both boys are shirtless (normal) and that Caleb is wearing jeans & rain boots in a city that has been in a drought for months and has had record 100+ days recently! 

:) 

brothers! 

Here the boys are pretending that they are asleep so that they don't have to came in and take a bath before bed time! You can't fool me...most of the time! 

Caleb's First Day of School

Here is Caleb on his first day of school. He is NOT wearing the outfit I picked out, but an outfit that we compromised on instead. His original outfit was complete with cowboy boots, Lone Ranger mask & "baby horse" (his stick horse that he rides around town.) My outfit was a nice collared shirt and those shoes. I am known as the mom that lets her children out of the house with crazy outfits, but I really wanted him to look nice - at least on his first day of school!

Some birthday pictures...FINALLY!

Here are some pictures of Luke's 2nd Birthday Party! We had it at Peter Piper's Pizza which is like a Chucky Cheese (with way better pizza!) This was the first time we had ever had a party at a resturant and boy was it WAY easy! No set-up, cooking, clean-up and we even had a party hostess who took care of our table. Definitely the way to go!! We invited 12 kids and everyone had fun. Enjoy my adorable boys!!!

Here is the birthday boy and his big brother before all our guests arrived! My boys are so cute, I can't stand it!!!! 

Here is the birthday table filled with our birthday guests! It was fun because we had some of our new Texas friends and some of our old Maryland friends who knew Luke when he was a newborn!  

Luke and his Daddy's hats! It drives Joseph crazy because the boys will get his hats all dirty and then he will go to put one on and it will be full of toddler gunk!  

Luke stuck his finger in his cake to have a little pre-happy-birthday-song taste. Caleb is quite obviously into the fire! Such a boy! 

Luke needed a little help blowing out his candles and Caleb was more than happy to oblige!  

Here is my favorite part of birthdays...GIFTS! (You know it's your favorite part too!!!) 

Caleb is supposedly "helping Luke open presents," but I have a strong suspicion that Caleb was eyeing what he wanted Luke to share with him! 

This was a cute little dr. kit 

Luke is getting lots better about NOT ripping books anymore! I have high hopes that this book will make it past his "ripping" phase! 

Aunt Katie makes it to another Maddry city!!!

Okay, I have no idea why it has taken me so long to post pictures from one of our favorite visitors...AUNT KATIE!!! She is so amazing and has visited us in every city that we've moved to. She is usually there within the first couple of months of our arrival to a new home and her visit is highly anticipated by the entire Maddry clan. Joseph and I rate her as one of our best house guests and the boys adore her because she is so "hands on" with them. Caleb and I got to both take turns having a "date" with Aunt Katie and she said that Caleb was a total gentleman on their date - letting her pick the flavor of popcorn & getting her a blanket for them to sit on & letting her pick the movie that they were going to watch!! Super cute!!

Aunt Katie with the boys on our porch

The "Mads" on the Riverwalk

Aunt Katie and her boys on the Riverwalk

Caleb is not in a "picture" mood obviously!

Caleb and Aunt Katie would wave at all the boats that went by on the Riverwalk

Here are 4 of my FAVORITE people in the world!!

Aunt Katie & Caleb!

Mama Bear's Growing Pains

My kids are in school! Yes, you heard me...BOTH of my children are in school and I'm not sure what to do with myself so I cleaned. And now I'm done. So now what? I think next week I'm going to have to plan out my time!

Caleb had his first day on Tuesday and LOVED it!! When I dropped him off I thought that we would have a moment where I would tell him that he's a big boy now and convince him that school is so great, but alas NO! He walked right into his classroom and didn't even look back! Not even a glance. He was so enthralled with his classroom & his "beautiful" teacher he didn't even notice me. And I hung around at the door like a pathetic forgotten puppy for a while until I realized that he wasn't going to look back for me, *sigh*.

Then Luke went today and I was SURE that he would cry and had been preparing myself for him only staying part of the time because he was going to be so sad without me. Afterall, this is the first time that he will have been away from me for longer than 2 hours in the care of someone other than family. But no, he JUMPED out of my arms trying to get in his classroom. And he didn't even look back. Even as I stood there crying!

So as I sat in this chair outside their school, devestated that neither one of my kids is attached to me, the preschool director came out to console me (I know, isn't it weird that the mom is being consoled not the kids!) and tried to reassure me that I was a great mom and had done such a great job teaching my kids to trust me and be secure wherever I left them. I don't know if I'm buying that!...

Maybe next week during my free time (that sounds so weird!) I will have to post some of the pictures that I've been meaning to put up of Aunt Katie's visit, Luke's birthday & Nana's long weekend with us!