calm down

Christmas in Chicago

2012-01-29T00:18:00.027-07:00

At long last, here are the rest of the Christmas photos. (Before February!)

Caleb settled right in to my parents' high chair. He enjoyed checking out the duck just as much as Emily always did. It's so refreshing to travel with a toddler who actually enjoys eating and is willing to try new things!

We were excited to see baby David again! He loves to sing.

So much striped cuteness!

Emily enjoyed her new books (including Ira Sleeps Over).

David is already so much bigger than their trip to Denver at Halloween!

We visited the local Children's Museum one day. Emily is starting to really enjoy dress-up, as you can see.

It might be time to teach her about 9-1-1. Let's hope she doesn't start calling for fun once she knows how.

Emily loves her "Grandpa Duck-Duck Goose" (though I'm not convinced he loves that nickname)!

We played in a box of ~~choking hazards~~ smooth stones and small figurines.

This girl takes her artwork very seriously.

I wasn't around for this puppet show, but I'm guessing it was pretty silly.

My mom and Emily baked some Christmas cookies for a tea party one afternoon.

She never turns down a chance to bake (or sip tea). Especially with fancy china!

Caleb may be all boy, but he sure knows how to enjoy a tea party!

Thank goodness for plastic nativity sets! Caleb wished he was just a little bit taller.

Maybe we had spent too many days indoors, but Caleb was REALLY jazzed up about going for a ride in the stroller. He kept kicking his arms and legs so hard that I had to take a picture on the way to the park.

Emily couldn't wait to push him on the swing. He was just as excited.

Caleb doesn't mind chilly weather as long as he's having fun.

She's quite the climber nowadays!

This girl loves to help in the kitchen! She sometimes thinks she's in charge too.

Not bad for a picture of a little guy who hates to waste time looking at the camera!

We spent a bit of time with my Grandpa while we were in town. He was feeling pretty ill early in the week, but felt good enough to get up and visit by the last couple of days. (Apparently I was the only one paying attention to the camera.)

It was great to visit! Not sure when we'll be back in town next, but Emily can hardly wait.

Press Release

2012-01-23T13:58:00.001-07:00

[Denver,CO] – January 23, 2012 – WeddingWire, the nation's leading wedding Marketplace, is excited to announce Harpist - Mary Keener has been selected to receive the prestigious WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ 2012 for Ceremony Music!

The esteemed annual awards program recognizes the top local wedding vendors from the WeddingWire Network who demonstrate excellence in quality, service, responsiveness and professionalism within the wedding industry. While many industry awards are selected by the organization, Mary Keener was selected based on her stellar reviews from past newlywed clients.

Mary Keener is recognized as part of the top five percent of wedding professionals in the WeddingWire local vendor community, comprised of over 200,000 wedding professionals throughout the United States and Canada. The Bride’s Choice Award recognizes the best local wedding vendors across 20 service categories, from wedding venues to wedding photographers, based on their overall professional achievements throughout the past year.

“WeddingWire is thrilled to honor the success of the top-rated wedding professionals within the WeddingWire Community,” said Timothy Chi, CEO, WeddingWire. “Since the launch of the Bride’s Choice Awards™ program four years ago, thousands of outstanding wedding professionals have been recognized by the bridal community for their supreme service and dedication to the wedding industry. It is with great pleasure that we congratulate Mary Keener for her continued professionalism and commitment to enriching the wedding planning experience for engaged couples.”

We are happy to announce that Mary Keener is one of the very best Ceremony Musicians within the WeddingWire Network, which includes leading wedding planning sites WeddingWire, Project Wedding, Brides.com, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Weddingbee. We would like to thank our past clients for taking the time to review our business on WeddingWire. Thanks to their positive feedback we were able to receive the WeddingWire Bride’s Choice Awards™ for 2012.

For more information, please visit our WeddingWire Storefront today at http://www.weddingwire.com/biz/harpist-mary-keener-denver/331984a998572a49.html.

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About WeddingWire, Inc.
WeddingWire™, the nation's leading marketplace serving the $70 billion wedding industry, is the only online wedding planning resource designed to empower both engaged couples and wedding professionals. For engaged couples, WeddingWire offers the ability to search, compare and book over 200,000 reviewed wedding vendors, from wedding venues to wedding photographers. WeddingWire also offers a comprehensive suite of online planning tools for weddings, including wedding websites and wedding checklists, all at no charge. For wedding professionals, WeddingWire is the only all-in-one marketing platform for businesses online and on-the-go. WeddingWire offers one simple solution to build a professional network, improve search visibility, manage social media and reach mobile consumers. Businesses that advertise with WeddingWire appear on WeddingWire.com, ProjectWedding.com and other leading sites, including MarthaStewartWeddings.com (NYSE: MSO), Brides.com and Weddingbee.com.
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Around Town

2012-01-21T20:17:00.003-07:00

I always keep a close eye on the kids (other than that day when we called the police because we couldn't find Emily when she was actually hiding in the basement), but finding this website earlier today gives me one more reason to be vigilant. Who knew there were 79 offenders within one mile of our house?

It's also delightful to learn that our area schools get a D+ rating. On a more positive note, I was pleased to see a C rating for earthquake risk. There's always a silver lining, right?

Christmas Morning

2012-01-15T00:38:00.019-07:00

Both kids slept in on Christmas morning - until after 8am, if I recall. Emily woke us up before venturing out to the living room. We were expecting her to have a pretty dramatic reaction when seeing that Santa not only brought the baby mobile that she had asked for, but also a beautiful pink crib for her babies (not to mention the huge easel sitting next to the crib).

Not so. After about 15 or 20 minutes of looking through her stocking and at other gifts, I wound up asking her if she had noticed it. She went over to check it out, but there was definitely no squeal of delight. I think she might have been a bit overwhelmed, actually. This photo seems to confirm that suspicion.

Caleb, on the other hand, was excited about everything.

We pulled these eggs out of his stocking, and he was happy as could be. (Yes, that is a Chicago Bears pillow pet you see in the background behind him.)

One is a very curious age. This was taken right before he pulled one of the yellow stars right off the mobile. (It was easily fixed.)

After heading to church..

lighting the last advent candle...

a lunch of leftovers...

and a quick candy cane, it was off to Chicago (more pictures coming). I pledge to finish the Christmas wrap-up before February!

Ready for Morning

2012-01-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite moments of the year. The house is quiet and clean, the presents are wrapped, the stockings are stuffed, Santa's cookies & hot cocoa are gone, the kids are asleep, and we take a quick photo to capture the calm before the chaos of the morning begins in just a few short hours. (When I looked closely at the picture just now, I noticed it was 2:05am.)

Last Christmas was wonderful because of Caleb's safe arrival, but it was so nice to be at home this Christmas Eve!

Christmas Eve

2012-01-08T23:59:00.001-07:00

The anticipation building up to Christmas was even greater for Emily this year than last. Once again, we used an Advent calendar, but this year, we actually pulled it out in time to begin on December 1st. Emily was able to get the little figures out of the boxes by herself most days (sometimes with the assistance of tweezers) and even managed to hang them on the little hooks in a realistic fashion (angels in the sky, animals on the ground, etc). Perhaps she'll tire of this tradition with time, but I think it'll be a good long while.

With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, it made more sense logistically to celebrate with Dan's family on Christmas Eve. After we piled into the car to head down to Castle Rock, I couldn't resist taking a picture of our very excited four-year-old.

After a bit of sledding, it was time for the gifts. It's been a while since Bix has made an appearance here, but he was right in the thick of things.

We're starting to learn that Emily doesn't typically have dramatic reactions when she opens gifts. She is very serious most of the time - even if it's something she really wants.

Taryn was full of smiles, though! What a difference a year makes at this age. Hard to believe she and Caleb were newborns this time last year.

We never got a nap out of Caleb that day, but he flashed some big grins too.

Few things delight him more than shaking toys that make music.

In contrast to Emily, you can always count on Kyla for a dramatic reaction when opening her favorite gifts - especially clothes. It's so funny and cute to watch!

It was a fun day for everyone. We were driving home after 11pm, but Emily was so excited about Christmas morning that she didn't even fall asleep in the car...

Caleb's Birthday Party

2012-01-07T22:34:00.010-07:00

I suppose it's no surprise that these pictures are two weeks late. I guess that just comes with having a birthday right before Christmas and then leaving town for a week.

We had a small party in the evening with friends and family. We didn't go all out with balloons like in November, but we couldn't resist at least a few. Caleb liked them and seemed to enjoy his little party.

He started with mac-n-cheese and peas for dinner. Look at that hair, laying down so nice!

Then it was on to presents. So much to take in!

His cake was supposed to look like one of Rodrigue's blue dogs, which have always delighted Caleb.

He didn't have a particularly gleeful reaction, but I think he might've made the connection.

I ordered a smash cake for him too - which turned out to be ridiculously huge. To say he was eager to dig in might be an understatement.

Despite it's size, he really put a dent in the thing! I'm glad Dan volunteered for clean-up afterward!

He had a happy day, start to finish. We're definitely looking forward to moving into the toddler years with this little guy!

One Year Old!

2011-12-23T23:21:00.003-07:00

Happy birthday, sweet little Caleb!

We took him in for his one-year check-up on his actual birthday. We were a bit worried that the vaccines would put him in a lousy mood for his party that evening, but they didn't seem to affect him much at all.

At twelve months, he's right on track developmentally and is as cute as they come (in our opinion, at least).

Length: 29 inches (26th percentile)
Weight: 19lbs 2oz (6th percentile)
Head Circumference: 18.3 inches (50th percentile)

Santa's Checkin' His List

2011-12-18T00:38:00.005-07:00

Emily absolutely believes in Santa again this year. She's never been fearful of sitting on his lap, and you should see her eyes light up each year when we visit him. We went to the Castle Rock Outlet Mall again this year and paid a ridiculous amount of money for one 5x7 and two 3x5 pictures. Caleb actually sat on his lap staring at his beard for about two minutes before starting to cry. We were both amazed.

Emily's list includes four items this year:
- A mobile for her dolls
- A Team Umizoomi workbook
- Bath Fizzies
- Roller Skates

She intended to ask Santa for a stuffed harp for Caleb, but (thankfully) forgot. It was actually a very thoughtful idea. He's always making a bee-line for the harps, and Emily thought if he had a stuffed harp, it would distract him from the real ones in the living room. I don't know that stuffed harps are readily available, though, so I'm glad we're not on the hook to find one for him.

And, to increase the wonder surrounding Santa, Dan created a video for her again this year. Last year's attempt was a big success. (Emily watched it sitting next to me in the hospital bed after Caleb was born.) She was even more amazed this year. If you care to watch, here's the link.

I hope she won't be too upset with us when she discovers that we've been perpetuating a lie all this time...

Funny

2011-12-17T21:22:00.003-07:00

We were doing a little online shopping tonight and happened upon the perfect-looking game for a youngster on our list. I noticed that there were 250 five-star reviews and 1 lone one-star review. Guessing that the single naysayer would likely be complaining about shipping time or something equally unimportant, I was surprised to read the following:

Reviewers forget to mention: this game is endless. I bought it for my grandkid, and we played, and played, and played. The fun disappears after an hour or so, then you pray for an earthquake, or something to get you out of the house. Candyland can take awhile, but you can cheat your way to an early conclusion, I don't think there is an easy way out of this game, maybe feign a stroke. Even the kid eventually got bored. This game is educational--it sure taught me a lesson the first (and last) time I played it. Do yourself a favor--create your own, more exciting, game. I recommend "Watch grandpa sleep." or buy a less painful game, like "Dan the Dentist's home root canal kit." You have been warned!

I don't think we've ever laughed out loud when reading a review before. We're buying it anyway, though. We've been warned, but it's not for our child!

Bathtime Fun

2011-12-16T00:48:00.007-07:00

We take bath photos pretty often around here because it's such a happy time of the day. These are from the past month or so:

Bath-time is sometimes also wild-time because it's so close to bed-time.

Caleb's been a big fan of water for a long time. He doesn't miss much with those big eyes!

I guess this photo is mostly just a testament to the wonders of no-tears shampoo, but Caleb's really not at all concerned about getting soap or water in his eyes. No careful rinsing necessary around here!

Dan's still the one who bathes the kids most often, and for that I am very grateful! Caleb definitely knows the word "bath" and takes off crawling in that direction at top speed when it's time. I love listening to the (almost always) happy giggles coming from the bathtub in the evening. Life really doesn't get any better than this I don't think.

Readying for Christmas

2011-12-10T14:17:00.003-07:00

We actually decorated for Christmas on the first day of Advent this year. I'm glad we made it a priority this time around! We're still on the hunt for a good Christmas card photo, but along the way, we've taken these:

Both kids enjoy the nativity set. Emily doesn't have much patience for Caleb's attempts at playing with it (which usually involve knocking all the pieces off the hearth and then choosing one to munch on), but we've managed to maintain the peace most days.

Part of the battle for a photo of both kids is getting Caleb to look up at the camera. He is always so focused on whatever he's doing that he rarely glances up. I did catch his eyes (though not a smile) here.

In general, Caleb gets pretty excited when he sees babies and other children. He's not quite as enthused by baby Jesus, but he does like to examine the manger from time to time.

Emily's obsession with her baby dolls continues. She always wants to pose with one of them and reminded us yesterday that we still need to make scarves for all 12 of them before Christmas. Our to-do list just got a bit longer...

We weren't exactly angling for a Christmas card photo here (as I'm sure you can tell from Emily's mismatched ensemble), but she was insistent that we get a shot with her and "the twins" in their chairs in front of the tree.

(just over) 11 Months Old

2011-12-01T00:30:00.002-07:00

I'm a bit late, but Caleb is 11 months old now! He's a fast-moving little guy. We never put locks on any cabinets or really did much child-proofing with Emily, but I think things will be different this time around. We don't have any growth stats since he doesn't have a check-up until next month, but here's a little snapshot of his life at this age:

Sleep - He goes to bed at 7pm, wakes to eat around 11pm, wakes again around 3am (at least I think that's accurate), eats again around 6:15am, goes back to sleep until somewhere around 7:20. He takes a short (45-60 min) morning nap around 9am and then a usually longer afternoon nap from about 1pm to just shy of 3pm.

Mobility - He's very comfortable cruising around and has become a well-practiced crawler. No attempts to walk yet, but he has done a bit of standing on his own when he's holding something with both hands and doesn't realize what he's doing.

Eating - He eats anything we give him (except for mashed potatoes). He's still nursing every 3-5 hours (depending on what the schedule is like for the day).

Likes - He really enjoys being read to (assuming we read one of his four favorite books), opening drawers & cabinets, exploring the bathroom whenever possible, playing with magnetic letters on the fridge, swimming (and baths, of course) and knocking down towers of blocks.

Party Recap

2011-11-23T15:52:00.011-07:00

Emily had a fun afternoon - so the party was a success. Dan and I didn't have a lot of time to take pictures during activities, but we did get a few. It was a small group of kids, but I think a good size for her age.

Inspired by this, Dan blew up 72 balloons the night before the party and created a "rainbow" in our front room. Emily had some big eyes when she woke up Sunday morning and saw it hanging from the ceiling!

She was very excited to open presents (as I'm sure most 4 year olds are) and was particularly gleeful when she opened the "peeing doll that I've always wanted!" (Thanks Aunt Deborah & Uncle Josh.)

The crayon art was set-up in the kitchen with black plastic bags protecting our cabinets and floor from dripping wax. We were pleased to see that the crayons started melting quickly - especially with high heat from the blow dryer. We found it was best to use high heat for the initial melt and then switch to a medium setting as the wax dripped.

We didn't wind up having small canvases for each child since we only have one blow dryer, but they each helped with the large canvas. It does get a little warm, but they all thought it was neat.

And then there was the cake. I wound up decorating the outside with M&Ms around the edge and a large candle in the middle. Emily seemed pleased with those efforts and managed to blow out the candle all by herself. I think she had been a little worried about it ahead of time. (I'll update this post later with some tips for baking and frosting.)

You never know what you'll get with a layer cake until you make the first cut. I wouldn't have been at all surprised if the whole thing crumbled into a heap. BUT lucky for us, it held together and definitely looked like a rainbow of color.

Despite all my best efforts, the layers were not even, the frosting was not even, and it was not perfect by any means, but it turned out better than I had hoped it would, thanks in large part to Dan's efforts in the frosting department (I'll post some tips later).

So, now we have a 4 year old and a month to go before the next birthday party ... but first, onto Thanksgiving!

Shove Chapel Ceremony

2011-11-22T20:37:00.006-07:00

I played for a beautiful, intimate wedding ceremony at Shove Chapel earlier this year, and now it is featured here on ModishWed.com. Sarah and Bruce were wonderful to work with and planned a gorgeous wedding. It was my pleasure to provide the music for their candle-lit ceremony. (Can you spy the harp in the photo below?) Check out the link above to see more photos of the big event.

[Photos by Sara Joy Photography]

Rainbow Party Ahead

2011-11-18T22:44:00.019-07:00

Due to scheduling conflicts, Emily's birthday party will be Sunday, more than a week late. So many days after her birthday, in fact, that she is counting down with a paper chain. Anyway, I think it will be a fun party for her. She doesn't know much about it, but I did tell her that it is rainbow-themed. For the first time this year, she is inviting a few friends from school. Dan and I sat down and planned the order of things tonight, and here's the plan:

As the kids arrive, we will help them make Oobleck (a mixture of cornstarch and water) in a variety of colors. Should be fun. Not sure how long this will last, but I hope we won't regret adding food coloring to the mix when it's time to clean-up.

After clean-up, we'll do a bit of baking, if you can call it that. Emily's still obsessed with cooking and helping in the kitchen, so it seems appropriate to include some kind of recipe at her party. We're not going to be overly-ambitious (or healthy) in this department. Kids will place Hershey kisses onto small pretzels. We'll bake them at 275 for 3 minutes and then they'll stick an M&M into the melted chocolate. Then we'll refrigerate them until the end of the party. Sounds easy and delicious, right?

Then we'll have a snack. Emily is going to help me assemble these rainbow fruit kabobs in advance (probably tomorrow). Unless the children stab each other with the skewers, I think all will go well. (Have you noticed all the positive thinking I'm doing along the way here? Just putting it out there...)

While they're eating their fruit, we'll come around with a magic drink for them. Not sure if we'll use Diet Sprite or water. Maybe we'll give them the choice. In any case, the idea is to put a drop of food coloring in a solid-colored plastic cup (and let it dry in advance). Then, put enough ice at the bottom to cover the color. When you pour in the drink, it will "magically" change color. If I know Emily, she'll be amazed.

After the snack we'll do presents, and then comes the art project. (Emily's still obsessed.) What could be better than spending an afternoon melting wax with preschoolers (using a blow dryer)? We shall see how it turns out. We'll be using small canvases (8x10 maybe) so each kid can take theirs home as a favor.

Once the "art" is done, it'll be time for cake. This is the only part of the whole affair that worries me a bit. I've never made a layer cake before, but tomorrow afternoon, I'm going to attempt 6 layers. I bought a scale so I can weigh the batter to be sure that the layers are even. I even bought a cheap ($4 I think) cake leveler at Walmart. I haven't given much thought to the outside of the cake, but I'm hoping Emily will be excited when we cut into the thing. Wish me luck tomorrow as I bake. (I estimate that there's a 40% chance I'll be running over to the grocery store on Sunday afternoon to pick up a cake to replace the mess I've made.)

Then, we'll bag up the pretzel/kiss/M&M concoctions for the kids to take home, and they can play until their parents arrive. In a perfect world, these activities will last for almost exactly 2 hours. We shall see. I'll post actual pictures once it's over, but knowing us, there'll be a whole bunch of Emily and not many of the activities themselves.

Meeting David

2011-11-17T00:10:00.003-07:00

My sister and her family came to town during the week of Halloween, and we were able to meet baby David! I had been planning to save pictures of them for a blog entry after they left, but we only wound up having a camera for one day while they were here. So, here's the picture I have of their visit.

David's a cute little guy, and he's got great parents! We're already looking forward to seeing them again next month in IL. We'll definitely take more pictures then...

Harp Ensemble

2011-11-14T00:24:00.004-07:00

I was one of the conductors for the big, city-wide harp ensemble performance at the end of October. I thought it was a really nice concert this year and enjoyed working with the harpists in my group (and in the large group as well). I am glad to have my weekends back after all those rehearsals, though!

Four of my students participated.

They worked SO hard, and aren't these two adorable?

Mile High Bride Feature

2011-11-11T09:18:00.003-07:00

I'm the featured vendor over on the Mile High Bride blog today. Holly started the blog after her wedding last year and provides a great source of information and inspiration for local brides. Thanks for including me, Holly!

Here's a direct link: http://www.milehighbride.com/vendor-mary-keener

40 Bags in 40 Days

2011-11-07T22:52:00.014-07:00

I've decided to try a "40 Bags in 40 Days" challenge. The idea is to clean one small area of the house each day and in doing so, cut down on lots of clutter without committing much time to the effort. I doubt I'll manage to get it done 40 days in a row, but I'll try to work on it as often as possible.

I started tonight by cleaning out the fridge. Not just old, yucky leftovers, but also expired condiments. I even took out and washed each shelf and drawer. It's sparkling in there!

So, off we go:
1. Refrigerator
2. Bottom 2 left & bottom right drawers of my dresser (lots of maternity clothes and an overwhelming number of pajamas to sort through)
3. Emily's toy drawer and workbook drawer
4. Emily's summer shirts, summer bottoms, winter shirts & winter pants drawers
5. Four of Caleb's drawers
6. "The Pile" next to the harp in the living room
7. The valet where we put our keys and charge our phones in the living room
8. The left medicine cabinet in our upstairs bathroom
9. Emily's room in general (3 bags!)

Roxborough State Park

2011-11-06T01:14:00.013-06:00

We've taken photos at Echo Lake every fall for the past few years, but we just couldn't find the time this year. Instead, we squeezed in a quick trip down to Roxborough State Park. We were hoping to get a family photo, but with two kids and no photographer (just a remote and the timer), it's really tricky. I put the best one on the sidebar, but neither child is looking at the camera, so it's definitely not frame-worthy. Nonetheless, we did get a couple of cute pictures.

This is not one of them. Unfortunately, this was the very second shot of the day (as I realized that Caleb had a stinky diaper). Perfect. With the light quickly fading and no time to walk back up to the car and fetch a diaper, we suffered through. He was a good sport, though not particularly smiley.

Emily almost 4 years old, Caleb exactly 10 months old

Caleb was not so sure about posing.

Emily was in a cooperative mood, though, thanks in part to this bridge (and also to a bit of bribery).

Can't decide which one I like better.

We found that Caleb was much happier to pose while standing on his own.

This is pretty much par for the course - silly big sister and distracted baby brother. We tried...

There's that pretty smile! Not sure why she wanted to hold onto that twig.

It's a miracle - all eyes on the camera!

One last shot before heading home.

And we took a few more out the car window as we left.

No ducks to feed, but deer aplenty!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T23:08:00.006-06:00

Emily insisted on being Dora the Explorer for Halloween this year. Trying to persuade her otherwise was useless. It was actually a very simple costume considering we already had the appropriate backpack and orange shorts.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that Caleb is her best friend, but he did get to be her sidekick for the evening. Just the right age to dress as Boots, I daresay. He didn't tolerate the headpiece for long, but it was cute while it lasted.

Next year they'll both be running from door to door. How quickly they grow!

One More?

2011-10-30T23:10:00.001-06:00

This Halloween costume idea alone makes me want to have one more kid...

Parenting Magazine

2011-10-28T23:26:00.004-06:00

Since Emily graced the cover a few years ago, I figured Caleb deserved a turn too. This first 10 months has FLOWN by!

October Fun

2011-10-28T22:57:00.005-06:00

Even though it's been so busy around here lately, we've still managed to have lots of fun with the kids.

Now that he's able to stand up and cruise, Caleb spends most of his time standing against various things and playing. It's amazing how quickly he went from not being able to pull up at all to being in (almost) total control of his legs!

He's also started to wave if he's in the right mood. Those early baby waves are always so cute!

Emily's getting really good at riding her "big girl bike." No spills yet, but I'm sure it's just a matter of time...

Last weekend, Emily moved lots of water from one container to another using a syringe. When that got boring, Dan suggested mixing the colors. BIG hit! We'll get use out of that stemware one way or another.

Pinterest Inspiration

2011-10-28T20:54:00.004-06:00

By spending a good deal of time browsing the internet for preschool projects and fun activities, I've been inspired to create a bit of art for our basement. (Nevermind that the upstairs is not decorated at all!)

Inspired by this photo, the kids and I headed to Michael's to pick up a couple of square canvases and some acrylic paint. Here are the results. (For the record, it can be very tricky to paint a squirmy baby's foot in various colors without making a mess.)

For the life of me, I cannot find the blog that inspired this project, but I put letter stickers on canvas and then let Emily have at it with the paint. Well, I let her have at it the first attempt. We wound up with a dark green/brown mess. For our second try, I let her use white and blue, then let it dry before letting her add white and yellow. Much more attractive results. After it dried, I took off the stickers to reveal the white canvas underneath. She was a little heavy-handed with the paint, so there was a little bleeding underneath the stickers, though. I did a little bit of touch-up with a brush, and here you have it:

I've got a couple more ideas up my sleeve, one of which will be a part of her birthday party (I think)....

Pumpkins

2011-10-28T00:04:00.006-06:00

I had to teach a couple of Saturdays ago, but Dan took the kids to church to help unload this year's pumpkins (sales support Habitat for Humanity).

Many hands make light work.

I heard that Caleb was a good boy (which I think meant sitting quietly in his car seat taking everything in).

They weren't there for long, but long enough for a snack break, apparently.

Not as many pumpkins as in previous years, but still lots of work!

Houston (finally)

2011-10-27T00:50:00.011-06:00

I'm starting to accept the fact that everything on the blog has been (and probably will be until the new year) delayed. I'll try to make up for it with LOTS of pictures in this post.

Neither of us was thrilled about the idea of boarding an airplane with two sick kids, but as luck would have it, neither flight was completely full and we were able to bring Caleb's car seat on board. He slept for a good chunk of each flight and did really well. Even when he's sick, he's a pretty happy guy as long as he's well-rested. By the time we got to Granny & Papa's house that evening, he was happy to be done traveling, I think!

Emily was very, very excited about this trip. She counted down for days and told everyone at school, at the grocery store, at church, etc. that we were headed to Houston! A couple of her "babies" came along too.

Pure almost-four-year-old excitement in those eyes!

We spent a couple of hours at the Kemah Boardwalk again this trip. It's always a highlight for the kids. Even Caleb enjoyed watching the fish and ducks.

Granny had all sorts of fun activities planned for Emily. They did art projects, and to Emily's delight, made a different dessert every night!

Caleb was a pretty sick little guy the whole time we were there. He was pretty cheerful despite his runny nose, though.

We went to the beach one afternoon. Annie had as much fun as the kids, I think!

And I forgot to mention all the tattoos that Granny supplied! You can see them running up and down Emily's legs and arms in this picture. Even now there are still remnants on her legs.

Once again, the beach was everything Emily dreamed it would be. The lighting wasn't great for photos from this angle, but I kind of like the silhouette effect in this one.

Sand castle time.

Caleb spent a bit of time in the stroller dozing, until he woke up, of course.

He wasn't quite sure what to make of the water at first.

But in the end, he loved it!

He could hardly take his eyes off of it long enough for a picture.

Oh, and the sand. Like everything else, he really wanted to eat it.

His clothes eventually got dirty enough that we just took them off. Happy boy!

And one last random picture of Emily sitting on Papa's bike.

It was a fun trip for sure! Hopefully we'll all be healthy next time we travel!

Preschool Round Two

2011-10-17T23:15:00.003-06:00

Emily is really enjoying her second year of preschool. It's amazing how she already seems like one of the oldest kids in the class. We've been pleased to hear that she is very "mothering" with the children who are younger and who struggle a bit. She is looking forward to this Friday when I'll be doing a harp demonstration for all the preschool classes as part of "H" week. Hopefully she won't be disappointed!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

2011-10-17T23:04:00.002-06:00

We tried for a cute one...

9 Months Old

2011-10-16T23:30:00.003-06:00

Despite the fact that this post is nearly a month late, Caleb did make it to the doctor right on time for his 9 month check-up in September. Even though 9 months is a rough age in terms of "stranger danger" anxiety, he did very well. (It did help that there were no shots.) He's a healthy, happy little guy (though definitely not an over-achiever in anything involving gross motor skills).

New Stats
Length - 27.75" (35th percentile)
Weight - 17lbs 15oz (13th percentile)
Head Circumference - 18" (64th percentile)

Catch-Up

2011-10-07T23:29:00.008-06:00

Who knew October would be so insanely busy around here? I've been spending the evening hours (and wee hours of the morning) doing other things....more on that another time...but now it's time to play catch-up with a few photos from the past month or so before we leave for Houston this weekend.

Without further ado:

We spent a couple of evenings at an amusement park near our house at the end of September. She's holding on tight in this picture, but Emily's actually kind of a dare-devil (at least for still being 3). She eagerly goes on the big roller coaster and can't wait to be tall enough to ride all of the others. (Pictured here with her friend, and one of my students, Ezekiel)

Riding in the front of the stroller was as exciting as the day got for Caleb.

Caleb is already far more interested in music than Emily ever has been. Even when he was just a few weeks old, we noticed how well it soothed him. He still loves it, and if not for Emily, I could probably get some decent practicing in even while he's awake. Whenever we turn on a CD or the radio, he reaches for the speakers and gets really excited. We'll see if this music appreciation ever turns into musical ability...

Caleb - 9 months
Emily - almost 4 years old

The circus always comes to town in early October, and we've taken Emily the past couple of years. The only show that fit into our schedule this year was at 7pm, so I volunteered to stay home and put Caleb to bed while Dan took Emily. She was so excited!

I think it lived up to her expectations, and she loved staying up late!

Caleb at 8.5 Months

2011-09-20T00:22:00.002-06:00

Look at this cutie! [taken 9/9/2011 at 8.5 months old]

He's still as happy as they come, though he sometimes naps less than his big sister!

Sittin' Around

2011-09-13T00:01:00.000-06:00

A quick picture of Caleb at just a few days past 8 months old (8/27/11). He's really filling out the car seat now, which means it's getting awfully heavy to carry around! We just ordered a new one and a booster seat for Emily a couple of hours ago. Won't be long before we're doing the car seat shuffle and putting both into use.

8:00am

2011-09-12T23:41:00.007-06:00

Last month, Emily was a bit obsessed with typing on the laptop. Every single day. So, I thought she might enjoy making a little book. Looking at the pictures, we must have combined breakfast and art that day (8am timestamps and Cheerios galore).

She started by brainstorming content and then carefully typing each word (with spelling help from me, of course).

After cutting out each word, she went to work with the glue stick. (Always being certain to put it up just far enough)

The gluing took a while.

Caleb watched from his highchair.

Not sure what prompted this - very typical of a three year old, though.

A little break to make a "D" out of Cheerios.

Caleb must have gotten antsy because the next picture I took was at the end. (Didn't get any of the long illustrating process) We don't make art every day, but she loves it when we do! Oh, and you can see the final product at the end of the video in this post.

The Results Are In!

2011-09-06T23:58:00.000-06:00

A big thank you to all of you who voted for me last month! I am thrilled to announce that I wound up being #2 in the Wedding Entertainment category. I've never placed so high in past years and am so grateful for your support. The winner is a DJ, so for advertising purposes, I will consider myself the top Wedding Musician. (I hope that's fair!)

It would be tough to ever win the category. (This year 117 businesses were nominated.) At this point, I don't plan to actively compete next year, but perhaps a few years down the road I'll give it another whirl.

Thank you once more!!

Alphabet Eggs

2011-09-04T22:54:00.004-06:00

I've been feeling motivated to better myself as a parent of a preschooler, and here's a new idea to share.

We've got bags full of plastic eggs from past Easters, and I'm about to put them to good use. Emily loves all things matching, so I know she's going to enjoy finding the matching eggs. This won't be a difficult task for her (other than some possible confusion with "b" and "d"), but it should be fairly time-consuming. I'm guessing I can probably both shower and dry my hair before she's finished. I know she'll want the assembled eggs to be one color, so to maximize the educational value, I'll make sure B and D are the same color.

I love finding free, easy, fun activities to fill time when I'm busy with Caleb, making dinner or maintaining some level of personal hygiene!

Big Smiles!

2011-09-04T15:19:00.003-06:00

No luck getting them in the same frame, but here are two happy, silly kids!
[Taken 8/3/11]

Emily - 3 years old

Caleb - just over 7 months old

Spaghetti Spiders

2011-09-03T21:02:00.006-06:00

Spaghetti night at our house is always kind of a let-down for Emily. She doesn't really like sauces in general (or so she claims) and really isn't a big fan of the Italian sausage I add. So, yesterday we tried something new for her to eat while we enjoyed our usual spaghetti dinner...and it was a big hit!

I cut two hotdogs into bite-sized pieces and then poked 4 pieces of spaghetti through (two full-sized pieces broken in half). Then we boiled them following the instructions on the pasta box. Emily loved helping!

And here are the finished "spiders." She didn't clean her plate, but then again, she would never eat two whole hotdogs in one sitting. She gobbled them right up, though, and can't wait to have them again! Easy recipe and happy child - hooray!

Baby David Is Here

2011-09-02T22:08:00.004-06:00

Welcome to the world, little David Bryan! It sounds like my sister had a less than enjoyable delivery, but I hear the little guy is adorable and healthy as can be. We can't wait to meet him. I'm still hoping Deb will start a blog so we can read all about him and see pictures daily!

Congratulations, Deb & Josh!

What Was I Thinking?

2011-09-01T23:39:00.010-06:00

We took our weekly trip to the library today, and as we were headed toward the check-out area, Emily grabbed one last book (pictured above). I glanced at the title. "Okay, add it to the pile," I said. Then we went home, ate a quick lunch, ran over to McDonald's for twenty minutes of playtime, and then headed home for a late nap. An hour later I was saying goodbye to the babysitter and headed out the door for a Thursday evening wedding performance.

So, tonight, Emily chose "Josh" as one of her four stories. Dan, reading the subtitle, decided it wouldn't be a good choice and told Emily it was a book for older kids. She kept pushing the issue and we both agreed that choosing a different book would be a good idea. After much discussion about how old she would need to be to read it, why it was in the kid's section of the library at all, etc., I told her that I would read through it after she was in bed and see if it would be appropriate for her age after all.

After we tucked her in, Dan and I were visiting and eating crab cakes (and other hor d'oeuvres from my gig) when Emily emerged from her room. After trying a bite of crab cake and determining that she "actually loves them," she asked again whether I had made a decision about the book. I told her I hadn't read it yet. As she turned around and headed back to bed she said, "That book has some sad pictures." "How do you know?" I asked. "Miss Maggie (the babysitter) read it to me while you were at work, Mommy!"

And we all started laughing! All this drama about a book she had already read!

Not so funny now, though. She's been up three times already with concerns and questions. She told me a few hours ago that she's concerned that if I die, she'll have to get a new Mommy. She's also concerned that she read a book that she wasn't old enough to read. Actually, her list of concerns just goes on and on.

I just spent a few minutes explaining that the book was written for kids who have just had a friend die and since that hasn't happened to Emily, we didn't think she needed to read about it now. Then, starting to cry, she told me, "I wanted to live in heaven with Jesus because I love Him so much, but then He died." (Time to pull out the Easter books again.) You should have seen her little face light up when I informed her that He came back to life three days later. It's impossible to know if she was faking for the sake of stalling, or if she actually understood the resurrection story a bit better. Either way, it was cute. And also ridiculous that we were discussing such matters at 11:45pm. Hopefully she'll sleep through the night now, and perhaps we'll be going back to get new books at the library before their due date this time around!

Moral of the story: Always read the subtitles!

Easy Preschool Project

2011-08-31T00:45:00.006-06:00

Thanks to my parents, Emily has a subscription to Highlights magazine (the version for 2-6 year olds). We've gotten two issues now, and it's been a big hit. Each magazine provides one art project and one cooking project. We tried this easy, easy ice cream "recipe." Click on the photo to see the instructions. All you need is chocolate milk, ice, sugar and salt. Oh, and a couple of ziploc bags too.

I was skeptical that shaking the bag for 8-10 minutes would produce ice cream worth eating, but it really did. It didn't taste like triple churned perfection, of course, but Emily was delighted nonetheless.

Dig out those gloves or mittens. It's a cold bag to shake!

Ten minute later - yummy results! If you're looking to kill some time on a hot day, give this recipe a try.

Emily Feeds Caleb

2011-08-30T23:58:00.002-06:00

This video is from just a few days ago (8/25). Caleb had just learned to clap the day before, and Emily offered to feed him dinner that evening. She had been pretending she was the Mommy all day (which was actually quite useful most of the time) and was very eager to take over one more parental duty - the feeding of the mixed vegetables.

It's a fairly long video, but if you stick around 'til the end, you can see Emily's art project from that morning. She typed all of the words (with a little spelling assistance on some of them), cut them out one by one, glued them to the pages of the "book" that I assembled for her, and then illustrated each word. It took most of the morning, but she was very proud of the final product.

Dr. Emily

2011-08-29T21:01:00.003-06:00

Here's some video of Emily using Caleb as a baby doll. On this particular day (8/3), she took it upon herself to undress him to his diaper and then ran to get her medical bag. I didn't think to start the video camera until she had given him quite an extensive check-up, but you can see the tail end of it here...

Swim Lessons

2011-08-28T22:05:00.009-06:00

Since I've been so delinquent with blogging, I'll be doing a bit of back-tracking these next few entries. The last week of July and the first week of August, Emily had swimming lessons every morning Mon-Fri. I think the water was a little chilly, but she loved it!

The evening before her first lesson, she told us she wasn't going to be "one of those crazy people who gets their face wet!" Uh oh. But come morning, she loved Miss Sheila and did everything she asked without questioning.

(Caleb was a good sport too, even though the lesson time fell right during his usual nap time.)

In the end, she passed out of the beginning preschool class and got nice compliments on her "awesome back float."

On the very last day, I gave her permission to bring Chiclet out of the car to observe. She wanted to pose with him before the lesson started.

And at the very end (much to Emily's delight), Miss Sheila carried all four girls up one at a time for a few trips down the big slide.

I'm glad she didn't go down by herself!

It was a great experience for her, and we're eager to get her registered for the next level this fall at an indoor pool. She can hardly wait.

8 Months Old

2011-08-23T23:59:00.002-06:00

Well, I've fallen off the bloggin' wagon for a while now, but I'm ready to start writing regularly again. Sometimes life just gets too hectic to keep up with this thing! I'll update this post sometime tomorrow with more info about Caleb's development and whatnot, but for now, here's a picture from earlier this afternoon. He is 8 months old today!

(And this sweet, darlin', babblin' boy doesn't even come close to sleeping through the night, so it's bedtime for me now!)

Alright - it's a new evening, and I'm back. In this past month, Caleb has not really started to do anything grand and exciting, but he is getting better and better at all the things he was just starting to do last month. He's a very steady sitter now and can easily bend forward and to either side without much risk of toppling. In terms of mobility, he is getting quite good at pivoting around in a circle (on his stomach) and still utilizes his skills on his back to scoot around the room on the top of his head. Last week I caught him up on his hands and knees with his tummy completely off the floor, but then he collapsed. I'm starting to think he might actually crawl before the end of his ninth month. In terms of eating, this kid is a bottomless pit. He would happily eat through the night (and has been for the past week or so) and he's willing to try anything we offer him. He's very comfortable handling crackers of any sort and lots of different kinds of breads (and, of course, anything mushy). He has 6 teeth now (4 middle ones on top and the two middle ones on the bottom) and he definitely enjoys using them. We've completely given up on both formula and bottles (I actually should get them out of our cabinets in the kitchen), but he's very interested in drinking water from a sippy cup.

We're riding this particularly enjoyable stage before he's really mobile as long as we can!

"Why?"

2011-08-12T21:28:00.003-06:00

They all warned me about this stage. Just me and Emily driving home tonight:

"We're just going to have two stories tonight, sweetie, OK?"
"Why?"
"Because it's already past your bed time and we're not even home yet."
"Why?"
"Because we went to Heritage Square to ride the big slide."
"Why?"
"Because I promised you we could, and because you were a good girl at school today."
"Why?"
"Well because the teachers said you were a good girl, and you didn't have any accidents."
"Why?"
"Because you're a big girl, and you pooped in the potty, and you just did a good job."
"Why?"
"Because you're a big girl, and you're almost four years old."
"Why?"
"Because you were born on November 12, 2007."
"Why?"
"Because Mommy and Daddy wanted to make a family and have a little girl."
"Why?"
"Because we love each other and got married and stuff."
"Why?"
"OK, no more 'why' questions sweetie, I'm not answering any more."
"Why?"
....
Later, closer to home, I turned the tables on her:
"Daddy, we need to go to the pet store."
"Why?"
"To get Bixy some food."
"Why?"
"Because he might want to eat some food."
"Why?"
"But...Daddy I'm not talking to you any more."
"Why?"

HELP! (please)

2011-08-09T21:27:00.006-06:00

It's that time of year again. Voting has been underway for a good, long while now, and with just 10 days left to vote, I am in FIRST place! Last year I came in 6th (and the year before that, 4th). I expect that the big DJ companies will be sneaking up behind me any day now. I know many of you have already voted, but if you haven't yet, here's a not-so-subtle link.

(And new this year, you can vote using your Facebook, Yahoo, Google, etc. login - so it really will just take a second.)

Thanks in advance! I'll let you know how it all turns out once the results are released at the end of the month.

Kids Say...

2011-07-26T21:33:00.003-06:00

Last weekend in the middle of a lesson, I had this little exchange with an 8-year-old student:

Student: Guess What!
Me: What?
Student: I heard that by 2012, redheads will be extinct!
Me: We'd better get down to business, then!

These Are the Good Ol' Days

2011-07-26T00:12:00.003-06:00

It's spontaneous, happy moments like this that I will look back on with great fondness. Remember when...?

Around the House

2011-07-25T23:59:00.007-06:00

To be quite honest, Emily's bedroom is beginning to look a bit like the inside of our recycling bin. She brings new art home anywhere from 3 to 6 times per week. These are the "binoclears" that she made at the library last week. Throwing any of these treasures away is out of the question, so they are piling up on one of her dressers. We have wands made of straws and ribbon, an abstract giraffe, a variety of necklaces, lots of tape creations, etc. I might have to sneak some of them out while she is at school before it starts to look like a landfill in there!

And here's Caleb practically doing a back bend to see Daddy. This is also his position for scooting around. We're expecting a bald patch on the top of his head soon!

Caleb loves this little piano, and it's great for strengthening his stomach muscles. Emily has a renewed interest in all of her old toys, but he still gets a chance to play with them pretty often.

Sometimes she is very tender, shows him how to play a song, and supports his back so he won't fall over.

And other times, she takes over and he lays on the floor smiling at me while she plays with the baby toys. I am savoring these days when he is too young to care!

We try to get out and about as often as is practical, but it's fun to hang out at home too!

7 Months Old

2011-07-25T23:20:00.003-06:00

It's been busy around here, but not much worth blogging about. I'll try to keep up with these monthly updates on Caleb at least until his first birthday, though. Only seems fair since I did the same for Emily.

This isn't one of Caleb's finest facial expressions, but he really didn't know what to make of the grass! He mostly wanted to eat it (which makes getting photos of his face tricky). He wanted to smile (I think), but mostly he just sported this open-mouthed look of confusion. At least you can see those first two bottom teeth.

In the past couple of weeks he's learned to sit up pretty steadily. I definitely wouldn't leave him alone on concrete yet, but he's getting there. He's also got two new teeth on top - not the front teeth, though. In other areas of development, he's eating stage 2 baby food, is wearing size 3 diapers and 6-9 month clothes, rolls both ways constantly (but scoots around on his head instead of making any attempts to crawl), still doesn't drink from a bottle and is really starting to have separation anxiety.

We've had a few rough stretches of teething which have affected his sleep schedule, but he seems to be in a good place now. His morning naps are very short - usually just 30 minutes. (It's hard to tell if this is because he has a noisy big sister, or if it's because he really doesn't need much sleep that time of day.) His afternoon nap is typically just under 2 hours, and then he usually takes a quick snooze about 5pm. We try to get him to bed about 7:45 or so. Sometimes he'll get up a couple hours later to eat, and other nights he waits until closer to 1am. His next feeding seems to be somewhere around 5 or 5:30am, but now that I think about it, I'm so disoriented in the night that I really don't have any idea what he does consistently. I've been waking up in bed every morning for a while now, so I must be getting better about staying awake long enough to put him back in the crib when he's done eating. I hope I'm lucid enough to realize it's happening when he starts sleeping through the night!

Caleb's still a really laid back baby as long as either Dan or I is around. He's had a couple of really rough mornings in the nursery at church and isn't really excited about being held by other people nowadays. I hope this will be a brief stage for him - it really dragged on for a LONG time with Emily. Hard to believe his first birthday is already just a few months away! At this point, I wouldn't be willing to bet that he'll be walking by then. Hard to say, though, so much can change in just a few weeks at this age.

One More

2011-07-11T21:05:00.002-06:00

Leadville 2011

2011-07-10T23:28:00.022-06:00

We spent a couple of nights in the mountains with Dan's family last week. On the way there, we stopped for lunch and fishing at Emerald Lake.

Dan helped Emily. She had fun, but fishing can be a little bit boring for three year olds.

I tried to keep Caleb cheerful and took some pictures.

Emily's first fish!

After lunch, we headed over to the cabin.

It's actually a bed and breakfast, but since we rented the whole place, we were able to cook all our own meals. It was the perfect size for all of us!

This was the view out the back door.

Beautiful views all around, actually!

The cabin backed to this. The water was a little bit fast-moving for successful fishing, though.

Spencer was determined to catch at least one fish. Kyla mostly enjoyed casting (and was quite good, actually)!

Kyla & Emily play so well together - mostly because Kyla is so patient with her!

Grandma and adorable Taryn!

Caleb spent a fair amount of time in the Bjorn fishing with Daddy in his sun hat.

Emily did a little bit of helping (here she was holding the rod while Dan baited the hook)...

...but mostly, she enjoyed having so much freedom to play in the great outdoors. I think she's still got dirt under her fingernails!

Spencer begged to bring this snake home. No such luck.

The three girl cousins: Kyla (almost 6), Taryn (almost 8 months), Emily (3 1/2)

I'm glad we took the time for a group photo before leaving on Thursday morning. Turned out better than expected!

Fourth of July

2011-07-07T23:59:00.000-06:00

We're back in town after a quick, fun trip to the mountains. I'll put up some pictures soon, but for now, here are a couple of Caleb from the Fourth of July.

Favorite Books

2011-07-03T23:18:00.003-06:00

Yesterday we were talking about baby names and I asked Emily what she would name her own children. She told me her girl name would be "July" (no big surprise since we just changed the calendar), but we both laughed when she told us her boy name will be "Jesus."

And I left Emily's current favorite books off the list from the other day. Right now her top two picks are:

(Thanks for the gift, Deb!)

Swimming on the Porch Video

2011-07-02T14:16:00.003-06:00

Yesterday morning, I was feeding Caleb while Emily played. She put on her swim suit and then headed for the door and told me she was going swimming outside. I told her to stay on the porch. For the next few minutes, she was in and out bringing all kinds of things with her. When he finished eating, I went out to investigate and found this:

Sibling Video

2011-07-02T14:05:00.003-06:00

Here's a little video from yesterday afternoon when the kids woke up from their naps. Emily tries to be gentle when holding Caleb, but it's still a work in progress...

3 Year Old Favorites

2011-06-30T21:28:00.005-06:00

It's been a while since I've done a "Favorite Things" post, and since we have this photo, I'll do one now. At about 3.5 years old, Emily LOVES:

- The outfit pictured above. Whenever it is clean, she wears it. End of story.
- Her baby doll named Emily who shares her November 12th birthday, though she will only be 1 this fall.
- Trail mix (which she asks to buy on every trip to the grocery store)
- Playgrounds in general
- Art projects of any kind
- Choosing her own clothes each day
- Helping in the kitchen
- Maraschino cherries
- Going to preschool
- Baseball in the front yard
- Walks around the block

The Parents

2011-06-30T21:23:00.004-06:00

We're hoping to get some family photos done sometime this summer or fall because we rarely get photos of more than just the kids. In the meantime, here are a couple recent attempts with Caleb. (Emily was not interested in posing that day.)

[Both photos taken 6.18.11]

Six Months

2011-06-27T21:27:00.008-06:00

Caleb has been six months old since the 23rd, but it's been way too busy around here to carve out time to blog. I've been feeling lousy for the better part of two weeks now. I can't believe my throat still hurts after all this time! Luckily, both kids got this bug and shook it off within a day or two. Dan's still got a lingering cough like me, though. It was really nice (for me) that my sister was in town when I was feeling pretty awful. It didn't make for a very exciting trip for her, but I certainly appreciated the extra set of hands! Let's hope for healthier days ahead!

Despite this late entry, the 6 month appointment happened a day early (on the 22nd) and these photos were taken on the 23rd. Hard to believe it's already been half a year since Caleb was born. Time really does fly. I think it goes even faster the second time around.

So, what's new this sixth month? Well, Caleb has TWO teeth (not visible in any of these photos, unfortunately)! Teething wasn't really on our radar until I noticed his first tooth had already broken through. The second (both on the bottom) came in a couple of days later. He's still not sitting up unassisted, but I'm in no rush for him to meet the milestones that lead directly to mobility this time around. As long as he's happy to stay in one place, I'm happy to keep him there! He does move around a room quickly, but only by rolling and scooting around on his back. Our "kid cabinet" is now stocked with baby food too. His favorites are sweet potatoes, carrots, peaches, bananas and sometimes peas. We'll probably move up to stage 2 foods once we run out of stage 1. Now if only we could get this little guy to take a bottle on days when I have performances far from home!

Separation anxiety hasn't really set in much yet. He's still charming as can be with everyone and flashes his darling smile constantly. This this little guy's definitely a keeper!

Oh, and a few numbers:
Length - 26 inches (36th percentile)
Weight - 15lbs 8oz (17th percentile)
Head Circumference - 17.5 inches (73rd percentile)

Almost Six Months

2011-06-19T23:43:00.007-06:00

Some days are just good photo days. Friday was one of those afternoons. Emily was at school, Caleb was happy, the light was good in our room, Caleb was wearing a cute outfit, his face was clean and the camera was nearby. Can't lose with that combination!

I could probably post 15 different shots from that quick photo session (which is unusual considering my mediocre-at-best photography skills), but that would be excessive, so I'll just choose a few.

In the past week, Caleb has really begun to roll both directions often. For the first couple of days he had a hard time getting both arms in front of himself again after rolling to his tummy, but he seems to have that figured out now. He's even doing his best to struggle forward a few inches to grab things that are just out of reach. Once he's up on his knees, it won't be long before he's crawling. Now that will be a whole new ballgame! Emily crawled at 6.5 months. We'll just have to wait and see when Caleb starts movin'.

And there he goes...

Very pleased with himself, indeed.

Oh, and his first tooth popped through this past week too. Milestones left and right!

Sweet Kids

2011-06-18T23:40:00.001-06:00

06.02.2011

Grandma & Grandpa Come to Town

2011-06-14T23:33:00.012-06:00

Some new grandparent photos from the end of May...

Two happy guys in this one!

The camera was on some crazy setting for this picture and black & white was the only way to sort-of salvage it.

One of Emily's latest obsessions is walking to the park at her school. We can only use it on weekends, in the evening or on days when the school is closed. She's just about mastered the monkey bars and LOVES it!

Grandma & Grandpa enjoyed watching her play.

I think we have the finest flower basket to ever grace Upham Street. (Thanks, Dan!) Cute picture of Grandma & Caleb too.

Action shots are fine, but Emily is much more interested in taking photos than posing for them.

Thanks for humoring her, Dad!

No signs of teething yet, but Caleb chews on his hands constantly nonetheless.

It's always fun to have family in town!

Johnny Jump-Up

2011-06-10T23:21:00.006-06:00

He doesn't use it nearly as much as Emily did because he's so much more content to lay on the floor and play, but Caleb does enjoy the Johnny Jump-Up.

It hangs in one of the kitchen doorways and we use it almost exclusively while I cook.

Maybe it's because he's still a little bit small, but he prefers to have one arm in and one arm out. [Photos from 5-25-2011]

Kickball

2011-06-09T22:50:00.004-06:00

Well, I'm pretty behind on blogging again. Seems like when works comes in, it pours in. I've been really busy with day-to-day life lately, and keeping up with the flow of correspondence has been kind of insane with both kids around all day long. Between new gig requests, scheduling consultations, helping current brides choose music and answering last-minute questions for all of my clients getting married in the next few weeks, it's been a lot of emails and phone calls to fit in around diaper changes, three-year-old angst about any number of things, running errands, etc.

So, here are some long-overdue photos from the end of May. We met up with a few families from church for dinner and kickball. I wouldn't exactly consider the three of us a force to be reckoned with in the outfield, but Emily had enough enthusiasm to make up for our lack of skill (I hope).

She loved the game and, much to her delight, scored every time she kicked.

Our Big-Eyed Babies

2011-05-26T23:24:00.003-06:00

Emily [March 23, 2008 - nearly 4.5 months old]

Caleb [May 26, 2011 - just over 5 months old]

Dan & Caleb

2011-05-26T00:14:00.009-06:00

Everyone says that Caleb has his daddy's eyes, but we don't think so. Here's a side-by-side (sort of) look for you.

Don't their noses and mouths look strikingly similar? I think Caleb's eyes are his Great Grandma Jostes'. Just my opinion.

5 Months Old

2011-05-25T23:44:00.003-06:00

Hard to believe it's already been five months! We're between big developmental milestones right now. He's been rolling both ways for a while now, but he can't quite sit up yet or crawl. It won't be long, though! Thankfully, there hasn't been any sign of teething yet. Sleep was GREAT last month, but has regressed a bit. At 5 months old he is going to bed at about 8pm and then waking to eat at both 11:30pm and 4am before getting up for the day at about 7am. Hopefully he'll drop that 11:30 feeding once he's eating solids more regularly. I'm certainly not going to complain, though. I'm getting much, much more sleep this time around!

Caleb continues to be a very content little guy. He's able to go 3-4 hours without eating now (which makes scheduling much easier) and goes down easily for naps and bedtime. He's hardly ever cranky except when tired, hungry or in the church nursery (well, that falls under tired, actually). As much as we love Emily, it's nice to have a laid-back child in the house too!

May 2011

2011-05-25T00:01:00.000-06:00

A few more random photos from the past couple weeks...

We participated in Mini Field Day at Emily's school earlier this month (5/11). For a few minutes at the beginning we feared she might never leave the hula hoop section, but she did venture out to other activities including the rope swing, three-legged race, bowling, long jump, stilts, etc. She had a great time. Maybe next year the weather will be better and there will be outdoor activities too.

Watering season has officially begun (5/13)!

I love it when they look at each other with love! (Or is that fear I see in Caleb's eyes?)

Taken 5/15 after a fun trip to White Fence Farm to celebrate the end of potty training!

Proof that he will sometimes take a pacifier now. Hallelujah! And also that his nails are sharpest the day after you trim them. He woke up with this ugly scratch last Sunday morning (5/15).

Things We Love (5 Month Edition)

2011-05-24T21:23:00.009-06:00

What do we love now?

Tiny Love Sweet Island Dream Mobile

We actually loved our old mobile too, but it broke (we think The Big Sister might have been involved) and we replaced it with a slightly different model. Caleb can't take his eyes off of it! It's nice to have a no-music setting and also a remote. Truly a baby must-have in our book!

Fisher Price Space Saver Highchair
We've used this for both kids and love it for this age. We don't have much extra floor space in our house, so having a highchair that fits right on a dining room chair is a big bonus for us. We especially love that Caleb can recline in it for mealtime even though he can't sit up yet. Who wants to lay on the floor while everyone else sits at the table? [Note: This photo is NOT Caleb.]

Fisher Price Rainforest Jumperoo
Caleb is at the perfect age to enjoy jumping in this thing. He's not quite big enough to take advantage of all the other features yet, but he already loves it.

Baby Bjorn
Even when over-tired and hungry, this carrier keeps Caleb content. (The only exception was the afternoon that he had his last round of vaccines.) Ours is almost four years old, so I'm guessing the new models are even better than ours, but it's a piece of cake to put on (would be even easier if Dan and I were both right-handed) and you can get months and months of use out of it. I use it for grocery shopping (putting the carseat in the cart while Emily rides in the seat leaves hardly any room for groceries), around the house and we've occasionally used it at church and at restaurants.

Mother's Day (a bit belated)

2011-05-19T00:33:00.006-06:00

Sundays are always early mornings around here and there is never a minute to spare before we leave for church, but I didn't have the heart to make Emily wait for gift-opening until later in the day. She eagerly unwrapped my present, and here it is. I will treasure it always.

Assuming that the early morning would be the best time to get a Mother's Day photo, we tried right before getting in the car. Two of us were happy. Maybe next year... (Did you spot the gorgeous hanging basket that Dan gave me in the background?!)

That afternoon, Dan's mom and siblings came over for a late lunch. Look how big Taryn is getting (almost 6 months in this photo)! She's almost always smiling, but I was taking pictures when she was pretty tired.

And there's our happy girl. Maybe she just needed a little nap and some comfortable clothes for picture-taking.

This picture is a little crazy (with the angle and all), but I think Melissa looks great.

Caleb was all dressed up for the occasion.

(We had to clean the couch after these photos were taken.)

I'm so thankful for our beautiful children!

Double Stroller

2011-05-16T21:49:00.005-06:00

Before Caleb was born, we debated whether or not to purchase a double stroller. At nearly three-and-a-half, Emily rarely needs a stroller, but it sure is nice that she can ride at places like the airport, zoo, amusement parks, malls, etc. We finally opted to do without and just use two strollers when necessary - until Southwest Airlines broke our main infant stroller, that is. When we stepped off the plane in Houston we were dismayed to see that the handle on our travel system was completely broken on one side - practically useless.

So, last week, this red beauty arrived at our home. Emily loves riding in front and Caleb's car seat pops right in.

Emily wasn't interested in posing for pictures, but Caleb sure was excited about his new ride. May this summer be filled with many fun strolls!

First Crack at Photography

2011-05-15T15:53:00.003-06:00

Emily's always asking to take pictures with the camera, so we finally let her one morning a couple weeks ago. Not bad for her first attempt. It's a nursing photo, but since it's modest, I'll go ahead and post it.

19 Weeks Old

2011-05-15T15:36:00.006-06:00

I took a few pictures of Caleb at one day past 19 weeks (May 4th) and I can't choose just one to post, so you get four instead. Look, his hair stands up exactly like Emily's did at this age!

He doesn't mind tummy time at all now that he can roll over. He rolled from his tummy to back for the first time in Chicago, and from his back to his tummy for the first time in Houston. I guess grandparent visits just spur him on toward new milestones!

I kept meaning to do a "photo shoot" with this hat for months and never got around to it until now that he's basically outgrown it. Oh well.

And this photo is almost identical, except his eyes are as big as saucers. He's such a happy little guy. Everyone we see tells me how much he looks like Dan. I'm going to do a post with side-by-side photos of them soon.

4 Months Old (Updated)

2011-05-14T14:34:00.001-06:00

I guess it's a sign of having more than one child, but for the first time ever, we were late for a well-baby visit. I called a week before Caleb was four months old to schedule the appointment, and unfortunately, their first available date was this past Thursday. And it's no surprise that his four-month blog entry is late too. (For the record, this photo was actually taken on April 23rd.) He was a good boy for the whole appointment, but of course, he cried and cried when he got the five vaccines at the end. His measurements are slightly lower than last time (in terms of percentiles), but the NP was pleased with his growth and said he looks perfect. We're not used to having a child with proportionate length and weight!

Length - 24.5 inches (17th percentile)
Weight - 14lb 4oz (21st percentile)
Head Circumference - 16.75 inches (42nd percentile)

Dan and I both agree that Caleb is a very easy baby - much easier than Emily (at least thus far). He's very content, goes down easily for naps and bedtime, sleeps through the night (8:30pm-7:30am with one feeding around 4am) and doesn't demand much. He's starting to take a pacifier sometimes, but he definitely doesn't depend on it. He rarely cries in the car and is only fussy when he's hungry or tired. He still eats frequently, but it's manageable and Dan has survived many evenings when I've had to work.

It's been a wonderful first four months as a family of four!

Being a mom means...

2011-05-14T14:07:00.002-06:00

...sometimes life is pretty comical.

Caleb's nap schedule was all messed up yesterday. He woke up at odd times in the night which meant that he slept in until 8am. That combined with the fact that he fell asleep in the stroller while the babysitter took the kids for a walk made for an unusually early afternoon nap. He had already been asleep for over an hour when Emily went down for her nap. So, when I heard him rustling around through the monitor shortly after she fell asleep, I went upstairs to get him. I marched right in and discovered that he was still sleepy and even had his pacifier in his mouth. So, I quickly froze and changed to "tiptoe mode."

Now that we have hardwood in his room, the creaks in the floor are much louder, and I'm still not 100% sure where they all are. So, I decided to wait until his eyes were closed again before leaving the room. He never noticed me watching, but as he tried to roll onto his side, his right arm was up in the air, unsupported. Every time he started to conk out, his arm would fall and he would startle awake again. After about 8 cute little attempts to get to sleep, I carefully (oh-so-carefully) moved his arm to a better sleeping position. Convinced that he would be able to make it back to dreamland, I started the careful and SLOW shuffle to the door, testing each move of my foot carefully to avoid all creaks.

I made it out of the room without waking him and ever-so-gently closed the door behind me. Just as I was tiptoeing down the hall to get past Emily's room quietly, I hear the doorbell ring and the FedEx man drop a box (as loudly as possible) on our front porch. Bix exploded into a barking frenzy, and there went my fifteen minute stealth mission.

Delivery men and phone solicitors have more power over our nap schedule than any other single factor!

At Home

2011-05-13T23:59:00.001-06:00

Slowly but surely, I'm getting caught up with these hundreds of photos that we took in the past few weeks. Here are a couple more from early May.

Lately Dan's been giving BOTH kids a bath while I do various other things - practice the piano, clean up dinner, tune harps, etc. (Yes, he is a saint.) Then we divide and conquer for pajamas and whatnot. The newest addition to our routine is a little dance party that's been happening after Emily brushes her teeth and picks out bedtime stories. As it turns out, the song The Trees of the Field (which I've been playing in case it ever pops up during worship at church) really gets Emily dancing! She begs me to play it "one more time" every night while she races through the hallway, dining room and living room. I'm starting to be a little concerned that I'll have a hard time adjusting to a reasonable tempo if the congregation ever has to sing along (and also that Emily might break out into the aisle Pentecostal-style).

Caleb looks like a deer in the headlights, but I'll take any picture of Dan with the kids where Emily looks happy to be posing. I love our little family!

Photos Taken April 27, 2011

2011-05-11T23:54:00.000-06:00

Caleb at one day shy of 18 weeks old.

All I have to do is make silly noises and we get great smiles. I'm not normally a fan of photos with food-covered tongues, but he's just too cute to toss this one.

I know I comment on it almost every post, but those eyes are amazing!

Emily at 3 years and 5 months. She intentionally sabotages most photos these days, unfortunately.

But sometimes I can catch her off guard and giggling between shots.

It's easier to photograph her with Caleb than without. This one isn't half bad, actually. I think they're starting to look a lot a like (except for their eyes).

Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

2011-05-08T00:53:00.002-06:00

(I hope your card made it yesterday)