Little Snaggle Tooth

Caleb had a loose tooth since his birthday (June 18th) and he had wiggled that thing until it was almost ready to come out and then stopped.  I was really good about checking it everyday to see how wiggly it was getting and didn't check for three days until yesterday.  I noticed that his new tooth was starting to come through behind the loose one (top picture).  I knew that wasn't ideal and that loose tooth had to come out! 

 So Dan and I laid him down on my lap while laying on the couch.  I numbed his gums really good with some baby orajel and Dan pulled on it a few times and wasn't budging.  He decided to give it one last big tug and out it came!  Caleb was squeezing my hand through the whole process and was a bit teary and starting crying during the last tug, I think because of all the pressure that Dan was putting on the other teeth while tugging.  Once Dan and I told him that it was out he was giggling through the tears!  He said he couldn't believe it!  He ran straight to the bathroom and rinsed his mouth out and just smiled from ear to ear!   

 I had made this little box to put his tooth in with this little red pouch,  You can see his tiny little tooth on the red pouch! 

 The tooth fairy was VERY generous since this was his first tooth! 

Dan had his chest puffed up a little bit afterwards.  He said that he was so glad he was able to not only teach his boy to ride a bike this summer but to also be able to pull his first tooth!  I think he is proud of his boy...and so am I!

Random Caleb

Caleb's personality is a lot like mine.  He is VERY particular in the way things are placed in his room and his room is ALWAYS clean and his bed usually ALWAYS made.  I think I created a monster!  This is his desk in his room.  He has all of his favorite things on it and knows if something has been misplaced. 

Always has his bible front and center.

 He has all of his Flat Stanley books in a row. 

 And in this picture you can see that he has his Dr. Suess books standing on edge to the left, his laptop with all of his jewels in front of it and his "cash money" register as well.  I think the yellow pot on the far right was something his sister added.  And the sticky notes are radio station preset cards.

I love my very particular boy!

Music Class at Gymboree

We had Toddler Toes again Wednesday and I was able to take Ariel so she could participate.  What a great way to burn off some energy!

Learning about the instruments...

 Playing itsy bitsy spider with her little blue spider...she was a little shy!

 Ariel and Grady petting the puppy...love Grady's face here!

 Now it's time to burn that energy!

 I remember very vividly playing with a parachute as a kid in gym class on rainy days!  Brought back some good memories!

 These were her stamps that she got at the end of class!



Random Ariel

Just a few photos of Ariel. 

 Freckles and dirt...I love her!

 And this is her showing off her name.  She learned to write her name last week and she writes it on everything!  Smart girl!



Neighborly Fun

First of all...blogger has FINALLY made me happy!  The upload for pictures is so much easier now.  Maybe I will start blogging more often!  Thank you blogger!!

I have met the most fantastic neighbors!  The kids all get along so well and treat one another with great respect and the company with the mama's is awesome as well!  Here are a few pictures of the kids playing in the water.  They had so much fun!

Ariel Layne's 4 year old pictures

I decided today was a good day to take Ariel out and get some pictures made of just her.  She did so good!  She is quite the model that is for sure!  It was also an excuse to play with my new camera!

new camera calls for new camera strap

I got a new camera...yes, a new one...AGAIN!  This is going to be my last purchase for a VERY long time.  I am thrilled with it!  I decided that instead of spending $25 on a new camera strap, I would just make my own.  I even sewed my first button hole to put a pretty little button on it to hold my lens cap in it's pouch!  Not bad for about one hours worth of work!

Trip to Harrison and Bruno...long post!

Two weekends ago, we all went to Harrison to visit Dan's family.  We had a great time...here is the run-down of what we did!

We left on a Friday evening right after Malea was picked up.  We had a quick dinner before we left and then we were on our way.  We got to Dan's parents house and visited for a little while.  I think al of us were exhausted and we all retired pretty early for bed that night.  This is where the kids sleep when they are at Granny's.  To me this looks dream-like...who wouldn't want to sleep here??

The next morning, I was able to sleep in...what a blessing!  Dan got up pretty early and went to the farm to work cattle with his Dad, sister and brother.  Dan's mom and I stayed at the house with the kids and prepared side dishes for our Shrimp dinner that we had planned for that afternoon on the farm.  This is Ariel helping Granny maix cupcakes...such a good helper!

The cupcakes aren't complete without licking the beaters!

Once the cupcakes were cooled, Ariel frosted half the cupcakes and put sprinkles on them.

And Caleb was able to finish the rest!

I made some home made macarroni and cheese to take and we were set for some good eating!

It's been a tradition in the Cole family to do a shrimp dinner about once a year.  As a matter of fact, it was during a shrimp dinner that I actually met all of Dan's family all at the same time...almost 12 years ago! 

Dan's sister bought the shrimp from a local wholesaler and really wanted the whole family to enjoy it with her on the farm. 

It has been a long time dream for Dan's mom (and dad) to build a cabin on the farm for the family to enjoy.  the first step to getting there was to have some place to stay while they were in the process of building and to also have a nice covered place to eat instead of eating in the dusty barn like they had for so many years.  So, they built what they call a pavillion.  It's basically a car port with a small room (cedar room) attached to the back of it.  Inside the cedar room, there is a work space to prepare meals with a hot plate and toaster oven.  There is no running water inside the cedar room, but there is well water about 15 feet from it and works just fine to prepare meals and wash up.  There is even a refrigerator, window a/c unit and a propane heater in it, along with a bed, a nice hutch to store clothes and a cute little table to eat on!  Dan and I took advantage of it back in April and stayed the night there.  I great way to get away, especially when I have great babysitters to watch the kids!

Here is a picture of the inside of the cedar room.

And the outside.

Boiled shrimp!

Caleb and Granny peeling the shrimp to cook on the grill.

So anyway, back to the family cabin.  The dream is finally coming true and Dan's parents have broke ground and have the foundation built for the new cabin.  We are all so excited!  It's going to be a great retreat for the enitre family!

Here is the foundation...the best is yet to come!

While we were on the farm, we had tons of other things to do besides eat shrimp!

Ariel swang on the tire swing and Caleb did too but he was the one that discovered there was a bee hive inside...no stings thankfully!

Caleb and Ariel were able to sit on the tractor and pretend to do some farm work...one of these days those dreams will come true to!  I see some brush cutting in the future!

The kids were able to ride on both 4 wheelers with me, Dan's mom and Dan's sister...several times, all over the farm!  Dan and I even took one of the 4 wheeler's to the bottom of the farm that we call the Keeter Place (my favorite spot on the farm) just the two of us and it was great just being able to ride with him!

And Ariel did some more swinging...of course!  That girl loves to swing!

I think the best thing out of the whole weekend for Dan was to be able to teach his kids about guns and to them shoot them. 

He set up some targets...

Taught Caleb all the features on the gun...

Ready? Aim...Fire!

He shot his target the very first try!  Dan was so proud!

And here is Ariel getting some gun action!

And yes...I got some gun action too!  Figured I needed to shoot a gun before I turn 30!  I actually shot 3!  22 Rifle, 99mm Ruger and a 20 gauge shot gun!  I now know the differnce between them all!

After a fun day and good eating at the farm, we all went home, took baths and went to bed!

The next day was Sunday and we all went to church as a family.  Here are some family pictures!

After a late lunch of grilled BBQ chicken and all the fixin's the boys went to the pond across the road from their house and went fishing.  Caleb caught a few but he let them all go.  You can barely see them but it was pretty far away from the front porch!

And the girls including Great Granny sat on the front porch and drank some root beer and enjoyed the nice cool early fall breeze! 

What a wonderful weekend!