Caleb Turns Two

This May we celebrated Caleb's second birthday! It's hard to believe two years have gone by already. On the other hand, with the occasional temper tantrums, it very much feels like we are in the twos. 

There is so much personality wrapped up in that little boy. He is funny, happy, loud, strong-willed, determined, loving, and so much more. 

Caleb loves trains, trucks, dirt, bugs, squishing snails, playing outside, food, giving hugs and kisses, Sesame Street, helping Daddy with anything and everything, tickling and being tickled, cooking in the play kitchen and bossing around the dog.

For his birthday I took the kids to the Santa Barbara zoo via Amtrak. They both very much enjoyed the train ride. 

Then of course at the zoo we had to ride the train there too. I promise they had fun, it was just close to nap time.

The happy birthday boy on his new trike. We had to keep reminding Hannah that the gifts were for Caleb and she needed to let him play with them first.

We had a small kid party on his birthday. Here he is eating off of Melody's plate

 Caught red-handed

And maybe someday we'll get happy family pictures where all of us are looking at the camera and smiling (with clean faces). This is the best we can do for now

Enjoying some cake and "I-ceam" 

We love you Caleb Samuel and enjoy watching you grow into the man God has made you to be!

Our Happy Place

I realize I haven't posted on here in a while, our lives are just not that exciting. But a highlight of this month was going to one of our favorite places...Cayucos.

We took full advantage of Hannah's spring break and spent five nights there. It truly is our happy place. The minute we walk in the door of the two room beach house, we immediately take a deep breath and begin to relax. 

 

It was not exactly beach weather, and we even had rain, thunder, lightning and hail during the week.

 

 But that didn't keep us from hitting up our favorite spots: breakfast at the Sea Shanty, ice cream at the Candy Counter, and Bali's and Firestone in SLO. Of course we also had to visit the beach play equipment several times. 

 

 

With having to spend more time indoors the kids watched way too much tv (there's cable at the beach house, a treat for us!), and Chris taught Hannah how to play Solitaire. 

 Needing to fill a rainy day, we checked out the Children's Museum in SLO. The kids had a blast. Hannah made this stunning snake hat, and Caleb spent a lot of time driving the fire truck.

 We also filled our time by attending church at Calvary SLO and seeing some college friends. One morning we were blessed to meet some very dear friends for breakfast, Andy and Debbie Peak. I first met Debbie years ago through the church I attended in college, Shoreline Calvary Chapel. She mentored me for several years, and then helped coordinate my wedding! We had not seen them since our wedding and we were so grateful to catch up on life with them. 

Even Nona came down for a visit one day. Needless to say it was a wonderful vacation and we were able to return home rested and will full hearts.

Rainy Day Fun

We were so grateful to have some rain a little over a week ago. We made fires, drank hot chocolate, and splashed in puddles.

And now this week we are enduring blazing hot Santa Ana winds again. Sheesh. So again we are praying for rain, and more opportunities to splash in puddles.

Dangerous Worship

There is a fairly new song we've been singing at church called "Oceans" by Hillsong. You can listen to it here.

I first heard it at a conference in June of last year and immediately loved it. The lyrics are very powerful, but also very dangerous. What do I mean? In particular I am referring to the bridge:

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters 

wherever you would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my savior

That is a big, dangerous prayer. And every time I sing this song I have to ask myself: Do I really mean what I am saying? Do I really want God to take me deeper? Am I really willing to go wherever He would call me? I pray that is true. It is hard for me to completely let go sometimes. There is a part of me that always wants to be in control and know what is coming next. I sometimes am scared to turn over control of all my life, especially my dreams, when there is really no reason to be afraid. 

It's times like this when I am thankful for verses like Psalm 32:8, "I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye." Coupled along with His promise to never leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:5), we can have confidence that God will be with us every step of our journeys and will provide for us along the way. I have never been disappointed by God's plans for us in those times when I have fully surrendered to Him.

So lets boldly sing those words, and put our trust fully in God, who has never failed us, and won't start now.

New Year, New Ambitions

I have been slacking on this blog, partly because I'm not sure if anyone reads it. But in the hopes that someone does check in here every so often, I'm hoping to do better this year. And it's fun for me to look back and remember what we've been up to in the last year.

So, since I missed a Christmas/holiday post, here are your standard happy children on Christmas pictures.

 Hannah could hardly contain her excitement for Christmas this year. She loved everything about it, from decorating the tree to making cookies, decorating a gingerbread house, reading our Jesse Tree book, listening to Christmas music, drinking hot cocoa, and of course opening presents. Her favorite present is her new pink bb gun. Don't worry, it's locked away in the safe and she's only allowed to shoot it while sitting in Daddy's lap. Chris has been very diligent in teaching her gun safety.

Here is Caleb with his two favorite gifts: a guitar and camo boots. This is how he looked for most of Christmas day.

And of course I have no pictures of me and Chris. That's what happens when you're always the one behind the camera. 

So, on to a new year, and almost 1/12 of the way through it already. I will try to post more frequently on here, and I'm hoping to share some other things besides just pictures of the kids. Maybe some of my favorite recipes or things I'm learning. We shall see...Happy New Year!

Some Thoughts on Christmas

I feel frantic, and I feel rushed.

That about sums up this Christmas season for me. You would think it wouldn't be that way since retailers start marketing for Christmas soon after the 4th of July (or so it seems). 

And I haven't been able to pinpoint why I feel that way this year, but I've heard it from so many others as well. We all feel like this season is rushing by. 

The funny thing is, I've actually done less this year than in years past. We skipped going to the Nutcracker Ballet. I didn't do as much baking as I had planned. I have only wrapped one gift so far. And here we are on Christmas eve, with the season almost past. 

So today let's all take a deep breath, enjoy family, and express our thankfulness to God for why we do any of these Christmas activities in the first place. It's because of His great love for us that Jesus came to live, to die, and offer us forgiveness that we could not obtain on our own. He truly is the greatest Gift, so enjoy Him this Christmas!

Six

I'm still not sure how my little girl is already six. It seems like just yesterday she was this size:

Hannah is growing in to such a young lady. She is fun, full of energy, and willing to try new things. Unless that new thing is a food, and then she's pretty resistant.  She is compassionate, and if she see's me crying will go get me a tissue for my tears. She loves her friends, and will make friends with every kid at the park. By the time we leave, she's saying, "Bye Friend!" and doesn't even know their name.

Hannah loves her brother, and loves to tickle him. Yes, she gets frustrated when he gets into her stuff but the handles it so well. I love how much laughter and fun she has brought into our home.

It's been amazing to watch her grow academically in school. She now writes all her upper and lower case letters, can read some sight words, and is also sounding out and writing words phonetically. Hannah loves school, I think mostly because of all the friends she has.

So on her birthday they year Chris and I got to surprise her with a special outing. I picked her up from school and then we picked up Chris at work to take her out to lunch. She got to pick, and we ate at In-N-Out. Then we hopped in the car and told her where our next stop would be: The Build-A-Bear Workshop. Her eyes got as big as saucers and her mouth gaped open, and her next words were, "Drive faster Mommy!"
Hannah has asked us for several years to go to Build-A-Bear so she was ecstatic. We came home with a sparkly, rainbow colored bear and she could not be happier.

We got to have a family party on her birthday, and then a friend party the next day with a small group of kids.

 

 We love you Hannah Grace, and are so proud of the young lady you are becoming!