Things unique to Caleb

1. Ma--means more. He used to do the sign for it now he just says ma.
2. The way he signed more was to fold his arms like he's saying a prayer.
3. He loves putting things in and taking them out.
4. He loves tools. Can't get enough.
5. He loves all things dairy. We buy string cheese in bulk just for him.
6. He tries to say "Ah oh," but it comes out "Oo oh." He has the proper intonation though.
7. He grins sideways. I think it's probably like the crooked smile Edward has in Twilight. :)
8. He loves Elmo. He got pretty mad at me today when I moved Elmo away from the pile I was sweeping in the kitchen.
9. He really likes Bob the Builder. We have one book of Bob and Caleb goes for that book first every time.
10. He's a mama's boy. It's getting better now that nursing is over. But don't expect him to ever let Mike go to him in the middle of the night. I wish this was actually cute, but it's a bit irksome.

I know there are more. I think about them all the time. I think part of me still expects a clone of Brayden; silly, I know, but I still kind of think it. His little individual personality kind of surprises me sometimes.

Cider Mills with Bastians and Whiteheads

This weekend my brother Phil, his wife Noelle, and her sister's family the Whiteheads, all came to Michigan to visit and to check out the cider mills. We chose two favorites, Dexter Cider Mill and Jenny's Market. We wanted to go apple picking at Erwin Orchards, but it's a bit of a drive and we didn't really have the time. Next year! Heather Whitehead is a photographer, so she spent quite a bit of time snapping the shots at the mills and I'm posting of few of the highlights here. There were so many good ones it was really hard to choose!

The boys started off the morning playing Frisbee.


Here is Noelle, me and baby Shannon hanging out waiting to enjoy the cider mills and donuts.


Cute pics of Brayden and Caleb




New family fav. Thanks Heather!


Phil and Noelle


Here are the Whiteheads and a really good picture of pumpkins.




Noelle showcasing our apples for the caramel apples we did that night. Yeah for cider mills and apples!!!


Some other highlights were that Tanner and Brayden had a sleepover in the boys room, Phil and Rick got to watch a really good University of Washington football game (although, I think in the end they lost), Heather and Noelle did my dishes for me, we ate Cafe Rio salad, we visited Hogwarts, oh, I mean the law school where Heather and Noelle's dad went to school and walked through the Arboretum. When we drove home from the Arb, Brayden fell asleep so he missed Phil and Noelle's departure and when he woke up and realized they were gone, he was so sad. Even while they were here he kept asking, "Where's Noelle?" I think he loves his aunt and uncle! Thanks Whiteheads and Bastians for a great time!!

Sissy Visit

While I would love to enumerate all the super fun things my sister, Michelle, and I did while she was here, tonight it will have to suffice that I just put up a couple pics of the good times. :)

Yeah for running!

Sharon Thacker is a planner and a go-getter. She and Mandy are always coming up with fun parties and the latest and greatest was a race. She found one that was actually not on a Sunday and it was a 5k and a 10k. I was pretty stoked. I can't really do long runs anymore with my knees, so 5k was perfect. Mandy and I ran the 5k and Mike, Sharon, and Eddie ran the 10k. Mike pushed Brayden in a jogger and I pushed Caleb in the other jogger. I ran a 28:58 as the official time, but we started probably a minute or 30 seconds behind everybody because we took a "before" picture. My goal was to finish in under 30 minutes, so I'm pretty happy. And I had zero knee pain or tightness, so I'm REALLY happy about that. Mike had a good time too--I don't remember the official time, but he had under an 8 minute mile for his 6.2 miles. And Brayden even got orange ice cream after the race because the whole theme was "melon days." So Brayden got melon ice cream. He had been begging for it since the day before when we got superman ice cream and then afterwards saw orange. Oh, and incidently, we ran the race on our 5 year anniversary. I think that is a great way to celebrate.

Tagged

So now that I am rejoining the blogging world, I realized I was tagged by my sister-in-law Noelle. I have to come up with 7 Little Known Facts about me. I think this might be hard since I'm kind of an open book. But here goes:

1. I am a compulsive zit popper. I think I have scarred the top of my nose from trying to pop all the clogged pores up there. My brother, Neal, and I bonded to popping our zits in the bathroom at night before we went to bed.

2. I love Cinderella. I don't really consider myself to be a huge romantic, but maybe that's because I've becoming jaded, because I was obsessed with Cinderella as a kid. I've tried to get Brayden to watch it, but he won't go for it.

3. I have a terse mood. When I get really tired and stressed, I get "terse." I think I alienated a few people in college when this would happen. I wouldn't realize it at first and I would wonder why everybody was looking at me, and reacting to me funny. Then I would figure it out and take a nap and the world was a better place.

4. The only time I have been out of the country was going to Canada. A couple times when I was growing up we went to Vancouver and then I have been to Niagara Falls on the Canadian side.

5. I am a sun-worshipper. I love hot sun. Basically, I just love hot. I hate cold. Except for right after I'm done being pregnant.

6. I love hot water. Showers, hot tubs, etc. Can't get enough.

7. I am the longest shower-taker ever. I really need to work on this though. Brayden is feeling abandoned when I shower.

So that's it for Natalie trivia. Sorry there isn't anything earth-shattering in there. I'm a pretty simple person. :)

Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean

Brayden as of late is obsessed with "spraying." Yesterday while I talked to Mandy about my new rug, he sprayed the entire bathroom and his entire bedroom with Windex. And I have to say, he is one pretty thorough boy. And you think I would have learned from my mistake and made sure that today I really did put away the cleaning supplies, but no, I guess I'm a little dense, and I left them on the kitchen counter. So while I was putting Caleb in bed, Brayden Tilexed my entire kitchen. I'm really praying that there isn't bleach in Tilex and that my kitchen chairs are not ruined. Everything else seems fine. I was able to go behind Brayden and Windex everything to remove the Tilex. I then rinsed him off in the tub to get the Tilex off him. I'm very grateful that he didn't get any in his eyes. It would not have been fun to wake up Caleb and call poison control and run to the ER. All in all, it ended pretty well. And my kitchen is remarkably clean right now.

One Fine Day

This has a hint of sarcasm to it. But only a hint. I had a relatively good day, just a hard evening. Every week Mike is gone several nights, so thus far it hasn't been hard to have him gone. But tonight got a little tiresome. I started to lose it right before bedtime. But now kids are asleep, and I think we're going to have an eventless day tomorrow so kids can get back on sleep schedules and BE HAPPY! On the upside, I found a really cute area rug for my front room that I really like. I even bought it. Now I just have to decide if I really think I should keep it. Well, I think I should keep it, I just have to find a way to justify it now. :)