May 2011

We have had another fun month-with things beginning to taper off our schedules for the summer!  Caleb is now 32 months!  We have had some of our best days with him and some of our worst days.  He is such a sweet little boy that when we have bad days they are ROUGH!  Caleb is closer to three than two and growing up so fast.  Caleb loves to hear "Fred and Charlie" stories -a made up monkey story that Daddy tells just like MeDad told him when he was a little boy.  He LOVES going to the library, reading his books, anything Curious George, Ping Pong, playing pool at church, watering the yard, washing his hands, wearing big boy underwear (another post on this), and playing any sort of sport!! 

Here is our month in a nutshell:
Our Playgroup went to the Richardson Fire Department.  It was so much fun!  Caleb was a little nervous, shy, quiet, and very reserved.  He didn't even want to get in the fire truck.  He really liked it but maybe in a few months he will be ready to do it again.  The fire fighters were so patient with 12 two-year olds, 12 mommies, and 10 infants!!  The facility was absolutely beautiful and we will definitely have to go back.

This is what Caleb looked the whole time (hands behind his back, right by Mommy's leg)

Most of the kiddos

A sweet neighbor, Dorris, that brought us some yummy pumpkin bread

Susan, one of Craig's amazing small group moms

Sweet Jamie, the woman who owned our home before us.  She has 2 boys and graciously gives us the clothes they out grow. What a blessing! 

Davis constantly has fingers in his mouth but it seems as if he is going to be a thumb-sucker

We went to a really fun play area in Allen that has a caboose, a maze, and little houses for the kids to play in.  Caleb loved it!

Our playgroup went to the Arboretum and Caleb is "making" a Mother's Day treat for Julie-he is putting the stickers all over himself.  The best present ever!

Playing with some of his friends at the Arboretum

The first year of Caleb's life-we would take his picture in front of this pond every time we visited the Arboretum.  (Here is the last posted picture in front of the pond.) Such a big boy now!

Colton and Sadie came back from Midland for a quick visit.  We were blessed to have special time with them and they enjoyed meeting the newest member of our family.

Davis is always SO happy when he wakes up

And Caleb is always right there to help me wake him up.  Caleb will hear Davis in the monitor and say "I hear somebody waking up...Mr. Daaaavvvisss!"  I have to be careful or he will be at his bed just like this before I have a chance to stop him.

Coordinating Stripes-Love the matchy-match

We had to pull out our winter gear again for crazy Texas weather

Caleb began this drawing with "writing" his ABC's.  After the masterpiece was finished, he took a picture of it! 

This punkin is getting SO big! 

Precious brothers-Caleb still LOVES hugging, holding, posing, kissing, and being very close to Davis.  I praying this sweet relationship continues. 

A little tribute to Bradford Pear...Caleb's last picture with the beautiful old tree before it was chopped down.  So sad but cute pictures-it makes Caleb look so grown up.

Mother's Day

So, this post is a tad late-I had it all typed up and ready for our May Post but it was really long-so I decided to make it it's own post. 

Caleb has taken an interest (for about 2 minutes) in taking pictures. He took this picture when Mommy received a special treat in the mail. Thank you, Daddy, for the beautiful Mother's Day Flowers!!!

Another great picture Caleb took-Daddy had to bend down to his level to get in the picture.

We had a special treat for Mother's Day--Mimi and Papa came in town for weekend. It was a fun weekend, enjoyed special time with Mimi and Papa, and had an amazing Date Night! We had the privilege to go see Jerry Seinfeld live at the ATT Performing Arts Center. He was hilarious and we had great seats. It was a special time together and are so grateful for Mimi and Papa! If you can't tell in the picture below, Caleb is reading his favorite, Curious George, to two tired and asleep grandparents. (Papa worked all day and night to be able to come in town early-such a sacrifice-Thank you!)

Craig and Papa making a yummy Mother's Day Breakfast

Davis was making a special Mother's Day for us by laughing and giggling

Daddy taught Caleb what to say on Mother's Day. He is telling Mimi and Mommy "Happy Mudder's Day!" Too Cute!

To a special Mom on Mother's Day: Thanks for being such a great mom, loving our family well, thinking of every little detail, treating us to little joys in life, and always being there for us. I love you and you are my best friend!!

To a Special Mother-In-Love: I am grateful to have another incredible woman in my life. You raised your son to be so tender, kinder, loving, passionate, dedicated, and determined-he could have only learned these traits from a wonderful mother! My heart melts when I see Craig love and care for our boys!)

To all my Mommy friends: It is such a joy to see all of you shepherd your children well, to love your kids as Christ loves us, and to grow and learn together the wonderful world of parenting!

The Best Pizza Ever (straight from CA)

In case you haven't noticed, Julie does most of the blogging for our family.  But this is one post, that I (Craig) had to write given the story behind the story.

I was thinking a few weeks ago about how I could bless Julie and thank her for all her hard work over the last few months.  She has been working her tail off from late night feedings with Davis to getting up early to take care of Caleb's needs all day.  She has done this all without complaining and to bless my trooper, I thought about what would be a special treat.  Not sure why, but I remembered our favorite restaurant back in Palo Alto - Patxi's Pizza.  They have the best deep dish pizza and the thought hit me that they might ship a frozen pizza as this would be a fun way to surprise Julie with some tasty vittles.

I went on their website and there was no mention of shipped pizzas, so I sent an email to the general manager of the store to see if they would be willing to do so.  To my amazement, he (Bryce) got right back to me and said that while they had never done this before, he was willing to give it a try.  We emailed back and forth and brainstormed a way to give this a whirl.  We ultimately decided that if they baked it, then froze it, and overnighted it to us frozen, that it would likely survive the trip and be edible. 

After figuring out the details, the pizza was shipped and arrived in one piece. It was still cold upon arrival and looked like it got hand delivered from the restaurant because it was well packed to survive the trip.  At this point in the story, it is key to understand the great lengths that Bryce went to in order to make this happen.  First, he had to take the pizza home after baking it to freeze it in his personal freezer since Patxi's doesn't use freezers.  Then he went and picked up a box and packing supplies after realizing that FedEx wouldn't let him overnight the pizza in their packaging.  I've never experienced customer service like this from any organization, let alone a pizza place that had nothing to gain from serving us in this way.  We were loyal Patxi's fans before, but they outdid themselves with this gesture.

Julie was ecstatic when I rolled in the door with Patxi's and after warming it up in the oven, it was as great as we remember it.  I can always remember a great meal when the last bite tastes as good as the first one, and this is consistently the case with Patxi's.  Whether in the restaurant in Northern California or out of our oven in Texas, the pizza is awesome.  The deep dish melted in our mouths and the combination of Patxi's flaky crust, flavoral sauce, abundant melted cheese, and mouth watering sausage and canadian bacon made this little surprise one of the best gifts yet for Julie (and if you haven't noticed yet I got to enjoy it too).  Caleb got to enjoy his first Patxi's and I think he is officially hooked as well.  Bryce - I'm hoping we get a chance to meet next time we are in Palo Alto, but wherever you are now, know that you made my family very happy by serving us in this way.  Bryce and Patxi's - you guys rock!

To summarize, I thought I'd share my Top 5 learnings from this experience:

1) Never stop looking for ways to bless your bride (she is worth the effort)

2) Don't let practicality get in the way of a gift you have in mind (dream big)

3) Give a company the chance to be a hero to your request (even if it is an odd one)

4) Never underestimate the power of good customer service (even if just for one customer)

5) Remember that there are still servant hearted people out there (Bryce - you are the man!)

Below are some photos from our Patxi's pizza feast.  Warning - don't look at these if you are hungry...

Davis' Celebration

Craig's sweet Sophomore boys and their parents wanted to celebrate Davis' life and they threw him a party. It was so fun to get together to see our Small Group parents, pass Davis around like a hot potato, and watch Caleb play with Daddy's "Big Boys." Caleb is still talking about the big party: playing ping pong, eating cake, staying up late, and having SO much fun!

I wish I could have gotten a picture of everyone holding Davis but they were passing him around so quickly that I didn't have a chance. 

Such beautiful Moms of such beatiful boys and girls

Love this formal picture...Front row: Clay, Brother, Craig, Will, and Louis

Back row: Colby, Ben, Ty, Preston, and Walker 

And not so formal pic 

Abbie, Elizabeth, Julie, Caleb, Grace, Erin, and Sarah (we missed you Hollis and Madison)

Caleb LOVES ping pong

Ms. Crystal has the touch, Davis was one sleepy head and slept in her arms the rest of the party

 Abigail holding the sleepy head 

Clay was the first student to hold Caleb in the hospital and here he is holding Davis. 

We feel truly blessed to have such wonderful families in our lives that are pouring into us as much as we are pouring into their kids.  These students are a HUGE part of our life and we wouldn't know what to do without them.