1:07 pm

Nakedness Update:

First "accident" that I don't think was an accident considering he laughed when I discovered that he had just peed all over a blanket I was covered with.  Thanks little man!

Two and a Half!

Today, Caleb turns two and a half!  

In honor of this momentous occasion, Caleb is going without diapers.  No, I don't mean that we've replaced diapers with big boy underwear.  I mean that he is going naked today!  I have heard of parents just stripping their kiddos down to nothing so that they think twice before taking a tinkle or making a mess.  

Caleb has understood the concept of the potty for months now, like since before he turned two.  The problem is that, like most toddlers, he gets too busy and is too lazy to go take care of business in his tiny toilet.

So far this morning, the nakedness has worked, but I'm still a little unsure about nap time and, of course, the big dirty.  I'll update you later!

Visit From Mom

My mom drove in from Ft Worth and arrived shortly after noon on Saturday.  I, displaying my meticulous qualities, had planned meals for lunch and dinner.  And so, I had recruited Kristin to arrive before lunch to help with the Tortilla Soup.  They both seemed to enjoy it, but what's important is that it's my favorite soup ever.  It even tops one of my other all-time favorites, Broccoli Cheddar Soup (from McAllister's Deli).

Kristin and I, as usual, didn't really have anything exciting planned for us to do.  We ended up heading over to Kohl's because Mom and Kristin had both been recently and said that they were having a really good clearance sale.  Mom went off on her own with Caleb and we couldn't find her.  So, Kristin and I spent a long time picking through the women's clearance section.  She ended up with five tops, and spent only $20!  I got six tops for $30.  Later that evening, we rented Mad Money and devoured Cinda's yummy "Saturday Night Supper," which was basically an Italian casserole with ground turkey, pasta shells, tomato sauce, cheese, and vegetables.

On Sunday, Mom went to Sunday school and church with me and then we picked up Kristin and ate lunch at the Elite Circle Grille.  Good choice, Kristin.  Mom stayed around at our hosue through dinner, and finally headed home around eight.  

As always, no matter what our plans are, I enjoyed moms company and can't wait until next time!

Blessing In Disguise

Some of you may know about the time I locked Caleb in the house by himself while he was napping.  That was back in February.  And no one has a copy of our house key.  And Jadie had just left for a chiropractor appointment (when his sciatic nerve was killing him).  Needless to say, he was a no show for his appointment because I called him and he came rushing home.

So today Caleb and I got locked out of the house shortly after four this afternoon.  And I think Caleb was the culprit this time.  Fortunately, it was only about an hour before Jadie would be home and so I sucked it up and prepared for an hour of sweat without the luxury of air conditioning.  During the first five minutes, I began thinking about how sunny it was and how Jadie had said the other day that it only takes fifteen minutes of sun to get a severe sunburn.  I tried to think of a way to get Caleb to play with his golf club set in the shade.  I know, it sounded like a hopeless cause in my head too.  I opted for the inflatable pool that was still on the porch and inflated from last week.  I dragged it over to our lone patch of shade and turned on the water hose.  I lugged my patio chair over to the pool so I could keep cool by sitting with my feet in the water.  

Though he was tentative and looked to me every few seconds as if to say "can I really do this, mom?", I convinced him to take off his clothes and his diaper and splash around in the water.   And although I had hauled about ten old magazines out to the patio table to peruse through, I decided it would be best to spend the hour focusing on Caleb (you know, making sure he didn't swallow a gallon of water or drown).

This hour of being forced to stay in the backyard turned out to be quite an amusing event for the two of us.  Caleb lay back in the water, made waterfalls going down my legs with the water hose, and pretended to buckle himself into an imaginary seat in the pool using the water hose as a seat belt.  At one point, I asked him to swim like a dolphin.  His response made me laugh out loud...he stood up and jumped across the pool, splashing as he landed.  Of course, that was his interpretation of the dolphins jumping out of the water at Sea World last week.  Isn't it amazing how children perceive things?

Of course there are no pictures of this sporadic afternoon dip in the pool.  My camera was inside enjoying the cool AC.  Secondly, my child was without clothing.  What kind of mother would I be if I posted something like that?  You should detect a hint of sarcasm.

Alright now, I'm giving you an assignment.  I want to hear from you!  Can you think of a time when something that could have been annoying turned out to be much better than what you originally had in mind for yourself?  

Wednesday Woah!

We have  a shortage of closet space in our 1450 sq ft house.  As a result, I go through cycles of frustration over where to put things that I don't want lying about for everyone to see.  This morning, I was determined to reorganize the closet in our spare bedroom in order to pack more things in.

Here's what it looked like before...

The shelves in here were made by my dad back when I was a freshman in college.  Over the years they've been used as a desk hutch, an open cupboard for canned goods and boxed food, a microwave stand, a television stand, and most recently for closet shelving.  In order to make better use of this tiny closet, I decided to add back in the lower shelf and move the clothing rod down.  I then moved my dad's shelf up and did some serious rearranging.

And now...

Wow!  I am truly amazing!

Men Being Men

Jadie joined the church softball team about a month ago. Last night was the first time I took my camera.  I'm choosing to wipe the first game from the record, but I'm happy to report a 22-11 victory over the other team (nevermind that I don't know who we played) in the second game of the night.  Here are the shots I captured...

Batter Up!  Doesn't my handsome hubby look great from this side?  On second thought, don't answer that.  Please.  I don't want to know.

Yes, he totally smacked that second pitch.  Unfortunately, there were already two outs and this high ball was pretty easy for the left fielder to catch.  Nice try honey!

Here's Abbie's honey Blake, getting ready to smack one too.  I'm really not sure what the result was, because I was just concerned with capturing a halfway decent picture.

Here's my little ball of energy running to get a softball that he tossed and chased for almost two hours.  Although he claims to love attending daddy's softball games, he rarely pays much attention.  

I wonder who has taught my cutie pie how to make such awful faces...

Five Glorious Years

What colorful language!  And it's mostly true.  We've had many marvelous, glorious, and truly wonderful moments in our five years as Mr. and Mrs. Freeman.  But to keep it honest, we've had some tough times too.  

2001--Jadie and I met on a blind date

2002--Jadie proposed!

2003--I graduated from Baylor and we got married!

2004--I got a teaching job, we bought our house, and Jadie lost his grandpa

2005--We became pregnant, I got an office job (so much for teaching), and Caleb was born!

2006--I quit my job to stay home and Kristin spent six months in Thailand (the point is that I missed her, but I'm glad she went)

2007--We almost lost a good friend (praise God for Bonnie's life!) and I lost my dad

I thank God for always having us surrounded with friends and family who share unconditional love and support through both the joyous times and the low and empty times too.

I tought I'd dig up a few things for you to enjoy.  Of course it doesn't hurt that I love looking back through old photos.  Maybe they're not that old, but they certainly weren't taken yesterday!  Here's for some nostalgia: 

June 21, 2003

First Baptist Church of Keller, Texas

The Wedding Party

**left to right and bottom to top**

Where they are now...

Blake (best man and Jadie's best friend)--celebrated five years married to Abbie on June 7th

Kristin (maid of honor and my sister)--starting grad school in August

Naomi--living in Chicago and finishing up Dental school

Andrew--proud father of two sons

Lance C.--around here somewhere

Beau--celebrated three years married to Tiffany in August of this year

Amanda--will soon be returning to her "real" home after spending six months in Houston standing by her husband (of three years) as he battles cancer...99% cancer-free last I heard...praise God!

Eric--firefighter in Central Texas

Lance J.--celebrates three years married to Stephanie in May of this year

Scott--managing a branch of United Rentals in Oklahoma and celebrating one year married to Stephanie this September

Nicole--celebrating five years married to DJ in July and proud mom to two beautiful children

San Antonio

As Jadie has pointed out, I am addicted to vacations.  I really crave one every year.  I am already preparing myself for next year's "vacation drought" due to the threat of the union strike in 2009.  The possible strike is important though.  It means the difference between phenomenal company benefits and healthcare and going broke paying for insurance and such out of pocket.  Anyhow, back to the vacation subject.

I know we just went camping, but our "real" out-of-town vacation this year was to San Antonio.  This was our first year to take Caleb along.  We thought he'd enjoy Sea World and the Riverwalk (and it doesn't hurt that it's still free to take him along).  We all had an enjoyable time, but here are a few things to note for those of you with small children thinking of vacationing with them.

1. Caleb is used to a loose naptime/bedtime schedule, but both were hard to adhere to when trying to catch all of the sights and sounds we were interested in.
   
2. Trying to wheel a stroller down the Riverwalk is next to impossible.  Thankfully, I have a strong, uncomplaining husband who carried Caleb and the stroller (while Caleb was still sitting in it) up and down bout 15 sets of stairs along the river.
   
3. Caleb is also used to having easy access to a fresh drink whenever he wants it, and there aren't many suitable drinks available at the drop of a hat.
   

Before we left, we searched for some ways to save on dining costs.  We found one really great website for purchasing gift certificates to restaurants.  We purchased a $25 certificate for only $6 and another $10 certificate for $2.  The website doesn't have much available for the area where we live, but it had a few choices for the San Antonio area which helped us save a little cash. 

More Pictures

View From Our Room (looking straight down) on the 23rd Floor

My Boys Relaxing!

San Antonio Pictures

Sea World

San Antonio Children's Museum

Riverboat Pictures

Taco Soup

Here's a quick recipe for you before I head out of town to visit a friend who just had her baby girl.

Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef

32 oz. pkg beef broth

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can black beans

1 can corn

1 pkg taco seasoning

Brown meat and drain.  Add beef broth, taco seasoning, diced tomatoes, and black beans.  Let simmer over medium heat, uncovered for 15 minutes.  Add corn and simmer a few more minutes.  Serve with shredded cheese and tortilla chips if desired.

Simple and Yummy!

I'm Feeling It Alright...

Jadie just got back from a trip to the gas station.  He's about to mow the lawn and needed some more gasoline for the riding lawn mower.  Our pickup truck was also just about empty, so he said he'd fill it up too.  He walks in the door and says, "The gas pump cut me off before I could fill up the tank all the way."  I said, "How much was that?"  Are you ready???  $75.00!!!  I had heard this before since Jadie's work truck frequently holds in excess of 20 gallons, but to experience it when it comes to the family budget is another animal all together!

Down, But Not Out

I put Caleb down for his nap about 45 minutes ago.  Things were quiet, so I assumed that he was asleep.  Not so!  He decided not only to empty out his closet, but to take all (or most) of his clothes off of the hangers.  Great!  Something to look forward to, Mel!

Here's a closer look...

Camping Trip

We returned from our camping trip today!!!  We had a lot of fun, but I think we've decided that next time we'll go kid free.  At least until Caleb's a little older.  Some of the things we wanted to do (like swim without a kid attached or fish off of a dock without sufficient railing for a 2 year old) would have been easier without worrying about keeping Caleb safe and/or occupied.

Enough of the jabbering...here's what you really want, right?  For you literary types, I'll still give you plenty of reading material along the way.  Something for everyone, ok?

Lance and Stephanie...who may not have known quite what they were getting into.  Just kidding.  These two are wonderful with Caleb and were quite comfortable roughing it for a few days.

Us, of course.  As Stephanie pointed the camera at us, Caleb leaned his head to mine and gave a big cheese.  Beautiful!

Thanks for the swimsuit, sis!

Here are our digs...a nice size, 3-room tent that Jadie purchased 3 years ago with some incentive points he earned by selling phone service.

This was just for us and our junk.  Lance and Stephanie had their own, very similar tent to sleep in.  What you cannot see are all of the millions of tiny ants that were under, on, and in our tent.  During day two, we acquired a can of Raid to take care of that nasty little problem.

Check out this beautiful, God-given weather we were graced with!  I snapped this one on Saturday night at sunset (as you can tell).

Swim-time Friday night.  This was as close at Caleb would get to the water without some serious effort.  I know you can't see the numbers, but that post showed the water to only be 3 feet deep within the roped-off area.  After last week's episode at Lake Waco, Caleb was cautious when it came to water.  He had to be held the entire time and would only stop whining and fussing after about 10 minutes of convincing.  Anyhow, this was Friday night.  I didn't get any pictures of our 4 hour pebbly beach experience from Saturday afternoon.  We went through the same holding and wading routine Saturday and Caleb finally fell asleep on the beach towel after about 2 hours.  Steph went and got an umbrella and covered him with a towel to protect from the sun.

Caleb discovered this little stump and thought it was a good spot to stop and rest between golf games.  Yes, we took his little golf set and he played and played at our campsite.

We found a long machete in this tree trunk.  Scary!  The tree behind Caleb had a hollowed out split that someone had probably stored it there during their stay.

Jadie fishing, but not catching anything.  We didn't really have much luck all weekend.  The two pictures you'll see later are two of the fish we caught out of three different trips down to the dock.  Besides the pitiful fish you see below, Jadie caught a small bass and Lance caught an ugly gar.

Beautiful day.  Lance is getting read to fish.  Little does he know, they just aren't biting.  They preferred to nibble.

First catch!  Just a pesky little perch.  Oh, well.  I did it before the boys!

Jadie's catch of the weekend.  I know, you're thinking that it's impressive.  Actually, it is pretty impressive.  There's a story to this catch.  Jadie  wasn't content to fish with just one line, so he tied some fishing line to the metal bar of the dock.  He tied on a hook and dropped it in until he could get a weight and bobber ready.  When he had the weight and bobber in hand, he pulled the line back out of the water to find this silly little fish who is apparently attracted to siny things in the water.  That's right.  Just a hook.  

Steph sat out during the fishing experience.  It's just as well given our luck with catching the big ones.  She let Caleb bother her instead. Ha!  

Caleb just thought he could wear the goggles. Really, they're not flattering on anyone. Not even a handsome young thing like him.

These are the stairs we had to climb up and down to get to the fishing dock.  As said before, we ventured down to the dock 3 times.  The last time, Saturday night.  Caleb took a tumble on the way down.  I had been walking ahead of him, but decided to stop and let him catch up.  I let him pass me by one step.  I started thinking that it would be better if I were below him in case he lost his footing.  That way I could stop him from tumbling down.  Anyhow, at the very moment that I decided to step down to the step below him, he did take a tumble.  I freaked!  Amazingly, while he was head down, bottom up, I was able to grab the strap on his life jacket (the one that runs between his legs).  I grabbed it with my pinky finger, screamed for Jadie who was already at the dock.  I pulled Caleb up (still with just my pinky), dropped my bag, and took a look at his head.  It was bleeding, of course.  It is absolutely amazing what God allows us to be able to do in the excitement of a scary moment.

Here's Caleb showing off his "owie."  Another amazing accomplishment of God.  What a tiny little scrape in light of what could have happened.