After The Party and Visiting With Great Grammie

After Aelia's birthday party and after we all had a nap. David broke out the Moon Sand. What a mess that stuff is. I had heard it was less messy than Play Doh and David was dying to try it. So, we bought some for Caleb.(yeah right, it was for Caleb) Ha,ha!! Well, he did love it. They played with that stuff for a long while. It came in red, white and blue. Caleb now knows that blue and red make purple, that's what color we have now. Then we went to see Great Grammie Griffin. She was very happy to have visitors. Caleb talked to her a little bit about the Moon Sand and then he kept himself occupied with Great Grammie's little grabber stick. We explained to Caleb just how happy he had made her, just by being there.

Aelia's 3rd Birthday Party

Aelia'a Birthday Party was a success. We played Duck,Duck, Goose, which Aelia really wanted to play. We played acting out animals, so the kids could guess what kind of animals, the adults were supposed to be. As you can see in a couple of the pictures, Caleb was patiently awaiting the birthday cake and then again waiting for Aelia to open her gifts. Rob and Beth made a great cake for the garden themed party. Aelia loved her new big girl car seat from Poppie and Grammie Russell. Uncle Dave, Aunt Michelle and Caleb bought her a little garden house, which was a success with all the kids.










Beth and Rob, "I just looked at your blog and saw that Aelia's favorite part of her birthday was everyone singing, Happy Birthday to her. So here it is for her to listen to, anytime she wants." We had a great time. Happy Birthday Aelia!!! We love you!

More fun with Caleb:-)

Look at that face, he just sees the garage door opening up and he knows Daddy is getting the tractor out for a ride!! I think this is Caleb's favorite thing to do. He has loved tractor's ever since I can remember. When we picked him up today, I had a surprise for him. Whenever he is in the car with us, he is always asking if he can have some sunglasses, because the sun is in his eyes. So, I finally bought him a couple of pair, to keep in the car. He kept them on until it was time to go in. I was surprised, but he does look cool doesn't he!

While Daddy was putting the tractor back,
we went from the front of the house all the way around the back. He just kept saying, "Run Shell, let's run" and we went down and around the barn, kicking the ball all the way. Then we got over near the pool and he said, "let's check the water in the beach." I guess he wanted to know if the pool still had some water in it. It still had snow and ice, but no water. Then Daddy came back out and they played on the slide. When it started getting cold outside we went in to play. Grammie was making muffins, so Caleb wanted to help. He was so funny, he would put the spoon in the bowl, stir for a little bit and then automatically, the spoon would go in his mouth. Grammie would take the spoon and get a clean one and we would watch how tempted he was to do it again and again, every time the spoon came up. We were all here for Aelia's birthday party, so when Uncle Rob, Aunt Beth and Aelia got here, we all sat down and had dinner together. Caleb has a hard time sitting still, he is so busy. But when it was time to eat the muffins he had helped make, he wanted to sit and eat them. When Aelia was done, she came over to Caleb's seat and asked him if he wanted to play Hide and Seek. He looked right at her and said, "Not right now Hon, in a few minutes." We cracked up laughing! Not right now "Hon". It was too funny. He is quite a character. It was really great for all of us to be there together. We were up late talking, laughing, wrapping Aelia's gifts, making and decorating her cake, for tomorrow's party. Rob is so creative. The cake looked awesome.

Visiting Grammie and Grampie

We picked Caleb up at daycare on Friday afternoon. He was so happy to see Daddy and Shell. He made us a couple of pictures to bring home and put on our fridge. We went over to Grammie and Grampie's house for dinner. He was very excited to see them also. We played inside for awhile and then Caleb wanted to go outside. We grabbed his car out of the garage and Daddy pushed him around for a little bit. Then he started up the hill of the driveway backwards, pushing his way up with his feet and as soon as he got to the top he would lift those feet and fly down the hill. Boy, didn't he love that! It got cold pretty quickly, so we went in for dinner. Aunt Donna came over to visit and had dinner with us, it was nice to see her. After dinner Caleb and I went out in the sun room and played soccer. He is really good at kicking the ball, he's going to be a great soccer player. Then we got a surprise visit from Uncle Rob, Aunt Beth and Aelia. Caleb and Aelia light up when they see each other. They ran around together for awhile, then it was time to say goodbye. Until Aelia's birthday on Saturday, see you all then:-)

The Mary's Walk and Caleb

Every year in Saco, in the month of March they have a walk for The American Cancer Society. They call it The Mary's Walk for a woman named Mary Libby, that lived and was very well known in Saco. She used to take this particular route for her walk everyday. She died of Cancer, I believe in 1997. The walk/race ends on Main Street at a pub called The Kerryman Pub. So, for all those runners they also have a Kerryman Pub Road Race at the same time as the walk. This is all to make money for cancer. It's a great thing. It gets bigger every year. My sister Amanda has run this race for quite a few years. And here she is running by us as I snap a picture of her. Which I'm sure she's going to love seeing on here. I have also walked it a few times and thought since we had Caleb we could join some friends and walk too. Unfortunately, Caleb wasn't feeling too well. So we decided to just walk a little way up the road to watch the runners go by. It was another beautiful day and I think the fresh air was good for him. When we got back to the house, he wanted to build another snowman. He couldn't imagine where the snowman went, that we built a few weeks ago. He did seem a little off today, he slept quite a bit. We did have fun and we laughed a lot. We do all love being together, no matter how we're feeling. When David and I went on vacation we bought him a Nemo, from the aquarium and some fun t-shirts from our trip. We finally had a chance to give them to him. Can't wait to see the little guy again. Spring is coming!!! Outside Fun!!!YAY!!!

Shopping for Winter Carnival Dresses

After the weather this weekend, it seemed a little strange to shop for dresses for a Winter Carnival Dance. But here we are Michelle, her friend Gabi and myself. As you can see they got pretty silly. Michelle has a hard time being serious for pictures. She is also so much taller than Gabi, she's always crouching down. We had a lot of laughs together. There were so many beautiful dresses, but because Michelle is so tall a lot of them were much too short. It's hard to pick just the right one. The dress Michelle finally picked is not in these pictures, but the dance is this coming weekend, so I will take more pictures when they're all dolled up and with their dates. I'm sure they'll have a great time.

David and Michelle's Birthday at the Farm

We celebrated our birthdays today. The whole family was there and it was wonderful to have my sister Amanda and brother-in-law Andrew there too, with our little Maggie. The kids had a wonderful time, running around together, as you can see. Luckily there is a lot of room here, because they do not stop for a minute. No wonder Caleb sleeps so well and so long. Maggie enjoyed rocking in the little rocking chair. It took her a little while to open up to everyone, but she did well and had a great time playing with Caleb and Aelia. Barb cooked another delicious meal for everyone and a yummy cake. Thank you, Mom! While we were sitting at the dinner table having cake, Caleb looked at me, touched my arm and said, "Shell, you're on my heart!" How sweet is that, what a wonderful thing to hear from the little guy. We have become quite close, Caleb and I. I have fallen in love with him and I can't wait to become a bigger part of his life. He also had to help me open presents, of course. He sits right on my lap to see if their is anything good. I got my first Daughter-in-law card, which was very nice. Thank you to everyone for their gifts. We had a great time visiting with everyone and catching up. Looking forward to seeing you all again at Aelia's birthday party!!