Grandkids and Birthdays

We celebrated the last one for the year a week ago.

Caleb...at his birthday party...last Saturday!

Five years old!!!

So far this year, I've pretty much ignored my blog, so there were no special 

birthday posts for each of them.  Pitiful....I know!

Next year I hope that I'm better about it.  It's a joy to look through this blog and 

experience their birthdays past once again.

 Fortunately I did share birthday photos on Instagram!

Here they are, along with a link to LAST year's blog post birthday celebrations!!  

Elijah - 8 years old on January 7th

Fletcher - 2 years old on January 7th

Penelope - 7 years old on March 25th

August - born on April 18th (this year)

Louisa aka Lulu - 3 years old on May 8th

Charlotte - 8 years old on May 14th

Caleb - 5 years old on July 25th

I am so blessed to have seven sweet grandchildren.

I thank God for them...always!

Caleb

We're going to a party...because 

somebody has a birthday today!!

This little guy!  Sweet Caleb!

He's FOUR!

  

Hope you have the best day ever!

Love you bunches Caleb!!!

I can hardly wait to hug this sweet boy!

Just look at this face!!

The littlest "Littles"

Caleb ~ Lulu ~ Fletcher

Three...three years old and younger.

At least for a few more months.

They're so focused...intent on whatever it is they're doing.

Sometimes they hold still.

Sometimes they look at me.

Sometimes they smile.

Every now and then they do all three.

Hold still.

Look at Gramma.

Smile.

Thanks Fletcher!

Such sweeties!

Each one!!

A Trip To Bass Pro

Last Sunday afternoon Joe's family and I took a trip to visit Santa. 

The plan was to see him at Bass Pro....but the line to see him was a two hour wait!  

Luckily Santa also had a line in the mall with a wait of about 30 minutes!  

Not sure how Santa manages all these multiple lines, but we were grateful for the shorter one!

Caleb amused himself with his mommy's phone...he loves to explore Google Earth!

Sweet Elijah loves showing off the gap in his mouth!

Caleb was not interested in sitting with Santa unless his dad joined up. Shortly before this photo, Caleb's head made contact with Santa's head...at that moment there wasn't a whole lot of "jolly" going on!!

Elijah and Caleb tried out the various sizes of ATVs.  Elijah had to wait his turn for the big one because a little girl was riding it, so he jumped on the middle size one.  The other ones were all still in boxes...but that didn't stop Caleb!  He climbed aboard the Camo ATV, tucked in his feet...and was ready to go!  When the big one ATV became available Elijah got his turn on it...and Caleb got to try an unboxed version.  It was so funny to watch them!

The train was a hit.  I wish it hadn't been so expensive...I would have loved to buy them one!  Caleb really enjoyed it!!

Such a cute family!!

Thank you Bass Pro for all wonderful photo ops!!

Since it Throwback Thursday I thought I'd include this photo.

The same cute family...2 1/2 years ago!!

Caleb

Isn't this a sweet face!

Love this precious little guy!

He wasn't feeling very good today (Wednesday)...in fact he had to take a trip to the ER.  That's where he is in this photo.  There was a bit of a coughing/choking/gagging scare...but after a few hours in the hospital (plus a shot of steroids) he returned home with a diagnosis of croup.

According to his Mommy & Daddy he seems to be better tonight. He even ate a bit at dinner!

I'm so thankful that it wasn't anything worse!

Love This Photo.

It's a little grainy...I took it with my phone...but I love this photo!!

We went to a park and this bunch had a blast.  I took quite a few "action shots" but I really 

wanted them to "pose" for one.  This is the result!

Elijah had just finished crying, Penelope was crying, Caleb just wanted to escape 
(Hey Elijah, thanks for hanging on to him!), and Charlotte was looking at her shoes, 
oblivious to it all!

This shot earns the "my favorite photo of the week" award!!
  

"Bu-Bye"

 This is one of my very favorite photos of Caleb. We have one of those play tunnels that you can crawl through.  Caleb was standing, and I dropped the tunnel over him....he just looked up and gave me a big smile!  This smile makes me so happy!

Yesterday I heard some Caleb news that made me really happy!  Caleb is non-verbal (you can read about that here), and he goes to the Kennedy Krieger Institute every Thursday morning for speech therapy.  Joe usually calls me with news about how his therapy went. Today he was very excited when he called.

Here's what Joe shared on Facebook yesterday:

"This morning, we were at Kennedy Krieger for Caleb's speech session. His therapist was working with him and I was watching from another room on CCTV. All of the sudden, you hear a little voice say "bu-bye". I about fell out of my chair. Caleb spoke!! It made my morning!! Here's to many more words hopefully!!"

How's that for awesome news!!

Totally made my day!

It's amazing what a couple little words will do to you.

 

Please remember Caleb in your prayers.

He works so hard at learning....he just wears himself out!

Remember his family too...never seems to be a dull moment in their lives!  The photo below was taken at the State Fair this year.  It's the first year that Caleb was tall enough to get on the Tilt-A-Whirl.  See what I mean?  Never a dull moment!! 

Thanks to Johanna and Joe for the photos...I got them off their Facebook and Instagram feeds!

Party Time!

Earlier this month we celebrated Caleb's birthday...bet you can't guess how old he is!  Those balloons stayed on the window for about three minutes!!

 

 

The party was at our house...we had a house full of littles!! Eleven to be exact. So many cute faces.  It was hard catching some of them "not in motion"...at least until the food was served!

 

Caleb and Charlotte sharing a seat at the picnic table I recently "picked" from a neighbor's trash!!

Mr. Elijah's new haircut has aged him...he looks at least 7 in this photo!!

Fletcher is reading some real estate literature.

 

Lulu was watching everything going on around her...all

the while hanging onto those balloon strings!

Penelope's expression seems to say, "Gramma, you sure do take a lot of pictures"!

Here are some extra littles...Caleb's party guests!
 

 

Fun times...memories made...and a happy birthday boy!

Mission accomplished!!