Happy Birthday Caleb!

Last week we celebrated Caleb's 3rd birthday.  His actual birthday was Thursday and to celebrate we traveled to Des Moines to eat lunch with daddy.  After lunch I took the boys to the local mall where there is a play area.  That evening we had some friends over for ice cream cake and we gave Caleb his first present from us, a big wheel.  It makes all sorts of sounds, it's pretty cool.  Isaac loves it too!  We were hoping this would teach Caleb how to pedal.

Singing to Caleb on his actual birthday and having ice cream cake with friends

Caleb's new big wheel

We had our family over on Monday for a party.  Caleb got lots of great presents.  One of his favorites is the Woody that talks.  He also got a Buzz Lightyear with a laser that he likes but Isaac has attached himself to it as well.  Caleb shares and we haven't had any fights!

Caleb with his new Woody

Checking out the new Buzz Lightyear with the laser

The theme for Caleb's party was Toy Story and once again Zach decorated the cake with a Buzz and Woody.  It was comical to hear the negotiation between Zach and Caleb as to who would be on the cake.  Caleb wanted every character of Toy Story on his cake and Zach only wanted to draw Buzz.  In the end they compromised and Woody also made the cut.  This was one of the most difficult characters to draw and Zach did a fabulous job!  We also bought a pinata to fill with candy.  The boys and their cousins enjoyed taking turns to see who would pull the right string to make it open up.  Surprisingly we almost made it to the last string!

Caleb's cake, decorated by Zach 

Singing to Caleb on Monday

Trying to pull the right string to open up the pinata

This week we are potty training full time. Caleb is doing great and even pooped in the potty last night!  He is super excited and so am I!  Zach is gearing up to run the annual Dam to Dam race on Saturday, a 12.4 mile race in Des Moines.  This will be the 3rd year he has run it.

For sale

It's been awhile again but in my defense we have been very busy.  At the end of April we decided to hire a realtor and begin the process of looking for a bigger house.  Never in a million years did I think within the first month we would find a house we like and have our own house up for sale.  But that is what happened.  We've tentatively purchased a home on the east side of Indianola, contingent upon sale of our own home.  

In the rush to getting our house "market ready" we had a few projects to get done.  Our realtor suggested that we install new garage doors.  Our old door was a fiberglass door and didn't look the nicest.  We replaced both the overhead garage door and the side entrance door.  Also on the list of to do's was a project that should have been completed four years ago but the flooring guy never returned to finish it.  We expanded our front entryway and laid new tile.  We also had to repair a crack in our foundation that was leaking water into the basement.  On top of projects we did some packing  and cleaning.  We officially put our house on the market on May 10.  So far we've had one couple look and a realtor open house where the realtors came through.  We are enjoying the quiet before the storm.

New garage doors 

Front Entryway expanded to be double the size it was

The boys has been troopers through this whole process.  They love to play together anyway so it didn't really phase them much to have mommy and daddy working so hard on cleaning and packing.  It's been beautiful weather lately so a lot o their time is spent outside.  The other day I caught them playing "doctor" outside using their picnic table as the doctor's table.  Pretty cute & funny!

Tomorrow Caleb turns 3!  Can't believe how fast times flies!  He is very excited to be a "big" boy now and is even trying to learn how to pee and poop in the potty.  I play along as long as he is willing. ;)  Praying this potty training session will go much smoother than Isaac's did.  

Isaac finished preschool last week.  He is ready for kindergarten!  We are so proud of the boy he is becoming and the things he is learning.  He never ceases to amaze us with his ability to make observations.