The Birthday Celebrations Begin!

Today we celebrated Caleb's 1st Birthday with some friends and family. We are so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Below are pictures from the big day.

Caleb and Joel loungin'.

Caleb and Elsa taking a stroll.
This was while we were all singing "Happy Birthday" to Caleb. He just stood there looking around at all of our faces, not really sure what to do with himself. We had cupcakes, #1 cookies and ice cream for dessert. As you can see, however, Caleb enjoyed his very own mini-cupcake!


Birthday Boy and Grandmas!


Our little family.
Trying out Caleb's new bike trailer.

Future North Parker?

Here are some funny pictures that I meant to post this week but just didn't get around to. Caleb was very attached to the 'North Parker' this morning! He is evidently really excited to meet President Parkyn.
And then, after he got dressed picked up his teddy bear for a little snuggle.

Snippets

This afternoon I decided to take Caleb to "Snippets," to get his hair cut. While it was fun to go out and experience what they call "Chicagoland's premier childrens' hair salon," I can now say that I'm ready to go back to Papa Strom or Uncle Dave for haircuts. Caleb has always been a pretty squirmy little guy, so it was no surprise that it was difficult to get him to sit still (even with the cool toy car that he got to sit inside for the cut). The hard part for me was that I felt like the haircutter was getting annoyed by his squirminess. My little Caleb! How could anyone think he's not the best little boy ever!? Well, after a few minutes of trying to keep him still we decided to try to distract his attention with a lollipop. At first, Caleb had no idea what to do with it, but then as soon as his tongue got a taste of the sweetness, he sat perfectly still and enjoyed his sucker! Even then, as I was so happy that my little boy was sitting so perfectly content, the haircutter's mood didn't seem to change. That's when I realized I am a mom: I love Caleb so much and just want (or assume) everyone else to love him in the same way. Caleb is simply the most wonderful little boy in the world to me...even if the haircut lady doesn't say so! Being a mom, I'm beginning to understand a lot more about my own mom, about Erik's mom, and about moms in general. You have a love for your child like nobody else can. To you, your child is the best and you want the world to know it! And as for haircuts, Papa Strom, we'll take "Tony's Basement Barber Shop" over "Snippets" any day. There's that face again!
Our little Caleb...looking so grown up!
The lollipop saves the day!


Here's Caleb freshly trimmed up, relaxing after all the hard work!
Lately Caleb has been into crawling in and under things. We spent a few minutes this morning crawling through the chairs in our dining room like it was a big maze. The other day when Papa Strom was babysitting, the two of them were doing some "basic training" on the back porch by crawling through an old box. Maybe that's where he picked up this new hobby!

Cozy Coupe Video

This is a video of Caleb playing in the Cozy Coupe at Nana and Pappa's last week. Enjoy!

http://media.putfile.com/cozy-coupe-3

Sterling, IL

Erik went up to Covenant Harbor for the weekend for one of his business classes, "Developing High Performance Team." Caleb and I decided to go visit the Austins in Sterling, IL. We left early Friday morning and came back Saturday afternoon. Caleb had so much fun playing with Reiley and Luke, he also thought that they had really cool toys! Karina and I were able to catch up and just enjoy eachothers company. (Did you know that she is 17 weeks pregnant?!) She took us on a tour of Sterling and then we went to the High School football game. It reminded me of all the Iron River football games Erik and I went to with Chuck and Jane. There's nothing like small town football.

This is Caleb's new face...you will see it a lot in recent pictures! Not really sure where he learned it!

The boys took over this golf cart (sorry Bears fans...we were just using the Packer fan!) Here is a little video of the boys "workin' it" during the marching band...

http://media.putfile.com/Sterling-Football-Game

Battle Wound

Caleb and I went for a walk and as he was getting ready to climb up the cement stair in front of our apartment, he tripped and scrapped his nose on the corner of the step! He got over it quickly, only crying for a few moments after I picked him up.

Meredith and Ben's Wedding

Here are some pictures from the wedding. I took a ton of pictures...these are just some of my favorites. It was a gorgeous day for an outside wedding and Meredith was a beautiful bride. Congratulations Ben and Mer! This was taken just before Ben and Meredith saw eachother.



These are some friends from Von! Rachel (Nyquist) Bramley, Caroline (Rudnicki) Smith, Me, Jocelyn Torres and Patrice Asvos.

On Saturday, the bridesmaids had brunch at Tre Kronor, followed by pedicures and manicures. Caleb and Erik went to visit Nana and Papa in Clarendon Hills so Erik could get some reading done. Caleb spent a lot of time in his car, opening and closing the door and turning the key and steering wheel.

Wedding Weekend

This weekend my friends Meredith and Ben got married. It was a weekend of celebrating the two of them. It all started with Caroline arriving in Chicago Friday morning. Then we headed over to Sally's (a must for Caroline when she comes to Chicago) for a little breakfast. The rehearsal was in Ben's Uncles backyard. These are the lovely bridesmaids.
After the rehearsal, we headed back into the city for a girls night out at "Howl at the Moon", a dueling piano bar.

Wednesday's with Daddy

On Monday, Erik's classes began, officially starting his last year of seminary. His course schedule will be challenging, but it still allows lots of quality time at home with Caleb. Particularly, on Wednesdays Courtney works from 8-4, so Caleb and Erik get that extended stretch of time together to hang out and have fun!

This Wednesday, while playing in the family room, Caleb suddenly got really interested in his little red chair. It didn't take long for him to "figure it out" and enjoy some quality loungin'.

Once well-rested, Erik decided that it was time to get Caleb pumped up and ready for the football season by practicing a few plays and running some drills. Caleb had a solid performance: two fumble recoveries with his teeth, three solo Daddy-tackles, and multiple drool stains. Young Strom has said he's eager to get his second season of football started. Go Bears!

NEW SHOES!

So I went to the mall yesterday and decided to take a peek at the baby shoes at Payless and spotted these! I could not believe that they made "Crocs" so small. Caleb seems to be enjoying them as well (we've had a hard time getting him to smile for the camera lately, but not today)!

11 Months Old!

Today was Caleb's 11 month birthday! We headed over to the water park this morning...he is starting to enjoy the little fountains, but still not so sure. Check out that farmer tan! We had a playdate with Greta Johnson in the afternoon and some friends over for dinner.

Happy 3 Year Anniversary

More family reunion

Here is Caleb with Skylar and Brixton at the family picnic on Sunday. My mom has the huge group picture on her camera, so I need to wait to get that from her. We had a great time except on Sunday afternoon, just before Brooke, Caleb and I were going to get on the plane to come home...Caleb had the runs! Thankfully he held off while we were on the plane!
Just thought this turned out to be a cool picture.

All better!