St. Patrick's Day Parade

On Saturday we went to the St. Patrick's Day Parade. (Ashley joined us on Friday night)

Testing out the little cars

A parade complete with big balloons.

We collected a lot of beads and candy from the floats.

St. Louis here we come...

This morning Caroline, Meredith and I rode on the Megabus to visit Joy in St. Louis. The bus was an hour late and two hours into the trip we stopped here for lunch...for three more hours! Apparently there was no air pressure so the breaks wouldn't work. Our 5.5 hour trip turned into a 9.5 hour trip. I am pretty sure the only reason we survived was because we had eachother, this would have been brutal if I were alone.

We made it!

Out to dinner for sushi...my first time.

Caroline comes to Chicago

Caleb was so excited that Caroline was coming (he doesn't usually smile for pictures...so you can see how happy he was!) When our time with her was over and we took her to the airport to go home, he started crying, he wanted to go to Caroline's house...I guess we need to make a trip out east soon!

The baptism of Jackson and Caleb

This morning Jackson and Caleb were baptized at our church. It was a WONDERFUL day, surrounded by family and friends. The boys did great.


Jackson was laughing and sticking out his tongue the whole time.



Caleb just seemed to be taking it all in.

And what is a celebration without some drumming?! Caleb shows off his skills on the drum at church...it is possible that he thinks these are his drums.

Get ready to laugh!

Today we played with the "water table". Jackson continues to think that Caleb is the funniest thing ever...enjoy!

Erik is at another retreat, so we spent the night at the Strom house. Caleb and Nana were matching with their Covenant Point sweatshirts.

Haircut!

I decided it was time to donate my hair! Here are some pictures of my new haircut...I am hoping it will be easy to "do".

Caleb and Jackson have been having so much fun together. We brought the slide up from the basement and Caleb only wants to go down with Jackson now. These are just some fun pictures of the boys wearing matching pj's and playing together.

Big Boy?

This morning Caleb woke up and was complaining that his pull-up was "scratchy". I quickly told him that big boy underwear are not scratchy and more comfortable. We got out the big boy underwear and he went in the potty all day! I was so proud of him, he got to use the special plate at dinner. He has been going on the potty and wearing big boy pants for the rest of the week, with a few accidents. I will not say that he is "potty trained" because most of the time we are reminding him to sit on the potty...but I have enjoyed not changing those diapers!

Jackson has started doing this a lot...we are not sure what it means or why he does it. My niece, Jenna used to do this at around the same age and Erin and Jim would say "fight the power", so we've started saying that as well.

Erik was away at a retreat until Monday night so the boys and I went out to the Stroms for the day (Nana didn't have school today). We headed over to the school to play in the gym. Jackson loved trying out the bike and Caleb spent most of his time throwing a frisbee and sliding after it.

I gave Jackson some little pieces of chicken for the first time...he loved 'em.

Then we had a jam session on the piano. Make sure to watch the video below of the boys. Caleb was totally tapping his foot and bopping his head to the beat. I know my boys did not get their love of music from me...it's all Erik.

WCC Nursery

I helped out in the nursery on Sunday. Here is everyone eating cheerios. Notice that Jackson is the only boy!

Auto Show

Today we went to the Auto Show for free (thanks Aunt Betty!). Caleb loved going in and out of all the cars and "driving" them.
Jackson sat in the stroller most of the time and slept for part of the time. He had so much fun!

Brotherly love!

We took this one for Poppa.

Jackson is such a big boy now, he can hold the bottle all by himself. (This makes our lives a little easier too!)

Tonight Uncle Colby and Uncle Dave babysat so that Erik and I could enjoy dinner together. Here they are playing "Gotch Game". Caleb has really been into making up games lately. Gotch Game is piling up all the pillows and jumping onto them "feet first". I think he is jumping like a skateboarder in this picture. Jackson decided to sleep for 45 minutes and then cry the rest of the time...sorry guys!

Gym - N- Swim

Caleb and Erik have been going to Gym -N- Swim for a few weeks now. Today, Jackson and I tagged along to see what they do. This was Jackson's first time in a pool...he LOVED it. It was also so much fun to watch Caleb really enjoying the pool. He sang along to the songs and knew all of the words.