Snow Fanatic!

Last year at this time, all Caleb did out of doors was whine and lose his gloves. This year he's shoveling (although he seems to get more into the driveway that off of it, not to mention all over himself), sledding and just generally loving our wintry weather!

Sledding with Caleb

Caleb loves the snow. We had about 6 inches by Tuesday morning, at least, and we got ourselves a sled. I completely forgot how much fun it was to get numbingly cold and wet!

Make a slide show, scrapbook or ecard

Autumn is here!

Stupid leaves...

Halloween

Caleb enjoyed some Halloween fun as a train engineer!

Sleepy time

Caleb is one creative sleeper - I wonder if his dream in this case was a bit of a cliffhanger!

Caleb's Song and Dance

New Addition to the Family

We can't wait to welcome our baby girl to the family!

Mason men

Painting...

Caleb has become very interested in painting. So far he has painted rocks, scrap pieces of wood and that traditional medium - paper. Here he is slipping a request for refreshment in with his need to thin his paint.

The Crayola Kid

Caleb is a budding artist, but occasionally gets carried away! His Uncle B would be proud of this kid!

The Fun of Not Being Fearful

We just got this fun pic from Caleb's Uncle B, and I have to tell you how surprised and pleased I was when I saw it. I am amazed that Caleb didn't freak out when we did this. In fact, he was so bold with this little frog/toad that he picked him up repeatedly by himself (relax, he was gentle). I love that Caleb trusts us and wasn't fearful of the little critter. Listen, if I was 2.5 years old and someone placed some unknown, bumpy brown thing on my shoulder...well, it would be a good thing I was wearing diapers.

The Thomas Craze

Caleb has been enamored with Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends. He longs to watch their shows, play with the toys and even discuss their exploits over dinner. It is mind-boggling to watch him engage with the toys in play the way I used to (ableit at an older age) with other toys. It just seems as though he's growing up much too fast. But creative, imaginitive and mostly uninhibited play is why it rocks to be a kid! Also, check out the images I've uploaded to "The Box" to the right!

Housework

We've been hard at work on this old house - a fresh coat of paint has been added, and soon the whole package will be redone. Fresh painted shutters, a repainted door and other updates should be hitting this page soon.

Potty Training Tricks

We've been making passes at potty training with 2.5 year old Caleb. One of the incentives we've offered is "big boy underpants". Replete with Thomas the Tank Engine characters and bright, fun colors, you'd think they'd be a blast. But Caleb has proven to be a tough customer, and, in a show of defiance - or perhaps confusion - has misplaced his underwear...

Updates

I hope that many of you have noticed the changes to the blog - there have been many. I'm in the process of uploading movies and images, so please bear with me and check back frequently!

News

It's been too long since I regularly updated this site, other than to throw a slideshow or set of pics up. To catch us all up, I have some news to share: Kim and I are expecting our second child sometime in late February or early March. Caleb is having fun with predicting whether it will be a boy or a girl, but is consistently happy with the idea of being a big brother. At 2 and a half, Caleb is beginning potty training, with some success and definitely a lot of patience. As Kim and I approach a new school year, we're excited at the new start and I am in particular chomping at the bit. AS those of you who have been more "in the know" are already aware, the past year was insanely difficult. With the help of a summer job at Home Depot, I am ready to go. This is my tenure year, so I may be absent - or maybe more present - this year as I focus on intergrating more technology in a more disciplined way. I hope to keep a psuedo-blog with my students, as well as some other web-based tools, so that I can reduce paperflow and increase my productivity. In other news, I've added a "widget" that will allow you to download images or files of mine. This will help me keep the photos new and reserve this space for text updates! Wish me luck!