Happy Birthday, Little Man!

Our baby is three! I tend to round up when people ask how old he is (I do this with myself too), and so I have actually thought he was three for about four months now. When people have asked him how old he was, his response was "I turn 'tember." As in, "I turn three in September." This past Monday marked the day God blessed us with this incredible little person in our family. And we had lots of fun celebrating his little life.

My family growing up always had a tradition of breakfast in bed on birthdays and mother's/father's days. We continue that in our family, and Brandon made Caleb this adorable pancake mouse. My husband is amazing.



He loved eating in his bed.

He wanted a choo-choo train party, which was a bit more complicated than the baseball party he had originally asked for. But, I found this Wilton Puzzle Cake and it turned out better than expected. Many good friends came over to help us celebrate, and we all had a good time. Caleb did, at one point, become a little overwhelmed by the attention and said, "I don wanna go to my birfday." Apart from that moment, he had a wonderful birthday.



One unexpected blessing happened a few weeks before. At a garage sale, I found a Thomas the Train wooden train set complete with several buildings and numerous trains for $20!!! This set is something we have been eying for a long time, but I wasn't about to spend the money it would require to begin the collection. I think this set would cost $300 new. He has not stopped playing it since he found it all set up in his room on Monday morning.

Note to self: Next time, ask someone to take pictures for you. You will be too busy. :-)

Happy Birthday, Brandon!

I have such a wonderful husband. Every day, I think about how blessed I am to be his wife. We celebrated his birthday yesterday with a trip to hit range balls and another trip to El Paso to our favorite restaurant, Taco Tote. Several of our good friends joined us...in spite of the drive.

Thanks, babe, for being the perfect husband for me. I love you.


(And thanks to all you sweet people who commented below. I really like you guys and am excited to make something for you. :-) Andrea and Kel, I don't think I have your addresses. Could you give me those?)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Dad!

We love you!  :-)  

He's TWO!!!

I blinked, and my baby became a two-year-old.  How is that possible?  We had a wonderful time celebrating his little life this weekend, and Caleb enjoyed it more than any of us. 

We had a guitar party on Saturday night.  So many friends came, and several of them brought their guitars.  Caleb loves guitars and is fascinated anytime anyone plays one.  

The guys had a jam session, and it was very entertaining for us all.  

...and Caleb got to participate.  We had set up a microphone and speaker with Cru's sound system, and he sang his heart out.  

He also played Jesse's bongos along with the music. 

Phil improvised a song about Caleb while the guys played a blues riff. (I have no idea how to spell that...don't even really know what it is.)  :-) 

He had an improvised guitar pinata.  As it was destroyed, its true Hannah Montana identity began to show through. 

I made a guitar cake with a Wilton guitar pan, but I didn't get a picture of it.  It was my first attempt at decorating a cake.  

We got him a little basketball goal that he can't get enough of.  He has a good arm, but I think that the adults in his life will get just as much use out of that little thing as he will. 

On his birthday, he woke up to breakfast in bed in his crib.  He didn't know what to think about us bursting into his room singing to him and bearing a tray of food.  He loved it nonetheless.

His dad is building him a tree swing, so we spent some time on his birthday outside helping him...and then went out to dinner at the same place we ate with my parents last year.  He threw coins in the fountain all night.  It was a wonderful, wonderful birthday weekend. 

Two years ago today...

...I was very uncomfortable...and very excited.  

I can't believe it has already been two years.  Caleb was born on September 14, 2006...two days late and very wrinkly.  I was due on the 12th, and my mom had been in town for weeks so that she could be there for her first grandson.  We were all eager to meet him. 

My due date had come and gone.   I was at Sam's stocking up on necessities, and as I was leaving I started losing some peripheral vision.  My doctor told me to go to the hospital to get checked out, and they wouldn't let me leave.  I was induced, and thirteen hours later...Caleb Gregory Pelton was born at 3:09am.  

These pictures were taken at the place my mom rented while she was here...one or two days before one of the most amazing people in the world entered our lives. 

And now I have to go to bed.  I have been staying up too late watching Hurricane Ike on CNN and converting a Hannah Montana guitar pinata into a boy-friendly guitar pinata for my little boy's guitar party tomorrow.  Wanna come?  :-) 

My 30th Birthday

I was looking through some pictures and I realized that I never posted or even shared what my amazing husband did on my birthday.  

I turned thirty two weeks ago today.  The night before, Brandon decided he wanted to take me out to dinner.  He had found a babysitter and everything.  So, we went out to Chili's, which has been my favorite restaurant for years.  Our plan was to eat, go to Lowes and buy paint, and then go home and repaint the dining room/kitchen area because the beigeish color we had painted it was way too neutral for me.  :-)  

When we got home, the house seemed dark and empty except for some pretty party decorations I could faintly make out in the darkness.  We were then greeted with "happy birthdays" everywhere!  Brandon had planned a surprise party for me!

There were friends from church, from our staff team, and from Cru!  I felt so loved and blessed that night to have such wonderful friends and such a great husband.  Thanks, sweetheart!  

Holly H. and Holly W.  made the amazing cakes.  They were WoNDerFul!  And sadly, they were all eaten.  :-) 

Caleb helped me blow out the candles.   The blurriness in the pictures is because I hate using the flash on my camera.  

This beige paint is now blue...soon to be decorated with white paint.  I haven't decided on the design yet.  Needless to say, we didn't get any painting done that night. 

Doesn't Liz look amazing for just having had a baby a few weeks before?

Brandon gave me breakfast in bed...Cream of Wheat.  He makes something I would never have eaten before postively mouth-watering...with brown sugar and butter.  Not too healthy, but so good. 

Caleb also helped me eat my breakfast.  That's koala next to him...his favorite stuffed animal. 

The other Caleb had the idea to go hiking on the morning of my birthday up at the waterfall in Fillmore Canyon.  Living in the desert, this is an amazing novelty for all of us.  It is beautiful. 

Caleb took Caleb out to touch the waterfall. 

Then they threw some rocks for a while. 

And this is who greeted us on our way out.  A tarantula as big as my hand.  

Caleb's birthday is on Sunday with his party on Saturday.  So now we are getting ready for that. I am excited.  It is fun to have the space to have lots more people over than before.  Instead of having his party in the park, we can have it at our home.  So fun!

Happy Birthday, Hannah!

(Patrick, Hannah and Nerps at my parents' house over Thanksgiving)

So, technically it's not her birthday anymore, but I did want to say happy birthday to Hannah!  She is my brother Patrick's wife, and we are all crazy blessed to have her in our family...especially Patrick.  She is so great for him.  

Though we don't get to see them nearly as often as we would like, we're grateful for the opportunities we do get to see them. 

Happy Birthday, sweet Hannah!  We love you!

***edited to add***

  I guess my blog is on Pacific time because it marks this post on Sunday still.  Yay...guess I made it in time.  :-)

Happy Birthday, Em!

Emily is one of my best friends in the whole world, and I am so grateful that she was born.  We were on STINT together in Guadalajara, and I miss her way too much.  She lives in Chicago now, and this photo happened when I saw her last summer when we were there briefly for a wedding. 

I LOVE YOU, EM! 

Happy Birthday to Brandon...

almost a week later.  :-)  Brandon turned 32 on Thursday, though we didn't get to do much to celebrate.  We only saw each other for an hour after I got home from Saint Louis and Brandon took off for his Thursday night Cru meetings.  So, we decided to celebrate on Friday.

After our family breakfast in bed (Caleb and Brandon had Cheerios and I ate Trix), our team came over and had cake with us.  That night, we went to El Paso with some friends to our favorite restaurant...Taco Tote.  It was a great time.

I just wanted to put these pictures up of Caleb and Daddy playing together.  They definitely enjoy one another.

All of these are blurry, but I think they capture Caleb's wrestling/freefalling quite perfectly.  :-)

Caleb is 18 months!

Caleb turned eighteen months yesterday.  We celebrated this mini milestone with a mini party with our staff team.  I made baseball cookies for Brandon and basketball cookies to celebrate Sunday's Brackets Day (NCAA Selection Sunday)...a national holiday in my family.  As I mentioned before, we gave Caleb a little guitar, and the two have since become inseparable.  Lucas, a friend of ours even taught him how to use a pick!

Taylor, Caleb's best friend, is staying with us this weekend.  The two of them are amazing examples of just how differently God created male and female.  Caleb seems to want to play independently alongside Taylor, but she is constantly hugging him.  Caleb is quiet and focused, and Taylor talks all the time.  Caleb plays with his food, and Taylor takes dainty bites and keeps clean.  They are so much fun together!