Happy Easter!

Loving their Easter Baskets!

Us: "He is Risen!"

Kids: "He is Risen Indeed!"

We taught the kids how to respond to that Easter morning. It was fun because they had a lot of opportunities to practice. They were so excited to celebrate Easter this year. Our celebration began the week before on Palm Sunday when Caleb got excited because of all the palm branches in the Children's Wing at church. He got to take one home, and we waved them shouting "Hosanna!" all week. Our church provided a wonderful packet with fun things to do and some devotions to do with preschoolers. On Good Friday I cut out some pictures that told the Easter story and just talked through it with them. They were so attentive and loved playing with the pictures. I also realized that telling this story to my children now made it hit home so much more to me! I began crying when I saw the picture of Jesus with the crown of thorns because He went through that pain for me, for Caleb, for Abby, for Jason, and for you. They both just looked at me so sweetly until I could finish the story.

We attempted to make Resurrection cookies the night before. Easter morning they got to open the oven, and when they ate the cookie it should be hollow. It was kind of a bust because a tiny bit of yolk made it to the egg whites, and of course I knew it would not peak but I, actually Jason helped me come to the conclustion that they wouldn't care! The cookies were SUPER sweet, so I don't know if we'll make them again. Might try to do something else next time.

Easter was filled with celebration! Baskets when we got home from church, fun with family, and egg hunt for both the adults and children. It was a great day! Hope yours was filled with celebration too!

Best Buds!

Farmer's Market in October

A lot has changed in our lives since my last posting! We moved out of our condo in Okemos and are now renting a house in Williamston. It is a small town just down the road from where we previously were! We finally feel at home, and love having more space for our family. The kids seem to really love each other as you can see in the picture above.

Some highlights of our summer: The Amazing Race for Nigeria (fundraiser for the Shephard family), my 30th birthday, our 1st camping trip as a family to PJ Hoffmaster State Park, trip to Cedar Point for my bday, and celebrating our 5th wedding anniversary!

He Found My Mascara!!!

I should have known something was up! I had just realized it was awfully quiet! I was in the shower and Jason was on the computer. Sure enough, Caleb pokes his head in and looks like that! I was upset, but I had to laugh too! He even put the cap back on and put it in my makeup bag again. All I was thinking was good thing it wasn't waterproof! :) I'm glad we got the pics to remember this act by this silly boy!

Squeaky Shoes

Abby is One!

I can't believe my baby is One!!!!! Abby had a great birthday party on Easter weekend! She loved being the center of attention. I will have more pictures of the party soon (hopefully). Mommy didn't take pictures, so she's working on getting the pics from others who were at the party! Abby is doing well... 25 lbs and 31 1/2 inches tall! Still a tall girl! Her new words are: duck, ba (ball), maba or baba (momma), bubba (brother), and still uses dada most of the time. You can tell she is soaking up whatever you tell her, and she's going to explode sometime with tons of new words!!!!

Eating Banana!

She was quite moody this day until we found a cold banana in the fridge! It made her happy... at least for a little while! :) I think the funniest thing is how huge the banana is!!!

We Waiting!

Roomies!!! I just had to post this darling picture of the kids! They have been sharing a bedroom for about a month now. We finally kicked Abby out of our room. :) It couldn't have been an easier transition! My mom helped me rearrange their room last week, so it didn't look like wall to wall furniture. The next morning this was what we found! I think they like it, don't you?

Update on Caleb's Diet

Well, it was been 4 weeks today since we started Caleb's Elimination Diet! 4 very exhausting weeks at times!!! It was initially a huge struggle for Caleb to even think about trying some of the foods we were giving him like... carrots, sweet potatoes, broccoli. In time, he has learned to eat all of them (except for sweet potatoes which boggles my mind because I love sweet potatoes!). In week 3 we decided to go ahead with a blood test to test for the most common food and environmental allergies since we had not seen major improvement in his skin. Today we found out the results of that blood test and it turns out he is NOT allergic to any of the common items. Praise God for that! We are very thankful with the results, but still don't know why his skin is like this and how can we make it better.

So... we are being referred to a dermatologist to see what they think. I don't have an appointment yet. For now, we are excited to let Caleb eat some of his old foods, and yet continue the great new habits he has learned in this process! Even though this process with Caleb has been sooo hard, I'm grateful to God that He's leading us through this because it has already proven positive results in all of us!

Stay tuned...

Abby's First Steps!

Need Prayer - Caleb's Special Diet!

It's official! We started Caleb's Elimination Diet yesterday! We thought we needed extra prayer right now, so we wanted everyone to know what was going on and when you think about us please pray for Caleb, Jason and I as we work through this process together.

What is an elimination diet and why are we doing this?

Caleb has had excema in the form of little red bumps on his legs, arms, and a little on his face since he was about 6 months old. It has been getting worse the last few months and has spread to his tummy, back and bottom at times. We believe that this is primarily food related from our own instinct and doctor's advice. So... we decided to go through an elimination diet which means we have cut out any possible allergenic foods. That means almost everything Caleb has eaten has something that could be an allergen: stuff like dairy, eggs, soy, wheat, possible fruits that are suspect as well. For one month we will stick to the good foods, and then start adding things back in to see if he reacts to them.

This will be a long process for all of us! We hope and pray that it will all be worth it and we will figure out the cause of Caleb's skin problems.

Things to pray for:
1. Caleb will eat the good foods we give him.
2. Patience for Jason and I when Caleb gets stubborn.
3. Wisdom daily for us in our planning and decision making.
4. Caleb's understanding of the process. :)
5. Healing for Caleb's skin!

We will keep you updated throughout this process! Thank you for your prayers!
-Jason and Amber

Caleb Discovers His Name!

I was finally able to figure out how to post this video of Caleb discovering his name for the 1st time. He thought "Redoutey" was quite funny! This was taken over Labor Day weekend I believe.

Abby Truckin' Along

Caleb's Cowboy Hoedown!

Caleb - Mommy's Helper

I've been meaning to share this story on the blog for everyone. This story took place approximately 1 month ago now, but it's hilarious and I don't want to forget it!

I have been trying to train Caleb to help me a little more and this particular day I needed to change Abby's diaper. Well, I didn't have a diaper next to me, so I asked Caleb "Do you know where the diapers are, Caleb? Can you go get one for mommy please?" He kind of gave me a blank look, but then he took off towards his room. Sure enough! He came back with a diaper for me! Yeah!!!! What a good helper!

Later on in the day, I had to change Abby's diaper again. I had a diaper already, but she was a little red and needed some ointment. I thought Caleb did so well getting a diaper.... maybe he can get me the buttpaste (and yes... it is called buttpaste!). So, here I go again and I ask Caleb, "Do you know where the buttpaste is, Caleb? Right above the diapers! Can you get the buttpaste for mommy please?" Again... he gives me a blank look, but heads toward his room. As he enters his room I hear him saying, "Find. Buttpaste. Find. Buttpaste." Caleb returns with not the buttpaste, but hydrocortisone cream. I praise him for bringing something back, but I say, "Thank you so much, Caleb! That's not the buttpaste I was looking for though! It's a bigger tube above where you got that." Again... a blank stare and then takes off! This time I hear him saying, "Find. Bigger. Buttpaste. Find. Bigger. Buttpaste." I died laughing!!!! This time he came back with the Bigger Buttpaste!

What a good helper Caleb is!

And she's crawling!

This video was taken one week ago! She has gotten much better in just 1 week! She is now also pulling herself up all the time... we anticipate she will be walking by Christmas!

Trick or Treat!

Caleb the Cowboy!
Our Pumpkin Fairy

Quite the duo!

We had a great time dressing these two up this year! Already had most everything for their outfits, so we polished them up with a couple trips to Hobby Lobby and the Dollar Store. We took pictures then went to visit Derek, Karin, and Owen to pass out candy. It was a lot of fun!

6 Month Old Abby!

Daddy makes me laugh!
Happy on my tummy!

What a precious smile!

Help! I'm stuck!

Aunt Jodi spiked my hair!

Abby is always on the move! She is quite different from Caleb in that way. We can't leave her for a minute because she'll roll herself across the room or under the table! She loves her food, especially sweet potatoes, peaches, and pears. I don't think there has been anything she hasn't liked yet except bananas. Abby has started babbling a little more. She loves to follow Caleb, watch what he's doing, and of course grab what he's playing with! He doesn't get too happy about that. She's our precious baby girl!

Swim Class!

Caleb and Jason took a swim class together this Fall which ended a week ago. Here is Caleb reminiscing on the things he does. Abby and I went to the final class to actually see the things he's been talking about. It was fun! Caleb really progressed over the 5 weeks of class. He was pretty scared to try some things for a while, but daddy got him to do a lot of the activities!

Time Flies When Having Fun...

We had a fabulous summer! August was spent preparing for a couple long trips... to VA for a wedding then to Peoria for a long Labor Day. Highlights that you can see in the pictures:
-Caleb got his cast off! It was quite traumatic for him, quite possibly worse than getting it on. He's all better though!
-Abby started solids this month has finally gotten the hang of it.
-Jodi came along to VA with us to be our "nanny". We had such a wonderful time with Aunt DiDi!
-Abby is sitting on her own now and rolling around a lot.
-Caleb is obsessed with stacking things still. He puts whatever he can find in and out of tubes, cartons, etc...
-We celebrated our 4th wedding anniversary!
-Caleb started swim class today with daddy and loved it! Hoorah!
-Jason is finished with classes at EMU! Planning on attending graduation ceremony in December!
-Amber is teaching piano this fall and playing for the MSU Children's Choir and Choral Union. Very grateful for those opportunities!

God has been good to us! We have much to be thankful for.

Coming soon... video of Caleb discovering his name!

Caleb's BooBoo!

Got his blue arm this morning! Bubbles will help!
We love a waterproof cast!

Running around with Gpa Mike!

Caleb had his first major booboo! He fell off a bench at the farmer's market, and unfortunately I didn't know he was hurt right away. We headed straight home, and he seemed to be doing fine eating and playing with his toys. I noticed he wasn't putting pressure on his left arm though. After talking with the doc, we decided to watch it for a day or so since there was no swelling or bruising. Well, a week goes by and he still complains about his hand! So we got an x-ray and sure enough... he had a buckle fracture in his radius. Basically, that means his radius is a little bent. They referred us to the orthopedic people, and they want him in a cast for 2 weeks! So... it looks worse than what it is, but I'm so thankful I followed my gut. Obviously, he seems to be adjusting well to his cast which we call his "blue arm." When I ask him if he likes his blue arm, he says "Yes!" :) Thank you, Lord, for keeping Caleb safe! We'll keep you updated on how it heals.

P.S. Have to say thank you to Uncle Dominic for the awesome pictures with Gpa Mike!