SO MUCH SNOW!!!

We had an absolute blast in the Texas blizzard of 2010! We received 12.5 inches in just over 24 hours. It was amazing and the kids had two great days playing in the snow!

Big Will all bundled up!

the Snow Princess:
Cal loving his first snow:
check out all those flakes!




our day one snowmen:
on day 2, Ella went out in her PJs to get our newspaper:
view down our street:
our sideyard:

backyard shots:
this would be the kids' soccer goal buried under the snow:
day 2 snow fun:
Will caught in action throwing a snowball:

one unfortunate neighbor who lost a ton of branches off of a beautiful live oak.
mmmmm....eating snow!
Will and Daddy making the big ball for our next snowman:
Day 2 snowman (much improved from day 1, I'd say!)
ella girl...notice the snow is up to the top of her boot!
Michael with his nice snow creation. Ella is the photographer so it's hard to tell but it was a few inches taller than him!


Snow angels...awesome!

SNOW, come back again sometime! The Baker children loved you and maybe next time we'll have the appropriate winter gear to enjoy you even more!

Cal's 3rd Birthday

How can it be that my baby boy is already three?

We celebrated Cal's birthday this year out at the Great Wolf Lodge just the five of us and had an absolute blast. Here are the excited kiddos just after our arrival hanging out on the top bunk of the "wolf den"....which I'd like to add, is a genius creation in hotel room design.

Here is one of their favorite photo spots, the Bear Paw, where we enjoyed ice cream after the kids heard a bedtime story in their pjs:
the boys hanging out in the kiddie pool....such fun!
The next night (his actual birthday), we kept the Baker family tradition alive by having his birthday dinner at Pappasito's. Here is the big guy standing in his chair as "hey baby, que paso?!" begins.
We love you, Cal, and are so proud of you! This past year has been full of milestones as you have begun to talk so well! You have progressed from not being able to speak at all on your 2nd birthday to speaking in full sentences with much expression. You adore your big sister and brother and they adore you back. You are the "rough" one in the family and almost all of your hugs turn into tackles. You are full of joy, you love to be silly, you love to make people laugh and you love to laugh yourself. You are strong willed but are learning more about obedience every day! You learned to run, ride your big wheel and jump over the last year. Your Mom and Dad love your hugs, your sloppy kisses and your ear-to-ear smiles. You make us so proud! Happy Birthday, Big Cal!

melt my heart!

Who can resist a picture of this sweet sleeping boy?!

Especially this sweet sleeping boy wearing this full leg cast! Melts his Mama's heart!

Here we go again....

This precious 2 year old boy we call Cal is a bit on the crazy side and his mom is a bit on the laid back side. So you put those two things together and you get a boy who gets to walk around on a fractured fibula for five days before seeing a doctor.

Really, it was the most uneventful injury. He went to jump off a bench and I think he thought I was going to catch him. Since I wasn't looking and was trying converse with fellow mom Christy, I didn't catch him which resulted in a hard landing. He cried for about a minute, limped a bit and went right back to playing. Therefore, we left the mall with a limp and an unworried mom. Now fast forward five days, his mom and dad noticed he still limped at times, took him to the doctor and voila....here he is:

He will wear this full leg cast for 4 weeks (we're halfway there already) and should be good to go come October 13th. As for me, I've learned my lesson...limps are always significant in a child (so says the orthopedist). Point taken!

We love you Cal and are so proud of your adaptability to this big ol' cast. Mommy and Daddy are so sorry we made you walk around on a hurt leg!

Cal's First Love

They say that breaking up is hard to do. Cal is having his first heartbreak and he just can't let go. It's with his beloved paci. As parents, we decided to help him part ways with his beloved by the gradual snipping method. For the past week, his paci has slowly disappeared until he's left with this pathetic plastic thing:

And still, he's true to his love. He just can't let it go!

Here he is today before his nap. Poor Kid!

Guess Mom and Dad might have to make the break for him. It's going to be a looong week!

the boys

Will and Cal love to be outside with Daddy while he works in the yard. Here's a few recent pics of a Saturday morning with Daddy:



Sharing or fighting?
One armed mowing:

Operation Verbalization

As of this week, we are covering new territory for our family...drum roll please... Speech Therapy! I know lots of other families have been or are currently down this road, so it's good to know we're not alone. Our Callum James (who, as seen above, only gets pictures taken of him when he's asleep b/c he moves just a bit too fast) is two years old now and just can't get any words out yet. He fully understands us and communicates with his own language of grunts and finger pointing so he hasn't come across the need to actually talk (that's what I'm sure he'd tell me if he could talk). Plus, who needs to talk when you have a very verbal big sister and brother? And so once a week now while the big two are at preschool, Cal and Mommy will be meeting with a sweet Speech Therapist to work on his language development. Hooray!

Since I'm using this blog to document and remember our family happenings, I hope to document his progress as we venture down this road. Stay tuned for exciting results...we hope and pray!

What We've Been Up To...

Hmm, so let's see...
It's been almost a month since I've posted anything on here so you'd think I'd have many pictures to post and cute stories to tell.

But yet, I don't.

Our days have been very normal (i.e., busy and loud) and routine around here (for which I am very thankful, don't get me wrong) but that makes for not very exciting blog posts for my few devoted readers! So, I'll download my few pics off the camera to keep you coming back:).

We went to Collin Creek mall where Cal finally got up the nerve to ride the train. Doesn't he look thrilled?
Group shot...rare!
And after one pic, Cal is outta here!

So big sis put him in a choke hold...cute smile for a boy being strangled, huh?And the choke hold once again on the bench:

And here's Will and Ella heading out for their frequent backyard playing:

So there you have it...our boring, busy, but very BLESSED life! Thank you God!