Preschool

Wow it has been crazy lately. Since I last posted Callie started preschool. She LOVES it. Never had any tears. We went to the meet the teacher night and she wanted me with her at first but by the end of the night she didn't really care and wasn't ready to leave. It was a kids wonderland. A ton of outside stuff to play on and toys of every kind inside. That was a Wed night and she was up before I got her up on Thurs and ready to go. I had to explain that she didn't start till the next day. She was hard to get up then on Friday and when we pulled in she asked where all the cars were. I thought oh no she thinks we stay. But then before I could answer she said oh they have already dropped their kids off and left. Whew! She went in and seemed fine. I didn't want to sneak out but didn't want to dramatize a goodbye so I said give me five and left. She did great and was SO excited when I picked her up...and she has continued to be. It was a great thing that we got together with the one little girl, Hattie, ahead of time. Her teacher said that she sat with and talked to her. I asked Callie if she talked to any of the other kids and other than some little comments which were cute to hear her replay she had not talked to any of the other kids. Then the next Friday when I picked her up she was so excited to tell me that she had made another new friend, Lilly. One cute thing was that we had been talking about how God makes everyone different - Daddy red hair, etc. So we were talking about her preschool teachers and she said I really like how God made her. I am so glad that she loves it. She continues to surprise me!

First Tooth

I was feeding Chase supper last night and saw that he had his first tooth! Completely thru the gum! He is just over a week away from being 8 months old. Callie had two by the time she was 6 months old and 4 by now but you always knew she was getting one. It apparently didn't bother Chase to much, this time anyway! I don't know if I just don't remember or what but it really seems to me like they are so so so different in pretty much every way - except their smiles, they are the same! He started saying DaDaDa on Saturday. He goes from a sitting position to a kind of hands and knees position but then is just mad - no crawling signs. We went to the preschool open house last night and Callie is excited to start tomorrow. Dance starts tonight.
We had a good weekend. Stayed home and rested Saturday until evening when Mom and Dad came down and we went to Joplin to Chuck E. Cheese. Callie loves going and unlike apparently every other parent we really don't mind going. We played, ate, and then Dad and Shannon stayed with Callie while Mom, Chase, and I went into the mall for some shopping - had 30% off at Gymboree and you earned Gym Bucks for later. Spent way to much but got some very cute things for the fall! Sunday we went to Church and then to Pizza Hut - Callie loves their Sunday buffet and always chooses it if we let her! Shannon and Callie planted 3 trees Shannon bought - he is obsessed. Chase and I took a nap!!! Then we went to Shannon's parents house that evening. Linda took Callie and Shelby to the playground, Shannon got to play cards with his Dad and brothers, and I got to walk while Chase napped in the stroller. Good weekend.

cute kiddos

Nothing too new here. Yesterday was Shannon's first day back with kids and Chase & Callie's first day back at Mary's. I think it all went OK. We are going to be exhausted by the end of the week!!!!

About Us

The basement is really coming along. Justin and Brett have been helping Shannon with that a lot. I'm not sure if I have mentioned that we are finishing a little less than half the basement. The wall separating the storage part from the part we are finishing is up along with a nice sized closet and bathroom. Shannon's uncle and Dad have also helped.
The new superintendent at Frontenac seems to be really nice. The first few months I am always nervous. You know want to make a good impression and not mess up right off :-)
Some fun family things have been mini golf and the crawford county fair. Arma homecoming is this weekend. Callie also made Coney at build a bear workshop.
I have to include pictures in each post so I will put this here. The Clevenger's came over the other evening. We always have such a good time together. Callie is less than a week older than Brett and Reece is exactly a week older than Chase. Our middle boys were just over two months apart and I'm sure are great friends in heaven too. For those of you that do not know we live less than 5 miles apart and have numerous friends in common but never knew each other until we lost Connor. They had lost their son in a car wreck just a few months before. God sure lead us to great friends when he brought us together. Not only do they offer great support to us, we have a lot of fun together. Comparing how much bigger the boys are than the girls is so funny - glad it is that way instead of the other way.

Chase

Chase just turned 7 months old! For the month of July his sleeping has been better (as you can see above he is often exhausted :-). At the end of June we went to the chiropractor, added the allergy meds, and halved the reflux meds. I think all of this greatly helped and he started sleeping better. He would still get up a couple times at night other than to eat and when he got up it no longer was that something was wrong, just that he was a baby that had been tended to all the time for 6 months. So at that point we could finally do some baby sleep training. We started playing an instrumental lullaby CD when he slept and I would only pat his back when he was upset, not pick him up. He only fussed a very little amount and would settle back down. By now he only gets up the once to eat typically, and two times he forgot to do that! The last week or so we have even had to lay him down awake to go to bed and he fusses very little and then goes to sleep. Finally after 7 months! Although Callie definitely has taught me that everything is a phase. I know that he will go thru many but at least we seem to be thru the 6 month long beginning phase. We will see how going back to Mary's affects him.

Things to Remember

Callie seems to have grown up and changed so much in the last few months and there are several things I want to remember from lately:
*From her car seat the other day she ask if when she grew up, if her name would still be Callie. I responded that oh course it would be, unless she wanted to change it to Suzie or something (she often picks Suzie for a girl name of one of her animals). She said but I like Callie!
*She always refers to Chase as Chase Robert when talking to him, about him, or even when we are practicing writing our family names. So her cousin, Shelby, was over playing the other day. I hear Shelby say "Hi Chase" Callie says "It is Chase Robert" So obediently Shelby says "Hi Chase Robert"
*Shannon's birthday was Monday so we bought him presents and Callie baked him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and sprinkles. We bought him presents and hid them and kept them a secrete. So Max, the dog, is 8 years old today. She picked out a present for him too and we hid it. She had a play date with a girl who will be in her preschool class. Callie asks me if Max is inside. When I say no she tells the little girl that she got Max a rabbit toy for him for his birthday. She had to make sure he wasn't around when she said it so it wouldn't routine the surprise.
*Shannon is a big Mizzou fan and taught Callie at an early age to say "dirty jayhawk" when she saw KU stuff. Great fun to have her point at someones shirt when shopping and scream "there's a dirty jayhawk" So when our playdate sisters show up in jayhawk cheerleading outfits, she has to go change immediately.
*Every once in a while she will stop and look at the pictures on our wall, or at Mom and Dads, and say Connor and Chase look alike. I can't tell which one is which.
*She says it sure is fun to have a baby. And often has babies of her own. I have to feel it kick in her tummy. Then she goes to the hospital and I have to go visit her and her new baby. She will be laying in her bed and have a doll for me to see. Then they get to come home and bring the new baby home.
*She did dance last year and each time we had to walk by the gymnastics room to get there and she wanted to try it. So we have done gymnastics this summer. Dance starts back the end of this month so I told her she had to she had to chose which one she wanted to do. She picked dance but then the other day I said something about the pretty new dance outfit she had to wear and she said that she could play in it at home since she wasn't taking dance. I asked why she had changed her mind and wasn't taking dance. She said because we hadn't found any new shoes that would fit her. We aren't real sure where she got this from except that we went to KC shopping and looked for new shoes for her and maybe since we didn't get new dance shoes then she thought that she wasn't getting them. I told her that no we would go to Joplin to Dance World to get her new shoes soon (she has to get narrow ones so we have to go over there). She said but will they have my size. She was quite excited when I assured her that they would and she could take dance again.
*When I was home the one Friday I turned Sesame Street on for her (since she had once asked me why our tv didn't get it like Mary's did). As soon as she saw what show was on, she looked at me and said "I miss Mary". So we went last Friday and visited her. She seems excited to go back and says that she is excited to go to preschool and make new friends.
*She was talking about all the things she could teach Chase when he got older. She said that she would teach him to brush his teeth but they would have to take turns - because you know we only have one tooth brush :-) I assured her we would get him his own tooth brush.

Picture Time

On July 2nd we had pictures taken at Portrait Innovations in Overland Park - two days before Chase was 6 months old and Callie is 4.5 years. Here are just a few of the over 100 pictures we had to pick from.