11 YEARS OLD!

Dear Caleb,

It appears that you are so awesome, you have pulled me out of blogger hibernation. We will talk about that much later because today is YOUR day.

When you were born, dad and I wanted to name you Caleb because we LOVED the name. Then we looked up the meaning of the name we saw "bold and impetuous". We looked at each other for a moment and then thought maybe you would be a good balance for your then 5 year old, quiet brother. For a while, I thought you didn't really fit your name because you are so even keel and not easily rocked. But, I have seen this boldness emerge in you that I didn't expect to see. It's not the "bold and impetuous" that I expected, but a quiet confidence and sense of adventure that is always brewing underneath. You aren't afraid of much at all.

One thing that I love about you is your attachment to the unexpected and your 100% focus and devotion to that thing. You are very one-track minded and you immerse yourself into something completely until you are done with it, then you move on to the next thing. However, you never leave your previous objects of affection behind. They remain a part of your life, but your focus turns to something else completely. It's a very, VERY cool trait about you. Last year at this time, you were into wall ball and I couldn't get you to stop. Now, you still carry your ball to school to play, but hardly ever do it here. For months, you have been into skateboarding and have great aspirations to become a professional skater someday, but the FOCUS has died down to allow for your current passion....CAKE BOSS. Yes, the show. You have been recording it and watching every episode. We've been inundated with talk of fondant and royal icing. Of course you would love this show! It's all about sugar.

You joined band this year and dad and I were quite surprised that you picked the trombone. It's pretty cool that you picked this instrument because a. your dad played when he was younger and b. we still have his trombone and didn't have to rent one. :) I honestly thought that your first concert would be a musical disaster, but was very pleasantly surprised at how great you all were and YOU were awesome. I honestly can't wait for your next concert. It's not surprising though that you plan to switch to drums when you get into middle school band...following in your brother's footsteps. You are actually very good on his drum set. But do you want to take drum lessons? No...you are dying to play the electric guitar.

I just think you are so great. You are definitely one of a kind and really bring a great balance to our family. You seem to mesh with everyone in some special way and yet you don't ever come out to the forefront. However, you are greatly missed when you aren't here...you leave a hole that makes us all feel incomplete. It's going to be really tough when you pack up your bags for college one day...but let's not think that far ahead. You are, after all, only 11.

Thank you for 11 wonderful years of making my role as "mom" that much better. Happy Birthday!

I love you!

Mom

=(

I'm the worst blogger on the planet.

Meals with Micah: Home-made Pizza!

We decided to make pizza (crust included!) and if you know anything about Caleb, he's the pickiest eater in the world. I about fell over when he said, "This is GOOD!!! I like it better than Little Caesars!"

The second pizza turned out much more professional looking (more circular), but everyone really liked

the cheese pizza a lot more. While the crust wasn't as perfect, it was much more thick and tasty. I guess there's something to be said for that hand-tossed, uneven yummy crust. Definitely a winner and we will be making this again, for sure.

Meals with Micah: Dessert! Yogurt Smoothies and Chocolate Covered Bananas

Micah's been begging me to put this smoothie picture up. It's not the best as far as pictures go (I didn't plan), but you get the idea. Vanilla yogurt, fresh berries, frozen banana pieces and a bit of lowfat milk. They were yummy!

On another night, we made chocolate covered bananas. The only thing we'd change on this is to use thicker toothpicks next time. These

flimsy little things broke quite easily. They were super yummy though.

Meals with Micah: Chicken Quesadillas

Micah has been very much into cooking for quite some time and I've been horribly guilty of putting off spending some time with him in the kitchen. However, it's one of my goals to help him see his dream come true to cook with me more often. Therefore, you will occasionally see pictures and possibly recipes of meals I have made with him.

I'm starting off with Chicken Quesadillas. We made these last week and they were a HUGE hit. No lie, they were absolutely delicious. Micah helped to chop up the chicken, he spread them on the tortillas and put the cheese and seasoning in. I fried them in the oil and he cut and served them. He was SO proud of his first real dinner and everyone kept saying how great they tasted.

We're on a mission to make more home-made meals and get more away from the processed junk I've tended to lean towards with having picky eaters. I'm discovering that as I place healthier foods in front of my children, they aren't turning EVERYTHING away and it's so encouraging! A few of the things we are working on now is getting a small garden growing in our backyard, a small herb garden (already going and very much used so far), and buying more of our produce from local farmer's markets as well as working towards purchasing our meat and dairy from local farmers. Changing our habits isn't going to all happen overnight, but making small changes will eventually see us healthier and happier. :)

Stay tuned for more to come....

Happy Birthday Baby...

Dear Micah,

I can't get over how much you have grown this year ~ not only physically, but also your maturity level. The other night, I was putting you in to bed and we were talking about how people kept guessing that I wanted my third child to be a girl. I told you that I said, "no way! I want another boy!" and how happy I was to find out that I was going to give birth to my third son. You looked at me and smiled and said, "God gave you a cuddler." He really did. You are my cuddliest child and although you prove that you are a bit more "needy" than the other boys seem to be, your tenderness and snuggles are super special to me.

This year has been a big one for you. You joined Cub Scouts with your friend Nicholas and you have really thrived in the program. You just graduated a few days ago with your Wolf Badge and are now a Bear. It's been a great program for you to be a part of and we are so proud of you for doing your best.

As always, you are thriving again in school. You're growing so much in your writing and I love reading your weekend happenings journal entries every week. You are becoming much more expressive with your words and it's making your writing much more interesting and fun. Math has always been a strong suit for you and socially you are quite adept. You are the class clown and definitely known as the funny boy of the class. Your classmates all love you - you are really fun to be around.

The drama hasn't died down any more this year, in fact, it may be a bit more intense. However, this just makes the FUN side of you that much more fun. Your facial expressions are priceless and you have genuinely cracked me up many times. You just have so much personality and I am so very thankful that you are a part of our family. You really help to balance us all out.

I love the sensitive side of you. This comes out in mostly good ways. I do find that you are more easily frightened than your brothers, but for the most part, your sensitivity is so positive. You have an empathetic nature, you are caring and loving and aware of people and their feelings. However, you are also more outdoorsy and boyish in nature also. I think if I could describe you in one (hyphenated) word, it would be well-rounded.

I want to thank you Micah, for continuing to bring such life into our home. You are so fun to be around, you bring a presence into the room when you walk in, that is just contagious. You are the life of the party most everywhere you go. I can't wait to see how this amazing personality and extremeness that you exude develops in you as you grow older and mature.

I love you with my whole heart. The last 8 years of my life have been so much more fun because of you.

Happy Birthday Micah!

Love, Mom

Micah's Mother's Day Poem

Roses are red.

Violets are blue.

What is pretty?

Oh boy, it's you.