Caleb Stewart

Happy 8th Birthday Caleb! I can't believe I am the mommy of an 8 year old! Where has all the time gone? I can remember waiting and waiting for you to get here--making sure the nursery was stocked and ready, and worrying about how our dog would react to you:-) You were a beautiful baby--thick brown hair and a pretty blue eyes. Everyone was at the hospital waiting for you to arrive--the joys of a first grandchild:-)

You have grown into such a sweet young man--you are diligent in your schoolwork, love your time at home, are always up for any kind of fun. You enjoy building with Legos, drawing and coloring, basketball, and soccer. You also love playing video games--especially Lego Batman, Lego Indiana Jones, and anything on the Wii.

You are a loyal friend, and are willing to put your feelings aside for someone else to feel better. You are a (mostly) sweet big brother--always trying to help with Jake and play with Emma.

You are a perfectionist and can get upset when things don't go your way, but you usually bounce back fairly quickly from any outburst.

You had a rough start to school this year, but over the last few months have improved tremendously--your reading and writing skills are phenomenal, as evidenced by your reading certificates. You also achieved Student of the Month last month--I am so proud of you for that!

You are a joy to have for a son, and I can't wait to see what new things you will accomplish over the next year--I love you son!

Emma Grace

Happy 6th Birthday Emma! I can't believe it has been six years since you were born--time is going by way too fast. You are such a sweetheart and put up with a lot being the only girl in the family (other than mommy). You love to help and love to be in the middle of everything. You have perfected the art of conversation--even when no one is in the mood to talk:-) You are unfailingly curious, wanting to know everything about a subject that interests with you. You have the ability to memorize music very quickly--you only need to hear a song 1 or 2 times before you know it.

You are a great little/big sister. You enjoy playing with Caleb and Jake and help out whenever the mood strikes you around the house. You have enjoyed emptying the dishwasher for me and dusting is one of your favorite pastimes (you must get that from Nana).

You like being girly and wearing dresses, singing and dancing, and ballet. But you also like playing ball, wrestling with Jake, and playing fight outside with Caleb.

You love school and are doing really well this year--you even received a note home complimenting you on your manners and helpful attitude. I am very proud of how loyal you are and the big heart you have for everyone. I can't wait to see how you grow over the next year, and what big things God has in store for you. I love you, sweet girl!

Mommy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH5u7UuzDyc

Well, I tried to embed this video but I couldn't get it to work, so please go to the above link and watch--very powerful--I love Selah and the imagery in this video is perfect for Easter. I hope everyone had a wonderful day (even with the cold and rain in NWA) and please have a wonderful week! We have a busy one ahead with Emma's birthday:-)

Boobs and Brain Damage

So I wanted to post this quickly before I forget: the kids have been playing outside all afternoon since getting home from school. Emma ran in a few minutes ago and told me she had brain damage:-) She said that Caleb had kicked her in her headfore and damaged her brain! What an imagination she has. She ran back out and came in a few minutes later and said, " 100+100 is 0--see, I have brain damage!"

Jake came in a little while after that holding 2 bouncy balls up to his chest, yelling, "I has boos, I has boos!" Never a dull moment in the Dunlap house! Hope everyone is enjoying their week!

Spring Break Pt. 2

So things have been going well with the kids at Dale and Marie's--I called to talk to them last night and they were both telling me different activities and things that had been going on. Marie and I decided not to drive to Louisiana this week. I am disappointed but know that the kids would be too tired to try it--hopefully we can go in the summer for longer. As I'm talking with Emma, she suddenly asked me how baby Clayton was doing. I told her I wasn't with him, I was with Jake. So she says," How is Jake Renessa?" The child had been talking to me for at least 5 minutes. I swear she has blonde roots.

Jake has been really into singing at the piano. He gets his play microphone and starts banging on the keys and singing High School Musical and songs from church--really too cute.

Shon told me today that a friend of his that he works with lost their baby last month--she was stillborn. What a tragedy--it made me really thankful for my children being healthy--even though some days I wonder what I was thinking having 3, I can't imagine them not being here. I hope I never have to.

Well, Jake has been down for a long nap, and he'll never go back to bed tonight if I don't get him up. I'll try to post pictures soon--I have some good blackmail material on my phone for when Jake gets older. It involves him, a tiara, and his sister's purple princess dress;-)

Spring Break!

Spring Break is officially here! I am excited because my oldest 2 are spending the weekend with my in-laws:-) I literally am so excited to have a break from the arguing and back and forth between the 2 of them. I have been trying a new concept lately with discipline--it's a book called 1-2-3 Magic. Basically you count the behavior you want stopped (like whining, arguing, fighting, etc) and you reward behaviors you want them to start (keeping their rooms clean, putting away clothes, unloading the dishwasher, etc.) I now only ask them to have their rooms cleaned on Wednesday night and Sunday nights before bed. If they comply the receive their full allowance--$3 for Caleb and $2 for Emma. If it's not clean then I take money off--same with their chores. It has really been working well except for this week--I think the time change also threw them off because they are more tired and cranky. I am hoping this break allows us to catch up on some sleep:-)

Shon is still traveling every week, Monday through Thursday. Caleb has started baseball--it's a lot more than I bargained for. With tball he had 1 practice and 1 game a week. With baseball it is 2 practices a week for 1 1/2 hours each, and the games are here or possibly away. It's really hard to do with the other 2 having no one to stay with, but we'll get through it. Emma's ballet recital is next month, and she has been so cute going around singing El Shaddai. She and Jake have been singing at our piano a lot lately--they love to belt out any song from High School Musical, although today Emma busted out with some Beyonce--Single Ladies. Too funny:-)

Not much else I can think of right now--I will try to be more consistent. Both Caleb and Emma had to take a round of antibiotics this month--Emma for a deep cough that wouldn't go away and Caleb had strep last Saturday. Hopefully everyone else will stay well!

Long while

So it has been too long since I have posted, but so much has been going on. We survived the ice storm of '09--our power went out Tuesday afternoon around 2 pm. The kids tried to nap but were unable to, save Jake. We turned on the fireplace and were plenty warm for awhile. My friend Jen called and she and her husband and 3 kids were our and checking out the damage--they offered for us to stay with them, and we took them up on it. Shon was out of town, and I wasn't really sure what I would do with 3 kids without anything electronic to entertain them:-) I really only thought we would be there for 24-48 hours max, so I packed a few changes of clothes and we were on our way.

No one had eaten supper so on the way to Rogers, we decided to stop at McDonalds. We were literally there for 1 1/2 hours! It took about 30 minutes to get our food, and Jen, who ordered right behind me, had to wait forever for hers. It turns out the 1 person working the register lost their order--it was not much fun! We finally made it to their house, and I was really glad for heat and electricity! We ended up staying with them through Friday! It was crazy in the house with 6 kids 7 and under, but we made it work. Mike and Jen were wonderful, and the kids were well behaved up until the last day:-) Shon was diverted flying home Thursday night and ended up in Tulsa--he drove home early Friday morning rather than wait on the plane. He was feeling really ill with a sinus infection so we decided to drive to Lepanto where Shon's parents live and stay there until our power was back on or until the kids had to go back to school, whichever came first. We ended up coming back home Monday morning:-) We had to throw out all of our food, which was quite depressing, but it is nice having a clean refrigerator:-)

We had an uneventful few weeks after that, and were able to enjoy Valentine's day with my parents, sister and Josh. We went to Caleb's Upward basketball game, where he scored his first basket. Then we went and ate lunch at Red Robin (yummy). We went to Target after eating and Christy and Josh let the kids each buy a toy for their birthdays. The had fun looking through EVERYTHING before picking something out. Josh and dad were at the Razorback game, so we came back to the house and played for a little bit. Then we went to Catfish Hole and ate supper, and they had to leave. It was fun to spend time with them.

Caleb will be starting baseball soon, and finishing up basketball this Saturday. Emma will be done with ballet in April, and has decided she wants to play soccer--we'll see if this lasts:-) Hope everyone is doing well--sorry for not commenting lately--I do read your blogs though!

Carolynn