We made it eight months...

Today my boy turned 8 months old. I can't believe the bear is not growing as fast as Caleb. I think the bear must be stunted.

All we need is sand...

Caleb's friends, Justin & Ben, are too big to play with their old sand-box turtle. They graciously passed on their turtle and a ton of sand-box toys to Caleb. When Caleb saw the turtle he immediately wanted to start playing. I think he may be a little young for sand, but that is really all we need to make a big time mess.

Enjoy the pictures...

He is growing up...

Allison lowered Caleb's crib mattress today. We either had to do that or put a roof on the thing to keep Caleb inside. Last night I went in to baby him (he was crying) and what did I see...I'll tell you...there was my boy sitting up in his bed like a big boy just fussing and a crying. If he wanted, he could have just tarzaned out of the crib by the mobile.

Below are a few pictures of him in the crib. Be warned...he only has a diaper on.

One step closer...

We are one-step closer to having the porch finished. Allison, Caleb and I knew that we needed to finish priming the new front porch railings, so we put our plan in action. Allison and I took the first shift and let Caleb rest in his "pack-n-play".




Allison needed to spend some time at the library and I was tired of painting so I put Caleb to work.



Caleb did a good job except he kept trying to eat the primer. I blame his mother for teaching him to act like that!


There must be some type of sedatives in the primer, because Caleb fell fast asleep in my arms during one of his breaks.


I decided not to wake him up when it was time for him to get back to it…he looked too tired. I am the best dad / foreman ever!


I am such a good boss I let him have a snack when he woke up...


There are still a few boards that need to be replaced due to some warping but progress is still being made as evident in the pictures below.

Small Pebble...

This weekend we took Caleb out of the great and mighty state of Texas to another state to the northeast (our location will remain unnamed to protect the innocent…we will call the city we visited “Small Pebble” for purposes of this blog entry). It was Caleb’s first time to leave his birth state and venture out into the great unknown.

During his trip abroad, Caleb wanted to document the nature of the indigenous people there and categorize their behavior for possible future study. Caleb asked me to write this blog entry as a warning to travelers unaware of what lies beyond the borders of the great and mighty state of Texas.

Our journey began at the border where the native people erected strange hieroglyphics. The hieroglyphics were perhaps used in some ancient pagan ceremony. We of course took our pictures by the ancient relict...



Not knowing what lie ahead, Caleb sat in his seat and pondered what was to come…


He, of course, never thought the first creature he would see upon arriving at “Small Pebble” would be SO interesting. We will call her “Aunt Bridget” for purposes of this record.


“Aunt Bridget” was very beguiling and convinced our expedition to stay with her while we were in the area. She was of limited intelligence and Caleb was able to win her allegiance and affection right away.


Many creatures visited “Aunt Bridget” during our stay. Caleb was fascinated with all of them. In fact, he could not keep his eyes off “Belle” and “Lydia”.

Below are pictures of “Belle” and Caleb...



Below is a picture of “Lydia” and Caleb (notice the intense stare as Caleb studies her every move)...


The brother of “Lydia” was also a frequent visitor of “Aunt Bridget”. We will call him “Ben”.

Caleb studied the “Ben” creature very closely…


Caleb discovered that some of the native “Small Pebble” inhabitants had cannibalistic tendencies. Thankfully, we were able to save Caleb’s hand.


Although it has not been documented fully, we ascertain that the relationship between “Aunt Bridget” and “Ben” could be more than that of mere friendship. Perhaps in future studies we will refer to the “Ben” creature as “Uncle Ben”?


While we were at the home of “Aunt Bridget”, we played board games, we ate, we swam in a concrete pond (Texans call it a pool), went to church, and visited “Aunt Bridget’s” mother who also happened to be the mother of Allison. Caleb calls Allison’s mom “Mom-mom”.

Below is a picture of one of the games we played (Settlers of Catan)…


Overall, the trip was a success. We were able to study the people of “Small Pebble” and were successfully able to exit the area with our mind’s intact. Too bad we couldn’t say the same thing about those we left behind…

Porchimus Prime

Our front porch is beginning to transform into something wonderful. The next stage in this transformation is to prime the porch. We started yesterday and through much toil and turmoil we only finished priming about 90% of the little porch. This is going to take so much longer than I want it to.
Edd (the carpenter) is almost finished. He has to finish wrapping the bottom of the post with molding, replace some of the warped spindles and tighten up the bolts on the newel post.
Below are some more pictures to update you on the progress.

The partially primed little porch...


The new hand rails on the larger porch...

Almost finished front porch...

Hopefully phase 2 will be replacing the ceiling with beadboard and hanging two outdoor ceiling fans here...

The view from the front door...

Torture...

Today Caleb had his first "brush" with torture. We "cut" on over to North Richland Hills and "swept" in for his first haircut.

He was great for the first two minutes. He began to scream so loud that it "permed" the walls. Below are a few pictures that "highlight" the experience...

See how his long flowing locks of love looked before...



I think he knew his future was "set" when we got in the car...

I think he was a little scared even in the waiting area...



The place we went was all about the kids. It was a regular funville of "cuts" and "curls"...


Caleb sat in a firetruck and I think he was making eyes at his "stylist"...



Caleb's first "brush" with scissors...




The melt down begins...




All done...and he survived...


Caleb even got a certificate...


Mommy and Caleb had to have their picture taken by the fountain...


He looks like such a little man...


Finally we are home...


Below is the video...warning...it is a solid 15 minutes of screaming...