The Bird's Nest

We just spent five days in CA at the in-laws' house. It was a great trip! Allan and Gig (my in-laws) love being grandparents more than just about anything in the world. They are loving and generous and my kids are so blessed to have them in their lives. One of the coolest things they have done for their grandkids is build a second story onto their house. The room is called "The Bird's Nest" and it is a little girl's paradise (eventually they will incorporate a few boy things as well). Claire has yet to sleep in one of the three princess beds, but she had a blast playing in all the dress up clothes and pulling everything she could reach out of the huge toy closet. We are all looking forward to the day that the cousins can go to Mimi and Papa's house for sleepovers and get a lot more use out of this great room.

Seriously Cute

I am sorry, but they are!

Claire dressed herself the other day in her fancy "ballerina shirt" that Ms. Leanna made her and matched it perfectly with some striped pants. No outfit would be complete without just the right amount of accessories. I LOVE her unique personality and style. She would be dressed like this 90% of the time if she had her way (and most of the time she does). Since it was 30 degrees outside I did require a coat to be added to the outfit when we headed out to run a few errands. I am so proud that Claire is showing tendencies towards confidence and being assertive and being true to who she is (even if sometimes she wears me totally out). I love her with all my heart with and without her funky outfits that I personally find totally adorable.

Jacob is a changing little man. He got his first tooth the day after he turned six months. It is the bottom left one and he got it like a champ...no fussing. I have been praying that he would teeth like his sister and that I would not know he was getting a tooth until it appeared and so far he is one for one...thank you Jesus. He had his first sippy cup of water today and loved it. He has been obsessed with our glasses for the last couple of months and has even managed to knock TWO Sonic drinks out of my hands (the nerve!!!). I decided it was time to test out his interest and boy did he take to it like a champ. So far he has had about a quarter of a sippy cup of water. A little bit ago I was giving him a little floor time and when I looked over he had his knees pulled underneath him. I wonder if he will crawl earlier than Claire did. It is so fun to watch him grow and change. I am so thankful that I get to stay home and have a front row seat to my kids lives on a daily basis. They are seriously cute...what can I say?!?!

Christmas Festivities

I just love this time of year for so many reasons. This has been a special holiday season because Claire seems to be "getting it" for the first time. Last night she asked us to play Mary and Joseph and assigned us all parts: Claire was Mary, Jacob was Joseph, I was a sheep, and Allan was a king, her new little teddy bear was baby Jesus. It was so cute. She even draped a blanket over her and Jacob and said they were "wearing their hoods just like in the story". We have made sure that she knows that Jesus' birthday is the real reason for Christmas, but it is also fun to ask Santa for gifts and we have already planned out what cookies and milk we will leave out on our Christmas Eve (which is actually going to be this Friday night since we will be out of town on actual Christmas). We wrote Santa and asked him if there was any way he could come to our house a little early and he kindly said sure ;)

I have tried to do as many Christmas-y things this month as possible. This weekend was so fun since we hit up a few local events and even met up with some friends on Sunday afternoon for a walk around the arboretum.

Saturday afternoon we made our first trip to a local church that puts on a live nativity. It was really neat. We rode the hay ride tour through all the main scenes, then went to their petting zoo, and finished up with cookies and hot cider and cocoa. Claire LOVED seeing all the real animals and thought the scene of Mary being woken up by an angel was really funny. Jacob was just happy to be all cuddled up in the carrier looking cute.

After we saw the nativity we headed across the street to a little festival even though we were short on time. Claire had to choose which line she wanted to wait in, Santa or the Boogie Woogie Choo Choo, she chose the train. She did not quite understand that she was making an either/or choice and was really sad when we didn't have time to go see Santa. Jacob was in rare form and had a blast playing with Allan. He would squeal at the top of his lungs and then give a big belly laugh. He was the hit of the line...what can I say, we have some cute kids ;)

Sunday we met up with some of our new friends at the Arboretum. It was a beautiful day to be outside. I was a little bummed that once we paid to get inside we found out that all the activities cost even more money, but we had fun walking and talking anyway. Once again Claire missed out on her Santa opportunity. One of the many funny things she said when we were heading over yesterday was "will Santa be there and not baby Jesus? I really just want to see Santa this time." It was also fun to revisit the bench where Allan asked me to marry him. We have started a tradition of going back to take a picture on it after we add a kid to the family (see family picture above).

We ended the weekend with our small group Christmas party at our house and although it was loud and chaotic with all the kids a babysitter that was a no show we had a good time. We played games and had good food. It is so great to be building relationships with so many great people.

What a great weekend! The rest of the month is going to be just as fun I think and that makes me happy.

6 Months Old

My sweet Jacob Allan came into my world six months ago and all I can say is that I am so deeply in love with this little guy. He is a true joy and has been the most precious addition to our family. I cannot believe that we are half way through his first year of life, time has never flown by so quickly.

This last month I have seen Jacob change from a squishy little baby that doesn't do too much into a super cute squishy baby that sits up on his own, rolls all over the room, says "dadadadada", and he eats three to four jars of baby food a day (he is not a huge fan of fruits, but loves all veggies). He has a smile that will melt your heart and is generally laid back and happy. Just in the last week we have started doing a little "sleep training" and the boy that never let me sleep more than a couple of hours a night has had a few fantastic nights of only one wake up which is amazing.

I love watching the bond grow between my two special guys. They are getting more and more time to interact and watching Jacob's face light up when his daddy is around makes me so happy.

I am so excited to watch my little man grow. I know that the big first birthday will be here before I know it (lump in my throat). Jacob Allan you are one special little man and I am so blessed to be your mommy. Thank you for all the joy you bring to my life every day.

Claire's FIrst Christmas Program

Today was one of those moments...you know the ones where you think, 'I have waited my whole life for this' except you didn't even know it. As I watched my baby girl walk down the aisle and then up onto the stage to perform the little songs I had been hearing her practice at home for the last couple of weeks I had tears in my eyes. I was so proud of her! She did all the motions and sang most of the words. She saw me in the crowd and got excited, waved, and even said "Mom"- I loved it! She looked adorable in her white princess angel dress.
After the performance we had cookies and punch (which was red and I was a nervous wreck she would ruin her dress) then it was time for her to do a wardrobe change and put on her PJs for the rest of her Christmas party. She was so sad to take her beautiful dress off so we made a compromise she could keep on her golden bow, sparkle shoes, and her "high heels" (most of you would probably call them tights, but not my funny girl). She spent the next couple of hours with her classmates eating pizza and cake, reading Christmas stories by the "pretend campfire", and doing crafts.
Another great perk of the day was having my sister and parents come to the program. It really meant a lot to me that my parents took the day off of work to come and watch Claire sing in a group for thirty minutes. Thank you so much for loving my Claire Bear!!

I am so thankful for this Mother's Day Out program and for her super sweet teacher. It is such a great feeling to know that I can trust my baby girl in the hands of these godly women a couple of times a week and that she will be having a great time and learning a few things in the process.

Gaylord Texan Fun

This last weekend we headed over to the Gaylord Texan to get a little taste of the holidays. It was decorated beautifully and Claire loved all the sparkly things. I was a little bummed that we missed out on seeing all the amazing lights after dark, but when you have two little kids and there are important football games on at night "you get what you get and you don't get upset". I was in awe of the HUGE gingerbread house and gingerbread cowboys. There are some seriously creative people out there. Allan liked the trains and Claire just liked the freedom of leading us all over the place. I love the Christmas season!

Princess Time

Claire got a new dress to wear in her Christmas program at school this week and she loves it! She calls it a princess dress and when she tries it on she just twirls and twirls. The other day she asked me to put on my princess dress and I thought...why not. I found the poofiest dress in my closet- my wedding dress- and squeezed right into it. We spent a little bit of time dancing and singing "I'll Love You Forever" to each other. It was a memory I will never forget. I am so glad that I took the chance to make my little girl's eyes light up as I came around the corner in my white sparkly dress. It was so much fun and so very sweet.

Decorating for Christmas

We had a laid back morning last weekend decorating for Christmas. I love this time of year, I love how cozy the living room feels with a Christmas tree. I recently came across a couple of ornaments that belonged to my Granny and Pap and it makes me happy to see them hanging on my tree. We continued our tradition of everyone in the family getting a new ornament to hang on the tree this year, Claire received a princess castle, Allan got a Santa catching a trout, Allan was given a cute little airplane, and I added an ornament with a picture of my favorite place in Washington Lake Crescent Lodge. It is so great to look at our tree and see it filling up with memories. Jacob is at the perfect age this year he is intrigued with the tree, but isn't mobile enough to bother it. Claire is full of Christmas spirit this year and I LOVE it!!! She sings Christmas carols and makes Christmas crafts daily. She is also quite obsessed with opening the gifts under the tree and asks daily if it is Christmas yet. One of the highlights of the Christmas decorations this year is the LGB train that Allan has had since he was a little boy. It makes many circles a day around our tree. It has already been a good December and I look forward to many many more memories being made over the next few weeks.

Fun Times (More Often Than Not)

My kids are becoming buddies and that is a fun transition to watch. The adoration that Claire has poured out on her brother since he was in my tummy is finally starting to be reciprocated. Jacob usually lights up when Claire comes near, unless of course she has recently "hugged" him a little too hard, then he kind of whimpers as she approaches. Claire often says "you are my best friend buddy" and that makes me so proud. I really hope and pray that my kids will always have a close, fun, loving relationship.

This little guy is almost 6 months old and he gets more fun everyday. He is generally very happy and still pretty laid back although there are moments that he will let us know that he has an opinion. He is a lot like his daddy that way- rarely has an opinion but when he does watch out. He is sitting up and rolling all over the place. He is starting to play with toys which is so fun. As you can tell he is still quite the eater and will eat pretty much anything offered to him. There is not a baby food that he has opposed this last month and would easily eat two jars of food per sitting (I have only done that once, he puked a lot of it up...oops). He is beginning to chatter a lot too. His favorite sound is "dadadada". I am just so in love with my sweet Jacob and love watching him grow.

Watching the kids play together is one of my favorite things ever. It is nice to get five or ten minutes to work on laundry or dishes or catch up on Facebook while they play together on the floor for a bit.

This little beauty keeps me on my toes about fifteen hours a day. She is hilarious and sweet most of the time, but she can also be a force of nature that shakes me to my core at times as well. It is in those moments of total angry chaos I find myself praying "Jesus let her get saved quick!!!!" . I won't focus on those moments right now, they are no fun to relive. Some of the great things about Claire at the moment are her imagination, her reasoning skills that are not always practical but usually end up making sense, her love of all things artsy, her love for her little family, her "fashion" preferences. She is becoming such a great little person and I love her more deeply everyday.

This Is Hard...But I Am Blessed

NEWSFLASH!!!!! Being a mom is HARD! Let me pause for a minute while you pick your jaws up off the floor at this shocking new piece of knowledge...deep breaths it will sink in in a minute.

This has been a somewhat exhausting week for me. I have had nights of basically no sleep since Jacob is sick again with a really rough cold. He is on antibiotics and doing three breathing treatments a day. He is way more clingy, but I have been able to enjoy some really sweet moments with my little man. Claire has been pushing for a little more attention since Jacob has been in my arms pretty much nonstop. How does a three year old try to get your attention you might ask...laying on her brother's face (she said she was just loving on him since he is sick. FYI a stuffy baby finds it even harder to breath when a three year old is on his face.), climbing on counter tops to get into the candy (she said she was getting a treat since she is such a good girl), taking all of my jewelry out of my jewelry box and putting it in her little purse (she said she was just borrowing it and being really careful with it.), screaming hysterically while I try to put her in her car seat after an lunch date with the cousins and making me literally wrestle her into her car seat, listen to the fit all the way home and wrestle her all the way up the stairs to her room once we got home (there was no good reason for this one, she just had a little pent up frustration I guess). By the way she was punished in some way for all of these things and I feel like we are both making strides and learning how to be a good mommy and a good daughter together through all these antics.

So why am I blessed by all of this?
I have two healthy (minus the cold) children that I get to spend all day with learning and growing together. I have a baby boy that I get to cuddle with and listen to him jabber in between his sniffles. I have a sweet girl that is creative and funny and daring and knows what she wants in life. I am blessed to be a mom, even on the hard days.

This week alone I have prayed for a mom and her baby as he went into a surgery that she was not sure he would make it out of. I have prayed for a family that tragically lost their teenage daughter to a horrific act of violence. I have prayed for a friend that may lose her ability to have any more children way too early.

So is having a sick sleepless baby hard? Yep. Is having a daughter that is full of teachable moments hard? Absolutely! But at least I have these two little people in my life and in my arms on a daily basis. I am not currently in the middle of any tragedy or true stress. My heart is full of thankfulness at the very moment, even though my brain and body are tired.

Casa de Chaos

Last weekend we went to Waco to celebrate my Dad's birthday. Sometimes it is nice to just sit back and take it all in...the chaos that is our family gatherings. I mean I just have to laugh when I look at the pictures that were captured over a two day period. We all had a great time sitting out by the fire, cooking out, making s'mores, eating cake, and just being together. The kids ran wild outside most of the time throwing acorns, climbing all over the riding lawn mower (who needs toys when you are in the country), playing chase, and just being kids. I have said it before, but I love being at my parent's house even with the chaos. I love sitting on their porch, dancing in the dining room with Allan, and just being out of the city. I think that Dad felt celebrated in between all the chaotic moments that go along with having 19 people under one roof for two days.

Can't wait to revisit Casa de Chaos in a couple of weeks when we all go back and invade over Thanksgiving. We are all praying for good weather so we can enjoy the great outdoors (or at least the porch swing) over those few days.

Happy Birthday Dad!!!

Happy 60th birthday Dad! I love you! A few words come to mind when I think of you...

**Integrity
**Peaceful
**Easy Going
**Honor
**Witty
**Loving
**Faithful
**Committed

I am sure there are many other ways to describe who you are, but basically I think you are pretty great! I am so thankful that I am your daughter and that you are are my daddy. I am so thankful that you are here and healthy and I can't wait to celebrate you for many many more years.

Halloween 2009

My beautiful Belle and super cute Pumpkin

This was hands down the best Halloween we have ever had. My entire family was in town to celebrate my niece's 13th (more to come on that later) so we all went trick-or-treating together. I loved watching all the cousins in their costumes running from door to door scooping up as much candy as they could fit into their bags. They were all truly joyful and that was fun to see.

My parents stayed at our house and handed out candy as we made the rounds and Allan even set up the fire pit in the driveway so when we returned we all got to sit around the fire and chat for a while. It was one of the best Selke family get togethers we have had in a long time.

Jack (Jason Witten); Claire (Belle); Skyler (Strawberry Shortcake); Asher (pirate); Chloe Grace (strawberry); Cooper (Indiana Jones); Ainsley Grace (flower fairy); Allie (hippie); Jacob (pumpkin)

The whole Selke gang. We did a pretty good job filling up my front yard. It was so good to all be together for a day. I love my crazy family something fierce.

I'M SO HAPPY MY POPPIE FEELS GOOD ENOUGH TO HOLD ME AND KISS ME!!!! THANKS FOR SPENDING TIME WITH ME THIS LAST WEEKEND POPPIE, I LOVE YOU LIKE CRAZY!

What We Have Been Up To

Jacob had his first trip to the zoo and he was nice enough to let his sister, mommy and daddy join him. We had such a great time. I love family outings! Claire's highlight was feeding the birds with her daddy. I got a kick out of the gorillas with their blankies. They would play peek-a-boo with each other and try and steal each others, it was hilarious. It was so nice to ride the train back to the front of the zoo after walking around for a few hours. We were all tired, but happy when we left.

Life is rarely dull around the house. Claire is a constant source of entertainment and we have been having fun having different kinds of picnics in the living room with all the rain we have been getting. The other day we each had a mug of hot chocolate with whipped cream on top. Claire was pretty sure she had hit the major leagues when I let her have a REAL mug, just like mommy and daddy use. Claire is also very in to having Allan and I be her pony and she rides on our backs. The other day she wanted to give Jacob a ride and they had a blast. I held him on and she walked all over the place with him on her back, it was so funny. Jacob is really starting to love playing with toys and of course everything goes straight into his mouth. We started him on cereal around his four month birthday, and good gosh that boy can eat. Sadly, the cereal did not work well with his tummy so we are on a food hiatus. We will try food again in a month or so. The picture of him with his bowl of cereal cracks me up, he looks so bored with the whole thing. Jacob LOVES sleeping in our bed, he seriously sleeps twice as long in our bed than anywhere else so until he starts rolling over that is where most of his naps take place. I love to cuddle up beside him when I can, sadly it is not as often as I would like. I love how much Claire and Jacob love being together. He thinks she is just about the greatest person in his world and she is still so in love with her baby brother. I am blessed with two great kiddos (if I do say so myself).

I uploaded the photos from my phone and there were a few fun memories I had to share. I love capturing the simple everyday moments with my phone when I don't have my big ol' camera handy. These pictures are from our random October garage sale, a midweek family lunch date with Allan to Burguesa (best "mexican burger" ever!), playing on the porch during a rare rain break a few weeks ago, our super relaxing Sunday afternoon family walk to Sonic and the grocery store, and a couple of pictures from our afternoon at The Great Wolf Lodge. Let me just say that we absolutely LOVED spending an afternoon splashing in the pools and riding the water slides there. I can't wait until we go and stay there sometime in the near future, it is such a great family place and they are having a great deal right now for a day pass to their water park.

So, life is good at the Kavalich house. We are staying busy and finding simple ways to enjoy life's moments as a family of four.

**sorry about all the collages, but I have a lot of pictures to share and not enough time to download them one by one. as always you can click on the collage to make it bigger and get a better look at the pictures.

My Kiddos

Claire is growing up and getting cuter by the day. I have not documented some of the funny things she is doing and saying in awhile and I don't want to forget them...
- when she has been talking for a solid hour (slight exxageration) and I try to say something she gets really frustrated and says "You are confusing me!" she means that I am interrupting her.

- when she came home from school the other day I asked her what she talked about in chapel and she said "Jesus said to hide the baby named Horton and the princess found him and ran to her mama yelling HELP!!" it was the story of Moses

- she is very much into pretending she is a cat named Kelsey and when we ask her a question she will say "cats don't talk"

- Kelsey is pretty much her favorite name at the moment and even when she is not a cat with that name she pretend plays with a friend named Kelsey (I had an imaginary friend named Johnny growing up. It is so cute to be on this side of it and watch/listen to her little mind work)

- she is pretty obsessed with doing things as a family at the moment and will make an announcement when she notices that all four of us are together doing something like going on a walk or laying in bed "yeah it is a family cuddle time" or "let's all family hug". I hope that we can foster this love of family time and that it will always be important to her.

- she is constantly singing songs from school and dancing anywhere she can spin or stand on one leg. she is also very much into having us watch her "watch this mommy" is something I hear about a million times a day (it is helping my patience grow).

-she loves to put her hair in Jacob's face (annoying right?!?), well the other day Jacob wrapped both of his chunky little hands in it and yanked two handfuls out the other day (I secretly thought good for you Jake). She of course started crying and said "He is going to pull all my hair out and I will be a boy that looks like Caillou".

-Claire continues to love dancing around the house, playing chase with anyone that crosses her path, building forts and cat houses, dressing up, putting on make up, playing with friends, but most of all she loves having special time with her mommy, daddy, and brother.

I am madly in love with my sweet baby girl!

Our sweet Jacob is a big four and a half month old chunk of love. He is so happy and laid back. I could not have hoped for a bigger blessing than Jacob is in my life. He is growing and changing too...

- he is a great napper during the day and a terrible sleeper at night...oh well you can't win them all

-he is starting to love playing with toys especially his exersaucer and a little toy that suctions onto his highchair

-he is pretty easy to get a smile out of and with just a little extra work he will give you a great big giggle

-he is a squealer when he gets excited and becoming more chatty ever day

-I have to remind people that he is still a tiny baby in a one year old body (at his four month appointment he was just over 19 pounds)

Cutest Chaperon Ever

Jacob came with us to Washington to keep the sisters in line. It was so fun to have some special one on one time with my boy. He was a really good sport and for the most part as flexible as a four month old can be. I think we all would have appreciated a little more sleep- the bright side is we got a lot squeezed into our days since we weren't taking the time to sleep.

I am sorry but he is so stinkin cute, I mean look at him!!

Twilight Of Course

Well what would a trip to the Pacific Northwest be without a stop at some of the places made famous by the Twilight series? It is no secret that my sisters and I really liked that series of books and it was really fun to check out the places from the books. Lake Crescent Lodge is just between Port Angeles and Forks two of the main towns in Twilight. We went to eat dinner at Bella Italia in Port A so that Amy and Sara could eat "Bella's Mushroom Ravioli". I don't eat mushrooms so I settled for the plain old spaghetti. We spent Saturday morning touring Forks, WA and La Push Beach. It was such a cool area and fun to see so many fans of the books wandering around.

Our Trip!!!

I just got back from a fantastic trip with my sisters. We made a lot of memories. We laughed until we cried more than once. We fell in love with the Pacific Northwest over and over again. We have a bond that grew even stronger. We were thankful to finally travel as a threesome (well foursome counting Jacob, our tiny chaperon). I cannot wait to do it again in the somewhat near future.

Last Thursday we flew out to Seattle. When we got to town we checked into our historic hotel right downtown and then headed to Pike's Place Market where we made our first trip to The Original Starbucks and the pier to watch the sunset. Later that night we went to a delicious little Italian joint where we laughed our heads off pretty much the entire meal then went back to the hotel to crash for the night (kind of, Jacob was not such a great sleeper the entire trip, but we didn't let that ruin our trip).

Friday morning we went back to the market and it was beautiful. The colors, the atmosphere, the people...perfect. I decided if I ever live in downtown Seattle I would constantly have fresh fruit and veggies and flowers in my home. It would make me so happy to go to the market a few times a week. We had a great time picking out our lunch- fresh bread, cheese, and fruit.
That afternoon we jumped on a ferry and headed towards the second part of our trip up the coast. It was a beautiful drive and the destination was perfect!!!

Lake Crescent Lodge is the most quaint and peaceful place I have ever stayed. The room didn't even have a TV or phone in it which I thought was awesome. The lake was perfectly clear and surrounded by huge trees and beautiful mountains. The sunset on Friday night was the most beautiful sunset I have ever seen in all my life. I will most definitely be coming back to this hotel, hopefully with my husband, I would love to share this place with him.

I think that my favorite part of the trip was the hike we took to Marymere Falls. The scenery was out of this world. The trees that were hundreds of feet tall covered in moss and huge ferns everywhere. It felt like we could run into a dinosaur at any moment ;) I am a sucker for mountain rivers and a little dream of mine came true when I got to walk across a bridge made from a log across a the river.

More to come.....

Click on the collages to see the pictures a bit better