Hi from Greece

We just had our first day in Greece. Our trip could not have gone any smoother. We had a 6 hour lay over in Philly, but they had a nice playground that kept Kaleb occupied for most of the time. He fell asleep as soon as we got on our long flight and only woke up once for dinner. Yes, he had some help from Benadryl. Once we arrived we were able to check into our hotel early and we unpacked and went to lunch around our hotel (which is in the middle of Athens). The first time I came to Europe and completely fell in love. As I've returned a few time since, I've come to realize that I do like some things about America much better...like, no smoking in restarants, no people begging at restaurants, no motorcycles on the sidewalks and child seats in the restaurants. After lunch we all took a 3 hour nap and then went to check out the Acropolis and Plaka (surrounding area around the acropolis w/ lots of character.) We quickly found out why they said the Acropolis was not stroller friendly. We had to carry the stroller and Kaleb around and tommorrow will bring his riding backpack instead. We had an awesome dinner of moussaka and tender lamb w/ potatoes and Kaleb had some fresh squeezed strawberry juice. We then came home gave Kaleb and bath and put him to bed by 10pm. And now i'm typing b/c I had a 3 hour nap. I hope to add pictures to these posts once we return home.

Melmo and Cracka!

Kaleb has become obsessed with Elmo and Cookie Monster. We got a Sesame Street DVD at a consignment sale not knowing how it would change our lives. He wants to watch it every day and runs around the house saying "Kracka!" and "Melmo". I think he calls him cracka b/c I interchange animal cracker and animal cookie alot.

Lately he has not been wanting to drink his milk and only wants juice, which we give him in a different sippy cup (one w/ elmo on it). So, last week I gave him milk in his Elmo sippy cup and he has been downing his milk every since- Who knew it was the cup? Also, Kaleb does not like to brush his teeth so we got him an electric Elmo and Cookie Monster toothbrush and he wants to brush his teeth all the time now!! Melmo, Mommy loves you!

SPECIAL MOTHER'S DAY

My day started out with a nice breakfast in bed, served by my little man and big man...although little man is a bit of an indian giver...he tried to eat my whole waffle! Kaleb looooves strawberries, so we thought it would be fun to spend the day at the strawberry patch...

he ate 20+ strawberries...he was in strawberry heaven...that is until we stopped at the store on the way home to get some vanilla ice cream and he threw up strawberries in the isle

He loves tractors in his books so when he saw this real one he was thrilled...he has now added tractor to his vocabulary..

My day ended with a nice relaxing steak dinner grilled and eaten on the back deck...ahh, what a perfect day! Thanks Jason and Kaleb!

Easter recap

On Easter day we ate lunch with friends and the kids had an easter egg hunt. I think Kaleb ended up w/ about 4 eggs. He was no match for Abby and Baylor!

The next weekend we went to Knoxville and had another egg hunt. Kaleb faired better and even made a little money (the eggs had quarters in them). He had fun w/ Nylah and Granddad and Grandma!

Chillin out after the egg hunt

Nylah is lucky enough to have a bounce house all to herself. The kids had fun bouncing in it, and I think us parents did too!

Blackmail!

Now I have great blackmail footage for when Kaleb is a teenager. He loooves shoes. He always wants to put his shoes on when he first wakes up and he is always trying on my shoes...but his favorites are these orange heels that he picks out almost every time. Sorry it's sideways, I don't know how to change it.

Kaleb had his 18 month doctors appointment today. He is exactly 41%tile in height and weight, so I guess he's pretty proportional, except for his head (75th %tile). The first thing the doctor asked was, "Is he driving you crazy?"...."Yes"..."Well good, he's normal then"

Yes, the terrible twos are beginning. He's definately becoming opinionated. Today I was holding him while he was playing with a toy. I was occasionally kissing him on the forhead gently. After about 3 kisses, he looked at me and said "No"...okay, so I stopped...hmmm, he doesnt want my kisses!!!

So, really it's not terrible, yet...we'll see how things go in Greece when we're all jet lagged... 2 more weeks!

Do you have your ducks in a row?

I know, I know , I have been really bad at blogging lately...but we have still been taking pictures. Here is a typical bath time for Kaleb. He lines up all his ducks ever so precisely (definately a Jason trait) and the proceeds to talk to them, sometimes as a drum major and sometimes sweetly as below. His vocabulary is expanding daily and he says duck! duck!