Embarrassing

OK, so I have to admit it is embarrassing not to have a post since six months ago. A girlfriend just said she checked out my blog to get an update since we had not talked in a while and I had not updated anything since JULY!!! Ooops! I could go on with a list of excuses, but I won't. I'll just give an update and hope to follow up with pictures before too long!

We had a great celebration of Caleb's 3rd birthday in August in Illinois. My mom threw a wonderful Cars party for him for an entire weekend!

We went on a wonderful vacation with my parents in October to Hilton Head Island. We stayed in a beautiful villa on the beach with wonderful views of the ocean and dolphins. We ate lots of great seafood and did a lot of fun and different activities. It is always fun to explore a new place with family.

In November we went to Pennsylvania to spend time with Jeff's brother's family. Caleb and Luke had so much fun with their cousins, Jake and Danny. Luke started crawling at their home and I think he just wanted to keep up with the other boys. Then we all went to Jeff's parent's home in Virginia and enjoyed Thanksgiving at their home. We traveled almost 1900 miles so it was a lot of together time in the car.

For Christmas we traveled to Illinois to spend a wonderful, snowy Christmas with my parents. Caleb went ice skating for the first time, and Jeff and I really enjoyed being back on the ice. Caleb and I decorated a gingerbread house, and we both got really into it and did a beautiful job, if I may say so! =) We had fun making sugar cookies and lefsa (our Swedish Christmas tradition). As soon as we got home Luke started pulling up on everything around the house, and Caleb took the word "challenging" to a new level. His teachers noted in the parent teacher conference that after Christmas he was really different and is asserting a lot more independence.

I feel like lately I am just trying to keep up with the basics of life. Life is full of fun right now with Luke into everything and Caleb challenging everything. If we make it through the day with everyone alright and in bed then it is a successful day! =) I realized this morning that Luke is getting his first tooth, and it was really exciting. You can't see the white of the tooth yet, but it broke the skin and I can feel it. I am planning his first bithday parties and in shock that our baby is almost one. He is saying all sorts of words, but I think Jeff believes I hear more words than Luke is actually speaking! Caleb is full of fun stories and questions, and is looking forward to the celebrations and cake and balloons for Luke's birthday!