First Steps

Caleb is starting to take lots of steps. This video is the beginning. Since then, he's been taking more and more steps. Hopefully, before long he will be walking!

Duck Pin Bowling

For a Christmas gift my sister took our whole family out for pizza and duckpin bowling. It was a blast. Caleb did surprisingly well too. There was a lot to look at, and of course, as usual he was the center of attention.

Caleb and Aunt Michaela

Caleb, Aunt Michaela, and Perry (Michaela's boyfriend, who after 8 years is pretty much a member of our family)

Caleb and Perry - I think this is actually the first time Perry has ever been brave enough to hold him.

Caleb, Aunt Michaela, and I

Caleb being entertained by Grandpa Mike

Michaela and Perry

Mommy's Little Helper

I brought a basket of clean laundry out to the living room to fold, and I turned my back for a minute and Caleb had it emptied. He had the best time playing with the laundry and rolling around in the pile of clean clothes.

For my City Friends

For all of you who have never experienced Northwestern Kansas before and don't believe all my stories!

This is a road sign you come across several times - and they mean it!

A piece of wisdom I learned this year - wipe your mounted deer heads with a damp cloth when you clean to keep their fur shiny!

The view from the Roberts' front porch

The view from the back of the Roberts' house - these are their grain bins, not a neighbor's place.

The Roberts' house from the (dirt) road

This is the view down the road from the Roberts' driveway

As you can see, it's just wide open spaces

Our pretty van after a week of dirt road driving

Fun Videos

Here is Caleb riding the rocking horse. If you look closely, you can see him kicking his legs...he's a born cowboy!

While we were in Kansas, Caleb not only started taking some steps, but he also developed this new crawl. I call him my little monkey man because crawling like this, he looks like a monkey. He can get moving really fast too. It's quite entertaining to watch, even more so in person.

Heading to Kansas

Our usual Christmas break plans include leaving the day after Christmas for Kansas to see Darrin's family and some of my Kansas relatives. This year they were still having a blizzard the day after Christmas, so we delayed till the 27th. However, on the 27th there was snow moving in here from Illinois. Needless to say, the normally 8 hour drive to Kansas City (our first stop) took 12 hours! Caleb also decided to cut 2 teeth that day, so he was none too happy in the car. There was a point at about hour 8 that I truly thought we wouldn't make it to KC! However, we made it and spent the evening with my Aunt. The drive the next day was luckily a little better, and we made it all the way to Quinter (a little town off I-70 in Northwestern Kansas).

Opening presents with Aunt Diana

Diana bought this rocking horse for her granddaughter, and Caleb got to enjoy it too!

My cousin Trevor has this black lab named Ace. I don't even consider Ace in the same category as dogs...he is the most laid back animal I have ever seen...he will pretty much let you do whatever you want to with him. Caleb was really fascinated with Ace. He got to the point where he would drive his cars on him and crawl under him!

Caleb with my brother Patrick (AKA Uncle Pat) and my cousins Tanner and Trevor.

Caleb relaxin' with Grandpa Garry

Darrin and his "Mini Me"

Playin' with Aunt Kim

One of Caleb's Christmas presents was a gloworm...I had one like it (obviously an older version) when I was little that I took everywhere with me. Caleb's gloworm was a lifesaver on the trip. It was the one thing that he would want and it would calm him down. By the end of the trip he had figured out how to push the button to turn it on by himself.

Knocking down towers with Grandma Deanna

The boys ready to hunt

The pharmacy in Quinter (Darrin's hometown) put in this old fashioned soda fountain. It was really something to see. They had to get it from California.

Merry Christmas!

We had a wonderful Christmas with Caleb. He was really into opening presents and enjoyed lots of fun, new toys!

One of Caleb's big surprises was a train table with trundle drawers, as you can see, he found the drawers to be as much fun as the table!

Playing with his new dump trucks

Checking out what Santa left in his stocking

Christmas Eve - ready for church

Every little boy needs a monster truck - I think even Uncle Pat was jealous!

Chillin' with Uncle Pat