Caleb is 4

My sweet Caleb turned 4 years old on April 5th. After weeks of talking about it, the weekend of his birthday finally came. We visited the local fire station (his current obsession), watched conference, played all his favorite games, made a birdhouse at Home Depot, played with cousins and grandparents and then went home for the big party... decorations, a tank cake with army guys on it and presents. He had such a great time that he is already making plans for when he turns 5!

He requested a tank cake. A tank cake? C'mon kid...couldn't it have been a dog cake or boat or something not quite so manly? I have no idea where he even got the idea. He isn't really into tanks, but he insisted that he what he really wanted...so a mother has to deliver, right? A couple of years ago I would have been against making anything so violent looking, but look at his face. I never would have got that grin for a poodle cake. I did it for my little guy and it was a fun challenge. Besides, it's not everyday that you actually try to make puke-green colored icing.

Notice the guy coming out of the hatch. Cool addition if I do say so myself. This is one bonifide tank - complete with Oreo wheels, chocolate Twizzler crawler tracks and three chocolate fudge Pirouette cannon things in the front. Okay, I haven't learned all the lingo yet.

We got him a subscription to the Friend church magazine. We picked a copy up in Denver one time and he read it cover to cover about 10 times. He loves to get mail, too, so this was a very exciting gift for him.

After opening everything, he had to revel in his gifts for a while. Thanks to KB Toys going out of business and selling toys for 90% off, he also got a fishing game, a toy drill set, card games, some airplanes, a parachute guy and a paint by number set. He got a piano, robot dog and cars from his Izatt grandparents and he is planning a trip to the children's musuem with the gift from his Smith grandparents. Very lucky little boy!

Poor Oliver. I think he kept wondering when it was going to be his turn to open presents. He must have figured out that he wasn't going to get a turn because it didn't take him long to start taking Caleb's new toys. Crying, tears...party's over, time for bed!

Caleb is such a fun, inquisitive, tender, patient, loyal, intelligent, enthusiastic little boy and we are so thankful he is a part of our family.

Mission Accomplished

Steve has a job! Boy, it's been a long journey! As most of you know, we have been looking for a job since graduation last May with little luck. He applied to positions all over Tennessee, with the federal government and the Coast Guard, but after 9 months we still hadn't heard a favorable reply. It looked like with the economic downturn we chose a bad year to job search. Finally fed up, Steve started driving up to Fayetteville, TN just on the other side of the border from Alabama and about 45 minutes from where we lived with my parents so he could at least sit in a court room and see some law in action. He ended up getting a few court appointments and an offer to do an office sharing arrangement with a seasoned lawyer in town. After A LOT of sleepless nights and crying on my part (hey, I am 7 months pregnant!), we finally decided to take a giant leap and start our own practice. We moved to Fayetteville 2 weeks ago and things have been going really well. It's a little scary that Steve isn't salaried, but between court appointments and getting fed cases from his fellow attorney he has had plenty of work. And there are promises from all the attorneys in town that he'll soon have more work than he can handle. Besides the trepidation of being the new rookie in town, Steve loves being a lawyer! He has had all kinds of interesting experiences already and he likes being able to dabble in all the different areas of law while he is learning the ropes. My favorite part is that he comes home happy and excited everyday. We had a very comfortable life with the Army, but we left that life and went to law school because we wanted Steve to work in a field that was really enjoyable and challenging for him, not just a good income. After a lot of studying, a lot of debt, and a lot of patience-trying months, it is good to finally see that decision come to fruition!

Baby #3 is a ...

Even though I'm only 15 weeks, we could see the little guy very clearly. He looked healthy, was very wiggly and was not especially modest, thankfully. The first picture is a bum shot and if you look closely you can see leg, (boy part), leg. The second picture is his profile. Cutie! A girl would have been fun, but we are so excited to have another precious, spunky boy to love!