5 Months and Counting

Emory is already 5 months old. Our skinny little Mowgli look alike is now a big chunky lover with a smile that will melt your heart. Yes, we are aware that babies grow up quickly, but seriously where does the time go?  Just yesterday we could hold him in one hand, and now he's 3 times the size Caleb was at 5 months, rolling all over the place, and talking/screeching almost as much as his older brother does now (which is really impressive because Caleb talks/screeches A LOT). 

Although he puts forth a valiant effort, Emory isn't crawling yet. Instead he rolls, and rolls, and rolls. Stomach to back, back to stomach. And this boy moves, mmmkay. He whips his head around and in seconds he's in a new position. We wouldn't be surprised if he skipped crawling all together. Why crawl when you can roll?

Unfortunately for mommy, Em's first words were dada too. At least mommy was prepared for it this time, not really, it was just as devastating as it was when Caleb busted out his "da da da da." It's ok though because mommy will be his favorite person in the world for the next couple years. It's only fair...

Notice how when Em gets going he throws his arms back and bounces on his belly like a beached whale. We love it when he does that! Please ignore the disaster in the background...hurricane Caleb struck only minutes before filming.

Just In Time for Christmas...Halloween

As usual, we're running a little late around here. We would have skipped this post altogether, but the kids' costumes were so cute that we had to share them.  The Halloween preparations began with a trip to the pumpkin patch where we found four perfect pumpkins for our little family.

 

Wow Caleb, that's a lot of teeth...

And it came as no surprise when Caleb insisted we carve a Lightning McQueen pumpkin for him. Daddy attempted to carve the word Boo into a mini pumpkin for Emory, but his hands/fingers were too big for the intricate work and we ended up having to MacGyver it together with toothpicks and tape. Once we got them outside and put candles in them they looked pretty good though. 

 

 

 

We had a hard time deciding what to dress the boys as this year. Caleb kept going back and forth between wanting to be a scary cat and popcorn (don't ask).  We knew we wanted to dress them in the same themed costumes, so when we found a super cute pirate costume at Disney we knew immediately what the boys would be... Caleb a pirate and Embo a parrot.  Caleb looked so cute, and after some practice he really got the pirate face down.  After searching everywhere for an infant parrot costume we finally gave up and decided to make it ourselves.

As the costume came together we were really pleased, but when we finally put it on Em he looked less like a parrot and more like Cee lo on the Grammy's...

  

Perfect costume if we were going for "grown man dressed as bird", but we weren't. He needed a hat...

 

 Much better, but at Boo at the Zoo we had multiple people ask us if he was an angry bird.... 

 

Poor Emory. You're way too cute and happy to be an angry bird buddy.  

 

  

 

Trick-or-treating at the zoo (with some of Caleb's old friends from school) and Halloween night (with Lolli dressed as a cow) was a success and Caleb (daddy) scored a huge pile of candy.  Most importantly though, when the boys were together the costumes were perfect and they looked really cute. 

 

  Have you ever seen a more adorable pirate or parrot? We seriously doubt it.

Caleb's 3rd Birthday!!!

We can hardly believe it, but our baby boy turned 3 years old.  #3 came without warning, a car with no brakes, slamming into us at unimaginable speeds. Even as I type this it doesn't seem possible. How can the same little boy who used to army crawl across the floor and slobber on books be 3 years old, a little man, going to school, and learning new things everyday?  Caleb is growing into such a handsome and caring young man. He has such a big heart and an amazing spirit. We couldn't be two prouder parents.

As usual we went all out for Caleb's parties, yep, parties plural. Caleb has made so many good friends in school that we couldn't just have a party in Colorado Springs with the family. So, Lolli gracefully offered to throw a party for him in the Springs with his family, so we could have a party for him in Denver with all his friends. His first party was at Itz, a big game place with video games and rides. Of course he spent most of his time driving the race cars, but he did take some time to play a couple driving games with Daddy. The highlight of the night had to be the ticket booth though. Caleb and Daddy got into an extraordinarily small booth (Daddy could not bend over) with blowing tickets and tried to grab as many as possible. Being the super competitive person Daddy is, he really went for it in the booth, stuffing mountains of tickets down his shirt. Needless to say they got A LOT of tickets (the most the party host has ever seen we were later told).

As if a Cadillac wasn't nice enough, Auntie and Lolli decided to get Caleb a pedal plane for his 3rd birthday. I mean what else would you get a 3 year old that already has his own car? A plane, obviously. In keeping with the theme, we decided to have his Denver party at Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. It was the perfect choice! The museum is in an old airplane hanger in Lowry so the party space was enormous. The kids got to run around and drive planes, while the parents toured the museum. Auntie made the invitations look like airline tickets and we got SO many compliments!* Everyone had a great time and the best part was that we didn't have to clean anything up afterwards!

We were all so excited that Caleb got to see his old friend Matthew! Matthew is getting so big!  He is still just the sweetest little boy. Mommy and Daddy also got to catch up with Matthew's mom, Lilly. She is truly a lovely woman. We are so lucky to have met that family.

 

 

Emory and Lolli had a great time watching everyone play.



 Even the parents enjoyed the pedal planes...

  

Happy Birthday Caleb Robert! We love you with all our hearts!



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* Auntie's taking Photoshop classes now so next year's invites will be even better!

Drivin...

Remember the Cadillac that Auntie and Lolli got Caleb got for his second birthday?  Well he mastered driving it a long, long time ago. We've already had to put it on the highest speed (7mph), and we charge the battery at least once a week.  The entire neighborhood has gathered to watch Caleb drive around in his Cadillac. Just look at how quick he pops the gear shift into reverse and then backs out of Jeff's driveway, shifts again and heads home.  He is so smooth. How in the world did a two year old learn to drive like this? Now all we need is to capture some video of him turning the wheel with just the palm of one hand. It's adorable.

We can't wait to see where this car obsession leads in his future...

Music by Parachute

The iPhone Perspective

We've been a little a lot behind on blogging lately, but in our defense, its been a busy time at the Johnson household. Hopefully we can get back to normal now that we have finally established a routine.  For now, here is a brief photo summary of the last couple months of our lives from my iPhone's perspective.