Conversations with Caleb

Jon is reading jokes aloud for Caleb. He comes to a knock-knock joke.

Jon: Knock knock.

Caleb: Wait! I know how to do this. I'll teach you the rules.

Jon: Okay....

Caleb: First, I say, "Knock knock." Then you say, "Who's there?" Then I say a silly word, like "Blah be boo." Then you say, "Blah be boo, who?" and I say another silly word!

Okay, so Knock Knock!

Jon: Who's there?

Caleb: Nutty vue.

Jon: Nutty vue, who?

Caleb: Tot!!

---

I gotta admit, I laughed. I wasn't expecting "Tot!" Haha! That's a pretty funny joke, right there.



Tot!!

Thanksgiving 2012

My in-laws have lived in their home for several years, and yet we have somehow never had a family holiday there! We had to adjust a little--our party of four got to stay in a nearby house, but we really enjoyed being all together. It's always fun when the Norvell men get together, and we "add-ons"--the Norvell women--well, we have a lot of fun, too!

James cheering for the iPad.

Playing outside at a neighbor's house

The diner is open for business!

Caleb pulls the whole mound of flowers, roots and all

Nana helps Caleb make rainbow cupcakes for his birthday

Nana and Granddad with all the grandsons

James is an accessory guy.

The cupcakes are baked! Now time for icing and sprinkles!

Story time with Granddad

Caleb being silly

Granddad loves his boys

...ALL of them!

Nana with Caleb and James

Throw Calvin in there and see if we can get the shot!

Father-son time

It's party-time!

Caleb opens his super hero cape!

And a bow and arrow set...just what he wanted

Ooh, a nerf gun from Uncle Dave and fam

Uncle Dave (our police officer) explains gun safety

The masked avenger!

Our family photo

Happy Father's Day

I think for the first time since Jon has been a dad, I've had my act together ON Father's Day, instead of making him wait months (or years) for the completed project. This year, I decided to give him bought gifts, instead of getting the boys to make something, which inevitably requires a bit of work from me and I get behind.
ANYway, all that to say that this year I kept it simple. Leanna told me about a site called Trendy Ties, that I fell in love with. The boys wore ties at Easter, and Caleb said that he was "a daddy," which made his own daddy very proud. (Considering Caleb is usually "a fairy mermaid princess," being a daddy is a bigger step than you might think!) It's hard to find ties for little boys around here, so I was happy too find them online, and with daddy ties to match!

I also made a cake. It wasn't pretty, but it was good!

Jon has been gone the whole week before Father's Day, so we decided to celebrate with banners when he got home on Saturday night. The homecoming was sweet. Both boys insisted on being held by their Daddy, and neither would let him go for anything.

Sunday morning, all my men.

I love the bow tie!

Caleb is moving past his cheesy camera smile...for now!

Caleb's First Real Camping Trip

Jon took some of the youth guys camping for two nights one weekend. Caleb got to go along--his first real camping trip!

Jon tells me that right after this picture, Caleb went end-over-end the rest of the way down the hill. He thought for a moment that it was the end of the adventure, and he'd be taking Caleb to the ER, but Caleb walked away from it, just fine!

I was a little nervous because it was *real* camping trip, with no bathrooms nearby or anything. But, the campsite was less than 30 minutes away, and I could come rescue Caleb if things went south.

Serious fisherman

Little Missouri River

The day before the trip, the bottom fell out of the sky and flooded the campsite. Campsite #2 was 3 hours away. Thankfully, it had a bathroom, but I let it be known that 3 hours was not too far for me to drive to come save my firstborn if needed.

Caught one!

Caleb had a blast. He caught "five trout fish!" in his words, with his little Spiderman fishing pole. He had his froggy boots on the entire time, and splashed in puddles and ate s'mores and enjoyed himself. It did rain, and the tent he and Jon were using was flooded out the first night, so they had to evacuate to another tent. And Caleb had bumps and bruises all over him when he got home, but it was worth it.

This photo makes my heart melt.

We're now scouting out a larger tent that will hold all four of us!

Caleb's Hot Springs Adventure

While James was hamming it up on the dock in Hot Springs, Caleb had other activities in mind.

Playing a game with Daddy on the iPad

This is a favorite face of his these days. It means lots of things: I'm sad, It was an accident, I hope I don't get in trouble,....

Our friend and host, Thad, helping Caleb throw bread to the ducks in the water.

Caleb off to the boat!

Hi mom. I'm off to try something new without you. I'll be off to college before you know it.

My camera stayed with me, but Jon tells me that Caleb was pretty quiet on the boat ride, taking it all in. They got in the water and tried out tubing! Caleb seemed to have fun, and came back excited to tell me about it--mostly about how he spilled his water bottle and our friend Mary Elizabeth found a cup holder for him. It's funny what sticks in kids' minds!

Here are the fuzzy iPhone pics of my boys in the water.