Our Little Blueberry

It's been SO long since I've added to this Blog...but we have some special news to share with those we love!

SO...we're expecting something (someone!) wonderful to arrive...'round the end of October!
Lewis and I and the girls are all SO excited...Emma wants to name "her" Swan Lake, and Kaia is SO excited to meet a new "brudder" or sister!

Of course, we'd prefer to tell you all simultaneously and in person...but since that isn't possible, we wanted you all to hear from the source....as news travels so fast in these Internet-crazy times!

Love,
The Caldwell 4+

Em's ear piercing experience!

Emma has been asking for ages to have her ears pierced. Lewis and I agreed that as soon as she was old enough to understand that it would hurt, and that she would have to have both ears done, she could do it. So, the day before school, after seeing one of her girlfriends with her new adorable earrings, Emma Grace made the decision....

We went to the piercing place (the only place where both ears could be done simultaneously--a big draw), and they had two piercers working...so after much drawing and re-drawing of purple dots...

I almost wanted her to change her mind when I saw her face just-before-piercing...so sad! But, she said she still wanted to....and....

Kaia is a rocker!

Wow! It's been a loooong time!

Summer was great--and went by much too fast! We took a couple of fun vacations...and my sweet Em started school. Here are the last couple of months in pictures: We took a quick down-and-back overnight to see a concert outside Sacramento--the girls had a great time and loved the fountains outside!

Watching the line slowly crawl along...

My little field girl...she did arrive there fully dressed...

In the pool at the hotel...

testing out that hearing protection!

The rest of the pics in this post are from our fun trip to Alaska and Vancouver in August...

Outside the Empress hotel where the girls and I had high tea!

Aren't icebergs amazingly lovely?

Tracy Arm Fjord, AK

Jumping in the saltwater pool all by herself!

Look, it's Sarah Palin! I fully expected to run into her in Juneau for some reason...but this was the closest I got! I don't know what I even would have said to her...but we could have looked at Russia from her porch, and that would've been fun!

The "Skybridge" we crossed between zipline platforms

Up in the trees

Sail day

Sawyer Glacier, Tracy Arm Fjord, AK

Totem poles!

Lewis caught lots of Alaska salmon barehanded...overstocked creeks or burly hubby?

We ordered waaaay too much room service breakfast by accident...the menu was quite confusing!

My little ladies in their bunk beds

Hello Mudder, Hello Fadder

For some reason that song comes to mind whenever I think of camping...
Anyway, last weekend we went camping with my two closest friends and their kids, and everyone had such a great time! Emma was being a jaguar during much of the trip...this is her jaguar face :)

The Swamp Thing

The kids, making faces

It was 106* the day we left, so the spigot got lots of use!

Testing out Gav's snorkel

The first night...we took the kids down to the lake, and it was after dinner by the time we got down there, nearly sunset, and we told them "just wading, no swimming!". Of course, they all eventually "fell" in, got splashed, etc., and by the end they were skinny dipping and wet head-to-toe. It was lots of fun!

Go Fish...Em is a stickler for the rules, and a tiny little card shark!

Putting her feet up...it's hard work being two!

Crafty mama

I have a crafting blog I started a couple of months ago....I have gotten so inspired by looking at all of the great projects others have done...and I try to carve out precious minutes for sewing, quilting, crafting, etc...so if you're interested, it's craftycraftymama.blogspot.com . :)
Send me your links to your crafty blogs, too, I'd love to check them out!!

Reward!

Em's full token jar...We've been doing "good girl" tokens...and every time one of the girls is helpful or does something sweet or wonderful, they get to put a token in their jar. (Thanks, Elizabeth for the pretty jar idea I snagged from you :)...Since Emma and Kaia both filled their jars with tokens, we let them choose their reward (which is always some sort of family time together). They'd seen the horse-drawn carriage parked in Old Town many times, and had asked to go...so this was the perfect choice for reward! Em decided we all needed to dress as Princesses and Prince...and she asked Lewis to wear 'his tuxedo'. She settled for a dark suit and tie as Lewis doesn't own a tux!

Meeting Cinnamon

Daddy assisting Princess Kaia out of the carriage

We rode all around Old Town on the Handsome Cab...and the girls loved every minute! It was a really fun reward for all of us!