Elijah came up to me this morning, held my face in his hands, gave me big kisses, counting as he went “one, two, fweeeeee, four, five. . .” “okay, Elijah, that’s enough, only Daddy can kiss Mommy that many times at once. . .” I say, (we’ve all been sick, so I’m trying to minimize the germs too!) to which he responds, “Momma, I give you ONE more!!”
What Momma can resist the Caskey way of getting a cold? But hey, I’ll take the Caskey way any day. . . . . throw caution to the wind and spread some germs, right?!?!
Here’s our latest family visitor, my beautiful sister Risa! For those of you who never met my mom, she’s probably my mom’s closest likeness. . . so cool to see!
One of the skills we have encouraged in our children is the use of their imaginations. Recently I have seen both children have imaginative play that is independent of anything I, or someone else, suggested.
Merry has been using any purse-like object as a purse, putting things in and carrying them around, saying “bye-bye.” She is also doing things with her babies like carrying them around for extended periods of time wrapped in a blanket. Her use of props is different than what Elijah did at this age.
Elijah yesterday at the playground came up to Risa, Merry and me and asked us “you want to pet my dinosaur,” holding up a long stick that did sort of look like a dinosaur. “He really sweet,” he said, “he not bite.” Eventually he named his pet stick dinosaur (Elijah of course!) and rode on his back home (like a hobby horse.) I don’t know where Elijah the stick dinosaur ended up when we got home. Perhaps we’ll meet up with him again when we go outside.
These pics were taken by Tammy Shutter, a coworker of Jeremy’s and good friend of our family at a recent park visit and ice cream treat stop.
Filed under: Jeremy
Psalm One is one of my favorite Psalms and is a sort of Proverbs 31 for a husband and dad. Blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord, and meditates on it day and night.
My children are blessed to have a godly daddy, and I am blessed to be their mother along side him. We are also both blessed to have fathers who desired for, and taught us to serve the Lord and love His Body, the church.
It is beautiful to see the evidences of Jeremy’s godly life in our children already. His steady leadership of our family in consistent fellowship in godly churches has led our children to expect to be in church, to look forward to fellowship with their friends at church already, and to develop a taste for a Christ-centered worship and teaching. Elijah’s mandolin yesterday was “played” for “church” with Merry as the only member attending in our living room. I asked Elijah who was going to preach after the music was done, and he said, “me!” Attention spans didn’t allow them to get that far into the imaginary church service, but I can’t wait until their attention spans do allow for it!
Some other things the children do that reflect their Daddy: They hold hands across their carseats in the back when we are driving somewhere, just like Jeremy does with me in the front seat. Elijah sings and prays with Merry and expects to read his Bible every day, and now, more than what is the usual amount, “read that too, Mamma.”
The especially amazing thing about a godly father is that not only is he blessed, as Psalm one says, but so is his family, his wife, and others who come in contact with him! We love you Jeremy, and are blessed by you even in your physical absence! Come home safely and soon!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Jeremy writes,
Mike Kaplan, my old boss in Louisiana, and a regular reader of this blog, hounded me to send him a picture of me in my “full battle rattle” (all the gear we wear) to adorn his “troop wall.” I join the ranks of some decorated individuals, to include a Bronze Star recipient and who knows what else. The funny thing is, I have been stationed with all but one of the persons on the wall, at one time or another. Mike says the troop wall is a good place to be.
I’m not sure if I’ve told Mike this or not (still feels uncomfortable nearly 3 years later calling him by his first name instead of Master Sgt. Kaplan), but I attribute a great deal of my success in winning Military Graphic Artist of the Year 2004 to his leadership and guidance and insistence that I submit. He even attended the ceremony with me in D.C. Thank you, Mike, you rock!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Elijah woke up when he turned three and said “I want to get my birthday now!” He wanted Cheerioes and milk for breakfast, peanut butter sandwiches and cheese sandwiches for lunch. Dinner was crab cakes and a shrimp pasta with broccoli. This very special birthday, started out with a video of Daddy singing happy birthday to him in Iraq (we had to watch it exactly 12 times!) Then we had a video conference with Daddy to open his big wheel bike and mandolin. We then got to go to the sprinkler park with his friend Charlie and his sister Caroline and Aunt Beth. The day ended with chalk drawing on the sidewalk with Aunt Beth and a visit from Uncle Josh and Aunt Roseann with cousin Lumina. Lots of additional gifts throughout the day – we will post pictures and video as soon as we get a free moment to breathe!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Here’s some progress we made at helping Elijah become a cowboy. . . of all places, he finally rode a horse at Chuck E. Cheese!
And here is a picture of Merry he took by himself! She is getting so grown up, loving all the pink accessories and girl stuff Aunt Beth has!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Summer is such a beautiful time as things warm up, gardens grow, family comes to visit and there is time for lots of reading. This first picture is of my mostly perennial garden that my sisters planted for me in the fall. It bloomed nicely and with some gladiolas from the back yard, I have a beautiful collection of creation and outdoor beauty right on my dining room table.
One day as I was chatting with Jeremy online, Elijah decided to entertain Merry by reading to her. Right next to me as I work on the computer are two little chairs and basket of books for them to read. Elijah sat Merry down, gave her a pacifier to keep her quiet (I don’t know where in the world he learned this technique!) and stacked the entire contents of the book basket next to her on the chair.
Then he proceeded to read her one of the books from her stack: 1 is One by Tasha Tudor, one of our very favorites! Tasha Tudor was also one of Grandma Linda’s (my mom’s) favorite children’s authors and artists.
I was very impressed by Elijah’s initiative in entertaining Merry and equally impressed by her willingness to comply with what he wanted to do with her – and her attention span. Moments like these make me know why I LOVE being a mom that gets to stay at home with her children!
My sister Beth is here to visit for a few days, later in the week we will be graced by visits from Aunt Risa, Aunt Roseann and Uncle Josh with Lumina. I praise the Lord for sisters and sweet family that are keeping us company while Jeremy is away.
Both Elijah and Merry’s interactions with each other and the love of my siblings have reminded me of Psalm 133 (the whole Psalm!) “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is For brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the precious oil upon the head, Coming down upon the beard, {Even} Aaron’s beard, Coming down upon the edge of his robes. It is like the dew of Hermon Coming down upon the mountains of Zion; For there the LORD commanded the blessing–life forever.”
Praise the Lord for siblings! Indeed it it good and pleasant for them to dwell together in unity!
Here’s the big man himself…graduated from daytime diapers into bi’boy pants, as he calls them! We will tackle the nighttime training soon – I have to be ready for some sleep deprivation possibly – something I hesitate to throw myself into! As I decide whether or not to make this official, his Hooked on Phonics preschool curriculum arrived, and he is LOVING every bit of it so far! But back to the graduation…if he’s ready for preschool, one of the big steps to that is toilet training. He’s been interested in a long time, but I did not push it because of all the changes in the family due to daddy’s deployment. After Daddy left, we got right back into the swing of it and he’s only had a few accidents in the past 6 weeks or so.
The real test was our trip. I put pull-ups on him for plane and car trips. Several times he would ask to go to the potty, and if it wasn’t possible to go at the time, I would tell him to hold it if he could, but if he went accidentally in his pull-up that was okay since I couldn’t take him right then. EVERY time we would get to a toilet (a few times more than 20 minutes later!) his pull up would be dry and he made it to the toilet! I thought this was pretty good…in fact, I actually think that he has a better bladder than me right now at 4 months pregnant!
So here are the daytime potty-training objectives he’s successfully completed:
1. He goes on his own without being reminded
2. He asks to go in plenty of time to get to the toilet if we are somewhere where he need assistance
3. He can hold it if needed for a short period of time
4. He can dress and undress himself to use the toilet, wash his hands and flush himself
5. He’s been without an accident for well over a week
I am so thankful, and realize that I am AMAZINGLY blessed to have had it so easy with this phase of toilet training!
Filed under: Video
Got to love some of the military perks. . . hey if they send you far away from your family, there are a few things they can do to ease the pain. . . Daddy got to tape a DVD of himself reading to the children for 50 straight minutes. Here are the children’s first reactions. . .
The Caskey Family 