McCall Family

Saturday, February 19, 2011

Puppy Love

This past week, we added some new little friends to our family......puppies. On a foggy, wet Wednesday evening, Jack came home from work and while he was getting the mail down the road, he found two cold, wet, hungry little puppies by our mailbox. Being the bleeding heart that he is, he put them in the car and drove them down the road to our house. I will admit that I was hesitant at first, but once they got cleaned up and I saw how much the kids loved them, I was sold. We honestly have no idea what kind of dogs they are or even if they are from the same litter, but they are very cute and we are enjoying getting to know them and love them.

Joel decided to name the yellow pup "Buzz" as in "Buzz Lightyear." The little brown one, who was very shy and scared at first, has had a name change. First she was "Underdog," but after discovering that that was a mouthful, it was decided that "Jessie" would be her name. Aren't they adorable?

Joel is 3!

On February 7, 2011, Joel celebrated his third birthday. His actual birthday was kind of a bust as I had to take him the pediatrician for a double ear infection (his very first ear infection and antibiotics ever!!!). Bummer! Anyway, by his party on February 12, he was feeling much better and had a blast at his "fireman" birthday party. Many of his friends and ours came out to celebrate with us, and it was a great day for all. We are very blessed with wonderful friends and family. Here are some picture from the event:

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Growing Up!

Both Joel and Nora are growing up way too fast for our liking. We are just so proud of them and amazed by them each and every day.

After Nora turned 1 in December, she really began to add a lot of words to her vocabulary. Her latest additions include: "toast," "Nora (no-na)," "Bubba (a.k.a. Joel)," "Papa," "drink," "bath," "Buzz (yes, as in Buzz Lightyear)," "book," and "thank you." She is now not only walking, but she is RUNNING almost everywhere. She climbs stairs, will follow directions very well and loves to play with her babies (although, I still think she would rather play with tractors). She loves for Joel to chase her around the house while she giggles away, and she really loves to sing and dance. I think we have a little entertainer on our hands. She often "fake" laughs or "fake" coughs to put on a show; she is quite the ham, but we love it! There's never a dull moment with this little girl!

Oh, by the way, when I took Nora to her one-year appointment, our little runt girl had officially fallen off the growth chart for weight, but is in the whopping tenth percentile for height. Her doctor didn't seem concerned at all since she eats very well and is hitting her milestones and thriving. She's just little, I suppose. She'll love that metabolism if it keeps up!

Joel is such a smart, caring little boy (who, by the way, will be 3 tomorrow!). He just amazes us with is deductive reasoning skills. For instance, the other day we were driving in the car and he says to me, "Mommy, 'dumb' is a bad word." "Yes, Joel, that is a bad word.".......long pause...."Mommy, 'rude' is not a bad word, but it's bad to be rude." Seriously! That took some serious thought and articulation! In other exciting Joel news, I think it's safe to say that he is officially potty trained! True to Joel form, he didn't even want to try the whole potty thing until he was sure he could do it just right. Sure enough, when he was ready, he was truly ready and he has had very few accidents since he decided he was okay with wearing big boy underwear. What a relief!

He's also very into playing pretend. Some of his favorite games include playing "store," where he'll set up items and make either Jack or I come "buy" them from him. He also loves to play fireman. I caught him today speaking on his "talkie-walkie" and saying, "Roger, Roger....are you there, Roger? Is the fire ready, yet?" Hilarious!!! I could go on and on about Joel, but in a nutshell, he's a great kid with a great imagination and a lot of compassion for others. We're so proud of him!

We Love Snow!!!

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Our New Home

I mentioned in a previous post that we purchased a new home at the end of 2010. We moved in late January into our new home, and we are loving every minute of it. God has truly blessed our family in more ways than one. We have very fond memories of our first home, but we look so forward to making a lifetime more memories in our new one.

Best Buddies Part II

Christmas 2010

Wow! A lot has gone on in our little family since my last post. Shortly after Nora turned one, Jack graduated and returned from officer's training for the Air National Guard in Birmingham, Alabama. We were soooooooo glad to have him home with us again (this is a HUGE understatement!), and we promptly went on to celebrate our last Christmas in our first family home (more to come in a later post).

The kids had a wonderful Christmas, and we really made the most of spending it as a family and just enjoying the time together. I do have to share this picture of the kids with Santa because it's just too hilarious of Nora. My little social butterfly finally met someone she didn't like....the man in red! She was absolutely terrified!!!