A month later...

Hmmm...where do we start?  A lot has happened in the last month - nothing spectacular or wild and crazy, but you know, life is full for us Hampton's and there is always a story to tell. :)  We FINALLY got a video camera so we are having fun capturing "Caleb moments" when we can.  Here is a little video for you to enjoy.  It is long, but hey, we've been depriving you of video for two years now so this should help make up for it.  Plus, we know that many of you have only spent a little time with our little man, so maybe this will help you get better acquainted with him.

We're beginning to catch glimpses of summer around here with the good ol' Idaho spring weather.  80 one day, 50 and rainy the next.  On the nice days, we have a really, really hard time keeping Caleb inside.  He absolutely LOVES to be outside.  He ate his first fist full of dirt yesterday.  Fortunately he said "yucky" and didn't seem to like it, so I don't think he'll be doing that for a while.  He's learning about bugs and so far can identify one insect - the "bug."  Every little creature is a bug.  Today, Joye was outside playing with him and a wasp landed on his hand.  He held his hand out and looked at Joye saying, "Mama, bug!"  He kept his hand out for a few more seconds until the wasp flew away.  Caleb was clueless and calm, but Joye was worried for good reason.  The wasp didn't sting him.  We're hoping now that Caleb doesn't think wasps are his best friends.  I showed him an ant the other day, and then Caleb showed the ant his thumb and index finger.  I don't think Caleb understands death yet, but the ant does now, or at least his little ant friends do.  So all that to say this summer will continue to be an adventure as we teach Caleb all about the outdoors.  In the meantime, he is learning that he can't be outside ALL of the time.  Oh, and he has learned how to open doors - yes, he can reach the knobs easily - so he tries to let himself outside sometimes (don't worry all you paranoid people out there - we have child-proofed our doors).  

Today Caleb is 22 months old.  He is quite verbal and most of the time we can understand what he is saying.  However, it is quite the treat to sneak up behind him when he is playing with one of his toys and listen to him as he chats away talking to the toy in a language only Caleb can understand.  Just recently, he began waking up in the mornings or from his naps shouting "All done.  Night, Night all done."  It's pretty funny.  He's putting more and more words together and it is cool to see him develop like that.  

Yesterday, Caleb got his first major "shiner."  He tripped forward and put his hands down to catch his fall.  In theory this was a good idea, except this time there was a coffee table between the corner of his eye and the floor.  Instead of his hands catching his fall, his eye caught his fall.  It was a really loud crack and I was certain there would be blood everywhere and an ensuing trip to the ER for stitches.  The good news was that it didn't break the skin open and he only cried until it stopped hurting. :)  He was up and at it in no time.  One of many to come, I'm sure.

On the adult front in the house, things are going well.  We have a few more weeks of mellow-ness, and then it is summer time in the life of a youth pastor's family.  Johnny will be coast to coast this year and many places in between.  Joye is planning a trip to Alaska by herself this summer as well - Johnny and Caleb won't get to go this year, but it will be a nice little break for Joye, even if she is working hard on the beach (let's hope!).  So, your prayers for our family this summer would be greatly appreciated.  It is always a delicate balance for our family, but we try our best to put each other first.

If you haven't caught wind of this via facebook or other means, Joye has become quite the little bargain shopper.  Her and a friend have been coupon crazy lately.  Recently, Joye tested her new found skills and bought $15 worth of groceries for $2.  She has learned that there is a lot of free food out there waiting to be purchased with coupons.  So hopefully, with time, we'll reap the benefits of having a little extra cash because of my thrifty wife.  

Well, this has been long enough, but that is a little bit about us for now.  Enjoy the video and these pictures.  Hopefully you'll hear from us sooner than a month from now...but no promises. :)

Love you all,

JJC

Enjoy the video.

Say "Cheese!"

Caleb got in a fight with the coffee table...the table won...

...but he's back in action!

The video only shows the beginning of the meal...this is the end. :)

A meal fit for a king.

A little "nack" before bed.

A quick hello...

Hello!  Well, around here it is the end of spring break week.  For teachers and students, this is great!  For the rest of us, well, it's just another week. :)  We wish Obama would focus on what is really important and make spring break week an official work holiday week - now that would increase his approval rating even more, right?  Ok, maybe a bad idea.

Anyway, a week ago today Caleb had tubes put in his ears.  It was a really quick procedure (officially a 'surgery').  A nurse took Caleb from our waiting room, a couple moments later we were taken to the recovery room, and right when we had just settled in they were already bringing him to us - done!  Pretty amazing how fast it was.  It all went really well and within a couple of hours he was back to his normal self - it didn't even seem to phase him.  The idea is that this will significantly decrease the ear infections he gets.  It was starting to get bad - getting ear infections without a cold, just the infection.  So we're optimistic that this will improve his overall well-being.  We seem to already see a difference in his behavior (not as cranky as often) and he hasn't pulled on his ears and said "owie" once since we got home.  That alone makes it worth it for us - no one likes to see their child hurting in any way.  Caleb has been a trooper and we're proud of the little man for hanging in there.  I'm so thankful that a little child is filled with so much grace to keep running back to parents who don't always do things right - aren't we all!?!?

We're taking this weekend off and going to have fun with some friends.  We're looking forward to a relaxing weekend.  Now, if the weather would just cooperate we'd be in perfect shape!  

Here are some pictures for you.  Love to you all!

Peace,

JJC

The fish in the doctors office - "ish, ish, ish, ish..."

Just woke up from general anesthesia - he was like, "Umm...what just happened?!"

Joye made play-doh for him.  Apparently he likes to throw it.

He's learned how to climb up and hang on...

...then he falls back on the couch and thinks it's the funniest thing ever!  This was a couple days after the tubes were put in.  We think he'll be okay. :)

Our big helper!

Hello!  We hope you are all doing well.  Things have been good for us lately.  We truly can't complain.  Life is always full of challenges but we constantly find ourselves thankful for the good people we are surrounded by.

Johnny finished his graduate work and is officially done...at least for a while. :)  He is enjoying relearning how to have a "normal" evening and has what he calls "phantom" moments where he feels like he should be working on something or reading something, but instead he can just sit on his keaster and relax!  

Joye is doing well being an amazing mother and wife!  She still works full time (well, she doesn't call it that, but she does) and manages to take care of us in the home.  She's had a couple of bouts with the crud that has been going around, but is doing better now and hoping it stays that way for a while.

Caleb is GROWING like crazy.  He is almost 21 months, wears a size 8 shoe, well over 30 pounds, and is a solid 35 inches tall - that's almost three feet people!  He is truly becoming more and more of a little boy every day learning new stuff as he explores everything.  We're t-minus three months from making the dreaded departure from the binki, but for now it is proving to be useful - at least Caleb thinks so! :)  We're close to be able to buy a video camera, so hopefully we can start capturing some classic "Caleb moments" for you all to witness for yourselves.  The kid truly is priceless quite often.  So, we're having fun watching him learn and grow and loving him all the while.  Oh, and before I make is sound too much like a fairy-tale, ya, the kid can be quite the handful sometimes.  He is definitely showing that he has a strong personality.  He test our parenting skills (or lack thereof) quite often.  But, we hear that's part of having an almost two year old.  There are more great moments that bad moments, so we're okay with where we're at right now.

Last weekend, we had a church wide local work and witness project in our neighboring community.  Part of this was getting our skate park cleaned up and ready for opening back up this spring.  Caleb showed up for a little bit and helped however he could.  Here are a few pictures of him working (sorry you can't see his face in any of these).

We love you all!  Hope to hear from you soon!

Peace,

JJC

This is my favorite one.

Still in my 20s!

Last weekend was fun!  All week we had planned on a mellow weekend - go out to dinner on Friday for my birthday, then just hang out all day on Saturday.  Well, we went out to dinner on Friday while Joye's sister Jill hung out with Caleb at home, but what I failed to realize is that my amazing wife had something more up her sleeve.  

I thought we were coming home to a quiet house, Caleb was in bed, and we'd just watch a movie or something.  I walked in to guitar hero and 16 of our really good friends who Joye had invited over for a surprise party.  I'm usually pretty good about catching Joye with stuff like this, but she totally got me this time.  I was clueless, and speechless.  Needless to say, it was a ton of fun.  It was cool to catch up with some friends I hadn't seen for a while.

One of our friends, Albre, made a really cool cake and wrote on it, "Viva La Juan."  It was very creative and very good!  Thanks Albre!  Birthdays feel different than they did when we were kids, but this one was special because I got to be with some really good friends.

Oh, and this is the last year I'll be able to say, "I'm still in my 20s!"  Ouch.  I'm getting old!

Have a great week!

Happy boy on the stairs!

And we're back!

It's been a long time since we've updated our blog, and I started to feel bad about that. So, to make up for our lack of attention to the blog, I decided to make you all a nice little video to soften your hearts a bit. :)

Life has been good for the Hampton Version 5.o's lately. We're into the full swing of 2009 and are looking at an exciting year ahead. As always, we would love your prayers, and know that you all are prayed for too!

Enjoy the video. Caleb is getting so big!

Love you all,
JJC