Yes, we, too, have been Elfed...

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1549322244

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

I wish I could post some pictures of Eric being the awesome dad that he is, but since our computer's not working and I didn't back up my pictures onto a disc (oops), that's not going to happen.

But, Eric, you must know how much our boys love you because you are fun, playful, consistent, loving and have tons of energy. Please don't die because I don't know what I'd do without you. (I know that's morbid, but that's just how I think, people!)

Happy 30th Birthday!

By the way, Eric spent his last day in his twenties at Chuck-E-Cheese and today he went to a concert and then had all his friends over to play video games. I don't think he's that old yet.

To Eric; from Sally (my mom)

ERIC IS HOW OLD?!

Eric woke up this morning and said with a cry
“I’ve turned 30 today.” “Oh me!” and “Oh my!”.
Now don’t feel downhearted, dejected or sad,
I’ve shown up to tell you it’s not all that bad.

For Eric’s fulfilling a lot of his dreams,
A husband, a dad and a great job it seems.
He’s got friends all around and a church he can love,
Blessings galore sent straight from above.

You might think he’s quiet, guarded or shy,
But you see his true heart when he plays with his guys.
He wrestles with Cal and makes Ike giggle,
They lay on the floor and wriggle and wiggle.

His friend from the 4th grade and love of his life,
You see that he’s proud of Leah his wife.
He’s faithful and loyal, hardworking, consistent,
Emotional, loud or a braggart he isn’t.

He’s easy to love, has a true servant’s heart,
If he’s called to help out, well, he’s just doing his part.
If you’re there on a weekend to the bakery he goes,
You may even find him baking cinnamon rolls.

So you see by this tale that all’s well and good,
You’d probably pick 30 too if you could.
So say what you want & don’t hold it back,
Of cheers on his 30th may Eric have no lack!

Happy Birthday Eric!!

Love ya,
Sally

Cal did the branch on the bottom left.

No Fetching

Cal has been telling me this for weeks.




We watched Frosty tonight and Professor Hinkles actually says, "No Fair" and shakes his fist. His hair is waving in the background so it looks like he's pulling it. Poor Cal. I think it was a real letdown when I told him what he was really saying.

More Cal Fun

Cal said today, "Isaac's getting curly hair!" Then... "Is he going to be a mommy?"

Also, Cal's new favorite color is red (instead of yellow). He's rebelling against culture by also loving pink, because "dark pink and light red almost match." When we see girl things that are pink, he says, "But I like pink, too."

Eric and I are not huge into Santa because there are so many real magical things about Christmas, so why force something imaginary? But Cal really likes all the movies, songs and books about Santa. So, we went to the mall to sit on Santa's lap. As we were walking away, Cal said, "See, mom? He's real!"

What's new?

Isaac has been regularly signing the word "light." He loves lights and loves telling me about them. He will yell out "ada!" when he signs it. I think it's his first word. The other two times he's signed "More" and "All done" were flukes, I think.

Cal called me over today and said, "Does this say 'ben?' It was so close! It was "bean." He is still loving letters and loves to try to sound out words (although he has no idea what most vowels say). It's fun.

Our computer has gone crazy, so I haven't been able to email or communicate during the day, but Eric brings his work laptop home, so that's how I'm posting right now. Just thought you should know and feel sorry for me.

Wino

I was asking Cal about letter sounds in the car today. "What word starts with the same sound as the word "snow?" He said, "S." I explained to him what I meant (e.g. snake, sun, etc) and tried again.

Me: What word starts with the same word as "white."
Cal: W.
Me: No. What has the same SOUND as the first sound of "white."
Cal: D.
Me: Wha...?
Cal: W starts with the letter "D." (Double U)
Me: Oh. Well... that's true. But what word starts with a "W" like the word "white."
Cal: Wine. Like the wine that you drink. But not kids. Just grown-ups. Why can't I drink wine?

He gets his sexy, full lips from his mama.

I've always wanted a son Isaac with curly hair! I think my wish may be granted! What do you think?

I'm pretty ticked that this picture didn't come out very clear. Nikki got Isaac these slippers that have leather soles so he won't slip. I just love them. And I love his man boobs.

Miss Nikki Visits

Our friend, Nikki, comes to visit from Chicago once or twice a year. Eric and I were friends with her in high school, lost touch for a while and then reconnected after college. She spoils us all with love, playtime, gifts and good conversation. Thanks for coming, Nikki! Her mom also came for a day and we loved her, too! Thanks, Mrs. Schmidt! :)

Nikki missed her two big dogs, so she gave ours lots of needed lovin'.

Isaac coming out of the TV box we made into a fort (that's in the basement, by the way! It's not finished, but it's liveable).

I told Cal to come out smiling.

He's looking at Nikki right here.

A Preschool Song

Cal's Self-Portrait

Cal was a maniac with his Magna Doodle today. He played with it for about an hour. He didn't sit still. He would draw something, then get up and run around it while he was explaining to me what it was and then sit back down to add more. A maniac. He also drew the number 10, a bunch of circles, a rectangle, an arrow and a lot of Cs, which he wasn't happy with since they weren't straight.

More Museum Fun

Jason, my mom and I all took Cal to the museum while Eric stayed home with Isaac (during his nap) and Stef made some awesome Cranberry-orange bread. Apparently, every other family in Mpls had the same idea because it was packed with people just like us- kid/adult ratio of 1:3. The adults were SO in my way.

That's right, people. I can hula-hoop with the best of them.

Thanksgiving Day

I have much to be thankful for. A seemingly small thing, but first on my list, is that Isaac is sleeping in until 7:30 (rather than 5:55)! Can I get a woo woo?

I didn't take many pictures on Thanksgiving, but my mom did (mom?). Here's what I got.

Brad, Sarah, Atticus and soon-to-be Deitrich (still in Sarah's belly) had us over for Thanksgiving dinner. It was really great. The food was so good and we all went home very full and happy.

I had to put both of these pictures up since Sarah looks so good in this one, but Atticus doesn't. And vice versa about the above picture.

Cal looking drunk as usual. I cannot get a good picture of this boy. He's holding all of the music sheets and was acting like he was reading the music and would sing Twinkle Twinkle. The music sheets are actually of a hymn that we all sung while Sarah played the piano. She admits it's cheesy, but we all loved it.

As soon as Isaac realizes someone has food, he runs toward him/her. Jason fed him French Silk Pie, which he loved.

We heart Grandmas

My mom is coming to visit tomorrow and Cal has been so excited about it. He keeps asking me "When I wake up from my nap, Grandma Sally will be here?" and "How many days till Grandma Sally gets here?" Today, he was talking on his phone (it's actually a fake pager, but I told him that no one uses pagers, so he uses it as a phone), "Hi, Grandma Sally. How are you doing? Oh, you're not feeling too well? Oh. You will be here in one day! Ok! Bye!" Then later, he told me he was calling Grandma Barb. "Hello, Grandma Barb. How are you doing? You're not feeling too well? Oh. Do you want to come here with Grandma Sally? And Aunt Dana, too? Oh, ok! See you then! Bye!"

Summary: The only thing better than one grandma is two grandmas.

Dorky Dancing Cal

I know this is too dark. I'll have to get him to do this another day.

The Dorky Boys

For Little Lauren- Who's birthday I did not forget, but post I did (forget).

Lauren, Little Lauren, you know we love you.

Please don't make me write a poem to prove that we do!

There's lots of things we like about Little Bill:

But it's not her taste of music, One word: Ill.

But we do love the way she states what she wants.

She doesn't take crap from anyone (not even her parents) [editor's note: emphasis on the last syllable]

She has a great sense of humor, loves to kid around

She works hard to win- not afraid to hit the ground

She has lots of friends and is a great pal

And is an awesome aunt to Isaac and Cal.

We love you, Lauren, and know your 19th birthday was great!

Funny AND smart!

Calvin has been cracking me up nonstop lately. He wants to have conversations with me but doesn't really know what to say. He'll say, "Um, mom?"
"Yes, Cal."
"Umm... You love me, huh?"
"Yes, I do."
"I love you, too."

Or

Cal: "Um... mom?"
Me: "Yes, Cal."
Cal: "Um, you're so sweet."

Today in the car, he yelled, "Mom, you forgot to buckle me in!" This has been a bad habit of mine, lately. He climbs in on Isaac's side, I buckle Isaac in and then I walk around, get in and drive. Cal will tell me right away and then I'll pull over and say, "Oh, my goodness, Cal! Thank you for telling me!" Well, today, we had already been driving for about 20 minutes and we were on a highway. I said, "Oh, no! Hold on, Cal. I'll get off at the next exit (meanwhile praying that I won't crash)." I'm panicking, trying to get over and I glance in the backseat. I say, "Hey! I buckled you in!" Cal starts laughing and says, "I'm just kidding! Haha! Let's do that again!"

He's also been really smart. I know all kids are smart in all different ways, so it's okay to brag, right?

I bought two three-packs of little storage baskets for their toys. I opened one of them and then Cal saw the other one. He said, "We have another one!" I said, "Yes. We have another set of three." He got out his fingers and said, "1,2,3... 4,5,6. We have six!"

He had a sweatshirt on today with two pockets (really one pocket, but two holes) and pants with regular pockets and cargo pockets. He exclaimed, "I have a lot of pockets! 5 pockets! 2 + 2 + 2 is 5!" (Yes, I realize he got that wrong, but I still think it was smart.)

We borrowed a book called "The Dinosaur" (thanks, Jess) and Cal knew where the word Dinosaur was because of the "D."

More Birthday Pictures

Thanks to Sarah and Jess for taking some pictures! You'll notice that Hannah & Co. are not in the pictures. That's because I didn't check before setting the date and they were all out of town. So, they were there in spirit.

We got Isaac that tunnel. But the whole family loves it, as you can see.

Oh, and the far left/bottom picture: He is smiling like that because he realized that everyone was singing to him. He loved it.

Adult-Like Conversation

While Cal, Ike and I were eating lunch, Cal says, "So, anyways... I was thinkin' 'bout maybe after lunch we can play hide-n-seek."

Happy Birthday, Isaac!

Isaac's birthday was October 27th, but we were unable to celebrate until this past Saturday. We had a very small group of friends over to enjoy our son with us. Isaac, although he wouldn't take a morning nap, had a great time while diving into his cake, crawling through his tunnel with the other boys and opening presents.

I was reminded, once again, how much I need a savior. I know that sounds cliche or trite or both, but I had such a hard day and had to use self-control in order not to kick, punch, throw or shake things/people/children. The party was great, but before the party, Isaac screamed for 1 1/2 hours, not taking a nap and after the party, Cal wouldn't take a nap. I was exhausted and mean. And then I hated myself even more for being so angry on the day we celebrate Isaac's birthday.



Anyway, here's the fun photos (my memory card was full half way through the party, so I'm waiting for my friends to send me their pics. More to come. hint hint):



Before everyone came, Isaac had to eat (of course):