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):

Carving the Pumpkins

We had to beg Cal to hold the guts for this picture. He wasn't too thrilled.

His favorite part was replacing the pumpkin and then popping out the eye.

He's pushing me away in this picture.

Eric's, Leah's, Cal's (he picked out the pumpkin and chose the face)

Happy Halloween Brothers

After trick-or-treating:

Eric: You love candy, huh, Cal?

Cal: Yes.

E: Do you want to eat it for breakfast tomorrow?

C: Noooo. I want to eat healthy stuff for breakfast.

E: Like oatmeal?

C: Yes. Not candy. That is not the healthy stuff.

E: That's right. Candy has a lot of sugar in it.

C: Yes. That's exactly right.