Fire-Sniffing Dragon

Isaac is still obsessed with this dragon costume. He wears it everywhere and I get many amused looks in our directions. He mostly just wants to chase me while yelling "RARRRR." This time, I jumped out of the way when he was running at me full speed. He kept running right into the baker's rack. I know you are thinking this was my fault, but really. Am I going to "let" him catch me? This will just make him better- smarter, quicker, sneakier and stronger. Right?

Duluth

Although there were many places we would have rather went as a family (Tennessee and Arkansas, for example), our bank account allowed us a weekend in Duluth. People here in Minnesota call this area "The North Shore." It's right on Lake Superior for those of you who are lacking in geography skills.

The Train Museum: We knew Ike would be ecstatic to see the trains, but we didn't know how much Cal would love it, too. He thought it was so great that we got to actually go into these old trains.

This was inside of an old steam engine. The kids wanted so bad to turn all of those nozzles.

This was Cal's pose in one of the seats of an engine.
Here's Ike trying to do the same thing while coughing. Ha. (not so good at thumbs-up)

Here's Ike with a hot chocolate and a scone.

The Pool: Definitely the highlight of the trip. We went swimming four times in two days. By the last swim, both boys were so brave. Ike jumped in and wanted to go under. Then he would say, "I go underwater" very proudly. Eric and I were exhausted from all the swimming.

I asked Cal how excited he was to go swimming and he said, "This much!"

I am very strong.

Another thumbs-up picture.

When I Grow Up

Cal wants to be many things when he grows up: A clown; a man who blows up balloons and puts toys and candy inside (I've told him clowns can do this, but he always includes it anyway); an astronaut.

Today, he came upstairs to find me and shouted, "Mom! Guess what?! I know something else I want to be when I grow up!" I asked, "What, Cal?" He responded, "A daddy! And I'm going to fall in love with Hannah." Eric heard and asked, "Why?" He said, "Because we are already friends! And she's a girl and I'm a boy. And she lives very far away but even though we are in different states, we will grow up at the same time. And then we can play together!" I said, "Well, you will have to learn how to play grown-up games, since you will be grown-ups." He said, "Unless we just play with our kids." "How many kids will you have?" I asked. He responded, "Maybe 5 or 10."

So there you go, Shae and Lisa. My son will not be able to support a family of 7 or 12, being a clown and all, but hopefully, Hannah will be amused all the time. And get lots of toys and candy.

Snot a Lie!

Calvin told his first intentional lie last week. In order to get some fruit, he needed to finish his sandwich. He came into the kitchen and told me he ate it (after I asked). It was not a very good lie since in the other room, on his plate, lo and behold- a plate with a sandwich on it.

We talked about trust, God's standards, love and forgiveness. Today he told me he washed his hands with soap and I asked, "How can I know that is true?" He responded, "Because if I say it, it's true."

On another note, Cal still loves to eat his boogers. He has a rash on his upper lip from keeping his tongue up there to catch any dripping snot. I'm astonished, appauled and apparently, not speechless.

Pool

A couple days ago, the weather outside was amazing and a few of us met at a park. It was insane since the snow melted right into the park area, making it a pool. The boys don't have rain boots so I had their winter boots on. The boots are still not dry. This picture shows the puddle beneath the swings with Cal, Ike and Mado (Jane in the pink in the background). But this isn't anything compared to the rest of the park. The water actually went up over the rainboots that some kids went on and just drained right into their feet.

We went over to the field where it was icey, but it was all just sluch. The boys had fun cracking the icey slush.

Madeleine's feet were a pair that ended up with icey water all over them. She kept taking off her boots to drain them. But here she is acting very non-surprised by the chill of the ice. At first, Laura was laughing, but then she freaked out and started calling out, "MADO! Put the boots back on!" (Her socks were already sopping wet and taken off.) Needless to say, Mado ended up with a blanket around her feet, sitting by her dad for most of the time.

Last Week

Here's Calvin and Mado at the children's museum. They let the kids paint their own faces and I used to be able to avoid that booth.

Isaac loves mints. Here he is holding a Cinnamon Altoid. He says, "spicy."

I showed Calvin this two-legged carrot and he got a kick out of it. I personally would never eat it- it kinda grosses me out. We put a face on it but when it was time to eat it, I peeled and washed it (don't worrry, mom). Now when I offer him a carrot, he always asks for a walking carrot.

Isaac's First Prayer and Calvin's, um, Modesty

Isaac prayed his first full prayer this week. He has no idea who he's praying to, but he folds his hands all nice and gets a goofy smile on his face.
Dee Lo (Dear Lord)
Tank ooo daddy (Thank you for daddy)
Tank ooo ome (Thank you for our home)
Siiiiides (I had tons of fun on the slides today)
Amen.

Calvin prays the same prayer almost every night:
Dear Lord, thank you for whatever we want to do. Thank you for [insert something he sees here- like lights, blankets, vents, windows, etc]. Amen. (The longer his prayer is, the better he thinks it is. At the end, he will ask, "Wasn't that a good prayer?")


Calvin's carpool mom told me this:
Cal put his boots horizontally, sticking out from his chest and said, "Miss Shari, look at my big nipples!"

More food- purees

Jason and Stef got me Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld for Christmas. It's a cookbook designed to sneak pureed foods into regular foods. For example, I made sloppy joes with about a cup of pureed sweet potato in the meat and no one noticed. There's something satisfying about people eating healthy food without them knowing.

Two funny things about this:

1) I've been putting sweet potato into everything. I made chocolate shakes this week with about a cup of it in there. You couldn't taste it at all. I've also put it into hot chocolate, tacos, chili, mac & cheese, chicken nuggets and manicotti.

2) My kids are not picky eaters. So when I am pureeing the food, they usually come up and ask me for some. Today, I was blending squash as Isaac was sitting at his table eating some out of a bowl. Ha! But I still enjoy sneaking it in because it makes everything healthier. Wooohehehe (evil laugh).

Food

Our grocery bill is getting out of control. Calvin is starting to eat a lot (and Ike always has). We buy tons of produce at least 2x a week. This morning for breakfast, Cal had a bowl of cereal with bananas in it, a bowl of yogurt with honey, 2 clementines, 1/2 piece of toast and 1/2 a fried egg. When he comes home from preschool (where their snack isn't very big), he usually has an entire sandwich, some veggies, some cheese and more fruit. It's insane.

Compliment

We've been encouraging Calvin to give a specific compliment about the meals that he has. My example to him was, "This sauce is very flavorful!" When my mom was here, we had some meal that Cal did not care for. When he asked to be excused, we reminded him to give a compliment. He looked at the food, looked at me and said with a sweet smile, "I liked the water," and then ran off.

Camera Down

I broke my camera by dropping it this week. I'll be taking it in soon to see what's up, but until then..... I've got nothin'. Unless Cal says something brilliant.

New Things

Much to my dismay and sadness, Cal wanted his hair short. I really wanted to grow it out into an alternativey longish style. But he said his forehead is itchy and that he wanted it as short as his dad's.

Before Still before. What a nutjob.

After

This is seriously cute, right? Cal did this unprompted. I thought he was going to make a very odd face again.

Then Ike wanted his haircut since at our house- haircut = candy

Before
And after- all three of them.

The kids are now sharing a bunkbed and love it.

Grandma Sally Visits

We didn't take any pictures the entire time my mom was here. Until the last morning. She brought them up a bowling set, so they had fun with that.

We did many fun things- went to Pump It Up (a giant room with lots of blow up HUGE slides and moon bounces), went to a train movie, and then Eric and I had a long date while my mom hung out with the kids and put them to bed. We were very sad to see her go.