A Happy HALF Birthday!

Height: 27 1/4 in. (75%)

Weight: 18 lbs 11oz (75%)

Head: 17 3/4 in. (98%)

This past Thursday we celebrated Cal's half birthday. He had his 6 month check-up in the morning. Then, it just so happens that Cal shares his half birthday with Spencer's mom's actual birthday, so we picked Boppi up for lunch and were able to spend a couple hours in the afternoon celebrating with her.

Six months have flown by! My little guy doesn't seem much like a baby anymore. I was sitting in my glider nursing Calvin the other morning when I looked down and realized that he no longer fits perfectly on my lap. While snuggled up against my chest, his long legs dangled off past my thigh. In that moment I felt a little sad and sentimental, realizing how fast he's growing up. It's not gonna be too long before he's running around, giving me sass, and causing all sorts of mischief. Made me want to hold him that much longer, and freeze time for just a bit.

Calvin is such a sweet little guy. He's super mellow, easy going, always pretty happy, and content just hanging out. He's fun to play with, and gives tons of laughs and smiles. I'm pretty much his favorite person too, which always makes me feel good! Spencer will be playing with Cal - having a good time, and then I walk in. Cal instantly lights up with smiles and all I have to do is lean down and sputter on his neck to get him busting up in laughter! He's a great little eater - still nurses fabulously (every 3 hours during the day) and eats a huge bowl of cereal with some sort of fruit and/or veggi every night at 5pm. He's in bed every night by 7pm (usually earlier, but rarely later), sleeps pretty good, but is still waking up once at night (currently working on breaking his 3am feeding).

Some current facts about Cal:
- Likes to sleep on his left side.
- Been sitting up for awhile, but still doesn't have it totally mastered (a tad wobbly, and falls over after a couple minutes).

- Anything and everything within reach goes into his mouth. If not a toy, it's his fingers or hands!

- Had his first dose ever of tylenol 2 days before turning 6 months.
- LOVES drinking from my water bottle.
- Still taking 3 naps a day
- Doesn't seem to prefer certain foods over others. Just eats whatever I put in his mouth (fingers crossed I might get a non-picky eater)!

- LOVES his sisters!!

Cal puts up with quite a bit from his sisters. Madi and Elle are constantly squeezing Cal's cheeks and telling him how cute he is. They love getting in his face and smothering him. Elle especially loves rolling over on top of him and giving huge hugs and loves. I'm always pulling someone off him! When Cal's in his jump up, Madi and Elle think it's hilarious to spin him around and around. Then they'll pull him way back and let go! I keep warning the girls that one day Cal's gonna be bigger than both of them and then it's gonna be pay back!

Now if only Cal could stop growing up so fast! Sure love my little guy!

School Days

The wall Madi's class lines up against every morning and afternoon.

Madi's been in school for a whole 2 weeks now and wow, what a different world it is having a school aged kid! Life seems so much busier and much more fast paced. Getting out the door by 7:45am is hard! Every morning is such a rush! All of a sudden Madi's decided she wants to sleep in. I've had to wake her up almost every single morning. I'm quickly learning to have lunch packed the night before, clothes laid out, papers in her folder, and set by the door. And I'm constantly thinking about how much busier it must be for parents with more than one kid in school- different classes, different grades, that many more schedules to keep track of, and that much more paperwork!

Slowly but surely we're getting this whole school thing down. Madi's been going from 8:10- 12:57pm everyday, but I'm hoping (fingers crossed) that she'll get into the 9:10-1:57 group. It would be so nice to have some more time in the morning!

Aside from the slow start to the morning, and Madi moaning about not wanting to get out of bed, she completely loves school! And I love hearing all about it! Yesterday when picking up Madi, she tells me: "When Elle and Cal get to go to school, they're gonna want to come here, cause this is the best school EVER!!"

Pretty sure it's gonna be a great year for Madi. Her teacher is fantastic - Madi comes home every afternoon telling me all about the fun things going on in class. Madi also has two friends from church in her class (Addie and Garret) and there's actually 8 other kids from her primary class in the 4 other kindergarten classes! It seriously feels like a relief society meeting every day at drop off and pickup. I'm anxious to get into Madi's classroom and get involved. I've signed up to work Motor Lab (like PE-with mats, balance beams, etc) every Friday and centers every other Thursday. All that will start next month.

Madi's teacher giving instructions on the 1st day of school. Try to find Madi!

Other things I've learned since Madi started school:
- Recess is her favorite. She loves the swings and usually does nothing else on the playground.
- When we ask her who she played with, she always says no one (why is this always so hard for me when she seems completely fine about it).
- She's never had to change her card (from green to yellow, red, and heaven forbid, purple) and says she never will. But there's a boy in her class who always has to change his card.
- On any given day, Madi can tell me what the majority of her friends in class were wearing. Ex: A "purple sparkly shirt with jeans." She'll explain who she's talking about by prefacing with what they wore- "you know, that boy in the green shorts."
- Madi is very detailed oriented.
- She's great about doing her homework as soon as she walks in the door from school (but I knew she would be)!

Utah Vacation

Last Sunday we got back from a week spent in Utah. It was so wonderful to get away with the only goal of having fun. We left on Saturday, August 25th, and spent a full 7 days playing in Huntsville, Logan, Brigham City, Provo, and Salt Lake. It wasn't the most relaxing trip, but it sure was a lot of fun! After a full day of driving on Saturday (took us 12 hours and 20 minutes to get from Camarillo to Huntsville - 789 miles with only 3 stops), we were looking forward to a relaxing Sunday spent with friends.

Sunday 8/26/12 

Early Sunday morning Chad, Ryann, and their kids as well as Matt (who had just been picked up from the airport) arrived. Adam wasn't too far behind. Spencer made a big Sunday morning breakfast- waffles, sausage, bacon, and OJ. Then the guys spent the morning doing what they do best - round after round of badminton, toss the sack game, and "hit the shoe" (their own made up wiffle ball golf game). In Madi's words: "They just keep playing games!" While the guys played, Ryann and I spent our time under the shade of the trees entertaining the kids. They all got along fabulously! Sunday afternoon we walked over to church (one of my favorite things about Huntsville is that there's so much in walking distance). When we got home it was time to start dinner prep: tri tip, potatoes, green beans (brought from our garden), and watermelon. Then in the evening after kids were asleep in their beds we all settled in for a long night of cards (Scum) while eating chips and salsa, candy, and sipping Italian ices.  The boys polished off the night with what they proudly called their "night cap"-- Oreos and milk! 

The guys: Chad, Spencer, Adam, Matt

We love the Oyler kids! 

Madi and Cole trying to keep each other brave while watching the "scary part" of Enchanted.

Ryann braided all the girls hair, then they drank milk from Cole's strawberry flavored straws!

Monday 8/27

We all headed out to the park in the morning (awesome park within walking distance), as the Oylers needed to be on the road before noon. We were sad to have them go, but hopefully now that they've moved back to Boise, we'll be able to see each other more often.

Cole keeping Calvin entertained!

In the afternoon we hit up Carlos & Harley's Mexican Cantina in Eden for lunch with Matt and Adam. It's always fun to be entertained by Matt and all his stories! Totally wish that Chelsy and the kids had been able to come though. Later that afternoon Spencer, Matt and Adam headed off with their fly fishing gear to fish the Ogden River while I played at the cabin with the kids. We walked over to the library (just a block up the street and has an awesome kids section) to check out some books and use the internet. Madi was excited that the librarian personally helped her find a handful of books about poison ivy, butterflies, and nature (she's always got some new obsession). Adam went home after fishing and Spencer, Matt and I stayed up chatting and sipping raspberry-vanilla Italian ices - we were addicted to these! Another great day in the bag!

Tuesday 8/28
Matt had an early morning flight out of SLC so Spencer took him to the airport before the kids were awake. Tuesday was just a day to relax in Huntsville. We had nothing on the schedule but to spend time together! It was such a nice day. After 2 days of Spencer playing with his buddies, the kids were in complete heaven with all the undivided daddy time! We played games outside with the girls (volleyball, soccer, and badmiton) while Calvin napped. Then we headed to the beach at the lake for some playing in the "mud" and fishing. Other highlights of the day: feeding Festus the horse, naps, dinner at Huntsville BBQ Company, and the park afterwards. It was so fun to see the girls so happy. Madi said it perfectly, "This is SO great! You don't have to work, we get to stay up and watch movies, and play all day!"

Elle preparing to serve

I was quite impressed with how the girls reacted to the muddy water. They sat right down and made mud soup!

Girls loved watching Spencer fish.

Wednesday 8/29

On Wednesday, we got up early and headed for Logan. It took an hour and 15 minutes to get to Grandma's place where we dropped Spencer off. Then the kids and I headed 5 miles up to Springfield to visit my cousin Eliza and her kids Marrick and Halle (her other 2 kids were in school). It's always so great to see Eliza and get caught up on life. Having the kids it tow made it a little harder  for a good visit, but I knew Liza wanted to see my kids and I wanted Madi and Elle to meet the cousin that's in so many of the stories I tell them from my childhood. 

Marrick wasn't too excited about getting a picture taken!

Thanks Madi for getting a picture of Liza and I.

We were able to play for 2 hours before heading back to Grandma's place for "dinner" (what they call lunch). The girls were super excited to see where GG lives and did a pretty good job of staying on their best behavior.

From there we headed over to Jeremy and Tanna's to change clothes and hang out a bit before leaving for the Brigham City Temple open house. This was a wonderful experience for our family. What a treat it was for our girls to be able to go inside the temple. Elle's main focus wasn't so much the temple, but the over-sized white booties we had to put on before entering the temple. She whined about them for most of the tour. She's a shoe girl and wasn't cool with the look. Madi was most anxious to see where in the temple you get married. They both loved looking in the mirrors and admiring the beautiful, "sparkly" chandeliers. Unfortunately, we all left our cameras in the car and never went back to get a family picture outside of the temple. Afterwards we headed to a nearby park for the kids to get out their energy and play with their cousins. Tanna packed a picnic dinner and we all had a grand time!

L-R: Madi, Keegan, Austin, Elle, Sydney, Calvin, Evan

Thursday 8/30

Thursday was our Provo day and one we'd been looking forward to with great anticipation! Spencer had been building BYU up in the girls' minds as one of the greatest places on earth. You would have thought we were going to Disneyland with how excited they were. And we couldn't have picked a better time to visit - the first week of school and opening game day of the football season.  There's nothing like game day in Provo! The only bummer was that we had forgotten Cal's stroller in Huntsville so I had to carry him around in the Bjorn while Spencer lugged around the diaper bag and camera.  It was weird being back on campus - especially now with 3 kids in tow. My mind flooded with BYU memories. It was fun to think back and remember which classes I had in each building, the grassy spot where I liked to study (and usually fall asleep), all the friends I met, and the fun we had.

At 11am, we met up with Jocelyn and Michael who were on a break between classes. They only had an hour to hang out, but I was so happy it worked out to see them. They joined us at the bookstore where Madi, Elle, and Spencer stocked up on their BYU apparel. Thanks Joc and Michael for making time for us and for helping me out with holding Cal (my back sure was getting tired :)

One of the highlights of being in Provo was looking for the Y on the mountain. Before we drove through Provo on Saturday afternoon on our way to Huntsville, Spencer prepped the girls for the moment that they would see the "Y" on the mountain for the very first time. As we approached Provo, he told them that they were going to see something on the mountain that would forever change their lives, and that this would be a moment they would never forget.  Spencer is just slightly passionate about BYU, and the girls were hanging on his every word! He then did a count down, and at zero, told them to turn and look out their windows.  I think Spencer succeeded in impressing this moment into their memories, because for the rest of the trip, they were always looking at the mountains looking for the Y!

I spy the Y on the mountain! Madi and I making the Y with our arms.

We cruised around the area for a bit, reminiscing about our college days. Then we met up with my old roommate Sarah at Cafe Rio for lunch. It was SO great to see her (it had been 7 years) and to finally meet her husband! After a great visit we drove her home and the girls got to meet her beautiful dogs.

From there we headed to the BYU Creamery for some ice cream! Madi and Elle were so excited when they discovered that their ice cream had blue m&m's with "Y"s on them! 

We then stopped by Bobby and Amy's to drop Spencer off. He stayed behind to go to the Washington State vs. BYU game with Bobby, Jeremy (Spencer's brother), and Adam Eshenroder, while I continued onto Huntsville to get some tired kids into bed (ya, I'm always making the sacrifices :)! After an solid BYU victory (30-6), Jeremy and Spencer drove back to Huntsville, getting in around 2am.

Friday 8/31
After two days of being gone all day, it was nice to have a day to relax. Bobby and Amy drove up on Friday, but they didn't get in until later in the afternoon. It was another relaxing morning in Huntsville. We fed Festus, explored Huntsville, played at the park, and hit up the Huntsville BBQ company for lunch.

Madi's become quite the photographer!

Spinning!

After a quiet and relaxing morning, the kids were so excited for Uncle Bobby and Aunt Amy to arrive. We barbecued chicken for dinner, and then Spencer and Bobby went fishing while us girls (Cal went to bed) stayed home to paint nails, eat popcorn, and watch "Horton Hears a Who." 

Loved this pic I snapped of Elle making sure her nails were good and dry!

Saturday 9/1
Saturday we all got on the road early - Bob and Amy to Logan and us to Salt Lake to see our dear friends the Gertsch's. The Gertsch's moved away after our first year in MD, but we've done a pretty good job of having a reunion at least once a year. We weren't sure if we would be able to keep this tradition up once we moved to California and Matt got accepted into the anesthesiology residency program at Harvard, so we were super excited when we learned that Matt's first year rotations would be in Salt Lake City. Before we met up with the Gertsch's, we wandered around Temple Square and let the girls admire all the beautiful brides walking around. I had Madi and Elle picking out their favorite wedding dress. It was fun!

After stumbling upon the Gertsch's who were "hiding" behind a large tree, we walked over to the new City Creek outdoor mall and let the kids play in the fountains.  Since we really just wanted to hang out and talk, we headed back to their place for lunch and swimming. The pool was a little cold, so all the kids decided to swim in the hot tub. Being boys, Hunter and Mason were determined to impress Madi and Elle by showing off their bravery and swimming skills by running and jumping and flipping into the hot tub. Madi and Elle were NOT impressed or amused with all the big splashes and water in their face. They were actually quite vocally annoyed with it. At one point Madi got out of the hot tub in a huff and walked all the way over to the steps of the big pool to get away from the craziness. Within seconds Hunter was right by her side showing her another trick. We were all rolling as we watched Madi stand up, hands on hips, lecturing Hunter. It was hilarious! Even though our visit was too short, it was, as always, a blast with the Gertsch's!

As much as we would have loved to stay and play a couple rounds of Hearts, we had to get back and get packed up for our long drive home. We got back to Huntsville just in time for an awesome thunder storm that rolled right through the valley. It was raining off and on as we hustled around organizing, packing, and cleaning up the cabin. Just before I was going to take Madi up to bed (Elle and Cal were long asleep), I looked out the window and saw a gorgeous rainbow that filled the sky! Such a treat for Madi to see and a great way to end our last day in Hunstville. 

Sunday 9/2
The drive home was a long one, but a must documented highlight was off exit 188 in Scipio - I know, random! We stopped at this gas station for a bathroom break.  As we got out of the car, a chicken walked right in front of the car.  This wasn't all that surprising considering we were in Scipio, population 290. But we then realized that this wasn't no ordinary gas station, and that was no ordinary chicken.  It was an escapee from the gas stations petting zoo! Yes, this gas station had an awesome FREE petting zoo with all sorts of animals - lots of sweet lambs (Madi's favorite) and goats, as well as peacocks, chickens, donkeys, crazy pecking ostriches (Spencer was attacked!), llamas, and even a zebra. It was a random and unexpected bit of fun to break up the long drive home. Scipio is now going to be a regular stop on our future summer trips to Utah! 

What a fabulous family vacation we had! HUGE thank you to Aunt Fay and Uncle Bob for building this amazing cabin in such a gorgeous area and giving us a key! We look forward to many more visits to Huntsville!

Second Day

Madi seemed to enjoy her second day of school much better than the first. This morning we walked to school- Cal in the Bjorn while pushing Madi and Elle in my crappy double Maclaren. I packed Madi a smaller snack today and remembered her water bottle. Yesterday I packed a full pb&j and she complained about not having enough time after snack to play on the playground and about being super thirsty! After school Madi had much more positive things to say. She told me all about her day. . .

-the books they read: Chicka chicka boom boom

-her teachers attention signals: lights out and the kids stop and put their arms across their chest

-how she's supposed to sit while her teacher is talking: hands folded in her lap

-class incentives: marbles in jar when they're good and a prize when the jar is full

-what made her nervous: putting her water bottle into the wrong teacher's basket after snack time (I guess they eat outside with all the other kindergarten classes)
-what happens if someone gets in trouble: they change their card to a different color. Then she informs me that she'll never have to change to purple cause that's really bad and she would never do anything like that.

-her favorite thing of the day: meeting the principal and hugging the big bear in the office
-where I could drop off her lunch if she ever forgot it: in a basket in the office

-how she thought a certain song during singing time was funny: something about peeling a banana and there's some silly spitting sound at the end. ??

-who she played with: Addie and Mia 

It was fun to hear Madi so excited about school!

Needed a pic of Madi so this is her about to eat her cake pop after her 1st day of school.

What I also loved about the day was how interested Madi was in hearing what Elle did while she was away. Madi asks, "Did Elle have school time today?" I excitedly told Elle to get her project to show Madi. Elle proudly shows Madi what she made and where she wrote her name. Madi was SO impressed! She kept asking me if Elle really wrote her name all by herself. I kept insisting that she did. Finally Madi says, "Mom, are you really telling me the truth?!" I say "yes". Then Madi runs off to do something at her art table. She comes back with a beautiful picture of flowers and trees in her hand to give to Elle for doing such a good job. Such a sweet sister!

1st Day of School!

I've been looking forward to the beginning of the school year for quite awhile now. Mostly anxious for life to slow down, get into a routine, and have some alone time with Elle. But what I was originally planning on being a chill day turned out to be totally crazy busy.

Below is our day documented with all the details- mostly cause I found all the details of today to be quite humorous. And I was pretty proud of everything I accomplished today (one day after my vein surgery!):
We left the house at 8am thinking 10 minutes would be sufficient time to drive down the street, park, and get to Madi's classroom. Wrong! We were the last ones there (and I hate being late). The first hour was orientation in the classroom which Spencer and I both stayed for. It was ok, but kinda boring. Being in Madi's classroom totally made me miss teaching, I couldn't help but think back to all my first days of school, back to school nights, dealing with parents, etc. After orientation we gave Madi hugs and kisses and were on our way- Spencer to work and me back to the house. I was planning on feeding Calvin and then heading out on some errands, but as I nursed him I changed my mind and decided to stay home to give him a nap in his crib. While Cal napped Elle and I played dollhouse (I felt bad that she had no one to play with and her pleas were too dang cute to turn down). Hoping to get on my computer to upload pics form the morning, I suggested we have some school time. Elle was totally down for it and she actually took it seriously (usually she acts super silly and doesn't let me work with her). I was loving her excitement and we spent a good 20 minutes working on shapes, colors, matching and counting. Then Cal woke up. He was super fussy and it took me a bit to realize that he was still hungry. I ended up feeding him some cereal and squash. Elle sat next to us and ate a piece of banana bread. Then Elle played next to Cal, who was having tummy time in front of the mirror, while I took a load of laundry out of the dryer, sorted the clothes on my bed, and then finished putting Cal's clean 9 months jammies and onesies into his closet. Since this first week of school is a shorter one, and Madi's done at 11:55am each day, I knew I wouldn't have enough time to run the errands I wanted to run before picking Madi up. So, I saved them for after school. Luckily everything went smoothly and the kids were super good (otherwise I'm sure I'd be a basket case right now and not in any mood to blog about the day). I had 3 errands in mind: bank, Costco (gas & groceries), and Trader Joe's. Totally doable. But as I was heading off to Costco Spencer called informing me that I'd need to get a smog check done at some point in order for him to take my van to the DMV in the morning (our registration expired last week). It about ruined my day. I kept to my plan and continued to Costco (enjoying the car ride- hearing all about Madi's day). After Trader Joe's I stopped by a smog check place, loaded all the kids out (again), hauled them inside only to be told they couldn't fit me in today. So we loaded back into the car and drove home. I unloaded groceries, put all the cold stuff into the fridge and freezer, then put Cal into his exersaucer so I could melt some chocolate and finish the Oreo cake pops that I'd started last night to give to Jenny (the sister I visit teach) for her birthday. In the middle of my hustling around, my neighbor stops by to chat. I bring the conversation into the kitchen so I can work on my cake pops. I get distracted and end up burning my first batch of chocolate. Ug! My neighbor sits down next to Cal in his exersaucer to play with him. Out of the blue he starts hysterically crying. I walk over to see what's the matter and knock my water bottle off the counter in the process. The lid comes off and water spills everywhere. Neighbor starts to wipe up the spill while I grab a bigger towel. Then she picks up Cal to see what's the matter. He's got a poppy diaper almost coming out the back. My neighbor leaves and I go change Cal's diaper. The girls are off in imagination land, but making a huge mess in the process. I don't worry about it, but instead feed Cal and then lay him down. He's overly exhausted and ends up screaming after I lay him down. I don't have time to deal with it though. I get started on the cake pops, get frustrated that they're not working how I thought they would, and end up with 2 girls at my side wanting to help and get in on the action. I'm frustrated, feeling rushed, and stressed with Cal's screaming. Finally he's quiet. I finish enough cake pops to give away and then get on the computer to find another place that could fit me in for a smog check. I find a place, says they can take me now and it should only be 20 minutes. I load the girls up (birthday cards they've made in hand), put some cake pops on a plate (wasn't sure how to package them), then go in to get Cal who's only been asleep for about 20 minutes. Poor guy. I swing by Jenny's first. The girls both want to get out to say happy birthday and hand deliver the cards they made. We visit at the door for a few minutes and then are on our way. It's 4:30pm when I drop my van off for a smog check. The place is blocks away from Spencer's parents' house, so I bust out the snap-n-go, and we walk over to Boppi and Grandpa Al's. Since they're out of town right now we're taking care of watering and feeding Truly. So the girls and I took care of it so Spencer wouldn't have to stop by after work. Then we head back to the car place. By now Elle's exhausted and hungry. I don't want to pass out snacks or else she won't eat dinner, but I'm needing bribes to keep her moving so I pass out a fruit snack every time we cross a street. Totally worked and stopped the crying. Our car's not ready when we get there so we wait. The girls start to go crazy. I show Madi a clock and show her how to watch the second hand go around, telling her how every time it gets to the top it's been another minute. Madi stands there and watches the second hand go around 7 times. Finally one hour after we dropped it off it's finally done (what happened to taking 20 minutes?!?!). Then we head home for dinner. I feed Cal cereal and peas while the girls get jammies on. Then he takes a bath  (kicking and splashing everywhere) while I whip Elle and Madi up a quesadilla. It's 6:30 when I take Cal back for bed. Spencer walks in the door just as I'm laying Cal down. After a quick bite to eat, I let him finish bedtime routine with Elle while Madi and I walk over to deliver some cake pops to the neighbors. Elle was in bed by 6:45 and Madi at 7pm. What a day!

Sisters!

PS. As for Madi's first day, she said it was just ok. In her words: "there was too much talking". I think she was tired of hearing about all the rules and procedures and just wanted to get to work. But as the day went on, more things came out that she liked about school. I keep telling her that each day will get better.