Gram, Papa, Maisy, and Rudd family come to visit

March was quite the month with lots of family in town. Friday, March 6th, my parents arrived with Maisy. They spent the evening with us before flying out to Costa Rica. We ordered pizza and had a little early birthday party for Cal and I. Then celebrated with dessert!

Presents from Gram and Papa:

We kept Maisy for the week mom and dad were gone. I'm definitely not a dog person, but I sure loved how excited the kids were to take her on walks. Madi was up early every morning and wanting to run to school with Maisy. Then Cal and I walked with Maisy to pick up the girls from school. 

Mom and Dad flew back in Friday night the 13th, then Clark, Jo, and their triplets arrived Saturday morning. Spence left Elle's t-ball game a little early to go pick them all up and let our weekend of fun begin! After arriving in Camarillo, we packed up lunches and headed to the beach!

We spent a glorious afternoon in the sun, then came home to take showers, BBQ hamburgers and hot dogs, and have some fun with our butterflies!

Sunday morning we were up early for buttermilk pancakes and sausage and then a walk to the park. I loved watching these cute cousins together! Elle and Leah were pretty much inseparable all weekend and Cal was over the moon to have Zachary and Caleb to play with. Madi just wanted to hang out with the adults.

Clark is a big kid at heart and kept the kids entertained all weekend! Playing games at the park, setting"traps" at home, ninja moves, and stories in the car - I was amazed at his energy. Clark's such an awesome dad and I loved watching him in action with all our kids!

It was such a treat for me to have mom, dad, Clark, Jo, Leah, Caleb, and Zachary all come to church with us. Usually guests always have to leave Sunday morning so we rarely have visitors. It was a great Sunday for them to be there too - Madi sang a solo of "Gethsemane" in sacrament meeting and I was conducting in primary. Elle wanted the triplets to come to her primary class, but her teacher was out sick so with Clark and mom's permission, I let the scheduled sub off the hook and had them teach instead. What a treat for Elle - to not only having her 3 cousins in her class, but also to have Uncle Clark and Gram for teachers! Madi was asked to sing her song again in Relief Society so I had dad relieve mom at the end of 3rd hour so we could go to RS together. I feel so blessed to have the family I do and am amazed by their talent. Not only did Clark basically volunteer to take on a class with 8 kids, but he dealt with our hardest primary kid all through 2nd hour (the kid who makes me want to pull my hair out). Clark held him on his lap, got him to sit still, listen, and even participate! My mom is always the hugest help with the difficult primary kids. I love how she always jumps right in to help every time she comes to visit. Jo was there ready and willing to play the piano in primary and even in relief society. And dad jumped right in to help when mom headed off to RS. My heart was full that Sunday. Wish I'd gotten a picture with everyone all dressed up together to remember the day even more.

We got home from church and while Spence and I got the pulled pork sandwiches and salad ready to serve, mom entertained all the kids with story after story.

We didn't have much time after dinner, but we really wanted to take Clark and Jo to the sandhill (one of our favorite things to do with company). Mom and dad have done the sandhill a few times, so they stayed home with Madi (who wanted to get some alone time with Gram and Papa).

Such a blast! So glad we did it!

We got home, got kids off to bed and then enjoyed Spencer's homemade apple pie and ice cream for dessert!

Monday morning, mom and dad took off with Clark, Jo, and the kids for some southern California fun- Anaheim on Monday and Legoland on Tuesday. They got back to our house late Tuesday night so that they could spend one more morning with our kids before heading up to Brentwood. Our kids were thrilled to find their cousins there in the morning! 

Papa and I drove Madi to school at 8am and then everyone walked Elle to school at 9am.

What a lucky girl to have such a huge fan club drop her off and swarm her with hugs!

Then we all said our goodbyes and they were off! So sad to see them all go, but makes me even more excited about our family reunion this summer!

Papa stayed behind because he had work the next day just a couple hours away. So he spent the afternoon making phone calls and working from our house. Cal had joy school, I worked in Elle's classroom and then at noon Cal and I took dad to pick up his rental car. Dad had originally planned on leaving by 2pm but after having lunch with Spencer he came back to the house to say good-bye and Elle talked him into staying for her t-ball practice at 4pm. Of course Dad couldn't say no and he ended up staying for the entire t-ball practice. He got to warm up with Elle, then while she was with her team dad has his own little practice with Madi. They threw the ball and even did some hitting. He also spent some time on the playground with Cal. I was in heaven watching my kids loving having their Papa there with them. 

By the time we got home it was after 5pm, so we talked Papa into joining us for a quick dinner. What a treat it was to have Papa stay the whole day!

And what a fun visit with family! Sure wish they all lived closer!

Cal at 3

Had to record a few things about my big three year old. I absolutely love this stage and wish I could slow the time down. As crazy as Cal acts sometimes (mostly when he's tired or thrown off his schedule), he so adorable in every other way.

For example:
* I was getting Cal out of the car the other day and said, "Love you buddy." To which he responds, "Thank you for those kind words."

* Anytime I lay him down for a nap he insists that I kiss both his hands (got that from his sisters) and then a huge hug. When I give him the hug he always says, "I love you."

* Cal is very thankful and remembers to say thank you for all the little things: "thank you for getting me my food." "Thank you for getting me out of my car seat." "Thank you for getting me dressed." "Thank you for holding the door for me." "Thank you for getting me my truck." I'm sometimes shocked by the small and very simple things he'll thank me for, but I absolutely love it. He really is a grateful little guy and I'm grateful for his sweet example.

* When he's in a good mood at meal time, he'll be very complimentary and says things like, "Yum! This is so tasty!" and " Thank you mom for this delicious dinner."

* Have I mentioned that Cal loves salad! It's so wonderful having a kid who asks for salad and veggies!

* He's always more than willing to help me in the kitchen too!

* I just love Cal's enthusiasm about little things. He and I get a lot of one on one time with the girls at school and I just savor every minute of it. We go on picnics about once a week. I love how excited Cal gets when I spread out the blanket and lay out all our snacks. He usually sprawls out in the warm sunshine and says, "This is a great picnic!"

* I love Cal's vocabulary and how articulate he is when he speaks. A couple months ago Cal started to worry about being modest around his sisters. Now he always tells me, "Don't let anyone see my bum. That would in inappropriate."

* While driving past the train station the other day, he yelled, "Look! There's the train! It's a locomotive."

Cal really is such a crack up. Conversations with him are the best. Here's one he had awhile back with  Spencer: "Get your coat Calvin. Aren't you cold?"
Cal: "No, I'm not cold. I'm healthy."

His little voice is the cutest, and I love the couple of words that he says a little differently, like how he says oatmeal, "oitmeal". But one time we corrected him and now he corrects himself when he says it wrong - always with an adorable smile on his face.

Cal's growing up so fast and just in the past couple of months that I started writing down notes of things he'd say or do, he's already changed and doesn't do a lot of them anymore (sniff sniff). He used to remind me to cheer for him anytime he did something great. He'd tell me: "Say, Yay Calvin!" or "Say, Good Job Calvin" or he'd even just tell me: "Clap mom, clap!"

Cal's always loved to read and I adore his obsession with books. The library is a favorite outing - Cal usually gets himself a big stack of books, finds a table, and just sits and reads (it's heavenly).

He used to be obsessed with the Berenstain Bear books - "The Spooky Old Tree" "Bears in the Night" and "The Big Road Race" but just in the past month Spencer has started telling Cal adventure stories every single night and those adventures they go on are WAY cooler than any book I have to read. I've now taken a back seat in bedtime story reading. Cal always wants his dad at bedtime and if Spencer isn't home Cal begs for me to tell an adventure story, but sadly my imagination isn't anything compared to Spencer's! Their adventures really are top notch - complete with jumping from airplanes, going over water falls, swingings over canyons, scuba diving, climbing volcanoes, exploring caves, saving princesses, (his sisters) fighting dragons and bears, etc. I just can't compete with all that! 

Cal does not like being left behind! As the third kid he's always afraid someone is going to take off without him. Anytime we all head out to go somewhere Cal runs to the garage yelling, "Don't leave without me!!!"

At three years old, and now officially in a big boy bed, Cal rarely takes naps anymore. So sad to let go of that 2 hour nap every afternoon, giving me my beloved solitude time, but it's not so bad because he's good at quiet time. Oh how I love to watch my kids sleep - checking on them at night is a favorite time of the day! Car naps are almost pretty darn cute!

I love what a good friend Cal is to others. What sweet friendships he's formed in just a short 3 years!

Yup, he sure knows how to treat the ladies right!

His sisters are definitely his favorite girls though!

It's amazing how that sweet smile and some kind words can melt my heart and make all the craziness of life go away! Love my little buddy!