Calvin at two!

This sweet little two year old sure has been keeping me on my toes! He's definitely one of the cutest little boys I know, but also one of the most stubborn. He's currently going through a crazy phase and gives me a headache almost every single day. We're all trying to figure out how to avoid his freak-outs. One moment he's super happy and being the sweetest little boy ever, when all of a sudden, something sets him off and he's hitting me away saying, "No!" "Stop that!" "Bad Boy!" Then he screams, cries, refuses to eat, protests against getting dressed, and fights me on everything that I try to get him to do. I've quickly learned that it has to be on Cal's terms if it's gonna get done. He can't be forced to do anything without putting up a fight!

Cal's been spending a lot of time in time-out lately, which usually calms him right down. That's the good thing - he is quick to say "I sorry" with a hug and kiss to make it all better. We need to break him of the binky habit soon though. That's his main comfort. Anytime Cal is mad, sad, hurt, or scared, he runs to his crib to grab his binky. He knows he's not supposed to have it either. Spencer is the binky enforcer and Cal knows daddy won't let him have it, so when Spencer walks in the room, Calvin will quickly pop the binky out, run to his daddy, and say, "here you go Daddy."

Calvin and his daddy sure do have a special bond. They love to wrestle, play pirates, and tackle each other. It's one of my favorite things to watch - I gotta remember to get video of Calvin yelling, "Pirates! Let's get em!" While he and Spencer make all sorts of cannon noises, gun shots, and throw imaginary coconut bombs across the room at the "bad guys".

He's currently obsessed with the "bad guy" title. If he feels threatened or scared by someone, he'll give a nasty look and call them a "bad guy". In trying to break this habit, we're always telling Calvin what a nice boy he is. The other day Spencer says, "Calvin, you're a nice boy." Cal turns and cooly says, "That's right!" 

Last month Spencer's mom gave me a bunch of old clothes back from when Spencer was little. It's been so much fun dressing Cal in outfits I know his daddy used to wear (like the BYU shirt in the pics above, which is sadly already too short for him). I dressed Cal in this red, white, and blue outfit the other day, letting him know it used to be his daddy's. He totally got a kick out of it and kept saying, "It's daddy's shirt and daddy's shorts!"

Check out Spencer's old bathrobe! Cal fell in love with it and spent a good amount of time admiring himself in the mirror while wearing it.

It sure is fun having a boy - for many reasons. I love reading with Cal and having him point out the "beetles", "spiders", "dragonflies", and "caterpillars" in his bug book (and all by the right name)! I love how interested he is in frogs, telling me which ones say, "Croak, croak" and which ones say, "ribbit ribbit". A couple months ago Spencer went in to get Cal out of bed in the morning. Cal was being silly, crawling all over his crib, and Spencer asked him, "Are you my man cub" (something Spence always call him). Cal says, "No, I a bull frog! Ribbit Ribbit!" and then starts to bounce around in his crib like a frog!

Cal's a fun kid to take to the library. He'll get really excited over a simple train book. Then sit and study the same book for 20 minutes, talking excitedly about all the little details of the train cars. I love how he knows the different types of trucks by name now too. I remember working in a day care back in high school and there was a super cute three year who was obsessed with trucks. I vividly remember this three year old pointing to a truck and saying, "That's an excavator!" I remember hoping that one day I would have a little boy who could say the big truck names at such a young age. Then just last month I sat in Cal's glider reading a construction truck book with him and he started telling me about all the trucks - "That's a back hoe!" . . . "Cherry Picker", "dump truck", "bulldozer", and sure enough, "excavator!" I sat there, loving every second of it!

Everyday we ask the kids what their "high" and "low" of the day was. And everyday Cal has the same response : "My high/low is . . . . going to the park!" The other day, the first words out of his mouth when I got him up from his nap were, "Let's go to the park!" 

Lucky for Cal he's got a mama and sisters who don't mind giving into his requests! 

Calvin's big sisters sure do take good care of him. Madi's always quick about jumping him to sing to him when he screaming in the car - works to calm him down every time! Elle's good about keeping Cal entertained - even if it is playing dollhouse! Elle likes to bring the Strawberry Shortcake girls into the tub and gets Cal to play in there too.

Cal really does have a special bond with those sisters of his! My favorite is when he tucks the girls into bed at night and has to give them each a dozen hugs and kisses before saying goodnight. He says, "A hug" . . .  "a kiss". . . "a hug" . . . "a kiss" over and over until I finally say he's had enough and they're all rolling in laughter!

Love this boy bunches! Crossing our fingers his "terrible two's" don't last for much longer!

Sisters!

I'm so glad that my girls have each other!

This and that

After downloading pictures from my phone, I realized how desperately I needed to do a blog post. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to stay caught up . . .  more posts coming soon!

Back in May we had some super hot days! 

We had to get a little creative with how to stay cool!

We took advantage of a free Saturday afternoon and hit up the beach!

I love how Madi takes her journal everywhere and is always wanting to record things:

 Per tradition, we hit up Padaro Beach Grill afterwards:

Open House night at Madi's school:

My favorite part of the whole thing was watching how excited Madi was to take us all to her school and show us around her classroom.

Mrs. Pidduck has been a great teacher for Madi. We're sad to have the only teachers she's ever had at Tierra Linda retire after this year. 

Open House night at Elle's school - Elle is much more shy and wouldn't even pose for a picture alone with her teacher. We sure do love Ms. Barbara and hope Calvin gets her in a couple years!

A little thank you Madi and Elle made for their teachers - just because!

Got home from a run one morning and came in to find this:

Like father, like son! Cal was watching a train video which Spencer promised me he had just started watching (cause I'm crazy like that and super paranoid about the amount of screen time our kids get)!

Two weekend in a row of waffles cones with Boppi! Boy are our kids spoiled!

Homemade matching aprons for the girls to wear while they cook with Boppi:

A play dough creation by Madi - our entire family with even "Jenkins" spelled out in play dough. Pretty impressive if you ask me!

Date nights with the kids!

$1 soft serve ice cream cones at McDonalds are my favorite! I never got one for myself though because I always end up finishing 3!!

Trying out new hairstyles, which Elle made me take out as soon as I'd snapped a picture - little stinker!

Madi and Panda bear!

I always know where to find Calvin at the library - by the Thomas Train books!

Spencer made his first cheesecake - just because we were feeding the missionaries and he wanted to try a new dessert! I love my incredible chef husband!

Oh, and Spencer got a new calling last Sunday! He hasn't yet been released as Stake Young Men's secretary, but Bishop received permission to call him as Young Men's 2nd counselor (over the deacons- 12 & 13 year old boys in our ward), and couldn't wait any longer (I guess Bishop has wanted Spencer to serve in our ward young men's program since he first met us back in December 2011, but the stake snatched him up first). Spencer is loving his new calling already and I can tell it's going to be keeping him very busy!

Spotlights

Back in April, when we went to my parents' house for spring break, Madi decided to spotlight someone different every night. So she interviewed each of us, took notes on what she observed, and then presented the info - having us guess who we thought it was! It was fun, but what I loved most was reading her spotlight sheets later. I came across these sweet spotlights while cleaning out the other day and thought they were too cute not to document!

The top part was where she recorded favorites (I guess she interviewed everyone with questions - I didn't realize Papa's favorite holiday was New Years:), then below she wrote down her own thoughts and observations:

"He works a lot. He gives lots of hugs and kisses! Takes good care of little children, not just his grand-children, but lots of people! He takes care of the dog everyday! He is a worker!"

Nailed it!

Gram's favorite Color: Red, Holiday: Christmas, Hobby: gardening, Animal: cat, Place: ocean, Season, spring

"Very cute. Dark hair. Always is in a sweet mood. And I noticed she helped me get down a dress-up clothes dress and got up at the top of the attic. She's so nice!"

About Elle:

"Very helpful! Nice! And I noticed that she helps her baby brother everyday! Funny! Cute! 
Brave! Mover"

Not sure what it means to be a "mover", but I sure liked how many exclamation points she used to describe Elle! For the record, Elle's favorite color is yellow, so not sure where Madi got that info.

Cal's favorites (according to Madi):
Color: blue, Holiday: Easter, Animal: cougar, Place: Chick-fil-a, Season: summer

"He is a cry baby sometimes! Funny! He loves trains! He likes Flowbees! 
He is scared of loud noises! Playful!  

I do have to note here on my spotlight that Madi was trying to interview me but I think it was during a crazy time and I wasn't giving her my undivided attention, so I know she made up some of her own answers to my favorites, like:
Animal: fish (really? I think I probably said I don't have a favorite animal, but maybe that answer wasn't acceptable for her spotlight)!

"Loves a peaceful house! Cleaning up! Takes care of the baby!" 

And Madi even did a spotlight for herself!! I'm guessing her favorite hobby here is "drawing"
Favorite animal: lamb, Season: winter, Place: Gram and Papa's house

"She is a great singer! She plays the piano! She loves her family! She has a sister that loves her!"

I also found another spotlight Madi did awhile back for a Family Home Evening lesson. She had given us hand drawn pictures of another family member. We were told to write something special about that person on the back, and then share it with the family. 

i found the picture of Elle, who Madi had written characteristics about:

On the back:

"I love how Elle is so loving. She helps a lot of people. And our own family. Elle is kind. 
PS. She's cute!"

Less than 2 weeks to go . . .

As it nears the end of the school year I find myself hanging onto every last part of our 2013-2014 school schedule. It's been such a good year and I'm sad to see it end. Ya, I'm looking forward to the freedom that summer brings - playing at the pool, beach outings, zoo trips, getting together with friends we rarely get to see during the school year, family vacations, etc. but so much of this year has been perfect!

For the record, I want to record what our schedule's been like this past year:
6:00am Cal's up
6:15am Mom works-out (run, elliptical, P90 video) while Cal hangs out with daddy
7:00am Girls up - This is always the "crazy hour"- dealing with fighting, crying, laughing, screaming, getting dressed, doing hair, making breakfast, eating breakfast, making lunch, reminding, waiting, yelling, and a whole lot of rushing!
7:50am Out the door (Mondays we drive because that's been my day to be the reading mom, the other days I usually run while Madi scoots. If Spence is home I sometimes leave Elle and Cal. When Spencer is gone I take the jogger and all 3 kids).

8:25-11:45am This is a time I'm gonna miss - mornings hanging out with Elle and Cal! Never again will it be just those two at home in the mornings with me. Usually the first little bit is spent cleaning up the disaster from "crazy hour". Elle's always so great about playing with Cal and reading him books - sometimes they'd get so engrossed in their imaginative play that they don't want to do anything else. It's these mornings I always get a lot of laundry and cleaning done! Some morning they prefer to watch an episode of "Super Why" while sitting on our big blanket with a plate of snacks (usually apple slices, banana slices, pretzels/ goldfish/ or pirate booty, nuts, and craisins) while I finish getting ready. By 10/10:30am we're all usually ready to take off. Everyday we do something different. Some days we run errands then hit up the park for an hour before school. Twice a month is spent visiting teaching. Once a week I make a Costco run.  Some days we get together for play dates at the park. And every Wednesday Elle has Joy School, giving me that one morning a week for undivided Cal time!

12:00pm (M-Th) Drop Elle off at school

Cal always insists on carrying the backpack.

12:15pm Cal down for a nap!
Another thing I'm going to miss - carrying my big sleeping boy from his car seat (since he can rarely stay awake past noon) into his bed.

12:20 -1:50pm ME TIME!!
This hour and a half of silence does wonders for me (something I will desperately miss during the summer, because "quiet time" with awake children doesn't really mean "quiet" time)!

I usually use my time to clean up (while squeezing in a quick phone chat with Tish as she drives to pick up her kids), read, write, respond to emails, and take my daily 10-15 minute nap (one of the few guilty pleasures that I allow myself everyday)!

1:55pm Leave to pick up Madi

2-2:45pm Madi time!
This is another time of the day I am going to miss terribly. Never again will I get to pick Madi up from school all by herself. Those moments of walking hand in hand and having her tell me all the details of her day are some of my favorites. I can always tell from her face and body language if it's been a good day. Then she tells me her "high and low" from the day (I hope we can always keep the good communication we have- I sure have enjoyed hearing about the things that make her excited as well as the things that bother her and hurt her feelings. It's nice to be able to talk through it with her). After chatting, getting school stuff put away, lunch unpacked, and school germs washed off, we get started on her homework. The first half of the year we always did reading first (it's so much easier to read without siblings running around, needing attention), then math homework. After she started piano in February (and has become quite proficient in reading), we now always jump right into her piano practice. It's nice to have that undivided time because Madi really needs it. She gets super distracted and won't do her best quality work if I'm not right there watching, listening, helping, and reminding her. While sometimes it's exhausting for me, I have enjoyed seeing her talent with music grow. After piano she gets started on math.

2:45pm Wake up Calvin and leave to pick up Elle

3:00pm Madi and Cal always stay in the car while I grab Elle from the gate.

3:00 - 5:00pm Every afternoon is different as to what we do. At least once a week we hit up the library on our way home. Some afternoons we meet up with friends at the park. Those days of crazy heat we went swimming or played out back in the water. And some days we just hang out at home.

5:00pm The kids like to eat around 5pm. Sometimes we'll wait if we know Spence is coming home soon, but most nights I like to feed them early, get into jams and have lots of time for stories.

7:00pm Bedtime used to be at 7pm (near the beginning of the year), but it's just gotten later and later as the year's gone on. It's now almost 8pm before the girls are tucked into bed with lights out.

So that's it! That's been our year and it's been a good one - one I'm not yet ready to let go of.

Last week during our family meeting- in gearing up to prepare myself for summer- I made the girls help me write out a summer schedule. I'm really hoping this helps to keep myself sane! Bottom line, we can't get to the fun stuff until they've taken care of all their other responsibilities and exercised their minds a bit. I'm sure we'll be adding to this list the closer we get to summer, but for now at least we have some type of morning schedule to keep us structured!

The "Morning Five" was instituted a month or two ago and it has done wonders! They simply cannot have breakfast until those 5 things are done! Totally solved all the problems of coming home to find clothes and jammas all over the girls bedroom floor. I also found that they move a lot faster when they have breakfast to look forward to!

I'm sure I'll throw a daily cleaning task in there too as well as a box to check off for physical exercise. If I don't have written schedules for the girls, they just end up at the art table making a ginormous mess!

A few things I am looking forward to this summer:
* Lots of family in town - including the Terry's MOVING to Camarillo!!!

* Adam and Jenn coming to visit (Spence just got a text today that they're gonna come)!!

* Madi's birthday- which of course she's already started planning! Her hopes of visiting a children's hospital were crushed this week when I called the LA Children's Hospital and found out that no visitors under age 16 are allowed. We're now looking at a little weekend getaway instead!

* The Oyler's coming out to join us for our big 4th of July celebration!!

* Elle's birthday

* Family vacation to Utah

* Meeting Amy and Bobby's new baby!

* Jenkins reunion in Wyoming!

So much to look forward to!! Here's to making it an unforgettable summer!!