Merry Christmas!

The cookies are baked, the presents are wrapped. My house is a mess, but that's okay. I am ready to sit down and relax and enjoy the next few days with my family. Okay, we know the relax part is so not going to happen, but it's nice to think about, isn't it??? Wishing you all a very blessed and merry Christmas.

The Penis Story

Okay, so I knew this would get your attention. Just a quick little story to share. Last weekend my mom, Calvin, Luke, and I were driving home from my sister's house. Out of the blue, Calvin pipes up from the back seat "Mommy, does Luke have a penis?"

"Yes, Calvin."

He chuckles. "I knew that. Because Luke is a boy. I'm a boy and I have a penis and Grady has a penis." (Keep in mind, my mom is in the car)

He pauses for a few seconds. "And my daddy has a BIG penis"

Enough said.

Staying Busy

All right, I promised myself I was going to post something tonight, so even if it means I have to prop my eyes open with a few shots of espresso, gosh darn it I am getting this done tonight... With what, I'm not exactly sure, but it seems like we have been busier than ever here. I guess its just that time of year when we get caught up with all the hustle and bustle of the holidays. My in-laws were down for a week and spent Thanksgiving with us. The boys really loved seeing them and their cousin, Holden, since they only see them about twice a year. (And I really enjoyed having just a little bit of free time while they played with the kids).



Here's a random picture of Calvin, enjoying one of the first cool days we had down here. We're so excited to get to wear pants and long sleeves.







As soon as Thanksgiving dinner was over we put up the tree and started decorating. Five days later I was about done. And now that I've had a few weeks to enjoy the decorations I can say that it is very nice to be in my own house at Christmas. It's hard to belive, but this is actually the first time in the last three years that we will be home for the holidays. We have a beautiful, 9 foot tree (Dave's choice, not mine). I made the mistake of wrapping presents and actually putting them under the tree ahead of time, not realizing that this would be pure torture to a 3 year old who just LOVES presents. Now I hear daily, "Mom, I want to open a present. I can't wait until Christmas, it's too far away." (imagine a very whiny voice) Which then turns into a threat, "Mom, I'm just going to open all of these presents." (demanding voice) Which then leads to my own threat of "If you open a present, I am giving all of them away..." Day, after day, after day - the exact same thing. I'll try to remember that next year. But hey, a closet can only hold so much.



Since we have no fireplace, we made our own. We took one of the (many) boards Dave had lying around the garage, painted it red, added some blocks for bricks and voila, a fireplace to hang our stockings on. Okay, so Dave did most of the work, but I came up with the idea, and painted it (well, the red part). I thought it turned out great.





Here's Calvin by the tree. His pajamas say "I've been good all year". Ha!







I got him doing the whole "I can't wait" thing.






The first weekend in December, Dave's squadron had a children's Christmas Party. They had a bounce house, a T-34 to sit in, face painting, cookie decorating, and of course, Santa. The boys had a great time. Here they are, waiting for Santa to come.



Santa rides in style, taxiing in on a T-34. By the way, is this not the skinniest Santa you've ever seen? Get that man some cookies...

Decorating/eating the cookies.
Calvin and I made a gingerbread house one day (totally from a kit). He was so excited to do it so we waited until Luke was napping, got everything out and sat down to work. As it turns out, I was the only one working. Calvin was really just excited about the candy. So I squeezed icing on and carefully placed little candies around while Calvin said "Mom, can I eat this? Mom, I'm going to have some of that..." Here is the finished product.

Looks great, right? You should have seen it two days later. Apparently I was off in my own world when Calvin mentioned that he was going to eat the gingerbread house. I walked into the kitchen one night and noticed the bites going up and down the edges of the roof... I think he wanted some icing...

We went to my sister's last weekend for my niece and nephew's birthday. Here's a Luke, coloring with the big girls. What you can't see are the three large blue marks on his face and arm that lasted for three whole days.



Sweet little Luke. It is fascinating to watch his personality emerge more and more every day. As much as Calvin is crazy, Luke is a little sweetheart. He loves to give kisses (and will turn your head to make sure he gets you right on the mouth) and has started walking up to you and giving hugs as well. He can repeat just about anything we say. For some reason he says "Claus" instead of Santa and will point out every single Santa he sees when we are out. He has also started saying "Luke" when I ask him what his name is (although it comes out more like "Wook"). And apparently, he is starting to develop his own fashion sense as well. One day I got out his blue shoes to put on him. He said "No" and pushed the shoes away, then went to the basket, picked out his brown shoes and brought them back, took the blue shoes back to the basket, then came back and sat down. I'm pretty sure he's too young to have an opinion about shoes.

Here's Cal in another of his outfits. I actually picked this one, but I intended the t-shirt to be an undershirt. He decided that he would much rather put the sweater on first, and the t-shirt on top. After much resistance, I finally gave in. He's very particular about his shirts and lately has been insisting on tucking in his sweaters. Yes, I have the kid with pants pulled up to his armpits, sweater tucked in. And we go out like that. All the time.

A couple of fun videos of Luke.

Boogers

Remember those little pink paper hearts I talked about awhile back and how they kept "showing up" in wierd places. Well, they have been replaced by little green boogers. I wasn't even sure I wanted to write about this but I have to know if other kids are doing the same thing or if it's just my kid (in which case, I lay all blame upon his father). I've found boogers on my couch, the walls, the stair rail. Recently I went to get Calvin out of his carseat, only to find four (yes, four!) boogers smeared on the door. Yuck! I've tried to explain to Calvin how gross that is and that he needs to get a kleenex to wipe his nose. One day I caught him with a booger (sometimes he tries to hand them to me or other people - sorry Uncle Nate) and I told him to go get a piece of tissue paper and put it on there. Guess what I found when I went to the bathroom later? Boogers stuck to the toilet paper, still on the roll!!! And that has happened more than once! Is anybody else having this problem????

It's Froggy Out

"It's froggy out today." That's what Calvin told me when he opened the blinds and saw his mist covered window. I tried to tell him it was "foggy" but he insisted on froggy.

The other day while painting he informed me that "I need a fresh piece of paper." As if paper could go stale or something.

Last week in the car we were driving and Calvin commented that there was one girl and three boys in the car. This, for some reason, led Dave to ask Calvin if he would like to have a little sister (don't read too deeply into this - no plans for another baby right now). To which he replied "sister Calvin?". And Dave said "No, her name would be Christy or Carly or Angie or something." Calvin looked at us and said "No, I don't like any of those girls. I just love you mommy." Awww!!!!

Baking Cookies

I had some "manly" aprons made for the boys recently. (I originally wrote cute, but that would really make Dave roll his eyes in disgust). The day after I showed them to Calvin he came up to me and said, "I have an idea. We can make cookies. I can wear my new apron." Well, who could turn that down? In the spirit of Amber, who bravely takes on such activities, we proceded to make some sugar cookies. Calvin put on his apron and pulled the chair up to the counter. As soon as Luke noticed, he went and pushed a chair over to the counter too, so he could get in on the action.

Here's Calvin rolling out the dough.
Luke stirring the dough. I left his binky in to keep him from eating the dough. It didn't work.

These were pre-baking pictures. They did not look quite so clean afterwards.

Of course, the boys made a huge mess, but Luke was all too happy to grab the vaccuum and "help" clean up.

Why I Have Gray Hair

Dave found a gray hair on me the other day!!! On my head - still attached. A long gray hair. I think that I am too young to have gray hairs. On the other hand, I have two boys...

Here's what happened when Calvin was left alone with the markers. He colored his hand orange "like Ironman!". His entire hand. And then proceded to color the other one as well.

Caught red, I mean orange, handed!

I'm all for artistic expression but this painting the mouth thing is getting a little old. I'm pretty sure Calvin was past eating paint (or playdough, or crayons...) at this point.

I guess there's not much to do but continue plucking out those hairs...

Thought this was Funny

Every time Luke sees a camera he says cheese. I guess I don't think much about it but last night I was looking through some videos I had taken on my camera and I started to notice the pattern. There were quite a few, but I just wanted to share these.

Just a Few Things

Well, gas is down to $1.99 here. Hard to believe, as it was at $3.99 less than two months ago. I completely filled up my car (was almost out of gas) for $38 the other day. Funny, but I never thought $38 for gas would seem cheap to me... What's the price where you are??

On another note, I got to see Lynn, Jack, and Bradley!!! It was very exciting for me and so nice to have an old friend back. When Lynn first pulled up and opened the door, Jack said "Hi! My name is Jack." It was so cute but I guess he didn't remember us at all. I'll have to get some pictures of the boys together and post them on here.

Apparently, kitchens aren't just for cooking anymore. They now qualify as climbing structures as well.

Halloween

Well, despite the fact that Dave was gone on a cross-country once again, we had a pretty good Halloween (for the record, Dave has never been home for a Halloween since Calvin was born). Mimi and Papa, as well as Uncle Nate and Aunt Nikki came over and went trick-or-treating with us (that must have looked kind of funny - 5 adults and only 2 kids). The boys were so cute dressed up in their costumes and going trick-or-treating. Calvin and I worked on what he was supposed to say when he went up to a house and he did a great job remembering the "trick or treat" and the "thank you". Luke was really quick to pick up on the pattern as well. He would walk up to the door, knock, and hold his little pumpkin up to get some candy. Then he would stand there and stare at the person until I took his hand and led him away. At one point he was moving pretty slow and I tried to hold his bucket for him, but he tightened his grip and would not let go of it. He wore Calvin's bumblebee costume and only one person called him a girl. This lady told Calvin "Here, take some candy for your little sister." (lucky Dave wasn't there to hear that, although my dad promised to tell him). The best part of the night was that we went to about 10-12 houses and then Calvin looked down in his bucket and said "I've got enough candy. I'm ready to go home." And as we walked back towards home he added "I'm ready to go to bed." Can't get much better than that!! Here are some pictures of the boys in their costumes.

This is actually after trick-or-treating. Notice Luke is already checking out the loot.

Before trick-or-treating.

First Camping Trip

Calvin and Dave had their first overnight camping trip this weekend - right in our backyard. They pitched a tent, put their sleeping bags in and enjoyed some daddy-son time. Calvin was so excited and had a great time. They told each other ghost stories and ate banana splits (okay, not exactly "camping" food, but that's one of the perks of staying in your backyard).

Here they are, putting the tent up.
"Cheese"

Snuggling in their tent bed.
I wasn't sure if Calvin would make it through the whole night, but apparently he slept through and didn't wake up until 6:30. At which point, Dave decided to send him into the house all by himself to pee. Calvin decided he had to go upstairs to use the bathroom, but found the gate closed at the top of the stairs. Needless to say, Luke and I were both up by 6:35...

I can't wait for Luke to get old enough to join them, then I can really have some quiet Mommy time...

Bedtime Woes

Usually Calvin goes to bed pretty easily. Last night he was a bit overtired though and Dave took him to visit the neighbors after dinner, which wound him up. Anyways, I read to him and turned off his light around 7 (he'd been up since 6 a.m. with no nap). I figured he would pass right out since he was so tired, but no such luck. I heard him wandering the hallway multiple times. When I walked by his room I saw that he had turned on his overhead light and was laying on his floor, looking at books. Well, I don't really mind him staying in his room and reading, so I left him alone and went downstairs. Dave and I soon heard "wandering" again and told him to get back in bed. The highlight of the night, though, was when a little "robot" voice piped from the top of the stairs "I - am - a - robot. I - am - still - awake. And - I - am - hungry." Dave and I took one look at each other and burst out laughing. We were so amused we brought him a snack - a plain piece of bread that he had to eat in his bed. I guess a hungry stomach was keeping him up because after that he went right to sleep!

No Bubbles

"I don't want the bubbles to touch me!!!"
That was Calvin in the bath earlier tonight.

"But I thought you said you wanted to take a bubble bath."

"I do want a bubble bath, but I don't want the bubbles to touch me! Wahhhhh!!!"

Huh??? Well, if I figure out how to accomplish that one, I'll let you know.

It was just one of those afternoons/evenings when he's tired and nothing can please him.

"Fine" I said, "Just get out of the bath then." To which he replied, "I don't want to get out of the bath." while Luke stood up and said "Out, out..."

"No, you sit down and stay in the bath. Calvin, you get out." Which left them both in tears. So I turned on the shower to clean them off. Apparently, this was what Calvin wanted all along and he happily played in the shower for 15 minutes while Luke happily got out. Things just never go the way you think they will.

No Man

Luke has become a certified "no" man. His standard response to any question asked of him? No, of course. Even when he means yes.
"Luke, are you all done?" 'No!' then hands me his plate, cup, and spoon and tries to take the tray off of his highchair.
"Luke, do you want a cookie?" Shakes his head no, then stands there and waits, expectantly, for the cookie that's been offered.
"Luke, do you want to go to take a bath?" 'Nooo', then runs to the stairs saying 'Bath, bath,". "Luke, can you help put these blocks away?" 'No', then puts every single block in the basket. It's quite confusing. I've tried explaining to him that if he does want something he has to say "Yes", but he just doesn't seem to be getting it. Oh well, maybe when he's two...
(I remember how Calvin never said 'Yes' either - he always said "Okay!". At least he was on the affirmative side...)

Catching the Bug

Oh, the week I've had. I'm not even sure I want to share. It started out when I came down with a cold on our trip. It turned out to be a bad one and kept me up several nights, unable to breathe. On Tuesday afternoon, I was laying in my bed reading a magazine and the boys were in there watching Baby MacDonald (the first time Luke has actually sat and watched a show) (hey, I was tired from the cold). I just happened to look down and see Calvin puking all over my bed! I quickly got him up (as vomit runs off the side of the bed) and ran him to the bathroom where he puked again. Now ladies, this was my first time dealing with "big boy" puke, as evidenced by the fact that Calvin looked up at me and said, "Mommy, what IS that?" He didn't know what throw-up was! So the puke went through my duvet cover, through my down comforter (which has since been thrown away), through the sheet and onto the mattress pad. Also all over my floor and both rugs in my bathroom. Great, now I have a whole bunch of laundry to do. But that was just the beginning.
Calvin wanted chocolate milk and against my better judgement, I gave it to him. Wrong move. That came up 10 minutes later. We moved downstairs to the couch. Calvin had to throw up again and as he was standing at the toilet, suddenly another puddle appeared down on the floor. Nope not pee, the other one... So now I am using my foot to keep Luke out of the bathroom while cleaning up a puddle of poop off the floor (the words puddle and poop really should not have to be used together), trying to get Calvin's dirty clothes off of him without making an even bigger mess, and get him clean enough to go upstairs to the shower. I finally get him up there and cleaned up, into his jammies and back on the couch. Now I have an even bigger pile of laundry to clean, as well as several things to take to the trash...
I think Calvin ended up throwing up about 8 times in a span of four hours, before passing out on the couch. Then he was done - he woke up about 2:30 that night, drank 2 whole bottles of water, and was fine. Dave and I, on the other hand, both came down with the same thing and were up sick all night. I think I slept about 3 hours the whole night. Luckily, Luke didn't catch it and my mom was kind enough to come take him and watch him the next day (thanks mom!) so Cal and I could just chill on the couch, watch t.v. and rest. We're all better now (except for a lingering cough here) but I do not want to go through that again anytime soon!

John Deere Day - Planting Trees

Dave is notorious for coming up with new projects. So despite that fact that there is an unfinished workbench which has been in my garage in various degrees of completion for the last four months, my husband decided on Monday that he HAD to plant some fruit trees in our backyard. Off we went to the nursery, 30 minutes later, to choose. We picked out a Mexican lime, a satsuma (mandarin orange), and a kumquat tree (these have small little orange-like fruits that you can eat skin and all). We brought them home and of course, they had to be planted right away. Luckily, Calvin has some cool rides, and he is all too happy to do the "dirty" work for Daddy. It was really pretty cute. Dave shoveled dirt into the back of the gator, and Calvin drove it around to the front and dumped it out (we have an empty lot right next to us, but not for much longer). Here he is getting ready to dump some dirt.
It takes two strong guys to lift the bed. (can we say, like father, like son???)
A boy can't have just one John Deere... The second is a souped-up hand me down from Nana and Papa. It actually wasn't working, but Dave "fixed" that. It no longer goes in reverse or first gear, but hey, what kid doesn't need a hot-rod John Deere????
They had alot of fun, and we've actually enjoyed some yummy fruit from the Satsuma. A branch broke off in transit and although the skin was still green, the orange was good. On a side note, I have to attribute all this lovely tree planting opportunity to the 90 degree weather we are still having down here. Isn't it October already?

San Antonio Trip

The Flowers Family took a trip this past weekend. I think it's the first time we've been on a "vacation" since Luke was born (excluding trips to see family). Dave had to go on a cross-country to San Antonio which is only about 2 1/2 hours from us (I know, that's really "cross-country" isn't it?). For the non-military, that's where he takes a student on a trip so they learn about planning and traveling to different airfields. They have two full days of flying (Friday and Sunday) but typically have nothing to do on Saturday. I was supposed to be playing in a soccer tournament that weekend so I was kind of conflicted on going, but at the last minute (Friday afternoon) I decided to do something spontaneous for once and packed up the boys and hit the road. We got up to San Antonio Friday evening and met Dave at the hotel (Grand Hyatt on the Riverwalk - beautiful). If you've never been to San Antonio, the Riverwalk is awesome! It's down below street level, a small "river" which is paved on both sides with shops and restaurants all up and down it. I'm not sure how long it is, but we walked at least half a mile. It was really, really neat. I lived in San Antonio for two years and never really went down there (probably because I was in college, no car, no money...). Anyways, we walked right out of the hotel and down to a restaurant, not having to worry about traffic or anything.
On Saturday we took the boys to Sea World (which offers military and their dependents one free visit a year). We had such a great time - saw some neat shows, rode rides, and fed some animals. Here are some pictures I got.

Dave and Luke, waiting for the "VIVE" show. This has beluga whales, dolphins, synchronized swimmers, and divers putting on a very neat show. Both boys loved it. Luke kept pointing to the whales and dolphins when they jumped, and then he was saying "more, more". It was cute.

After the dolphin show, Calvin wanted to ride a roller coaster. Luckily, they had a great kids area. He got to go on a Shamu coaster, which was just a small ride for little kids, but he loved it. While he and Dave rode, Luke and I walked around and took some pictures. There were Halloween decorations all around. Here's Luke posing with some:
There was a huge sand pit for the kids to play in, as well as all these tunnels and ropes to climb through. Here's Luke's first carnival ride. Waiting for the Shamu show to start. We were in the splash zone, which Calvin did not like one bit. In fact, he insisted on sitting elsewhere and he and I had to move.
A picture of shamu jumping out of the water.
Here's Calvin feeding the seals and sea lions. You could buy a little basket of fish to drop down to them. Calvin was all for this until he saw the little fish. Then he had to be coaxed into picking them up. But he did it. You can see the fish falling, just below the railing.

And here are the sea lions, waiting for the food. That seal in the back actually jumped over the sea lions to steal the fish!
The dolphin interaction area. You can stick your hands in the water and you can feed them too, but we weren't there at the right time.
The dolphins are so close to you.
Calvin didn't make it to see the dolphins. I let him ride in the stroller for a bit and by the time we got to the dolphin area he had passed out. Well, who could blame him after that exciting day.
That night we went back to the riverwalk and ate at the Rainforest Cafe. The boys weren't too sure about all the animals and noises at first, but ended up having a great time. All in all, it was a great weekend and I'm glad we got the chance to have a little family getaway.

Reunion

All right, so I want to know who's planning the "Oak Harbor Little Swimmers Playgroup" reunion? I'm just going to go ahead and nominate Tracy for that one, since she's a planner and has all those great ideas. Any one second the idea?

Facts of Life

So, I got one of THE questions today. In the middle of what was an otherwise peaceful breakfast, Calvin looks up at me and asks:
"Mom, how does the baby get out of the mommy?"

What? Where the heck did this thought come from? Panic setting in. What do I tell him? What do I tell him?
"What did you ask honey? (stalling for more time)

"How does the baby get out of the mommy?"

Think, think.... Luckily, I've had this conversation with my sister. What did she tell her kids? Ah-ha!!
"Well, from the baby hole." Please work, please work.

"What's a baby hole?"

Hmm, haven't thought this through too clearly.
"Mommy's have a baby hole."

Calvin contemplates this for a moment.
"Oh. Where is the baby hole at?"

Okay, I'm so not going there.
"It's hidden, honey. But when the baby is ready to come out, he comes out of the baby hole."

Calvin pauses and thinks about this a bit more. "Oh," he says, nods his head as if this makes perfect sense, and goes back to eating his cereal.

Crisis averted, remember to blog and laugh about this later.

Outdoor Painting

Since the weather was nice on Saturday I decided to let the boys have a little outdoor painting fun (plus, less worry for me about clean up). So we headed outside, taped down some paper bags, gave each of the boys some paint and a paint brush and let them go at it. They were both very excited.

Calvin worked very hard on his painting. Luke worked very hard to make the biggest mess that could be made. Calvin's masterpiece:

Luke's masterpiece (you have to click on this one and make it bigger to truly appreciate):
I think he did two brush strokes on the paper and the rest was on him and the driveway. Oh well, that's what the garden hose is for, right?

Just Random

Okay, we went to our first non-playgroup, non-family birthday party tonight. Calvin had a wonderful time and was so excited, but it just wasn't the same for me. Probably because I didn't know any of the other moms except the one throwing the party. Nothing over the top like I'm used to...

I have an asparagus-lover. Luke will not touch ANY type of fruit except for frozen berries, yet he can't get enough asparagus. I made some last night and he kept asking for "more, more, more". I just don't get it.

This morning Calvin asked me "Mommy, can I get dressed and go for a run?" Then he said "Mommy, I just need to go for a run. I need to get some exercise because I haven't exercised in a long time." (This is almost exactly what I say to him when I want to go for a run and he's refusing to cooperate). It's so nice to know that they're just sitting there, soaking up everything you say, and waiting for the right time to spit it back out at you. Except, of course, for the things you want them to remember, like, say, letters or numbers...

Has anyone read the Trucktown Books by John Sciezska?? He's really into promoting boys reading, and he created a line of books just for boys. Calvin loves them.

Dave is flying tonight, it's 9:45, and Calvin is still awake. He's been playing in his bed for the last hour and just walked in and told me I was supposed to be going to bed and the computer was for daytime, not night time. Too much cake and ice cream I guess.

That's it. Just some random thoughts. And one random, somewhat blurry picture of my little sockman (I walked out of the closet to find him putting Dave's socks on both his legs and arms...).

Daily Reminders

I am constantly reminded of the good friends and times we had in Whidbey whenever I look down on my carpet and spot....................................... a pink confetti heart. Yes, from the Valentine's party a year and a half ago. They somehow attached themselves to my stuff and made a move of thousands of miles, just so that I could look down every now and then and say............ "What the heck, another heart??!!!" I don't know how many are left, or where exactly they are hiding, but they just keep turning up. And I do cherish the memories they elicit.

Aunt Jenny's Part 2

So it looked like Hurricane Ike was going straight towards us last week and I decided to take the boys and get out of town ahead of the storm. Dave had to evacuate the planes, so he's no help to me in a hurricane. Anyways,last Wednesday I packed up the boys and drove up to Austin, back to my sister's house, which we had just left 4 days before! This was also my first time driving long distance alone with the boys. It wasn't too bad except for the last 45 minutes up there, when both boys were whining and fussy (it was 6, so past dinnertime, and they had been in the car for over 4 hours). Calvin alternated repeatedly between "When are we going to get to Grady's house?" and "It's too far, it's taking too long". But we made it. Again, it was LOUD there. Seriously, I have never heard so much screaming, crying, and fighting. It's funny how the kids can go from best friends one minute to tormenting each other the next. Now, they don't always fight - there were plenty of times they played together very nicely. But they know just which buttons to push to get to each other. My sister and I are both just hoping that they grow out of it as they get older. Even Luke has learned to scream. Ugh! I'd like to blame it on my sister's kids, but I'm pretty sure he would have picked it up anyways. He let out a good one when I picked him up to leave the play area at Chik-Fil-A. In fact, he screamed so loud that I'm pretty sure people thought I was abducting him. There were lots of strange looks as I quickly exited the building...


Some pictures from our trip. Here are the kiddos, watching a movie.
Luke showing off those pearly whites...
Playing red light, green light (pretty hilarious with two little kids who totally don't get the start/stop thing). Notice Calvin's baseball uniform. That was actually Grady's, but Calvin had to try it on and then decided he needed to wear it the entire day - socks, cleats, and all.
The "babies" playing on the table. Don't they look so innocent? hah
Story time with four of the five kids. Just a little crazy.

On a more serious note, Hurricane Ike did so much damage along the Texas coast. We were very lucky that it changed direction and didn't hit near us. Whole towns were destroyed and lots of people lost their houses and all of their belongings. They're saying that it could take months to get everything cleaned up. Keep those people in your prayers.

On another note, Luke said "I love you" for the first time!!! My mom has been teaching him to do it and make little hand signals (point to his eye for "I", point to me for "you") and he did it last night while also saying all the words. So cute!!!

Cold Front

We are enjoying the first cold front of the season. Which, down here, mean temperatures in the mid-80's with lows in the mid-60's. Some of you (those in WA) are probably laughing about that being a "cold front" but trust me, when you've been living with 90 degree temperatures and 90% humidity, 80 degrees feels AWESOME!!! I can walk outside without breaking into a sweat! I got to open my windows, and the boys and I spent a good portion of the day outside. There is something about that change in weather that just really lifts your spirit. I'm sure it will be back in the 90's by the end of the week, but I'm enjoying it while its here. I can't wait for more fall weather!!!

Trip to Aunt Jenny's

The Flowers Family (sans Dave, plus Mimi) took a trip to visit my sister last week. We had completely chaotic fun (and just a few I want to pull my hair out moments). Well, I guess I should start by saying that two little boys and one mommy sleeping in one room is not the greatest thing. Especially when the older boy is sharing a bed with mommy and he likes to rock and roll all night long. Calvin would toss and turn for an hour, before nestling his feet right in the middle of my back. As soon as I'd move him, he'd roll back over and stick his head on my neck. And so it went for four nights... Which really just makes for one tired mom who had to drink two cups of coffee plus a diet coke by 10 a.m.... But I digress...
My sister has three kids - 7, 4, and 20 months. A perfect fit for my two - 3 and 15 months - or so it would seem. But something about that combo just doesn't work out. A lack of sleep coupled with too much together time led to some major squabbles. My sister even made the point that it was strange that she's fine at home with her kids and I'm just fine with mine, but put them all together and we're both crying "MOM!!!!". No, really, we had lots of fun and its so awesome for the kids to get to spend time together. I wish she lived closer!!! Some pics from our trip:
Cady and Calvin hanging out
A rare picture of all five kids. Of course, it was the oldest who refused to cooperate.
Well, they were supposed to be going to sleep, but that didn't happen. Listening to "Frosty the Snowman" on Cady's MP3 player. Hey, at least they were sharing.
Batgirl and Batman, saving the day (Calvin's new favorite superhero - he's moved on from spiderman).
We love Aunt Jenny's cause she has tons of cool dress up. Notice Luke in the background cheesing for the camera.

That's about it for the past week. Right now we are keeping a close eye on the hurricane and if it looks like its going to come close we will probably be taking another trip to my sister's.