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?