A bit of Nostalgia

I got down a box of winter clothes from the attic today (not that we will need those any time in the next month and a half) and in it was Calvin's bumblebee costume, which he wore for Halloween when he was 19 months old!! Of course, he just had to try it on. And of course, I had to take pictures. So then I decided to find these old ones and compare him then and now. It brings back such memories. How much fun was this party? Look at those cute kids!

Here's Calvin at 19 months:


And today, almost 3 1/2:

He's growing so quickly!! I actually can't believe he still fits in it. This will be Luke's Halloween costume this year. I'll post pictures whenever I manage to wriggle him into it...

Who needs a daughter

when you've got a son who likes to comb your hair, try on shoes, and wear makeup??? I must admit, it is freaking Dave out just a bit, but I think its kind of cute.... for now. Last week Calvin discovered he could comb my hair and he's asked me to do it just about every day since. He's also had several forays such as this one into his Mimi's makeup (disclaimer - he was supposed to be napping at the time).

Today I got a glimpse as to what a daughter (should I ever have one) would look like when Calvin donned a black unitard (part of a Halloween costume) and refused to take it off (see pic at top - couldn't get it to move). I think you'll agree with me, she'll be pretty cute.

If you see my chairs lying on their sides...

So, Luke has become a bit of a monkey in the past few weeks. He has discovered the joy of (groan) climbing. In the past few days he has managed to climb up on Cal's table and eat colored pencils (not too big a feat), climb onto the dining room table and try to drink (hot) coffee, climb onto my desk and turn the computer off AND try to eat the stapler (a heart stopping moment for me), and he has somehow learned how the get on top of my bed and jump (from which he has fallen only once, so far). Yesterday I was at my mom's and heard this little giggle from the next room. I went in to find Luke doing a little jig from on top of the coffee table! My sweet little baby has become a full-fledged climbing monster!!!! Nothing is safe anymore - I can't even take my eyes off of him to go to the bathroom. So if you come to my house and see my chairs lying on their sides, now you know why. It's the only way I can think of to keep Luke off of the table (until the day he learns to pick them back up)...

Another Day, Another Outfit

Once again, Calvin has proven his knack for putting together a stellar ensemble. His outfit of choice today:

Red polo, yellow athletic shorts, and green "army" sandals. And where did we go in this beautiful get-up? Why, Chuck. E. Cheese of course. Where he was very, very easy to spot.
And at this moment he is in the same shorts, a green soccer tank top, shin guards, soccer socks, and cleats (his latest obsession). Are any other little boys into "dress-up" right now? I swear, Calvin changes his clothes 4 times a day. And did I tell you he LOVED his bowling shoes??? Who likes bowling shoes??? At any rate, he keeps things interesting.

Another Week Gone By

Well, another week has passed and what the heck did we do? Do you ever feel like your days are so busy, you're constantly on the move, and then somebody (like your husband) asks what you did that day and you say "oh, I don't know" or "nothing much, really". Where does the time go??? Well, let's see. Calvin had his first bowling trip last week. Not much to say about that except that I've never seen a bowling ball take ------ Two ------ Whole ------- Minutes ----- to make its way down the lane. It's almost like magic - I'm pretty sure the laws of physics are surpassed on that one. There must be a slight decline down the lane. Cal had a great time until he realized there was a game room (with shooting games...) and then he wasn't so interested in bowling anymore.

We also had lunch out and a trip to the aquarium. That's about it for our week. Here's my attempt to get a cute picture of the boys together. I decided to put all of them on here just to prove how hard it is to coordinate a picture with two children (although I'm guessing most of you know that already). These were taken in a span of about 1 minute.

Okay, after putting all these on here I realized that Calvin is such a goofball. Luke has a perfect pose in all the pictures - Calvin's the one messing them up. Oh well, I really like the last one I got. Luke's a "cheeser".

Just to prove it:

Dressed Himself Today

Getting dressed has become an issue in our house. Calvin has developed an OPINION about what he wears. Oh my. I was hoping that having two boys would mean this would not be a problem, but I see I was wrong. I dressed him in a cute t-shirt and matching shorts this morning, but that just was not working for him. After whining repeatedly about his clothes I told him to go pick out what he wanted to wear. He quickly ran upstairs and came down after about 5 minutes with his chosen attire - a surfboard hawaiian shirt, cammy shorts, and socks with red and blue stripes. And yes, he wore those to the gym and the grocery store. You just have to love a 3 year old's fashion sense. (I just hope nobody thinks I picked that out for him)

Fun in the Sun

Let me just start by saying, there will be no pictures in this post... You know a great way to spend a warm summer afternoon? Playing outside. You know an even better way when you're a little boy? Playing outside naked. We were outside watering the plants and cleaning off toys, which somehow (can't imagine) led to both boys getting soaked, which led to some spontaneous naked swimming, which led to naked sliding, naked climbing, naked John Deere riding, and even naked swinging. And now that I have thoroughly dissuaded everyone from ever coming to play in our backyard, I just want to say that little boys are truly a joy to have!!

The Next One

All right, its been a couple of days since I started this and nothing has been written yet. So I think I'll just post some random pictures to give you an idea of what we've been up to. Let's see if I can figure this out.

Oops, already had problems. The pictures didn't go where I wanted them to... Do you have to put all the pictures on first and then go back and write about them??? Or can you add them as you go? Someone with experience, let me know...


Oatmeal night!!! This was, I believe, the third night in a row that Dave had night flights and the boys dined on one of their favorites - oatmeal. Luke is a little messy, but hey, at least he's learning to feed himself. (And dinner is right before bathtime)

Here's Luke sitting in Calvin's (emptied) toy basket and playing peek-a-boo. He cracks me up.

Wow, both boys actually sat on the couch and watched Elmo's World while I made breakfast. For the most part, Luke has no interest in t.v., but he can say "Elmo" and he'll watch it for a bit. Calvin, on the other hand, will watch absolutely anything. He actually sat with my dad for about 30 minutes one night watching golf (talk about boring). He really loves the "All About" shows (trucks, spaceship, motorcycles, etc.)

This is Luke's new favorite pasttime. He climbs up onto the safe beside my desk and plays with well, really anything. But here he is with a penguin solitaire game that I have. He takes the tiny penguins out and places them on the pegs (I'm actually pretty impressed by his fine motor skills), and only occasionally shoves them in his mouth.

Finally, here's a shirt Calvin will never wear outside of the house: My cousin gave me this shirt (it was her son's). Actually, she threw it in Dave's truck when he wasn't looking. At first Calvin said, "this is a girl's shirt", and Dave said "that's my boy". But then Calvin changed his mind, "actually, Dad, I think I like this pink shirt" and he had to try it on. But only behind closed doors... Tracy, I'm sure I could send it your way if Mikie is in need of a PINK shirt.

All right, that's all for now. Thanks for looking and I hope to stay on top of this, as I enjoy reading everyone else's news.

Starting Up

Wow, I didn't know there were so many decisions to be made in starting this up... Template, title - it took me 30 minutes just to get to this point. But hey, I got started. Anyways, in case you don't know, the meaning of the title is "The Flowers". Corny, maybe. Thought it might be appropriate considering this lovely south Texas climate I'm living in. All right, I've begun. Let's see where it goes from here...