Memorial Day

We threw together a last minute BBQ on Monday. A friend gave us a grill and Brandon got propane for it this weekend so we are set for the summer. No more oven cooking! It's all grilled this year. Here are some of the evening highlights:
croquet battling:
frisbee:
dancing:
cookie eating:The best part about Calvin's shirt is when you ask him what it says he responds, "daddy wocks!"

Sibling

That's right, a sibling for Calvin! My due date is on Thanksgiving. I have been very nauseous and if I am sick for the same amount of time that I was with Calvin then on June 2nd the nausea will go away. In the meantime, I have been eating a lot of watermelon and saltines with cream cheese. That's the flavor of the week anyway.

Competition

I was at Seagull Book today and I saw they have new tithing banks for kids. I am very familiar with the old selection. The cardboard one, the plastic one, and the modern tin one with color illustrations and a lock! I might be biased, but it was clearly the best one on the market, and yes, I get royalties on it and love it. So, NO! I am not happy that there is copy cat bank that is also tin, with a lock and key, and color illustration and less expensive! (smaller though) You can see them here. Just don't buy the copy cat.

Park

Whenever we go outside to play at some point Calvin will start running down the sidewalk yelling he is going to the park. It's the perfect size for him because the only thing at this park that made me nervous was the gap between the play area and the yellow swirl that seemed to big for him.
The other day he was getting better and better at climbing up the swirl without my help and eventually he got to the top, and pulled himself over to the play area. He was SO proud of himself, and even though I was scared he was going to fall, I was proud of him too.

Fishing

Yesterday we checked out Salem Pond. It was so pretty and a perfect day. Calvin had a blast and was very interested in watching (and helping) Brandon fish. I would love to see his reaction if Brandon really caught something. I guess we'll have to go back.
Do you love the super long basketball shorts Cal is sporting? It is his most frequently requested clothing item. It's his "daddy" shorts, because dad wears basketball shorts too.

Off to Russia

My little brother was in town for a few days before he entered the MTC. It was so fun to see him, and Calvin loved having him here. We don't get to see Chad very often since he lived so far away, but that didn't stop Calvin from crying when we said good-bye. No one else was crying, but as soon as he realized how far away Chad was getting Cal screamed "Cha! Chaaaaaaaaa!" It was so dramatic I had to laugh. It's not like Calvin has anyway of understanding that he won't see him for 2 years. I hope Chad felt loved.
When Calvin woke up from his nap later that day he asked for Chad and I told him he was at the MTC now to be a missionary. Calvin pointed to himself with both hands and asked, "and me??" I told him when he was as big as Chad he could go to the MTC and be a missionary. Later when Brandon asked Calvin about dropping off Chad he put out his bottom lip and said, "Cha. sad." I guess he is still a little upset about saying good-bye to uncle Chad.

What makes my day

Funny things Calvin has said lately:

Instead of just saying "no" he tells me, "no way" Like this morning when I asked him if he wanted to take another bite of cereal, "no way."

When I was getting out of the shower and someone knocked on our front door he yelled "come in" about 50 times before I got myself downstairs.

Sometimes when Calvin wants me to play sports with him I'm lazy and sit on the floor while shooting hoops or hitting golf balls. I guess that's no longer acceptable because now he tells me to "geh up!" He kind of shrugs his shoulders and jumps while he tells me this.

At the end of a hymn at church Calvin will say "done" or "the end"

When I tell him to come inside from playing in the dirt, he explains he can't because he is "working"

When Cal comes into a room you are in he will say either "hey" or "hi" in a dull voice like he's super cool. Which, he is.

He wanted to go outside at 9:00 at night and I told him it was too dark outside. He told me he would wear a coat.

Qubo

We don't have any kind of cable, just what I thought were basic stations. However, Canada is basic too I guess. Some of you may be familiar with Qubo, which is the only all-cartoon station we get. Cal's favorites are BG and Jacob Two-Two. I have to say, the art for Two-Two is kind of cool. If we tell him BG or Two-Two isn't on he'll respond with "check". He doesn't trust us that we know they're not on, now we have to check. oh he is funny. And he tells us when things are funny too. The other day he was looking at a picture of a bald eagle and he pointed at the beak and said, "teeth, funny". I don't know what was funny about it, but I sure like seeing him laughing and telling me what he thinks is funny.

Pictures

I just posted a pile of pictures, some of which include "before", "the mess", and a few "after" pictures of our new home.

Egg hunting

When Calvin woke up on Easter morning we brought him downstairs and told him their were eggs with candy in them. Since "canny" is a common request from him that he doesn't always get, he was stoked. He didn't bother carrying his basket around, but preferred to run and find a handful of eggs, run and put them in the basket, run and find more (and announce it), and run back to the basket, and so on. It was very entertaining to watch and it's too bad you couldn't have seen because we are still in a house of boxes and chaos so I have no idea where the camera is. Maybe next year.

Naming

Calvin has named his favorite basketball. He calls it "Orange". You might think he is just saying the color of the ball, but no, his orange ball that is exactly the same except it has black basketball lines is not referred to as Orange. That ball is not acceptable when looking for a ball to shoot with, only Orange will do.

*sigh*

Anyone know the best way to wash throw up out of a pillow? poor Calvin. what a night.

Crazy continues...

I will spend this week packing and cleaning as much I reasonably can. Then I will fly to WA for my grandpa's funeral, come home, and sign papers to close on our house. Then we will have only a few days to pull up carpet & tile, then put down new carpet & paint so we can move in. And clean the house. oh yeah, and while we do all that, we will finish packing and cleaning our apartment. Yesterday doesn't seem so crazy anymore. But the wonderful part is that in the end - we will be living in a house! Contrary to what my niece might tell me, I do know what it's like to live in a house and I am looking forward to it.

Sunday Adventures

Today was full of surprises. Calvin slept in and we woke up when Brandon got a text to see if he was going to his morning meeting. We forgot about day light savings.
It's my sister's birthday so we had her over for some crepes. Calvin was so excited since he heard it was her birthday, he keeps yelling BIRTHDAY! He just knows it means good food.
Some of our neighbor's kids were coming with us to church today, (ages 2, 3, and 6) while their mom went to the hospital. The oldest girl made sure her little sister remembered to put on underwear, which she claimed she was. Fortunately, she dragged her back inside to make her put some on, because she really wasn't. The little boy was buck naked when we arrived and ready to head out the door, but his mom quickly got him dressed, mostly in boy clothes. But the shoes took too long to find so he sported some pink boots.
Sacrament meeting was far from dull, as you can guess with Cal + three. Everyone went to their classes and had a good time, except Calvin. Things were fine until he decided to climb up on a chair where a girl was already standing. She shoved him off and he face planted onto a toy chest before hitting the ground. Bloody lip and bloody nose and LOTS of crying. I think everyone in the building knew someone was injured. Luckily Brandon was in the hallway right outside the nursery. We grabbed some paper towels for the blood and took him outside. He cried for awhile, then the blood slowed down, and when we promised him cookies when we got home he stopped crying.
Afterward our friend was home from the hospital, but needed some rest so the three kids played at our house. We threw together some grilled cheese and sides and tried to keep them from locking bedroom doors. Later we cleaned up the mess and has some company over for dessert. Crazy day! I'm ready for bed.

Personal style

Calvin has decided he is old enough to decide what he wears now. Yesterday and today he has insisted on wearing his swim shorts instead of pants. At least spring weather is coming (I hope!)

Family Tree

Brandon and I have been checking out the new family search website the past few weeks. (not because there is the TV show about family history, but that was cool too) I was excited to find out all the Russian and Ukrainian ancestors I have since my little brother just got called to serve a mission in Russia.
When Brandon was looking at his line we were getting excited to see Counts and princesses, I kept hoping we would see a king, but after a few dozen of them from several European countries the kings were even getting boring. Then we found Charlamagne and Julius Ceasar, etc. etc. Every kind of royalty there is, and bishops too.
Brandon wants to know who messed things up in the family and why we don't live in a castle in Europe right now? That's his motivation for family history.

update: the next day we looked at some more lines on my family tree and found more kings and Constantine and more famous people. Maybe when you go back that far you have thousands of ancestors so a handful of them are bound to be Kings? The first name we saw that we recognized from Brandon's family tree was King Coel and his wife "the Fair" who lived in 125AD. I'm guessing there is a closer relation than that, but I like thinking that we aren't related until the 2nd century.

Geneology

This show looks awesome. What a great way to inspire people to learn about their ancestors.

Junk

It's that moving time of the year when I need to go through my clothes and boxes of things to decide what I can chuck. I came across this shirt. Yes, it is ugly. very ugly. Do I ever wear it? no, not really. But I had to run SO far to get that shirt, how do you get rid of it? I guess that's what spouses are for.

Translation

Calvin is at the age where he says a lot of stuff, but it takes parent intervention to understand a lot of it. Some examples are:
down = phone
butt = button
man-ah = snowman or snow or play dough (because we make snowmen out of play dough)
walky = thank you
He used to say "tank tu", and before that he said "tanks", we are kind of going backwards on this one. I think walky is a version of "your welcome"?

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Ditch the workout, join the party

My zumba instructor is so amazing the news is going to come to her class. So many people come to her class she has to teach in the gym now instead of the dance room to fit everyone. It's crazy. I am debating if I should go to class that day. It would be fun to see the excitement, but do I really want to risk being on TV while dancing like a fool? If I do go, should I buy some cute, new work out clothes? Also, if I go, and you see me on TV, keep this in mind: If I look ridiculous it's because that's one of the new songs I haven't gotten down yet. If I look awesome it's because that is the one song I bought on itunes and practice at home. And if they have the camera on me while saying "zumba is for all shapes and sizes" I am never going again.

New Soap Dispenser

A new soap dispenser isn't super exciting, but it is exciting to get to make your own. My friend Robynn invited me to go to Color-Me-Mine a few weeks ago to have some fun creative time. I knew Calvin would insist on painting too so I turned his clothes clothes inside out and let him paint away. I figured with Calvin it was better to keep it simple so we stuck to one solid color. Then Robynn watched Calvin so I could add some decorative swirly leaves at the end. If it didn't cost so much I think I would go there everyday. Then I would have a lot of soap dispensers.

Confession

Brandon, Heather and I played a fun game of Settlers tonight. (Brandon won)
It made me think back to when I was little and how easy it was for me to win playing Monopoly against one of my younger sisters. I would magically roll a 13 to land on "Free Parking" that was stacked with money for me and I rarely landed on her property. She was too young to count the dice quick enough and I guess I was too young to have a conscience? Sorry about that, Michelle. I promise next time we play monopoly I'll give you some free money... or at least be a kind trader. (which is saying a lot considering my usual competitive and borderline vicious trading style)

Patience

Patience is a hard thing for a lot of people. It's so hard for Calvin he can't even wait for me to cook an eggo waffle any more. Lately he gets so mad if I try to cook them and insists on eating them frozen:
(and he even ate the whole thing)

Names

Lately Calvin has started shortening Mama, Dada to MaDa or DaMa. I guess he figures this is a quicker way to talk to both of us? He also calls me Becca. I kept trying to figure out if he was referring to something else but he keeps pointing to me and insisting that I'm "Becca!"

I haven't had anything to blog about because I've been so focused on buying a house. Not that it takes up my time, besides looking at carpet and paint samples, but my mind is consumed with images of our potential new home. So hopefully things go well with all the paperwork and the inspection and we will be homeowners sometime in March. Calvin is practicing for the house by doing a lot of extra loud yelling that will no longer disturb neighbors when we don't share walls with them.

More Snow

We had a nice pile of snow this morning and since our snowman had some awesome hair going on, we decided snowoman would be the best way to go on this one:

Abstract

The other day we went to the BDAC to see the Illustrators in Utah show. (my Christmas painting is in the show) It was family art night so along with having snacks they also had painting stuff for the kids. Here are Calvin's creations. He made them completely on his own, the only way I helped him was 1. helping him know when to stop by telling him he was done and 2. keeping him from eating the paint.

He told me the first one is of a chubby blond lady dancing with her head turned to the side:This one is also a dancer, looking from the back:

Six remotes

A. digital converter box & channel changing
B. "universal remote" used for the dvd player (remember the problems with this one?)
C. TV remote
D. heater remote used to give to Calvin so he doesn't use a remote that actually does something
E. not sure, but we've had it forever, I think it's suppose to work for the stereo?
F. volume for movies since the sound goes through the stereo

Yes, it took me 3 weeks after we got the new TV to figure out how to watch it and an extra week to be able to watch a movie as well.

go jazz go

Brandon got us tickets from work to go to a Jazz game. Usually I am mildly interested in going, if at all. But check out these seats- yeah, there's actually people sitting above us! Way better. We had a good time. However, a disappointing part of the night was when I discovered that I am older than everyone on the Jazz team except Okur. Oh well, I wasn't planning on trying out for the team anyway.

Missing the internet

We didn't have the internet for a little awhile and there are a lot of things I don't like about not having the internet, but I've decided the worst part is having to use the phone book.

Painting Demonstration

If anyone is curious to see an example of my painting process you can check it out here.

TV again

Am I mean if I took the new TV back? What if this is the replacement?:Brandon's brother upgraded. Probably the nicest hand-me-down I've seen in my life. Although, it is competing with the awesome Christmas tree that was handed down to us from some friends this year too. Remember our old little tree? We have a few oversized ornaments that fit so much better on this tree. They are from Brandon's childhood, so we always had to put them on. One is a 7" canoe, which I'm very skeptical that it's an ornament at all, but Brandon claims it is.

pointy elbows

Everyone has quirky things about them. I have discovered that Brandon has elbows with special powers. Special pointy powers. He used to have several long sleeve dress shirts for work, maybe 7 or 8. Now he has one. What happens to them all? The elbows all have holes in them. We've cut off the sleeves and hemmed them, and now he has a closet full of short sleeve shirts. If you ever see him at work don't be surprised if he still has his coat on. Maybe I should get him one of these jackets for Christmas:

Gingerbread Houses

Calvin and I were invited over to Brooke's for a fun morning of gingerbread decorating. Here are some samples of our creations.

new & exciting

I went to a Zumba class at the gym for the first time yesterday because everyone kept saying how great it is. And it's true! It was a combination of latin and hip hop dance turned into an aerobics class. But it really was more dance than aerobics. I LOVED it. Even if it didn't burn calories, I think I would go anyways, that's how fun it is. I loved the variety of people in the class too, the young, skinny, gym obsessed people, and old people, and larger people, everyone fits in.
The other new thing I tried is a paypal account. I feel so excited that any stranger in the world can so easily send me money. I just need to give them a reason to now...

(I would add a link here for you to send me money so I could really see how fun this is, but I don't know how to do that)

Parenting

Calvin has a serious problem with throwing his food. Nearly every meal and all kinds of food. Sometimes I think it's to tell us he's done eating, sometimes because he doesn't like a food, sometimes it's just for attention. We've tried a variety of methods to get him to stop, it's been going on for a loooong time. We've been doing more time outs lately. He's so funny about it, he doesn't care at all, he just stands in the corner until I tell him he is done. I'm pretty sure when I say "time out" I might as well be saying "let's play a game where you stand in the corner".

First real snow

This was Calvin's first real snow because last year he never played in it. This year he was fully equipped and ready to go. I think he was a little frustrated initially with the marshmallow look and how difficult that made it to walk around. He seemed to get used to it and when his neighbor friend invited him to come out again later, he was lovin' it.

Santa time

We meant to get pictures taken with Calvin & Santa last year, but it never happened. We had our ward Christmas party on Friday and I guess they had a hard time finding a Santa, not only was he an hour late, but he didn't pull it off really well. Even the two year old sitting next to me said, "that's not Santa!" We tried to have Calvin sit on his lap, but he was scared. Brandon insisted on a picture though, so here it is. The introduction:
The release:You can see he is trying hard to escape. Besides this one moment of the party, Calvin had a really good time. All the kids were running around the gym and eating lots of cookies. He loved it. He thought it was really funny to go over to the exit doors and smile at us while we motioned at him to come back. Then of course he would laugh and run out so we would chase him.
One time when I was following him around the hallways, I let him get too far ahead of me and he ran into the men's bathroom because someone had propped the door open. I stood there panicking, knowing any moment he was going to throw himself into the toilet. Since the door was wide open I could see that no one seemed to be in either of the stalls Calvin was running in and out of. I had been standing there for awhile trying to quickly figure out if I dared to run into the men's room or not. As he headed for a toilet, I went for it. As I spun around I realized the men's room was set up differently than the women's and besides the two stalls they also had urinals to the side of the door that I couldn't see before. Fortunately they were also empty because that could have turned into my most embarrassing moment ever.

Aspirations

Brandon is always telling me how he wants to be Jason Bourne or Jack Bauer or other guys with impressive skills. We have both been reading C.S. Lewis books lately and were discussing once again how amazed we are with his intelligence and grasp of spiritual concepts. So then Brandon said he would like to have the brain of C.S. Lewis with the skills of Jason Bourne. Quite the combo.

Recommendation

I tried to think of a pie to make for Thanksgiving and I thought it would be fun to attempt Pumpkin Cheesecake so I went with this recipe and it was delicious. I ended up making it late on Thanksgiving Eve and it was around 10:30 at night when I made all the filling and realized the recipe made enough for 2 pie pans. Not only is 10:30 at night a bad time to knock on a neighbor's door, but the night before Thanksgiving is for sure the most likely time out of the entire year that they will say they do not have a pie pan they can lend you. I opted for the bread pan. Not ideal, but it worked.

Extra washing

Calvin is always so anxious to get in the bathtub as soon as we walk into the bathroom he tries to climb in, even though he still has his clothes on. I decided to let him this time, hoping that it will help him realize why we take clothes off first. (I don't think he caught on, surprise, surprise) Plus, our washer has been broken for over a week, so why not let Calvin wash his clothes at the same time?

Happy Thanksgiving!

In the Spirit of Thanksgiving

How did this happen?

Last week our laptop died. It was tragic and inevitable, so old, so slow. On Saturday we went shopping for a replacement. It was already nauseating to me to spend so much money all at once. Large purchases are difficult. You would think spending so much money would make us be more conservative with our spending for a little while... but I guess not.
A desktop was more logical and somehow we ended up with both a new computer and a new TV. Brandon is some sort of genius. I'm still a little confused about it all.
It all started when Brandon suggested we spend just a little more and get a TV to use as a computer monitor. That made sense to me. Then somehow we were buying a huge TV, and that turned into a reasonable size TV... and a computer monitor. So here I am sitting at the computer with monitor I expected we would buy, while Brandon is in the other room with a TV I would never ever agree to buy - but did. Genius.

Skunk farmers and our skunk

Calvin's favorite part of our ward Halloween party: the cupcake

Coloring

As I mentioned on my other blog Calvin is obsessed with coloring. He throws a fit unless I let him color several, several times a day. He mainly likes to draw balls. And then he insists that I draw some balls too. Every now and then he'll request a duck or a truck. He is getting pretty good at his circles, which makes sense considering how many he draws a day. I like how he sticks his finger out on the crayon for better control. Maybe by the time he's two he'll get it down and ready to move onto squares.
Although crayons aren't the ideal medium, it's nice for me to get in a little extra sketching too.

Memory

A couple things I read the other day in a science magazine:

- there are around 30 people in this world that have a condition where they can't feel pain. At first I thought, wow, I'm jealous. And then I realized there are actually a lot of disadvantages to not feeling pain. Pain tells us when things are wrong. They can sense touch, but no pain. Sometimes it is tempting for them as kids to show off their abilities by putting knives into themselves or jump off buildings... and sometimes they die from it.

- couples can remember more with each other than 2 people who aren't a couple. In family relationships we unofficially assign people to be the expert in certain things and we don't bother to remember those things because we know we can access that information from the other person. A shared memory system is more efficient for our brains.

Pie Eating Competitors

Last week we had a fun little neighborhood party. We had a chili cook off, pumpkin carving contest and pie eating contest. They let couples compete together to eat to eat the pie. It was a tag team effort. We didn't even come close to winning. We ate probably 3/4 pie and gave up. yeah, we're pie eating wimps.
I made my first pumpkin pie ever. It was pretty simple and I think it turned out great too. I used the perfect pumpkin pie recipe.

Vaccines

Does anyone else have no idea whether to have their kid get flu vaccines or not? And then we also have to decide if Brandon and I need vaccines so we don't increase the chance of Calvin getting sick.
My doctor says it's a good idea, and I tend to trust his opinion. He's a smart, educated guy. So many people I've talked to though seem to think doctors are part of some government conspiracy and they just tell people it's safe and a good idea when it's really not?
I've talked to so many people about it and read lots of things online, but I still feel like no one has a perfect answer. It seems like a guessing game, whether Calvin would catch either flu and how bad would it be? Or, are the vaccines as safe as they claim - or would Calvin be affected by it, either now, or down the road sometime?
Are people afraid of the vaccine giving their kid autism, a poor immune system when they're 20, being paralyzed, or just getting the flu from the shot? Those are all the things I've heard so far. (some for the seasonal flu shot and others for the swine flu)
If you have an opinion and some more info, I'm all ears.

3 year test

I was unaware that 3 years after you graduate from BYU they send you a test to see how smart you still are. ok, technically it's a survey, but it sure felt like a 14 page scantron test from the testing center. I was pretty confident in the section on Fine Arts. I attend events, I understand elements of design, I participate, it my career after all. However, there's no doubt I failed in some of the other categories. history, science, writing. I think I still have high school level skills at best in those categories.
Another tricky part of the test was on the level of my testimony. seriously. I've never specifically had to rank so many different aspects of my spirituality before.
I'm going to study hard before the next test arrives. I'm guessing it will come in another 7 years. I hope they don't change the questions so I can be ready for it.

Park

Calvin and I were at the nearby park where we go every other day or so. There are often crude words written on the playground equipment that are later washed off and then new words and phrases appear soon after that. I listened to a few jr. high kids talk about several disturbing things while Calvin played on the grass. When he wandered over to the playground equipment I could see they were wearing out their sharpie marker all over the newly cleaned equipment. I had a quick chat with them how the park was for kids and they shouldn't be writing that crap everywhere. They seemed to think no one cared until I informed them that the police care and if someone reports them they will receive a nice fat fine. They apologized and said they would clean it up later. I bet. It was kind of fun to chew them out. It would have been even better if I had something prepared. Maybe next time...

Pho Noodle House in Orem

I have been watching this restaurant and waiting for it to open since we moved here. The closest Vietnamese place before was in Salt Lake and I've never managed to make it to one, as much as I love Vietnamese restaurants. Their summer rolls were amazing! lovelovelove them. The meal I had was really good, but not the same flavor I was hoping for. I did email the restaurant I love so much in Sacramento, hoping I could convince them to expand. I haven't heard back yet.

Brandon's favorite toy

No, this is not a post about Brandon's favorite toy when he was 7. This is about Brandon's favorite toy NOW. Technically Calvin's toy, but if Brandon is home Calvin is lucky if he gets to play with it.
It is quite impressive that he is able to figure out how to play songs on his own. Here is a performance of "Doe a Deer". He has gradually built up his repertoire to include "Mary had a little lamb", "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star", "Joy to the World" and he is currently mastering "Choose the Right". To view a live performance all you have to do is drop by, no performance request is necessary.