Calvin the cook

Calvin thinks it's fun to dump spices on food like he sees me do when I'm cooking. When our spaghetti sauce was simmering on the stove the other day he went to town when I wasn't looking. What scared me most was him on a stool right next to the stove. When I saw what was piled on top of the spaghetti that wasn't a pretty sight either. And again yesterday I left my baked potato unguarded and the next thing I knew Calvin had added excessive amounts of salt for me. yum. actually, it really was yum. Not good for me, but very delicious.

Well worn

The 4 week plan is going... ok. Could be better. I realized today that of all the recipes I have in my recipe folder my chocolate chip cookie recipe is the most worn out. (cookies aren't a dessert though, right? Just an unhealthy snack? Oh well, better luck tomorrow)

And as a side note, my basketball stats are doing much better.

4 weeks

I've decided I need to get out of the habit of eating dessert so often. So my plan is to not eat dessert for the next 4 weeks. I'm already planning what kind of ice cream I'm eating on February 28th.

Ward ball

I love playing sports so even though I am not good at basketball, and even more out of shape than usual, I was still excited to go play ward ball. Here are my approximate stats for the game:

  Ball stolen from me: 3
  Rebounds: 2
  Direct passes to the opposite team: 3
(in my defense, no one had jerseys so it was really confusing)
  Points: 4 oh yeah!
  Pathetic lobbed passes that didn't go to anyone: 4
  Injuries: 0

I mention injuries because it was very important to not get hurt. Brandon said he would rather I get into a fight than get injured. Luckily, neither took place.
With how awesome I played you would think we won, but no, we lost 18-36. They were really good. They even had a player with actual basketball shoes on. She must be in the WNBA... or at least played in high school.

Art blog

I know no one checks my art blog because I never put anything on there. But today I did. I don't do much art, but I try to fit in when I can.

Comments from Cal

Calvin saw a BB gun in an ad and told Brandon, " look Dad! A squirt gun! (all guns are "squirt guns") We buy it?? I be REAL real careful!"

Another great comment was when we got to stake conference and since we were late and in the very very back we saw the speaker on the large wall projection. "look Mom! TV!" So initially, stake conference was super cool to Calvin.
Then when we were in the last half an hour, all the fruit snacks were eaten, and he had used up all his drinking fountain breaks, Calvin started repeating over and over "I don't like this church. *sigh* I don't like this church..."

Call Feature

I've recently started using gmail's calling feature. (instead of clicking on someone's name to chat you can call a phone) It's so useful. Now when I can't find my phone I don't have to email Brandon or someone to call it for me, I can call it myself. Over and over if necessary. And just now when I needed to call the library and didn't want to go downstairs to get my phone, I used the computer to call. Thank you gmail. You continue to make my life easier.

All together

When Brandon and I would tell Calvin we love him he used to yell, "NO! Love you!" Then he decided it was okay that we love each other and now when we say "I love you" the response is "No, love you all together." Meaning = we all love each other.
Often he adds a list of who is included: "No, love you all together - Mommy, Daddy, Calvin, Shelby."
And recently the list was expanded to: "No, love you all together - Mommy, Daddy, Calvin, Shelby, TV, Buzz Lightyear."

Worst organization idea ever

We have a large toy box that we used to throw all the toys into. Since we have too many toys for the toy box now, I thought it would be helpful to use small shelves with bins to make it more organized, baby toys in one area, large toys in the toy box, etc. Great idea, right?
Nope. Before we had this shelf it took Calvin a lot of effort to dig toys out of the toy box and the small ones that fell to the bottom never made it out at all.
Leave it to me to put them in easily accessible bins that take no more than 10 seconds to dump out all over the floor.

Time out

I'm not sure what the penguin did, but it was soon joined by a transformer for time out.

Favorite Christmas picture

This is a picture (made into a Christmas ornament) of Brandon's family acting out the nativity when he was a kid. Since he was the youngest, he always played baby Jesus. Even when he was seven.

HD

Brandon and I have different opinions on having HD for our TV. I think it's nice, but not worth paying for. Brandon can't live without it. Once you've had it, you can't go back. He says it's like going from a car to a handcart.

hypnotized

My brother and sister were recently hypnotized at their work party and the video was pretty funny. I love hypnotist shows. It's so hilarious how people act. At the end they are told to focus on something they want to achieve and hypnotized to be able to do it. It made me wonder what one thing I would choose if I were hypnotized. I think it would be healthy eating. There are a lot of things I want to achieve that I can summon up the motivation or will power to do on my own, but healthy eating just isn't fun. Some sort of brain washing would be really helpful. What would you pick?
Also, since it's 3am while I am writing this I wonder how old a kid has to be before they can be hypnotized into sleeping through the night?

Financial Reading

I loved reading Dave Ramsey's book A Total Money Makeover. It was so inspiring what you can do by being smart with your money. I really liked the point he said about how you should read books to learn more about things that are important to you. It's important to me to be financially smart and yet this is one of very few books I've read about money. If you know of some other good personal finance books let me know. I'd like to read more, but it'd be nice to know which ones are going to be useful and which ones are boring.

Austin

Calvin has a good friend we hang out with a lot named Boston. He also knows a couple of Austins, but can't figure out how to say it, he just calls Austin Boston. Since Austin is coming over to play this morning I was trying to practice with him and this is how our conversation went:

Me: Aw-stin
Cal: Aw-Boston
Me: Aws - tin
Cal: Aw -Boston
Me: Austin
Cal: Good job Mommy!

Green Car

My mom came to stay with us to help out with Shelby last week. Brandon and Calvin took her to the airport and Calvin fell asleep in the car. When Grandma was walking away Calvin woke up and started crying frantically something that sounded like "Grandma! Grandma!" and Brandon figured he was upset she was leaving. Then he realized he was actually saying something about his "green car!" Brandon thought it was kind of confusing and told him they'd look for it when they got home.
Fast forward to my mom going through her luggage and I get an email telling me she found Calvin's green car in the pocket of her bag. When we asked Calvin how his green car ended up in Grandma's bag he said it was hiding. We let him know bags headed to the airport aren't a good place to hide things.

Statement

Sometimes I think Calvin leaves things around the house just to say "I was here."

Shelby Claire Miller

Shelby came on Monday at 5:30pm. She weighed 8lbs 2oz and was 19 inches long. Labor went well. I highly recommend having 8lb babies over 10lb babies, it's a much better way to go. I only had to push for 20 minutes instead of 3 hours like I did with Calvin.
Calvin loves having a baby sister (so far). He keeps telling us that she is "sooo cute". He is constantly sharing his favorite toy, a little motorcycle, by sitting it next to her.
If you want to see massive amounts of pictures, I'll add lots to the picture blog soon. (link to the side)

Nap time

This is what Calvin likes to do when he is locked in his room to take a nap. It's pretty funny to watch the books creep further and further out. I'm not sure who he is trying to reach, but it seems to be some kind of "I'm trapped in here, let me out" message he is trying to send.

Tums

I've had quite a bit of heartburn at the end of both pregnancies. This time I've decided if I can't stand the thought of eating another chalky Tums, I'll take a break and just try to OD on chocolate milk and Breyers Rocky Road ice cream. Tums isn't the only source of calcium out there.