Calvin is 5 years old

5 years old
My little knight with 10 swords!!

These two pictures were taken at the doctors office for his 5 year checkup.

He was almost 1 in these three pictures.

Calvin turned 5 on July 14th. We had a really fun day for his birthday. We went to Toys R Us so that he could pick out a lego set. We went to both of his favorite places to eat. Pizza Pie Cafe and Taco Time. That boy loves crisp bean burritos. We went to see, "How to Train Your Dragon" at the dollar theater. We just spent the whole day as a family, having lots of fun.

At Calvin's 5 year checkup he weighed in at 40 lbs and 43 inches tall. If I can remember right that is about 50th percentile for both. He has great vision, and all of the other things they checked were great also. He is a healthy boy. I love Alpine Pediatrics for many reasons. They have a lot of doctors, they are open from 8 am till 10 pm and they try to make doctor visits fun. We prefer Doctor Johnson, he is an older doctor who is just as sweet as can be. But we are happy with any of them. I think this is Dr. Spencer in the picture. He was really nice. This was a special visit for kids going in to kindergarten, so they got to do fun things with the doctor. Calvin was so brave and didn't cry when he got his immunizations. And he just talked to the doctor about his cool Bionicle man.

Calvin has always been such a happy kid. He has been so easy going and just completely enjoyable to be around. He is not loud or hyper. He plays really well with other kids, he doesn't boss around or hit. He is always looking out for his little sisters and he always wants them the be happy. He shares all of his treats and toys with them. Calvin is very smart and he says some things that just amaze me. He is a thinker and he is very even tempered. He would do anything to please people. Especially mom and dad. Whenever I ask him to do something he always does it with a smile and is so excited to show me when he is done with his chores. He is just an excellent kid and we love him more than he will ever know.

Calvin is so funny lately, he has started making a lot of sound effects when he plays. And they are all so realistic. Like bombs blowing up the castles, and cars, and spaceships, and all sorts of other boy noises. I think boys are programed to make those kinds of sounds.

Calvin and Lily have been sharing a room while we get Ava adjusted to sleeping through the night. We set up bunk beds in his room and he has been so sweet about sharing a room with Lily. He loves having her in their and they love their bunk beds.

We also decided to move the enormous amount of Legos that we own up to his room. This has been the most wonderful change. Now the neighbor kids can play in the toy room with out Jon worrying about the Legos and Calvin plays with his Legos non stop. He can build some great things for a 5 year old. Lily is even a pretty good Lego builder.

A few funny quirks Calvin has are:
He has to say the same thing to us before bed every night. We say prayers and then he says,"Can I have the hall light on, and does dad have work tonight, in the morning or after lunch." Even if I answer the questions before he asks, he will still ask.

And he is the pickiest eater!!!! He loves his food burned, toast, casseroles, pizza, etc! He will not eat white bread unless it is burned. He only likes wheat bread. A funny and weird little story, One day I made him toast with white bread and he covered all of the "white spots" that didn't get burned with pretzels because he didn't want to eat the white parts. I can probably count the foods he will eat on two hands. Yogurt, beans and cheese, pizza, corn on the cob, lime chips and a few others. But he honestly gives his best try to eating whatever is put in front of him. He will always try the food. He just has a very narrow liking of different things. He even prays for help with trying new foods.

Calvin's favorite movie is "The Secret of Pirate Island." It is a playmobil movie. They look like little Lego guys, but Jon will be the first to correct you, they are not Legos. He could watch this movie 1000 times and not be sick of it.
I could talk about Calvin all day. I love him so much. He is a great son, brother, and friend. He loves Lily and Ava soooo much. Sometimes he loves Ava a little too much, he always wants to hold her and kiss her. But he is also very helpful. I love listening to the great ideas he comes up with. He has a great imagination and he is a lot of fun to be around. What a blessing he is in our home.

Baby Evelyn

I did a little photo shoot of Evelyn way back in June. I just put Megan's memory card in my camera and took the pictures and then gave her back her memory card so she could have them. I only got a few on my memory card. I need to get some of my favorites off of her card. She is such a doll!! Her and Ava are going to have so much fun growing up together.

Discovery Toys

This post shows how way far behind I am on the blog. This happened clear back in May!! But with all the carpooling, taking care of kids, house, meals, baby, and trying to get any sleep I find it really hard to find time to catch up on the blog. I am making a goal to get all caught up this week and then finish the blog book. I may just wait until December at this point and do a 2 year blog book, unless I get it finished in the next week.

Discovery Toys: I met a really nice lady named Michelle McCombs at a boutique in Pleasant Grove. She had the Discovery Toys booth. I had never even heard of discovery toys but stopped and looked at them for a moment. I immediately fell in love with these toys. They are all educational, well built and lifetime guaranteed. She talked to me about signing up to sell them or having a party to earn free toys because they are pricey. But I was due to be induced with Ava in 2 days. I told her to call me in a few weeks. And she did. I ended up signing up to be a toy consultant with my only intention being the toys you get and the discount. She said the was perfectly fine and just said I had to host one party. The party was fun but I have to say I was completely insane trying to host a toy party with a 3 week old and do a primary activity in the same week.

The party turned out well and because I was the host and the consultant I got a ton of free stuff. It turned out that I made enough money from the party to pay for the original kit I purchased. By the end of it I ended up paying absolutely nothing for 20 new toys worth $600!!! It was worth a little stress. We got so many great quality fun toys. The kids love them and they are called the special toys. They have to ask to play with them and put them back with all of their original parts when they are done with them. We got marble works, motor works, books, cds, board games, building toys, dolls, baby toys and more, and they are so much fun!!

kids say the darndest things

We have had a little bit of a boobie or as my mom would say baba obsession in our house since Ava was born.

I was doing turbo jam one day and Calvin said,"I like the girl with the blue pants, she's cool" and then Lily chimed in and says, " I like the one with the boobies."

Calvin was taking off his shirt to run through the sprinklers and I hear him say, "Lily, it's okay if you take off your shirt, you don't have boobies yet."

Calvin says, "Mom, Ava is crying, I think she needs some boobie milk." And then he always says to Ava, " Ava, do you want some pizza(or whatever I ate earlier that day) milkies." That cracks me up. He catches on to so much.

Calvin said today," I would like some beans and cheese for lunch please, and speaking of which, I would also like some chips!" He talks like an adult, it is hilarious.

Calvin at dinner one night,"Mom, we don't need to have a blessing on this food, it is healthy."

Calvin saw Jon and I kiss one day and he said "Are you guys going to make another baby?" and we just started cracking up and I said,"why do you think kissing makes babies, who said that?" and he said, " I just already know mom."

Lily is 3

Where has the time gone?

My Lily Bug turned 3 years old on June 22nd. Oh how I love this little girl. Her beautiful face just makes me smile every time I look at it. She is soooo adorable with her big blue eyes and long blonde hair. I love her sweet little voice and the funny things she says.

For Lily's Birthday we went to Build a Bear with Aunt Alicia. Lily built a pink teddy bear and dressed her in a birthday shirt and skirt and named her Fuzzy Wuzzy. Calvin got a Dog and dressed him in a knight costume and named him Fluffy Knight. They had a lot of fun doing that activity. Then we met Jon at the movie theater and we saw Toy Story 3. And then we went out for pizza and ice cream. It was a very fun day.

At Lily's 3 year doctor appointment she weighed 31 lbs (50%) and she was 38 inches tall (75%). I don't know if the 75% is right because she is pretty short compared to the twins and the other kids her age. She is as healthy as can be, she is not a very picky eater which is nice. She has a very sweet personality but she can get emotional. She can be very tough or cry quickly, she can also have her little tantrums, but for the most part she is very well mannered and pleasant.

Lily spends most of her time being a tomboy. She follows Calvin every where. They play pirates and Legos and make believe. She does have her dolls but she is not too obsessed with them. Lily loves Minnie Mouse even though I think the only time she has ever seen Minnie is on my phone. We don't have the Disney Channel but my phone does, so every once in a while she can watch the Mickey Mouse Club house on my phone. One of her favorite toys is a Minnie Mouse Pez dispenser. Go figure, the only $2 toy in the house and she loves it!!

Lily gets to start preschool next month and she is so excited. I know she is going to catch on fast and be a good little learner. As of right now she can say her ABC's and she only mixes up a few letters. S and X and a couple of others. She can count to 20 skipping a couple of the teens. But she refuses to sit down and learn with me, so she doesn't recognize very many letters or numbers. Which is fine with me, I would rather have her up and running around, playing and having fun. She knows some of her colors and shapes. Yellow is her favorite color, she says it lello, which we love to hear. She also calls her Grandmas, her mamma's. And if you ask her a question a lot of the time she will answer with "kind of" even if it doesn't make sense. That always cracks Jon up.

Funny Stories:

Lily and I went on a date to get our hair done one night. When we were driving home I said, "I love you Lily Bug" and she said "I love you too Mom". Ahhh, so cute. And then she says, "And Sam loves me too." And I said "He does" and Lily replies "He told me so at church on Sunday."
(Sam is a little boy in Lily's nursery class at church. He just adores Lily. He will ignore the other boys playing trucks and he will play kitchen or dolls with Lily. He even said how much he missed her when he went on vacation. And she was the only girl invited to his birthday party). This is a picture of Lily and Sam at our neighborhood BBQ.

Lily loves to dance and she is quite the little hip shaker. You can't help but giggle every time she shakes her hips. It cracks me up. The video below kind of demonstrates her hip shaking, she was being pretty mellow because she was dancing to Ava's swing lullabies. And I know this isn't the best picture but I love how they are dancing.

One night a couple of weeks ago we were driving home from going out to dinner. I asked Jon if he wanted a piece of gum. And Lily chimed in from the back saying she wanted one as well. I don't let my kids chew gum for obvious reasons. But I decided to let her have a piece. She had not had gum before this night, so we told her that you chew it but you don't swallow it and when you are done you spit it out. (By the way I am laughing as I type this next part). I yelled to the back, how do you like it Lily. And there was no response. And then a few minutes later we hear her kind of gagging and I say "Oh no, Jon, I think she is throwing up" I look back to see a ton of drool coming out of her mouth. And I ask her if she is alright. And she says " you said I couldn't swallow." She had been keeping all of her saliva in her mouth and that is why she hadn't said a word. Sooo funny, the way kids interpret what you say.


And now we are in trouble. Lily has learned our technique of the "if" and "then" statement.

Mom: "Lily you can have a treat if you eat your dinner."

Lily: "Mom I will eat my dinner if you get me a drink."

New Camera

I have always loved photography. In high school I took yearbook and was the darkroom manager, I developed my own pictures and I even bought an SLR from the school when I graduated. I still have that SLR and have not used it much at all because it is a film camera. I have wanted a nice digital SLR for a long time and I finally got one for my birthday this year. I decided to let myself splurge because Jon bought another truck, I think this is number 34 since we have been married, and I was sick of him spending all of the money on his hobbies. Even though the camera was a small fraction of the price of the truck (which we will be posting about soon), I still felt guilty spending the money. I am just not a big spender and I always have buyers remorse. Now that I have had it for a couple of months I do not regret it and I love it!! It is a Canon Rebel XS. It came with the standard 18-55 mm lens which does great, but maybe just maybe I will let myself get another lens sometime. I am also going to take photography classes from Inkley's which should be fun. And that should explain the enormous amount of pictures I have been posting lately.

I will make millions

Calvin has been really intrigued with money lately. I am not quite sure how this has come about but it makes me laugh. He is always thinking of ways he can make money or do trades. His latest idea happened tonight while I was reading to him.

Mom: The Berenstein Bears and the Spooky Old Tree. Written and Illustrated by Stan and Jan Berenstein.

Calvin: Wow, Mom the writers of this book named the book after them. The berenstein bears are named after their last name.

Mom: Yes, that's right, good job recognizing that.

Calvin: That is what I will do.

Mom: What?

Calvin: I will make a book called Captain Calvin, written by Calvin. And I will make millions.

(side note: Captain Calvin is a character I made up when I tell the kids stories before bed. Captain Calvin and Princess Lily have been on some great adventures).

Mom: That is a fun idea, why don't you talk to dad about helping you with that.

Calvin: Okay, we'll do it tomorrow.


Conversation from earlier today. We were in the van driving home from Salt Lake. We were out looking for a new truck and talking about how much they cost. Calvin chimed in from the back saying:

Calvin: Dad how much is this? (He shows Jon a piece of paper that he had written a 1 with 7 zeros on).

Dad: That is ten million.

Calvin: Wow, that is a lot. How about if you give me some money for my piggy bank then I will give you 10 million dollars.

We both start laughing and ask where he is getting 10 million dollars.

Calvin: I will come up with something.

A few minutes later

Calvin: Dad, how many is this? (now the one has a lot of zeros behind it).

Dad: I don't know how many that is but I know that a 1 with 100 zeros is a google.

Calvin: Cool.

Lots of updates

I have been busy playing catch up. There are new posts all the way back to Mother's day. Make sure to check them out and there are lots more to come!!