A Few of the Haps at Our House:
Cy is loving this one particular book. I can't even remember the name, but it is a counting book. He likes to sit down with you and count all of the pigs, boats, dinosaurs, etc. that he sees. What is very cute is that he calls eleven, "E-beb-in." Cutie is still a Cutie.
About a month ago, we decided to get a little plant growing kit and some vegetable seeds and see what we could grow. Well, needless to say, these plants have taken over my kitchen window and need to be transplanted into a bigger space. We are having so much fun with it. Who knew? You just stick a seed in some dirt and BAM! you have a plant. I just hope we actually get to eat some of this stuff. We each picked a few plants. Dad - spinach, Mom - lettuce, cilantro, and basil, Calvin - peas and cucumbers, Wyatt - hot peppers and Broccoli (and if he could grow Ranch dressing to go with it, he would), Cyrus - tomatoes. Wish us luck! We are setting the bar low and hoping for at least one salad and maybe a bowl of salsa. We'll keep you posted.
Over conference weekend, we took some time between sessions to fly some kites at the park across the street. Say what you will about Albuquerque, but you can't deny that the wind makes flying a kite a lot of fun. It was so easy that we just held up our arms, and the wind took the kite high in the air. And when the excitement of the high-flying kite wore down, we sat on the ground and flew them some more. Wyatt even managed to squeeze in a little nap. It was just a perfect day. The warm sun, the wind, the family together. It is the stuff of dreams, I tell ya.
Even Cy could easily fly his kite. He just strolled around the field with it. The only problem is he would walk right in front of the other flyers and tangle the string. But even that is forgivable when you are Cutie.
A few weeks ago there was a breakfast for the primary teachers at our house. We had crepes and good conversation; what more do you need? Calvin thought it was so much fun when I busted out the tablecloth. He knew something fancy was going down. So, he wanted to take pictures of the event.
He wanted me to pose with the butter.
And pose with the tiny loaves of bread that we gave out for favors.
And he had to show the yummy strawberries.
And let's not forget the whipped cream.
Yes, our Calvin is going to be a famous photographer one day.
Family Updates:
Noah - Once again, everyone in the house got some death-flu bug, and Noah didn't so much as cough/sneeze one time. He strolled right through the illness without missing a day of work. He suffered in other ways, however. Dinner was not happening for about a week. He doesn't complain, and he nurtured the rest of us like a pro. He brought home pizzas, picked up Dr. Peppers and Peeps, and tucked us all into bed when we grew weary of sitting on the couch. He's a keeper.
He works every other Saturday, you know. We miss him on those off Saturdays. Yesterday happened to be a day off, and we soaked up every minute of free time. We ended the evening with a hot date (gasp!) at Joe's Pasta House where we broke all caloric barriers. In fact, we had to come home and just lay around and groan. But it was well worth it. A few weeks ago, Noah got some fancy food at a fancy grocery store. Namely - caviar, pate, anchovies, a giant bagette, and some cherry cider. Needless to say, I was not interested in any of those things, but he convinced Calvin to try them all. He polished off the rest of the caviar tonight on his homemade pizza. And you know what? As I was gazing at him across the table with his fancy fixings, I have to say he had a very fancy aura about him. Methinks he was on another plane of luxury than us plain pizza eaters.
Katie - As mentioned, she fell prey to sickness. I don't take sickness lightly. I don't like to suffer or be uncomfortable, and this was no exception. The saving grace was that my appetite was just fine. No throwing up, just fever and chest/coughing junk. So I managed to drive our sorry sick butts to Sonic Happy Hour two days in a row for sodas and even milkshakes. I hate being sick. I hate when the kids are sick too because I feel so bad when I can't fix it. Aside from sickness, I have not been tremendously busy. I thought that I would give being a vegetarian a try. I don't eat a lot of meat, but sometimes it grosses me out. Sometimes it doesn't. Usually it does when I have to prepare it. Anyhoo, I thought, "I'll just give it a try for a week and see how it goes." WELL, halfway through the week, I forgot I was a vegetarian and realized it as i was pounding a turkey sandwich. I realized I wasn't giving up my cold cuts. So, I've decided to be a sometimes-atarian. I will eat it when I feel like it, and I won't when I don't. In other words, nothing has changed.
Calvin - You know by now that Calvin's beloved 3DS got stolen. It was a sad, sad day. We thought that we would just go ahead and replace it, but once the initial shock wore off, we found that he wasn't missing it too much. We will probably get him another one one day, but for now we are enjoying the face time that a lack in 3DS brings. Calvin has many friends at school. His best friend is a sweet little kid named Khayden. They are besties and hang out just about any time that they can. We like when he comes over because he and Calvin and Wyatt all play together very well. A few weeks ago, Calvin dropped my phone into the toilet. It was a sad, sad, day. We have recovered, and I got a new phone. But let's just say that it was a pretty unpleasant moment for that poor phone.
Wyatt - I know I say this all the time, but the boy is really still into HULK. We got him a Hulk t-shirt the other day. He has been wearing it constantly. The first day he got it, he would say things to me like, "you got me this because you know how much I love Hulk, huh?" or "I'll love this shirt forever and ever." If I would have known, I would have bought that poor child one earlier. He has so much pleasure from it. Wyatt hates to clean his room. On a particular messy day, I told him he couldn't come out until he cleaned it. It took him a full 24 hours to clean it. I let him out for meals, but aside from that he spent a lot of time in there just hanging out in his messiness. At one point, I heard him trying to convince Cyrus, who was standing outside the room in the hallway, to come and help him. I knew he was desperate because Cy's specialty is making messes, not cleaning them. Cy didn't fall for it. He ran away as fast as he could.
Cyrus - He is as sweet as he is cute. And messy, too. He dumps out flour and throws clean clothes on the floor. He hides things in strange places. I sometimes find my hair clips in the crock pot or spiderman in the blender. He likes to snuggle and "mooch" (smooch). He is getting so big and has abandoned his nap, which makes me very sad. I'm having a hard time figuring out when to exercise now. Every few days, he will crash on the couch for about an hour. Just the other day, he and I were watching a riveting episode of House Hunters when I heard the tiniest snore come from him. I had my arm around him and his head was leaned on my side. When I went to lay him on the couch, I noticed a large pool of drool on my shirt. He was out cold.
I forgot to mention Easter. We had a great Easter with lots of fun Easter egg hunts. Some of the little kids met at the park for an Easter egg hunt. My friend, Jen, snapped these cute pics of the boys. It was so much fun. For Easter dinner, we had ham, rolls, scalloped potatoes, deviled eggs, and strawberry pie for dessert. So tasty! The only thing missing was family. We sure missed all of our family in Tennessee.
Cyrus trying to get Jen to take a pic of the food in his mouth. Boys will be boys, no?
The whole crew: Calvin, his friend Khayden, Cyrus, Calvin and Wyatt's friend Jack, Wyatt, and Me. Is it just me or am I always surrounded by boys?
Cyrus steady chilling in The Big Pink Bag. Janice, I always think of you when I use it, which is very often!
