Calvin's Winter Sport

I'm jumping ahead for a post...to this week.  For the second year in a row Calvin is curling.  He really enjoys it.  A couple years ago Marc and I took a curling class and were in the league, so we at least understand it a little.  It really is a fun sport for all ages!  At this age they aren't doing a full length match yet...just practicing skills.  Sunday night Marc's parents and grandma came to watch.  I brought my camera to catch some of his moves.



Here he is being the skip.  He's letting his teammate know where to throw the rock, and which way to spin it.




Here is his coach sweeping the rock toward him.





Calvin preparing to throw the rock...



The back of his curling sweatshirt says "Future Olympian". 

I'm afraid that just may be true. 

But then again...I'm his mom.

Christmas...Again!

Goodness I am BEHIND in my blogging.  I always have several posts in my head, tonight I'm just going to cover a few!

This year we had my family's Christmas in the middle of January.  I'm going to cover this mostly in pictures!



Nathan and his best friend, Sara.  These two are quite a pair!




Here's Max with baby Olivia...the reason we had a late Christmas.




Tate and Olivia




Jillian taking her turn...while Tate watches!




All the kids and John sitting down to eat.  The kids all think Uncle John is one of them.



Calvin, Jilly, and Will



Calvin wanted one of these SO badly.  Papa and Nana pulled through.




Nathan has about 1000 stuffed animals.  He was still THRILLED when Papa and Nana got him this cute puppy with it's own kennel and bed.  Right up his alley!





This is a weighted monkey he got from Ben...great for kids with sensory issues.  It is so cute!




Baby Jill got a new outfit for spring!  She's stylin!





Papa made fences for the three middle boys.  They thought they were great!



 Here is the whole gang!  Are they a good looking bunch or what?  

We are certainly blessed.

Comic Relief

Tonight was just a funny night.  Do you ever have those?

Marc has been gone all week, and sometimes my patience is thin....but sometimes we just roll with it and have a great time.  Tonight we were all in the living room.  Calvin was working on homework...

Jillian was trying to cause trouble...

And Nathan was building a house.  That's right.

This might be one of those stories that you had to be there for, but...I can't stop now.  When we were playing Nathan said he was a builder, and his name was Peapod.  NO idea where that came from.  When Calvin was doing his homework I mentioned he should put his name on his paper so the teacher didn't have to wonder who it belonged to.  I continued to work with Nathan for a little bit, then I turned around to find this.

Is it weird that I thought this was hilarious?  Oh and also it's been our thing lately to speak in a British accent.  Calvin can NOT get enough of it.  I start speaking that way and he just falls apart.  So we had a great time imagining what his teacher might say if he turned in his paper this way.  (In a British accent) "Excuse me, might you raise your hand if your name is Peapod?  I've not heard this name before."  You get the point.  And to top it off...and bring Calvin and I to tears...it turns out Nathan can do a fabulous British accent.  Good stuff.

Then, as if our night hadn't been good enough, I sent the boys to get their jammies on and Nathan came out like this.

Thank you God for giving us laughter!

Love

Do you know what one of my FAVORITE things is? 

Today I picked up Calvin from school early for an eye appointment.  When we were done we stopped at Target...just the two of us.  As we walked across the parking lot holding hands, I realized he was skipping.  Skipping.  I LOVE THAT.  I mean does that just scream, "I'm happy" or what?  I smiled the whole way in.

Isn't It Exciting?

Isn't it exciting when Daddy calls from work to see if we want to go out to dinner?  That happened to us last night!

Isn't it exciting to head to the new bakery after school to pick out your very own cupcake for a snack?  (Mom too!)

Nathan wasted NO time diving in to his chocolate peanut butter cupcake...

Calvin had chocolate with almond frosting.

Then he tasted Nathan's...

Before we got there Jillian insisted she wanted to get a PINK cupcake.

She managed to find red velvet with a pink flower on top.

They were ALL delicious!

Isn't it exciting to do something fun with your hair?  Have you heard of this thing where you wrap the wet hair around a headband and sleep on it?  I saw it a long time ago and tried it once, but I had the wrong type of headband.  It's cute enough like this...I can't wait to see how it looks tomorrow!

Jillian is VERY excited too!

A Lesson...

on the pros and cons of giving your child a police set for Christmas.  Nathan got one from Santa this year and he LOVES it....as Santa knew he would.

Con:
Last night all 3 kids were playing police.  This is one of their favorite things to do together lately.  Jillian had to go potty so I took her into the bathroom and set her on the toilet.  I sat down on the little stool we have in there.  Nathan...in full uniform...rushed into the bathroom and said to me, "You're under arrest!  You stealed something!"  I protested a little just for fun, but when he asked for my hands I put them out.  He put the cuffs on me and I was sitting with my head down...looking at my hands.  I said something like, "Don't take me in officer...I'm innocent!"  And that's when he pulled the billy club from his belt and hit me over the head as hard as he could.

Needless to say, he no longer has a billy club.

Pro:
When Calvin put Nathan on his stomach and cuffed his hands behind his back...Nathan could NOT get up.  I will remember this the next time I need to keep him in his room.

A New Idea

Tonight when I was making dinner Jillian was very clingy and tired. On a whim I said, "Would you like to sit in this laundry basket with your blankies while I get dinner ready?"  Oddly enough she said yes.

She even seemed to like it.

She snuggled right in.

Then...others joined her.