The Long Journey Home

We are Back On Track this week! :)  We had a fun-filled week with a few bumps along the way.  There were parks, birthdays, walks, and lots of cleaning! 
   So we started off the week with FHE at the Smith's house.  I had a great idea and Jeff agreed that we should walk there.  It was a good walk, a little hot on the way there, but BEAUTIFUL on the way home.  I love living here... have I mentioned that lately! :)  Calvin was introduced to light sabors at their house, and I'm pretty sure he's the next Luke Skywalker.
   Wednesday was JEFF'S 27TH BIRTHDAY!! (In a high pitched voice, while waving hand)  And we had a birthday extravaganza for him!  We started off with some peanut butter/chocolate chip pancakes with bananas and syrup.  Jeff LOVES pb, bananas, and chocolate, so it was the PERFECT combo for him!  We then proceeded to sing to him for the first time of the day (Calvin and I worked ALL DAY on Tuesday to get him to sing happy birthday daddy instead of happy birthday lola, and it worked!), then we gave him his presents... which he LOVED!  We got him a new black hat (he ruined his other one by playing baseball in it) and some new cute jeans (he's got a bit of a jean fetish).  Both were a hit!  Then Jeff left for work and we hustled and bustled to get things done so that we could meet him for lunch.  Of course, in all of the hustle of things, just as I was getting ready to get the boys in the car, I got a migraine! :(  So, I took some meds, grabbed an ice pack and relaxed for a little bit.  But I WAS NOT going to let this get in the way of Jeff's celebration, so even though I felt horrible I packed the boys up and we headed to SLO for some birthday lunch.  Jeff's boss got him a CPK giftcard, so we of course went there.  We ended up winning a 50% coupon and decided to save it for when Drew and Paloma came.  All-in-all, a pretty great lunch topped off with a bueno sundae and the second happy birthday song for daddy!  We returned to the bank and had some of Jeff's Birthday Pie. (I'm Not going to lie, it was definitely the best peach pie I have ever made!)

Jeff's parents got home from Colorado that day, so Calvin, Boston, and I headed over there to visit and wait for Jeff to get off of work.  We all headed over to AJ's for Jeff's fav dinner: Calamari Steak.  This was also singing opportunity #3 as they paraded another yummy sundae out for the birthday boy.  It was really a great day filled with lots of family fun!!  I love my husband so much and I wanted him to feel like the most special person in the world, because that's what he is to me!

   Thursday was back to reality for our family.  Calvin and I went to Atascadero Lake Park, where he had a BLAST feeding the ducks... I had to pull him away!  He couldn't reach over the rail, but luckily he has a great arm, so he was able to throw the bread over.  That night, Jeff and I decided that we would take our family walk to the Osman's.  We didn't really consider what a journey it was from our house to theirs.  We finally made it there, both boys asleep, and Butch tells us that Ellen is really sick.  So, we handed him some invitations, talked for a minute, and turned around for the trek back to our house.  Though it was long, it was a lot of fun, since we could just chat and enjoy each other's company while the boys slept peacefully.

   Friday was a hard day.  I got an early call from my dad informing me that my Aunt Krystle had passed away.  It's so bittersweet, on one hand is no longer in pain, but she will truly be missed here!  I am so glad that I have the gospel in my life so that things like this are so much bearable, since I know that I can see her again!  A little later in the morning was Boston's 2 mo. Dr. appointment.  Here, we discussed his snoring issue... and, he has abnormally small nostrils.  lol... So, we just have to keep them as clear as possible, and he will most likely grow out of it!  My little chubby bunny is ever-growing and weighed in at a whopping 12lbs 12oz!  That night, Calvin spent the night with Grandma and Papa, so that Jeff and I could get some serious cleaning/working done in the house.

    We woke up early Saturday morning to get a head start on our long list of to-dos.  It was such a productive day!  We got Calvin's room and furniture painted and organized.  We also completed some other furniture pieces and cleaned the house and garage.  It feels soo good to get all of this stuff done!  Drew and Paloma are coming next weekend for Boston's blessing, which has been a great deadline for me!  I'm so grateful for such a wonderful and willing husband!!  Our house would not be half as cute without all of his help!  Calvin came home later that day.   Apparently he had taken a bit of a tumble down the slide at Grandma and Papa's house and has received his first official war wound to the face!  We've gotten used to it now, but the first few times we saw him, it was a little shocking.. lol  Calvin is becoming quite the mimicker.  On the way home from a shopping trip, Jeff rolled down the window and spit (I know, GROSS), Calvin spent the rest of the way home making spit noises towards the window- it was SO funny!  We also managed a little break in all of the cleaning to stop by cold stone and get Jeff's birthday ice cream.  Which is quite a treat now that our new diet only includes cold stone on birthdays (since we get a free coupon from their website).
  So, just as everyone has gotten used to the snoring in Sunday School, Boston has come up with another eye-catching annoyance!  He got a few immunizations on Friday and one of them had the sweet side effect that gives him HORRIBLE gas that smells awful all the time!  Jeff and I were sure to whisper, "man, that was a smelly one, Boston" every few minutes, so they would know it wasn't us.  Stinky and snoring, my poor baby!  Of course he is still precious and perfect to me in every way!!  I am so blessed to have two such amazing boys for sons!  They keep my life busy yet fun!
    Now that I have taken all of this space... it's Jeff's turn!!!
I feel like Cindy has covered everything. My birthday was great, thanks to my wonderful wife! I was so glad to be able to spend so much time with my family on my birthday, I even managed to get a little work done. Like Cindy has said, it is so great to have our home coming together. I love the way Calvin's room has turned out. The only other eventful thing that has happened was on Saturday we were running errands and our second to last stop was Target. Everything was business as usual, we got our stuff, took it out to the car, put the basket away, and left for our next stop. We came home after Kohls and had dinner and then went to bed. Sounds pretty normal...right? We got up this morning early for church, everybody was ready on time (that may be what you think is the weird part of the story, but it is not) and we got everybody in the car and then we started looking for the diaper bag. Cindy and I both thought that it was in the car, but it wasn't. We both checked the house and nothing...then I began to retrace our steps...we had it in target, we unloaded our bags, I put the cart away...aha, I forgot to take the diaper bag off the cart. I must admit, this is not the first time I have forgotten to do this, but the first time I went back and someone had returned it. This time we were not so lucky, someone probably saw this super sweet Kate Spade giraffe print diaper bag and thought there must be some money or something good inside. To our diaper bag thief, I hope the dirty diaper in there was stinky! Jokes on you because there is nothing valuable in there except for a Wonder Pets stuffed animal that cost $1.00. I must admit, I am not looking forward to this week. Cindy will be leaving for Idaho on Tuesday and will not be back until Saturday! Just Calvers and me livin the bachelor's life this week. We will miss you Sweetheart!

Busy Bees

Well, we didn't make our Sunday goal this week... just too busy!  But, better late than never!!  We had an exciting week full of park adventures, art, swimming, and bbqs!
   Monday night for FHE, we walked to Sherwood Forrest, a fun little park that is a couple blocks away.  We are really getting into walking and try and walk anywhere that we can.  Calvin had a lot of fun, but was not ready to leave when we were.  He has what we like to call a bit of a stand off/full throttle syndrome.  He stands and watches the other kids play for the first 15 minutes then all of a sudden hits the play ground full throttle!  So, we always have to plan on staying for a while to account for the stand off part.
   Tuesday we had our very own handy helper come over!  My sister Cami (7) came over for the day and was very helpful!  She occupied Calvin, held the baby, and even threw away dirty diapers for me.  Having an extra set of hands was great!  I can't wait until my boys are that helpful!  Calvin is a little confused on her name, though.  He INSISTS she's Casi (her sister), but he says it so cute, even she doesn't mind!

   So, this week I FINALLY got around to doing the nursery art piece.  I painted a cartoony old-fashioned truck on the wall above the crib.  Then spray painted some wooden letters and hung them in the middle.  To my surprise, it isn't half bad.  I asked Calvin at each stage what it was and he would come up with some gibberish each time.  Then, when I was done, he walked into the room and squealed, "CAHHRR!"  So, I'm happy that you can at least tell what it is! :)  Now I only have 2 projects left and the nursery will be completed!
    Calvin got his first swim lesson this week and did GREAT!!  My friend Hilary invited us to join her boys for a free lesson with her cousin at the Tennis and Swim Club.  Cal joined his friend Preston in some water games.  Alyssa (the instructor) was impressed at how well he does in the water.  He was kicking his feet like a pro!  His favorite part was when she sang the Humpty Dumpty song and pulled him across the pool.

    Saturday was a busy, yet fun day!  First we drove down to SLO for the bank bbq.  They had amazing food and fun stuff for the kiddos.  Calvin got a fun Tiger hat (he roars soo cute when you say tiger) and  the only two bouncy balls there were.  Needless to say, he was VERY happy!  Jeff even won $25 playing bean bag toss.  (They didn't announce that they were playing, otherwise I would have totally won- Hilary can attest to my amazing bean bag skills! lol)  There are quite a few little boys Calvin's age amongst the bank families, so he had a blast playing at the play ground with them!  The park was located in the middle of a really cute development, one that we would love to live in someday! :)  We got home just in time for my Scentsy party and rushed to get the food ready.  The party was a success and we had fun talking, sniffing, and eating for a couple of hours!  Boston was such a trooper the entire day.  He smiled for the people at the BBQ  and slept for the whole party, I love how easy and laid back my boys are!

   Ever since his swim lesson, Calvin had been DYING to go swimming again.  He would come up to us and say "swimm" or "wahtre" (water to you and me), so on Sunday we went out to my parent's house early and took him swimming while they were still at church.  Since the bottom pool was being occupied, we chilled up at the top and Calvin finally got comfortable enough to walk around on his own!  I love that the 2 upper pools are shallow enough for him to play and not have to be held, he has so much more fun that way!   Boston was our official sunscreen holder for the duration of our stay in the pool!  He's such a good baby and just hangs out on the side while we swim!  I can't wait until next summer when we'll have them both swimming around!  But for now I am DEFINITELY enjoying my baby!
  That's all of the excitement for this week from my end.  I'm sure Jeff has a few funny stories about the boys to share next!  He is such a great daddy and husband to us!  I couldn't ask for a better man in my life and feel so blessed to be married to him! 
I have just a few things to comment on. First is BOOYAH! I sometimes say that word when I get excited or finish a project or something like that, so Calvin has picked up on that. I was changing his diaper the other morning and I set the clean diaper next to him, he picked it up and threw it at me and said "BEEYAH!" He is too smart for his own good. I also taught him to say sizzle, he says it really cute. Sundays are our most exciting days I feel like. We got to church early so we got a comfy seat. I scooted all the way to the end, but Calvin wanted to stay in the center of the pew so that only one other couple could sit in our row. He was highly entertaining though. He played with everyone around him sang some songs really loudly and then during the Sacrament hymn, he stands up on the pew and starts dancing. I know you are not supposed to laugh at that kind of behavior, but Cindy and I couldn't help ourselves. Sara Smith asked us to play a part in the primary's sharing time. I was to play the part of Elijah and Cindy played the widow and Boston played the widow's son. So we are outside of the church building, I am have a red sheet wrapped around me like a robe, Arny Zombrunnen was dressed up like Moses with a snuggly on in the very front of the church, and Aaron Keep was in one of the air conditioning cages with stuffed animal lions playing Daniel. People walking by and driving by must have confirmed their belief that the Mormons are crazy. Boston is growing like crazy... he is already in 3-6 month clothes!! When we were about to leave on a walk the other night, I took the pacifier out of Boston's mouth and he had the hugest smile on his face, he is so darn cute. I love my kids, I love my wife, I love my life!

Sad Day in McCauleyville...

 

This week has definitely had its ups and downs.  It may seem like we forgot to blog on our second week... but, alas, we did not forget... comp issues!! :(  So let's start from the beginning of the week: it was a week of fire, sick days, FHE fun, puke, broken computer, beach, smores, and parks... here we go...    To start the week off, as Jeff informed you in the previous post: "Cindy Started the Fire!" (to the tune of Billy Joel's we didn't start the fire)  It was crazy, scary, fast, and hot all at the same time, and all I could do was scream for Jeff!  I keep telling myself that I would have actually done something besides scream if he weren't there... hopefully!  (although there would still be a lot of screaming involved... nervous habit)  Of course both boys were completely oblivious, which is good, however not the best way to start your week!
   Monday calmed down... a lot!  Jeff took a sick day to watch the boys while I had an appointment.  It was my first time out without any little ones since Boston was born.... I was  FREE WOMAN!  Of course I promptly came home, but it was still nice to just get out of the car and walk into the office and not have to come up with a plan of attack for the boys! :)  We later went to the park and had fun with the play group girls.  (well, Jeff just hung out with Calvin while I had fun with the girls!)  That night, we went to FHE at the Smith's house with them and the Welty's.  We told Calvin that we were going to Lily's house (Sarah's little girl and one of Cal's BFFs) so, the whole way to their house he kept yelling "wee wee... wee wee.. where wee wee?"  So Cute!  Great food and great lesson followed by ZOOKIES again! :) yummm.  (like the red robin commercial)
Wednesday was Play Group at Joni's... which I FINALLY made it to!  I am slowly but surely getting the hang of the two-man-posse!   That night, however, was not good times at all!  Calvin came to us in the middle of the night with puke running down his face and shirt.  Poor baby was up all night with food poisoning. :(  I had a moment of weakness the next morning and almost insisted Jeff stayed home, but decided to buck up and take care of my precious boys...which was going just fine until I broke the computer!  I had it on my lap and was sitting on the couch when Calvin rushed over to me from the other side of the couch, looking like he was going to EXPLODE.  I pushed the computer aside, grabbed Calvin and darted for the bathroom, hoping to preserve myself, the computer, and the couch.  Somewhere in the hustle of things I knocked the computer off of the couch and returned to find the screen cracked.  BUMMER!  I recouped that night by getting some much needed time to myself, when Jeff watched both boys so that I could go to Heather's baby shower!  So Fun!
  Friday Boston had his 6 week apt... he is growing TOO FAST! He's already 11lbs 12oz and 23in long! My newborn is slipping away!  We then made it to the library for the second week in a row!  Go Team!
Saturday was a special day....(primary song:)  I wanted to get a really early start, but Jeff had to help with a move, so the boys and I got everything together and waited as patiently as possible for him to get home! :)  I just had to put the boys in their matching swim trunks one more time! (Boston's a little too chubby to pull them off anymore!)  We eventually made it to Avila and even got a front row spot, next to the beach and the play ground!  (reaping the benefits of Jeff's service!)  We played in the sand for a while, before heading up to the park to play.  It was a BEAUTIFUL day!  Started out overcast but then the sun came out just enough to warm us up.  I was able to get some really cute pictures!  Calvin really really loves the sand!  He loves to lay down and make "sand angels."  He even rolled his raisins around, giving them a nice breading and ate every last one! lol... he's a nut!

That night we had my sisters over to play with the puppy and busted out some sweet sauce S'MORES!  They were the microwave kind since we haven't refilled our propane for the bbq, but they were still delish!
   We had another good Sunday and made it to church ON TIME!!  2 weeks in a row.... CRAZY!  It was a great sacrament meeting with the Welty's blessing their baby and some of their family speaking.  I failed to mention in the last post that I am OCD and Obsessed with matching on Sundays.  This Sunday was Brown and Orange.. and we actually managed to get a family pic!  Thank you Self Timer & Tripod!

That's it for this week... I'll let Jeff jot down a few thoughts since it's getting late! :)

This past week was super fun with Calvin waking up in the middle of the
night throwing up mid way through the week, then he woke me up with diahrreah towards the end of the week. He always likes to keep me on my toes. Nothing like doing laundry at 3 in the morning! We did have a super fun time at the beach, Calvin gets so excited, which turns into sand everywhere, but what do you expect from the beach, right? Calvin continues his singing career, he sings along to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, not really the words but when they hold the notes he comes in with "ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh." He is also starting to play hide and seek when I come to pick him up from the Kidz Club at the gym. He hides in the most obvious spots and I look around for a little while calling his name while he just laughs and sometimes says, "Here I am!" The other night after dinner with Cindy's parents he was playing with Cami and Casi in their room. I went upstairs to get him because it was time to leave, and when he saw me, his head hit the pillow, his butt went up in the air, and he tucked his hands under himself as if he were asleep. He cracks me up! I said, You're not asleep" and he picked his head up and laughed. Boston is making a lot more cooing sounds lately and as Cindy showed, he is smiling a lot more too. He is too cute! We got some comments about his snoring in Sunday School again, I am hoping that it gets louder so that I have to take him outside. My family is so much fun to be with, I enjoy them so much. I am dreading going back to school at the end of September. I registered for classes today:( Last week Cindy got me a backpack and school supplies, she is too cute!! She had tissue paper coming out of the backpack and the supplies were inside. I love how special she makes me feel. Thanks Love, I love you!

New To Blogville

We are new to this whole blog experience, so, here it goes.  Each Sunday, we have decided to write from each of our perspectives about the previous week.  I am going to start off with a brief summary of each of us.  Jeff is the Man of The House and is a full time student and works full time for the San Luis Trust Bank... what a stud!  "School is OUT for Summer!" Defines his current state of bliss while enjoying the calm before the storm of Cal Poly starts in September.  I am the mama.  I stay at home with our boys and love it!  "Say Click, Take a pic!"  Would be my current state of mind since I am currently dabbling in photography and getting a little business going.  Calvin is our oldest at 19 months and is FULL THROTTLE all the time.  He is a well rounded toddler and loves to play ball, dance, sing, make animal noises, and read books.  "I want More, More, More!"  This would definitely describe his current state of wanting more of everything: food, balls, and especially time with daddy.  Boston is our youngest and just recently joined the clan in June.  He is getting the hang of sleeping and not spitting up.  His current state can best be described by this quote, "Lay Off, I'm starving!"  Since he wants to eat ALL THE TIME.  So, that's us in a nut shell! :)
This week has been pretty eventful.  We got a puppy, entertained some guests, FHE, aquired Beiber Fever, attended a sprinkler party, and surprised daddy!  First, let's address the new puppy, Zoey.  I know a lot of you are saying that's crazy... and, you're probably right!  It's been some work, but she's got the hang of things and even lets Calvin trapes around the house holding her.  It's given Lola, our other dog, and Calvin some added excitement in their day! 
So, I pretty much LOVE to entertain!  We had Grandma and Papa over Sunday night for dinner, and scored an added bonus when Calvin just HAD to go home with them for the night!  (I was actually able to catch up on sleep and cleaning the next day!)  Then, on Saturday we had Brian, Kaitlin and Jackson over which was tons of fun, especially when we busted out the Zookies for dessert.  They are half baked deliciousness that we had waited ALL WEEK to eat and we enjoyed every second! (new diet :( )
We also decided to get back on the FHE train and FINALLY put together our 72 hr kits.  We've had the stuff forever but FINALLY decided to get it together!  Calvin led the music, as usual, and sang us "happy  day day Lola," followed by "how I wonner...in da sky."  With some gibberish in between!
Tuesday proved to be a pretty great day.  We got invited to a sprinkler party at Hilary's with one of Cal's bffs: Kaden.  Later on that day, we turned on the tv only to hear Justin Beiber singing his baby song, which Calvin immediately caught on to and LOVED.  So, his version goes a little something like this: "Oh, Baby, babba... MINE, MINE"... precious!  Jeff caved and got it for him and we watched him dance with Zoey around the living room that night.
Friday was quite the accomplishment in many ways.  First, I figured out how to make birth announcements on photoshop.  Then, for the first time since Calvin was 8 months old, we made it to storytime on time!  Calvin really enjoyed it since it's all about singing, reading, and crafting!  Then, we drove down to SLO town and surpised Jeff for lunch.  We then shopped around San Luis long enough to meet daddy at CPK for dinnner (not the best use of time as far as our wallet is concerned, but we got some bday shopping done! :) 
Being ontime didn't end with Friday...we were actually EARLY to church.  Which may seem like nothing to some people, but Jeff just started having 8 o'clock meetings, leaving me to get the boys ready by myself.  So, this was quite the accomplishment in our house!  We were even able to have our traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast!  yummm!  That pretty much sums up our week from my end ... now to Jeff...
My wife is forcing me to write something... which is funny because she has written about everything eventful this past week. Fortunately for me, today has been the most eventful day of the week. As I was writing that first sentence Cindy yelled my name really loud. I didn't flinch because she does this a lot... like when she sees a spider, when there is something moldy in the fridge or my favorite, when Butch Osman passed out at the pulpit while giving a talk. This time Chicken Little was serious... while grilling the chicken we were supposed to have for dinner, the e.v.o.o. and the chicken went up in flames. I then got off the computer and ran to the kitchen to put out the fire. Not being an expert fireman I did what came natural and threw water on it. I am not sure that was the correct thing to do, but it worked. I remembered something about baking soda after it was all said and done, but it is over now and no damage was done. Don't think that because Cindy had this little incident with the chicken that she cannot cook, because it is quite the opposite. And she is quite the baker too... my new fav is a peach pie that she makes...AMAZING!
Boston has a little breathing issue, it sounds like he has a deviated septum. So today during Sunday School he was snoring really loud, we were definately getting some looks. I think people thought it was me snoring during the lesson, so I rocked back and forth as much as I could so that the people behind us could see that I was still awake. Calvin loves to sing and make up his own songs but he does sing some that are not so made up. One in particular that I am not so proud of is Baby by Justin Bieber. I caved and bought it on itunes so that Calvin can dance and sing to it (it is very cute). Today during Sacrament meeting during the hymns  he decided to chime in. He sings so loud. The Kerrs were behind us and Brian gave Calvin the thumbs up, so he sang even louder. Just a few seconds ago Calvin got his first bloody nose. He likes to jump from our coffee table to our couch. He counts 1...2...3... and then jumps. Except that I have been substitued into the number line, so it is Dadda...2...Dadda and then he jumps and usually makes it. Exept this time he jumped into my knee. The boys are so cute. We should have started this blog a lot sooner so that we could record all of the funny things Calvin has said and done. Sorry Calvin...we love you as much as your brother. Hopefully we are better at this than with our journal writing.
Since this is going to be like our journal, I just want to say what a wonderful wife and mother Cindy is. I cannot believe what a great job she does with the boys. I don't know how she does it everyday, but I am truely grateful for her. I love you Sweetheart.