Good Times, Cute Kids!

We've been having lovely days lately.  The weather is so beautiful and perfect, and we've been spending our days outside playing around!  I love Minnesota in the late spring!  Here is a little update on each of us!

Michael got into grad school (OK, I am behind, that was back in March!), so he will start the MGIS program at the Univerity of Minnesota this fall, so that is exciting!  He also recently made his own axe handle, painted a model rocket with the boys, and is gardening like crazy. 

I have been doing a few photo shoots, which has been fun, but mostly just hanging out with the kids.  Also, I have been busy detailing our Trailblazer so we can sell it.  Anyone want a Trailblazer?? It's for a good cause.  It was a doozey of a cleaning job, having hauled 3 kids around in there for a couple of years, but I'm proud to say it's now looking amazing! I've been having a great time getting together with AnnaMarie and the kids, and some other friends of mine and their kids.  It's a good life!

Ryan is doing great in school.  He is speaking a ton of Spanish and I am very proud of him!  His teacher got to pick 2 kids to do a video interview with for something, and he picked Ryan.  His teacher told me that he asked Ryan, in Spanish, what his favorite word in Spanish was.  He said Ryan replied all in Spanish "Well, I don't have a favorite word in Spanish, but my favorite color is green because the trees are green!"  Ryan has also been very excited about a program they do during the last half our of school each day for the last 6 weeks of school called Mileage Club.  They run a specified course and adults mark off laps and each time they complete 5 miles, they get a charm for their bracelet.  Ryan has now run about 30 miles, and he is SO proud of his bracelet.  He wears it everywhere.  way to go, buddy!  Also, Ryan is having fun doing softball and is a master at tattling.

Calvin is having fun doing Mileage Club with Ryan, too.  They invite siblings to participate, so Calvin does!  But he gets tired pretty quickly.  This week he should finish his 10th mile and get a new charm, which he is super excited for.  Calvin has been playing so well with Sophie while Ryan is at school.  He is a good big brother.  He also loves to pick flowers for me and brings me handfuls wherever we go.  He loves me to read books to him and his new favorite thing is for me to tell him stories that happened to me when I was a kid.  He is a sweetheart.

Sophie--BIG NEWS HERE--is POTTYTRAINED!  Soooo glad I got an easy one after Calvin.  Lately I have only been having her wear underwear around the house and daipers when we go out, since I don't completely trust her, but she has started just taking the diapers right off and refusing to wear them, so I guess she's all the way done!  Hooray!  Sophie also loves to sing with me and loves to play with her kitty cat toy from Aunite Janny.  She is getting very picky about what clothes she wants to wear, but is still easily distracted, so she usually ends up matching :)  She loves to build things out of legos with her brothers and her favorite thing in the world right now is going for bike rides with us in the bike trailer.  Also, she will not, no matter what, say the word "four".  I have no idea why!


So that's us as of late!  I love our little family, and we sure have fun together. Here are some pictures!

Calvin at Mileage Club!  He sure gets into it and pumps those little arms as hard as he can.  And he still strikes a pose before taking off.  He has always done that, and I'm glad he still does!

Michael giving Ryan a supportive high 5!  

But the true measure of parental support is actually doing the laps with him.  Ryan won by a nose!

One day Michael had the lawn mower out and turned over so he could adjust something on it.  Then he went about mowing the lawn and I caught Sophie like this with her toy lawn mower.  She sure wants to be just like her Dad!

Cute,  funny little girl!

I am in love with these curls.  Please don't go away!

Mowing the lawn.

Swinging 2 bats at once!

Happy Ryan guy:

Michael building a fire with the kids.  

Kids on a log:

Right after that picture Sophie kicked everyone off of "her" log and wouldn't let anyone else get anywhere near it.  This is her telling me to go somewhere else.

Me and Ryan:

The only way Ryan knows how to cook marshmellows--burnt to a crisp:

Calvin giving Michael the marshmellow he roasted for him:

 

Roasting even more marshmellows:

Michael let Calvin help chop some branches for the fire.  Michael is a brave man.

Especially to continue holding the branches there while Calvin chopped.  But Calvin sure had fun doing it, and ran around the rest of the evening playing "Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox" where Calvin is Babe and has other people be Paul Bunyan and talk to him.

We're a Fishing Family!

Calvin's Catch 

Calvin caught his first two fish! He pulled these two panfish out of Moore lake on May 12. We were just bobber fishing with corn as bait. He was pretty excited. Mostly about watching them swim around in the bucket while we tried to catch some more.

Family Fishing Outing

A few weeks ago we went to Coon Rapids Dam to go fishing. We caught one foot long catfish, so nothing too exciting. The big news was that this was Sophie's first fishing outing.

Here's Sophie learning how to turn the reel. Calvin was (as always) happy to share with his sister.

 

Here's Sophie trying to get the pole over the fence. It's a good thing she didn't get any bites. That pole would've been gone. 

 

Sophie had a great time holding the fishing pole, people watching and fish watching (once the fish was in the bucket).

The day after the fishing trip she saw the bucket in the back yard where I had left it to dry, and started asking Ryan, Calvin and finally Caroline and I where the fish went. "Fish? Fish? Bucket. Fish?".

You can tell she's going to be a good fishing buddy. She's got those crazy fishing eyes.

Ryan's First Softball Game!

Ryan is on a 6/7 year old softball team this year, and he had his very first game on Tuesday!  When I first signed him up for it, he said, "Mom, don't they just have a running team?"  I told him that they didn't have a kids track team, but he could join one when he got older.  Then I told him about how softball was played, and assured him that there would be lots of running involved.  Then he perked right up and got very excited to play.

He had so much fun during his first game.  Michael was out of town on business, so I asked my friend Shelly to come along and help out with the kids and help cheer for Ryan.  He was so excited to have her there cheering for him, too.  And I couldn't have paid attention to the game AND watched the other two, so Shelly, you were a lifesaver!  Thanks for coming!

Anyways, Ryan had some great hits, got two runs, and had a great time.  He was pretty confused one time when he got out at first base.  He just didn't understand why he had to go back to the bench.  He wasn't upset, just walked back, scratching his head in utter confusion.  He was pretty clueless in the outfield, letting his crazy short attention span get the better of him.  He sure did try so very hard to get to the ball and throw it to first.  It was fun to watch!  My favorite part of the game, though, was the second time he was up to bat, and his team started chanting for him, "Let's go, Ryan, let's go!" and he blushed and looked behind him and got the most adorable little smile on his face.

And Calvin and Sophie kept themselves busy playing games with Shelly, the camp chairs, and the umbrellas, and were pretty pleased to have capri suns and fruit roll-ups after the game just like Ryan and his team mates.  It was a really fun evening!

Ryan's first hit:

Ryan getting to first base for the very first time.  Love that little hop at the end :)

Ryan's first run!

 

Sophie just loved marching around with that umbrella.  She would always pull her hat as far down over her eyes as possible:

Ryan in the outfield:

Calvin and Shelly.  I'm pretty sure he has a little boy crush on her:

Ryan and his after-game treats!

Calvin's 4th Birthday

I already posted about Calvin's birthday party, which was last Saturday, but then last Sunday was his actual birthday. He had a great day!  We knew Calvin wanted waffles for breakfast, and since Sunday mornings are always crazy (9:00 church!), we wised up and made the waffles on Saturday night and then just toasted them up in the oven in the morning.  Brilliant!  Calvin was thrilled.  We even had time to open presents before church!  Hooray!

Calvin has the most wonderful teacher at church.  She said he always ends up somehow working "great white sharks" into the conversation during their Sunday school class, so she made him shark cupcakes!  Seriously, they were amazing!  And he totally shrieked for joy when she pulled them out.  He was so very happy, and he felt so special and so loved.  Thanks, Missy!  You are the world's greatest sunday school teacher!  And Calvin also LOVED being sung to in Primary by all the kids.  And he has been looking forward all year to getting his "chews the right" birthday gum at church, and he even shared them with all his friends.  Nice kid.

So we got home and then we grilled up some hotdogs and hamburgers for lunch, and we even personalized them, thanks to this pretty awesome meat branding iron that James got us for Christmas.  Calvin's first move was to nibble his name right off the top. 

We all took naps, which is the mark of a great birthday in my book, skyped with Grandma and Grandpa Walton, talked to lots of wonderful family members on the phone, and had an all around great evening.  Calvin had lots of fun playing with his new toys. 

So, it was a good fourth birthday, and Calvin was a happy little guy. Here are a few things I want to remember about Calvin at four years old:

-He still loves to share.  I think it is so sweet that he almost always offers to share even the things he loves the very most.  Especially if he notices that someone is sad, he will run right over and share whatever it is post haste.
-He loves to run and he thinks he is very very fast.  He pumps his arms like crazy when he runs. I think it makes him think he is going even faster.  He still often strikes a pose before beginning a run, especially if he has someone to show off for. 
-He LOVES to bring me flowers.  They are almost always dandelions, but I still think it is so sweet.  Whenever he sees one, he pretty much HAS to go pick it and give it to me.  The other day he tried to convince me to stop the car and let him get out to collect dandelions for me from a little grassy area next to the freeway off ramp.
-He is a mama's boy through and through.  I don't think he has ever sided against me.  I hope he never does!
-He loves Diego, MarioKart Wii, monster trucks, hotwheels, sharks, legos, toy guns, playing baseball, taking baths, and playing anything with a screen.
-He would never admit it, but he loves to be little.  He is very smart and very capable, but he insists that he can't put his shoes on by himself or tear his sandwich in half by himself, etc., etc., and I am 100% certain that it's because he loves the attention he gets from still acting little. In fact just last night he was putting on his jammies and it was the first time I have ever heard the phrase, "I can do this all by myself, Mom.  I don't need your help."  It kind of made me a little sad!
-Calvin has a very strong sense of injustice.  He still wears his consternated/grumpy face most of the time, and it's usually because he thinks he has gotten the short end of the stick somehow. 
-He is my most affectionate kid, and he will always have a special place carved out in my heart. 

We love you, Calvin buddy!  Happy Birthday!

Here are some pictures from his actual birthday:

Calvin with his shark cupcakes.  Seriously amazing, right?  There were sharks, buoys, life preservers, wave-like frosting, it was so cool!

Blowing out his candle:

About to take a bite of that shark:

Personalized hotdogs!  Awesome, right?

First Fish of The Year

The whole family went out fishing tonight. We went to Silver Lake in New Brighton, but didn't catch anything. Calvin and Sophie were a little too impatient and the dock railing is pretty tall, so Ryan kept getting his line tangled as he tried to cast. We still had a good cold time though.

When the little ones had had enough, I decided to take Ryan to another spot. We went under the 694 bridge where it crosses the Mississippi. After about an hour of nothing we moved to a new place under the bridge where Ryan caught this 11 inch small mouth bass on his third cast.

It's the first fish of the year, and it couldn't have happened to a nicer fishing buddy.

Calvin's 4th Birthday Party

ell, my gigantic little Calvinator Gator turns 4 tomorrow.  My oh my, time flies!  Today we had a little birthday party for him.  It was a nice little group (much easier to manage than Ryan's party of 15...) and they were all so sweet and polite.  What nice kids!  Anyways, we decided on a Hotwheels theme for his party, and he was in little boy heaven.

We decided to start out the party with cake and ice cream and presents, since I always save them for the end and then we run out of time.  And it was great!  I was pretty proud of Calvin's cake, and he loved it!  He requested vanilla cake with raspberry filling and vanilla frosting, and it turned out very yummy.  Although I would have preferred just a giant bowl of the filling...

Anyways, after cake and ice cream and presents, we made some race car t-shirts (the kids colored in a race car outline with some fabric markers), and then we broke out the big guns--Michael made a gigantic pvc pipe race track that ran from the kitchen table all the way down the stairs to the basement floor.  It was awesome, and the kids LOVED it.  It kept them busy for the last full hour of the party!  Michael even made a starting gate so the cars would go at the same time.  It was pretty fantastic!

Also, I have officially decided that 4 friends at a party is the right number.  It was so fun!  We had a really great day celebrating!  Here are some pictures of all of the fun!

Calvin got to wear a race car driver outfit for his party.  He was SO excited!

Here is his cake!

Mom, Dad and Calvin:

Listening to his friends singing him "Happy Birthday":

Digging in:

Calvin and his friends eating cake and ice cream:

Happy boy:

Opening presents:

Ryan bought Calvin this cool eraser pen from the kiosk that sells pencils, etc., at his school. He brought his piggy bank money to school for a week waiting to find a time when the kiosk was open so he could buy something for Calvin.  Then he lost it at school the day he bought it.  I had to go back to school to look for it and miraculously found it on the sidewalk outside the main entrance.  I guess it was meant to be!  Ryan is a sweet brother.

Calvin trying out his new baseball glove and ball from Grandpa Ernie!  He is super excited about this one, since me, Michael and Ryan each have our own and have been playing catch lately.

Calvin's friend Carter really loved Jack and Aiden.  It was pretty cute.

Trying out the race track!

Calvin really loved it!

And here is a video of the kids racing cars on the track: