Update on Calvin's Eye

On Saturday Calvin's eye was purple and red at the bottom of his eye lid, by the eyelashes.

By this evening it had moved up to the top of his eye lid and it was blue under his eye as

well. I think the purple will continue to move up to his eyebrow, we'll see how it looks tomorrow.

If it takes this long for the bruise to show up, does that mean he hit it pretty hard?

Atleast the swelling has gone down!

On another note, Mike was released as the Elder's Quorum president and sustained as a

nursery worker. He doesn't start until next week, he said he actually enjoyed church today!

I really liked having him home this morning to help get the kids ready! They were ecstatic

to be able to drive to and from church with their dad!

Calvin's Eye (OUCH!)

Calvin gets hurt alot. He's three and VERY clumsy (he takes after his mom) and
is always crying about some new owie. When he came running into the house crying
this evening I didn't think much of it until he moved his hand from his face and I saw
what he did. Apparently he ran into one of our lawn chairs - yes I know lawn chairs are
fairly big, they don't move, they aren't camoflaged, they shouldn't be hard to miss - but Calvin
runs into everything.
He acutally looks pretty good in these pictures - this is after 40 minutes of ice and a large dose
of Tylenol. It was so big when he came in it scared me! I can't wait to see what color it is in
the morning. Poor guy.

Here Kitty, Kitty...

There is a cat that lives under our neighbors house. The kids think they want to pet
it and they spend a lot of time chasing it, but haven't ever gotten anywhere near it!


There it is!



Mike loves this picture. Anna Elise paused to pose for the camera, the blur in the
background is Calvin chasing the cat!


Here's Madeline. She loves the cat but can't keep up with the chasers!

Calvin's Haircut

First, this was not my idea and I don't really like it. However, Mike loves doing it (it's now a
summer tradition) Calvin loves it, and it attracts a lot of attention (we need more of that because
we don't attract enough!). It will grow out fast.
Here is Calvin halfway through the process.

Here he is almost done, he doesn't really like the clippers!

Here is the finished product. He loves those boots!


The shadows make it hard to see that huge pile of hair. Anna Elise (who needs a haircut herself)
had a great time helping us clean up.

Long Overdue Update

We have been very busy, but unfortunately haven't take any pictures! So here is my long pictureless update! Sorry.
First - Happy Birthday Mike! I had yet another pregnancy moment and planned a girl's night out to celebrate some upcoming births in our branch on my husband's 30 birthday. I know, it sounds terrible, but really, Mike didn't care. We went out to dinner a couple of days later and he was happy. A few days later we celebrated our 7th Wedding Anniversary. We took our annual over night anniversary trip a week later and had a great time! I LOVE having a sister-in-law nearby that loves my kids! Sean and Rachel took the kids and Mike and I escaped to Appomattox. It's a historic village a couple of hours west of Richmond. We enjoyed a child-free tour of the village, went to a spa, stayed in a great bed n breakfast and ate a lot of really good food! Perfect!
Now for the kids' updates. First is Anna Elise. She is very aware of her birthday and although she is so excited to be five, she also uses it as her 'out' for everything. Anything she doesn't want to do - she tells me she will do when she is five. It's actually funny watching her trying to put everything off - if I let her do it, it would be a miserable birthday! She is also starting to play more on her own, she has quit trying to get rid of Calvin, but she doesn't play with him as often, she is starting to play with her barbies on her own, coloring on her own, and 'reading' books to herself.
Calvin has started playing with Madeline. He loves to torment her, which isn't hard. She is social and loves people, but definately has personal space issues when it comes to other kids. Calvin gets great joy out of poking her until she screams, taking her toys (not to play with, but to get a reaction) and chasing her around the house. They do have fun together too, but Calvin's idea of fun is teasing. He rarely upsets her out of anger, he just doesn't know when it's been enough! They made up a great game the other day - they stood in the bathroom and Calvin filled a cup up with water from the sink and dumped it on her, repeatedly. I came downstairs to find Madeline so wet I rung her clothes out and she had water running down her face. She was grinning from ear to ear and they both had a great time, but it's not really a game to be played in my house! We just took baths right then, Calvin got kicked out of the bathtub early for excessive splashing, I would say that gallons of water on my floor is excessive! After he was out and ready for bed he went back to the bathroom to play with Anna Elise and ended up half way in the tub and soaking wet. I'd had it! He went to bed early. He was in his room changing his pj's, he knew he was in trouble and he knew he was going to bed right after dinner and still he was singing his 'smile' song. Crazy boy!
Madeline is just getting closer to two all the time. We have yet to hear the dreaded 'no' but she does shake her head at you when she doesn't want to do something. It's cute and less annoying! Yesterday she learned the word 'don't' which is almost as bad as no, but not quite. I'm sure it's coming. Her vocabulary is increasing every day. She (like her cousin) is fascinated with the potty. We were eating out and Calvin had to go potty. He left with Daddy, then Anna had to go and she joined them. Madeline was not happy to be left behind. She sat in her high chair screaming that she had to go potty! An 18 month old that is yelling that she needs to use the potty? I sure wish she knew how to use the potty! She is also learning her colors, we have a color book that she loves and she knows most of them.
Sorry for the long blog! I'll try to take pictures and keep up better. I do have some video to
share, but it may be a few days!

Pregnancy Moment

This is what I looked liked when I got home from work on Monday. If youdon't notice anything out of the ordinary take a look at the next picture.

stopped by a coworkers office when somebody finally told me I had two different shoes on! IYes I was out ALL DAY with two different shoes. I went to the clinic to drink the glucose test stuff and then to the hospital and the lab to get my blood drawn. Then I walked to work and was mortified. The worst was walking around for the rest of the day - to the mail room and finally to the bus stop and then home. I could tell when somebody noticed - I would catch them looking at my feet and then their eyes got big and they immediately looked at my face. It's almost funny, but not quite, give me a few more days!

I've got to go - I got Breaking Dawn in the mail today and I need to keep reading. These books
take over my life so I need to get it out of the way as quickly as possible!

Fun with Uncle Sean and Aunt Rachel

No pictures today - sorry. Just an update.

We went blueberry picking last Friday. We took Sean and Rachel with us. We all picked blueberries for almost two hours! Anna Elise did a great job picking into her bucket. Calvin picked to eat when we made him, but he spent most of his time stealing already picked blueberries out of everyone's buckets. Everyone told him no except Aunt Rachel. Madeline didn't mind picking her own to eat and if she couldn't find any to pick, she ate from the ground - dirt and all. Mike and I were able to get almost 15 pounds of blueberries! We froze most of them, but had fund making blueberry cobbler and blueberry muffins!

Then just this past week Rachel invited to kids to come over and play and it turned into a half
day adventure. On Thursday Sean and Rachel came and got our car and kids at around 2:30,
just after nap time! I was at work, but Mike had the kids ready with swimming suits and
sunscreen on and towels and lifejackets packed. Mike got a couple of hours to himself to
get caught up on work. At 4:30 he came and got me from my Dr appointment and we went
to the new batman movie - it was a great break from the kids!
The kids had a great time at the river. They played and swam and Anna Elise even caught
a fish. She reached down to pick up a shell. When she opened her hand to show everyone, she
had a small fish instead! I'm not sure exactly what else they did, but the kids tell me that Rachel can walk on the water.... They went home and had blueberry pancakes for dinner and watched a
movie and they can't wait to go do it again!