Calvin's Trip, Madeline's Cookies, and Anna's Owies

Calvin went with his dad to run errands the other day and they stopped to see the trains. Living in Richmond provides us with many opportunities to see trains, almost daily. We have a station downtown where the AmTrak train stops but we are also a stop for the coal trains coming from West Virginia to the shipyards in Norfolk (that's on the coast, about an hour past Richmond for you westerners). The kids love to see trains!

We made sugar cookies the other day. Madeline was in her high chair, that just hooks to the side of the table. I stepped into the kitchen for 2 seconds to put another pan in the oven and came back to find her having a great time on my table. It probably doesn't teach her that walking on the table is bad if I call Mike in to come take her picture!

Anna Elise has had several mishaps this week. She fell in the parking lot and got some really bad road rash on her knee. It bled. When she looked down and saw the blood she just burst into tears. Two days later we were in Walmart and she opened the bathroom door and pulled the door right over her big toe - it took off a little chunk of nail and lots of skin! Today Calvin slammed the closet door on her hand, it was swollen and she has a nice bruise forming. She likes band aids so I guess it isn't all bad!

Also, last week we rearranged our house. The small 'sun room' that we have off of our living room used to be the office. The rule was the kids couldn't go inside, but they did, constantly! Upstairs is our bedroom and what used to be a second living area with the T.V and some of the kids toys. We just always had toys everywhere and they never stayed out of my stuff! So we moved the office upstairs and turned that room into a playroom for the kids. So far it is working out very well. All the toys are in one room and the kids are never allowed upstairs, so we have a 'safe' place for ourselves and to run our business!

Here are a few pictures of our new playroom. It's not very big, it's probably more of a toy room, there isn't a lot of space to play!

Water Fun!

We've had some VERY hot weather. It got up to the 100's every day for 5 days in a row. The problem was it didn't really cool down at night, our lows were upper 70's! When the AC can't keep your house cool, then it's too hot!
After it cooled down a little to the 90's we let the kids go outside and play in Calvin's birthday volcano! He and Anna Elise love it. I don't even bother to put Madeline's swimming suit on anymore. She does like to swim in a pool, but she doesn't care to be sprayed!

Below is Calvin sitting on the volcano trying to block the spray, the next picture is him learning his lesson. Mike was so proud of himself for catching that second shot!



Here's Madeline staying dry





Here is Anna Elise 'reading' to Madeline before bed. Anna Elise can't quite read yet, but she has most of our books memorized and Madeline doesn't know the difference. Madeline LOVES books!

I Survived!

I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks. I've been preparing for our tax audit. We had it this morning and it went relatively well. I'm just relieved that we are done with that. It's nice to have my life back!

I first need to post some pictures from our trip to the zoo! I promised to on my last blog - so here they are!


watching the Elephant The Pandas were the favorite!

The kids being Tigers! watching meerkats (I think)

The kids got new bikes several weeks ago. They enjoy riding them on an old garage foundation

in our backyard. Occassionaly we take them down to the park to ride or take 'family walks' and they can ride on the roads and alleys.

Anna Elise fixed her own hair! Calvin dressed himself (his shirt is wrongside out)



Here they are together, barely avoiding a crash!


Since Madeline doesn't have a bike, I thought I would post a picture of her coloring. She LOVES to color and although she is pretty indiscriminate about what paper she writes on, she is very good about not writing on my floor, couch, table, walls, etc (unlike her older brother!)

Ultrasound!

It's been a while since I posted, but I was waiting for something exciting to post about! Today I had my ultrasound and found that we are having a healthy girl! Mike was a little disappointed, but I really didn't have a preference so a girl is great! Calvin was a little bit sad because this means he isn't eligible for a bunk bed in a couple of years - but he is happy to have "another baby like Madeline". Anna Elise didn't really care, she plays with Calvin and this baby is for Madeline to play with so in her mind it doesn't really affect her much. Now that I know the gender I can start reorganizing the rooms and getting everything ready.

I do have more news to get caught up on. This passed weekend all three kids were invited to a birthday party at 'The Little Gym'. The kids all had a great time, however, it took a few minutes for everyone to settle in. Anna Elise was very shy at first, Calvin was too rambuncious, and Madeline wanted ALL the balls. They did introductions by having all the kids sit in a circle. They had to say their name and do a 'birthday trick' and give the birthday girl a high-five. After hearing the rules, Calvin just stood up and shouted his name - even though it wasn't his turn. By the time they got to him, he'd shared his name several times. He was so excited when he could introduce himeself and do his summersault and give Ava a high-give. On the other hand after the first person went and the second person was going, Anna Elise realized that she would eventually have to take a turn so she left the circle and hid behind my back - she tried to climb in my shirt, she was trying so hard not to be seen. The difference in their personalities was so stark it was laughable. Calvin calmed down and Anna Elise warmed up and they both did very well playing games and having fun.

Last week we also took a trip to the National Zoo in Washington DC. We drove up in the afternoon, stopping when Calvin threw up. We stripped him down, took the cover off his car seat, wiped everything up and continued on. He was fine the rest of the trip. We parked and went to the aquarium. The kids enjoyed it. We came back out to the car to find a parking ticket. In other parts of DC and in other cities a sign that says 2 hr parking from 9-4 means that after 4pm it's free - right? Not in downtown DC, it means it's prohibited. We had a $100 parking ticket - have you ever heard of such a thing? I mean really? We wrote a letter asking for the fine to be reduced, so we will see....We went to dinner and to a hotel with an indoor pool. Even though it was late, we found that the pool was only open at night and not in the morning so we had to take the kids swimming - they were promised swimming and so we went! We were disappointed that we couldn't swim more, but we survived! We had a great breakfast the next morning until Anna Elise threw hers up! Atleast it was less of a mess for me! We went on to the zoo and had a great time watching the Pandas, elephants, and tiger. There were other animals as well, but those were the favorites. I know Mike took pictures but I can't find the camera - so I will post those later.

Strawberry Season

We took the kids to pick strawberries at a nearby farm. They LOVED it. We picked about 25 pounds of strawberries - so now I get to make jam.

Here is a family picture at the entrance of the farm!

Tractors pulled wagons with hay bales to carry us out to the strawberries. Calvin loved the tractors and we all enoyed the hay ride.

Anna Elise did a good job helping us pick the strawberries. She liked looking for the biggest and the reddest berries!

Madeline did very well. She didn't pick any strawberries. She just followed mommy around. She would take a strawberry out of my box, hand it to me so I could take the stem off and then eat the strawberry from the top. She must've eaten almost a dozen strawberries!

Here's Calvin kickin' back on the hayride back to the car, eating our strawberries.

Happy Birthday Calvin!

Calvin is trying to hold up three fingers, but he is having a hard time getting them to stay up!

Calvin turned 3 last Saturday. I'm a bit late posting about it. It was kind of a crazy day for us, but most days are! We had lunch at Red Robin so Calvin could get two balloons and get sung too! Anna Elise loved it, he seemed a bit oblivious. We went home and had cake and ice cream and opened his presents.

Later that afternoon the kids played in the water. We hooked Calvin's new water volcano up to the hose and the kids had a great time. Anna Elise loved it. Calvin ran circles around it until he got used to it and Madeline sat on my lap scared. Calvin had a great day!

Some Funnies

Anna Elise is getting to have quite the imagination. A while ago we were in the car and passed
a man walking with a limp and using a cane. She asked what was wrong and I told her I didn't know. So she said "maybe a tree branch fell on his leg and his leg broke off. Maybe he tried to glue it back on and he didn't do a good job so it's starting to fall off again, maybe that is what happened". All I could say was maybe! You never know!

It's been very warm here - up in the 80's on some days (sorry for all of you still having cold and snowy weather!). So we've been wearing sunscreen when we go outside. Anna Elise asked me why. I told her it helps us not get sun burned and protects our skin. She wanted to know how it worked and my simple explanations were not cutting it. Honestly, I don't know how sunscreen works! So I finally said I don't know. She said "Mommy you are not a good mommy! Mommies are suppose to know everything so you are not a good Mommy knower". She was quite offended when I burst out laughing. She wanted to know why that was so funny!

Calvin does things that are funny much later. At the time - they are not funny! Like a few days ago when I relented in the grocery store and bought Barbie and Cars fruit snacks (I'm easily worn down in the grocery store when I am pregnant!). So, the next day they had been allowed to have one pack each. Then later that day we'd run errands and Calvin had thrown a fit in Target and cried loudly half the time we were in there and then gotten mad that he had to ride in the cart at Home Depot, so he jumped out while I was pushing it and hurt himself. So I told Anna Elise she could pick out a treat when we got home. She picked fruit snacks and Calvin came unglued when he realized he wasn't getting any because he wasn't good. He was so upset. That night after the kids were in bed he pushed a chair into the kitchen and took about 10 packs of fruit snacks (both his and the Barbie ones) and got out a pair of scissors. I found him in his room, with his light one, sitting on his bed cutting open the bags of fruit snacks. He hadn't eaten very many - most of them were in a huge pile on his bed. I coulnd't believe it! I took all the fruit snacks back to the kitchen. He cried and cried. It suddenly got quiet so I went back to his room. He had found a couple that I missed and he was eating them. I took them right out his mouth and threw them away! I wasn't very happy. He isn't allowed to eat fruit snacks until these are gone and they talk me into getting more!

Grandma Red sent the kids a dollar each! Calvin bought suckers and shared them with Anna Elise. Anna Elise got some party mints. She saved a lot of hers because she was busy eating Calvins. When Calvin's suckers were gone he disappeared downstairs. We found him 20 minutes later with good breath and candy crumbs all over the floor. Anna Elise was so sad. I had told her earlier that if she could reach to hide them that he could reach to find them, but she didn't want Mom to hide them for her. I told her it was her fault that he ate them all because she didn't share.

Madeline doesn't say funny things yet - but she LOVES kitties. She gets down on her hands
and knees and crawls around the house saying meow. It is so cute! She is talking more and more, she says cracker, shoes, out, daddy, mama, bye-bye, and several others she is also learning animal noises. She quacks at the oddest times.

My funny was on Friday - I kicked my left heel with my right foot and cut it open. Later that
day I cut my finger, slammed a finger on the other hand in the car door (it still really hurts), and
also got a metal sliver in another finger - I ended up cutting a hole in my finger to get it out. I also stubbed my toe. I guess I haven't changed much - I've always been a clutz, but I usually don't do it all in one day!