Calvin at 16 months

Cal, our sweet cutie boy. 

This little guy is 16 months!

He is doing more and more each day and just seems to be growing up all of a sudden. He is finally getting closer to walking. He will walk along anything he can hold onto. Furniture, the walls and now he is starting to push around his high school, bar stools and push toys! We will see how long it takes him to figure out he can do it with out holding onto anything.

Calvin is into everything! He loves emptying drawers, purses, tupperware drawers and the DVD cabinet. He also loves to play in the toilet! You gotta keep bathroom doors shut or he will make his way into the toilet water. Gross!

Calvin loves playing with balls. His favorite thing is when you will play catch with him. He has quite the arm! 

Calvin and cute baby Jane. Calvin can get super jealous of Jane. He will cry when someone is holding her. But when they get to interact on an even playing field, he enjoys her.

Calvin is usually a pretty happy kid. But thanks to being a horrible teether... this month has had its share of cranky days. He has also dropped down to one nap and if that one nap isn't very good, he is kind of a mess!

Calvin really had fun hanging out with his cousin Fox. It was so cute watching these two interact. Cal looks huge next to Fox!

James turns 5!

James 5 year old stats

37 lbs (25%)

42.5 inches (50%)

I can't believe my sweet baby James is 5! I wish I could still just call him sweet... but this boy has added sass to his name. 

James is such a fun kid to raise... and a challenge! I learn more and more about myself through my experience raising him. I find how my feelings can be easily hurt by someone so young. I find that my patience can be tested to its limits and that I am always trying to figure out new ways to discipline with out losing my cool (I've had to lost my cool to learn that its not the best way to discipline.) 

James can be rough and tough, but he also has a sensitive heart and can be quite emotional. When he is happy... he is filled with joy. But when he is mad... he can be filled with anger. We refer the those moments as "Captain Furious" moments. He is easily set off... but it usually doesn't take long for him to cool down. He usually just needs time alone. Which is where I like him when he is acting like that. 

James is fun loving and always enjoys playing with friends. He has loved preschool and I think he is going to love kindergarten. He is really smart. Which is one of the reasons I am constantly being kept on my toes. I think he will do good academically in kindergarten... but being one of the younger kids, he will have some maturing to do. James also loves his family and is so excited about having another little brother! He loves his grandparents, Aunts and Uncles and all of his cousins. 

James is an active kid. He loves playing outside, riding his bike, and just running around. He did swimming, T-ball and is now in karate. I think Karate is his favorite so far. Haws has been teaching him to ice skate and we are planning to put him into a learn to play for hockey this winter. We will see how it goes. He loves the hockey gear :) He just learned how to ride a 2 wheeler bike with out training wheels. He picked it up fast and after one day was riding his bike all over the neighborhood!

James has many interests. He loves building with anything, legos, star wars, transformers, ninjago, learning about animals, insects and sea life. He knows more details about these things than I would think a 5 year old could remember! He has an excellent memory.

For his 5th birthday, we celebrated a day early with friends in a Star Wars themed birthday party. There were about 20 little boys at our house! It was 105 degrees out, so I was really glad we planned the birthday around water play. 

All the kids had a blast! These boys are so cute at this age. We played some water games and then the kids pretty much went at it with water guns for 2 hours! My friend is super talented and made this cake.

Davis had fun with the big boys and enjoyed the food :)

Light Saber Pretzels

Cal also enjoyed the food!

On James' actually birthday, we went to the dinosaur museum and then out to lunch at Firehouse Subs, where everyone got fireman hats.

We love James. He is our silly, strong willed, first child and I can't imagine life with out him. 

Calvin at 15 months

Calvin's 15 month stats

21 lbs (10%)

31 inches (50%)

head 60%

Calvin is such a funny baby. He really has a sense of humor and loves to joke around and make people laugh (and himself). He is such a cutie.

Some things he has mastered in the last few months include:

Finally pulling himself to standing and cruising along the furniture

crawling up the stairs like a pro

can crawl down the stairs, but I always watch him still

attempting to stand by himself from a sitting position. This is so fun to watch because he gets really excited about doing it and tries over and over, but starts laughing to hard and each attempt is less successful

He folds his hands during the prayer

Likes to scribble with a pen or crayon (just watch out because he will try to eat both)

Is getting decent at using a spoon and fork

can throw a ball over hand

Still takes a short morning nap

loves to eat

is working on getting some more teeth

Calvin is at the stage where sitting in church or anywhere that requires him to be restrained is getting hard. He wants to be moving around if he is not eating. Speaking of eating. The kid is a mess! Because he likes to feed himself, things can get pretty messy. And when he is done, you know it because he starts chucking food! Something we are working on putting an end to... but he still manages to get a lot of food on the floor. 

Calvin is a good baby, but I can tell he is going to have a loud personality. He is very expressive with his facial expressions and his voice. It will be fun to see what the next 6 months bring with this little guy. I will be sad we he isn't the baby anymore. 

Davis at 3

Davis' 3 year old stats

30lbs (30%)

38 inches (50%)

Davis has entered into the 3 year old phase of life. He is so funny, learning new things, becoming more adventurous, insisting on being independent, giving us attitude, fighting doing things that are not his idea, he laughs a lot, likes to be goofy and can get himself into trouble quite easily. Ohhh, the ups and downs with a 3 year old!

But really... he is such a cute kid. He may learn the hard way from some of his choices, but my hope is that he is learning. His favorite time to push the boundaries is at dinner time and night time. We are working on what works with him. It's funny how you have to use different tactics with each child. It really keeps your parenting skills fresh. 

Davis requested a Garbage Truck cake for his 3rd birthday (just like James did!)

We had a lot of fun making it together. Davis loves helping in the kitchen. He always wants to be up on the counter, right in the action. Licking the beater is his favorite part of baking of course.

We just had a small family party here in Utah and then one in CA when we went to visit a week later. 

Here is Davis and cousin Winnie showing he is 3. Another thing about Davis... he would be naked 24/7 if we let him. He calls it "full nature boy". Sometimes he is just "nature boy, which is underpants on and that's it.

Davis has been pretty good at potty training. The first couple of weeks were rough and we still have occasional accidents... but I was shocked when he started taking himself to go poop! That took forever with James. I'm glad that parenting task is mostly over with. It really is something I don't look forward to. Especially sick and pregnant. But it's gotta be done!

Davis loves his big brother. Even though they can fight like crazy at times... they really do love each other and it is so fun to see how close they are. Davis wants to be like James in a lot of ways. His latest thing is when I ask him what he wants to eat or drink, he will ask what James is having and want that. James is funny sometimes and won't tell Davis what he is having just so they can be different. But James also likes having Davis play with him or likes to teach him new things. 

Davis has always been my more cautious child... but the little boy in him is coming out and he is becoming more adventurous and loves moving his little body. He has gotten pretty good on the balance bike and sometimes gets going so fast it freaks me out! 

With all the challenges that this age brings, Davis really is so fun to have in our family and I love him so much. He loves playing with anything with wheels, digging, being outside, riding his bike, reading, coloring, play dough, cooking and snuggling to watch TV.

New House

It;s taken me over a year to post this! So I am just going to do it now. There are rooms that are missing, so I will add those later. But this is our first Utah home. We love it, we love our neighborhood and if we are going to be in Utah... this is the place we are suppose to be.