Birthday Boys

Both Marvin and Calvin have birthdays coming up in the very near future.  We'll celebrate Marvin's 30th soon, and I'm hoping to do something out of the ordinary to celebrate, of course in a low key way, per Marvin's request, and also because hopefully we'll have a newborn at this point.  His birthday requests are pretty simple:  Fried Tacos and peanut butter pie, they usually don't change which is consistent with his dependable personality.  I have a few other ideas to make this day special for him, but since Marvin reads this I'll try my hardest to keep those a secret.

Growing up my mom made some pretty fun cakes for our birthdays.  I still remember going to the cake store and picking out the cake pan we wanted for our birthday."  I'd love to do continue to make something fun for our kids each year, and this year since he has an obsession for "Cars" I think we'll go with a Cars Birthday theme.  Since I'm away from all my cake decorating supplies, I'm hoping to borrow a few things from a friend here to make a fun little cake for him.  Calvin and I had so much fun browsing through ideas and since we looked at all the Cars Cakes he's pretty excited to have a Cars Birthday.  He often tells everyone that he's going to have a Cars Birthday, even when they don't understand English.  He also started singing "happy cars birthday to you."  Can you tell he's excited?

Now I am in NO way talented in the realm of cake decorating.  I wish I had the skills my sister-in-law has, but let's be honest I don't.  So I was hunting for a simple cake.  Here are a few front runners, that I think I can possibly recreate, of course with some help from my artistic husband.  I like the idea of using real cars, but unfortunately I haven't found too many here, so we may have to be creative.

 Now these are little out of my league but loved them:

I can't wait to be a little creative and make these birthdays special for some pretty special guys!

gifts

 

I love this idea of keeping track of all the gifts Father has given us each week so this week I'm starting a list, and hope it is a way to reflect back on the week and record these sweet gifts.

#1  Our active little guy in my belly, who makes my belly move in waves.  So thankful for his hiccups each  night as I try to drift off to sleep.  It's a gift I don't take for granted even though I'm so ready to meet him.

#2  Random little kisses on my belly throughout the day from a little boy eager to be a Big Brother.

#3  The body, waiting in a new city with some sweet new friends as well as old friends.

#4  Tortillas available at every store, and whole wheat ones at that!

#5  My protector of a husband, who carried all our groceries and pushed Calvin up a very steep hill on a muggy day.

#6  The cool breeze that fills our apartment.

#7  A pair of shoes that fit.  This summer i bought a pair at the market and when I got home one shoe was stretched out from how they grouped them together, they now are the only shoes that fit.

#8  Nap time

#9  Sweet locals, who love to pinch children's cheeks and give them sweet things.

#10  Hearing "Down in my heart." every time Calvin sees a heart. (From the song I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart."

#11 Seedless Grapes

#12 new music that makes my heart sing! 

Make a Funny Face

Calvin's been very into making faces lately.  His inspiration comes from Mac on the movie Cars.  He's such a goof, and these pictures he requested me to take of him the other day while we were playing on the playground.

Now what to say about the movie Cars, ummmm.  It certainly is a favorite right now.  If you ask him about it you're more than likely to get an ear full and hear all about his favorite scenes, which will probablly start like this: "member when......" followed by a lengthy detailed recount of part of the movie.

This movie certainly has developed his love for any type of cars.  Before he'd play with a car for a few minutes then move onto something new, but now he spends most of the day playing cars, both with an actual car or him pretending to drive around the house.  It's wonderful to be able to throw a car in my purse and know he'll be entertained.  He also LOVES taxi rides right now, because they are like race cars.  If we get a real crazy driver once we get out of the taxi he'll say, "He was a really good driver."  or "That was Amazing."  Oh the simple things that amuse him right now.  I'm certainly loving this stage he is in right now.

Today’s Stats.

I am 34 ½ weeks pregnant but feeling more like, and looking more like, 40.

Hoping to meet this little guy in less than 2 weeks. I can't wait to wrap him up in my arms, and also can't wait till the "take it easy" part of this pregnancy is over.

23 more days till my baby is 3, how did that happen?

 5, the number of shirts currently in my limited wardrobe, I forgot to add a few shirts to the bag Marvin was bringing, oops.
2the number of shirts I have with me without a stain on it, this belly is seriously causing some problems.
I've been away from home for 31 days now.

Lately a good night sleep means I only had to wake up and go to the bathroom 3 times, most nights it's much more than that. I think my body is preparing itself for some interrupted sleep.

It's crazy to think that in a few short weeks we will be a family of 4.

We get to see Marvin's folks and brother in 43 days.

1 Little boy who is eager as can be to play Cars Dominos, guess this means this post is finished.

So you speak English.....c'est gentil

Marvin and I usually have reverse culture shock traveling to this country.  People are so helpful, patient and nice.  It's really strange at first, because for the most part when you enter a store in Nineveh they either follow you around straightening every box/thing you touch, or think you are completely wasting their time.  The first day I was here I stopped by the store and the man in front of me asked me if I wanted to help putting my groceries on the conveyor belt, and I was only buying a handful of items.  I'm sure I probably stared at him because I was in shock at the offer.  Back home in Nineveh I'd just get scolded for carrying a bag of groceries while pregnant.

Today was another one of those moments that just made me thankful for the friendliness here.  It also made me laugh.  I needed some blush and lip gloss so I was browsing through the selections this store had and the sales girl came up to me and rattled off something I of course didn't understand, except that they were having a sale.  So the sweet girl tried her best to communicate with me what the sale was but to no avail.  So she went and got her friend, she started speaking to me in German, but I don't know German so I asked her if she knew English, then she went into French.  Cracked me up, because I clearly said the word for English.  Thankfully some of my high school and college french came back because I actually understood what she said.  I knew that would come in handy one day and I'm glad I still have a tiny bit of it tucked somewhere in this brain of mine.

Nice

Being a parent is stretching me.  Marvin does a better job at letting Calvin dress than I do, Marvin sort of jokingly calls me the fashion police.  I don't think I'm that bad, but I often send Calvin back to his room to choose a different pair of pants or shirt to match, so maybe I am the fashion police. (He also doesn't seem to mind.)

I have my principles when it comes to fashion, and have tried to stick to them.  There are a couple of things that truly bug me:

I refuse to buy anything with a logo plastered across it, because we not human billboards.  Even if the things are very in at the moment, like coach purses.  It's sneaky advertising if you ask me, and I'm I know most people don't agree or have a problem with it, but I'm weird. 

The second thing that bugs me more than anything about children's fashion is character infatuation.  Those in children's apparel fashion know a thing or two about kids, they love their characters and love to wear them.  This lovely green shirt was given to him by our language teacher and the boy is obsessed with wearing it.  If he sees me take it off the clothes line it must be immediately worn.  Like I said these people know what they are doing.

Working in early childhood I've seen my share of character shoes, and they always make me cringe due to their tackiness.  I've learned I should never say "I'll never let my child....." because this past weekend we ventured to the mall to buy Calvin some shoes and came home with these........

and a little boy beaming in delight, because they have spiderman on them (he's never seen a single episode of spiderman, yet loves spiderman) and they light up.  Again I am eating my words and do you know what?  They aren't that bad. To see the joy they give him as he puts them on makes up for their tackiness.

1 year ago.....

was perhaps the craziest emotional day in my life.  We got a call letting us know we would be able to return to our job overseas sooner than expected.  A few hours later, my parents got a call we had been waiting for years, a new liver for my dad.  It was a night we will never forget, and praise the Lord my Dad is in better health than he has been in for years. 

I am so grateful that he's been given this unbelievable gift.  It's something none of us take for granted.  This sweet young lady who lost her life, gave my dad more years to enjoy life, and to be a part of ours.  I am so grateful to organ donors, it's a gift only a few can give.

Daddy Time

Thankfully Marvin snapped a few pictures of Calvin’s while we were apart.  Marvin tried to keep him pretty busy but that last little stretch was tough, on both of them.

Calvin enjoyed some time at Daddy’s office everyday. Our office manager loved him to pieces, and it gave Marvin some time to get some work done.

They played countless games, wrestled a lot, had lots of yummy snacks mommy usually doesn’t buy, and Marvin let him watch his first ever movie, “Cars”, which is a post in itself. (Let’s just say he loves that movie and even though he’s only watch it a handful of times he’s already memorized a good chunk of it.)

Marvin took him to the river, to the park, the amusment park, he rode his first zipline, took a little trip out of town.  Overall Marvin did a great job at wearing out the little man.  Thankfully Marvin didn't have a problem getting him to take a nap every day. 

Hooray for quality Father Son bonding.  Calvin's lucky to have such a good daddy.

Thankful it's Done

Monday we headed to the hospital for Calvin’s surgery. We had tried to prepare him as much as we could but obviously he didn’t quite understand what was going to happen. Thankfully he was much more comfortable around the doctors and nurses than he was on Friday. Although he was extremely scared when it was time for him to go into anesthesia, and we are pretty sure he fought them due to the bruises on his legs.

The surgery took a little longer than expected due to a larger problem than the doctor could see on the surface, but we’re hoping it will be successful and they won’t have to redo the initial surgery. We should know if it worked within the next 15 days.


This was a new hospital for us, and was very nice, it was just different and we didn’t quite know how things worked. We were blessed with a nurse who spoke English during the day, and so Calvin wasn’t quite as intimidated when it was time to get dressed for surgery. He even gave her a huge hug and kiss when it was time to leave. We were also blessed that both of us could stay with him in the hospital overnight and that it was only a one night affair.


He showed us his stubborn side after surgery. He refused to go potty. After 2 hours of watching him roll around in his bed due to pain we had the nurse call his doctor at 2 a.m., who had to come back to the hospital to put a catheter in. He felt much better after the fact, and was able to finally sleep. In fact he was still sleeping hard when his doctor came to take it out at 9:30 in the morning.

While Calvin overall did not enjoy the hospital it was a time for lots of movies and he even enjoyed the local children’s channel, and he is still talking about watching Jay Jay. He had a heavy dose of snuggle time and plenty of attention from both of us.

He is recovering and his activity level is back to normal. He’s very relieved to be back “home” at the ABC house. It’s going to be rough to keep him subdued this week while things heal. Thanks for those who prayed for him during this time. We’re very thankful it is over, now as Calvin said it is my turn to go to the hospital so that his baby brother can come out.

One

Tomorrow I get to see my man and little man!!!  I cannot wait.

It's been tough being apart and it's almost over.  All of us have been counting down the days.

Although I've missed them like crazy, this separation has been good at teaching me how to do a few things I usually tend to lean on my husband for.  I've had to be more aware of my surroundings, pay attention in taxis and use more Turkish.  Thankfully people are very patient and helpful here. 

I've had to open jars, or pry them open.  Lock the door at night.  Exchange money.  Self Navigate.  Take the trash out.  Everytime I do these things I'm so very grateful for Marvin and how he truly is my help mate. 

So here's to one more day!  Tomorrow is going to be a great day!

Come on little package

For my birthday I ordered some yummy fabric.  I was SHOCKED out of my mind when the diapers I ordered arrived first.  It was clearly the larger package and most of the time the smaller ones are faster.  So since I'm not home we had to run and set up a quick power of attorney so that someone else could pick it up for me at the post office. 

So one day I'll get my hands on this fun Michael Miller fabric, for now I'll just be dreaming of what they'll become.  I'll really be sad if it never makes it, so come on little package, you can arrive any day now.

Round 2….oamc

I managed to make some freezer meals the beginning of this month. I didn't get to my entire list of because I had trouble finding some ingredients, so I had to scratch three meals L. I guess that comes with living in Central Asia, sometimes we can find things other times they're nowhere to be found.

I am glad I did another OAMC spree because I was able to leave Marvin and Calvin with a few things to eat, when I suddenly had to leave. It makes me feel better knowing that I am making it a bit easier on them, and that they have something healthy to eat.

This month I broke my cooking into 3 days, and it was much smoother and easier to manage. I'll be doing it this way in the future. Day one was shopping day and prep day. Day two was raw meat day, I put together all meals that needed to be cooked in the Crockpot later, or cooked on the stovetop later. I also cooked all the chicken and meat I needed on that day too. The last day I finished up all other meals and bagged my shredded cheese. Doing my OAMC this way gave me some flexibility and I didn't feel rushed to finish in one day, I could also do a few meals at a time throughout the day. Like when Calvin was finishing up eating lunch and during his nap. I think I've found a good system. Here is my list of meals for my fellow OAMC pals out there.

1.  Taco Meat
2.  Italian Sausage for Pizza toppings
3.  Italian Sausage Spaghetti Sauce
4.  Manicotti
5.  Fajitas
6.  Beef Carnitas
7.  Hawaiian Chicken
8.  Hawaiian Joes
9.  Honey Lime Chicken
10. Crockpot Jerk Chicken
11. Asian Lettuce Wraps
12. Coconut Chicken Fingers

Staying Put

I had a good long chat with our doctor at this week's appointment and can I just say how much I appreciate her. She is just so sweet, I knew she had a ton of patients waiting, and also had a patient who was in labor, but she didn't hesitate to spend time talking about her thoughts on returning home and answering a million questions I had. Everything looks normal and my body is showing no signs of premature labor right now, but since I have excess fluid I'm at risk of my water breaking at any time, with no warning. Even though the contractions I am having right now are painless they can still push things along. So with that being said and the lack of frequent flights out of our city and the neonatal care available there, she recommended I not travel home, and our second doctor agreed.


Thankfully Marvin and Calvin are going to join me very soon!!! I cannot wait to have our family back together again. It makes skype much more bearable knowing I'll get to see them soon. I am very thankful for that because every day I've talked to them our call usually ended with me in tears.

I've had a ton of time to reflect on what a gift my family is. It's been very strange being in a place where I'm not asked to read a million books every day, or if I want to play soccer ball, candy land, and go fish every 5 minutes. I haven't had to sweep the floor 4 times a day, my laundry pile is very small and I haven't had something to look forward to everyday, Marvin coming home from the office. I am so thankful that Father has given me the opportunity to be a wife and mom. I wouldn't have it any other way. Strangely enough I miss the normal boring parts that come with those roles.

I've also been confronted with the reality that I do not like to share. This pregnancy has been tough. Marvin's done a great job at reminding me that I have a responsibility right now to make sure this little boy stays put and that nothing is worth jeopardizing that. I whole heartedly agree, but it's hard to accept sometimes. I'm not officially on bed rest, PTL, but I am on a very restricted activity level, which I'll take any day over bed rest. It's frustrating not being able to walk places and every day I find myself just desiring that freedom. But right now my body is not just my own and even if it means it's going to be a nightmare getting back into shape after he arrives it's worth it.

When we found out I would have to travel out I could not stop crying, I honestly did not want to go. It's hard for me to accept that my body has problems handling pregnancy. At the start of this pregnancy we were both very hopeful that things would be different, and thankfully I have not gone into premature labor this time. It was hard for me to accept the fact that I am not in control of this pregnancy, and that everything is not normal. As I sat and thought about my friend who lost her baby a day after she was born in Nineveh due to inadequate neonatal care, it breaks my heart and is terrifying to even imagine having to go down that road. So after many tears and many conversations with Father the news our doctor shared with me this week was not unexpected, not even unwelcomed. She asked me before she shared her opinion, if I would be mad at her if I stayed in Turkey and never went into labor until 36/37 weeks? I looked at her and honestly said no, I am so thankful for the wrestling I did with Father over this issue and so thankful for the sense of peace he has given me about being away from home longer than we planned.

A little peek

Isn't technology amazing?  This week our little guy was actually cooperating and didn't have his hand in front of his sweet little face.  I was already in love with him, but now I really can't wait to meet him and kiss those sweet cheeks.

We're still waiting on the verdict from Doctor #2 about whether I stay or go home for a few weeks. I'll keep you posted. Until now here are some pictures of our little man. Sorry for the poor quality I had to use our web cam since Marvin has our camera.

My Adventurers

Calvin's been having a lot of fun with his Daddy while I've been gone.  Marvin's kept him busy everyday and I think they both have been sleeping well at night.  Friday, Calvin had his first experience on a zip line.  I am sure it will be the first of many more to come.  I've been told he was a little apprehensive at first, but after he warmed up he was open to trying it.

I sure do miss these guys.

I can't wait to be together again!

Finishing Fast

Last week I was working hard to finish up a few baby clothes.  I only brought a few neutral clothes with us and clothes are just so expensive where we are at,and not even very cute.  So I decided to tackle a few projects so our little guy would have something to wear.  I also tackled my hatred fear of sewing with knits.  I'll be honest it wasn't that bad this time around.  I've had some pretty bad experiences working with knits but after doing these projects I have more confidence.  I guess practice always helps.  I made 5 pairs of little pants, which are ridiculously easy, it's not even funny how fast you can whip up a pair of baby pants.

I've been dying to make these 90 minute shirts since I saw them.  Our little guy will be born, we hope, when it's cooler (that's how I remember things with Calvin)  so I wanted to make a few long sleeved shirts.  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE how they turned out.  I also added a few appliques to some onesies but didn't get pictures of those.  Those will have to wait until they are modeled by this little bug.

Project stroller revamp was successful.  I had finished the seat part a while back but needed to make bias tap and sew over he existing trim.  I kept putting it off because of the work it would take initially.  So when we got home late Saturday night and found out I would be leaving VERY soon, it was crunch time.  Thankfully I was able to finish this project during Calvin's Sunday nap, and I love the transformation.  It wasn't too difficult either.  Oh and if you ever want to make bias tape, here's a great tutorial that will save you so much time.

I had so much fun sewing recently.  It's been fun looking at the finished project and having my heart melt thinking about the little tiny baby that will soon be here.

Music that Makes you Move

I had a little request for more of Calvin.  So here he is showing you the best moves.

Top of our fridge

So I have a thing for reading blogs, I love them and can easily spend way too much time reading in the them.  A little over 2 months ago I discovered an amazing one.  I know, I know you don't need another blog to read but seriously this woman has a gift with words.  Her writing is so eloquent, beautiful, deep, and just stirs my soul.  (Not to mention her photography skills are unbelievable).

Today I had some time while we were waiting for a meeting so I stopped over to see what Ann had to say today.  It rocked my world, seriously the second after I read her post The One Parenting Skill that Changes Everything I had to read it to Marvin.  (Trust me you want to click on that link, for those of you who don't know how to do that, just place your cursor over this and click.)

We decided to add some Real Bread to our table too, we started last night, because why wait to start something so beautiful.  I can't wait for this to become something Calvin expects.  It's funny how this post came about the same time I've been feeling an urge to start again reading Proverbs at breakfast with Calvin.  It's something I did while we were in the states and after we moved I just never got that ball rolling again.  But now is the time to start again.

I'm so excited this Book has made it's way to our fridge. I can't wait to see what Father has in store for our family.

Smells of Childhood

Do you have smells that you remind of your childhood.  For me I can always remember the fresh cut grass smell most Saturday mornings, and the smell of bacon.  Dad was always good at cooking breakfast Saturday mornings.  I also can clearly recall the smell of our vaccumm, mom was and still is a great about housework.  I also remember the smell and sounds of my grandma making tortillas.  Those are a few that stand out to me.

Sunday and Monday I was busy canning those 20 kilograms of tomatoes we bought.  When I emerged from the hot kitchen on Sunday Marvin said, it smelled like his childhood.  How fun is that!  Who knew canning tomatoes would bring back such strong memories!

I've offically canned 17 jars of tomatoes, and salsa.  The salsa was entirely too much work.  We don't have small jars here and after 3 hours of work, I only had 4 jars of salsa, such a bummer.  What I will do more of is diced and whole/crushed tomatoes.  Those babies were easy, now if only it would cool off so it wouldn't be such a hot process.

Delayed

Marvin had a good camping/hiking trip last week, one of the local guys who went used to play ball with Marvin when we lived here before, so it was fun for Marvin reconnect with him.  Overall it was a good trip.  This particular mountain was pretty rough once they got past the trail, loose rock and you had to climb over several peeks to summit.  Marvin decided he'd rather not break a leg or die so he let a few go on, only one local made it to the top, thankfully without any injuries.  Marvin said he was like a goat and literally ran up the mountain.

Thankfully Calvin was super sweet and obedient while Marvin was gone, which always makes it easier.  This weekend he decided he's delaying the big mountain till next year.  He wasn't comfortable being gone for 5 days right now.  Anyone want to come and join him next year?

He's been very cautious of what I do and just doesn't feel right being gone that many days during week 30 of my pregnancy.  These are his exact words I heard after I tried to talk him into going, "I'd be the worst husband in the world if my wife went into labor while I was trying to climb a mountain."

Week 30 was the week I went into labor with Calvin and I have a lot of the same similarities this time around too.  My ultrasound this week was encouraging, but I still have to be cautious because of the excess amniotic fluid.  With Calvin I saw the doctor on Wednesday and everything was fine, then went into labor on Sunday.  Thankfully the contractions I am having, even though they are 5 minutes apart have not progressed things, PTL.  Still it makes us nervous with the likelihood of preterm labor.  It's a daily struggle of placing my fears in his hands, but we are thankful to stay home as long as we can before traveling out to deliver.  Thank you for those of you who have prayed for us and for the safety of this tiny little guy.  Keep it up!

On a happier note here are a few pictures of Marvin's last trip.

Hiking up to their campsite

The goal

The Campsite

The lifts close early so they were able to use the deck of the restaurant to set up camp.

The Accent

That's all loose rock friends, these guys are crazy

The decent

He'll make it up this guy next year.

Visitors are always welcome!

With new skills come new challenges

Calvin's becoming more and more a preschooler and less and less a toddler. Part of me is excited to see him learn new skills and knowledge but also a little sad that his toddler days are numbered. Recently he's been working on a few social skills, which will be very helpful when little brother arrives.
The first one is pouring, he's become obsessed with pouring his own drink, and thankfully we have just the right size pitchers for him to pour from. He's also attempting to pour his own cereal for breakfast and his milk (our milk comes in liter boxes which are 100% easier to pour than gallon jugs in the states). He's also gotten very good at knowing where the towels are to clean up the liquid that doesn't make it in his cup. Two great skills, however since he knows how to do these things he thinks he can do them all the time without help and without asking. So we're learning how to ask first.

The second thing he has loved lately is changing his clothes. His mood changes throughout the day and so does his desire to be certain team. When he wants to be different team he NEEDS a new shirt and since he has a new shirt he has to have a new pair of pants, and with new pants come new underwear. It's so funny watching him try to undress himself as fast as possible just to get to that new shirt. So he's keeping our washing machine busy. He's slowly getting the dress yourself thing, although he's gotten stuck in shirts more times than I can count and today he wore a pair of undies backwards for the better half of the day. 

And I'm learning that matching isn't that important.

Good idea?

We headed out to a bulk market in our city this weekend.

We set out to find some jars for canning.

We came home with 54.

54 jars I hope to turn into canned whole tomatoes, diced tomatoes, and salsa. 

But to give myself a little motivation I also bought these:

20 kilos of tomatoes. 

The tomato lady told me to expect to use a 1 kilo a jar,

so I bought a lot...........

because I have all those jars.

I better get to work.

Sometimes my great ideas are pretty exhausting.

1 out of 2

Guess what arrived last week?
Breaking all records as the fastest package we've ever received (less than two weeks)............

Our Fuzzy Bunz!  I already love them and after going back and forth about which ones to order I'm very glad we went with the fuzzy bunz.  I think they will work great for our family, although I'm pretty sure the excitement will wear off eventually.  But right now I can't wait to put a little tiny baby in those things.

Now if only my birthday gift would arrive because I can't wait to get my hands on the yummy fabric I ordered.

Calvin's been our little artist lately.  He's cleared out our pile of reuse paper (our equivelent to recycling in this part of the world.) The number of pictures he draws daily is crazy.  Here are a few he drew the other day that I thought were pretty good. 

This first one is scoop from Bob the Builder.

This one is of a blowfish.

And because I cannot figure out how to get this guy turned around here's an upside down pirate guy.  I think he's pretty cute.  (He's very into making sure his people have eyebrows lately.)

I just love watching the progression of fine motor skills, I guess it's my inner early childhood geekness shining through.

Knock knock

Me: Knock Knock………….now you say, Who's there?
Calvin: Who's there?
Me: Boo
Calvin: No you're mommy

I guess we're not ready for knock knock jokes yet.

Exploration

Marvin's been enjoying the great outdoors recently. He had several good few hikes lately in the mountains near our city.

He's loving having a few guys around who love this kind of stuff and a vehicle that can get him to places we've not yet explored. It's been fun watching him get excited over hiking routes, new valleys, and watching him play on google earth and try to calculate how far each trip has taken him.

He's been training for a big climb (5642 meters of 18510 feet) here in a few weeks (granted everything remains stable with my pregnancy.)

The first of his hikes took him to a valley he's wanted to explore for a while. It was definitely an exploration hike as they had to find the best path. Unfortunately they learned a lot about the terrain and had to hike through a marsh, across the freezing river several times, and then had to whack their way through ferns that were about head high to get back to the van.

He went back to this same spot this weekend with some local friends. One of the guys he went with carried a plastic bag the whole way up because he didn't have a pack. (Now that's talent.) They found a better path and had a good time.

Lunch time

Right now he's on an overnight trip and hopes to summit tomorrow.  We can't wait to have him back home, but thankful for these opportunties for him to enjoy our surroundings.

{and worms}

Last week we had a few rainy days and there were snails everywhere. This week it's been hot and dry and Calvin's wondered where his precious snails have gone anytime we walk anywhere. We made a quick run to the kiosks near our apartment building after lunch one day to pick up some essentials and the whole way he was searching for snails. It was like he found a treasure when at last he spotted one about half way home.
In order to get home faster I told him we'd take it home and put it in a container with some water and rocks and that when he woke up from nap we'd see if the snail came out of his shell. Sure enough after his nap this is what we discovered.

He was pretty thrilled about that little snail. And I'm thrilled that the snail survived a curious Calvin and found a new home outside that evening.

I happened to be skyping with my mom this same day and she told him that little boys were made of snips, and snails and puppy dog tails. Which he quickly added…. "and worms".  He obviously knows since he's a boy.

You win some and you lose some

I'm pretty infamous about not reading directions. Basically I think I know what I'm doing, so I don't pay attention to the steps. Then about half way through the recipe/project I reread the instructions because I've forgotten something to find out I've missed a step or two, or done something different. Most of the time things work out, well this cake was another story.

Our teacher had a birthday and I wanted to make a cake that had a local flair. Marvin and I decided a marble cake would be best, and thought I'd try this frosting since it claimed it wasn't super sweet. (Local frosting is on the less sweet side of the scale.) I didn't know how it would hold up overnight so I woke up early and started it. I finished chilling my flour milk mixture and just dumped everything together, if you want to make this don't do that. It never made it to the right fluffy consistency. So because I didn't have time to start over I slopped it on the cake, and watched as most of it slid right off the sides. Because I wanted to make it even more of a wreck I added a purple blob border at the bottom (which Calvin liked to call the choo choo train) and a little happy birthday on top. I just hoped the taste made up for it. Thankfully our teacher was more surprised that I made a cake and did not comment on my lack of decorating abilities. I'm not giving up on this recipe though because it was mighty tasty, next time I'll follow the directions. (Oh and I'm pretty sure this is not made to replace a buttercream frosting).

It’s been a while

Sunday Calvin was pretty beat. After his usual nap he came out of his room and wanted me to hold him. I was working on the computer so he climbed up in my lap and quickly fell back asleep. That little guy slept another hour in my arms. It brought back so many memories of his days as a tiny little baby. It's not often I get to snuggle him to sleep. I certainly treasure moments like these!