Four

Once again, it's crazy to think that another year has passed and our baby boy is now four!  Calder is such a great kid.  He's funny and sweet, silly and bossy, inquisitive and a know-it-all, playful and serious.  Lately, he's really into swimming, playing games, reading the Sunday comics with Daddy and all things Toy Story (ESPECIALLY Jessie). 

He's *usually* very sweet to his sister and can often be found planting kisses on her forehead.

He LOVES when we make up stories for him.  Each night, he asks us to tell him a story about "Buzz saves Jessie from _________".   He has a great imagination and has started telling a few creative stories of his own!  He loves learning how to spell and a good chunk of our days is spent answering "How do you spell _____?" 

At home, he's LOUD.  However, with other kids, he's still a little on the shy side and usually prefers independent play.  But, he loves his two "best buddies" at school.  He talks about Evan and Jack all the time and it's really becoming evident how influenced four-year-olds can be.  He constantly mimics what Evan does and came home the other day and said "I just want to be seven."  When prompted as to why, he said "Because Evan does."  Ok!  He likes to make sure everyone is following the rules, even though he doesn't always follow them.  (We're really working on honing those listening ears!!!)  Alas, I think we may have a bit of a tattle-tale on our hands.  

I love recording the things that he says.  He'll crack you up one minute and melt your heart the next.  Some favorite recent quotes:

"Whoa!  I just showed my mother my butt!"

"Mommy, you have pretty blue eyes."

"Is God bigger than a rocketship?"

"I don't feel real comfortable about this spaghetti."

"Worms are my favorite favorite favorite favorite bug. They are squishy and nice."

"Watch out for me, because I'm really good at games. And if Grandma's playing, watch out for Grandma because she's really good at games too. But I keep beating her cuz I love her. I just love her."

After beating me 4 times in a row at Candyland, he said "Let's see if you can win.  I'll be so surprised if you win."  (For the record, I did win -- twice!)  Fortunately, he's a pretty good sport when it comes to games!

And for the official stats:  At 4, he's 44.6 pounds (95th percentile) and 42 inches tall (83rd percentile). 

Calder Lucas, we love you more than you know and we are so blessed to have you in our lives! 

For Mary

This one is for Mary, who wanted to hear Tessa talk.  This was no easy task...I've been trying to capture her little voice on camera for months.  She'll be chatting away, and as soon as I turn the camera on, she clams up.  So I finally got a little sampling...although someone else is battling for attention in the background! 


Spaghetti Girl from courtney on Vimeo.

Birthday Fun Day

On Calder's actual birthday, I took some vacation time to have a special "Mommy and Me" day.  I had a couple of meetings in the morning, so he went to school in the morning and I picked him up around 11am.  He had been so excited about the day, but when it actually came time to leave school he had a complete meltdown because we weren't bringing Tessa with us!  The boy loves his sister!  I finally told him that we were going to go and start our day together and if he wasn't having fun, we could come back and get Tessa.  He never mentioned her again... :)  

We started with a trip to the Lego store where he got to pick out a new lego set.  Of course, he chose the Jessie-themed Toy Story one!

Next, he got to choose a car to take a ride in.  Fortunately, another mom gave us the heads up on which ones weren't working (including the one that he wanted!) so he settled for the tow truck. 

We also took some fun pictures in a photo booth, but I haven't scanned those in yet.  :)   Then it was off to McDonald's for lunch and then to a water park for the rest of the afternoon! 

He had an absolute blast going down the slides over and over again!

Digging in the awesome giant sandbox!

Digging for treasures!

Found some!

Steering the Pirate's ship!  We had a fabulous time at the water park, and hope to make it back one more time with the whole family before the end of summer. 

Back home, Daddy came home with ANOTHER birthday cake!  This was cake #3, since he also had a cake at school on the previous day!

Finally asleep after a long day -- with the love of his life! 

I loved the one-on-one time with my little man -- and I think he did too.  :)

4th Birthday Party

Calder and his buddies had such a fun time sliding and bouncing their way around his birthday party!

 Lots of fun for little brothers and sisters too!

The cake.  He wanted a "Buzz and Jessie" cake...but Woody came along with the package.

A very happy boy, as everyone sang "Happy Birthday". 

The chosen piece:

A special chair for the birthday boy!

It was really cute to see all the kids crowd around him as he opened his gifts. 

A great time was had by all!

4-H Fair

I was excited when I heard about the local 4-H fair, since one of my favorite summer memories as a child was going to the fair!  It was basically the event of the summer in my rural hometown county.   So, I have to say that I was slightly disappointed in this fair.  The only animals that we saw were horses, pigs, and dogs, and the food selection was pretty minimal.    But, the kids enjoyed it nonetheless! 

Calder had a BLAST on the carnival rides. 

Mommy and Tessa even got to come along for the ride on the train...

While Calder led the way in the engine.

Finally, the highlight for Tessa (aside from the ice cream) was this 'cornbox'.  It was like a big sandbox, but filled with corn instead.  Lots of fun!

Mommy and Me Days

Daddy and Calder recently took a short weekend trip to Pittsburgh, so Tessa and I had a few "Mommy and Me" days!  It was great, since I rarely get one-on-one time with my girl.  On the first day, we went to the zoo where Tessa marveled at the zebras from her stroller...

And waved at the elephants from a park bench.

And we both enjoyed catching a glimpse of the brand new baby gorilla!  Looks like his momma was also keeping a close eye on us!

The next day, she shared O's with Lucky...

We went for a nature stroll...

She practiced throwing rocks...

And trying to eat them!

Best of all, we took really, really long naps in a really, really quiet house.  3 hours one day and 2.5 hours the next.  And I did say we. 

Baby Loves Shoes

More Catch-Up

Sillies

Cousins playing house

Goodbye, Friends!

Pen Pals in Baltimore

Spray Park

Tub Time Routine

Tessa LOVES her bath.  Before she's even done with her dinner, she's usually asking for her bath.  (And sometimes she asks at breakfast and lunch too!)  We have a little routine that we do every night.  First, we start the tub, then go into her room to get her towel.  She loves to carry her towel into the bathroom.

Then, she picks out her washcloth from the drawer...

Then, it's off with her clothes, and she's dying to jump in before I can even lift her in!

Yay!  I'm in!

Mommy sometimes does some hair-stylin'...  This is as close as we get to a ponytail these days!

After she's dry, she loves to help with the lotion. 

She says "hands, hands, hands" and eagerly holds out her little hands and waits for me to put a little dollop of lotion on each one. 

Then, she rubs it on her belly and legs, as well as all over Mommy. 

Ready for bed!!