Sibling Love: A Story in Photos

If I Were Paying Her, She'd Get A Raise

This crazy cute girl (shown here in her Red Pine sunglasses) paid me the sweetest compliment today. After a morning of baking and frosting I finally managed to take a shower, put on clean clothes and some jewelery. Sophie was upstairs with me trying on her clothes from the summer bin (even though it feels like Fall today). She looked over at me and said "Oh Mommy! Even without your make-up, you look like a model!"

Give that girl a raise.

Calvin's Favorite Book

My sister in law Amber sent this great little cookbook for the kids. For some reason, it has become Calvin's favorite book. He carries it around the house with him constantly and spends a lot of time studying the simple recipes with their kid friendly illustrations.

This weekend, I was frying up some corn tortillas with refried black beans and cheese for the kids. Calvin watched me for a little while and then ran off to get his cookbook, flipped it open and showed me a recipe saying "you made this!" He was right! There was a recipe in the book for exactly what I had just made. Kids are perceptive.

Funny things kids say - Calvin

Calvin on the phone tonight with Auntie Koo in Oregon (he is super, super excited for Christmas!):

"I want LOTS and LOTS of presents for Christmas!"

• Race cars that zoom upside down (waves hands around in the air)
• Wall-E movie
• Another Thomas and Gary Movie (Tom and Jerry)
  
• Kung Poo Panda Movie
• Gingerbread cookies
  
• Thomas the Train - a cool one
• I want a car that can "boom" the world
  
• Train with a mote (remote)
• A flyswatter to keep the bees out of my house
• A big car, brand new like Luke has at his house, with a mote (remote) to work with

I overheard Koo telling Calvin that she wanted a husband for Christmas. Calvin replied "I can't".

Funny things kids say

Overheard in the car this morning:
(BTW, the birthday party theme and whose invited is a constant, ongoing conversation between Natalie and Sophie. It is the first thing they yell at each other when one is mad at the other - "well, you are NOT INVITED to my birthday party anymore!!" It does not matter that said birthday can be 11 months away.)

Natalie: This year for my birthday I am having an American Girl Doll Party at the new American Girl Doll store. Emily said I could invite everyone who has a doll to come. Johnny, don't worry, you can come too.

Sophie: I thought you were having a Build-A-Bear Party?

Natalie: Oh, yeah, maybe I'll do that for when I am six.

Sophie: (BIG SIGH) Oh Natalie, you cannot even begin to imagine how difficult it is to be six!

Imaginative Use of Descriptive Words

click on the photo to enlarge

School Photos

I'm having one of those "feeling old" kind of mornings. When did Max become a handsome young man - and why didn't anyone warn me!?

Code Adam

On Friday, I lost Calvin. Actually, Calvin intentionally lost me.

We had been running errands all day, bank, grocery store, gas station, Joann's, Half-Price Books, Fantastic Sam's etc. I had lost my patience at Fantastic Sam's. We were there for an hour and a half and Max received the worst haircut of his life. He has a mullet - it is appalling.

In Marshall's, I was walking down an aisle at the back of the store with four kids in tow. Looking behind me, I could see Calvin at the end of the row. I called his name and he gave me one of those mischievous smirks and ducked into the next row. Wearily, I walked back to where I had last seen him and sent Max, Sophie and Natalie down nearby rows to call for him. I knew what was going on - he was hiding in one of the clothing racks.

A very attentive salesperson heard us calling his name and anxiously asked if we were missing a child. I explained that he was most likely hiding in the racks but gave her a description "4 year old blond, bright orange pants, striped orange shirt and very yellow socks - no shoes". Thirty seconds later a booming voice comes over the loudspeaker "ALL ASSOCIATES TO THE FRONT OF THE STORE. WE HAVE A CODE ADAM. REPEAT, A CODE ADAM".

I am sure the sales associate thought I was a shockingly unworried mother as I continued to look in racks and call Calvin's name. I knew he was there somewhere, and by this time, other customers are looking for him as well. I was trying to look like a loving Mom, when really I wanted to use my mean mommy voice and yell "Calvin Scott Erickson, you get out here before I count to three or you are getting a spank!" About a minute later as I passed a rack of coats, Calvin jumped out and yelled "ta-da!" with a big smile on his face.


"ATTENTION ASSOCIATES, CODE ADAM HAS BEEN FOUND." I am buying a leash.

Sitting Sleepy

Sometimes Calvin gets tired. Really, really tired. When he does, he sometimes falls asleep sitting up in bed with his legs in lotus position. Today Calvin got tired. Really, really tired. Three apple orchards, raspberry picking and a hike through the woods. One warm shower later and Calvin is now asleep, naked in his bed, still wrapped in a towel. He fell asleep at 5:30pm. What time do you think he is going to wake?

Full moon on the landing

I found this shocking site as I went upstairs to bed the other night. So, I did what any good mommy would do. I found the camera, took some photos and left him there for his daddy to find when he got home from work.


Things I confess: The boys room is never clean. Calvin moves his bed every night. His favorite spots are a corner in my room, the landing and my bed. He does not normally sleep naked. Max always sleeps on TOP of his covers so it is easier to make his bed in the morning. Max likes to use several pillows so he is practically sitting up while he sleeps.

Our very own V.I.P.

Calvin was the VIP at preschool on Thursday. After telling me all about his friend Luke's poster from the week before (Luke does NOT like flowers), our boy was pretty excited to make a poster of his own. Having put it off for several days, Calvin ended up making his poster with his Dad and a stack of Ranger Ricks while I was teaching card class.

This is what Calvin does NOT like: monsters and big blue hairy spiders.


These are his favorite things: chocolate, his family, penguins and a bat hanging upside down with a frog in his mouth (Calvin said "he's a funny guy").


This is where you are supposed to stick a picture of you or draw a picture. Calvin chose the weird yellow thing instead. I added the circle shots so the other preschoolers were not confused.


He was ridiculously proud to show it to his class.

Individualism

Here is the outfit Sophie wore to school on Tuesday. CLEARLY, we can see that her outfit consists of a t-shirt, leggings (tights with the feet cut off), and a zip up dress on top. I did not see Sophie come in the door after school, but later as we were getting ready to leave for scouts, I looked over at her and said,
"Sophie, put your dress back on and get in the car." Then, it dawned on me that she was not wearing her dress.
"Sophie, when did you take off your dress?"
"Oh, after gym today, I was just soooo hot . . . . "


This led to a long discussion on modest dress - tights and a t-shirt not being modest enough for school!


In other fashion news, Calvin has become quite adamant about dressing himself. This is the charming outfit he wore to pack meeting. This morning, he had on this same out fit with a pair of overalls on top.

Sunday Lovin'

As we were tearing out the door Sunday morning - on time for church, but very, very late for choir, I made the kids stop for a quick photo because they all looked so cute. Seconds after these shots, Max knocked Calvin to the ground and he ended up with grass stains all over himself. We also all ate spice sugar cookies in the car on the way to church for breakfast, so none of us looked clean by the time we arrived.


**I can't get this any bigger, but if you click on the image it will enlarge.

Some things you should know about Max

Max loves soccer. He is on the same team this year as his buddy Greg. Greg is Natalie and Johnny's older brother. The team is playing on the full field this year with an actual referee. Max is still very much a defensive player, but he is trying to get the whole dribbling/passing concept down.

Max's Mom ordered his shirt about twelve sizes too big this year. Max's Mom gives away all of the soccer shirts after the season ends.

Fact: Max has too many shirts.


Max cannot tie his shoes because him Mom only buys Velcro close shoes. Velcro makes her life 1000 times easier.

Max needs to learn to tie his shoes.

Or, the coach could do it for him.


Max has really looooong hair. He likes it long and throws a fit whenever I take him to get it trimmed. If his hair is not trimmed, he looks like he is sporting a mullet. I assume this is just a phase and really short hair will be in again soon.

Fact: Calvin is really sweet - or maybe he is just perpetually sticky. This is evidenced by the fact that the poor kid gets stung by more bees than anyone I know.


Fact: This is not the bee that stung Calvin, but he did wail that the bee was "black stripe and yellow stripe and it put it's bum on me and stung me!"

Today

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Sophie (had a hard time making up her mind):
1. First Lady
2. Explorer
3. Painter
4. One of those scientists who studies rainbows
5. A regular scientist
6. Paleontologist
7. Singer
8. Librarian

Calvin:
1. I want to be like you and Dad
2. Astronaut
3. Race Car

Sophie-loo-who

Sophie's hair is finally getting long enough for me to play with - though it is also long enough to be getting some serious tangles. I had long hair my entire life and I remember the tangles I would get at the base of my skull that felt like a woven mat. They hurt like the dickens to get out! This is her homage to Princess Leia look.

Her hair is very much like mine - fine and silky and straight as a board. She can hold a braid, but only if her hair is wet. She also has those wispy hairs around her hairline that fall down as her hair starts to dry. Whenever I take her in for a haircut, they always ask if they want me to trim her bangs - to which I reply, "she has never actually had bangs." By the time she came home from school, one side of her hair-do had fallen out. We'll keep trying!

Funny things kids say

Max's school project: Right now I'm just a kid, but when I am 100 . . . .

"I'll own a checkers set, a Chinese checkers set, and 2 chess sets. I'll write letters to all of my old and new friends and I'll read wonderful stories and bake and cook scrumptious food. I will sleep for hours at a time, even during the day!"

Calvin, repeating after his Mommy while saying the prayer:

Mommy " . . . and please bless Grandpa with his retirement . . . "
Calvin "and please bless Grandpa to change his tires . . . "

Sophie as we are loading the car to run errands:

Mommy "Sophie go grab more books; we are going to be in the car a long time today."
Sophie "it's ok Mom, If I read all of my books, I'll just play with my imaginary friends!"
Mommy "Who?"
Sophie "I have a couple of imaginary deer friends. The husband is like the Daddy in Bambi: Prince of the Forrest except my husband deer is more frisky! They run along the side of our car while we drive so I can talk to them!"

Calvin Commendation

In honor of Calvin's birthday this week, I thought I'd spend a couple of moments jotting down what I love about this kid at age four.

• He is unbelievable adorable. His little dimple in his right cheek turns me to jelly every time he flashes it my way. He has the longest eyelashes ever recorded and beautiful blue eyes. He has a lot of freckles and we like to count them together.
• His pronunciation is hysterical. My current favorites are "colcano" (volcano) and yetherday (yesterday).
• He is unintentionally funny all of the time. When we were camping, he looked over at me and said "mom, last night I was freakin' out about my dream!" He also likes to say "what the heck!" at everything - I'm not sure who he got that from. When people get too loud in the car he yells "shut it!" He's very helpful that way.
• He likes to dress himself now and can even buckle his overalls. He cannot figure out which feet his shoes go on.
  
• When I try and teach him his letters, he looks at me all serious and says "I can't know that mom."
• He loves to close the garage door.
  
• He is still extremely loyal to Thomas the Train. He likes to have a train with him at all times and every time I go in Michaels or Barnes and Noble he is tugging on my leg telling me he needs a new train! He is also loyal to his stuffed tiger Hobbes. He still spends a lot of time looking through Calvin and Hobbes books.
• He is a backseat driver.
  
• He loves the library (especially playing computer games on the computer and doing puzzles) and he calls Half Price Books and Barnes and Noble and the library "the bookstores."
• He can now actually pedal his tricycle as opposed to pushing it along with his feet on the ground. He loves to tear around the cul-de-sac in hot pursuit of Sophie on her much-to-small for her bike.
• He loves to get the mail.
  
• He is very attached to Johnny and misses him when he does not come to our house. Like siblings they love each other and they play hard together!
• He is so excited for preschool to start! He is getting better at sitting with his primary class though I still have to occasionally bribe him with candy to get him to go to class.
• He has Johnson ears.
  
• He loves strawberries and pancakes, cheese sticks and milk and mac and cheese. He loves to help me cook in the kitchen. He does not like to help clean up.
• He sleeps in a blue car bed - most of the time - in a room he shares with Max.
• He is my cuddliest of children. He loves to give kisses and hugs and pats and he loves to kiss my nose. Even at age four, he wants to be held whenever Mommy sits down. I love that.

He is just a great kid and we love him.

My Baby is Growing Too Fast

Tuesday was Calvin's 4th birthday. My baby is clearly no longer a baby. Calvin has been talking about his birthday for ages, telling people "my birthday is in August!" We had a low-key little celebration with dinner (Calvin chose cheese pizza, macaroni and cheese and strawberries) and Thomas the Train cupcakes for dessert. This is my baby. He's not supposed to grow up so fast!