haircut

we caved and got calvin's shaggy hair cut a few weeks ago. i liked it better long - i guess we'll just have to grow it out again! here's the before and after:

he didn't want to hold still for an after picture, so this is the best i got. i think he looks like such a big boy!

payson

a few weeks ago, calvin and i escaped the heat - yeah, it was just BARELY march! - and headed with some friends to a little campground outside payson (about 2 hours northeast of here) for the day. we had a picnic, went on a little nature walk, and just enjoyed being outside in 60 degree instead of 80 degree weather.

train park

saturday we went to a train park in scottsdale. we rode the carousel, the little steam-powered train that goes around the park, and looked at the huge engines and cars. calvin wanted to drive them all.



here's a few more random pictures from february...

calvin insisted on wearing his "sun"glasses outside

and inside

meet russell's new personal trainer. calvin does a couple push-ups, then says, "daddy's turn."

get a good look at that shaggy hair...he's getting a haircut this week!

my valentine

i love my husband. his birthday is feb 10 and so i usually end up flaking out for valentine's day. i always make him promise to not get me anything either, but he inevitably shows up with flowers, a card, and dark chocolate. the stuff is nice (that whole bag of chocolate is almost gone), but i love that russell is so thoughtful when he has a million other things to worry about right now and he was technically off the hook.

here's a couple pics from russell's birthday...calvin was so excited to give his dad the birthday card he made:
we had about 15 friends over for the party and ate shish-ka-bobs, loaded baked potatoes, fruit, salad, and cake. apparently 28 candles generate a lot of heat:
russell is one of the most ambitious and caring people i know. he chose a med school that focuses on serving underprivileged people and truly has a love for helping others. he's up at 6 everyday, rides his bike 5 miles to school, goes to class/studies til 5 or 6, rides home, eats dinner and plays w/ calvin, and then studies for a few more hours before bed. i admire his dedication as well as his efforts to be so available for us despite being so busy. it's very important to him to have weekends be for family time and i'm thankful for that. russell is an incredible dad and loves to spend time playing sports, trains, or anything with calvin. he's a kid at heart and is so fun to be around. this pregnancy has been a rough go for me and russell has been so good about helping out around the house and making sure i'm comfortable (and well-fed). i'm thankful that he's my valentine every year.

weekends

We've had some free weekends this month and have been able to spend a lot of time together. The weather has been gorgeous and we found a great park in Chandler, complete with a motorcycle, bus, and fire truck toy that you can drive. Calvin was in heaven:

We've also been playing a lot of "Sorry," which is Calvin's new favorite game. He actually will sit down and play it and just needs help counting out the spaces (and remembering not to cheat - he likes to take all his pieces out of start at once). My favorite is how he says "sorry" when he draws that card...I'm pretty sure he got this from Russell. It's pretty funny:

surprise!

boy #2 is due june 8th!

2!

our boy turned two the day after Christmas. as mentioned, calvin was sick that week and we actually had to wake him up for his birthday party, but he seemed to have a good time. thanks to all those who celebrated with us!

my mom made calvin his own three layer cake. he ate the top layer for dinner
because he woke up right before we sang to him!

joshua sure enjoyed his rainbow chip cupcake

birthday bath with cousins...notice calvin's flopping mohawk!

calvin got to open his new birthday bike when we got home from utah. he's already getting the hang of the pedals and now just needs to work on steering. (i love the bulky helmet and knee and elbow pads, which have actually already come in handy!)

this kid has quite the personality.

he loves to:

drive things - calvin loves anything you can drive: helicopters, airplanes, cars, motorcycles, bikes, scooters, and especially trucks - he always asks to drive them when he sees them; he has a book of different trucks and can name most of them (many of which i didn't even know existed); if i let him, he would sit behind the wheel of our car and drive for hours

hold things - our neighbors have a huge lab and calvin always asks if he can hold the puppy when he sees him; the other day he saw some construction workers on a roof in our neighborhood and asked if he could hold them; he loves holding babies and sometimes even asks to hold me

zoom things - he loves to zoom his race cars, train set, and anything that you can pretend is a race car or train

hug and kiss things - calvin loves our vacuum - he went into the closet and gave it a hug and kiss 3 times yesterday; he also kisses random stuff in books that he likes

play sports - everything has a mitt right now: baseball mitt, football mitt, soccer mitt...?

read books - he likes to read to his stuffed animals

jump and run - calvin doesn't walk anywhere unless i'm holding his hand and he has to

animals, especially puppies and monkeys

calvin has decided that he's pretty much done taking naps and he celebrated the other day by taking off all of his clothes AND his diaper during his "rest time." he's learning to count and can go up to 7, except when i ask him to. he's also learning his colors and his favorite is red. calvin is a jabber-box and has a "manly grunt-like voice" that he uses when he says stuff like basketball or big truck. he continues to shadow his daddy whenever russell is home and loves to help with anything.

we sure love this little boy!