the long overdue pictures

Okay, we've already established that I am not the greatest sister-in-law. I am about to prove this further...

My sweet daughter is 5 years, 1 month and 5 days old today. That is a nice, creative way to say that I am 35 days late in posting these pictures. If it makes you feel any better, Annie Grook, I am some 200+ days late in posting Disneyland pictures, not to mention zillions of other pics, quotes and stories that I want to share. I really do have good intentions...and then, well, the road to an empty blog is paved with good intentions.

So on to the pictures...first up, Maggie's face of knowing delight as she showed off her birthday sweater. As she opened it, she nodded and said, "Annie Grook let ME pick the yarn this year. Oh yeah, AND the sweater!".



Here she is , getting comfy, telling us about something or other...



All settled in , and very happy with her new pink sweater!


Thank you, Annie Grook! She loves the sweater, and it's perfect. She'll wear it all the time, I'm sure. She is really happy that it looks nice with her Valentines socks from this year...oh, wait, that's another picture I'm late in posting. Dang it! Hey, Calvin has them on in the picture I posted right before this...does that count?

why cold weather can be enjoyed...or tolerated, at least

Honestly, I really don't like cold weather...and cold weather starts at about 65 degrees for me. But today I remembered one of my coping strategies...wool socks! They make all the difference. And when they are custom made for your feets by Annie Grook...well, if you haven't experienced it, you can't really understand it, but it's a very good thing.

By the way, in case you wondered, yes, it's very hard to get Calvin to stand still squished in between your knees for a picture like this. There is much whining, writhing and screaming involved.

warning! men at work!

calvin's five steps to being a (future) man at work when it comes to wet fuzzi bunz...

Step one - open the pail. Well, open the pail lid. Pay no attention to whether or not the pail is actually attached to the lid. That is just an unnecessary detail.



Step two - place the wet fuzzi bunz into the pail, or the place that the pail usually is.



Step three - shut the lid.



Step four - REALLY shut the lid. At this point you may be tempted to wonder if this would be easier if the pail was actually there, but just dismiss that thought and push harder...use your entire body if necessary.



Step five - run through the house looking for more work that needs some IRS...listen to my dad's sermon if you don't know what IRS is. Oh, and pants remain optional until your mom catches you.

...with a mind like a diamond

This is the fruit of Maggie's first solo note writing endeavor. I think it is excellent and darling. For those who don't get to hear Mags chit-chatting, this is actually a perfect application of phonics - there is no "r" in "from". She was working on it very busily during Ian Lugg's sermon that night and was quite proud of her accomplishment when she gave it to me. She said she had missed me that day (she had spent part of it with some friends) and wanted to write me a letter. I will be treasuring this indefinitely.

(Gold star to anyone - other than skh or Kimmy - who knows what the post title is from.)

benaiah vs. david

I have been informed quite a few times that my blog is a little lopsided -more pictures of Calvin, less of Maggie and more stories about Maggie, less of Calvin. I have thought about this quite a bit, and this is my conclusion...it is true, and I don't know why. Maybe I'm trying to stop the unstoppable truth that the first child has more pictures than the subsequent children. (By the way, I'm not even close with Calvin - I think I photographed each hour of Maggie's first year and a half.) Maybe I am just currently enthralled by Calvin's white halo of hair...it's the only angelic thing about him. I don't really know, but here's another story about Maggie to push the blog even further out of balance.

Here is a (sort of) recent piece of Maggie's Sunday School "art"... it is appropriately titled "Benaiah Dot-to-Dot". Apparently the green and orange crayons were available that day. (For those of you not up on your flannelgraphs, Benaiah was David's "mighty man".)



When I asked Maggie what the things were on either side of Benaiah, she told me they were his weapons. I asked her what kind of weapons, and she told me - spears. Then she told me that David "did fighting" also, but he used different weapons than Benaiah. When I asked what his weapons were, her answer was "oh, he used golf clubs".

I'm really not sure what to say about that.

kids in the sprinkler

We've been experiencing some very nice weather here for the past few days, which resulted in some sprinkler play time in our yard.

Here Calvin is avoiding the squishy grass - he got over this aversion quickly, though. Maggie thought the whole thing was great. (Yes, they both own swimsuits, but this was spur of the moment, people!)



Here, apparently, we are experimenting with the sprinkler as a drinking fountain and a hair washing station.



And, of course, anything that Calvin gets involved in has to incorporate a beloved "dodo".

kids in a van

One of my favorites from the cell phone genre - this is from our California trip in February, but I still wanted to post it.

betcha didn't know...

that my Dad was 18 months old when he first met Tom Pennington...


(Ok, I admit that this post is a little bit obscure for most of you. However, if you know Tom Pennington, it should be pretty funny. Or weird.)

what to do while stuck in a jogging stroller

Spend the entire 30 minutes picking lint from between your toes...

look out, sucka!

We have a very nice teller working in the drive-through portion of our bank. Her name is Susan, and she always asks how many little ones I have in the back of the van and sends the appropriate amount of lollipops with my receipt. Last week was the first time I actually let Calvin have his designated lollipop. I haven't in the past because I wasn't sure I could trust him to not rub the wet candy all over his face, hands, shirt and car seat. I also wasn't sure I could trust him to just lick it instead of bite off pieces that he could possibly choke on. Apparently, I was right not to trust him (don't worry, he didn't choke), but he did enjoy the process of eating his first lollipop.