our little trooper

This last month was a bit of crazy one. It started off on a high note- Calvin losing not only one, but two teeth in the same week. The tooth-fairy did not disappoint, apparently there's been some major inflation in the value of teeth since my days, and Calvin was ecstatic to add to the growing contents of his buckeye piggy bank.

Things took a turn for the worse after that, as RB came home from being on-call one night to find Calvin crying in bed unable to move his neck. After a CAT scan in the ER, RB's suspicions were confirmed that Calvin had an abscess formed deep in his throat from a strep infection and was on the verge of having his breathing obstructed. He was then admitted and ended up staying in the hospital for six days, having surgery to drain the retropharyngeal abscess.

It definitely was scary for a little while there, but Calvin remained happy and very brave the entire time. Oma and Uncles Louie, Sidney, and Will flew in and really were an amazing help. The hospital placed a Wii in Calvin's room and with that and lots of visitors, he managed to tough it out.

Calvin is now off all antibiotics and has the mischievous gleam back in his eyes. It is a helpless feeling to see your little boy so sick and we are very grateful for the wonderful care that was given to him in the hospital and by family and friends.

Roses are elmo, violets are cookie

Malcolm is obsessed with Elmo. He is also very fond of coloring. I tried to use this to my advantage and a while back taught him colors according to his beloved sesame street characters. He caught on very quickly that red="elmo", yellow="big bird", and blue="cookie".

Malcolm is also stubborn. Although he now understands perfectly what "red" means, he refuses to say it himself. I've gotten a few strange looks while grocery shopping as I nod and affirm his pointing to blueberries and saying "cookie". Luckily, he's not a fan of Oscar the grouch, so "green" is the only color he'll consent to saying.

knock, knock

This little Noah makes us laugh, despite his jokes.

Noah: knock, knock

Calvin: who's there?

Noah: apple

Calvin: apple who?

Noah: knock, knock

Calvin: who's there?

Noah: orange

Calvin: orange who?

Noah: knock, knock

Calvin: who's there?

Noah: Isn't it good that I didn't say banana?

merry, still

Perhaps our lack of posts can attest to our busy but wonderful holidays.

The boys managed to:

- spend time with all of their grandparents, aunts, and uncles

- ride horses, 4wheelers, canoes, and airplanes

- get showered with more Christmas presents than we ever planned

- now have a little puppy to call their own

meet Bowser...

... Calvin's latest subject of expertise, Noah's basement-running training partner, and Malcolm's new best friend/archnemesis, depending on the moment.

Happy Halloween

Calvin wanted to carve something "really cool," while Noah giggled uncontrollably when, in his words, he found "the weirdest pumpkin" in the patch.

There is no doubt in my mind that this Halloween will be remembered by Calvin and Noah as one of the greatest holidays ever. Between parties, parades, and trunk-or-treats, they amassed an INSANE amount of candy. They were both very pleased with their costumes and received all the admiration and adulation I'm sure they expected.

The only downside, according to our little Mario, was the masked candy givers. Noah decided it wasn't worth the risk to reach into any bowl of a masked stranger- no matter how yummy their treats might look.

First Day of School/ "I have no other choice"

(Sadly, this is as good as it gets when RB's not home to take the pictures)

Calvin's first day of school was, according to him, "awesome". To celebrate, I let him play on the playground afterwards with a few of his new classmates.

I was busy retrieving Malcolm from his perch halfway up the giant slide ladder, when I heard,

"IT'S A CRICKET!"

"NO, KATYDID!"

"NO, CRICKET!"

Apparently the true identity of a small green insect on the swings was causing problems between Calvin and another little boy.

Later that evening in the car, RB and I overheard Calvin talking to himself. Evidently he wasn't quite over the bug incident:

"I have no other choice. Next time I see that boy I'm going to verse him in battle. It's the only way. It was tied three-three... it's the only way." (I have no idea where the scoring came from.)

Maybe we should start focusing more on Calvin's conflict resolution skills.

Summer, we're sad to see you go.