Soccer Wisdom

Now that Calvin's first soccer season has officially ended, it's nice to look back on some of the things he has learned:

No matter what the girls think, sports should always be taken seriously.


When surrounded by enemies, just push harder.

There might be a future in motivational speaking.

This will come back to haunt me.

Penalties happen.

Noah kind of looks like Alfred Hitchcock.

Headbands make you look really cool.

Gold is a sweet, sweet thing.


Play hard, nap hard.

After Trick-or-Treating

After the boys had completely worn themselves out trick-or-treating (tiring, yet rewarding work for little boys), we thought that bedtime - for once - would be easy.

• Removed the face paint and costumes
• Dished out allotted candy ration for night
• Hid the rest of the candy
• Brushed teeth
  
• Pajamas on
• In bed, lights out
• Started a movie with hopes of few interruptions
  

Hours later, after not having heard anything throughout the movie, RB went to check in on the boys. Noah was shirtless, as always, but asleep. Calvin, on the other hand, was fully awake, sitting up in bed.

RB: Calvin, it's so late, what are you doing still awake?

Calvin: Not eating that candy (pointing to a round object covered by his blanket).

RB then uncovered the once full trick-or-treating bag of candy and noticed the chocolate covered fingers, mouth, and sheets of our little boy. He then asked where all the wrappers were and Calvin slyly pointed under his bed.

I'm a little concerned about what's going to happen when he's smart enough not to give himself away. He's sneakier than we thought. Not to mention this behavior was once again reinforced due to RB's inability to refrain from laughing at this sequence of events. And for those keeping track, this isn't the first time Calvin has been busted in bed with chocolate.

Pumpkins, Ghosts, and CANDY

Since none of our Missouri pumpkins made the trip back to Ohio, we paid another visit to a pumpkin patch. Luckily, this process never grows old to Calvin.

Our dear friend Alex and his girlfriend, Meghan, came down for the weekend to join in the festivities (Calvin loves Alex, "even if his favorite team is the cubs"). They both proved to be valuable pumpkin picking advisers and very talented carvers as well.


Halloween night was, of course, one of the best nights ever for our two little sweet-toothed boys. Up until a few weeks ago, I was a little concerned about the costumes that Calvin was requesting. He seemed dead set on being Optimus Prime.
Granted, it would probably be a big improvement in the "cool" factor from last year's Halloween, but a little daunting for a mommy who is in charge of making the actual costumes.

So when Calvin announced after watching "Charlie Brown and the Great Pumpkin" that he would like to be a ghost, I piled the boys in the car and took them to pick out their white sheets before they had a chance to change their minds... luckily Noah is content to do anything like Calvin for the moment.

So here are our little ghosts. Unfortunately, the pictures didn't turn out that great as the boys had very little patience for smiling before the trick-or-treating.

I wish you all could have seen the boys' faces as they walked from door to door collecting their precious candy. I guarantee it would have put a smile on your face as well.

Little Rascals

I've been gone for a while doing a rotation up in Michigan. This week is nice because I have no responsibilities and can stay at home with the boys. I've missed out on the daily goings-on with the little guys. For example...

Calvin just came up to me and said:

"Dad, I did my homework and all of my stuff, so Mom said I can watch a show. Please put on Little Rascals."

Before I could respond, he continued:

"And if you don't put on Little Rascals I'll... [here he paused as I turned to look at him] ... not do anything bad, but I'll keep asking you and asking you and asking you."

Noah waddled out of the crib after his nap and came up to me and said, "Daddy... really... really... really... hungry... cake."

They're my boys all right.

The Pumpkin Fairy

While in Missouri, Oma took the boys to a pumpkin patch. Noah, never one for listening much anyway, needed no instruction and immediately marched right over to the pumpkins and began inspecting...

...eventually he found one

...and Uncle Willie found a few more.

Here is how you get a pumpkin picked by Uncle Sidney safely home:

While at the patch, we had a wonderful visit from the Pumpkin Fairy (aka Mrs. Johnson). The boys were showered with bags FULL of goodies and huge jars of animal crackers. The fairy also told them a wonderful story that Calvin still talks about involving a magic "pumpkin power" ring that can turn all the pumpkins to life.

Though Noah listened skeptically, all the other little boys completely bought it.

enjoying their goodies:

the proud pickers

Got it?

Last night we all went to the park for an evening kite-flying/frisbee throwing/ball chasing/enjoy the nice weather outing. Right about sundown, as we were getting ready to leave Calvin noticed a young couple (very obviously on a date) and some random third wheel girl arrive with their own frisbee. Calvin made a beeline towards them and I arrived just in time to hear this exchange:

Calvin: "Hi guys... I mean, hi friends."
Random Third Wheel: "Hi there!"
Calvin: "I'm Calvin. I know, You (motioning to Third Wheel) can play with me, and You (girl on date) can play with your brother."


Calvin, facilitating hookups since 2004.

Air Show

Calvin's little friend, whom he lovingly calls "Noahcrockett", invited us to a local air show. The boys, big and small, thoroughly enjoyed it. We will definitely be checking more of these out in the future.


They of course start off with their usual trick of falling asleep 5 minutes before we get there (yes, Noah fell asleep mid-granola bar).

it didn't take them long to wake up...

RB managed to get some neat shots of a few planes and I tried to recall everything I learned from TopGun to answer Calvin's questions. I'm pretty sure this one was the MiG.

The very loud F-16, which Calvin was certain was going to start dropping bombs and managed to convince the rest of the little boys of it as well.


our little "IceMan"

the insane "Wing Walker"

Soccer Camp

Calvin went to soccer camp this summer.
He absolutely loved it.

Running onto the field for the first time...

Noah was a little upset when he found out that
two year-olds weren't allowed on the field.

...he cheered up quickly when he found out he could still get a drink of powerade anyway.

Classic Calvin. How many little kids have been conned this time into listening to whatever it is he felt necessary to share?

Calvin has waited for a long time to finally be on a "team" of his own. He had asked daily as the camp drew closer and closer what color he would be and who the bad guys were. This was taken moments before Calvin was reprimanded for trash-talking to the green team- let's just say it happened more than once.

Thanks to daddy's previous training, Calvin had an idea of what to do on the field.

This is Ellie. Being the fastest out of the age group and also understanding why she was on the field (see boy on right), she immediately became Calvin's nemesis.

I was a little concerned about how Calvin would react to the tough competition. Here is a previous example of how he has coped with feeling threatened:

The first time sweet Ellie ran past Calvin en route to a goal, our little boy decided he'd go for the tackle instead... luckily he missed and the coaches/mother intervened. As it turns out, she is the daughter of the ex-european professional soccer player who ran the entire camp. Way to go Calvin.

Noah decided he didn't need a coach to show him how to kick a ball.

The final day of camp, they rewarded all of the players- and stocky little blonde brothers of players- with popsicles. Nothing can make a hot, sweaty little Calvin happier than a bright red popsicle. Nothing can make him sadder than when it breaks... this sequence of events was hilarious to watch, hopefully you can get the gist of it by the pictures. (click on it to see larger version, grammy)

#1, Calvin's reaction to his popsicle breaking.
#2, Noah gloating that his is still in one piece.
#3, Noah about to dig in.
#4, Karmic retribution.

inside calvin's head

calvin feels the need to narrate his activities of daily living (here as he's running through the house towards the bathroom):

"I have to go to the potty.
..my tummy's about to explode
...explode means blow up
...this is how it starts."
[bathroom door slams shut]

Scarred for life

Noah told us that this year, he just wanted a really low key party to celebrate his second birthday. Uncle Joe was in town and we decided that could cover the guest list.

Noah and Calvin were in charge of decorating the cake and candle placement.

All was well until we got to the lighting candles part. I turned my head for a split second (to blow out the match) and gave Noah just enough time to touch one of the candles.

It was the saddest thing ever to see Noah go from super excited about his cake to completely afraid of it. He howled "hot, hot" through his entire birthday song.

As soon as the flaming torches of death were extinguished and removed, he somehow mustered up enough courage to eat.

And with a little encouragement from "uncky doe" he was back to himself in no time. (Although we were at a friend's birthday party last week and Noah got concerned when he saw the burning candles...)


*** Joe and Noah had a special moment at the pool while the boys were alternating jumping in off the side into their uncle's outstretched arms. Noah decided it would only be fair to give Joe's cell phone and keys - quietly resting on the pool chair - a turn. In an act of surprising agility Joe somehow managed to simultaneously catch, and keep dry, both items - and the chubby little two year old tumbling after. ***

Now that he's two...

he decided that it was time to upgrade from his push scooter to an actual tricycle.

Calvin and Noah are very proud of their big boy bikes.

Uncle Joe trying to show Calvin how to push his bike up from the grass and back onto the path after he had decided to test out the off-roading abilities.