Christmas morning...

Christmas morning was a very busy day... Santa did indeed make it to the wahl household, which was kind of surprising, beings most of us were not very good all year! (just teasing) But seriously, is the big jolly fellow lowering his standards?!!? only time will tell...

cal got most of the things he had asked for and a little bit more... he wanted geo-trax (check!), a tractor with a pig (check!), coloring or paint supplies (check!), underwear (check!), and cars (check, check!)

He got a power wheels, which he already had trolling the house before I even got home from work, and a remote control jeep, lots of play-doh (YAY!) and some treats in his stocking... plus a new power toothbrush... he loves to brush his teeth now!

a very prosperous morning for the little man

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve is finally here. cal is very excited for what will happen tonight and in the morning. We, of course, being the little family of procrastinators that we are, put off making our cookies until the last possible second, so we spent the evening making cookies for santa and getting the carrots ready for the reindeer...

We decorated the cookies (calvin was the sprinkle-man, now wasn't that grand!) and put out a plate with milk for santa... then it was off to bed.

Then mommy was off to work! (it is crazy to work nights, but it is kind of nice because I swear cal thinks I never go to work, he thinks I am always home for him!)

Cal's christmas play

This really is the funniest thing, but it so hard to explain. I wish I could upload the video from calvin's first play, because I am sure it would win some kind of silly little kid award. calvin's preschool class (and the school that it is held in) had a christmas play and cal's class was the animals at the zoo. they were told to dress as some animal, and luckily cal had an old chicken costume that we were able to use. unfortunately, the stage (where they were singing) had two very large big screen TVs as well. well, if you know cal, you know he is intrigued by any TV that he is on, and the bigger the better, as far as he is concerned.

The entire time the kids were on stage, cal was facing the big screens (NOT the audience, as I am sure he was instructed). and when the kids had to make their respective "animal noises" you can hear cal in the background saying (what do you think?) no not bock bock bock, like a chicken, or even cock a doodle doo, like even a rooster... NO...

he would scream "Chicken-a-woo, chicken-a-woo!!! I don't even know where he got this! so funny. in the above pic, you can see cal, as the kids are supposed to be exiting the stage, staring at the big screen with his hands behind his back, admiring himself. He is in the white chicken costume with orange chicken legs

Calvin loves Christmas (trees)

This month has been rather silly, as cal thinks it is his duty to regularly have his picture taken either under or in front of the christmas tree. He will come running to me with the camera and say "take picture of me wit tree, momma..."



After which it is my duty to jump and do exactly as he requests! :)




He has also started to grow quite bossy, which, since he is expecting a younger sibling soon, I think is incredibly appropriate. I always thought my older sister was very bossy too!




crazy loon...

Christmas party...

Cal got to celebrate christmas with his speech class tonight and SANTA was there!!!

We were looking forward to seeing his reaction to talking to santa, since we have been really pumping him up for it this year. You know, the old "Santa is watching" or "better be good or else Santa may skip over you" or "you have to tell Santa what you want or else he may not know what to get you" routine.

Well, it appears to have worked! He sat pretty decently on Santa's lap and told him exactly what he wanted. ("Geo-trax, geo-trax, geo-trax!") Of course, he wouldn't really look him in the eye, but what can I say, that big guy is pretty intimidating! then he got a small gift from santa.

There was also lots of craft projects to partake in, which, if you don't know Calvin, this is one of his favorite past-times... coloring, crafty type activities. So cal was a pretty happy guy!

More mail for cal

Cal got another letter in the mail yesterday... he loves getting stuff just for him! Adam's aunt heidi and uncle john spoil him. they sent him a nice little happy thanksgiving letter... what a sweet surprise! thanks aunt heidi and uncle john!!! Happy thanksgiving to you too!

Holiday festivities...

The greenhouse in town, Doebel's, has an annual petting zoo along with lots of other scheduled events during the holiday season. Today was an ice carving, that I thought cal would enjoy...

I think he actually enjoyed the petting zoo more, but the ice carving was interesting to watch, nonetheless... they carved several christmas trees and a frosty snowman...

there was a sign on the door to the petting zoo that said, "please don't chase the animals..." I had to laugh as soon as I saw this, I know my son. He just HAD to get his hands on those chickens and ducks!

Of course, they all waddled too fast for him.

then they had some kind of deep-fried waffles just before you left. cal helped himself to 3 or 4. he thought the snowman bench was there for him to sit on.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We don't really have any pictures from the day, but we did want to say that we definitely have a lot to be thankful for this year!

I, for one, am thankful for my family, and all of the things that they do for me, mostly without even asking. I am grateful to my wonderful husband and all of his easy-going, goes-without-saying ways... My friends, who are always there for me, and my God, who keeps giving me miracles everyday that some people are never fortunate enough to experience.

AND, I am extremely thankful for my funny little boy, who is (sometimes) willing to pose for silly little pictures... and sometimes those pictures will help you make a pretty big announcement!

Yes, he is going to be a big brother! Some of you may already know, but here it is, the official announcement. We are due on the 5th of May (Cinco de Mayo)... and I say, what better reason to celebrate with a margarita!!

And now... what are YOU thankful for? Happy Thanksgiving to you all. Hopefully I will get to see you soon, before the next big thing arrives!

Brooke's First Birthday

It doesn't seem possible that it has been a year already, but my young cousin, Krystle's baby Brooke is now a year old! We celebrated her birthday today as well...

We realized that Cal and Zac needed some outside running time after they started running circles around my aunt's house, where the party was held. Don't worry, Brooke held her own as well and was chasing them in circles too!

Here they are trying to throw leaves at me outside



and of course, the birthday girl, playing with her new toys!

Ayden's Birthday party

My cousin has just opened up a new play place in Fremont called Journey's. It is a great place to have birthday parties and this weekend we got to celebrate Ayden's birthday there.

Cal and Zac loved jumping around on all of the big toys... AND they have rooms in the back to have your party in!

You can see zac and cal sneaking tastes of the cake and then proceeding to put frosting on each other... boys will be boys, won't they?!? We will have to go back to Journey's soon!

Halloween at gramma and boppa's house

With all of the excitement surrounding halloween, we never had time to make a trip to fremont to celebrate with our families. We finally had a chance today to go and celebrate halloween and trick or treat at gramma and boppa brandt's house.

Of course, cal loves visiting gramma and boppa's, who wouldn't with 3 uncles to love and play with you and have all to yourself while you are there! and there are always good treats to be had, and different toys, which, in a 2 year olds mind, can make any bland day grander!

uncle aaron is always up for a game of rough and tumble on the floor...

PUMPKINS!!

Time for our annual festive halloween pumpkins...

calvin had a good time this year actually helping us carve them (with safe cutters, of course) and also making his very own pumpkins with some pieces that you just pushed into the pumpkin to make faces. it was very fun...

when we were done, we had a lot of pumpkins to display on our front porch.

I don't know if you can tell from the pics, but cal's pumpkin actually has little blue glowing hands on either side of him... such a funny little addition!

Trick or Treat-ing

Today was the trick or treat day in clyde... of course, cal had to be in a pretty ornery mood, so it was interesting to say the least. But here are a few pics from the day...

Some times he would just straight up refuse to walk up to the houses (hey, no skin off my back, not like we NEED candy in the house)

and other times he would get angry and refuse to even walk in between the houses, and let me tell you, he is getting far too heavy for me to be carrying him all over the place! we went with the morgan's, grayson was dressed as a chicken...

He was a pretty cute little "dino," as he was calling himself. I believe it was actually supposed to be a dragon costume though. nonetheless... very cute

Favorite pasttime...

Just a vision of cal... in the process of his absolutely favorite pasttime.

We have a hard time getting him away from the crayons and coloring books sometimes. He loves to color so very much. Of course, he is also a big fan of breaking crayons and what not, but most of the time he is just coloring with them. I am getting a little tired of cleaning up crayon paper all over my floor, BUT, I wouldn't trade that for anything when he hands me his next masterpiece. I will have to post some pictures of some of his pieces of work on the blog in the future, and you can all see just what a good color-er he is really becoming.

Pumpkin Farm

Calvin's speech class took a trip to the pumpkin farm today... What an experience!

There were lots of farm animals there to feed and check out. There was even a goat enclosure where they would climb high ladders just to get their food! Calvin of course loved the pumpkins the very most. This time of year, that is all you will hear in the back seat of the car is "Look mama, pumpkins!" then he will proceed to (try) to count them all whenever we see them. In a typical 10 minute car ride, you may hear this proclamation at least 25 times... sometimes more!

Ah, to be the mother of a toddler, ain't it grand?!? We each got to pick out our very own pumpkin to take home with us, of course cal picked out his own and then proceeded to pick out mine as well...

They also handed out coloring books when we got done with our wagon ride back to the pumpkin patch, which cal was pretty ecstatic about.