Grandma Kate's Visit

 We just finished a wonderful week with Jason's mom. It is always fun to have her come visit. She took us to the National Aquarium which Calder loved because he hasn't ever been to an aquarium before. Honestly, it wasn't worth the $10 per person that it costs. It is really small.

 Grandma Kate bought Calder a fish. He loved showing his new fish "Oriel" all the other fish.

 At the building museum Calder gave Grandma Kate and I the job of building him a really tall house. He loved it.

 One of my favorite parks in the area is Wheaton Regional Park. I love it. They have a carousel and a little train to ride. The tickets are affordable and it is just a lot of fun.

We also went to Good Stuff. We take everyone there after we take them on the Supreme Court tour. I know I've blogged about it before. Calder even knows we go to Good Stuff after the SC. And he gets a toasted marshmallow shake.

Fire Station 1

We had a wonderful trip to the fire house for play group last week. It was awesome! The firemen were so sweet.

 We had such a great turn out.

 We celebrated Ciedra's birthday in the back of an SUV because it was raining. A lot. There were cupcakes and singing. It was so much fun.

As soon as we got home Calder had to practice his fireman skills. There was a lot of pretend 911 calling and stop, drop and rolling.

Megan & Family

 My sister Megan and her family came to visit a few weeks ago. We had a wonderful time! They stayed in the guest suite in our building which was perfect. Calder struggled with sharing his toys but was bummed when they went home. We did all sorts of fun things. Basically they wanted to do kid friendly things, so Calder loved it. We went to the zoo, the temple visitors center, the Museum of American History, the National Mall and the Building Museum. It was an awesome week.

 Since there were too many people to fit in my car we took the metro everywhere. Calder loved taking the metro to church. It took twice as long as driving but it was a fun adventure.

Thanks for coming Mike, Megan, Anessa and Jaelyn! We had a fun time and can't wait to see you next month!

Haircut Party

 Calder and his friend Abraham both had very long hair and it was causing a lot of sweaty heads. So, Abraham's mom and I decided to throw a hair cutting party for the boys. We let them watch a movie and eat candy while we cut their hair. This is a good before picture. The boys spent the morning running around a very warm park. They got dirty and sweaty and then we took them to Costco. Oh and don't you love Calder's shorts? I just got them at the thrift store. You can see more pictures here.

 Look at the fear in his eyes. Calder hates the clippers but his hair was so long I had to use it for the back and sides. I used scissors on the top.

 Abraham's mom did his and I think they both look really good! Calder loves that it is cooler on his head. He loves that he can spike his hair again.

Happy Mother's Day

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and those of you who are mothers felt celebrated and loved. Heck, I hope all of you, mothers or not, felt celebrated and loved this weekend. 

I had a fabulous weekend. I got to sleep in on Saturday and then took my little boy to National Train Day at Union Station. It was awesome. We watched demonstrations with celebrity Chefs Michel Richard and Gerard Bertholon. They made us chocolate mousse and it was delicious. Calder's favorite thing was probably the model train exhibits. There were two large displays that he could get right up to and were right at his height. He also liked the professional hula hoop performances. Who knew there were such things but these girls were good! It looks like National Train Day is a traveling thing. They are going to Chicago, New York, Philadelphia, LA and a few other locations, so check it out.

Today was also wonderful I woke up to an awesome water color picture the boys made yesterday and a very large pot of white chrysanthemums. I love them! Hopefully they stay alive.  Calder was so excited about the picture and I absolutely love it. I can't wait to frame it and put it above my desk. 

Our ward handed out chocolate at church, which was wonderful. And Calder went to nursery with enthusiasm. I couldn't ask for a better gift. 

After nap time today we went to Downtown Silver Spring to meet Tow Mater, Lightning McQueen and the new car Finn. They are here visiting to promote Cars 2, which comes out in June. We got pictures with each of the and hopefully they will be up tomorrow so I can post them. Calder hasn't seen the movies but he is really into Tow Mater and thinks the movie is all about him. He calls McQueen "Mater's Car". 

What's Going On?

 We've been having a great time lately! I feel good (finally) and the weather is beautiful (finally). I have been trying to have more days where Calder chooses our activities. This is us riding the purple bus that goes all over Silver Spring. It is free and it goes from our house to his favorite park. We ride it a lot. I don't honestly think it is much faster, but Calder loves it and that is all that matters.

 

This is Calder's favorite park. There are so many things to do here and it is always clean. We've met so many nice kids and moms here. 

And this is Calder and his friend Jack playing in the sand box. Jack is one of Calder's dearest friends and they play so well together. I love how they work together to make a sand castle or fix a problem. I hope they can be friends for a long long time.

I'll leave you with some funny quotes from Calder. 

"You're the best mommy in the whole wide city!"

Around 10:00 this morning Calder said: "I need my daddy because I love him so much."

On the way to the pharmacy.
Calder: I want a treat at the pharmacy.
Me: Okay, what kind of treat would you like?
Calder: Chocolate milk and a bike seat.

"So, boys have a penis and girls wear tights, is that right?"

"My tummy told me we are going to make pancakes and I'm excited"

"Someday when we're married we will have a hole in our ceiling". (explanation: both of Calder's favorite friends have holes in their ceiling. It drives him nuts that we don't. One is an attic and the other one is roof access in an apartment.)

 

Grandpa John

 Jason's dad came to visit us this last week and we had a wonderful time. Calder loves all of his grandparents and gets so excited when they come to visit. It's nice to see other people adoring and doting over your kid as much as you do. 

We took Grandpa John to the zoo. Calder was determined to walk the whole way but basically made it about half way before asking to be carried. He understood that if I had to carry him he would have to ride in the stroller the next time we went to the zoo.

Grandpa treated us to ice cream. Calder slowly licked his until the very end. He doesn't like to bite ice cream. He just licks.

We went to quite a few fun museums and had a good time. John also went to quite a few on his own as well as oral arguments at the Supreme Court. 

We went out to dinner on our way home from the Native American museum at this awesome Mexican restaurant. We had an assortment of tacos and Calder had quesedilla. In fact, it worked out that he had that three days in a row. Oops. On the way back to the metro after the restaurant we stopped at Red Velvet. It is a great little cupcakery on 12th St. in DC. Calder is a die hard chocolate fan and chose chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. We ate before we got on the train and as we stood there tons of people laughed out loud at his face. He was embarrassed at first but then thought it was pretty funny.

And of course we went to visit the Easter bunny. Calder was excited to see him but refused to smile for his picture. Now he carries around the picture and tells everyone about it.

Thanks for coming John! We had a great time!

Ikea Kids Day

A few weeks ago Calder and I went to Ikea for lunch. We didn't know it before we got there, but it was Kid's Day. They had free lunch for the kids as well as a bunch of craft projects and face painting. Calder decorated an apron and couldn't wait to get his face painted. 

He told the face painter that he wanted a garbage truck. She couldn't do that and suggested he ask for something else. So, he asked for a giraffe (his favorite animal). She said she couldn't do that either. We went through just about every farm animal after that and she turned each of those down too. She tried to talk us in to Batman but since Calder doesn't know who that is I didn't really want that. Finally we agreed on a tiger. She I have to hand it to her, she can do a great tiger. 

 Calder was perfect while she painted. He didn't move and he closed his eyes when she asked him to.

Latest Happenings

This is how Calder chose to watch General Conference. I'm impressed how long he could sit and listen. Of course he did do some playing too but he was really into sitting on his stool right in front of the computer.

This is my new sweet ride. I love it and found it at the thrift store for $39! It was a total steal and works great. I also just purchased an iBert on Craigslist for $30 so Calder and I can go for rides together.

We had a great time at the zoo a while ago. Calder asked me on the way there if I wanted to meet HIS animals. He was implying that all the animals at the zoo are all his. 

This morning we had the funniest conversation. Here's how it went.

Calder: I want to mumble  (we couldn't figure out what he was saying)
Jason: You want to what?
Calder: I want to mumble
Jason: What?
Calder: I don't know what I'm talking about.

Ice Skating Again

 Ever since we went ice skating last time Calder has been asking if he can take his friends Simon and Jack with him next time. He was so excited that they got to come with us!

 Unfortunately Simon and Jack weren't as into ice skating as Calder is but I think in the end they still had a good time.

 The highlight was watching the zamboni clean up the ice after we skated. All three boys were giddy with excitement as they watched him circle around the ice. Calder asked about a brush on the front of the zamboni and why the guy didn't use it. I told him I didn't know but we would look it up at home. When we looked it up we couldn't find any pictures of a zamboni with a brush on the front but we did find diagrams with all the parts listed. He has been into learning the parts of a zamboni ever since. He also likes to watch you tube videos of zambonies circling the ice.

I know he doesn't look very happy in this picture but it's not because he's ice skating. It's really because he hates having his picture taken. He is his father's son.

Castellaw Family Visit

 My family came to visit this last week and we had a wonderful time! I had a hard time knowing what they would want to do, so we planned as much as we could into their week long visit. We started out seeing the National Mall and the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We stopped for lunch by the Washington Monument. You may be wondering why Calder isn't in the above picture.

 He was off doing this. The weather was amazing and he could run around in short sleeves. This hasn't been true since, but it was sure nice while it lasted.

 Then he did this. Thankfully Jayme was a good sport and didn't mind that Calder wanted to eat his lunch on top of him.

 We scheduled a Capitol tour for my parents and Jayme. Calder and I went to the Library of Congress while we waited for them. The Capitol is great but not something Calder wanted to do twice. He would rather run around and I had food in my bag that I didn't want to throw away. (The Capitol is the only place we've encountered where you are strictly prohibited from bringing food or water.)

 Calder and Jayme sitting on the Supreme Court steps waiting for Jason to come out.

 We ran daddy to lunch at Good Stuff. Oh and it is good stuff! I can't wait to go back and try the milkshakes! This is just a warning, if you come visit us I may drag you to Good Stuff. It is also nice that it's close enough that Jason can meet us for lunch and then go back to work.

 We went to the Air & Space Museum.

 Read a lot of books. Curious George (the complete set) still being a favorite.

 We celebrated my mom's birthday with mandarine orange cake. It was amazing.

 This is at the Kensington Antique Row. It was a fun place to look around.

And of course we went to the Building Museum. I think the security guards know us by name.

I am so glad my family could come and experience this great city and the nation's capitol. Calder was thrilled to have so many people willing to read to him and play with him. I wish they could have stayed longer and we could have done more, but I guess they'll just have to come back!