Spending Fast 2012

If you've been reading this blog long, you know I like to challenge myself. I like to do hard things. I feel like doing hard things makes me a better person and helps me discover who I am. It also makes more more creative and happier in life. We can all do hard things. I assume you too will have the same results.

With that, I invite you to join me in the Spending Fast of 2012. This will be the third annual and I'm so excited! Here's how it works. You don't buy anything for the month of February. Okay, there are a few exceptions. You can pay your rent and other bills and you can buy gas. You can also buy food, but you should limit and stretch in this area. For my family of three I spend $50 a week during the Spending Fast. You can choose what works for your family. Also, no eating out.

I'm going to be doing giveaways throughout the month on the Candied Apples blog. Check it out here.

Okay, who's with me?

Jason's Thoughts on Calder

We are in the process of applying to preschools. This is not a fun activity. Each preschool has different requirements and some of them are a little crazy. Like, four page applications, character assessments from friends and teachers, school visits so the school can get to know your kid etc. It's crazy. Of course you have to apply to more than one and jump through all the hoops presented by each one. We are planning on applying to three and hope to get into two so we have a choice. 

On the first application I asked Jason to answer the questions and had to hold back the tears when reading what he wrote. I have always loved the way Jason writes and enjoy reading his work but when it's about our sweet little boy, I love it even more. I thought I would share. 

Jason's thoughts: 

Calder is rarely far from a book.  His days often start with one of his parents reading a book while he eats breakfast, and his days always end with several books while he relaxes and prepares for bed.  On a bright, sunny day, Calder can spend an entire afternoon lying in the sun looking for Waldo or exploring In the Town All Year Round.

When he sets the books down, Calder loves to spend his time engrossed in imagination play.  Many speeding drivers are pulled over by diligent police officers each day, and our couch often doubles as a garbage truck.  A menagerie of cows, donkeys, lions, dragons, and dogs--all of whom look surprisingly like a three-year-old boy to the untrained eye--pass through the living room each week.

Each afternoon, Calder spends an hour of "quiet time" in his room.  He uses that time to create amazing lego structures that stretch towards the sky.  And his musical performances with his drum, harmonica, and accordion make "quiet time" a misnomer.  A sweet, if less-than-pitch-perfect voice, echoes through the house as Calder sings his favorite songs from church and those we sing each evening before he goes to sleep.

Calder does not spend all of his days indoors.  During the summers, he loves to kick his way around the public pool or shout "here I come!" before leaping into the pool (and usually his parents' arms).  In the winter, you will often find Calder at the Wheaton Ice Arena chasing other children around the rink and counting down the minutes until the Zamboni takes the ice.  And every day is a perfect day in Calder's mind to circle the block on his balance bike or race his parents to the corner while laughing uncontrollably.

Calder has always been a surprisingly observant child.  As soon as he started talking, he started pointing out objects that excited him while riding in his car seat.  Often we could not see the dumpster, trash can, or sign Calder asked about.  But we quickly learned not to doubt Calder.  If we looked hard enough, we would often seen the dumpster or trash can tucked into a barely visible alley across the street.

His keen sense of observation is matched only by his sweetness towards others.  He recently learned his mother is pregnant, and ever since he has jealously guarded her sleep.  No longer insistent that she wake up from a weekend nap the second quiet time ends, Calder now attempts to talk his father out of any effort to wake his mother up.  The happiness of his months-from-birth sibling has also become his central concern.  Every decision has to account for whether it would make "the baby" happy.  Calder's compassion extends beyond the happiness of pregnant women and babies.  He frequently consoles friends at church who suffer from separation anxiety when their parents drop them off at Sunday School.  And Calder often thinks about the needs of others, rather than himself, while shopping at the store.  Last month, for example, he insisted on buying a scarf for his father after seeing one at the store and realizing his father did not have one.

That sweetness towards others reflects Calder's most important attribute:  He is almost always smiling and happy.  We cannot think of anyone else we would rather have with us to brighten our days.  We hope that, after you get to know Calder, your teachers and staff will feel the same way.

It's a...

Christmas 2011

We had the most wonderful Christmas this year. Calder is old enough to understand it and was so excited about it. He believes in Santa and was a little worried about the logistics of it. He was mostly worried about whether Santa would know which stocking was his. I obviously need to embroidery our names on the stockings. He asked Jason if he would stay up and wait for Santa and clear up the stocking predicament. 

Jason arranged to have Santa call Calder and talk about his upcoming visit on Christmas eve. It made him so happy. 

On Christmas Eve we went out for breakfast at a cute little diner. I think this will be a new tradition. I love going out to breakfast. I think it is probably my favorite meal to eat out. 

That afternoon we hosted a get together with some family and friends. Two of my cousins (Arn & Erik) live within a few hours of me and another came to DC for Christmas (Inger), so they all came over. We also had some of our favorite friends over, the McAllisters, the Olivers and the Marshalls. There were tons of people but it was perfect. We just had appetizers and desserts. I like that it was low key and so fun. 

That evening we went with the Marshall family to decorate a Christmas tree for the forest animals. We took popcorn and birdseed ornaments that Ariel made. The kids loved it and I'm sure the animals did too. I didn't have any plain popcorn so they got a very healthy mix of Kettle Corn and movie theatre butter. Hopefully we didn't harm any animals, or their hearts. The Marshalls also invited us to dinner. They served food representing each member of the nativity. There was angel hair pasta representing angels, salad with pomegranates representing Mary and fertility, dates representing the wise men and olive soup to represent baby Jesus. I don't remember if there was something for Joseph or the shepherds. It was really fun and I love the idea of having food that represents a person.

Calder woke up at 5:00 on Christmas morning to announce that he saw presents in the living room and that we should open them. So, our day got off to an early start. I don't think he is old enough to understand and agree to the 7:00 rule that my parents had. Especially because he gets up before 7:00 every morning. We are so spoiled and received many heart felt and beautiful gifts.

After opening presents and eating breakfast we went to church. Or at least tried. Calder fell asleep on the way and neither Jason or I wanted to wake him up. So we drove around enjoying this alone together time. It was fun and although I felt bad about not going to church on Christmas it was nice to just sit and talk without interruptions for an hour.

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and playing with new toys. I enjoyed our relaxing Christmas day. I loved having more activities on Christmas Eve and reserve Christmas just for our little family. We had ham, potatoes and green beans for dinner. It was great but I want to switch things up a little next year. I think a more meaningful meal would be good. 

Here are some pictures of the big day.

Baby Name Suggestion

I'm not looking for any. :) I just wanted to share the ones Calder has come up with over the last few weeks.

Girls: Elizabeth, London, Girl Will, Holy Cross (named after the hospital we're delivering at) and my all time favorite America Worker.

Boys: Calger. Yes Calger. He wants a Calder and a Calger.

It's a good thing we don't let three year olds name babies.

Announcement

I have been meaning to announce this for a while but I wanted to catch up on blogging first. So now that I feel caught up, we have news. 

I'm due June 5 and will be 16 weeks on Tuesday! Woohoo. I'll get around to taking a belly picture soon. I know someone will ask for one. :)

Santa

 Calder got to visit Santa twice this year. The first was at the ward Christmas party. For weeks he was talking about what he wanted from Santa. The most common thing was a collection of coloring books. When it got down to the moment to tell Santa what he wanted he told him "a drum". 

Santa was wonderful. He asked if Calder had been a good boy this year. If he helped his parents and picked up his toys. It was really sweet to hear Calder give very serious answers.

The second time he got to visit Santa was at the Ellipse in DC. Every year UL provides Santa's workshop and free pictures with Santa. Calder loved visiting Santa again. This time he stuck with his answer of wanting a drum. Santa asked if he wanted anything else and Calder said "nope, that's it." Can anyone guess what Calder's getting from Santa this year? Our neighbors will be thrilled.

Thanksgiving & Grandma Kate's Visit

 Jason's mom came to play during Thanksgiving this year. It was so fun! We had we had great weather and a wonderful visit. Calder invited each of us to ride the slide with him. (We don't insist he wear a helmet at the playground but he rode his bike there and just didn't want to take it off)

 We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and somehow didn't manage to take any pictures of it. Jason brined and cooked the turkey. It was wonderful.

 The day after Thanksgiving we decorated the tree. Calder loved it this year. He put all his ornaments on the same branch.

 This is Calder drumming on a piece of paper with some wooden spoons. Do you think the kid could use a drum?

And some more drumming. Calder is so creative. He can use just about anything to make a drum or any sort of toy. I love it.

The Move

 This was by far the easiest move we've ever had. I started packing three weeks ahead, which is a little too early. There were long stretches where I couldn't pack any more until the move got closer. Next time I think 10 to 14 days will do. We just moved from one apartment to another apartment in the same building. Thankfully we didn't have to rent a truck or go outside at all. It took 47 minutes from start to finish to get all of our things from one apartment to another. We had wonderful help and it was so easy.

 Here's a little recap of Calder's size from every move we've had since he was born. This was June 2010 when we moved from Columbus, Ohio to Maryland.

And this is from June 2009 when we moved from Chicago to Columbus.

2011 Christmas Card

Here's the Christmas card from this year. I can't get the wording to work out right, so I'll at least get the picture up. This is from our trip to Spain.

Halloween

 For Halloween this year Calder changed his mind about 15 times. At first he wanted to be a garbage man (again) and then he switched to a fireman, then to a few other things. Then he heard his friend Megan was going to be Tigger and he became adamant that he wanted to be Pooh. Thankfully it stuck and we got a costume from the thrift store for $3.00. He loves his costume and really loved having his face painted (thanks Grandma Kate).

 We went to the pumpkin patch to get his pumpkin. He loved walking out to the field and actually picking his pumpkin. He did not love taking the seeds out. He only reached his hand in once. After that he requested a spoon.

 He chose a very traditional triangle eye face.

 At the ward trunk-or-treat he got some vampire teeth. He loved wearing them with his Pooh costume and "scaring" his daddy. I think we have enough candy in our house to last through Easter.

Tonight I took him around to some apartments in our building. He was so brave and said "Trick or Treat" and "Happy Halloween" at every door. He also did all the knocking. That is a big deal for our shy kid. I really appreciate the way our building handles trick or treating. They give everyone signs to hang on the door if they want trick or treaters. If you don't, you just don't hang up the sign. It is so simple. There were quite a few people who participated but not a lot of trick or treaters, so people were excited to see Calder. They gave him two or three pieces at a time. He was thrilled.