Calvin talking, Alden reading

Calvin is our sweet little boy, he is the best little snuggler. He loves getting peoples attention, and then waving to them, smiling at them, or giving them five.  He loves going to school each day because all of the big kids love him!  He has just taken off saying a few little words.  He surprises me often with a new word.  For example when we were trick or treating, towards the end we let him go up to some houses, I was surprised to see how excited he was to knock on the door and then pick out a candy.  After I told Alden to say "Thank You", Alden didn't say anything but cute little Calvin looked up at the man and said "shank you".  I had no idea he could say that.  He then did that at the next few homes.

Alden is also loving school and loves when he can come to mommies class.  It has been fun for me to see his and all of the other preschoolers and kindergartners progress.  Alden is now reading some words, which is exciting for me to see.  He has been sounding out some words for some time but couldn't blend the sounds.  For example the other night we were reading a book that has a picture of an animal with the words underneath.  He would sound out the words and then say what they were, like dog, cat, cow,..ext.  But then he came to Hen, he doesn't really know that word, so he sounded it out correctly and then excitedly said, "cock-o-doodle-doo" so excited that he thought had read the word. He used to do that often where he would sound out a word correctly and then would say something completely different.  Now he will often figure out what the word really says or will at least think it is a rhyming word. He still only reads a little bit but still it is fun to see him read a word or two!

Halloween and other things

One of the last days that it was warm, Austen put up the tent in the back yard for him and Alden to camp out.  Alden and Calvin loved running around in it. Once Alden got tired enough, he wanted to come inside and sleep in his bed. In this regard he definitely takes after his Mom.

Alden sleeping picture--Alden loves his BYU hat so the other night he insisted that he needed it to fall asleep!

Alden and Calvin both loved all of the Halloween festivities.  Alden was a little pirate this year and Calvin used our monkey costume.  Alden remembered Halloween from last year and was super excited about getting to go trick or treating again, both him and Calvin brought home plenty of candy to last us a long time.