Calvin's birthday!

Calvin had a great birthday! He didn't ask for much, all he wanted was a watch and some paper.  He got both and was thrilled.  He is also got this place where his trains go. Calvin is really easy going and easy to please.  He was excited about everything on his birthday.  Everyone did a great job trying to help him have a good day.  Alden especially had made and bought many presents for Calvin.  One of which was a box of cereal that Calvin loved!

 Alden bought this for Calvin with his own money which was most of all the money he had at the time.

 Calvin wanted an ice cream cake with m and M's on top.

Calvin with his superman watch. He loves that it lights up! On Calvin's birthday we had preschool/ school in the morning then had time to play in the afternoon.  We made sure to go swimming and then we had bean and cheese burritos for dinner.  Calvin loves bean and cheese burritos!

Calvin

If you were to ask Calvin what he likes to do most he would most likely tell you that he likes to play cars and blocks.  There are few days that Calvin does not ask to get out the cars and blocks.  Almost everyday it is the first thing Calvin will ask to do.  He will do all sorts of things with his cars and blocks.  Sometimes he makes roller coasters, towers, or tracks like these ones here.
Lately he has been making these long race tracks, it is fun to see all of the different things he makes and thinks up to do with these two simple toys.  The first time Calvin made one of these tracks Alden was so excited and jumped right in to play with Calvin and of course Alden took pictures.  (I actually have close up pictures of each piece of each of these tracks..which might look the same but have different infrastructures if you look closely.)

Calvin is also often my little peacemaker.  He enjoys playing on his own but if Alden wants to do something with him he will almost always be up to playing whatever Alden wants to play.  Lately he has also become better and better at finding what Benson likes to play and playing that with him.
The other way in which Calvin is my peacemaker is that he doesn't mind what treat he gets or if he gets one or what present..things like that are not important to him.
For example the other day for preschool we painted sun catchers and after the preschool kids had picked the ones they wanted there was a rocket left and flowers.  Calvin had told me lots of times he wanted to paint the rocket and he got to pick before Alden because Alden isn't one of the preschool kids.  He knew Alden wanted to rocket so he picked the flowers just so Alden would be happy.  He does things like that all of the time.  People are much more important than things and he demonstrates that often in his choices.

Calvin biking

Calvin has been using training wheels since we switched bikes in August. Biking has been more of a chore for him since then.  He has needed a lot of help and it generally hasn't been something he has liked to do much.  The other week one of the training wheels fell off and I decided to take them off, I should have done it a long time ago or maybe never put them on in the first place.
He took off riding great as soon as I took them off and then just wanted to ride his bike all over! He will often ask to go out and ride his bike and wants to be the last one riding when we come inside.

These are just a couple of random pictures from the last couple of weeks.

Alden's teeth just keep coming out! He has now lost three and there are a couple more that are ready to come!

Basketball!

Alden and Calvin had planned to do baseball this season but there wasn't enough people signed up so they moved us to basketball! It has worked out really well because both boys have been able to be on different teams this time around but they practice at the same place and same time. I am not big into watching sports...basically I don't watch sports at all but I do love watching them play especially their age group.  In Calvin's group it is not uncommon to see someone drop the ball but everyone just lets them pick it up and continue.  Also I have seen players hand the ball nicely to others on the other team just because they almost caught it.  This is my type of sport, they are all just being kind and helping each other learn to play!
By Alden's age group the kids are starting to get competitive, I almost wish Alden could play with the younger group where they are so giving and kind.

These are just a few random pictures of my sweet little boys! Alden has now lost 3 teeth and has a couple more that will probably fall out any day.  Calvin is growing up so quickly, he is becoming so independent in so many ways, in preschool he can do everything on his own now and never needs help from me.  He can read and blend words all on his own and enjoys doing so!  Benson is also learning and changing a lot as well.  His vocabulary is taking off and his words are becoming clearer and clearer.  He even says Dada or Daddy now!!! (Daddy has always been Nana, we would correct him but he insisted it was nana, it wasn't that he couldn't say dada because he would use that for other things but Daddy was Nana.  Just the other day he said Dada for Daddy and will sometimes say Daddy now.  He will often still say Nana first but then will say how he means Daddy.) Benson loves gorillas and will talk about them all of the time, he also loves to sing songs, read stories, play outside, and be with Mommy.  It is fun to see how much he is learning, He loves to write as he has for a long time and will draw lots of circles and lines and sometimes balloons.  He knows some of his colors and some of his letters and just seems thirsty for knowledge.

It is fun to be part of seeing them learn and grow.

Usually we have an hour break in between Calvin and Alden's basketball games.  We have done different things each week.  First week we visited the DI, the second week we tried out a new library by where they play, these are pictures of them there, and this week we went to market on the move.

Calvin's birthday!

 This was the day before Calvin's birthday. I had the boys get on their matching birthday shirts one last time!  This is us in the morning during school. I decided to homeschooling Alden this year. I'm glad I did! It has been a lot of fun, it's especially fun to see how much Benson gets into it. He sure is a little cutie!
As for Alden I am glad we are doing homeschooling because it allows him more play time, being a young 1st grader I'm glad he gets that.  Also it's given me more time to work with him and already he is reading a lot better!

 Three handsome boys! It's fun to watch them learn and grow but also crazy how fast it all happens!

 We started Calvin's birthday celebration the night before his birthday. We knew that the night of was going to be full of a few different things and that Austen would be heading back home so we decided to start celebrating early.
Calvin's big gift was receiving a new bike. (Really it's Alden's old bike but we fixed it up and put training wheels on it and he couldn't have been happier!)
Having pettles really was a new experience and did take some getting used to but Calvin just kept on trying and now his doing quite well with his pettles!
Fun to see him work so hard for this new skill!

 The day before Calvin's birthday I put up the streamers and had balloons ready since we did a lot of the celebrating that day. It was fun to see him come downstairs, so excited to see everything and so excited for his big day!

 The morning of his birthday he opened the last couple gifts. Here he is wearing his 4 yr old shirt, he's been waiting a long time to put on that shirt! I still have a hard time believing my sweet little Calvin is 4 yrs old.

 The day of Calvin's birthday we threw both him and Alden a birthday party. Alden and Calvin are friends with many of the same people and since their birthdays are back to back we decided it would be easiest to do a combined party.
It was things that fly themed. Alden and Calvin are big into making paper airplanes. I am constantly finding paper airplanes everywhere. (It brings back many fond memories of teaching Jr high.. those kids also loved making paper airplay. ;)
Anyways so that is what we did, they colored paper then made their paper airplane. We then played pin the airplane on the runway. After that we took a break for cake and ice cream.
(We did a no gift party which I kind of enjoyed. Mostly we chose to do this because the party was for both Alden and Calvin which would be too much in the way of gifts. I was surprised at how much the boys were for it, they were just excited to have a party and have all their friends over, which is the best part of a party anyways.)

 After cake and ice cream everyone got a rocket and we practiced shooting them and then had contest shooting them off the top of the stairs. Everything turned out really well. It seemed like everyone had a good time and the birthday boys couldn't have been happier!

I have to admit I think I look forward to their birthdays just as much as they do. It is such a joy to see the excitement on their faces!

Building things and other summer games

Calvin above is our good little helper.  He plays along with whatever game Alden has planned for the day.  They make a great little duo.

Benson is eating more and more things which has been really nice.  He loves to feed himself which can be helpful some of the time and makes a huge mess all of the time.  I am amazed how I can usually fill a whole dustpan of food from what has fallen off his tray!

Alden still has been big into building things with cardboard and other things that he pulls out of the recycling bin.  These are a couple of the things that he has made that I remembered to get pictures before he had to clean them up or make something else.  Above and below was the roller coaster he made.  I don't know if you can tell but there is a huge line of animals waiting to go on and each one has pieces of toilet paper that they are using for their tickets.

Calvin below used the laundry basket to bus the animals to and from the roller coaster place.

These pictures are of the restaurant Alden made  He used cardboard as walls and a floor and then boxes as chairs and seats.  Calvin and Benson are sitting at the seats in the restaurant and Alden is in the back where he prepared the food. Alden had kept coming down stairs asking if he could buy some food from me, I sold him a couple of things and then I went with Calvin and Benson to his restaurant. He had cups that he kept full of water for everyone.  He then brought out kids meals for Calvin and Benson.  I was rather impressed how much thought he had put into everything.  The kids meals had the little food items he had bought from me and each had a little toy he had found from around the house.  The meals were each in empty tissue boxes.  He had made a place for trash and he explained how the bathrooms were just out the door.  The boys enjoyed going to Alden's restaurant!

This was a magic show we attended at the library.  Every year after the magic show the boys get really into trying to do magic.  It's always fun to see their magic tricks! :)

This is a stage Alden made one day to do shows on.  Other things I haven't taken pictures of conclude many different variety of stores and shelves.  One store took up our entire living room but it was well organized inside.  He has also made shelves, a bed, and a house.