Alden

I did a post not long ago on Benson and have wanted to do one on each of the boys.  This post is dedicated to what Alden has been up to lately.  Alden is my boy who loves to create.  Almost every day he will make something..a book, some project out of boxes or wood, or something in the back yard.  There has been a couple of times where we have been out doing things most of the day and at the end of the day he says how it wasn't the best day.  I'll go through all the fun things we did and he'll agree that there were fun things but if he hasn't made something that day then it never is as good of a day as the days when he has.

Lately he has been into writing books. If you ever come to our house he will try to give you one.  He has written tons of books.  His dream is to have one published one day and have people check it out at the library.  He keeps telling me that his books are ready to be published so the other day we read up on it and how you have to rewrite and rewrite to make a book better and better to get it published.  I think he got the idea and is starting to ask for feedback on his books.

My favorite book that he has written was one he wrote one day after I had finished reading the BFG to him. (Michael and I have been taking turns reading some chapter books to him.) I think it was a day or two after reading the BFG, that I came up to read stories to the boys at night and Alden handed me this story he had written.  He had rewritten the main parts of the BFG but had used Calvin and Benson as the characters and had changed a couple of things.  Calvin was the little boy snatched up from his bed and Benson was the king of the land that Calvin and the big friendly giant went to see to get rid of the bad giants.  I thought it was a fun and cute little book and fun that he did it on his own without asking or telling me anything about it.

Many of the other books he has written he writes specifically for someone.  He made a flap book about shapes for Benson and one of Old McDonald Had a Farm.  The book pictured above is one that he made for Evan and I while we were in the hospital.  Alden also really likes to make to do list that he will put on my phone and check off throughout the day.  Weeks before Evan was born I noticed that one of the things on his to do list was to make a present for the new baby.  Later on that week I noticed it in his room.  He had made a card with a huge heart and inside it said, "I love you so so so....much".  He stapled the card to a big yellow bag that had one of his favorite stuffed animals inside with a couple of books.  One of the books was called, "The Mommy who got sick" and the other was "The Mommy who had a baby". I think he also had a shape book for the baby.  

I am often amazed at how much he thinks of others, his to do list are humbling to me.  Almost everything he puts on them is ways in which he can help others. Things that are often on his list are to read to Calvin or to Benson.  To help Calvin or Benson and almost always he has written on there how he wants to help Mommy with the things she does.  I have much to learn from this sweet boy.

Below is a present that Alden gave me the other day, it was a little box and inside were all these flowers he had colored and a card saying thank you for all you do and how he can help me with everything.

These are some TV's Alden and Calvin made.  Michael and I often joke about getting a TV.  Right now we don't have one and I don't really want one but have told Michael that we can get one once I get my piano. Michael will often look at TV's and research them so he is ready to buy the best one when we do eventually get one.  Alden and Calvin made these TV's and when they did were so excited because they knew Dad would be so excited to have a TV and that now he wouldn't need to ever buy a TV because we have not one but two!
They made remote controls for the TV's and then would do any show we wanted them to do for us.  They used puppets, pictures, and all sorts of things to do the different shows they did.

Just in the last couple of days Alden has been playing more with blocks and legos. Calvin is my big block and lego guy but Alden has been getting into a little more lately but anytime he makes anything he always grabs my phone and takes a picture, so these are a couple from my phone.

 Alden has also been into making games lately. Above is a game similar to ticket to ride and below is a game similar to uno.

 Below is another thing that Alden likes to make, it's a neighborhood to drive his cars on.

Evan!!

 Our Sweet Evan Park

7lbs 15oz and 20 in 

Evan is one loved little boy. Alden, Calvin and Benson were all so excited to see him.  Alden had made Evan a present with stuffed animals and books that he had written and a really nice card that said, "I love you so so so so so so so...much".  Calvin came hurrying in and wanted to hold little Evan right away.  As he held him he said, "He is so cute, he is so cute, I love you, I love you".  Throughout the visit he kept coming back asking if he could hold him.  Benson who is scared of all medical things was scared when he came in and wouldn't even come to me, after a little while he came up excitedly to look at an hold Evan.

 Grandma and Grandpa got here just in time for Evan's arrival.  It was nice knowing the boys were being well taken care of at home.

Evan's birth story:  In the morning I had done preschool, then drove to Mesa to get my Mom and Dad, as soon as we got home I had to go off to a doctors apt.  At my doctors appointment they put me on a monitor to make sure the baby was okay since I was past my due date.  When the nurse came in she said, "my guess is that we will be sending you to the hospital". The doctor checked me and said you are dilated to a 4 and the monitor had said I was having contractions every 3 minutes so he wanted me to go straight to the hospital.  (I on the other hand wasn't too excited about this because earlier that week I had gone to the hospital with contractions 3-5 min a part for a number of hours but didn't progress at all.) But he called in and said that they were waiting for me at the hospital.  Michael met me at home, we grabbed our bags and left.  Around 7 at night they got me on the monitors and monitored my contractions while giving me the antibiotic since I was strep b positive. Contractions were consistent but not painful at all and not really making me progress. Around 10:30 or 11 they started me on pitocin.  Then around 11:30 the doctor came in and checked me I was dilated to about a 6 and then he broke my water.  Around 12 contractions were really strong and by 12:15 I asked the nurse to check me she said I was still only like a 7, but she stayed in the room then sent for the doctor around 12:30 who checked me and said I was a 9 but was still really high up, but then I started pushing and he goes oh and there is the babies head.  He was then born at 12:34 a.m.   When his Uncle Jon heard this he said, it sounds as though he will be a good mathematician 1234! :)

Evan's Name:  One of the reasons we chose the name Evan is because it is the welsh form of the name Jon.  Jon is Michael's brother who brought us together! Also it was the only name I saw was on both of our lists.  I hadn't remembered putting it on my list of names but saw it on Michael's and then realized that it was on mine too.  Also while we were trying to decide a name I found that a number of times at church on Sunday we sung songs that were written by someone with the name of Evan or Evans. Park comes from Michael's grandfather.  We are all so excited to have sweet little Evan with us!

Easter!!

 I was grateful to be home on Easter, if little Evan had come in the couple days before or in the night, I wouldn't have been home to celebrate with everyone. This way we were all together, even little Evan we just couldn't see him! :)

 The boys were excited about finding their baskets and everything in them. I am always amazed at how simple we can have things but how the excitement is the same as if they were getting the greatest thing in the world! I love being the Mom of these 3 (kind of 4) wonderful boys!

Cousins!

 Thmemodo before Easter our Vegas cousins had there Spring Break. We were excited that they decided to spend it with us! There dad, Nathaniel was working in Phoenix so they spent one day up there and were able to go to the Easter Pageant. (This was the first year we haven't gone so we were glad we could at least have our visitors go.)
These pictures are of our piano recital that we did! I love having a little piano recital with the cousins!

 Making bunny and duck crafts. We had done the duck craft earlier in the morning with the preschool kids. I decided to do ducks for the letter q because our story was about ducks quacking and because of Easter coming.
Below is a picture of our Easter egg hunt with the cousins!

 Ostrich Farm! I think this is our third time visiting the ostrich farm. Alden and Calvin love it! Benson loved it the first time but becomes more and more afraid of it each time. I think it is because of the birds at the end. (This time I couldn't even get him to come in and just had to pick him up kicking and screaming.. but he calmed down.)

 Feeding the donkeys. In the past Alden and Calvin have been afraid of feeding a lot of the animals but this time they did it all!

 Alden and Calvin even fed the goats with the goat kiss! They are becoming a little more adventurous!

 Alden and Calvin have been especially afraid of these birds but not this time! Even Benson had a bird on his head of which he was quite upset about, but now he talks about all the time as though it is a funny memory. We were glad that it worked out to do one last thing with the cousins on there way out of town.

The Music Man and Carnival

 On St. Patrick's Day we all went to the play the Music Man. In the past I have always gone by myself with the boys or I take one boy on a date and we go to these plays together. This time the show was on Michael's day off so we all went together!
Music Man is one of Alden and Calvin's favorite plays, they love the song 76 trombones and love when the band comes out. It was fun to have such a fun activity to do on St Patrick's day!

 The week of St Patrick's was spring break for the schools around us. This carnival always comes to town during spring break, I've seen it but never have stopped by, since our cousin were coming into town we stopped by to see if that was something we could do with them. It turned out it was only going to be there for a couple days so Alden decided to use his piano points he's been saving to ride some rides! (Alden gets points for songs he memorizes and he is really good at saving them, I'm glad we could find something fun for him to do with some of those points!)

Benson

 Benson is about two and a half and is learning so much every day. It is fun to see him learn and grow! Benson is our big helper and wants to do everything in the house to keep it nice. When I tell Alden or Calvin that they need to vacuum, Benson always says, "me". He then will insist on vacuuming. (He will also do this with mopping, sweeping, doing the laundry, wiping off the table, and just about anything else that needs to be done.)
He also loves helping make the dinner, and will often get everything out so he can make popcorn. His favorite foods are any meat and cereal. He also loves apples.

 These are a couple of his drawings. He loves balloons so if you look closely you will see that is what he has drawn all over his papers. He loves drawing balloons and I love that he likes to use so many colors. He definitely is a little artist!