Like father, like son

John covered in kitties

John's mom said this was a common sight around their home. Perhaps this can help explain Calvin's obsession with kitties? Ok, I am all kittied out, as I am sure you are too. I will try to write about something new next time.

$6.70

And worth every penny to redeem myself as a mother.

Calvin's precious ornament, swarming with kitties.

Yes, I drove back to get Calvin his "kitties" ornament. Can you at least understand why I initially reacted so violently toward this ornament? It is now loved and enjoyed by all!

What's new?

Here's what's new with Ollie

After much drooling, the day is finally here! Ollie got his first tooth!!!

Look closely to see Ollie's tiny white speck. Isn't it adorable?

A strange new expression to go along with his new pearly white

It is all too confusing!

God made us so weird--teeth coming in and falling out...

What's new with Calvin
Calvin has been working hard all day potty-training. He had an accident, so John put him on the potty to finish, but it was too late. Calvin then cried his eyes out when John did not give him a treat:( At dinner, Finn requested to take Calvin potty. He grabbed Calvin's hand and ushered him to the potty saying "I know where the bathroom is around here".

potty pals

I wish it were this easy. But, I don't think Calvin is ready yet. Or maybe I'm just not ready yet to deal with accidents while feeding Ollie.

What's new with Finn
I think Finn is learning to spell:

water or milk anyone?

This is a tag Finn made for Calvin's cat:

notice how he spells "Catt"

Maybe there are two t's because Finn has two n's??

And then tonight he was sounding out the "wuh, wuh" for the w in Owwie(he cannot pronounce his L's in Ollie).

Oh,this whole spelling thing is going to be funny.

new ornaments on the block

Tonight we went on our tradional ornament hunt. Here is Finn's pick:

When Clark Kent's door closes, he ermerges as...

Superman!

Calvin's Rock'em Sock'em ornament
the robots throw punches when you move the joysticks

Of course Calvin made a beeline for the ornament with 3 kitties on it. You should have seen his eyes light up as he gasped with joy, "kitties!" Much to my regret, I grabbed it out of his hands and said "NO!" and threw it aside. I then redirected his attention towards the robots, a Nemo ornament...anything other than the kitties. Poor Calvin. Driving home, I felt so bad that I did not let him have the kitties. Next year he can pick whatever he likes.

And here is my favorite ornament this year:

Ollie's little See 'n Say ornament.
When you pull the string in back, the little arrow spins around.

Christmas festivities

We kicked off the Christmas Eve festivities with the Erickson clan:

My boys in a sea of Erickson girls.

the boys went wild over the "Dr. Shah" kit.

My boys have an unnatural fascination with shots. When I told them they were getting flu shots, they were jumping with joy saying "yay, we get to have shots!". Of course they cried when they actually got the shot.

John's ghetto Dr. kit for the boy's stockings.

The medicine dropper is quite the commodity around here--the boys always steal the motrin medicine dropper and pretend it's a shot. It's a good thing Finn is practicing medicine because his favorite present of all:

I'm not too thrilled with Finn's new found interest in money.

We later scooted up to Aunt Nanie's house for a fabulous Christmas eve dinner.

Lindsay, Jamie and I


Jamie got Ollie all to herself cuz Hayley was out of town.


Calvin and daddy(and of course orange kitty)

Can't they stay little forever??

Later on at mom's house for Christmas day:

Lorie got these adorable jammies for Ollie as a baby shower gift.

And here are some dish towels I embroidered as gifts. No RIT dyeing or sewing machines needed! Very easy and fun.

For Betty, since she liked giraffes when a missionary in Kenya


For mom, since she loves Olive(aka Fi-fi). She's Linday's Chihuahua, but lives with mom.
I actually own her tail.


For Lindsay--we're still figuring out the direction her new kitchen is going.

We had our 1st annual Christmas dessert at her house.

fatigue(s)

me in the morning

With Christmas fast approaching, and trying to finish gifts, I can't seem to get into bed before 12 each night. Therefore, it's hard to tear myself out of bed each morning. And then 12 hours later, and I'm still in my pj's. Despite this morning's fatigue, I still felt a surge of excitment, knowing mom was coming down for one of my favorite traditions-- hot chocolate at Starbucks and then viewing the Christmas lights at the rich folks' neighborhood. I love staying nice and warm and lazy in the car. So, in honor of mom coming, Calvin is wearing the army fatigues she bought him:

There's just something about a boy in fatigues...hard to look tough with the diaper though:)

Speaking of diapers, John is attempting potty-training Calvin again this Christmas break. We did ok this summer when John was off work, but I quickly gave up once John went back to school this fall.

Ollie standing in his fatigues. Just kidding. He's not even close...

But he can sit for a little while.

Finn and Calvin trying to teach him to army crawl .

beginnings of a crawl maybe? probably just wishful thinking.
crawling is my favorite stage.

Ollie was actually named after Oliver North--the name Oliver means

"Little Elfin army". Strange coincidence, eh?

new fauxhawk in town

John came home today sporting a new do:

John's new fauxhawk. Isn't it Cuuuute???!!!

Ollie tells daddy that he wants a fauxhawk too.

Usually when John comes home from a hair cut, it's the same old, same old. Very short, respectable. This time he told the lady he was going to grow out his hair a little--I did not have to pull any teeth or anything!

two kinds of vans

Ever since their first trip to the hair salon, my boys have enjoyed playing barber shop. During the last trimester of my pregnancy with Ollie, I remember crashing out on the couch with 2 little boys patiently combing my hair. Aside from the occasional yank and yelp, it actually was quite relaxing. I'm a big sucker for anyone playing with my hair. Today Finn was trying to do my hair and asked me to remove the pink thing. I told him that the pink thing was called a rubber band and he said "there's 2 kinds of vans--one that you ride in and a rubber-van for your hair". I snickered, but did not correct him.

the pink rubber van

He then started twisting my hair around his fingers and snipping just like our hair guy does. I asked him "How did you know how to do that?" To which he responded " I don't know, I just figured it out".

barber shop boy

Finn's arsenal

bug catchers work remarkably well as scissors

And finally, Finn's masterpiece.

Well, actually it was the work of 2 photo pals, who were playing a friendly game of paparazzi. Apparently they play it all the time on their scoutings.

When I up my photo skills, I will do Ellie justice. But for now...

daddy day-care

need I say more?

Better late than never!

One of Calvin's aunties got him a late(only by 3 months) birthday present. He was in luck, because just that night at dinner, he was singing himself the happy "er-day" song, blowing out imaginary napkin candles and clapping for imaginary peach presents.

We think it was worth the wait.

Uncle Mark is not too sure about this present for one of my boys, but we think it's much better than his tea set when he was a boy. I predict countless joy rides for orange kitty in the future. Calvin is already quite posessive of his sweet new wheels.

It's official

Just yesterday, John and I were getting ready in our bathroom and Calvin was busy chatting our ears off. Other than an occasional clang of the drum, it was pretty quiet in the living room where Finn and Oliver were playing. I wondered for a minute what was going on, but figured "as long as no one is crying..." We walked into the living room only to discover this:

Ollie camping out on the living room floor.

He is praying someone will put him in his pack&play

I've always cherished each baby like it's my 1st, and so I was quite dismayed to discover that my level of care had dropped a few notches. As much as I hate to admit it, Ollie has officially earned his stripes as a 3rd child:(

Ollie wasn't the only one camping out in the living room that day. John took Finn outside at midnight(not my idea!) the night before to watch the meteor shower and Finn was obviously trying very hard to see some more shooting stars.

casualties

Remember my happy little Christmas tree from a few posts ago?

Well, it's not so happy anymore. This is what I stumbled upon yesterday:

little boys + ornaments = disaster

I was a little upset with the boys, but I figured those ornaments were pretty lame anyway. I disciplined them and let it go...Until today:

For crying out loud! What kind of monster would maim these poor innocent giraffes??

I know these giraffes are tiny and seem pretty insignificant in the grand scheme of things, but this is the very 1st ornament that John picked out when we were first married, when we were dirt poor. A vain started popping out of my head and I think I turned into

the Hulk.

Honestly, I don't remember ever being so furious with boys for mangling those ornaments. John did not take it well either.