Calvin's hair cut

Calvin got his hair cut the other day. I think it looks a lot shorter, but John does not seem to think so. That is pretty much the same consensus we come to every time the boys get a hair cut. My hair guy is getting used to me. This time I actually had to tell him to cut it again because it barely looked trimmed to me.

one of the boys

Ollie has really given himself a promotion that past couple of days. Ever since John let him take a bath with his brothers, Ollie thinks he's one of the boys. I have never seen Ollie so happy to be a part of things. He was clapping and laughing the whole time.
The other day I caught them all jumping and squealing on Calvin's little toddler bed. Finn said he helped pull Ollie up there. There is no picture of this event because I immediately pulled Ollie to safety with strict instructions that this could not happen again.

When we went outside to go play, Ollie jumped right into the sandbox alongside his brothers.

And here is my big shot mowing the lawn with Calvin later on that day.

When I picked them all up from John's parent's house last night, I found them all sitting in little chairs eating snacks at the little table. Ollie looked incredibly pleased with the situation. And how cute are these gymboree chairs?? Wish I had a couple of these here at home!

Somehow when I have them all lined up, they seem more manageable. Even if just for a few moments of peace when they watch a movie.

clothesline

Here is my new line of summer tees for Ollie.



They are rough applique/embroidered tees . You should see the stack of lap tees I have piled up waiting to be stitched. I kind of went a little overboard dyeing them different colors. Every time I went to the store another color dye hopped into my basket. When I was in college my boss and I would argue endlessly over the color pallete of the tutorial we were working on. He wanted bright bold primary colors and I wanted dull muted colors--I just wanted our molecules to look a little more fashionable. Though I did not quite get my way in college, I was sort of able to get my own color scheme going here.




The bird on the yellow tee is my version of Mike's xanga bird(thanks so much Mike for letting me borrow your bird!!).

I tried to do Mike's bird justice, but it looks like I turned his lovely feathers into leaves. There were many problems with these tees as I was making them. In fact, practically every single applique almost got trashed halfway through, due to some problem or another. For example, when ironing my Popeye tee, part of the white Gerber label melted and smeared white paint across my Popeye words--I almost threw it away but instead tore the words off and put a bigger word patch over it. I also hid the mangled Gerber tag by placing my own "davi" tag over it:)

Other problems? My VW logo looked like a pretzel according to John. And the list of offenses could go on and on, but I kept reminding myself that these are handmade. My new motto became "work it out". So I kept going despite these imperfections. Each tee taught me a little something new--next time I make one, I can apply what I learned. This project certainly kept me busy during the boys' sleep times. I could not figure out why everything was taking me so long. Then my father-in-law said "however long it would normally take you to do a project, multiply that by the number of kids you have". Makes sense to me.

I also made Ollie a new summer blanky. How could I resist the lovable scoundrel Popeye? He was one my favorite cartoons growing up!



I had a lot of fun taking pictures and borrowed a friend's camera for the job. I also tried to get a few shots of Ollie in his new clothes but that was not so easy. He kept turning his back to me, so I only got a few shots of his face. Clothes are certainly a lot more cooperative.



















Did I mention Ollie turning his back on me? Seriously, he would rather crawl away and eat dirt and rocks then give me a little smile. There is NO modeling career in this kid's future.

All-in-all I had a lot of fun with my imaginary business:)

*disclaimer--licensed characters like Popeye, Felix and Aquaman, and logos like VW require a special license to sell them. I may get licensed in the future.

Calvin's drum set

Long story, but a few weeks ago we had to exchange Finn's drum set for a new one because the first one came without a 10" tom--it was easier for the company to send a whole new set, then to find a replacement tom. So our entry room graced yet another delivery from the brown truck.

Ever since Finn's latest delivery, Calvin has been waiting for his turn. He must think they give out drum sets like they are candy or something. Calvin really thinks he is getting a drum set soon. The last few days he commented sadly, but hopefully, "my drum set did not come today". Super sad, I know.

So Finn took matters into his own hands and informed Calvin that his drum set was coming. While Calvin was napping, Finn disassembled all of Calvin's make-shift drum pieces and loaded them into cardboard boxes. He then placed them in our entry way, as is standard protocol.

When Calvin woke up from his nap, Finn told Calvin that his drum set arrived. He ushered him into the front room and showed him the boxes. Calvin looked happy enough.

As they unloaded the contents of the boxes, the boys got wild and started doing the happy dance.

Finn set out with utmost determination to make Calvin the most pristine drum set ever. He even made a stage for it with my brown throw, which really gave it some extra oomph. Finn spared no detail. The yellow vertical push toy in front is a microphone w/stand for recording(just like Tommy's);the black guitar stand is a "boom stand" for tilting the cymbal; the cymbal even has a wing-nut taped onto it, to keep it secure:

This drum set has an actual bass drum pedal, compliments of Gretchen. Finn positions it to hit Calvin's little bass drum just right.

This set is Finn's tidiest attempt yet, if you ask me.

little bit-o-piano

When we ask people where to start with Finn's drumming, the answer always comes back the same: learn piano. Whatever is learned on piano, such as reading music, can be applied to other instruments. I don't know many drummers who are interested in the piano and Finn is kind of young for lessons, but we do have 2 pianos(one from each of our grandmas).

John printed letters and taped them under the corresponding piano keys.
This piano even has a handy door that can hide these letters.

We are not doing much more than teaching the boys chop-sticks and "hey look, it's the middle c!" I don't know if anything will ever come of it, but the boys are learning a little here and there, even if they don't realize it. I don't want them to burn out on something that's forced on them. When I took lessons, my mom never forced me to practice. I played when I was in the mood, which was usually an hour before lessons:) I really love the piano and would be thrilled if one day they wanted to play. I don't practice as much as I should--as Elizabeth from Pride and Prejudice says "I play very ill indeed".

Finn playing chop-sticks

notice Tommy in the background

I think the boys are enjoying the piano in little pint-sized doses. I would love it if piano was a natural part of their life--like learning to tie their shoes.

shopping with pirates

It was inevitable. I had to go shopping with all 3 boys. It was getting late in the morning and the boys were running around the house in some old pirate costumes. I made an executive decision. The boys were coming shopping as pirates.

I'd way rather have people stare at us because of costumes than stare at us because of major melt-downs on aisle 3. The costumes must have made the boys pretty bold because they were saying hi to everyone as we went swash-buckling down the aisles of Target.

And while we were at Michaels I over heard the 2 ladies behind us saying "that's something Cole would do" and snickering "oh look, the little one has a bucket on his head!"

Oh yes, that would be my Calvin--my little bucket-head boy:)

I must say, it was the cheeriest shopping trip we've had in a while. Shopping is so much more fun with pirates.

dancing under the moon

I got a phone call from Ellie the other night.

"Um, Can I borrow you for around 20 minutes or so?"

Sure Ellie, no problem.

She needed some help with her dance moves.

Actually she was doing a job that required photos of our local park at night, and she needed me as her bodyguard.

It's a good thing Ellie wasn't getting paid by the hour because we spent so much time trying to perfect our YMCA moves. The couple star gazing on the grass(you can see them if you squint) probably thought we were loco. Ellie often brings out the goof in me. She's so sweet and caring I know she will still love me even if I am super ridiculous.