Baby Pictures

We got Calder's six month pictures and they look fabulous. Thank you, Lisa! You did a great job! If anyone needs a photographer, Lisa's website is http://lisarichardsonphotos.com She is awesome!

December

Out with the old

And in with the new

The transmission was starting to go in our old washer (it's only 30 years old) so we had to get a new one. So far I have really liked the new ones, they clean great, but it does take soooo long to wash.

We had a bit of damage from the wind storm but nothing too serious. We lost some sections of our fence, some shingles from our roof and some other edging and pieces from our roof and porch. Our power was only out for about 10 hours, so it got a bit cold but we were grateful to get it back after only 10 hours. My grandparents waited a day and a half to get their power back. Aidan was a little upset by all the noise and howling (some of the pieces of our roof were banging against his bedroom wall). Once the sun came up he enjoyed watching out the window as the shingles and debris flew around outside. Calder (who is usually a terrible sleeper) managed to sleep through all the noise and got up at his usual time. Grandma suggested we make him a lullaby tape of howling wind and things banging into the house to help him sleep since that seems to be the only thing that helps.

Driving around the neighborhood everything looked like a disaster. There were plenty of people who had worse damage than ours and there were trees down all over town. A giant evergreen (maybe 20 or 30 feet tall) was across the street in our neighborhood and the homeowner had draped some tinsel on the top and added a sign that said "Free Christmas Tree". I should have taken a picture but I was driving and when we went back it was already being cleaned up.

Molly enjoyed some extra freedom while the fences between our yard and our two neighbors were down. She loved playing with all the kids!

This is the roof over our garage. We can see the sky from inside our garage now!

These is where the pieces of trim on the room were pulling off and banging against the house, right outside Aidan's room

This is the part of our roof that got the worst of it, right over poor Aidan's room.

Luckily our insurance is covering the damages. We had to wait over a week for an adjustor to come out but now that is done and the roofers are up working on the repairs right now. Hopefully they can get it finished quickly before it starts snowing again!

Random picture of Molly and Aidan looking out the window together

Aidan helping decorate the Christmas tree

Calder just wanted to take the ornaments off the tree

Aidan in front of the tree (can you tell how happy he is to be taking this picture?)

The boys wrestling

One of these things IS like the other...

What do these two have in common?



If you answered that they are both lumpy, you are correct! I noticed a little bump on the back of Calder's head last week and although WebMD diagnosed it as sebaceous cyst, we took him to the pediatrician to have the diagnosis confirmed by an actual medical professional. WebMD was correct as usual, the doctor told us that sometime they develop when there is some kind of virus and Calder has had a cold. The doctor also told us there are two more lumps under his chin but we are not sophisticated enough to feel them. They should go away on their own, so we aren't too worried about them. Sweet Maggie the dog has had calcium deposit lumps for years and they are not going away. PS Calder is also 6 months old if you couldn't tell from the picture!


Moving on to another canine, Molly went to the vet a few weeks ago and when they checked her weight she had lost 10 pounds! Unfortunately that was only because the scale was not properly calibrated. It was a short-lived victory and ten minutes later when the scale was fixed Molly gained back her 10 pounds.


Last, we have been watching Storage Wars quite a bit lately. I really enjoy the show but I have some issues with it. People have too much stuff. So much in fact that they must pay someone else to store this excess stuff in a locked storage compartment where they can't enjoy or make use of their stuff. Eventually, for various reasons, they abandon this stuff and it is auctioned off to strangers who end up throwing a lot of it away and selling the rest. If you don't have room for these things in your house, perhaps you should save yourself the storage fees and just get rid of it because it's not doing you any good in a storage locker. It it means that much to you, I'm sure you can find a place for it. I know there are valid reasons for needing storage temporarily, it just amazes me how much is abandoned. It shows how unnecessary all this stuff is. I am the opposite of a hoarder. Although I do like to keep some things that are sentimental or if I think I can use them later, it makes me a little sick to feel surrounded by too much stuff. There is something very satisfying about getting rid of clutter and unnecessary things.

Hill Aerospace Museum

We visited the Hill Aerospace Museum this week and it was fun. There was a lot more there than I remember from when I was little. Aidan was disappointed he was not allowed to touch or fly any of the planes but he did like looking at them. There was a children's area with toys and some planes he could sit in and pretend to fly, that was his favorite part.


Aidan also made this disgusting snow cone on a stick, aka his sock on a nail file. He told me "It's good!" And yes, this is a dirty sock he removed from his foot. I can't believe what some parents allow their kids put in their mouths.

PS

Somehow I forgot to include some very important information in my update...Grandma came to visit last weekend because Bones went to Las Vegas for a golf tournament with Bryce and my dad. The tournament was a charity event hosted by the Ryan Kendall Iverson Foundation to benefit the John F. Miller School. Although Bones' golfing skills were a bit rusty, he and Bryce were big winners in the raffle. Bryce won a pink golf bag and...an iPad 2! And Bones won a very nice golf club. The iPad was not the one Bryce wanted so they took it back to the Apple store and got the one he wanted which was actually cheaper. With the leftover money (and a little extra added by dad), Bones got an iPad also! So we got to have fun with Grandma and Bones got an iPad which he has really wanted for awhile.


In other news, Calder is 5 months old today!

October

I have so much catching up to do...Calder turned 3 months and 4 months (and he will be 5 months in a couple of days!)


He has tried rice cereal and squash so far. He was much more excited about the squash than the rice cereal.



Molly got a haircut and Aidan thinks he is ready to drive

In case you were wondering, proper driving etiquette is to hang out the front window when you can't see, Ace Ventura-style.


We went to a fire and rescue open house at the Farmington Fire Department and we got to check out an ambulance, a rescue vehicle and ride on a real fire truck. We also got look in a helicopter and watch it take off. And most importantly, Aidan got a red balloon to take home!

Said balloon below...

If this picture were not taken in the dark you would be able to tell that Aidan and Bones are inside a real fire engine!

Ambulance

Rescue vehicle

And we went to the pumpkin patch this weekend and had some fun with grandma.

Tractor at the pumpkin patch

We got together with Bones' family to carve up our pumpkins.

I think the star of the night was grandma's pumpkin! I daresay this is the best pumpkin I will see this year (it looks even better lit up!) He is so unique and fun

Diversity Day

Any truck passing by our house is occasion for excitement so we always take note. (Each and every garbage day you will find us out in the yard or at the window so we don't miss a moment of the action!) We have 2 mailmen who drive by our house regularly. As the mail is very important to Aidan, we often discuss our mailmen. Aidan calls them "the white mailman" and "the brown mailman". Hopefully this topic never comes up in a public place, although surely that is wishful thinking. People will just have to accept the fact that we may be raising a racist.

Bumbo

Grandma was here to visit for a few days and she bought a Bumbo for Calder. He enjoys it but I am not sure he enjoys it as much as Aidan does...

My Dirty Secret

If you are a clean freak you should stop reading right now (although I know you are intrigued by the giant picture of bathroom cleaner!). I have not cleaned our shower since Calder was born. Yes, that means it has been almost 3 months since our shower has seen any kind of cleaning supply. Sadly, this is not the only thing in our house that I have temporarily given up on cleaning. Someday I will have the time and energy to catch up... but anyway, I saw a commercial for Kaboom Foam-tastic and was excited to try it because it looked like it cleaned hard water so wonderfully and hard water marks are my arch nemesis in our shower. I never feel like I can really get them all off. I finally got to try it out on our shower and while it is not the miracle product it appeared to be on television, it is SUPER fun to use! It's like spray-painting with bathroom cleaner. It's so satisfying to see the dark blue foam cover the shower walls. Then you have the excitement of watching it change to pretty white (making you think your shower is super clean).