Last Days at John Calvin Playschool

This week was a very eventful last week for Jackson and Peyton at John Calvin Playschool. On Tuesday, they celebrated their birthday (which isn't actually until the 27th of this month) and had a fun clean up/water day. They started out the day by holding the flag for the pledge of allegiance.

Then they were able to go outside in their swim suits and clean some of the toys and objects in their classroom since it is the end of the year. It was both fun for them and useful for the teachers. Peyton is always very serious about the cleaning part of her fun!

Jackson loved being able to play in the water. He has a hard time smiling naturally in pictures and it didn't help that he was blinded by the sun.

For snack time, we took Jackson's and Peyton's chosen birthday treat. I was planning on making two different treats for their class to celebrate their birthday, but was assigned to jury duty on Tuesday (the same day I had signed up for them to celebrate their birthday at school) so I settled for taking one treat that they both love. Brownies with cream and strawberries is a favorite at our house, especially in the springtime.

Jackson got to sit at the head of one table and Peyton sat at the head of the other table. By the look of those fully inflated cheeks, he is planning a serious attack on that innocent little flame dancing on the wick of his number 4. Our sweet twins are already getting sick of sharing their birthday--that didn't take long! This year they wanted separate birthday parties, so we are having a pirate party in the morning and a Dora party in the afternoon on their birthday. That made me feel less guilty about their having to share at school.

Today was the last day of school for Jackson and Peyton and graduation from the three year old class. Peyton was very pleased to receive her diploma and loved to see how proud I was of her. She had a hard time going to school at the beginning of the year, but has done very well.

Jackson was climbing all over the place while diplomas were being received. He could hardly hold still while receiving his own. I think he was particularly excited to have Grant crawling around with him. We are grateful for Miss Debbie and Miss Carol who did a great job teaching and loving both Peyton and Jackson this year!
Goodbye John Calvin, farewell!

Happy Mother's Day

The poet William Ross Wallace wrote:
"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world."
We want to honor our mothers and grandmothers this Mother's Day.
Happy Mother's Day to you!
We love you and are so grateful to belong to you.

My mom: Joyce Seal

Mark's mom: Ann Calder

My grandma: Helen Hill

My grandma: Joyce B. Seal

Happy Mother's Day to all of the other mothers in our lives: sisters, sisters-in-law, aunts, cousins and friends! Motherhood matters!

I'd rather be a mother than anyone on earth
Bringing up a child or two [or ten:)] of unpretentious birth...
I'd rather tuck a little child all safe and sound in bed
Than twine a chain of diamonds about my carefree head.
I'd rather wash a smudgy face with round, bright, baby eyes
Than paint the pageantry of fame or walk among the wise.

-Meredith Gray from The Beauty of Motherhood

The Husband Tag

Thanks for the tag, Lexi! This picture is a result of me trying to take a picture of Mark and me, holding the camera out and not knowing where to aim. None of them turned out. This is the only one in which I didn't have a strange look on my face and I didn't cut one of us off at the eyebrows. Maybe I like it best because you can't really see me at all.

1. What is his name? Mark Merrill Calder

2. How long have you been married? Almost 9 years

3. How long did you date? We dated for three months, got engaged and were married after nine months of engagement (one year total).

4. Who eats more? It depends on what kind of food we are talking about. Mark eats more in general, but when it comes to ice cream and sweets I think I might be able to take him!

5. Who said I love you first? I would like to say that he did, but I can't remember exactly. If he said it first, I am sure I said it right back. It didn't take long to fall in love with him!

6. Who sings better? Mark has a great singing voice and a good sense of pitch. We both love to sing, especially together. I have taken private lessons and sung with my family my whole life and Mark has sung in many choirs. We have dreams of singing together as a family...but, alas we are not the Von Trapps.

7. Who is taller? Mark is definitely taller, but when I put on a tall pair of heels, we are almost even. I am pretty tall (5'10") and the other day one of Carston's friends looked up at me and said: "You are even taller than my mom. How old are you?" It made me smile. Thank goodness Mark is taller than I. I like that I can feel small next to him!

8. Whose temper is worse? We both have our moments. Luckily, we usually have these moments at different times, so when I have had it, he keeps things calm and I do the same for him when he is at the end of his rope. That is the beauty of marriage!

9. Who does the laundry? I do! However, he is the miracle man when it comes to stain removal, so I refer to his expertise when I just can't get a stain out. He'll help me fold laundry when I get overwhelmed, but he complains because I sometimes refold some of the things he has folded. I am trying not to do that!

10. Who does the dishes? I do most of the dishes at our house. But when he is home, Mark always helps and sometimes just does them by himself. We really work as a team. One of us deals with the kids while the other cleans up, or we clean up together if the children allow. A funny side note is that I also tend to rearrange the dishwasher after he's put dishes in. He has learned to just throw things in there, with a mischievous smile, knowing they will be reorganized by the next time he opens the dishwasher anyway.

11. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? If you are facing the bed, Mark does. Really the side of the bed issue is always solved by which side of the bed is nearest to the door. I always sleep on that side, so I can quickly get up to nurse a baby, deal with sick kids or calm them after nightmares. Mark helps with that when he can, but I feel uncomfortable being away from the door.

12. Who does the cooking? We both do, but to be honest, Mark is the experimenting gourmet at our house. He enjoys cooking and likes to try new recipes. I can only think of how much I am going to have to clean up afterwards while I cook. When it comes to desserts, I am generally the chef. Although, Mark makes delicious ice cream and he has perfected brownies! Yes, he is a dream come true!

13. Who is more stubborn? We are both stubborn, but I would say that he is even more stubborn than I. (Who knows if this is actually true, since he would probably say that I am.)

14. Who proposed? His dad did for him while we were with his family for Christmas Eve. Don't worry, it is a family tradition! He got on his knee and asked me right afterwards.

15. Who is most likely to admit that they are wrong? Me, but that is because I am wrong more often. I think I might be slightly more emotional than Mark:)

16. Who's parents do you see the most? That is a toss up. We probably see them about the same. My parents are serving as mission presidents in Tulsa, Oklahoma, so we can't visit both families at the same time anymore. We try to spend equal time in Oklahoma and Utah. It is difficult to get either place with five kids.

17. Who pays the bills? We take out loans and I pay the bills when they arrive. I like to get them paid right away!

18. Who wears the pants? We both wear the pants in the relationship. We are in charge of different things and just try to help each other. Mark kindly tells our kids that I am the boss at our house.

19. Why do you love your husband? He is handsome, fun, intelligent, kind, friendly, honest and innately good...(I could go on and on.) He makes me laugh all of the time. He encourages me to develop my talents and give my best effort. He builds me up and has faith in my abilities. He is my best friend and I always want to be around him. He is a perfect match for me and that becomes more obvious the longer we are married!

20. Who are three other people you are going to tag? Catherine, Lara & Marcelle. Have fun!

Froeliche Geburtstag, mein Schatz!

Today is Mark's 31st birthday. I love celebrating his birth! Thank goodness for this blessed day that welcomed him into the world! I also need to throw in a major thank you to my mother-in-law, Ann, for all of her work 31 years ago today. I owe her a lot! This picture is one of my favorites that we've kept framed in our bedroom since it was taken five years ago. I put it in to point out that time has been very kind to my sweetheart. Carston has changed a lot since then, but Mark certainly hasn't.
31 looks GREAT on him! I start thinking about Mark's birthday months before it arrives, dreaming of all the potentially great presents I could create for him. I start planning photo books, DVDs full of our family pictures changing to our favorite songs and other thoughtful projects that would mean something special to him. Then, as his birthday nears and I haven't even started working on any of these secret projects, my grandiose plans suddenly collide with reality and I start planning things on a slightly smaller scale. This picture says it all. I planned a big, special breakfast and then my birthday boy had to leave for the hospital too early to want breakfast. I did cleverly cut a hole in the top of this apple to house a candle, but that was the extent of our birthday festivities this morning.
So, we had brenner (breakfast for dinner) tonight. Here is Mark after spending too much of his birthday at school. You can tell he is living it up because he removed his tie. You might notice that there is a shocking lack of birthday cake in these photos. Our dinner was sweet enough that the kids didn't want any cake. Mark and I enjoyed it by ourselves after they went to bed. I made his favorite cake, Aunt Janet's carrot cake recipe, with tons of cream cheese frosting....yum. Froeliche Geburtstag, mein Schatz! I' hab di' lieb!

Headlong

During this past week, Grant has cut his head open twice. He takes after me, running headlong into the corner of a wall or tripping and somehow always hitting any dangerous object nearby (usually metal). These two incidents, one at Target tripping into the metal edge of a display case and one at home running through the kitchen right into the corner of the counter, left him lovely deep cuts on both sides of his forehead. Both cuts bled a lot, but were small enough that we didn't feel like stitches were necessary. Luckily, they are both right in the hairline so they aren't very noticeable. The good news is that they are healing well without stitches. You can hardly see the cut in this picture of Grant's Target injury. It looks like a scratch after four days of healing. The human body is amazing in how quickly and well it repairs itself.

As a side note, Target's employees were very nervous about Grant's injury on Thursday. It didn't help that he was gushing blood. They sent us to their pharmacy for the first aid kit, then sent a manager to talk to us about what happened. They asked if we wanted to fill out an incident report and asked questions about where the injury occurred and if the offending display was in disrepair or otherwise dangerously placed. I had to smile and assure them that it was simply Grant's fault and that we would not be suing them, at least not today:)

I also have to mention that Grant interrupted my composition of this post with a potty training emergency. His screams about having had an accident on the carpet and stepping in it got me up from the computer pretty quickly. We aren't having a lot of luck in putting #2 in the potty yet. All of my kids have been afraid of doing that, so it takes time to overcome. With Jackson and Peyton, I eventually tired of the messes and went back to pull-ups for a couple of days before being forced to return to the no pants method. We'll see if I need a similar "breather" this time. For now, we are plugging along.

Oh, how I love my little Grant!

Mark's Psychiatry Beard

Mark thought it only fitting that he grow a beard during his psych rotation this past month. He thought it might give him more credibility. The truth is that he grows a beard for about a month every year as a rebellion against the ritual of shaving and the often resulting cuts and razor burn. Once we all have gotten used to the beard, Mark's face almost seems bare without it.

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This morning, after Mark had shaved the beloved beard of 2008 away, Jackson commented on how weird Daddy looked. When Benjamin got up, he also took a double take and closely examined Daddy's face before feeling comfortable with him. As for me, thank goodness for the removal of those pesky beard hairs that poked me mercilessly whenever I kissed my sweetheart. I can't stop rubbing my cheek on Mark's just to relish their reunion:) Take a look at that handsome face behind the whiskers!

Potty Training

Grant has been wearing pull-ups and going to the potty now and then for the past few weeks. So, I decided it is time to get serious and potty train him. I am no stranger to potty training. In fact, this is my fourth time in just over two years. The truth is that potty training almost puts me over the edge and makes me question my own sanity! I have heard many theories, read a couple of books, heard the "do's and don'ts", talked to friends and family (including my mom who somehow survived potty training ten times) and then thrown my hands up in the air and wondered at my own inability to make any of these methods work for me. The idea of potty training in one day or even in three days is, for me, laughable and completely unrealistic. I've done the "potty dance" many times with my kids, made elaborate potty charts, watched movies with them on going potty, given rewards and lots of praise, taken them on trips to the potty every ten minutes (setting the timer), tried the use of pull ups (they think they are just another diaper and use them as such and they don't hold up like diaper so that is a disaster) tried the no pants method (which has been a necessity in teaching each of my kids to pay attention to when they need to go), treated accidents lightly and then I've also tried the ranting and complaining method (that wasn't necessarily on purpose and was only in the books as a "don't", but while venting, I let my little ones know mommy's philosophy 0n and frustration with their repeatedly going #2 on the carpet and in various corners around the house).

So many moms seem to breeze through this stage of development smiling along the way. Some have told me how easily their children picked it up. I had no idea when I started potty training for the first time that it would test me to my limits, expose my inadequacies and make me question myself so often. It took a combination of many different methods and a lot of patience before Carston was potty trained and even then it was only during the waking hours. I was geared up for things to go more smoothly with the twins, but they only got crazier and harder with even more accidents throughout the house and more frustration. The whole process took a good nine months, even longer than it had with Carston. It is true that every child is different and the potty training experience is also different with every child. So, with due trepidation, I enter the ring again with Grant. I come this time armed with experience and the knowledge that it will, most likely, take more time than I may (in my limited view) deem necessary.

Luckily, this is my first time potty training a child without having a newborn baby and so far I haven't felt like I was being tortured in the pit of despair (...don't even think about getting out of there alive). Without having to deal with extreme lack of sleep and hormones, I might just pull through this one unscathed. At 28 months, Grant is much more conscious than the others were of when he needs to go to the bathroom and he is more ready. He also has those charming and mischievous eyes that calm the building storm after accidents, usually through laughter. Then again, I seem to do well for the first few weeks of potty training. It is after I start thinking it should be getting easier that I get in trouble.

Here is to positivity, endless patience, an overall better experience with potty training, and to smiling at the disapproving looks from those who were able to potty train their 18 month old in one day, with their hands tied behind their backs!