Galentine's Day

Every year, I am privileged to attend one of the finest Valentine's Day parties ever, a cookie exchange hosted by my dear friend, Jennifer over at 3 Reed Dotters. I tell her that it is one of my favorite parties I attend all year, and I hope she believes me. She is so creative and has the neatest sense of style. I always have an amazing time at this party, mixing and mingling with so many amazing women.

Check out this year's decor (All pictures were taken by Cathie Cox):

Chalkboard welcome sign outside the front door. And I LOVE the little bunting on the red velvet cake!

The living room display. Check out the little bottles of milk to go with our cookies!

Handmade crepe pom poms lined the ceiling.

These were my contribution to the party. The recipe for my cookies (found via Pinterest) is here.

Her parties are never complete without cute little goodies to take home. Here we have vintage jam jars with handmade toppers and filled with chocolate. We also got little bags with jelly belly jelly beans, a craft that we made there, and more cookies than I could eat alone. (Calvin and Tyler also like when I attend this party.)

It was so much fun. I love love love going to Jennifer's parties. Also, I really like the show Parks & Recreation, which the title of this post is referencing.

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Tiny Legs

Calvin loves to "draw," but his works of art have always been energetic scribbles completely consuming the piece of paper.

So imagine my surprise when he walked up to me this morning and said, "I drew you, Mommy!" And handed me this:

I was so taken aback and completely overcome. He asked, "why are you laughing?" I assured him it was just because I think he is the cutest boy in the whole world.

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Boy #2's Bedroom

 We moved 4 months ago and I am finally getting pictures together of the new house. I have loved decorating and have about 5 projects going at once. Linus' room is done for now.

I went for minimalism, being inspired by so many great nursery pictures I've seen on Pinterest. I decorated with old Disney vinyls, a 30 year old map of Disneyland, original character sketches from a golden age Disney animator (Tyler's great uncle), and a few cute vintage-y stuffed animals. What do you think?

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Am I powerful or am I enslaved?

Sometimes Linus just wants me.

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Loinis

Poor Linus sometimes does not get the attention he deserves. I spend so much of my day talking to Calvin and trying to help him out, that often Linus is just left to observe us. He seems to like it at least. And he isn't afraid to pipe up with a loud "yop!" when he needs something.

He is so easygoing, and he is such a grateful, cuddly baby. All he ever seems to want to do is cuddle with me and nurse. He is just adorable. He is not quite as big of a fan of sleep as Calvin was, but we're working on that.

At his 4 month checkup, he was 25 percentile for everything, but he seems to be chunking up pretty fast. We gave him a taste of rice cereal a couple of days ago, which he ravenously ate, his body trembling all over as if it was the coolest thing he'd done in life so far. And maybe it was, I guess.

Calvin just loves him. I have to keep a keen eye on those two because sometimes Calvin loves him a little too hard. We then have a conversation about how not to squash your baby brother. When he says his name it sounds like "Loinis" and it is the cutest thing. They are going to have so much fun together.

So happy in his high chair.

Linus' signature look. He always has one finger in his mouth. Calvin says he's looking for "hand food"- whatever that means.

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Twas the Season

We had a great, long holiday in Tucson with so much family. It was wonderful. I so wish we lived down there and could spend more time with so many people that we love. Calvin especially has so much fun playing with his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. He is still talking about "Remember we put in the flour and the eggs at Mao's house? Member that?" and "Remember at Baba's house when we played with Sophie? Member that?" It's so fun.

Christmas Eve in Tubac with all of the cousins. Here is the 2nd cousins Nativity. Calvin is a little shepherd with a Star Wars shirt on at the bottom right. This was moments before the taller shepherd dropped his crook, beaning Calvin on the head.

Calvin ate each stocking stuffer as he opened it. Here he is with a "white christmas treat" as he calls it. He was so excited that Santa brought him everything he asked for- candy canes and a pair of slippers.

Linus also loved the Christmas excitement!

Though everyone got tons of fun gifts, the only thing that anyone wanted to play with was an iPad.

After Christmas hangover in his new Snuggie for kids. All 11 nieces and nephews now match their uncles. We really need to get a picture of the camo snuggiefest.

Nick is a super uncle and Linus is loving it.

I had no stroller or baby carrier in Tucson so I looked up how to "make" a Moby-like wrap. 1. Buy 5 yards of fabric. 2. Cut it down the middle. 3. Enjoy your wrap! I raided Baba's fabric cache to find this cute orange print and voila! I have a wrap. Linus loves it (Calvin never liked this sort of thing), and it was a lifesaver while we were down there.

Hiking in the early morning in Sabino Canyon. I so love Arizona winters.

Calvin absolutely LOVED going on this hike.

A rest, a snack, and some waterfalls.

Watch out for Mountain Lions! This is Tyler's biggest fear.

I flew back with the boys by myself-- an adventure to be sure. Again, the wrap was lifesaving. After driving 2 hours to Phoenix, boarding and deplaning because of technical problems, waiting for the next flight to arrive with our misplaced baggage, and another hour home, we were exhausted! But, hey, I did feel like Supermom.

Happy holidays and welcome to 2012! We love you!

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Christmastime is Here

So, I haven't been blogging at all. The biggest reason is that I haven't been taking any pictures. Poor Linus. I spent Calvin's first months just at his side snapping pictures of every move he'd make. I am spending Linus' first months chasing Calvin around trying to get him to get dressed, eat, and learn how to clean up after himself. Poor Linus just sits in the Bumbo watching the craziness. He is a good sport. I thought it would be, but this parenting 2 children thing is really hard. Calvin is one of the sweetest and funniest boys, but he sure does get feisty lately.

Linus is taking his time learning things. Just like he waited until his 2nd day of life to even open his eyes, he is doing things on his own time, ever so sweetly. By 4 months, Calvin could roll over and was sleeping 12 hours every night. Linus is content just laying on his back or side, looking at everything. He also still wants to visit and cuddle with one of his parents at least one time in the night. He is so sweet about everything and seems so loving and grateful whenever you feed him or cuddle with him. All of his eating and cuddling is making him a little chubster and I love it. I just think he is so cute. He has his 4 mo. appointment tomorrow, so we'll see how much he weighs then.

We have been super busy with the above-mentioned craziness and doing everything that we can to have a festive Christmas time. We have done a Christmas-y activity every day (reading a scripture about Christ, eating yummy things, choosing toys to give away, going to look at the lights, watching a Christmas special, etc.) and Calvin is really getting in to the Christmas spirit. We have been trying to really teach him about the true meaning of Christmas, and I think he's getting it, but then he told us there is a ghost in Mary's tummy, so he might still be a little confused. He LOVES singing Christmas carols, though. He knows all the words to:

Jingle Bells
Deck the Halls
Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer
The First Noel
Santa Claus is Coming to Town
Let it Snow
Frosty the Snowman
Walkin in a Winter Wonderland
Up on the Housetop

and he thinks he knows Jingle Bell Rock

It is a Christmas miracle that I got him to sit still and do it for the camera upon my request. Merry Christmas!

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