A day at the zoo!

 The first train ride of the day! 

 Hello little monkey.  Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of the monkey hanging by his fingers from the one inch ledge, peeking over and through the window, and then climbing back up onto the ledge to look at Calvin. 

 We were really, really close to the lions.  The normal lion exhibit is being remodeled so they are in a smaller enclosure but it's great for the visitors because we are up close and personal with the lions.  The normal enclosure is down in a valley so visitors are looking down on the lions from far away.

 After walking around for a bit we revisited the lions because we could hear the male lion roaring and making another noise that sounded like barking.  Or what a lion would sound like if he were to bark.  Anyway, it was amazing!  After that the male lion came over by glass and was staring right at Calvin.  The male lion also tried to paw at a guy's head through the glass.  The lions were feeling feisty yesterday!

 First carousel ride of the day.  

 Second train ride looking forward.

 Second train ride looking backward.  Yes, we were the only passengers.  Same for ride number three!

 Second carousel ride.

Staring at the guy whose head looked tasty.

Winter fun

 Calvin is ready for soccer!  On Sunday afternoons Calvin has soccer practice at a local middle school.  It's not so much practice as it is herding cats.

 Calvin has so much fun shoveling snow.  Hopefully this enthusiasm will still be around when he is a teenager.  Not counting on it!

 The side yard needs shoveling too!

 Calvin and I spent an afternoon making english muffins together.  He likes to help measure the ingredients but has more fun squishing dough and playing with flour.  Usually he's pretty good about keeping most of it on the counter but the temptation to fling it off of the counter proved too great.  I wish I could have gotten another picture because this one doesn't do a good job of showing just how much of the floor was covered in flour.  It was the second flinging that really got it covered.  Luckily he also enjoys sweeping. 

Life on the homefront

 No window.

 New window.  Dan has installed new windows in the house.  All but three have been replaced and those will be done when it warms up again.  Now when the wind blows the window coverings don't move!

 I had to give Dan a haircut to get out the caulk that he had in his hair after a window fell out of the window hole and hit him in the head.  He was getting ready to secure the window with screws when it fell out. 

 Without prompting Calvin wanted to put his underwear on his head.

 

 Big boy.

 Little boy.

 Sleeping in his chair for nap time.  I'm sure you've all seen pictures of toddlers sleeping in funny places such as a highchair or standing floor but with his head on the couch snoozing away.  Calvin has never been one of those kids so this is as funny as it gets.  I did have a moment of panic when I went in to wake him up and didn't see him in his bed though.  He chose to sleep on the floor at least once and the chair a few other times.  I think he quickly realized that neither are as comfortable as his bed.  Even though he can get in and out of his bed freely he still likes us to put him in bed and take him out in the morning. 

Calvin wasn't feeling well this morning so he stayed home from school and we decided to make biscuits.  There was some extra flour in a bowl that I let him play with it along with the scraps of dough and he had a great time as you can tell by the big mess that was made.  Big mess = lots of fun!  

Warm biscuits!  Even though Calvin and I don't follow the directions exactly they always turn out!  I tried explaining how to slowly pour milk into flour while stirring but he's more of a dump it all in at once kind of guy. 

It's fun to look back at pictures of Calvin when he was a baby and see how quickly preferences were formed.  Even at four days old he liked to sleep with his arms behind his head and he still does.

Hammering the tree

For your viewing pleasure Calvin hammering the Christmas tree.  I'm still not sure why he thought he needed to hammer the ornaments but he did.  By the way, thanks Grandma for showing Calvin how you hammer your knife when cutting squash.  Here's a little part of a conversation Calvin and I had:

Calvin: Mom, I need a hammer to hammer my knife.
Me: Why do you need to hammer your knife?
Calvin: Because Grandma uses a hammer when she's cutting squash.
Me: I don't think you need a hammer to cut pears. 

The colors are a little washed out because I neglected to turn on more lights.  Oh well, not a big deal. Enjoy!

Advent calendar and Christmas tree

This year I made little paper boxes and stuffed them with small trinkets for Calvin's advent calendar.  So far the hits have been a tiny little cup in the shape of a puppy to drink out of, Mickey Mouse socks, and Uno.  Oh yes, the harmonica is also a lot of fun.  Not too surprisingly Calvin is better at the harmonica than I am.  Cricket is strangely drawn to Calvin when he is playing his instrument, as he calls it.  I took him to a concert on Monday night so he could see and hear people playing musical instruments.  He had a good time but his good behavior quickly turned naughty after the friends we were with decided to misbehave.  So we left and went to buy doughnuts.  Unfortunately he can talk me into pretty much any bad idea.  Sometimes I wonder who is really running this show!  Sorry for the digression.  Back to the pictures.  I made this tree and the ornaments for Calvin to decorate and play with.  I then said something about putting up lights on the tree so Dan and Calvin went to town.  I think this might be our only tree for the year! 

Halloween

Calvin chose to be a brown puppy this year for Halloween.  After making his decision he told me that he also wanted to be a gray cat.  If anyone asked him what he was going to be for Halloween his answer was always a puppy and a cat.  As you can see from the pictures above he was just a puppy.  A very cute puppy though.  With a very cute cow!  Dan wasn't going to wear his costume this year but he was talked into it.  Even though we didn't visit too many houses Calvin received a lot of candy!  Most houses gave him at least two pieces and some even gave me and Dan candy too.  We had fun walking around the neighborhood, eating candy, and meeting some new neighbors.  As we were walking around we could hear creepy organ music coming from a house a block away.  We were going to go investigate but by that point we were all cold and just wanted to go home.  We got home in time to hand out candy to a few kids that stopped by.  Now to go hide all the candy from myself Calvin.

First day of the new school year

Calvin has moved to the three, four, and five year old room at his school.  The transition to the new room was very smooth thanks to him being slowly introduced to the new room the week prior to the change.  Also, all the teachers seem to know all the kids in all the different rooms.  Not sure how they mange to remember so many names but it sure helped that Calvin was already familiar with his new teacher on the first day in his new room.  He seems to like the new room and all the new work that he gets to do.  I've noticed that his counting skills and his reciting of at least part of the alphabet has improved in just the short time he's been in the room.  Sometimes just a change of scenery can help break through a plateau!