CALVIN IS 4

We celebrated Calvin's 4th birthday on Tuesday. The birthday meatballs.
Spaghetti and meatballs is a popular choice for a birthday dinner. I let the kids pick the meal that they would like to have. My sister-in-law, Tessa, made me a plate that says, "It's your special day!" and Calvin was excited to use it.

The Birthday boy.

We were feeling a little stressed and frenzied by the time the meal started. Thankfully, pictures don't really convey that part! A little bluegrass music is a sure-fire cure. We turned some on, did a little foot-stomping and hand-clapping and the mood was turned. Everyone was ready to party!

A happy boy with his yummy dinner.

"Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you..."

Blowing the candles and...

...licking the candles.

Calvin really liked the cupcake tower.

A bonus: the cupcake recipe turned out to be mighty good. Those were some rich, chocolately cupcakes.

Calvin handing out a cupcake to everyone. I got some cheap whistles for fun.

:-)

Mmmm.

Being funny.

I got some dinosaur stickers for the boys. Sam drew some backgrounds for everyone to put the stickers onto during the party.

They actually enjoyed the stickers a lot. I was glad I had got them.

Amelia did some of her own. She surprised me at how good she was at sticking them on.

"See mine!"

Showing Calvin last is realistic. He's slowest at just about everything. :-)

And the gifts. He got a playmobil knight that comes with weapons, armour, etc.

The knight set was from Peter and I.

Aunt Leslie sent him a catapult. In case she reads this, the wrapping paper you used was so great! The tropical fish were beautiful and VERY appreciated by all the boys!

So, we were all pretty impressed with this catapult. It is fairly awe-inspiring. A great toy.

And he also got...

a tropical fish coloring book and some colored pencils of his own.

Last from mom and dad was a pistol. I'm not sure if he likes the pistol or the holster more.

Grammy and Papa sent the little defender a marvelous sword and shield.

A very satisfying gift!

Peter showed him how to hold it.

Ready to fight.

FREE TIME

Sitting on the trash can. A great way to spend free time? Not to mention a great place to suck your thumb...
...and cuddle a baby.

A CLEAN TROUGH

Just a thought.Proverbs 14:4 - "Where no oxen are, the trough is clean;

But much increase comes by the strength of an ox."

In a way, it doesn't seem right to compare children to oxen. But I feel certain that Solomon had children in mind when he wrote this.

There are days when I wish my house looked something like this:
Those are the short-sighted days. The far-sighted days love the hub-bub of activity that results in continual mess to clean up once again, because it's caused by many "oxen."

SUNDAY FELLOWSHIP

After church on Sunday we invited all of the single young men to come over to our house for lunch. Five of them were able to come. This is a few of them going through the food line. Enjoying conversation around the table. From left to right is Peter, Tim Woody, Kent ?, Matt Regar, Ern Poh and Calvin.
Evan is getting to be good friends with the boys.

Matt and Evan both had birthdays in the previous week and Calvin's was coming in two days, so we put some birthday candles in their dessert. For some reason, Calvin ducked out of the picture as we were singing.

There he is.

Ben wanted me to get a picture of his brownie that he was really enjoying.

Ern is here in Morgantown to attend the University. He is from Malaysia. He is actually chinese, but has grown up in Malaysia where his father is a Reformed Baptist pastor. His manners make me blush as an American. They train their children so well there! He is such a wonderful representative of his family and his country. In this picture, he is talking to Benny, which he did for long periods of time. Ben lOVES to talk and he found that Ern was a willing listener. Ern's english is amazingly good. He was able to carry on conversation with Ben and still listen in to what was being said around the table, all in his second language. We enjoyed getting to talk with him and have him at our home. We also enjoyed the opportunity to better get to know some of the young men who have been attending our services.

STUFF AND NONSENSE

Here's a mismatched collection of pictures from the last week or so. First is Ben and Millie really proud of themselves for getting ready to go to the store with dad on their own. Good thing Peter was the one taking them, because I would have had to break their hearts and make them change their outfits.Cecily on Valentine's day in the "heart" outfit from Grammy.
Apparently, she was very drooly.

Valentine's/Sabbath dinner

When you hold her, you really can't help kissing her.

A "man" Sam made from the sled.

Watching Little House on the Prairie. The boot lady strikes again.

The 3 year old that's nearly 4.

In the previous post, I put some pictures of Ben and Millie picking up sticks off the deck. This picture was taken literally minutes after those other pictures were taken. A storm just sort of blew in. It was funny because it got very blizzardy and then suddenly the sun came out and ALL of the snow melted again. By late afternoon, it was all gone again. Crazy.

Watching the snow. This sliding door ends up being one of the major distractions to school time. It's so hard not to want to watch the trees and birds out back (and storms).

Peter working. His daily work usually looks a lot like this. Slippers and all.

Not going anywhere without a baby in hand these days.

She does share the babies. She often wants Cecily to have one.

Ever since we went to the Aquarium we've had an even higher number of aquatic themed drawings than normal. This one is William's from this week.

William drawing during read aloud.

Calvin's favorite coloring utensil lately is a marker. He's working through several pictures in his truck coloring book.

One of Sam's drawings.

Sam drew some fish for Ben and then Ben colored them.

Amelia really wants her babies to do what she's doing now. If she sits, they must sit.

She does try to feed them when she eats, but we have to draw the line somewhere.

Another boot and hat combo.

Believe it or not, she's ready for bed.