Gingerbread Houses

I got prefab Gingerbread houses from market so the kids would have a holiday activity once Damien got back from Connecticut. Addie has a Scooby Doo house and Calvin has a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle house. The kids had fun decorating and helping build the houses and even managed not to eat too many of the toppings. Calvin was very detail oriented, wanting the house to match the picture with precise frosting and candy placement. Addie was much more willing to experiment with her own creative touches.

Calvin's strange obsession

So Calvin went home sick yesterday so he is at the shop with Miso and I for the day. I have him his iPad so he wouldn't get bored and he found these channels where all they do is open Easter eggs to find out what toy is inside.... Seriously he has watched these shows for the past few weeks, hours of them, and still gets excited to see what is in the next egg.

How many people?

How many people can fit behind the desk at the store? A lot more than I thought, apparently no one wants to chill in the back. Oh, and the black fur ball is Miso, right in the way.

Someone wants a hamster

Addie's teacher has a hamster, "Flair". Calvin has seen Addie take in spinach to feed flair so unknown to me today he carried spinach around all day in his backpack at the baby sitter so he could feed the hamster when we picked Addie up, not knowing that after school isn't in Addie's class so we don't have access to flair. Needless to say Cavin wants to go to the pet store tonight to buy a hamster...... Tears for a long time.

Shop kid

Today Calvin got to come to the shop with me since his baby sitter is in her Honeymoon and Daien had work meetings. It worked for a while with him watching his iPad in the back (transformers and TMNT). But after a while he got lonely so now he is under the check out counter. Every once in a while he squeaks or laughs making a few of the customers wonder what's going on. Calvin then proceeds to pop his head up and tell them all about the Rescuebots and the plot synopsis of what he is watching..... Our store greeter for the day.

Calvin is ready to go

Damien told the kids to start sorting through toys of what they want to keep and what will be donated for the move into our new house (with the idea it would take several days and weeks for them to think about and decide). Instead Calvin promptly got up from the breakfast table went upstairs and threw his rescuebots, a few books and a puzzle into a bag. He then came downstairs and asked "are the strong men coming through this door" and plunked down his bag for them to move..... A few weeks early but Calvin is ready to move.

Another One Bites the Dust

Well yesterday we spent half the day at a lice clinic getting the bugs out of Addie's hair and today the last of her front teeth fell out at the dinner table, always something new with kids and never a day that is the same.

Last Day of Summer

Today is finally the last day of summer break after a week of teacher strikes. We decided to go out for a special breakfast, donuts and books at Top Pot. 

Attitude of a 4 year old

"Go stand by the rocks" I wanted to take a picture of the kids in their new jerseys on Blue Friday. Both kids oblige and stand by the rocks and smile.

"Calvin can you get your hand away from your boy parts" thinking maybe I can get a smile and hands in the correct places...

Then it happened, 18 year old attitude from my 4 year old..... Crotch grab and scowl. 

But hey, Addie smiled nice.

Addie is back

Last week Addie was at camp Seymore again and had a great time (meanwhile Calvin was more clingy with me than ever). She got to swim, do archery and the climbing wall, catch chickens and go in canoes. She had a blast and said that her favorite things were the pool, the chickens and the climbing wall. When I asked her more about the climbing wall she said she only got a foot of the ground but was really happy she gave it a try and loved it. To be fair I'm not sure if she knows what a foot is so she may have gotten higher; we will have to find a climbing wall in West Seattle. This week she is back at camp here in WS and is doing sports in the morning and outdoor art in the afternoon. Below with her camp picture is her creation from yesterday.

Do I look Pretty

Coming home from market then other day all I hear is Calvin saying "do I look pretty?" With a firm upswing in his vocal pitch at the end. I turned around to find him wearing Addie's headband and having quite a good time being pretty... Luckily we stopped at a light so I could snap a picture.

Tennis pose

Sweet Jesus, I asked to take a picture of Addie when we went to play tennis and she said "OK, let me pose" and instantly turned her hip, bent her knee and smiled with the ball up near her face. I have no idea where she learned this from. When I asked she said "no where, I just learned it myself".... The struggle is real. Oh yeah, we played tennis for 20 minutes after, she likes to hit the ball hard.

Cabo, or as Calvin calls it "Costco"

Last week we went to Cabo for the week with the Alvarado clan. The kids had a blast in the pools, there was a kids area with a shallow pool, water slides, foam mat water slides and a kids club that played a movie every day at 2. In the main pool there was a swim up bar that the kids enjoyed getting apple juice from and big ledges so swimming and jumping was easier than a plain wall. Both kids gained a ton of confidence in the water and became much better swimmers. Calvin often pleaded to leave the kids pool to go to the big pool so he could swim more (the kids pool was too shallow for them to swim, more a wading pool). The weather was great and we even got into downtown Cabo and took a boat out to the arch (though the seas proved to be a tad rough and the kids got pretty queasy).

Mexico rubbed off on Calvin

This is how Calvin wanted to go to school today, he said people in "Costco"(Cabo) wear them over their mouths.... On the way to the airport there were people witH bandanas over their mouths so they didn't breath in the road dust. I'm  hoping he will be over this look by the time we get to school.

All smiles...

Man, you would think these kids had a rough life. All I ask them to do is atleast smile for me to take a picture today and this is what I get. Addie got her very own tennis raquet this morning (pink of course) since she has been taking tennis all this week at camp. She says she likes it but gets easily frustrated with not hitting the ball. Calvin decided today was a good day for his Mickey Mouse ears.

Camp Seymore for Addie

Addie was at the YMCA camp Seymore all last week, going to the camp during the day and staying with my parents house at night. She had a ball, doing archery, swimming, arts and crafts (notice the tie die shirt?). Once she is old enough she can spend the night at camp, she is already asking about when that will be. 

Happy Fourth

We decided against the kids parade that we have done every year since Addie was born; the combination of record heat and a lot of 2-3 year olds running over each other on bikes wasn't appealing. So this year the kids had their own parade to the park by our house with one of their friends. Way easier, way less people. The rest of the day was spent on the deck with our mini pool, water table and lots of buckets filled with water to dump from one to another.

Chalk Paint

One of Addie's skills is turning anything she finds into something messier than it was ever intended. She particularly loves rubbing chalk in a puddle of water to make paint (that happens to stain skin). Calvin chooses to partake too.