A Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. Our long, food-filled Thanksgiving time together was enhanced with a great visit from Grandpa Steve. He was a great sport--reading books, playing cars, answering a million questions, singing songs and running everywhere with us.

Oh, and plenty of baby holding...and nose nuzzling (our new big thing from the Corduroy books). We also got to swim in the hotel pool and enjoyed our first time in the hot tub, which was extra fun with the bubbles.

This is not to imply that the week was without mishap. Cal's favorite new activity has become playing at the sink on a step stool. Washing his hands and brushing his teeth and generally just enjoying the water. During one such adventure, we heard an ominous *click*. He had managed to lock the deadbolt lock. Very calmly Kieran spent the next 15 minutes talking him through unlocking the door "Walk your fingers up the door to the lock" while I paced frantically. He did manage to unlock it himself, thankfully, as the next best solution would have been sawing a hole in the door. Needless to say, the deadbolt has been removed and our hearts have moved back up from our stomachs. Cal, just kept humming along with no idea anything happened.

Messing in the Kitchen

The addition of a step stool to some weekend morning muffin baking meant a full scale cooking operation. Cal managed to drag out every stirring utensil, grab mustard from the fridge (mmm! mustard and muffin!) and provide ongoing conversation the whole way from mixing flour and soda to warm muffin.

The Brothers Crowley

This is how we play these days. Jude sits happy (oh, so happy) to have Callum circling around him and chattering away. Callum decides to 'play' with Jude and offers him something to eat (can you tell Jude is teething right now?)
The game continues with different offerings...

and directions on how to play...
Until Jude lunges for the wrong thing and there is an eruption of "NO jude! It's mine." Jude remains pretty calm and sits observing most of the proceedings, just hoping to get to gnaw on some toys again and bask in the big brother glow.

Family Photo Shoot

Our favorite waitress at the diner near our house is also a fantastic photographer just getting a start. So, we asked her to take family photos for us at a big, open studio space in town. Wrangling Callum into the photo-taking wasn't easy as he preferred the fun, well-lit room for running. But, we had a good time. Not many pictures of our own as we were mostly being photographed ourselves but I caught a few near the end. Can't wait to see the final results!

M-I-L-K and other adventures in Independence

The echo of "I do it!" lingers around our house these days so much so that it feels like you can still hear it on the rare occasions the house is empty of kids. Our man is striving for his independence for sure. He is also learning an astonishing amount. In one very scary incident amid our hectic morning routine, I spelled out the word milk to Kieran, to inquire whether we had packed it among our things for the day. And, Callum said "I don't want milk!" We have to assume that he has started to associate M-I-L-K with milk rather than actually know how to spell it. But, we both stood stock still, parents caught at their own tricks.
The littlest elf is also working his way toward independence. He's moving in circles on his belly now and working hard to pull himself toward things he interested in. The other day in the middle of some frantic "I wanna reach it" activity he managed to fall and hit his eye on one of Callum's toys with a sharp edge. You can't really see it in this picture but he did get a cut above his right eye, poor thing. These are the kinds of things that NEVER happen to oldest children, mostly because such dangerous things would never end up within their reach. So, I suppose it is an initiation of sorts.

Us parents are bracing ourselves for the next round of 'independence adventures'...

Our Judebug at 7 months

As unbelievable as it sounds, J is already 7 months old. He is one happy guy with a smile for everyone. He is also loud! When he wants you to hear him, he knows how to raise his voice. Callum often says, "stop yellin' at me Jude" when he's just babbling. He is getting pretty good at sitting independently and loves it. He is still not fond of rolling but is strong enough to nearly launch himself out of our arms when he's being held. He hates napping, it truly seems he doesn't want to miss out on the action but he sleeps pretty well at night, most of the time.

Oh, the fun we had!

Nothing beats a visit from the grandparents! Grandma Pat and Grandpa Bill came all the way from Minnesota for a weekend full of not just Halloween adventures but adventures at the pool and at the park and everywhere in between.





Here is Cal in his firefighter costume (Jude went as his dalmation dog). The costume quickly wore out its welcome, however, and after wearing it Friday morning, we were pretty much done with it. So, the firehouse dog went solo, even at the halloween party on Saturday. You never know what is coming!

We will miss you Grandma and Grandpa.