Cal-Cal Read!

More often than not, these two angels are wrestling each other and stealing their special stuffed animals out from under their noses. But, every once in a while the chaos calms down and they can't help but enjoy being together. Callum is at his best when he is reading a book to Jude. Jude doesn't shy away from making very specific and generally unintelligible demands.
"Cal-Cal read boo ca"
"Jude, what is boo ca? Which book is that?"
"boo ca! boo ca!"
"Is it this one?"
"boo ca!!!"
And, eventually Callum finds a book that makes him happy.

Need some help in the kitchen?

You could ask this guy. Of course, I can't guarantee that he will be very helpful...
BUT I can promise he will be very entertaining.

Visit from Uncle!!

We got the best gift! Uncle Charlie came to visit us all the way from Minnesota soon after Christmas. (Technically, it was a gift from Grandma Pat to Uncle Charlie but, details, details.) The boys had a blast playing with their Uncle and especially like playin the snow with him. Well, Callum loved playing the snow with him...Jude is still warming up to snow, so to speak.

There was some sledding...
A trip to the Science Center...
And, some all around goofing. Thanks Uncle Charlie, we miss you already.

Christmas!

We enjoyed a wonderful Christmas at home this year but we were lucky enough to share Christmas Eve with grandma and grandpa Crowley. They very graciously let us trash their house and even seemed to enjoy it! There was lots of ball throwing, truck crashing and related mayhem. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!
Then Christmas morning we woke up to discover Santa had visited us, his reindeer even made a mess of the carrots we left for them! The rest of our Christmas day was spent playing, eating, and eventually fully changing out of our pajamas. Yay for Christmas.

Happy New Year!

There are lots of Christmas photos to post as well as photos from a special visitor this week but I didn't want Jan. 1 to pass without a little family-sized year in review.

It has been quite the year for us: Cal started a new school and Jude started walking at the beginning of the year. By now, Jude is running, climbing and tromping through the snow and Cal has advanced a class at school and feels like a senior preschool member. We've been blessed with a lot of good things this year, including special visits from friends and family, special trips to San Diego and to one of PA's best cabins in the woods. Who knows what is in store for 2011 but it is sure to full of surprises. Happy New Year!

Snow and More Snow!

We got hit with a ton of snow! We did extreme prepartion for about 30 minutes before heading out to enjoy over a foot of fallen snow on Monday. And Jude spent about the same amount of time actually out in the snow before deciding it wasn't really his thing.
He wore this face the whole time until calling it a day.
Callum, however, was ready to go. This is probably the first year that he was really into it. He's read enough books about snow to be eager for all the snow experiences like making snow angels and having snowball fights. Though, in the end, he wanted only mama to make a snow angel and our 'snowball fight' was throwing snowballs onto the ground. Always a practical kid!

Our Holiday Festivities

We did our best to match the holiday enthusiasm of a 3.5 year old this year. We had gingerbread house making both at home and with friends. And, we also took a trip with friends into New York City to see Rockefeller Center. How is that for holiday magic?


Jude didn't take the trip into the city (this year) but Callum and Mama did. He wasn't too impressed by the tree but was thrilled to see a Santa Clause ice skating!
He was also impressed by the tall buildings...
but wasn't excited to be pulled from the action in order to take a picture! Bahumbug, mom.
The best part, however, was running into Elmo and Grover. Who could ask for more?