The Face

Peter is really getting a personality lately. He loves Mariah and Dan best. Then the other siblings are next. I am definitely the least favorite. In the morning, Mariah usually gets him out of his crib. If she attempts to hand him over to me he growls. He cries hysterically when she and Dan leave for work/school. He can barely put up with me during the day and is overjoyed when his siblings return.

Another new thing is "The Face".

Here it is-

And again-
He is showing displeasure about his breakfast. Apparently graham crackers (all white sugar and white flour) and Costco dried mangos (coated with sugar) were not an acceptable breakfast this morning.

He also makes "the face" when he blows his nose. Amazing for a one-year-old....right? Except he does it without a kleenex and then I have to chase him around to clean up the mess. Lovely.

Still love that boy.

Calvin

Calvin is one of a kind.

He breaks the mold in many ways.

For a preschooler, he has relatively no fears.

Other than an occasional nightmare (which has been a very recent phenomena)

he doesn't get scared.

When I commented this to my brother, Derek, he said to me ,"He doesn't get nightmares because HE is the thing nightmares are MADE OF!!"

Okay point taken...

he IS still working on being kind and gentle.

If a kid is coming towards Calvin to hit him or he perceives they are going to hit him,

no worries he will get them first.

Really hard.

Sometimes I feel like I am raising this Calvin-

But even that Calvin can sometimes look like this-

And just like the cartoon above our Calvin can be so very very loving.

He is the most devoted to his family in our family.

He will tell me out of the blue,

"Mommy, I LOVE Daddy",

or "Mommy, I LOVE Peter (or fill in the blank with any other family member)".

When I ask him who his best friends are he always tells me

Jake and McKayla (two of his cousins).

He is the most excited of all my kids to see a grandparent or to visit a grandparents house.

His favorite show is

Wild Kratts

He loves to

build forts & play dress up

He loves to eat

salad

nutella on banana

vitamin C drink

candy

sugar cereal

He loves to

work out in the yard with Dan & use tools of any kind.

Dan says Calvin can work a full 8 hour day in the yard with him.

He loves to go to preschool with his friends Miles & Hudson.

For his birthday-

he wanted to eat

meatballs

chocolate chocolate cake

and get-

"a dragon like Jake's that shoots out fake fire".

Here he is with his dragon. It is electronic and can walk and growl very loud.

It's eyes glow red.

At the birthday party. Jake & McKayla were his guests along with his siblings. Mariah planned all the games including, "fishing" for fish with candy attached, pin the wheel on the sports car (Natalie helped with this one), Duck duck goose, hide & seek, musical chairs, blanket monster, and playing in the huge blanket fort (pictured above) which took up half of our playroom.

With the chocolate chocolate Buzz light year cake. Andrew made the cake and it was delicious.

Aunt Missy, Kallie, & Jake

Uncle Derek had the most fun at the party.

Peter is 15 months

It is hard to believe that Peter is 15 months already! It is difficult to get a picture of him lately because he is constantly in motion and won't stop for anything. He is also constantly falling or bonking his head as you may notice in the photo above. He is walking, climbing, pointing, throwing balls, and saying some words such as Dadda, Ba (ball), Ba Ba (bottle), Mil (milk), nuh (no), Na Na (Natalie), Mama, Boo (book) & Bre (bread- which he said several times VERY loudly on Sunday when he wanted more sacrament bread). He loves to read books and will request to be read to many many times a day. He also loves music and likes it to be played continuously (to the annoyance of some of the members of our family). He loves to give hugs and kisses, loves animals, and frosted mini wheats. He doesn't like to be confined or the pediatric office. Overall he is a pretty easy going guy, content most of the day. He weighs 24.69 pounds (50th%) and is 33.25 inches long (95th%). The nurse measured him twice yesterday (he grew 3 inches in 3 months) because she couldn't believe how much he had grown! I noticed his pants were all getting short on him so I wasn't too surprised. We feel lucky to have him in our family.

December

This December has been filled with visits from family and celebrations. It started off with visits from my Lund cousins from Virginia. We enjoyed good food and a Christmas choir concert starring my cousin, Austin.

Mariah & baby Maggie from Virginia (Leslie in back ground)

As Christmas came we were thrilled for a visit by Uncle Nate and (soon-to-be) Aunt Katie. We enjoyed being with them for Christmas Eve and Day as they were staying with Dan's parents.

Christmas Eve we got together at Dan's parent's home for soup, music, and the reading of the birth of Jesus. Unfortunately, we somehow forgot to take pictures of Christmas day but it was a great day of gifts and a ham dinner at Dan's parents.




A few days ago we had fun catching up with my cousin Celeste, Richard (her husband) and their daughter Ellia. We met for a delicious dinner at Derek and Missy's place. Unfortunately, again no pictures!

Thank goodness, I got my act together for a Garff/McDonald/Anderson cousin dinner which was at our house last night. Here are all the cousins attending.

April, William, Steven, Karen, Bill, Michael, Derek, Karina, Calvin

Daniel, Catherine, Jake, Natalie, McKayla, Mariah, Peter, Andrew, Blake

(not pictured- Dan- who snapped the photo)

Andrew's Dance Performance Christmas 2011

Andrew has been taken dance classes this Fall. This Christmas season he has had many performances. Here are the dances he performed at the Southtown Expo in Sandy, UT:

Deck the Halls - It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas - We Need a Little Christmas


The Island of Misfit Toys


Jolly Old St. Nicholas


Rockin On Top of the World

Andrew's Jazz Band Concert 2011

Andrew has been going to Jazz Band practice each morning at 7am this year at school.  Last week the Jazz Band had their holiday performance.

Andrew is sitting on the far left next to the vibes. He plays the electric guitar. In the last two videos, he is behind Mr. Halverson, the teacher so it is hard to see him.

Andrew has a solo in this first song (called "City") at the very beginning of the song and in the middle.

City


Gonna Fly Now from the Rocky Soundtrack


Monkey song or (I Wanna to Be Like You) from the Jungle Book

Family Christmas Recital

On Sunday, the kids performed some songs they had been practicing for a family recital