Calvin turns 7

Yowzers, seven, already!  Calvin requested that we celebrate his birthday at Grampy and Grammy's house with his Henry cousins.  So, that is what we did.  We had to postpone his party once because he was sick (along with his brother and sister). We ended up celebrating on his actual birthday, January 31st.  He was super happy.  And just as contented as always.  Paul and I always remark at how nothing seems to phase Calvin. He's very laid back.  As you can see below we got him a big LEGO set, Helm's Deep, to be exact, but we didn't bring the big box out right away. Paul wrapped up a small pocket knife for him and he acted as if that is all we got Calvin.  He was genuinely delighted and never asked about another gift!  Of course, we pulled it out and he was THRILLED!  

                                          

 He requested cupcakes for his cake...and he wanted rings on them and he wanted the icing yellow, orange and blue.  I did my best.  We found these Angry Bird rings on yellow frosted cupcakes, and I also found some blue frosted ones.  =)

 Above is Calvin with Adele to the left and Erin beside her and PJ and Sean on the right.  Ian was home sick...we missed him!  We had a meal of roast beef, mac and cheese (his favorite), mashed potatoes, oriental slaw and fruit salad.

 Erin made Calvin this really cool box to put all his treasures in!  He LOVES this gift.  He keeps all his birthday gifts in it!

 Grammy and Grampy gave Calvin these action figures from The Hobbit.  Again, pleased as pie!

 Nanny and Pappy gave Calvin a LEGO watch, sunglasses (see below) and a LEGO t-shirt...it's hard to get the t-shirt off of him!

 Well, I had to put this picture in of Elizabeth admiring the new toys.  Isn't she cute?!

 Seanie made a light saber for Calvin.  Again, a very creative gift and Calvin was thrilled.

 Loving the shades...with the tag!

 Excited about Helm's Deep above and below, the finished product combined with a castle that Paul and the boys made over Christmas...so it is quite a set up!

It goes without saying, but I am proud of my little man.  I still call him my baby boy, because he still is my baby boy!  As I mentioned earlier, Calvin is so laid back and I pray that the Lord will use that in Calvin's life to bring much glory to Christ.

Moments with Mommy

I've decided to try to post every Monday for my Moments with Mommy snapshots that I get throughout the week with the kids.  Most of these pictures aren't going to be perfect, but at least it will chronicle, for my kids' sake, that I was around!

 Coloring with Adele.

 Kisses with Elizabeth...love those cheeks!

 Tickles with Elizabeth.

 We hit the beach one day last week...snag this picture with Calvin and Elizabeth.

 Reading with Adele and Elizabeth.

Why, yes, we do crank up the volume from time to time!

Snuggling, she's growing too fast! Look at that face!


  And I realize I need to get some of PJ and me together...he's doesn't sit still too long, though!  That can be my goal for next week!

Three Years

That's a picture of my three year old. Wow, three years! I can't believe it. Calvin looks SO old in this picture to the left, but I know he's still my baby boy. =) We've had a really great day of birthday celebrating. We try to celebrate the kids' birthdays around lunchtime so that they can have most of the day to play with their new birthday gifts. Today, was no different. The last couple years I have tried my hand at making the boys fun, amusing cakes...and so that leaves me in the kitchen, the morning of, frantically trying to ice a cake that won't co-operate...but it's always worth it when they see the creation. Most of you probably know that Calvin loves all things "racecars" so I recruited Paul to help me make a cake for him. I was still the one frantically icing the cake, but at least I didn't have to worry about the shape...Paul did the hard part! =)

Now that PJ is a little older and understands more about gift giving, he, too, was frantically making a gift for Calvin this morning. He made Calvin a racecar out of Legos. I must say, Calvin was very pleased...pictured at left is PJ helping him open the gift he gave him and Calvin is saying, "wow!". It was precious!

Calvin had a little problem blowing candles out, but with PJ and Daddy helping, they didn't stay lit very long.

And, here's the finished cake. The only problem now is that we have LOTS and LOTS of cake!

Thank you to Grampy and Grammie for the Star Wars Legos (both boys had eyes as big as saucers when they saw them!) and the books.

And, thank you to Pappy and Nanny for the soccer jerseys. He loves wearing soccer jerseys. I will try to send you some pictures of him wearing them. From our family, we got Calvin a toy car Sherriff from the movie, Cars, and we also got him a service center for all his matchbox cars. I found this service center at a toy store and it brought back many, many good memories of my own childhood. My brother had a similar service station and I remember playing with that thing for hours with my brother. I thought and hoped the same would be true for our boys. So far, my thoughts and hopes are just as I suspected. They have not stopped playing with it. =)

As I write this, they are ending the day with a sword fight...and then it will be time for bed!

another update on Calvin's eye

Calvin had his second follow up appointment today regarding his eye. The tearing is getting less but it's still happening. The doc informed us today that it could take up to 3 months to completely stop! So, please keep praying for healing and for patience for us and for Calvin. He deals with the massaging of his eye pretty well, but I am sure it gets old! (We have to massage it 1-2 times every two hours.) Today the doc did a little test today to see if things are working normally. He put some orange dye in Calvin's eye and then the dye ran down into his mouth and nose. He then saw the ENT and the ENT saw the dye in his nose...so this is great news and encouraging, thank you to all of you who are praying for Calvin and his eye.

A Nature Walk

A couple weeks ago the kids and I packed our water colors and paper, bird book, and water and headed over to the King's Park. I have mentioned this Park a lot in my posts because we go there pretty regularly, it's cheap, and beautiful! Before heading out the door, I called our teammate and friend "Aunt" Melanie (as the boys call her) and asked if she wanted to join us on our adventure. She heartily agreed to come along and so we were off to explore the beauty of the Park.

Once we parked and started walking along, Aunt Melanie mentioned that she hoped we would see a monitor lizard since she had never seen one before. She shared how "Miss Aunt Becky" (another teammate and friend who has since left Thailand) used to see them all the time while running in the Park. We were amazed that Aunt Melanie had never seen one, so we prayed for God to give us opportunity to see one of these fascinating creatures. No sooner were we done praying than we looked up and saw a white egret and then a few minutes later a monitor lizard came sneaking out of the water up onto the sidewalk across from us. It was an amazing answer to prayer! I tried to get a picture of it, but the one I got the lizard is really hard to see.

So, then we kept walking along and as we were going up over a little footbridge, two little Thai boys emerged from a hedge holding a very interesting creature. We asked if we could see it. They agreed. This beetle is ready to do battle, I do believe. My boys thought it was really cool.

(barefoot and all...isn't he sweet, the boy, that is, not the beetle!)

After we walked a little more, we stopped and took out our water colors under the shade of a "sala" (Thai word for pavillion). The boys painted some beautiful artwork of all we saw that day as we enjoyed the shade and breeze that the big pond there gives off.

The boys are trying to sneak up on an egret near the big pond...they weren't successful!

Calvin's shoes

Nanny and Pappy recently sent a package for us and inside were these cute Lightning McQueen shoes. Sorry I don't have a picture of PJ in his yet. =) Calvin loves to run around the house in his making car noises...and sissy likes to get them too!

Thanks for sending them...they're a big hit!

Calvin's News

Calvin is my wild child. He is generally happy but as of late (the past four months or so) he has taken on his two-year-oldness with a vengeance. He enjoys saying, "no" a whole lot, even when he means "yes" he will still say "no". Yu (one of our Thai friends and co-laborer here) told me on Sunday that I should teach him how to say "yes." I assured her that he can say "yes" he just chooses not to. She seemed very confused by this! =) Calvin also LOVES, loves, loves fruit. And, since we live in Thailand where fruit is plentiful, he gets his fill. He especially loves to eat a fruit called rambutan. Just about every Sunday after church while we're eating together as a body, Calvin parks near the fruit tray and eats his fill of rambutan...until it's all gone. Of course, the Thais love that this little foreign boy eats so much of this yummy Thai fruit but I am always a bit embarrassed at the amount he can put away. It's like he's chain smoking only it's healthier!!!
In other Calvin news, he is pretty much potty trained. I say "pretty much" because we still have accidents (like today) and he still doesn't do #2 on the potty nor does he go thru naps or nighttime without a diaper on...but most of the day he finds himself diaper free...yeah for us and yeah for Calvin!!! I thought he'd NEVER get it. It seemed like it took months (and I guess it did) but a few weeks ago it all just seemed to "click" for him and now he tells us (usually) when he needs to go. I praise the Lord for this. A few weeks ago (just before the enlightenment) I prayed about this issue. I believe God deliberately and quickly answered my prayer because it was a day or two after that that Calvin "got it."

Calvin also really enjoys singing. Some of his favorites are "Holy, Holy, Holy", "Deep and Wide" and Jesus Loves Me.

He still lines all his cars and trucks up and pushes them around. I think this is his favorite activity to do! He loves "The Little Red Caboose" and "Goodnight Gorilla" books and anything Dr. Seuss!



Calvin loves to run around the house with his brother playing "knights and dragons" or some such thing. They get into wrestling matches often enough too! (I must say it's usually Calvin tackling PJ!) Here he is pictured running from the dragon with his helmet on. Last night we were kicking a ball around and Calvin decided to put this helmet on while doing that. It was pretty funny to see him try to play "football" (soccer) with a helmet on!


















And earlier this week we stole off to the beach for a couple days of RandR with the Mills family before they head back to the States for furlough. It was a lot of fun even with five children (and one on the way, the Mills, not us!). Anyway, Calvin enjoyed learning about different sea creatures such as jelly fish (lots of them on the beach) and hermit crabs and starfish and sand dollars. Then he got to see lots of airplanes and helicopters as we were staying near a small airport. He also went down the sliding board at the pool for the first time and jumped off the diving board (with Daddy's help) for the first time. He enjoyed both immensely but when asked if he wanted to do it again, he said...yep, you guessed it, "no." And I think he meant it!!!

This one is ALL boy...

 
 
 

Calvin

We've had some fun in the local swimming pool as of late. Calvin has recently graduated to using swimmies and a float ring. Though, he'd much rather perfer not using any sort of floatation device he has agreed to use them...we'll see what happens as he grows!









Our swimming buddies (Asa, Emmy and Aunt Rhianna) make swimming a whole lot more fun, too. Here are Asa and Calvin enjoying banannas for a poolside snack.












Calvin continues to spend much of his days playing with trucks, cars and trains. He makes some really fun noises and I often wonder where do little boys learn to make these sounds?











Calvin also got smeared with Song Khran powder today. Not sure if he got any water on him or not.

Calvin @ work

Here are the boys playing with the new toys. I do need to state a disclaimer. At the end of this video PJ says, "Mommy, now we have three VMW's!" First of all, a VMW is PJ's lingo for a BMW and secondly, we do not ACTUALLY have three of them...these are, of course, toy BMW's! Enjoy the video!

Our birthday boy with his choo choo train cake...

His very own choo choo train!

And creatures of the sea...

And, more matchbox cars.