November 21, 2014
The boys in their pajamas
Just a cute video we captured tonight. I love the song. I love the matching pajamas. I love Judah’s jiggle in the background. I love Isaiah’s silliness. So much cuteness! Love these boys!
August 28, 2014
Our new house…
Now that we have moved in to our new house, we are LOVING it. It took a bit of work to get it clean initially, but now that (almost) everything is out of boxes, we are into the decorating phase of moving in. Luckily Erin came down a couple weeks ago, and is coming back again soon, to help us decorate! She has a waaay better eye and and style than we do!
We have a dining room! Very exciting!
Galley kitchen…good, newer appliances.
Living room (one half of it, anyways)
Full bathroom
Boys room (Isaiah’s bed is on the wall you can’t see!) It’s a nice sized room for them! And we’ve left off the sliding double closet doors so its even bigger!
Erin helped decorate our half bath in the master bedroom. It is now grey and blue, with some lovely coordinating curtains, rug and towels!
Our new front porch with flowers!
And we can’t forget about our wonderful, big backyard! Mia is very happy and loves to be out there! What a blessing!
Judah likes to watch her out there too!
We’ve wasted no time having lots of fun outdoors these last few weeks, even though its been deathly hot down here (almost every single day at/around 100 degrees…unrelenting!)
We quickly got a pool!
“Why are you fussing at me, Mom? Its just grass”… I give up.
Water balloon fights!
Water gun fights…
Judah is prepared too!
We also got Isaiah a scooter to enjoy outside! And we love our front yard too!
One other thing of note that we’ve done is give our 10 month old baby his first haircut!
Before:
After:
We’ve been slowly adjusting to the extreme heat and the bugs. But overall we love our house and are working on a new normal now. Calvin started teaching classes this week and is enjoying it. It’s a lot of work! We will try to keep you updated on his job status and if God is telling us to stay here or move onto something else next year! We appreciate your prayers for us during this time of transition. 
Lesli
We’ve moved…
Well, we have moved to Texas! Its now been so many weeks, it will be difficult to choose just a couple pictures from our time in the Dallas area, our move down, and now our new life starting out here. But I will try!
We got to visit with both sides of our family for a few days, and get some swimming in during the warm, sunny days!
Isaiah (momentarily) got over his fear of splash parks with a little help from Daddy…
And we got to see and play with cousins too!
And lots of snuggles from family… (these are all of Judah but I promise Isaiah got lots of hugs and kisses too! He just doesn’t stay around long enough to get a picture of it!)
I think this picture is hysterical-Isaiah is shooting Judah with a water gun from outside the window!
The boys played with a lot of trains…
We also bought a minivan about 2 days before leaving for south Texas! Ha! Perfect timing and it’s a GREAT car!
Lesli
June 26, 2014
Play time…
Having two little boys means we just play and play and play and play. 🙂 Our past daycare provider was of the opinion that children under the age of 4 just need non structured play time- and lots of it. (scheduled but un-structured) I totally agree. And given that Isaiah will barely sit still for any activity or craft, I’ve found that he just needs lots of movement and physical play time. He is now getting of the age (in very recent months) as he approaches 4, that he likes board games- especially ones that promote learning- such as counting or addition/subtraction. Memory games are also a favorite. I think he is developmentally getting ready for a preschool setting, where I think previously he has not been ready. In the fall, we plan to put him in preschool 3 half-days a week. Considering he is already very ahead of his age academically, I think he will benefit from the structure of a classroom the most. He is academically and socially very ready for preschool. 🙂
So here are lots of pictures of our play times…
Singing Let it Go, with my hairbrush. Classic.
Park time…we were there 3 hours yesterday! We brought our swim suits but the water was off for maintenance 
Practicing his letters…
Someone is in the tent…someone is pulling down the tent.
Judah turned 8 months old this week. He has mastered crawling and is quite fast- moving between rooms, following us (mainly big brother) around the house, and loves to go for the dog bowls and dishwasher, if left unattended.
He really loves to grab the spoon, so we have 2 spoons to feed him (one for him to grab, one to use for the next bite, then we switch!) It gets messy! He also started eating baby puffs this week. He can even (most of the time) pick them up with a pincer grasp and get them to his mouth! Amazing.
He is very busy…
Hanging out with Mommy at the park…
Sleeping in on a Saturday morning with Daddy (who likely didn’t know Judah was in bed with him- ha!)
Lesli
Moving back to Texas…
Although everyone likely knows already, we are finally moving back to Texas next month! Calvin has accepted a visiting professor position at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, TX (outside of San Antonio). We are now in the process of packing up our apartment here in Oakland, confirming moving dates and renting a trailer truck to load up our things, and finding housing out in Seguin.
We have a big BBQ planned in 3 weeks to say goodbye to our friends here. We are very nostalgic and sad to leave our friends and the life we’ve had here in the bay area these past 7 years. But there are also aspects we are looking forward to leaving behind! Ha! We are looking forward to many things in Texas, mostly being just a few hours drive away from our family. We are excited to be going back!
Lesli
June 10, 2014
Recently with Judah…
Well I have lots of cute baby pictures to share from the past month! 
Judah has gone from pushing up to his feet (that I last blogged about), to a fast army crawl and almost real crawl on his hands and knees. He is so close now!
He no longer stays where I put him to play quietly with his own baby toys…look at that hair!
He is always near a ball, the play tools, or the train tracks these days…
Or the books…he loves to make a mess of the books! (Looks like Mia did NOT want to be in this picture)
Ellen, I think we have this exact picture with Isaiah too! Ha!
He is never at a loss for things to play with, especially when his big brother piles them on him like this!
Did I mention he loves trains?
He went from doing this 2 weeks ago…
to doing this 3 days ago. Wow. (aaand we lowered the crib THAT night!)
These two are still figuring each other out. Mia seems to be a little more rough these days than she was with baby Isaiah. I think its because that baby grew up to be a toddler that annoys the heck out of her! So these two kind of keep their distance, for now.
These boys love a good box to play in! Nothing added- just some good cardboard fun. Isaiah said it was a rocket ship. Judah was just along for the ride.
Peekaboo!
Oh and just so you know this baby is NOT always smiling… sometimes he is fussy too. Especially when, but not limited to, if you wipe his face, he is cutting a tooth, or you take away anything that he had in his hands. He screams like a pterodactyl.
Judah is 7 1/2 months old now. He is still NOT sleeping through the night, however we just moved him to his crib, where he magically started sleeping a good 6 hour stretch (11 pm to 5 am). He has been starting to eat fruits and veggies now for about 2 months. He doesn’t really like peas or green beans but loves applesauce and mashed bananas. He babbles ah, goo, bah, and bvvffff, a lot. He loves to blow raspberries. He gives Mommy big wet kisses when asked to. He has cut two bottom teeth and 2 canines on top. Weird! He is army crawling, but up on his hands and knees a lot. He can get into a sitting position all by himself now. And he loves his big brother and gives him the biggest smiles all day long. They play together really well. It’s such a blessing!
Lesli
Recently with Isaiah…
I find myself needing to catch up with about a month of pictures and stories here. Sorry! Things have been busy, but I will do my best to recap some recent happenings.
Isaiah has gone through this funny phase of NOT wanting to sleep in his bed. We’ve caught him in all types of sleepy poses because of this!
Still holding a toy…
Curled up, haha…
Still not in bed…
Which leads me to a sickie photo…
Isaiah had tonsillitis at the beginning of May. We (and his pediatrician) were convinced it was strep throat, (because of how it looked and his recent exposure to it at church) however the lab test came back negative. He had had a fever on and off consistently for 5 days before I even had him checked by his pediatrician. She immediately started him on a round of antibiotics, and then…my child turned into an ever-lovin monster. It was bad. Really bad. He could not control himself physically or emotionally for 10 days. We think it was the nasty meds he was on. He has never been on antibiotics before. And I hope it is a very VERY long time before he ever has to have them again.
Grandma and Grandpa came out for a visit to see Calvin’s graduation. There were forts made, board games played over and over, and lots of laughs.
This boy still likes boxes! This time his playing has gotten more advanced and he was “grocery store clerk” for me to order my food.
He can build creative things now with his Legos instead of just towers and buildings! He said it was a train! And I love this classic Isaiah face!
And he loved playing frisbee at the park with a friend’s sweet dog last week! One day when we have a backyard I see him having lots of fun with Mia like this!
Working hard with Daddy on his Home Depot Kids project
And he loves his conductor hat! Thanks Grandpa!
Lesli
June 6, 2014
Graduation Ceremony!
Well Calvin officially graduated by turning in his dissertation in December, but the ceremony was in mid May. His parents came out for the weekend and went to the ceremony with us. I think it was nice to appreciate the work he had done and give that chapter in his life some closure.
About to cross the stage:
Getting “hooded” by his advisor:
Calvin and his advisor:
Family pictures:
Lesli
May 12, 2014
Look what’s happening over here…
We have a pre-crawler. 
He thinks I am kidding? It was a legitimate question!
Lesli
May 6, 2014
Random pictures…
When I get a couple weeks behind in posting on this blog, I struggle to find good, cohesive timelines for the pictures from our life/events. And now I have too many pictures to share, so I will just post a few seemingly random pictures, and not try to tie them all together with a theme. 
We were never really at the park when Isaiah was this young. Judah loves to swing!
Getting some exercise…
Isaiah is running waaaay ahead of us… (not dangerous by the way- it’s an enclosed space!) One time recently he ran around this green area 3 times without stopping-probably about half a mile. Amazing energy, this kid.
(isn’t that the most beautiful park! I love it!)
Who doesn’t love a baby in sunglasses?
Cool boys…
Being silly with Daddy…
Thinking about walking the dog, Judah?
At a Disney dance party- he was a Dalmatian (who was not participating!)
Now he is a pirate fighting Peter Pan…
Now he is mer-man swimming under the sea…
And here is a nice “moment” (for real) of the boys playing side by side in their room together. So sweet!
I have to admit though, big brother DOES entertain the baby a lot! He is overall very good with him! And for the (very) few times that Judah has been home alone just with me, he seems to be bored.
Lesli
Calvin & Lesli 