The fabulous five

We have been talking about taking a picture of all 5 babies since the new year and we finally got around to it. They are sitting from oldest to youngest (left to right) from 9 months to 7 months old.

I love this picture. It was one that I almost deleted, but I think it was funny. It is hard to get 5 babies to pose for a picture!

LOOK WHAT JUST 10 MONTHS CAN DO!

This picture was taken 10 months ago at my baby shower. Left to right (Nicole, Trisha,me & Amanda)

This is today at Park Days. From Left to Right (Wyatt:Amanda's, Kelsi:Mine, Cole:Nicole's & Grant:Trisha's)

Night with Daddy

When I left to go to Spinning, Kelsi had a cute ponytail on top of her head with a neat little bow right on top. An hour later when I came home, this is what Kelsi looked like. How is it that Kelsi can go through a full day with her mom and still have perfect hair and one hour with Dad and she looks like this? Gotta love Dads. heehee

More pics for the fans

Kelsi and Nicholas (he is the youngest of the Clarkston 1st ward baby boom - just 2 weeks after Kelsi). This was also Kelsi's first day with pigtails!

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My beautiful girl

I just can't stop taking pictures of this little one. Kelsi came down with a cold last weekend and seems to be on the mend. Colds and teething are not a fun combo. She melted my heart when she would give me a big sleepy smile with her runny nose. Such a sweetie. Oh, and this is how Kelsi prefers to play with her activity center now...easier access to her mouth.

Edward???

Twilight the movie comes out on 12.12.08. Don't get me wrong, I am going to see it...but I already know that I am going to be disappointed. I am pretty fine with Bella being played by Kristen Stewart...but I am not so sure about Edward. I knew fully well that he is supposed to be a 17 year old, but since he has lived for many years beyond that in the story and just doesn't age, I still pictured him like...like a Christian Bale type (on a side note...can't wait to see Dark Knight this weekend!)...not really a high school looking kid. Oh well, I still have my memories. I know Lacey and I are on board for opening night...if anyone else in the Clarkston valley wants to party with us, let us know (sisters - if we really like it let's see it again at Christmas!). If you haven't read the book yet, just do it already and stop fighting it. You have less than 5 months..and I promise you can finish it in a day...two if you are really busy.

Ode to Clarkston

The first time I heard the name of the city Clarkston was about 3.5 years ago. I had no idea where it was, what state it was in, but only that this John guy that I casually met was moving there. Little did I know at that time that only about 3-4 months later I would be moving there. This week marks my 3rd year living in Clarkston. When John and I arrived in Clarkston, I can remember standing with him in our backyard and fighting back tears. John kept mentioning the "view". I just replied by saying "What view? It looks like covered wagons are going to come over those hills any minute". Well, it took me about a year to actually like it here. Now that I have lived here for 3 years, I have grown to....yes, love this valley. I can't imagine living in the big city any longer. I have turned into a rural girl.....not country...but rural. There are still things I miss about big cities (mainly shopping and good restaurants). Here are the top 10 reasons why I love Clarkston.

10. NO TRAFFIC (except when someone thinks that the speed limit is 25 in a 35 zone...then I complain about the traffic)

9. PARKING. I never have to pay for parking or look very hard for a parking spot.

8. Gas prices. Costco is still below $4/gallon

7. LWS airport. You can't even get through security until 30 minutes before your plane takes off. So LOW STRESS. You just stroll on in.

6. Mild winters. I used to have a different definition of mild winters, but now I am just so happy that it only snows a couple times and doesn't last more than a day.

5. Close to half of our family (2 hours to Cd'A)

4. Driving down Bryden close to sunset. What a view of the river and bluffs!

3. People are SO nice. I personally think people in CA are nice, but everyone here is just so down to earth and laid back. It doesn't seem like anyone is trying to keep up with the Jones' here.

2. Clarkston 1st ward. Hands down the best ward that I have ever been in (visiting included).

1. My friends. When I left CA, I left some wonderful friends behind. I am SO thankful for the wonderful people that I have met and who have had such an impact on my life! You all know who you are.

7 months

Kelsi turned 7 months yesterday. She gets cuter and cuter each day. Here are her stats according to our scale and measuring tape:

Length - 27.5 in.

Weight - 20 lbs

Mobility - only rolls from back to tummy and then throws a fit because she hates her tummy and won't just calm down and figure out that she can roll over again. Not even close to crawling.

Teeth - one (or should that read "tooth")

Words - Still only da-da

Foods - Isn't very picky at all so far. She has liked pretty much everything I have given her except peas. We have been trying all the mixed varieties of food and she just eats them up. She is a good eater.

Bad habit - Sucking on her toes

Family time in Hayden

This weekend, we went up to Hayden to visit the Pattersons and Jalyn. Melanie's family blessed little Kaitlyn on Sunday. The weather had finally cooled down and we had a great time. This is a picture of John with his sisters Melanie and Jalyn (I thought you would love this picture, Debbie).
Kelsi slept through the end of sacrament, so she wasn't in the mood to look at the camera for our family picture.
I think I have converted the Calderwood family to the game of croquet. Look what I brought to the family! Jalyn won this round, even though in John's own words, "I lost even though I am the best player here". haha!
Nice swing, honey.
John cuddling with his newest niece.
Kelsi took to Jalyn right away (not surprising). Jalyn has a way about her that people are just drawn to her. Kelsi LOVED her.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful day with us, Patterson family!

HAPPY 4TH!!

We started our fourth of July celebration by going to our annual ward breakfast. It was great! Pancakes with strawberries, bluberries and whipped cream! Red, White and Blue! Kelsi loved her first couple tastes of pancake. (I smothered mine in PB - someone must have had the heads up that we were having pancakes and brought their own PB!)

We were treated to a few songs by the local fire department on their bagpipes. This is a pic of our friend in our ward. I was coming fully prepared to make fun of him in his "skirt", but they did such a good job!
Later that night, we had some friends over. This is Katelyn and Kelsi hanging out under the jungle gym.
We played a few games outside.
which included my favorite...croquet
Grant and Lucky became friends

So did Chloe and Katers

I love this picture. Katelyn had the best time out of all of us.

We watched fireworks from our patio and Leslie brought "poppettes" or "poppers" or something like that for the kids (ok, all of us) to throw around.

Lucky didn't like the fireworks too much, so he had to crawl in John's lap.

Thanks for a fun night Pond and Evans family! We hope everyone enjoyed their night as well.

My little mummy

Kelsi has never really needed to be swaddled. I always did it when she was a little teeny tiny thing, but never very tight, and she would always get her arms out and sleep really well. She goes to sleep with her "binky" and of course it falls out of her mouth once she goes to sleep. It is a MUST to go to sleep. So, my dilema is this: For the last month or two, Kelsi takes the binky out of her mouth and plays with it, turns it around and bites on it, uses it as a teether and throws it (you would think she could drop-kick it with how far we find it from her). In order for her to go to sleep (naps and bedtime), I have found the only thing I can do is swaddle her arms down so she can't pull it out. It works like a dream. What is my problem, then? Well, it's 100 degrees outside, so I have to make sure it is pretty cool in my house so that I can wrap her, she is growing so big that I currently only have about 2 blankets that even work as a swaddle blanket . I know that in a few months she can just crawl and get her binky in her crib or at least figure out how to put it back in her own mouth correctly and this won't be so a big problem. Anyway, I am open to suggestions, even though I don't think there are any other alternatives (don't think that I haven't thought of taping it to her mouth - I wouldn't ever do it though). If I don't pin her arms down, she will never fall asleep since she will pull out her binky. (sigh). And what am I going to do whenever I go down to LA to visit my parents who don't have air conditioning? I can't wrap the poor kid then!!! HA! I was just thinking that I am glad that this is the biggest of my problems with little Kelsi. She is such a good girl. JUST LOOK AT HER IN THAT PICTURE. AWWWW.