Kalten is full of these gems...

(While praying last night) "Dear Jesus, please help us get a new house, cause this one is all messy." I wonder if he realizes he's the reason this house is all messy.
He and Paul made a Geotrax train track and he removed the support for one of the elevated track pieces and said, "The train is going over the trestle bridge!"
Today he asked me to play with him and told me he was making an express train. I added a train car to his and he pulled it off and told me, "No, express engines DON'T carry FREIGHT cars!"

Birthdays

I think I like having both kids' birthdays over and done with in the first two months of the year.

Coen's party (because all one-year-olds get a big old party in our family) was at our house and I made a Brobee cake.

I swore I'd never torture myself like that again. I was up until 2 a.m. doing this cake. I had trouble frosting the sides where it was cut because it was crumbling. I forgot to reserve some white icing for his eyes so my parents dug in their cupboards and brought some crusty small marshmallows. They worked, I guess. The black icing gel ran a bit because I didn't knead it before I started. But everyone said it was cute and I did a good job, so I'm happy with it. Coen started walking right around his first birthday, and a week or so later was walking full-time.

For Kalten's birthday, I decided to try to get him a ride on one of his favorite vehicles. I posted on facebook, "For his birthday, Kalten would adore a ride in any or all of the following: a yellow car, a fire truck, an ambulance (preferably NOT for an emergency), a helicopter (mommy says no),a school bus, a mail truck, a PUS truck (he means UPS). Got any connections?" and a few people suggested our church's purple school bus. I called the pastor and arranged for him to pick K up at our house, take him to the grocery store (odd, I know) to pick out one new car from their display that Kalten must visit every time we get groceries, and then to meet his friends at McDonald's. All of this was going to be a surprise for him.

He requested a fire engine cake, which is NOT as simple as Family Fun would like you to believe. First of all, HOW did their cake get so squared off and perfect, without leaning? Second, I froze my cake overnight and it still crumbled as I frosted the cut edges. Overall, though, my cake looked acceptably fire-engine-esque, so I was satisfied. Tasted good, too.

Kalten had so much fun riding the bus and when we went in the grocery store, he was a little celebrity. He knew exactly which toy he wanted (a black train engine), and my friend who is a cashier there arranged for him to be given a yellow balloon, yellow being his favorite color. We got to McDonald's and his friends were arriving. It was just so perfect. My dad had gotten a table in the party room and just sort of "spread out" so we'd have enough room, since McD's doesn't reserve the room for lunchtime. He had a lot of fun, and then we got to ride the bus back home! He didn't nap yesterday, but still didn't sleep until almost 11! He was having so much fun with his new toys. I'll have more pictures later.

Funny stuff

Just wanted to share a few recent anecdotes.

Kalten saw me reading a book and wanted me to read to him. I knew it was way over his head, but he seemed to be really listening. About halfway through the page, he suddenly interrupted me, saying, "I have eyebrows!"

He likes when I tell him bedtime stories about Simon, a character we made up. Simon does all sorts of things, many of them closely mirror Kalten's daily adventures. Last night, Simon went to Chuck E Cheese, just like Kalten did and, like Kalten, he picked four Tootsie Rolls as a prize. At that point in the story, Kalten held up three fingers and said, "I have this many Tootsie Rolls!" Thinking that he had just performed simple subtraction (because he had eaten one already and had three left), I encouraged him. "Yes, you had four and you ate one, so you have three!" I tried to get him to do some more. "What if you had four Tootsie rolls and you ate two?" He paused in thought for a few moments and answered, "I'd get sick!"

New Year Goals (a little late)

1. Learn to crochet
2. get the etsy shop back up and running
3. List at least one new item per week
4. Add one blog entry both here and at heydooney every week
5. Give away clothes until my stuff fits in the dresser

Coen is nearly walking. This is nothing new, he's been nearly walking for ages, it seems. He can walk all over holding onto a hand or even a pant leg, but he will not let go and do it on his own. He takes a step here and there, and he took three yesterday, but he hasn't yet put it together that he can do it. Now, however, instead of cruising along the furniture, he climbs on top of it. This is scarier than having him walking because he's got farther to fall!

Kalten is nearly reading - as he has been for ages, he just doesn't put the sounds together into words. He can spell his name, and "go" and a few other simple words. He's really fun to watch on Starfall.com. He's figured out the games and does really well.

We went to Paul's parents' house for Christmas. We traveled for two days each way. Kalten did great. I packed a brand new backpack full of stuff he'd never seen before: books, cars, activities, cheap toys. There was always something interesting to do or look at. Coen was rough. He cried a lot and I spent most of the trip smashed in the backseat between the two carseats so he would travel better. He wasn't interested in the new toys I'd brought for him. He would take something and throw it over the side of the seat into the space between the seat and the door. Then when I opened his door to get him out, an avalanche of toys would fall out into the dirty slush. Cereal strung on yarn and tied in a circle kept him occupied for quite a while, but I don't like to give him sugary stuff often.

We had a great trip, and I've posted pictures over on Facebook. I need to get my videos up on Vimeo and I'll be set. We got to meet Leanor, from Scum of the Earth Church, who we support. It was so nice to see Paul's family again. I wish we lived closer.

We have yet to give Kalten his Christmas presents. We didn't bring them along to Colorado because we would have just had to bring them home again, and we're celebrating the family Christmas on Sunday when my brother and sister-in-law will be home from their trip to New York. We don't really have anything for Coen, we got him a bunch of new toys for the trip - a little cell phone, a teether strawberry, a book, and a few other things. So he already got his.

It's time to start thinking of birthdays. First Coen, then Kalten. First birthdays are a big deal in my family, so Coen's birthday is going to be crazy. Kalten's will be simpler.