Looking Back: March Randomness

This is my LAST March post!  Hooray!!  Only 6 more months to go . . . oh, boy.  I was feeling really good until I wrote that.  :)

This post will cover the random things we did in March as narrated by pictures.  Here we go:

Friends

I have discovered that I have many pictures of Callum and his buddies from this spring.  I was feeling nostalgic about them being separated, I supposed.  I have the most of Noah Southerland (who I babysit once a week, and who is the son of my good friend Emily, the photographer) and Oscar Haslam (Jessica's son, who we spent a lot of time with and who I watched a lot because our two families did a ton of babysitting swapping).  Let's start with Oscar . . . 

Cal Pal and Oscar-cito

Callum and Oscar are the ultimate frenemies.  They are either fighting or laughing together.  Two strong personalities at a stubborn age are tough to combine.  It can be a little rough having them together now, but I know they will be great friends down the road when we are still getting together for vacations and visits.  Even if they are fighting like cats and dogs during a playdate, when Oscar wakes from his next nap he is always chanting "Cal Pal, Cal Pal, Cal Pal" in his husky little voice.  :)

Once the weather started to warm up in March we headed to the zoo one day.  Logan wasn't able to come, so "Uncle Andy" took the boys on the zoo railroad while a very pregnant Jessica and I sat on a bench and talked in the sunshine.  It was heavenly!  On the way out we saw a man selling his book of poems called I Don't Want to Kiss a Llama.  Well, we are a family of llama lovers who DO want to kiss a llama, so we bought one and had him autograph it for us.  After the zoo Logan was able to join us to go to the Crowne Candy Kitchen, a famous, old St. Louis restaurant.  I'm not sure it if was worth all the hype, but it was a fun experience and we all had a great time laughing at the amount of bacon on Logan and Andrew's BLTs.  Um....wow.

Every time I babysat Oscar the boys ended up needing a bath, because we are just a messy family like that.  Luckily, the bathtub is the place that they seem to get along the best!  Are they not just too cute for words?!  I want to eat them both!

Noah and Callum

Noah is one of Callum's favorite people on the planet.  He is a year and a half older than Callum, so he is a "big boy" who Callum just loves to follow around and copy.  Luckily for Callum, Noah has always been just fine with that!  When I started watching Noah he wasn't even two yet, and Callum was an annoying little crawler who would literally follow him around taking away every toy that Noah touched. Most kids would have slapped him, but Noah was so sweet and patient and would just move on to the next toy for a minute or two until Callum came over to steal that one as well.  He is a great kid, and I love their relationship.  Noah is exceptionally imaginative for his age, and he is the one who introduced Callum to make-believe and creative play, which he now loves and does daily by himself.  The day I took these pictures they emptied the toy bins and were walking around with the bins on their heads giggling like crazy.  I asked Noah what they were doing and he said in a halting, "robot" voice, "We. are. robots.  We. are. crime. fighting. robots."  So freaking cute!  Ever since that day, Callum has been putting bins, baskets, and buckets on his head and talking in a robot voice.  I love it!

A Visit From Bapa

Bapa came for a belated birthday visit to play with Callum.  We had a great time with him, as usual.  The picture of Callum and Bapa having some "play time" together on the floor of Callum's room cracks me up.  So typical!

Book Club

L to R: Katy Walling, Danelle Rowley, Tori Cox, Michelle Leinwebber, Myself, Mira Pazolli

For the last couple of years I have been attending a small book club made up of some of the ladies who go to my church.  It has been fun because it has introduced me to some new books and motivated me to read at least one book a month.  Reading is one of my favorite things to do, but when you are a busy Mama trying to also run a little jewelry business it's hard to justify finding the time to relax and read.  The group is organized by my friend Mira Pazolli, but it is hosted each month by a different person.  The month this picture was taken it was my turn to host, and we read one of my all-time favorite books, These is My Words.  If you haven't read it then you are seriously missing out!  Marie Newman was always there as well, but she left early at this meeting to go home and feed her baby, so she isn't in the picture.

Random Pics Around the Apartment.

A flour mishap while cooking that I found so hilarious that I took a picture of it before consoling the poor baby boy, spraying OxiClean (and water for Callum) on dirty clothes, watching a horse on tv while riding a horse, coloring, and bonding with Daddy . . . I love our little life together!