Luke's Words

https://youtu.be/UrzUNOk-j_Y

We've made videos of Jack, Callie, and Ryan when they first started talking, but we were missing Luke! He has been working hard during his speech therapy sessions to catch up to where he should be, and he's doing really well! It's fun to hear him have little conversations with the kids now.

Luke the Crawler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7sD4ez-MvQk&feature=youtu.be


We have posted videos of Jack, Callie, and Ryan when they learned how to crawl, and Luke won't be left out! He started crawling around his birthday and has been practicing and refining his skills ever since. He can't quite pull to stand yet, but he's working on it!

Quiz Time!

We're happy to celebrate Father's Day again! It's always nice to show our love and appreciation for our good ol' Dad! We love him a lot around here and we're so glad to have him with us. The kids get so excited when he comes home from work.

After a picture with Dad and the kids, we tried to get one of Mom and Dad, since we have very few of those. 

 And then Jack and Callie wanted a turn to hold Luke for a picture, too. 

We continued with the tradition of our Father's Day quiz for the kids. This year, we included some videos of the kids during their "interview." The videos are kind of long, so we also have the answers typed out. Ryan attempted to answer some questions, too, but he gets very camera shy. He didn't have much to say!


Jack's Quiz Video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRMaaTZ1EhM

Callie's Quiz Video


http://youtu.be/1ZDEh3K_GA0


Ryan's Quiz Video


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6UojwjcqbM



1. What is something that your dad always says to you?
Jack: He says he loves me
Callie: "I love you."


2. What makes your dad happy?
Jack: When I give him Father's Day presents
Callie: Giving him stuff


3. What makes your dad sad?
Jack: When I don't listen to him.
Callie: When I do something that makes him sad. (Bad choices)


4. How does your dad make you laugh?
Jack: He tickles me
Callie: He tickles me


5. What do you think your dad was like as a child?
Jack: He was little and didn't have glasses.
Callie: He liked to read books and play


6. How tall is your dad?
Jack: About "this" tall. (showed with his hands)
Callie: Huger than Mom


7. What is your dad's favorite thing to do?
Jack: I think, watch sports
Callie: Play "Run, run, run!"


8. What does your dad do at home when you are not around?
Jack: Watch "people shows."
Callie: Watch a movie


9. If your dad were to become famous, what would it be for?
Jack: Being a rock star!
Callie: Going to work


10. What is your dad really good at?
Jack: Math
Callie: Practicing his moves


11. What is your dad not very good at?
Jack: He's good at everything!
Callie: Holding a weight (lifting weights)


12. What is your dad's favorite food?
Jack: Pizza
Callie: Pizza


13. What makes you proud of your dad?
Jack: When he helps me clean up
Callie: When he comes home from work


14. How old is your dad?
Jack: 34
Callie: 37


15. If your dad were a cartoon character, who would he be?
Jack: Oscar the Grouch
Callie: Dinosaurs, maybe...


16. What do you and your dad like to do together?
Jack: Snuggle
Callie: Play "Run, run, run!"


17. How are you and your dad the same?
Jack: We both have blonde hair
Callie: We're both Marshalls


18. How are you and your dad different?
Jack: He's big and I'm small
Callie: He has blonde hair and I have strawberry blonde hair


19. How do you know that your dad loves you?
Jack: He snuggles with me
Callie: He tells me


20. What does your dad love most about your mom?
Jack: She's his wife and he's her husband
Callie: He hugs Mom


21. Where is your dad's favorite place to go?
Jack: Lowe's
Callie: The Museum


22. What character traits that your dad possesses would you most like to have?
Jack: He can do anything he wants
Callie: Pikachu! Oh... he's strong.


Ryan's Quiz (with a lot of help from Mom!)

What makes daddy happy?
Hugs and kisses

How does your daddy make you laugh?
Tickles me

What is his favorite thing to do?
Watch movies

What is your daddy's favorite food?
Red food

What do you and your dad do together?
Eat breakfast

How do you know your dad loves you?
Hearts mean "I love you."

Ryan's Words

Here's a little video of some of Ryan's words. He can mimic almost anything we say to him and he knows most of his body parts. He's a happy little guy who loves to laugh. He still can't walk yet, but he has one more month until he is 18 months old developmentally, so we're giving him until then before we crack down on him!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6oJuzY9cgX4&feature=youtu.be

He really does know what a duck says, but for some reason he was really fixated on that cow. Haha.

Callie's 3rd Birthday!

Our little Callie turned 3 years old on March 8th. She was very excited for her birthday and talked about it quite a bit as it came closer. It's fun when the kids are old enough to anticipate the celebration!

In the morning, we went to an indoor play center called "Kango Play Center." The kids had a lot of fun playing and then we enjoyed some pizza and played some arcade games. The play center had a lot to offer between the bouncy houses, climbing structure, and tons of toys!

After the play center, we went home so Ryan could take a much-needed nap. While he slept, we sang "Happy Birthday," ate cake, and then opened presents. Callie's favorite color is still orange, as it was last year, so we did an orange and red theme (last year it was orange and pink.)

Callie loves "Daniel Tiger," which is a show on PBS. It's based on the characters from Mr. Rogers' Land of Make Believe. 

Callie knew just what to do with her presents.

After opening some presents upstairs, we took Callie downstairs and gave her a stroller/baby carrier for her baby dolls. She immediately put a baby in and took her for a ride. She is really beginning to love taking care of babies. It's cute to watch. 

For her main present, we got her this "roller coaster." It is really supposed to be an outside toy, but it's still cold and snowy outside, so we set it up in the basement for now. The kids can't roll as far as they could outside, so it will probably be even more fun when we get it out in the yard! We were actually thinking about getting a smaller version, but decided to go for the big one. What's funny is that the smaller version was actually set up at the Kango play center (pictured in the very first picture with Jack riding), and the kids really liked it, so we knew we were on the right track!

It's a great way to wear the kids out at the end of the day! They have to push the car back up every time they want to ride. What a workout!

Callie wanted to ride along with her baby doll. (And she's still "Super Callie.")

Jack was a good sport about letting Callie squish him while they rode together. Really, he just didn't want to miss out any opportunities to go for a ride!

Callie and Jack had a great time and were so exhausted by the end of the day! After Ryan took a nap, we went to Toys R Us (a birthday tradition) and Callie picked out a doll, then we ate dinner at Red Robin. What a day! 

Happy birthday to our sweet girl!

http://youtu.be/orWZy95-j1o

http://youtu.be/D8ofslLPAqo

http://youtu.be/S0mbwg_KGvk

Ryan can crawl! (and other random pictures)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2BWFADGmVU&feature=youtu.be

Ryan figured out how to crawl a little while ago and he's been on-the-go ever since! (He's crawling at the beginning of the video, and the rest is just cute kids.)

This is what happens when you leave cans of pop in the garage when it's below zero outside! At least it was easy to clean up since everything was still frozen. If it had melted, we would have had a bigger, sticky mess!

Callie fell in the hall a couple of weeks ago and hit her face on the hard floor. The poor girl tends to fall quite often. Hopefully she'll become a little more graceful as she gets older! She looked in the mirror and saw herself with her swollen lip. She said, "Whoa. Giant lips!"

The kids made a "rainbow" in the giant bubble. 

The Little People

We share a lot of pictures on our blog, but sometimes it's nice to just listen to and watch the kids in action. 

http://youtu.be/Mhptkj6q5RI

Jack is loving preschool and is learning to read new words every day. It seems he has a very good memory and is picking up vocabulary and random information all the time. He's a smart little guy and loves learning!

http://youtu.be/wRT-mUpglmk

Callie is very excited for her upcoming birthday (in March) and she has already decided she wants a Wonder Red cake. Wonder Red is a character on the PBS show, SuperWhy. Maybe she'll change her mind about the cake before her birthday. We'll see!

http://youtu.be/KnhNTRvHROg

We just took Ryan in to the pediatrician for his one-year check up. He is 26.5 inches long, weighs 17lbs 12oz, and his head circumference is 46.5cm. Looking back, Callie and Jack were that weight and height at 5 months old. Haha. Oh, well. Ryan is his own little person. We'll stop comparing him to his siblings. He's a very sweet little guy. He's not crawling yet, but we're working on it!

Daddy's Day!

http://youtu.be/JnI57X8Jlzk

Jack, the Director

A couple of weeks ago, the kids had disappeared down the hall while we were making dinner. We went to check on them and found them in Mom and Dad's bed, reading books and talking. It was cute, so we left them alone. After dinner, we discovered this video on the camera. Jack had turned it on and started recording all by himself. It is so fun to see the kids finally old enough to talk to each other and have fun together!

(It's kind of long, but it's pretty cute!)

http://youtu.be/f4OnZ5YArOE

Christmas Videos

Here are a few videos of the kids on Christmas morning. Nothing terribly exciting happens, but you get to see them being cute and opening presents!

(In the background you can hear Callie putting her baby to bed. She says, "Mommy, Hat on. Night night.")

http://youtu.be/sAsxgyVbb7M


(Callie thought many of the gifts today were "popsicles." We don't know why!)

http://youtu.be/af8hV9U5wVg


(To all the family we won't see today!)

http://youtu.be/Pt7N9_OrBA0

Callie is 18 months old!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGqS8oqThlg

Here's a video of some of the words Callie has been learning lately. She is usually very articulate when speaking and can already string two words together. She does actually know almost all of her letters, but she didn't want to try for the video. Maybe next time!

Callie is now 18 months old! She started going to the nursery class at church (Jack is still going there, too, so I think that makes it easier for her.) We went to her well-baby check this week and she is still quite a big girl!

Height: 34 inches (100th percentile)
Weight: 26lbs 8oz (80th percentile)
Head: 50 inches (over 100th percentile) Haha.

She is a very happy little girl. She loves to smile and laugh. She is shy when she meets new people and often covers her face with her hands instead of saying, "Hi!" She loves animals and anything soft. She loves to eat. She could eat all day long and be ever so happy! She is starting to get a little bit of an attitude, but we are working on that. She is generally very sweet and good-natured. She LOVES to dance to any music and she also likes to sing along with her bedtime songs. Her favorite is, "You Are My Sunshine." She is learning and growing so fast! We love her very much!

Jack's Announcement

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_nCWd4PgXk

Jack Reading

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FFmKJ7P3TQ

We've mentioned before how much Jack loves to talk about the alphabet and loves to read books, but we wanted to share a little bit of what he can do. He's been reading words since he was about two and a half and he just loves it! He learned the letter sounds quickly and from there figured out how to sound out words. We're working on "sight words" right now, and he's picking those up quickly, too! This is not something we have pushed on him, but he has always wanted to learn more about reading and the alphabet.

Birthday Videos

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vPZtlATSZs

Here are a couple of videos from Jack's recent birthday celebration. Thanks to everyone who wished him a happy birthday and sent presents/cards. He was so excited for his birthday and the day did not disappoint!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8fi3BiihLcs

He was so excited about the present in the living room that he didn't notice the decorations and presents in the next room! He was talking about his decorations for weeks before his birthday. He needed the "Happy Birthday" sign, the party hats, and the balloons. We obliged.

Callie's Step-by-step

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tu4zK70Wxgk

We wanted to share a quick video of Callie walking. She is capable of walking a lot farther, but she is not always very cooperative when we ask her to walk. In fact, after we turned off the camera, she started walking all over the living room. Silly girl...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Z6O8QDmaH0

Here's a video of Jack singing the primary song, "I Am a Child of God."  (For those not familiar with the song, you can click here to see the lyrics.) He can speak with better enunciation, but when he's on camera, he tends to slur his words together. Whenever we get the video camera out, Jack thinks he is supposed to sing, so we usually just let him. Jack and Callie both love music. Jack can memorize songs very quickly and loves to sing. Callie also likes to dance to music and attempts to "sing" when familiar songs play. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLzSYvxVe2E

Jack wanted to continue to sing for the camera, but Callie had other plans. She thinks it is hilarious to tease Jack because Jack does not always like to be touched and Callie loves his reaction. We're trying to teach her to be nice to her brother, but we have to admit that it is pretty funny. Poor Jack.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D58MWBWvrvQ

Another attempt at singing, but again, Callie had to attack. This time Jack thought it was funny, so it wasn't too bad for him. Poor Callie, though, was disappointed that Jack ran away...

Long-Lost Footage

Here are a few videos of Jack playing at the Little Gym in New York. These are from about 10 months ago, so Jack was about 21 months old. He loved that place. He still talks about it, even though these videos were taken at the last session we went to.

So, in case you ever wondered what goes on in these classes, here's the inside scoop!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLktlU7OwSI

Just FYI, the lady he turns toward at the beginning is not his mother. He was confused by all the running legs everywhere.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSfYOzv_r38

This is a fun activity, but the song goes a little too fast for the kids. By the time Jack started following the directions, it was time to move on to the next one!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3N_gHT-wgZ0

And here's the parachute activity that they do pretty often there. Jack seems to like it. It's crazy how much bigger he has grown in such a short time.

Sledding!

Today was pretty warm comparable to the last few weeks, so we decided it was time for Jack's first sledding experience. We have hills in the back and the front yard, so we tried them both!

Jack had a great time. He wanted to do it again and again. He didn't mind trudging up the hill.

After a few times going down the hill, Dad noticed the words, "Maximum weight: 150 pounds," written on the sled. Hmm... Jack weighs 30-something pounds, and no, Dad does not weigh less than 120! We decided to see how Jack would fare going by himself.

He loved sledding by himself even more than sledding with Dad!

It's hard to see in the picture, but Jack's face is so funny in this one! He was having so much fun!

He got snow on his gloves and had to shake it off immediately. Once, when sledding down the hill by himself, he fell off the sled at the end and said, "Oh no! I fell!" So we had to show him that it's okay to fall in the snow!

He made a snow angel with Dad's help. What a great first sledding experience!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B2NFiGqcP3s

Interview with Jack

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1AoqQQgMw7c

Here's our attempt at getting Jack to talk a little more on camera. He's made so much progress with his ability to talk in the last few months. It's still kind of hard to understand him sometimes, but he's pretty clear most of the time if you take it in context!

It's a bit of a longer video (4 minutes), so if you've got some time to kill, you can check out these crazy kids.

By the way, at the beginning, Jack is trying to sing Jingle Bells, but he got distracted by the words on the video camera. It says, "40x optical zoom," which is why he said, "Four-Oh!"

Happy Birthday to Grandpa Culwell!

Jack and Mom made a video for Grandpa Culwell's birthday. It's hard to believe Grandpa is turning 49 again!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0z8q314QSPs

Also, Callie has started making some interesting noises...

(She only growls at the beginning of the video, but normally she will growl all day!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNv7rzHfitE

YouTube Mania

We have some recent videos to share and we've found that youtube seems to work better for sharing videos. They show up bigger and seem to load faster, so we'll just post the links!

Here's a video of Jack singing (more like "saying") Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNwkW-nNpQc

Here's Callie learning to crawl and attempting to eat an envelope:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_4YRwCSBshc

And here are the kiddos just being cute:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XPob5KgV5Q

Hopefully the links work and we can share more videos in the future!