Valentine's Day

I was so proud of Andrew for filling out all 17 of his Valentine cards for his classmates and teachers.  I just told him how to spell the name and he wrote each letter.  I only needed to help him with a couple of letters, but he did all of the work.  

It was a little challenging fitting the letters in the small spaces provided, but he worked it out.  In case you are wondering what the names actually are, I included them below this picture.

(Landon, Cohen, Cammy, Braylen, Brooklyn, Caleb, Cecilia, Zach, Luke, Raniya, Liam, Keira, Mallory, Noah, Owen)

I tried to take a few token pictures on Valentine's Day.  I'm not sure how well it worked out. :)  The boys were wearing red for their preschool Valentine's parties.  Ashley was sporting her new head band.  Grammie sent the parts and I was very proud of myself for stitching it together in about 5 minutes.  However, she wouldn't leave it on for anything.  (She did leave it on for her 11 month picture, though!)  

Camping - Andrew & Austin Style

This all started a few weeks ago.  I don't remember how it all started, but the boys decided they wanted to sleep in their sleeping bags one night.  We, a little hesitantly, let them.  Well, Andrew slept in his sleeping bag and Austin slept in mine since he doesn't have one yet.  They slept in the middle of their bedroom floor.  I was afraid they would both be up in the middle of the night, waking up uncomfortable and confused, but they both did really well.  If I am remembering correctly, Andrew slept 13 1/2 hours that night!

They wanted to do it again the next night.  We let them.  However, it didn't go quite so smoothly.  I don't remember the exact details, but I know that Austin woke up really early and Loren went into their room and he said they were both up around 5 or so that morning.  We decided that we would limit "camping night" to one night a week.  We decided it would be on Saturday night and that we would make it more of a true camping experience...as much as we can in the middle of the winter.  The following Saturday we pitched a tent in their room.  How cool is that?   

They were very excited and did a fabulous job sleeping.

saying goodnight...

4 hours later...

 

These pictures were taken on 2/12.  The following week (this past Saturday) we were at a friends house for dinner and got home pretty late, so we skipped camping night that night.  I'm sure we will revive it again this weekend...perhaps it will include songs around a pretend campfire and s'mores roasted in the microwave. :)

11 Months

Seriously.  Where did the past 11 months go?!  11 months...Ashley Grace is 11 months old today.  In one short month we will be celebrating her 1st birthday.  Unbelievable.  She is walking (which is the cutest thing ever!) and, most recently (as in Saturday), she started crawling up the stairs making me wonder if I need to go on anti-anxiety medicine...or maybe we just need to put the gates up again.  Baby proofing is hard, though, when you have a 5 year old and almost 3 year old constantly running around the house and up and down the stairs.

Ashley is, as you know, walking and crawling up the stairs.  She also waves.  She says "Da-ee" and I swear she has been saying her own name for awhile now...A-dee...A-dee.  She says it while babbling in her carseat and after we say her name out loud.  Ashley / A-dee...what else would it be??

Ashley is sleeping through the night.  Woo-hoo!  She started to shortly after her 9 month check-up.  After 3 weeks or so she got a couple of bad colds and started waking up a couple of times at night again.  About a week ago I got her to sleep through the night again.  It's a wonderful thing.

At 11 months old, Ashley doesn't have a single tooth yet.

Ashley is a very picky eater.  She does like bread, mac 'n cheese, oranges, watermelon, yogurt, Nutri-Grain bars, Cheerios, crackers.  She loves crackers.

And we love her!

Look at that face...she is a pure joy!!

...and I am in complete denial that she will be 1 in just one short month. :(

Test

Trying out the Blogger app from my phone.

shopping at Costco

My main motivation for taking these pictures was the fact that Ashley was sitting up front in the Costco shopping cart for the first time (and looking oh-so-cute!).  She has sat up front before, but only when she was the only one shopping with Mommy or Daddy at Meijer.  Costco is unique in that you can put 2 kids up front. Usually Andrew and Austin are up front and Ashley is either in the main part of the cart inside her carseat or strapped to me in the Bjorn.  This was a special day.  Austin and Ashley were up front and Andrew was in the main part.  I know this may all sound silly, but, to me, it was a big day.  Austin loved sitting right next to Ashley.  He kept hugging her (a little too much) and Andrew enjoyed having much more space than normal in the main part of the cart.  Shopping with 3 kids can be a little tricky sometimes, but on this day (Friday, Feb. 3rd) it was pretty fun!  

last Saturday

These pictures were taken last Saturday just before Loren left the house to drive to the airport to board a plane (via a connection in Philly) to the UK. He will be back late tommorow night. This was the shortest of his most recent trips, 6 1/2 days versus 12 1/2 and 10 1/2 (yes, the "1/2" is important!), but it felt longer for some reason. I imagine it's my fault for thinking it would be a breeze after the longer trips. It's not that it was too difficult or anything, but for whatever reason it felt longer. No big deal. My help will be back soon!
I know I will be happy...and a certain 5 year old (nearly 63 month old? that sounds weird...), 34 month old (to the date) and 10 1/2 month old will be, too. :)

They aren't her first steps...

but they are the most she has taken and the first time they were finally caught on video!  She may be a little peanut, in the 6th percentile for both height and weight at 9 months, but nothing stops this girl.  She has taken a couple/few steps periodically for probably close to a month now, but this was different...and more.  At the time I thought she was so distracted and in a zone with Andrew's watch that she had no idea what she was doing, but later on throughout the evening she continued to practice her skill.  She still prefers crawling, but it won't be long... (and she's only 10 months old!)

Click on me! I'm a video of Ashley walking!

lovely weather

Ahhh...January 31st.  You would think we would have a foot of snow on the ground.  Instead, it was in the mid to upper 50s.  I don't know how high the temp actually reached; I do know that it felt wonderful.  Austin was very eager to get outside.  Andrew, for some reason (I'm not sure he was feeling 100%), took a little persuading.  Ashley was napping for most of the fun, but she was able to get some fresh air as well once she woke up.  Austin was so funny.  He kept saying, "Mom!  The slide!  Remember that?"  "Mom, the ladder!  Remember that?"  Funny, funny kid.  Look at the picture at the bottom right of the collage where Austin is swinging on his tummy.  He ran and literally jumped right out of his boots!  I didn't realize it until after I took the picture.  The boots are kind of oddly wide (probably why they were on clearance for about $6 at Target), so it didn't surprise me, but it was still hilarious.  I laughed pretty hard and then Austin tried to recreate it several times.  Also, the picture in the top middle of the collage cracks me up.  Andrew is looking at Austin waiting for him to shoot so Andrew can shoot at the exact same time and mess up Austin's shot.  These boys are SO competitive sometimes!  Ashley is happily waving at us all.  She was watching Austin on the swing in a half-stupor when I was trying to take her picture from a distance.  I started waving my left hand while holding the camera wanting her to simply look at me, but she started smiling and waving (while looking at me the same time!) in response.  Too cute!

It was a great afternoon and a great way to say goodbye to January.  The past couple of days have been nice as well.  It's amazing what a little fresh air can do for everyone, but it makes me long for spring and summer...

PS- It was pajama day for Austin's preschool class :)