September 2011 - Sibling Play Time

Here are some photos of the kiddos playing together in September.

Andrew like to have Bailey sit right next to him when he eats. Here they are holding hands (How stinkin' cute!!) 

 (**since I am posting this a few months later, I now know that this will not last, so I enjoy these photos)

 We got some fire hats for Andrew and they have quickly become a fun toy. We have a black, red and two yellow ones so there is plenty to share. Bailey didn't leave it on too long, but looked super cute while it was on.

 Andrew likes to wear it backwards, like a baseball hat.

 

Floor play time.

 Bailey has started to discover new and exciting toys. Andrew wanted to drive with her. What a good big brother.

September 7, 2011.

Just a little post of the kiddos. They play together so often and (usually) very well. Bailey loves Andrew so so so so so much. He can make her laugh more than anybody else and by doing something so silly. Andrew doesn't quite realize how strong his is or how heavy his head is. (He likes to lean on her).

  

Although intentions are usually good, someone gets hurt by the end.

September 2011 - Hair Stylist

September 5, 2011

I just wanted to journal a fun afternoon we had. Andrew likes to carry around this yellow spray bottle of water and "help" me. He helps me spray on to the laundry, and lately he has decided he wants to do his own hair. He's only allowed to spray it on certain things, and I decided to pick my battles. Water on hair is ok. :)

So he became a hair stylist for a day.

I love this photo.

It reminds me of this one from when he was 9 months old.

I'm gonna get you!

Dimples!

"My gorilla is thirsty".

Andrew styled Bailey's hair too.

Anytime you want your hair done, Andrew is always willing to help. He only has one style though. Spiky. :)

September 2011 - Andrew's Birthday

Ryan was out of town for business on Andrew's actual birthday, so we celebrated when he got home. This was exceptionally hard for me since I LOVE birthdays! I taught preschool on his birthday and wanted to do a birthday party with his buddies, but Ryan wanted me to wait. I had been telling Andrew that his birthday was when we had preschool, so he kept asking if it was his birthday. I couldn't lie to him, so I told him yes, but didn't make too big a deal about it. (as much as I wanted too though)

So when Ryan came home, we made cupcakes and had some friends over for cupcakes.

Andrew poured the mix in the bowl and wanted to know what it tasted like.

Finger lickin' good.

I usually don't take the time to let Andrew help me, but I wanted to let Andrew have some fun for his birthday. This is one of those moments that I loved. I am grateful that I took the time to teach him and play with him. I explained that we needed to mix certain things together in order to make a batter. We added 3 eggs, some milk and oil. We talked about that, he counted the eggs, poured in the eggs and other ingredients.

He was a very good helper.

Here are a few videos from Andrew's birthday.

Andrew mixes cupcake batter

Andrew helps make cupcakes

The best part of making cupcakes...

Sing Happy Birthday to Andrew

Andrew wrote Happy Birthday on the dry erase board. We thought that was pretty cute. The photos are a little hard to see. The funny thing was when Ryan was telling him what letters to write, he forgot the r in birthday, so Ryan wrote that one in afterwards. :) Otherwise, not a bad job Andrew! Happy Birthday Little Man. We love you!

September 2011 - First Day of Preschool

September 6. 2011. Andrew started a little preschool this fall with some other friends. There are four boys in the preschool all around Andrew's age. They have preschool once a week for three hours. The first hour and a half or so is more structured lesson plan and the rest of the preschool is play time. The moms all take turns teaching once a month. We got together to plan out a lesson plan and the structure of each preschool. We sing welcome songs, we say the Pledge of Allegiance, we have a color/word/letter/shape of the day and a lesson (like my last lesson was on Antarctica, and the Arctic.) There is only so much that 3 year old boys can understand, but we use lots of photos and activities. We have music time, singing time, writing time (practice writing, drawing straight lines, copying patterns etc).

He really loves preschool. The first day we gave him a doggie backpack that he had picked out weeks earlier and wouldn't take it off.

He was still in his pajamas and wouldn't take off his backpack. It was really hard to convince him to get dressed for the day :)

I kept asking him to look at me so I could take a photo, but he just wanted to show me his backpack. He thinks it's so cool.

Getting ready for preschool! We can't wait!

Backpack shot one more time.

Video of Andrew on his first day of preschool

Andrew has since had so much fun at preschool. He has brought home some fun projects and it's always fun to hear what he learns while he is gone. Andrew knows all his letters and their sounds. He can read and write, but he lacks the social skills that kids with older siblings have. I think preschool will be a great way for him to learn these social skills. The only down side is that preschool starts at 8:45am and lets be honest, we are not early birds in this family. (Well, besides Ryan).

August 2011 - Lego Land

Ryan's family does a family vacation each year, and this year we headed down to San Diego. We stayed in a really nice timeshare (thanks to mom and dad Kearns) right next to Lego Land. Oh, and our timeshare happened to be the nicest one, and the only one with a washer and dryer in the room. Turns out, a washer and dryer is super handy for a group of 5 adults and 3 kids. It had a beautiful view of the ocean and a private entrance to Lego Land.

A (Long) Tour of our Timeshare

Lego Land is pretty awesome. It has tons of sculptures made completely out of Legos. Like this awesome dragon.

And these sweet cities. New York.

New Orleans? I can't remember.

Bertelsmann Building.

Lego Land is geared towards kids a little older than Andrew. They did have rides that Andrew could go on though and he had a ton of fun!

Andrew poking his head through a Lego lion's head.

Ryan's mom likes to get matching shirts for our trips. Last year she made personalized Mickey shirts for our trip to Disneyland. This year, we had "awesome" green shirts.

We had a ton of fun! Ryan and I were able to sneak off and ride a few more "adult" rides. Since we lived so close to Lego Land and we had a 5 day pass, we were able to go almost every day to Lego Land. We'd ride a few rides, do some games or go to the water park (new post). One day I even saw someone famous. Yes, vague I know. I still can't remember her name. She had two little boys with her. I told Ryan's mom, who knows actresses, and we tried to follow her so we could figure out who she was. She totally disappeared! We searched for a while, but never found her. I still wonder who she was.

July 2011 Video

Here are a few videos from July 2011.

Typical Day - Ryan and the kids play

Typical day, part 2 - Ryan and the kids play again and Andrew gets a bonk. Ryan does a great job making him happy.

Bailey waking up - I wish everybody got this excited when they saw me. (I tried to edit this video. I cut off the first 20 seconds and the last 30 or so seconds. I hope it saved)

Andrew reading - Andrew reads some of his letter books.

That's it for July! On to August!