More Halloween Fun...

We went to a party at my work last night... here are Chad and Andrew. I'll have to put up pictures of me if I get them from coworkers.



And then trick-or-treating pics of course! Andrew had so much fun... sometimes he would say "trick or treat!" and "thank you" and sometimes he would just stare but everyone thought he was adorable either way! We went down a couple streets in our neighborhood and then headed home to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. Andrew loved that part too... I think he had more fun giving out candy than he did getting it. :) We were sitting out front watching trick-or-treaters and Andrew would run out to meet them and give them candy before they even got to the door. He was really fascinated by the other little kids around his age too. Now... Andrew is long in bed and we still have trick-or-treaters coming at 9:30!

Trick or Treat!


I got candy!


(Can you tell he's up past his bedtime???)

Halloween Party

We went to Chris and Nina's last weekend for their Halloween party... which was great as always! We were a little worried that Andrew might be scared of some costumes but he took everything in stride and didn't get scared at all! He even went through the haunted house after the "monsters" left. (Chris turned the upstairs of the house into a haunted house, it was a lot of work and it looked great!) Andrew loved being Tigger... we have several Halloween opportunities coming up this week too so I am sure there will be more pictures!

Pumpkin Patch Pics

We went to Cedar Hill Farm today to have some fall fun and visit the Pumpkin Patch. Andrew had so much fun! He got to ride around in a little wagon and pet some animals (he wasn't sure what to think of that!) and play on the playground and the kids' hay maze. Then for lunch he had apple-cherry cider (the reason for the bright red tongue!) and thought it was wonderful! After lunch we took a hayride out to the corn maze and pumpkin patch. Andrew was a little trooper in the corn maze and just kept trudging along (and getting a few rides along the way too). He had so much fun at the pumpkin patch. We told him we were at the pumpkin farm and to go pick out a pumpkin. He ran over to the first one he saw and brought it back to us... it was a great pumpkin too! He saw what he wanted and didn't take time to browse around the rest. Then he helped Chad pick out a big pumpkin for us to decorate or carve or whatever we decide to do with it. Here are a lot of pictures!

Excited on the way to the pumpkin patch...








Playing in the hay maze...




At the petting zoo...




Loving cherry-apple cider...
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The Corn Maze...






At the Pumpkin Patch...










"I'm sooo tired but I love my pumpkin!"

Finally updating...

It has been a while since I've put an update on here... we didn't even take any pictures for 3 weeks (a new record, I'm sure!). I have just been amazed lately by how big Andrew is getting... I've had several times when I've glanced up and thought, "wow, look at that little boy!" and then realized it was Andrew looking so grown up! He is definitely not a baby anymore! He is running around and saying all sorts of things (though my favorite is still "I wuv yous!"). He is really attached to Elmo and Pooh Bear and Blue so they travel around with him a lot. He loves making animal sounds and dancing to music and singing songs and being a little helper. Here are some new pictures and videos!

Dancing to the ABC's (at the end, he had to have me join in!) :)


I can't believe I'm showing this one (I promise he doesn't run around in a diaper all the time while we sit and watch TV in a messy living room). But it was such a good glimpse into how he is playing and how much he is talking now I thought people would love to see!


And a couple pictures from a Popsicle he shared with his Daddy...

Dancing Giraffe...

This is a hand-me-down from Brennan. We put it on Andrew and he loves it! This is what he did when we put him in front of the mirror! :)



And some pictures...




He laughs every time he watches the video. :)

I had to share this picture!

(Thanks to my mom for taking it and sharing it!) :)

Chuck E Cheese

Andrew went to a birthday party at Chuck E Cheese for a little boy that he goes to daycare with (the little boy in the first picture). He had so much fun! He was the youngest kid there (besides little babies) and he thought he could run around with the big kids. Just thought I'd post some pictures from it for everyone!

http://green1997.shutterfly.com

That's Not My Dinosaur!

Apparently Andrew got such a great reception the first time he read the book to us he decided to get even more dramatic last night! :) Anyway... here you go!

A few Andrew cute things...

Andrew's way of saying "excuse me" -- "'scuse, please!" :)

How Andrew said bye to me this morning after I said, "bye, bye, precious!" -- "bye, 'cious!"

Who all has to get goodnight hugs and kisses when Andrew doesn't want to go to bed -- Pooh Bear, Blue, Buddy (his stuffed dog), Elmo... and Andrew of course!

Songs Andrew loves to sing at the moment:

The Wheels on the Bus (he joins in on hand motions and sounds and "all through TOWN!" -- and we skip a few verses we don't like)
Old MacDonald Had a Farm ("E-I-E-I-OOO!!!" -- oh, and he will "meow" for the cat)
Itsy, Bitsy Spider (hand motions again... and "itsy, itsy")
Jesus Loves Me
B-I-N-G-O
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
ABC Song
Row, Row, Row Your Boat
You Are My Sunshine (we sing You Are My Andrew)
If You're Happy and You Know It

I'm sure we'll be adding more! :)

Pictures coming tomorrow, I promise!

Reading is FUN!

Andrew LOVES to read. Last night he read Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? to me. On the last page, he pointed to every animal and said, "What-dat? Bear!", "What-dat? Howse!", "What-dat? Duck!", etc. -- which is sort of my routine after I read the last page of the book to him. It was so cute! Then, this morning, we were reading That's Not My Dragon!. The book says, "That's not my dragon! It's ears are too tufty!", etc., etc. and the last page says "THAT's my dragon! It's wings are so scaly!" This morning after I read him the book, Andrew wanted to read it again. This is Andrew's version: "No! BlahBlahBlah", "No! BlahBlahBlah" (random babbling). Last page -- "Ooooh! BlahBlahBlah" Same inflection as Mama reads! It was sooo cute, and I was impressed that he took the "That's not my dragon!" and turned it to "No!", easier toddler-ese for the same concept. :) I love that I have a little boy who loves to read! (And, yes, I'll have to get a picture! I can't believe it is already August!)

What a big helper!

I picked Andrew up a little early from daycare today. The Jeep is having some air-conditioning issues so by the time we got home we were both *really* hot. So we decided to make Kool-Aid! Andrew picked out cherry (of course, it's red) and he poured in the Kool-Aid mix and the sugar and helped add the water and stir. Of course we ended up with sugar and a flood of water on the floor (and on Andrew and me). But Andrew had SO much fun and he was so proud of himself! Then, of course, we got to enjoy the Kool-Aid. I couldn't take pictures during the process, but here is the aftermath! :)

A quick update...

and some pictures of course. Andrew *loves* Blue and Pooh lately. They get dragged around by their ears a lot and hugs and kisses and yesterday afternoon they got to eat snack with Andrew. He tried to feed them too. (Tonight at dinner he tried to feed his bumblebee puppet mac & cheese too!).

Click on the pictures to make them bigger:

18 month update

I haven't been posting pics lately because when I try to take them I end up getting pictures like this: or this: . :) And I just haven't had time to take many pictures to begin with...

Andrew had his 18 month checkup today and here's how he has grown and changed over the past few months. He now weighs 23 lbs, 7.5 oz. and is 32.5 inches long. He is *running* all over the place, he loves to "read" and be read to (I can't imagine who he got that from!), he is fascinated with animals and is too cute telling you what sounds they make (I have to try to get a video of us reading Moo, Baa, La, La, La -- or "La, La" in Andrew-ese). He loves to point to and name body parts. He is talking up a storm! I stsrted making a list but it got really lengthy so I'll put it at the end (sorry, this blog is my baby book until I find time to do the real one!). He says real words and jabbers a lot too (he knows what he's saying but we don't yet!) He talks on the phone (real and imaginary) and loves on (and occasionally disciplines) the kitties. He eats pretty well with a fork and spoon (and luckily for us still loves fruits & veggies). We have been so fortunate to have such a happy and good-natured (and adorable) little boy! :) And I'll try to do better at taking pictures of him for all of you who don't get to see him face-to-face.

Here's the word-list: He can say *all* of these words (plus more I am probably leaving out): Mommy (and mama), Daddy (and dad), Granny, Nana, Blue (teddy bear), please, thank you, good job!, clean up, eat, truck, Jesus, Bible, book, Little Einsteins ("Steins"), duck, dog, teddy (for Teddy Grahams), "what's that?" (what-dat?), baby, nose, eye, ear, toe, hair, head, night-night ("ni-ni"), no, outside, fish, whoa! (back seat driving!), yay!, tea, berry (for strawberries), nana (for banana), keys, dragon (for his "That's Not My Dragon" book), giraffe, ball, monkey (I think he says "kitty" for monkey!), zebra, "here you go", bear, yes ("yeth"), "there he is" or "there it is", block, face, kitty, cat, bubbles, puzzle ("puzz"), diaper ("biper"), shoes, fish, go, trash, hello, hi, bye-bye, "I love you", "Let's go!", milk, up ("uh"), uh-oh, cup, vroom, Nemo ("Nanu"), Elmo (also "Nanu" or "Melmo"), cookie, pretty... probably more. Oh, and animal sounds: moo, baa, oink, woof, bow-wow, meow, sss, ee-ee (monkey), quack, neigh, ribbit. In Andrew's world, sheep say "moo" much of the time too. :)

Andrew's message to his fans...

I wish the picture was a better quality but as you can see Andrew isn't very camera shy! :) (I can't imagine how he would be!). He keeps saying "Cheese!" while I'm videoing... which is why I can't get a lot I want to onto a video! :)

Summertime fun!

A few pictures from last July and then last month... hasn't Andrew grown up so much????

Enjoy! :)

I WANT TEA! and other cute stories...

Last night we went to McAlister's to eat supper. We got Andrew water to drink with his meal but he has had this fascination with iced tea lately. So he was drinking my tea and then got upset when we tried to get him to drink his water. So we figured, what's the big deal, and bought him some tea of his own...

We all got refills of tea to go and then ran to Kroger which is in the same parking lot to pick up some groceries after our meal. We didn't give Andrew his tea in the car because it wasn't in a sippy cup and my car is messy enough without having tea all over the back seat... so when we got out of the car to go in the store, what did Andrew have to say? I WANT TEA!!! Yep, that's his first sentence. I guess there's no doubt he's from the South -- gotta have his sweet tea!

Andrew is so cute though, he's coming out with phrases all of the time. The first was "Bye-bye, Mama" (because Chad takes him to daycare most mornings so he says bye to me before they leave) Anyway... now he is in the "saying please should get me whatever I want" phase. Don't want to go to bed??? "More book! Please?" "More Bible! Please?" Oh, and he's also into disciplining the cats. "Kitty, no! Go!" (that's when Abby crawled into his bookshelf to lie down)

He LOVES reading his books and his toddler Bible though. He is saying so much now, I'll have to make a list sometime. He "prays" by squinching up his eyes, speaking gibberish and then saying "A-en!" (or sometimes "The End!"... which is what he says at the end of books).

There are nonstop cute moments here lately though... tonight he gave Oliver (one of the cats) a good night kiss. :) Luckily Oliver puts up with that sort of thing!

Now I have to go upload some pictures! :)

Grandma and Aunt Nancy with Andrew

Just wanted to share a few pictures from Grandma and Aunt Nancy's visit! Andrew had so much fun seeing them again (we did too!).

Grandma reading to Andrew


Aunt Nancy reading to Andrew


In Paducah

Happy Birthday to Kyle!

This weekend, Chad, Andrew, my mom and I all went to visit my sister and to go to Kyle's first birthday party. Andrew and Kyle haven't been around each other since about a year ago when they were babies, so it was fun to see them around each other again. Kyle wasn't sure what to think about the cake... Andrew of course thought it was great! :) He's a big fan of chocolate cake! Here are a few pictures and videos!