Cookies & Milk

Friday night we went to Cookies & Milk with Santa and the Elves, a fundraiser for Agape. Kim, Brennan & Rowan came too. The boys had so much fun! They got to play games, make crafts, get pictures with Santa, and of course eat cookies and milk. Andrew has not been too fond of Santa this year, but Chad said he talked to Andrew earlier in the day about sitting on Santa's lap and Andrew said he would. So when it got to that time, he was brave and sat on Santa's lap and told him what he wants for Christmas. He was still a little scared though... I took this picture the second he got on Santa's lap and by the time the photographer for the event took pics, Andrew was looking a little sad. Santa was very nice to him and gave him a candy cane, which Andrew thought was great! Here are a few pictures!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

even if it has been warm outside! Last Sunday, we started Christmas decorating. Andrew is loving Christmas this year. He loves to sing Christmas carols (Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells are current faves) and every morning he runs downstairs and says, "Christmas lights! Christmas tree!" and puts on his "Christmas hat". He loves to point out lights everywhere and Santa Claus and "Frosty Snowman" (every snowman is Frosty) :) Here are a few pictures (and some video) from last week!

Andrew the Reindeer (these are Oliver's reindeer antlers)




Helping decorate the Christmas tree:




Helping Daddy put the tree topper on:


Wow, it's a long way down! (I think Andrew was a little scared of being that high up!)


Our Christmas tree -- I love the first picture because Andrew is looking up at the tree saying, "ooooohhh" :)




And a video from yesterday that shows how much Andrew is talking lately!

Just a few pictures...

From our trip over Thanksgiving weekend. More on the trip later, but I wanted to get some pictures out!

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: