55th Anniversary Luau

My Grandma and Grandpa Dickson celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary this weekend with a Hawaiian luau themed picnic. We had a great time and the boys enjoyed playing with their 2nd cousins Kailey and Kendall. Jack also got to meet some new relatives! The weather wasn't perfect so we were indoors for most of the time, but that's okay :) The Hawaiian flowers smelled so amazing that my mom had - it made me already look forward to Chris's and my Maui trip in February!

Here's a pictue of Grandma and Grandpa Dickson with a few of their grandkids (and great-grandkids!) Congratulations on 55 years together Grandma and Grandpa Dickson!

Jack with his Great Grandpa Dickson. Jack got into the mood of the party with his lei! I couldn't get Andy to wear his lei though! Oh, well. He was festive by wearing a Hula Grill T-shirt from our favorite place to eat in Maui. Here he is eating at the kid's table.
Jack got to meet his Great Aunt Kim who flew in from Arizona.And here is Jack with his Great Uncle Tom.
Jack with his Great Aunt Toni - Jack looks like such a big guy in this picture!

Andy outside with his cousins Kailey and Kendall.

On Sunday Andy was a big helper and pushed Jack in the stroller. He even went up a big hill with him!
Here's a picture right before we left on Sunday. Both boys were totally zonked out - we transferred them to the minivan and they slept for most of the drive home too.

The Building For Kids

Andy had such a fun time on his field trip with his school earlier this week, that I decided we had to take him back to the Building For Kids to see how cool it really is. He had so much fun and there were so many activites that he got to do! We liked it so much that we bought an annual membership so that we can go whenever we want. The trick is to go right when it opens, because we had about an hour where it wasn't busy at all and he got to drive all of the fun vehicles without having to wait for his turn. Jack was a wonderful spectator - just hung out in his stroller and slept most of the time :)

Here's Andy fueling up his little scooter.
And here he is at the water play room.
Probably his second favorite thing was the fire truck (He's in there - right next to the dog!)

That's one big steering wheel to handle! We were pretending that there was a fire on Sesame Street and we had to rescue Cookie Monster (it's from one of his books that he likes to read)Jack and Grandma Reinsel got to be passengers for awhile.

See you later! Another favorite was the big crane that Andy got to drive. The levers and buttons really worked so it was cool for him to see it move.

And the number one, best thing to do there? Being a pilot on the airplane (or spaceship as Andy called it)
Here he is, confidently maneuvering the plane in for a landing... (The screen right in front of him was a video of ground down below - it was showing the plane moving, which was neat)

There's our house!
Andy was adventurous and climbed up to the top of the tree house, through the bouncy, netting tunnels. And here he is, headed down, looking a little tired, ready to head home. He zonked out on the way home, along with Jack.
Two nights ago, Andrew was a big helper in the kitchen and helped me make some pizza. He spread the sauce, sprinkled the cheese, and put down all of the toppings on the pizza. Maybe he'll be the next Bobby Flay!

And, even though this was more of an Andy focused post, here are a few pictures of Jack from the last couple of days. He's really grabbing at the toys above him in his acivity gym.
And here's Jack, lounging around in his pajamas before bed time...
And he's doing his Elvis impression in this picture!Another night, just relaxing on the floor a little bit. He really likes to stretch out!

We haven't gotten many of Jack and Bailey together, so I tried to get them to pose for a picture. Nto a great shot, because Bailey decided to try to lick Jack's hand...
And here's Jack, Bailey and I... We recently gave Bailey a haircut since it's been so warm here :)

Brothers are Best Buddies

Here are a few pictures from this week! Jack is getting so much bigger and stronger. He's starting to like sitting in our laps (with support of course!) Jack's also liking using his boppy pillow for his tummy time. It's really helping him lift up his head and his upper body better!

Yesterday, Andy went on his first field trip for school. He got to go to the Building For Kids - a children's museum. He really enjoyed himself - especially driving the child's size crane and fire truck! However, with all of the excitement of the field trip, he only got a half hour nap! He was resting on the couch a little bit yesterday evening before we had to leave for Chris's softball game.

Once Andy saw Jack on the new pillow that I brought downstairs, he was ready for action and wanted to play with Jack. People always ask us how Andy is doing with Jack, whether he is having any trouble adjusting. And the honest answer is that he has been a perfect big brother!! He has not shown any jealousy at all. All he wants to do is help me with Jack, make Jack happy, play toys with Jack, and give Jack hugs and kisses. We are SO lucky!! Andy often says, "Jack, you're a great brother." I think that they are going to be so close growing up - it's going to be so neat to see.

A kiss for Jack...

This morning, Jack wanted to show off his outfit and how much bigger he's getting!

His expression shows that he's tolerating my photo shoot, but not for long!! He's tired and ready for his first nap of the day!

Last night's softball game was fun. Andy played at the park for an hour - mainly using the digger and the slides. There were lots of older kids at the park, but Andy doesn't back down and just gets right in the to use the equipment. Andy also got to run around the bases with his daddy at the end of the game which he had lots of fun doing! The only downside is that I forgot mosquito repellent and they were out in full force! I managed to swat off any that landed on Jack, but Andy had a few direct hits :( They don't seem to be itching too bad, so hopefully they'll go away quickly!

Calm Before the Storm

We just got done with a nice, quiet weekend at home - our last one for awhile! It seems like we have things going on every day the next few weeks. But we enjoyed not having anything big planned on Saturday and Sunday. We went to the Farmer's Market on Saturday where Chris & I enjoyed a bag of kettle corn and Andy had a big chocolate chip cookie. We also got some fruit and veggies too, but those aren't as exciting! We walked to a park near the farmer's market, where Andy and Chris went exploring. They found some huge puddles to jump in and had so much fun. On Sunday, we didn't drive anywhere and just hung out. We went for a walk, which Jack finally fell asleep about halfway through, then to another park. Jack had to go home to eat, but Andy wanted to play some more. Chris stayed out longer with Andy and they had a fun adventure. They hiked by a stream where there is a little waterfall, across a bridge, and all around some farmland near our house. All in all, Chris thought they went about 1.5-2 miles! And Andy walked the entire thing!! After this accomplishment, Chris is already planning our first trip to Rocky Mountain National Park. Yeah! We didn't tak too many pictures this weekend, but caught a couple of cute ones of the kids at home :)

I didn't get many good ones of Andy this time though. If you ask him to smile for a picture, he covers his face with his hands. He's a little camera shy!