Happy 5th Birthday Andy!

Today was Andy's birthday and he was SO excited for it. Right when he woke up, he was asking about his cake, his presents, and what we were doing today... It was pretty much a great day for him. He gave out treats at school, met friends at the park for a playdate and cupcakes, went for a hike, opened some presents, ate dinner of his choosing (quesadillas) and a cookie cake for dessert, played a WII game with me and a board game with daddy. It was a beautiful day - 65 and mostly sunny. He's finally winding down now (at 9:00 pm) so once the sugar high is completely gone, he'll be going to bed! He is seeming so much older to me now... he looks so tall and so much older in the face. Next big thing will be kindergarten this fall! His 5 year doctor appt isn't for another couple of weeks, so I'll post his height stats then. But as for things he likes to do, here is some Andy info

• Andy definitely likes going by Andy, but we call him Andrew sometimes too


• His favorite foods are Mac&Cheese, Pizza, Chocolate Chip pancakes (star wars shapes), pasta with marinara sauce, McDonald's hamburgers, Chocolate shakes, broccoli, PB&J sandwiches, barbecue chips, carrots, Gogurts...


• He likes the shows: Imagination Movers, Ben10, any superhero show, Sesame Street, Olivia, Jake and the Neverland Pirates. Movies - Incredibles, Despicable Me, How To Train Your Dragon, Aladdin... He's at that fun age where Jack's shows still really entertain him but he can start watching movies and shows for bigger kids too.


• He loves to ride his scooter, play soccer, play at parks (getting VERY good at climbing up equipment), ride his bike - we'll be going on longer rides this summer I hope, plays with action figures, LOVES anything legos (including WII Lego games, computer lego games, and building with legos), LOVES Jack and EmmyMemmy


• He tells us at least a couple times a day that he loves us a million, trillion, 3 billion times (it's a new number every time)


• Andy's doing great at school - he can write pretty much every letter and is working on sounding out words to figure out which letters he needs.


• Andy is a wonderful boy! He definitely likes enforcing rules (a bit of a tattletale, but in a cute way), loves telling stories, is pretty serious at times, and is great at sharing with his siblings. He still likes to cuddle with me and is such a sweetie.

A big cheesy smile before opening presents! Starting in on the presents

A new Star Wars game (we already played a level, and it's awesome)

A Pyramid lego set - he's very excited to put this together, but it's going to be a big project...

A cool Batman Cookie Cake was a big hit

Blowing out the candles and making a wish

From the park yesterday

Hiking today, clearing a stick off the trail, so I could get through with Emily in the stroller

So Dizzy

We went to the park this afternoon, despite the windy weather. The boys were happy to get back to a park we hadn't been to since fall. This time, they both discovered a love for spinning in circles as fast ast they could. Just watching them made me nauseous - but they loved getting so dizzy that they could not walk straight after getting off the equipment. Pretty funny... Getting some help from Andy

This little saucer spun them SO fast

Jack was pretty brave

And Emily loved swinging

A Summery Day!

It was an awesome summery day yesterday, and we took full advantage of it. Actually we had a pretty great weekend overall, including a board game day with friends on Saturday. Yesterday, on Sunday, we first went and picked out some new shoes for Andy (one light-up pair and one running pair) and then we headed straight to the park. The boys were excited to show Chris the cool huge slide they discovered last week. So that was the first thing they did. Then we played on the playground equipment, walked across the bridge, and headed home for lunch. The boys ate lunch on their picnic table outside and then we broke out the kiddie pool! Tons of pictures -but I had to take tons to show how much fun we had in 75 degree sunny weather :) Jack was first down the 2-story slide Andy after a fun slide down, ready for another

Go Andy go!

Jack was close behind

Big, silly smile from Jack

Chris chasing Andy down the slide

Emily took a short nap from shoe store to the park, but was soon up to enjoy the day

Andy did the zipline all on his own!

With a push from daddy to get him going!

Andy relaxing on the rock

Mommy and Emily

Jack doing some climbing

On the bridge, having a snack in the sun

A yummy picnic lunch outside

Emily will definitely have to get used to sun hats this summer - I have a feeling we'll be outside a lot!

Pool all filled up with warm water - ready for some swimming

The boys played really well together in the pool

Ahhhhh, what a wonderful day!

Getting a little splashier as they play more in the water

Jack was trying to surf

Emily, getting close to afternoon nap time

And here's Jack - we knew he was out on the deck playing, but it turned out he had been sitting patiently at the picnic table waiting for the hot dogs we were talking about grilling for dinner (it was only 2:00 at this point) We grilled them a little early because the boys just couldn't wait any longer. They both ate their entire hot dogs, which is an accomplishment for both of them!

Our perfectly fun weekend ended with all kids asleep by 7:45 (and Emily sleeping straight through until 7!). But after the kids were asleep, the storms that we kept hearing about finally rolled through. LOTS of lightning, some wind & rain, and no power for about 8 hours! We were a little worried about the lack of power for our sump pump, but luckily it didn't rain TOO much. After the exciting day yesterday, we're chilling out at home today :)

Park Season has Begun!

We got out 3 times this week to parks with friends and it was awesome. I had misplaced the camera this week, but finally found it today and got some fun pictures. All of the kids enjoyed the park today... Here is Emily, ready to go. She was sitting in her Bumbo chair to get her hair put in pigtails... Ready to go outside!

The boys both walked/ran to the park with no complaints. Emily was so happy in the jogger.

Jack on the bouncy jet

Andy on the bouncy horse

They can both get on/off on their own now. (last fall I had to lift Jack up) I definitely appreciate the independence!

Here's Emily, ready to swing for one of her first times outside

SO fun! (she loves it)

This was really cool to me. The kids are tiny in the picture, but you can see all 3 of them were doing the same thing, and all 3 of them were enjoying it so much. It was special to see Emily having fun with her brothers.

I'm trying to teach Andy to pump his legs. He was working on it today, but still needs some pushes to get him going.

Go Emily!

Okay, after an hour at the park, Emily was ready for her nap...

The boys were still going strong though.

Jack and Andy had fun over at the stream. This log was a great seat for them. At first Jack was very serious and careful.

They could have thrown sticks in ALL day.

Andy posing for his pictures

Jack with a very silly smile, but definitely having fun. He got nice and muddy :)

Races down the slide...

The boys weren't ready to go after 2 hours at the park. But it was lunchtime, Emily woke up and was ready for some inside time, and it was getting cloudy. They walked great on the way home and we had a nice Friday afternoon at home. Jack and Emily both took 2+ hour naps :)