Emma is growing up too fast! She finally waves! Her favorite game is peek-a-boo. She'll hold toys up over her head and then pull it down real quick. And if you say "peek!" she'll smile real big and keep doing it. If you're sitting on the couch, she'll squat down and put her head down and then stand up real fast! So funny! She also loves to let go and stand on her own - for up to 10 seconds! She is finally eating three meals of baby food, and she loves puffs and Cinnamon Cheerios.

I am searching for the right preschool for Drew. They are all starting registration for the fall already. He has continued to amaze me with his smarts. The other day in the car he was talking away, "We have to go to the store, eat lunch, play and take a nap. We have four things to do. No wait, we just went to the store - we only have three things to do!" He's making to do lists and doing subtraction! His new thing is to say a word and then sound out the first letter. "ball, b-, b- it starts with a b!" I think he got that from either the show Super Why or from his Alfie toy.

And Drew's quote for the week: "That lady has two BIG melons!" We call canteloupe "melon," and at the grocery store a woman had two canteloupes in her cart... good grief, I about died! At least she didn't hear him!

This past weekend was rough. Saturday morning Drew woke up really early. He laid on the couch with Chad and then got up, said, "my belly hurts," and got sick! He had the stomach bug all day - it was awful!! Lots of laundry and Lysol! So far, no one else has gotten the bug! He took his nap on the couch...Charlie joined him!

On Sunday he was better (just no appetite!), and we got to enjoy the 70 degree weather!! Here's Chad and Drew playing some baseball and Emma pushing her walker.

And this one would have been a homerun for sure!

We got Drew's wagon out and let Emma go for a ride.

Drew really wanted to pull her too.

And he wanted to see if he would still fit in it! Barely!!

This was the first time Emma had really sat and played in the grass - she really liked it!

I like this action shot - with his tongue out! haha

We hosted our neighborhood playgroup last Friday. Here's Emma and Annika - and I never thought Emma's head looked big (even though it measures in the 80th percentile) - but she makes Annika's head look tiny (but she is just 7 months old and has a 25th percentile head!). Leif and Meena were there too - Leif played with Drew's crane the whole time and Meena petted Charlie (who kept sitting with us...seriously, he's social now!!). Drew sat on his big wheel the whole couple hours that our company was there - that thing is definitely going out in the garage next time people come over!

I LOVE this picture - it reminds me of the picture that I have of Drew standing there at about that same age. The lighting is perfect in this room. Emma has on her skinny jeans (AKA Peter Pan Pants haha).

I dug up the one of Drew...WOW, they really do look alike! Everyone (even the manager at the grocery store that I go to all the time!!) tells me that they look so much alike!

Emma's 9 month appt and Drew's football

Drew LOVES his Candy Land game that he got for Christmas from my parents! And he isn't much fun to play with because he ALWAYS wins!! (without cheating!!)



Drew missed basketball two weeks ago b/c all the programs at the Y were cancelled due to snow. Here he is dribbling down the court last week- he even has his head up!



Here's Emma and I playing while Drew napped.

Here's sick Emma. She had a bad runny nose, horrible cough, and a fever for several days last week. By Wednesday her fever went down and the runny nose slowed down. Last Friday she had her 9 month checkup, and we found out she has an ear infection in her left ear - the first ear infection with either of the kids!! Now she's teething pretty bad but overall, she is so much better!

I was surprised to find out that she is a little peanut at just 17 lbs 6 oz (25th percentile) and 28 inches (65th percentile). Her head, of course, is still big - 80th percentile! Her low weight could be from her lack of appetite all week. That, and she crawls all over the house - and she's really fast now!

Emma says "dada" and "mama" all the time now.

I've even taught her how to say "EmmmmMA!"

And remember when we would push Drew around on his truck, and he'd cry when we took him off?? Well, Emma has the same reaction!

Chad and Drew play basketball with the little goal my parents got him and baseball with the Tee Chad's parents got him almost every night. They even run a few football plays in the hallway. Here they are taking turns playing quarterback. Drew's getting better at throwing and catching!

naptime!

Charlie has become quite the family cat lately! He lets the kids hug on him and he's always sitting with us while we're playing down on the floor. He even puts his paws up on the rocking chair when I'm rocking or feeding Emma and begs to come up there with us! Here he is taking a nap with Emma!

And here's a video of these cats and their baby!

Discovery Place Kids

My parents bought us a family membership to the new Discovery Place Kids just down the road from our house - and we finally went today! It was so much fun! We were there about an hour and a half, and we probably only did half the stuff! There's tons of kid size real-life activities (milk a cow, run a cash register, be a dr, drive a race car, etc). And there's train tables, crafts, jungle gym, and so much more. Here's Drew, very in to the puppet show!

My favorite activity that we did was the baby water table! Emma loved it!

Drew loved the cash register and kept pulling out $20s and giving them to me! Haha

My gymnast!

Drew was drawn to the firetruck, of course, but was freaked out by the mannequin in uniform!

Emma showed off her new trick - she pulls up and then lets go and balances by herself!

Emma is doing great with solid food now - two meals a day of stage 2 solids (sometimes two jars per meal) and she has figured out puffs finally! She also loves wagon wheels, mum mum biscuits, and thick pretzel sticks. We've worked at getting her on a schedule (for my sanity), and she's done great. The two kids have napped at the same time the past four days!! That is a much appreciated break where I fly around the house getting a few things knocked off my to do list and then relax for a few minutes before Emma wakes up and I get some one on one time with her.

Snow Day!!

We got almost 4 inches of snow last night and through this morning. Here's the proof - and it was still coming down.

The roads were horrible, so Chad just did some work from home and hung out with us for the day. Drew has had a fever and bad cold the past couple days, but we HAD to go out and play for just a few minutes. Chad's parents had brought a sled over yesterday for the kids, so we tried it out. Here's Chad and the kids getting bundled up. Emma fell over and was stuck!

Here's Drew on the sled! (We just went down the drive - it was easier than dealing with the bigger hill on the side yard, since Drew didn't feel great.)

The neighbors and their son came over to sled a few times. Here's Drew and Noah.

And then Drew and Daddy took a few turns!





Even Emma got a turn on the sled! Thank goodness the car coming through stopped for us! Oops!



Emma sat in the snow for a few minutes and wasn't too sure about it.


Then she fell over and got stuck b/c she had too many layers on!

When we went inside after playing, I grabbed a few cups of snow - and we made soy snow cream! Drew LOVED it and even had to get a straw to finish his off!

Here's Emma napping - she plays with the blanket my grandma made her while she sleeps. :)

Here's Emma trying to climb in the bath before I can take this embarrassing picture!

Random pictures and Drew's first day of basketball!

Here's Drew on the back deck.

And here he is playing a little golf in the backyard.,.or it's almost a hockey swing!

We got Emma some grippie shoes for Christmas! She always pulls off her socks, and our downstairs gets pretty cold - so these are perfect!


She loves to play at the train table.

Drew's not sure he's ready to share all that stuff...

Emma has discovered the stairs and it's time to get the baby gate out!

Drew constantly begs to "play cars with me!" So, we have to get creative and come up with "games" so we don't go nuts. This one was Chad's idea - they lined up his cars, single file, from the fireplace all the way under the table and to the kitchen! Here's Drew in his Lightning McQueen jammies with the lined up cars!

Today Drew had his first basketball practice! It's a 5 week basketball session at the Y - just 45 minutes once a week. It's supposed to be for 3-5 year olds, but they let me sign Drew up. Here they are talking with Coach Matthew (in blue) before they got started. Drew is in the grey shirt - and he was very in to it!

They did a lot of dribbling - here's Drew in action!

They were supposed to be dribbling the ball all the way down the court... this was just too funny to leave out! Drew just carried his ball, and when Chad yelled out, "dribble it, Drew!" he waves at us real big! haha!



And here's another round of dribbling - he did a little better this time!