Andrew is 2!

Andrew was 2 on April 7!!! I was doing really well with the whole thing until Thursday morning when I got to work. Then I got a little weepy and sad that my BABY was 2. It didn’t last too long, though. Andrew LOVED his birthday! First, he got to open presents, and he totally got that part of it. We gave him one big gift and a couple of small gifts. His favorites were the Radio Flyer Retro Rocket and Woody the Cowboy. He completely ate up all of the attention from Brian and me all day. Jacob, on the other hand, was not a fan of Andrew having so much attention. I could not believe how badly he took it all. We finally sent him to his room to chill out. All in all, we enjoyed the day very much!

So here is an update on my sweet Andrew:

• Andrew is a very sweet, but very stubborn little boy. He knows what he wants, and that’s exactly what he wants. He is very independent. It’s such a great quality to have!


• Weight: It's been too long - I'll update this when I have access to his info at home


• Height: See above.


• Andrew is really good about playing by himself if he needs to. It’s the beauty of the second-born I guess.


• He enjoys reading books and coloring books….and the floor, and tables, and anything that should not be colored.


• Andrew LOVES music! He dances, sings, and plays instruments. He has started to randomly sing his ABC’s around the house. He will sing along to silly songs in the car, and when he hears a guitar in a song, he will pretend to play one.


• He is finally interested in Potty Training. We have not had any action in the toilet, but he enjoys sitting on the potty (at appropriate times). I’m ready for him to get it so that we can move these diapers out of here! :)


• UPDATE: July 29, 2011: Andrew could not care less about actually using the potty. I am convinced he will grow out of diapers and pull ups before he actually uses it. Even when we put him in underwear, he does not complain when he has accidents. AMAZING! I was sure he would take to it immediately because he is so independent. I was WAY off on that prediction. Also - I think the kid is left handed. yay!

Presents!!

Riding his Rocket Ship! He loves this thing! Does he look like someone else to anyone?!

Jacob's face says it all here for how he felt all.day.long. Is it bad that I giggle at it?!

MMMM! Birthday Cupcake!

This picture says it all for how much Andrew enjoyed his day! He's on his rocket ship, coloring in his new coloring book (which has markers that will only put color in the coloring book), and holding his new Woody doll!

Look Who’s 30!

I turned 30 on March 25. Normally, I don’t make a big deal out of my birthday, but this year, being 30 and all, I wanted to have a party. Lucky for me, one of my best friends has a birthday 2 weeks before mine, and she turned 30, too! So, with a lot of convincing on my part, we had an Offensive T-Shirt Party at my house. It was so much fun! I just wanted to share a few pics.

Mom and Steve. I was dissed by both siblings - Sarah's shirt said, "I'm the younger, hotter sister." This is from the beginning of the night btw.

My family - including Cardboard Rose!

The Birthday Girls!! I've known Megan since preschool! I cannot imagine my life without her!

Andrea, Justin, Megan, Bethany - I went to Middle School with these people and Megan went thru High School with them. So happy we are all friends again!

The Mullen Girls - Megan and her sister Heather

My other bestie, Cassie, and her husband Brian (a.k.a. Kurt Cobain)

Who do you think had the most fun?! (hint: it was not Sarah or me) Where did that cheesy smile go?!

A Night of Firsts

The boys are going on ages 4 and 2 (in less than a month!), so the "firsts" of their lives are becoming more rare. However, last night we had 2 firsts for Jacob!

1. He had timeout at school yesterday. This is extremely significant because Jacob's teachers have always gone on and on and on about what a wonderful kid he is. So much so that there was a time that we thought they just told us that to make us feel good. It was THAT over the top sometimes. He always brings home Happy Grams to tell us how wonderful he was at school. I mean, there have never been any complaints about Jacob. So last night, you can imagine how surprised Brian and I were when Jacob just volunteered that he had to "sit on the ledge" during outside time. He said that Andrew had spit at him, and that his teacher thought that he had spit at Andrew (they play with each other thru the fence). As we started talking more, we realized that his regular teacher had taken a break and there was a substitute teacher with them during outside time. I talked to his teacher on facebook last night. I knew she would also see the humor in the whole situation! She told me, "I probably would have fallen over if I had walked outside and Jacob was sitting out." She also told me that she was going to hang close to the fence today during outside time to hear what Jacob says to Andrew. :)

2. So while we were discussing the timeout during outside time, Jacob kept repeating "I did not spit at Andrew." In fact, Brian told me that it was the first thing Jacob said to him when he arrived to pick him up. I guess he was getting a little upset at Andrew about the whole situation as we were discussing it. Andrew had a timeout during dinner, and when I brought him back to the table Jacob said to him, "Andrew you are not my friend anymore." He went on to tell him that he cannot play with his toys until he gets bigger. Then they played the rest of the evening together. :) Jacob's teacher also told me that the whole "you're not my friend" is really big in the 4's room right now.

First Team Sport

Jacob is playing soccer now! He absolutely loves it. He is not very aggressive, so he's still learning that it is okay to take the ball away from the kids on the other team. During this week's game, he was telling the kids which goal was theirs...on both teams. He had a point during the third quarter where he was driving down the field with the ball, and he was well on his way to score a goal. But then a kid on the other team fell down, and he stopped kicking the ball to make sure the kid was okay. Very sweet but something that we need to work on during game time. :)

Full Speed Ahead!

And here is Jacob's #1 Fan!

A Perfect Morning

Life is absolutely rocking right now! Texas weather is awesome right now. I'm starting to actually get some control over work and home life. I honestly cannot remember the last time I felt this great!

This morning was no exception to the greatness. :) The boys were absolutely adorable. First, Jacob was all smiles when I turned on the lights in the living room (he can hear me get up and then waits at the top of the stairs for me to turn on the lights before he comes down). Andrew was just as sweet as he could be. I went into his room, and we were babbling to each other. Then he crawled to me, leaned in, and said, "Kiss." Then he gave me the biggest, wettest kiss. How many more of those am I going to get...you know, where he actually asks for it. Then we scurried to the kitchen to take a peek at the muffins baking in the oven.

When the muffins were finished, all four of us sat down together to have breakfast. This happens maybe once a quarter. We let the kids watch PBS Kids in the morning during breakfast, and this morning was no exception. Between shows, they had a fundraising commercial (usually they have a Word Girl update, and Brian and Andrew sing the Word Girl theme). So this lady pops up on the screen and says, "Hi. I'm Nancy..." Without missing a beat, Andrew pops off, "Hi!" and I think he even waved a little! Goofy.

When Brian and I were finished with our breakfast, we went back to getting ready for work. At two completely different times, the boys came up one at a time and gave me a hug. And then, to top off the entire morning, we heard Jacob's favorite song...Animal by the Neon Trees. And we all went crazy dancing and singing. Absolute perfection!

Happy Thursday everyone!

Spring in January!

On January 30, the weather was absolutely beautiful! Since the weather men were calling for ice on the following Tuesday, I decided I better get those boys outside.


They got some little scooters for Christmas from Aunt Jann. We haven't been able to play with them at all since Christmas, so I took advantage of the beautiful weather by taking them to play with the scooters.

They Live Among Us, The End (Hopefully)

Well, we still have not caught any mice. Here's what I think happened.


When I found the evidence in our pantry, it was chilly outside. I think we were having highs in the 40's, so they probably thought our home was a perfectly warm place to stay for a bit. Then the weather became beautiful and warm! Ah...I love Texas! We didn't hear any scratching in walls or found no evidence anywhere. Not that we had heard a lot before that, but we didn't hear any for like a week. I kept all of the traps set and baited with peanut butter just incase they got hungry and came back to the pantry to look for some goodies.

Well last week we were frozen inside for 4-5 days. Literally frozen inside. Ice and snow were on the roads, and my boys were perfectly content playing inside the entire time, so I wasn't about to offer to take them outside. Anyway, on Friday morning, I walked into my bathroom to take some headache medicine. I was already a little ticked off because they had forecasted some snow, but we probably got 3 inches. I was starting to get cabin fever, and I was really wishing I had made a quick store run for the change of scenery the day before. Well, I noticed a few ants crawling on my counter. I screamed which woke up Brian. So I marched to our utility room to get the ant spray. When I returned to the bathroom and turned on the light, I saw TONS of teeny tiny ants crawling in a straight line on our floor. Now, what you should also know is that ants in the bathroom is not that unusual. After a really good rain shower, we get them. That being said, I have NEVER seen them like this. I was immediately disgusted and totally pissed off. It turns out that ants like peanut butter and warmer temperatures, too! We had put a mouse trap in our bathroom behind our toilet, and I guess the snow gave them the final push they needed to move in.

So Brian got up for real, sprayed the poison on the ants, removed the mouse trap that was covered in ants, and cleaned up the messes from all of this. He's my hero!