Andrew 8 months old

Andrew has grown so fast this month.  He is crawling at light speed everywhere around the house and pulling himself up on everything.  He can even balance himself for a few seconds at a time.  He is a very vocal little boy and as Elizabeth likes to say, he thinks that he is a dinosaur.  One fun thing about this month is that Elizabeth and Andrew are really starting to play with each other.  Elizabeth will pass a ball with Andrew, play grocery store, leggos etc with him.  Sometimes he gets on her nerves a little bit as he always likes to play with the toy that Elizabeth is playing with.  But that obviously goes both ways.  Every time Andrew has a toy that Elizabeth wants, Elizabeth wants to share.  If Andrew wants to try to share with Elizabeth, that's another story!

This picture is fun as it is typical of lazy  mornings at our house.  Elizabeth likes to give everyone (including Gregario) a headband to wear.  And don't try to take your headband off or she will notice immediately! Sometimes I have to check my head on the way to work as I still have it on!  Even Andrew gets a headband on most mornings and will wear it for awhile.

East Coast Visit (Part I)

We had such a wonderful trip to the East Coast last week, visiting our dear friends and family.  The trip was a whirlwind as we saw over 25 of our dear  friends and family in 5 days!  The first part of our journey took us to Washington DC/ Virginia to visit my best friend Cathy and her amazing mom and dad.  We had such a nice and relaxing time with them, so much so that Andrew and Elizabeth didn't want to leave.  I think the plethora of classic Fisher Price Toys (which brought back so many memories of my childhood) had a lot to do with it as well as Evelyn and Rich's hospitality.  We also got to see some great friends from my Academy days, Andy and Matt, and their families/spouses/parents.  It was a wonderful reunion.

One of the highlights of our trip was our outing to our nation's capital.  And what better place to tour than the Capitol Building itself.  Rich gave us a tour that I will remember for the rest of my life. It was incredible to be in a place where so much of our country's history was shaped.  It's almost like you can  feel the presence of our forefathers in many of the rooms.

This is how Andrew spent much of his time on the Capitol tour.  Thank you to Evelyn and Cathy for corralling the munch-kins so that Jan and I could actually listen to the tour!

Elizabeth really loved this statue.  It's the mold of the statue that is on top of the Capitol.  I think that she was amazed at the mere size of the statue as she stood there looking at her for about five minutes and did not want to leave.  

Inside the dome 

The most beautiful hallways I've even seen in my life

The Appropriations Committee Room

One of the highlights for Elizabeth was riding on the metro.  I'm sure she entertained  many of the commuters who dread, I mean ride, the metro every day.  As you can see, Andrew liked riding the metro too!

Texas with Mom, Dad, and Andrew

A few weeks ago I had the wonderful opportunity to head down to Texas with Andrew for the weekend to visit mom and dad.  It was really special to get to spend some time with my little boy as it was really the first time I've had that chance without big sister being around.  Andrew is such a good little traveler and did very well on the airplane.  He is very easy to travel with as he'll cat nap just about anywhere (hmmm, wonder where he get's that trait from?)  While Elizabeth still takes "epic" naps of 3-4 hours in the afternoon along with an 11 hour sleep at night Andrew is lucky to take two little cat naps of about 30 - 45 minutes each.  He takes his little nap and wakes up ready to go.  Sometimes I think that he thinks he is missing something when he is sleeping!

We had such a nice time with mom and dad, visiting friends, going to the pool and out for some fabulous Mexican food, shopping and just relaxing at their beautiful new house.  Thanks for a fun weekend mom and dad!

Elizabeth's 3rd Birthday

While we were at the flats, we celebrated Elizabeth's third birthday. It's hard to believe that she is three years old already.  I know that everyone says time goes fast but this past three years has gone incredibly fast with Elizabeth.  She is such an amazing little girl and so caring and loving.  Her favorite foods are any kind of fruit (although she can sit down and eat an entire pint of blueberries in one sitting so I guess I would go with blueberries),  Popsicles,  macaroni and cheese, string cheese and yogurt.   Her favorite movies are Strawberry Shortcake and Curious George and her favorite song is "I've Been Working on the Railroad."  Apparently, she's been singing it non-stop at school for the past two weeks.  Her favorite activities are collecting bugs and running through the sprinkler.  She also loves to throw balls with Jan.  It's pretty adorable.  She stands at the top of the steps and tosses or rolls the balls down the steps.  Jan stands on the bottom and tosses them back up.  Elizabeth laughs and laughs, running around and practically exhausting herself.  She has so much fun.

We had such a nice time for her birthday with family.  Grandma Lois, Grandpa Jan, Casey and Jennifer were there to join us.  We took the boat/ jet skis to one of our favorite restaurants in the world, the Riverside on Harsen's Island, for a lunch of pizza, boat knots and beer.  I guess that I should mention that while we were at the Flats, Jan and I went to the Riverside for breakfast or lunch every single day.  Did I mention that it was my favorite restaurant?!  There is just something special about having to get to a restaurant by boat and then eating your lunch outside on a dock in a rocking chair while you watch all the boat traffic go by.  

Andrew 7 months old

Andrew is unbelievably 7 months old already, such an amazing little boy and a blessing in our lives.  He is extremely mobile, crawling everywhere and attempting to pull himself up on everything.   He is very determined which results in numerous bonks on the head.  Poor little guy (or "Captain Density" as my brother crowned him).   Unfortunately, we are going to have to get the baby gates out again in a few weeks.  A pain for Jan and I but I'm sure Elizabeth will just see it as an adventure.  Andrew's fist word is "da da."  He calls both Jan and me da da in between pretending that he is a dinosaur and clapping his hands.

He and Elizabeth get along so well and play nicely together, most of the time.  The problem is that Andrew always wants what Elizabeth is playing with and vise verse.  Today, Andrew was playing with a Winne the Pooh Jack in the Box that Elizabeth has not touched in over a year.  However, it immediately became the most interesting and important toy in the world.  The good thing is that Elizabeth enjoys taking turns with Andrew and really likes to help him learn how to play with things too.

Andrew is so different than Elizabeth at this age.  For example, until about three months ago, whenever Elizabeth woke up, she immediately yelled "I want my mommy" or at 7 months old she would scream and cry.  Andrew, on the other hand, enjoys hanging out in his crib for 20 minutes, talking to himself, playing with his feet or just looking around.  I even find him standing in his crib in the morning or after a nap, practicing his balance (we've obviously lowered the crib since this picture).

Our new friend Myra

Our good friends Ben and Tiff (aka Aunt Tiffy to Elizabeth) just had a little baby girl, Myra Katherine, back on the 15th of June and asked us to do their baby photos for them. She is just the most precious little tiny baby weighing in at 6 lbs and some change. Here she is at 12 days old!

Seattle Family Visit

The weekend prior to going to the flats, Michael, Avery and Madeline visited on their way to Grandmom and Grandpop's house in Texas. Although the weather was horrible, we had such a great time! We tried to get outside in between rain drops but mostly just adjusting our plans to the weather by going to our big indoor pool and bowling.

When we did play inside our little house, well, this is what a calm portion of the the mass chaos looked like!
It was so much fun to watch the girls play together. Madeline and Elizabeth would giggle about all kinds of little things and I was so pleased on how well they got along. Madeline was adorable with Andrew as well. She was always smiling at him and trying to get him to laugh. Avery was the "big sister' for all the kiddos.

We miss you all already and can't wait to visit again!