And Now Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Now that all the fundraiser stuff is out of the way, we thought we'd show you all the things we've been up to lately :)

1. We've played with our friend Matthew

Yes, Andrew I think you may need a bigger box!

No Andrew.. you may not paint Matthew yellow.

2. We've mastered the art of pedaling a bike.

3. We've watched a space shuttle launch.

4. We've learned to write the alphabet.

Andrew told me he had a surprise for me... we have shown him how to write the letters of the alphabet but he had never wanted to try it himself. Well, apparently he decided to give it a try on a dry erase board we have in the playroom - the good news is that he did a great job and even wrote some of his numbers! the bad news was that he did it with a sharpie marker, LOL. Guess what I spent the next half hour doing, armed with a bottle of rubbing alchohol, paper towels, and a lot of elbow grease! FYI - the easiest way to remove permanent marker from a dry erase board is to draw over it with a dry erase marker and then erase.

More alphabet practice.

5. We've been to a school carnival

The wonderful thing about Tiggers.... is Tiggers are wonderful things.. their tops are made out of rubber.. their bottoms are made out of springs... their bouncy bouncy bouncy bouncy fun fun fun fun fun!

And now you are stuck with that song in your head, LOL.

What goes up....

Must come down :)

Special People :)

Here are two very important ladies in Andrew's life.  On the left side of the picture is his speech therapist/teacher Mrs. Reeder and on the right is Mrs. Follin craft maker/helper extraordinaire .  They are two very special people to us and have made a huge impact in Andrew's life :)

How to Save for an Adoption

1. Do not call a professional to help with your plumbing issues. Just call the three "toileteers". Also do not buy new jeans until the amount of holes in them is greater than or equal to the remaining material.

On a side note - when your toilet paper roll holder goes missing, make sure you look for it in the toilet (especially if you have an small child).

2.Take advantage of living in the Sunshine State, by hanging clothes on the line... even if it is the dead of winter. As an added bonus, you get lots of fresh air and sunshine. Although I may not appreciate the bonus quite so much during our hot, sticky, summer!

3. Take in a boarder... extra points if he's a cutie pie like this little guy! P.S. This is Matthew, the little guy we are babysitting and practicing to be a big brother on.

4. Start wondering if you could sell your 3 year olds creative "masterpieces" on eBay? This one is appropriately titled "Helicopter"

5. Start looking up iguana recipes online since the little green fellows keep showing up in your back yard..... just kidding folks!! Well about the recipes anyway :)

New Friend

This is Matthew - he will be coming over to our house to play during the week :) He is 11 months old and cute as a button! This is our first day with him being here and we are having a great time. Mommy says this is good practice for my upcoming big brother role.

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Christmas Daze

Wow, how quickly did Christmas go by?  We had a great time this year watching how excited Andrew was.  This is the first year he really got into the whole experience.

 

If you are thinking the smile on his face says "I'm doing something devious" you would be right, LOL.  Here he is "helping" daddy put up the Christmas lights by unscrewing the light bulbs - apparently hysterically funny when you are three!

Doesn't he look all sweet and innocent?  Andrew has been quite fascinated with the alphabet this year so in honor of that we spent a morning making alphabet letter ornaments out of salt dough.  Look closely and you'll see them on the tree.

"Happy Family" - Andrew loves to pull us all into a group hug while he says "Happy Family!" or sometimes he calls it an Andrew sandwich, LOL.  This isn't exactly the close hug that inspires the "happy family" saying, but it's a good Christmas pic anyway :)

Leaving some oats and glitter out for the reindeer to spot :)

Milk and cookies for Santa --- or were they for Andrew? He didn't look too sure!

Coming down the hall Christmas morning :)

Opening one of his bigger presents - geotrax train set.

Opening the gift he requested from "Santa" some Cars.

Playing with Geotrax - this is where he has been since opening it on Christmas.

I could insert a dozen or so more pictures... but I think you've gotten enough, and have likely fallen asleep by now!  We hope everyone had a great Christmas spent with family and friends :)

Christmas Cookies

We spent an evening at Grandma Lynne's house baking and decorating Christmas cookies.  As you can see... Andrew and Grandma were taking their cookie baking rather seriously!

 

and did not make any mess at all

 

Icing fun :)

Hey... it's a hard job, but someone had to do the taste testing!