This weekend

This past weekend, we spent a great deal of time at home. Drew has been sick with a fever and now a cold, so we have been laying low around the homefront. Plus with the 'big' snowstorm that arrived, it was best that we stuck around home.



Andrew is pictured with a net on his head. The net is actually used in a game that the Lechelts got for Cailin for her birthday. You use the nets to catch butterflies, but Drew had it on his head and we thought he looked like the lunch lady and he thought it was pretty fun.

Cailin loves to play with the kittys. She spends the most time with Ripley, mainly because she doesn't run away. For those of you that know Ripley, you'd be suprised to know that she is very good with both kids. In this picture, Cailin is being very thoughtful and trying to cover up Ripley with the blankie. She also leans over and kisses her too. Ripley tolorates it pretty well until Cailin starts to scream. Then she's outta there.

Andrew is feeling better, after a trip to the doctor complete with lab tests, and the result of 'it's just a virus'. We ventured out to watch Daddy use his snowblower to get rid of all the snow. Drew and Cailin liked to watch. We're looking forward to spring when we can play outside. Everyone is a bit stir-crazy being inside all the time!

Birthday......continued

Cailin had a few birthday parties. Seems we ended up spreading it out to capture opportunities with everyone in the family. These photos are a combination of a trip to Pine Island to visit Grandparents and Great-Grandparents (as well as celebrating a birthday party)

and a party at home on the big day with the Lechelts and Teri here to help celebrate to the final party (other than the daycare party, but we don't have pictures of that...sorry) where we spent it with Uncle, Oma and Uncle Chris.

Everyone had a great time and Cailin's favorite part was the cake of course. Although she certainly enjoyed opening up presents. She got pretty good at ripping off the paper by the last party, that's for sure. As always, Drew just watched his big sister in awe with a half smile most of the time.

Birthday Party #1

Cailin recently turned 2, yes only 2. She thinks she's about 15, but she is only 2. She had her first of 5 birthday parties on Saturday February 3rd along with the Kern Winter Party. This year, the crowd was unusually small due to the bone-chilling temperatures. I think the high that day was 10 below zero. (And for those of you outside of Minnesota, it really does get that cold here) Mommy worked hard on making Cailin a Care Bear cake this year. Cailin thought that was pretty cool. She had a great day, visiting with family, playing with everyone, opening presents and of course, having 'cake!' as she yells. And a big "THANK YOU" to the Lechelts for providing the photos for us. We very conveniently left our camera sitting on the shelf at home.

Such a big boy

Andrew has really changed a lot over the last few weeks. He is sitting now independently (he's been trying for months to accomplish that on his own) and he is standing all the time. We think he'll skip the crawling stage and go right to walking (even though we know we'll have to make sure he learns to crawl at some point for developmental reasons...). We figure he watches his big sister run around and wants to keep up with her. He really thinks she's pretty ok (in the understated words of Uncle John) and loves, loves to be around her. He also is chatting pretty much non-stop. Mostly just baby jibberish, but we think he's also trying to keep up with squirty so he's trying hard. He does have a long way to go to keep up with that chatterbox!

Baby hat

Cailin was recently playing in Drew's room when she found the hat he was given at birth at the hospital. She thought it was really cool to try on. It was pretty small and tight, but that didn't stop her from trying and wearing it around the house. We were explaining to her that it was Drew's hat. She then decided it would be fun to see Drew in the hat. Well, but the pictures above, you can see the result. Fits like a glove, like a really tight, too small kinda glove.

Drew's First Superbowl

Mike was very proud to be spending his first superbowl with his son, Drew. Our friends, Trey and Shannon were kind enough to make the journey to our place (so we didn't have to venture out in the cold) and even brought Chili (very good!) and Cheese dip and Chips (also very good).



Trey was wearing this hat and put it on Drew's head. Drew didn't seem to mind. But we got to chatting and the hat slowly drooped over his face and then we started to realize that Drew was complaining an awful lot, only to find the hat completely covering his face. Poor guy. If his parents only paid any attention to him!
:)

Bears, Bears, Bears

And I don't mean the Chicago Bears. Squirty and her Care Bears. She got this shopping cart for Christmas from her Aunties. She loves tooling around the house pushing her shopping cart with every bear (and her bird and monkey too) in the cart. Needless to say the cart is awfully full.

Cailin is talking pretty much non-stop now. She will repeat just about anything you say. She's awfully busy. She also likes to sit on her blow up chair and dig into the fridge to see what kind of trouble she can get in to.

Drew is just starting to crawl. He made his first moves last night. I wouldn't say he likes being on his belly, but hopefully he'll realize that moving around is pretty ok. In this picture, Squirty likes playing in her crib (with her bears obviously) and she didn't want to get out on this particular day. Drew wanted to hang out with big sis, so he joined her in the crib. It's hard to get a good shot of him. He sees the lights flash and blink and he is temporarily mesmorized by the camera. So we get this 'dear in headlights' look frequently.

Just hanging at home

We spent the evening laying low tonight. We went to the zoo today (see previous blog) and now we were just being goofy tonight at home. Drew is teething pretty badly, so he's chewing on his teething toy. His hair is still standing up most of the time and it seems he may have some nice curls (kind of like what Cailin used to have before she pulled it all out).

Cailin, being a feisty two year old, likes to do the opposite of what you ask of her a lot of the time. Don't get me wrong, she's a very good kiddo, however, she is two. Soo, she tests her boundaries a bit. Everytime we have the camera out and say 'SMILE', she either frowns or tries to grab the camera. She's quite the pistol. So daddy was silly and decided to ham it up with her feet since Cailin wasn't willing to smile. Well, you see here what the result is. She's quite funny.

There is no sound better in this world than your child laughing. It's something that will always be burned on my brain. - It's wonderful!

Three days in Nelson

Mommy, Cailin and Drew just got back from visiting Oma's house. Oma is out in Washington DC visiting her newest grandchild, Michael Matthew, so the three of us went to house sit, dog sit and chicken sit.
Daddy was supposed to go to, but at the last minute, duty called, and with a new install at work keeping him here in the cities, the three of us went down for a few days.
I was very busy trying to keep up with two kids and keeping the house running, so we did not get any pictures of the three days in Nelson.
It is a different way of life in the country. No one locks their doors, people are very helpful and nice and there is still a 'mercantile' in Wabashsa. Wierd. Kind of a switch from the cities (or as John says 'inside the beltway'.)
We enjoyed ourselves. Cailin was a bit timid with the chickens, she preferred to watch out the window instead of going out to help. She did love the dogs though. She was very careful to be gentle and quiet when around them. They weren't too sure of what to do with her though. I don't think they are used to a loud, busy two year old.
Drew did pretty well too - he was intriqued by all the activity and loved being the center of attention.
All in all, it was a good time. We're home now, and all pretty tired, but settled back in.

Johnny Jump Up

So, remember before when I said that Cailin likes to play with Andrew's toys. Well, the Johnny Jump up is no exception. We thought, 'oh she's way too big to be in that', only to realize that she's only three pounds bigger than Drew. So we just let it go.

She likes to sit in it, walk around in it and sing the entire time. She's quite the ham.

Mama took us to the Zoo today...

We decided to go to the zoo today. Cailin has been to the zoo once before with Auntie Rayna, and she loved it then. She loved it again today too. We got there kind of late and had just an hour to roam the zoo today.

Cailin seemed most intriqued by the huge tropical fish tank and several of the four-legged cat-resembling animals. Drew was also very taken by the large fish tank. He sat motionless, watching the fish swim by. Seems we have two animal lovers in the family.

We're happy to say that we joined the zoo today with a yearly membership, so we'll be taking several other trips there over the next year hopefully!

Cailin rode in style in the stroller, Drew got a more eye-level view while riding in the Baby Bjorn (his favorite way to travel), although at 22 lbs, he is a might heavy and hard on the back, if you know what I mean.

What's old is new

Since Andrew was born, we've been pulling out old toys, infant toys that were Cailin's when she was a baby. Cailin thinks they are super fun to play with, and spends more time playing with them now, then she did when she was a baby.

Since she's two, she is having issues with 'mine' and the whole concept of sharing. So we spend a lot of time reminding Cailin to share, even the baby toys. Drew, in his easygoing manner doesn't seem to mind sharing quite as much as Cailin does (actually he usually just watches her with awe, even during a temper tantrum, and he smiles).

Visit from Grandpa and Grandma Friary and Katrine too...

Two weeks ago, Grandpa and Grandma and Auntie Katrine stopped by for a visit. They were in town for a family wedding and stopped by afterwards. Drew has found a soft spot with Grandpa, he sure likes to hold Drew. Drew loves being held, so it's all good!!

Cailin, as you all know, still LOVES her Care Bears. I think now after Christmas, we are up to 10 bears. She likes to keep them in her crib, but will also put them on the chair in her room when she gets up in the morning. It's one of the daily 'games' that we play (Cailin has several, ok dozens of 'games' that we do every day - several include reading...).

Andrew is continuing to grow (and eat and eat and eat) and loves to jump. He also likes to move around in the walker. He has mastered going backwards, but is still working on forward movement. He has two teeth now, but is working on the top two, so he is chewing on EVERYTHING. He will chew on something so hard that he will start crying, poor guy. It's wierd but to us, he looks so different with his two bottom teeth.

Time to go

Sorry it's been so long since the last update. Things have certainly been busy around our house. This picture shows the increasing independence that our 2 year old is showing. She is thrilled that she can open up the doors and she also gets that she can turn the deadbolt to make it open. Although she can't quite get the lock undone yet. She also knows that it's cold outside, she'll say "brrrr", so she puts her hat on and sometimes will even put her coat on, or mommy or daddy's coat. Whichever is closest.

Christmas at Home - #3

Yes, we really did celebrate Christmas three times this year. That is less than in years past. But since Oma had an early Christmas celebration on the 24th, we were able to return home, to spend the night at our home Christmas Eve. That allowed us to have Santa visit us at home vs somewhere else. We've talked quite a bit about Santa over the past few weeks. Everytime we've been out, when Cailin saw a picture of Santa, she would point and try and say "santa". Santa was also very generous and brought some presents that were under the tree as well as stuffed everyone's stockings full of fun stuff.Cailin (with shopping cart in hand) had to check out the tree. Everytime she sees it she still says "WOW"
This is a really cute hat/mitten set that Uncle Chris got for Cailin. You can't see the top but it is a penquin. Pretty cute. It's in the wash now, Andrew managed to spit up on it promptly, so it hasn't yet been worn outside. Plus the weather has been pretty warm, so that's ok. Andrew enjoyed the festivities as well. He is sort of mesmerized by Cailin. She's kind of tornado at times, so he just watches her closely and laughes. He got a lot of fun stuff from santa too. Drew has also been teething pretty heavily, so that is the cause of the rash around his mouth (he is drooling and chewing CONSTANTLY - poor boo). He has already gotten one tooth on the bottom, a very sharp one at that, and has a second one just popping through next to it. Looks like he'll have a steak soon enough!

Drew helped Daddy open up his presents from Santa. Mostly, Drew liked to chew on the paper. He's a good helper.

Cailin also got a tunnel from her Oma. It's a rather large toy when open, so it takes up a bit of real estate. She does certainly love it. Lately, she's been putting every one of her stuffed toys in there (including her 9 care bears). She thinks that's funny. She also LOVES it when Ripley has to check it out. She will chase that cat even when she's in the tunnel. Busy, busy.

On Christmas Eve, we all piled into the family car to head down to Nelson, WI to Oma's house. We saw Uncle and Uncle Chris there too. The kiddos got a lot of presents there, Cailin had a grand old time ripping off the wrapping paper. More books - not that she hates that or anything!! Cailin and Daddy went exploring around the farm and Cailin even got to 'help' feed the chickens as well.

Uncle even held Andrew a few times and they became instant best buds when Uncle fed Drew his bottle. Food, as you all know, is very, very important to him.

Cailin also got to hang out with Oma's dogs, Rosie (the French Bulldog) and Millie (the pug). They weren't exactly sure what to make of Cailin, although Cailin really liked hanging with them. Rosie thought it was cool that Cailin would occasionally drop food. She was kind enough to clean up after anything that Cailin dropped. It was a fun day, and the weather cooperated too, it was an easy drive day.

Christmas with the Friary Side

We celebrated Christmas with Daddy's side of the family on Saturday, December 23rd. We went to Northfield to Uncle Gary's and Auntie Lee's house. We had a BLAST. Everyone was there to spend the day with. The kids got TONS of presents.
Here, Auntie Rayna is pictured, holding Drew with Auntie Lee helping.


Here, Uncle Sean (aka - Stinky) was holding Drew. At one point, mommy was buried in presents. Cailin and Drew got lots of clothes, books and toys. It was a lot of fun for Cailin to rip off the paper. One of the favorite gifts was a shopping cart that Cailin immediately started toting around throughout the house (of course new Care Bears helped to 'break it in'). Oh what fun. Drew liked pretty much anything he could chew on, so he was pretty happy about that. We also got to spend the day with Auntie Wanda and Uncle Sean, who drove in from Wisconsin.
Here, cousin Kayla and Auntie Wanda are hamming it up for the camera. Those two were inseperable the entire day!

Classic

Tonight, we were enjoying pizza. She LOVES pizza. Cailin was able to smear it everywhere. She even had it in her hair!! Classic.

We're Cookin Now

This past weekend we spent a great deal of time cooking and baking. We were all getting into the Holiday spirit and getting all the cookies made. Cailin was a good helper. She even got her own utensils out and did some 'cooking' of her own. She says that she's making 'soup' when you ask her. She mixes it up and gives everyone a sample in the room.
Andrew also got in the spirit with his new bib. He hasn't actually eaten any cookies yet, so don't worry, we're not trying to totally corrupt him yet. We're going to at least wait until he has a tooth or too - Soon enough....

She's a Friary....She loves Fords

We spent a great deal of time this past week at the Ford Dealer here in Shakopee. Mommy got a new car. We spent several evenings there getting everything together and everytime we were there, Cailin always refused to leave. She wanted to stay and play. Proof is this picture of her in the back of a brand new pickup truck, plowing around. I'm sure the salesman weren't too happy with that, but oh well, Cailin was happy right?? Usually when it was time to leave, Cailin would lay down on the floor and not want to leave. Funny. She certainly picked up the "Ford" gene from the Friary side. Luckily she wasn't really interested in the Mustangs yet....

Thanksgiving Weekend

We went to Pine Island to visit the family over Thanksgiving Weekend. We sure had fun. We were able to take advantage of the nice warm weather and take a long walk. Cailin, Drew, Daddy and Grandma played at the park. We stayed overnight with Grandma and Grandpa. We even visited with Great Grandpa Bud and Great Grandma Bea. Great Grandma Bea is great with Drew, she helped him with a little snack too! We missed Uncle Sean and Auntie Wanda, but overall it was a great weekend!! We spent Sunday with the Lechelts playing at their house. We always have fun playing there, Auntie Buzzy has so many fun toys and Kayla is fun to play with too!

Oh Christmas Tree

We picked out our Christmas tree last weekend and got her all set up. Cailin now says "WOW" very enthusiastically whenever she sees it all lit up. Cailin was able to put the star up on the top of the tree.