Cheese Fest 2007

Daddy, Cailin and Drew went down to Pine Island to attend the 2007 annual Cheese Festival. (Mommy was busy scrapbooking for the weekend with Auntie Wanda, Auntie Buzzy, Kayla and Auntie Rhonda in Ham Lake) They arrived in Pine Island on Saturday and hit the Cheese Fest. They went on the rides, seems Cailin liked the Train ride best - "Grandma too!" she reported to me, that Grandma rode on the train too. They toured the Fire Station, which Cailin LOVED being that close to the fire engines. They had fair food, including but not limited to....corn dogs - YUM!






Sunday was a bit rainy, they had intended to hit the big parade, but naps got in the way. Grandpa and Grandma rode their John Deere Tractors in the parade and then they all hit the fair again after the parade was over, and naps were done. Sounds like everyone had a blast!!

Daddy's Birthday

Daddy recently had his birthday. We celebrated at home and had cake and of course sang the "Happy Birthday" song. Daddy actually celebrated a few times with different family members, so he also got an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen (other than the Banana Cream Pie that Oma made). Cailin thought that every time we had a piece of the ice cream cake, like for the next week, that we had to put candles on and sing the birthday song each time. So we've sung the birthday song for quite some time, as now, EVERY time we have any sort of cake or anything resembling a cake, she wants to go through the same routine. She's quite the character! And Drew's birthday is coming up, so I'm guessing we'll be singing that song for quite a few months here......

Swimming in the pool

We got a small pool at Target recently. Drew was content walking around the outside. He didn't really like to play inside.

Now, Cailin on the other hand, absolutely LOVED playing in the pool. We were actually a little suprised since last year, she didn't really like it. So Daddy and Cailin played for a long time in the pool. They played in there until we pulled her out with blue lips. She was shivering, but still wanted to play. She's quite a little fish, just like daddy!

Last Weekend

Cailin and Drew like to "Mash" each other. Drew actually sucessfully tackled Cailin this past week as well. I think he's beginning to realize that he can take her if he wants to....Of course all he wants to do is play and LOVES to play with Cailin!

We just hung around home last weekend. We ran a bunch of errands and tried to play outside as much as possible.

Cailin took a tumble outside and scuffed up her nose a bit, she's tough though, got up and kept on going. In this picture she's chaning bear's diaper, apparently she needed wipes too. Funny.

Daddy felt that there weren't enough cars and trucks in our house, so Daddy had to fix that. Now we have three new trucks - ok a big huge Tonka truck, a Tonka Fire Engine, and a Tonka Rescue SUV. Of course they all have 8 batteries a piece and say really annoying things.

Oh, and by the way, we also recently got an adjustable indoor/outdoor basketball hoop. Yes, these kids have PLENTY of toys!! I'm sure we'll have pictures of that really soon as well!

The Tichlins Visit!

We spent a few days with Auntie Melissa, Uncle John and Cousin Michael recently. They made the long journey from inside the beltway (Washington DC) to come and visit us here in Casa Friary. We even had a small dinner with everyone (minus Melissa, as she had to head back to DC for work). Uncle and Oma also were able to attend. It was a great time!! Drew tried to teach Michael how to eat like a Friary!

Cailin

She's been a busy bee lately. She has been working hard at being a big sister. She also is really into pretending lately. She seems to be paying close attention to babies. She likes to change her dolls diaper, feed her bear a bottle - etc. She has a little brother (duh), recently we had a visit from Auntie Melissa, Uncle John and baby Michael, and there is a little baby at daycare. So that may be one of the reasons she seems inspired. She also likes to pretend to go to work like mommy and daddy do. In this photo, she got all dressed up so she wouldn't get cold "put hat on, no cold".
Before Uncle John and Auntie Melissa arrived, they sent a cute shirt over to us for Cailin. Do you think it might be appropriate?? (in case you can't read it, it's the Dairy Queen emblem with the words "drama queen" in it's place - VERY appropriate - even for a 2-year old)

Mmmmmm Chocolate Syrup....

Cailin teaches her little brother lots of fun things. One is digging in the fridge. And now that Drew is mobile, he can help himself to the fridge. Cailin also showed him how awesome it is to suck on the Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. When he figured it out, he was so psyched! Oh and Don't worry, we have a back up Chocolate Syrup, so when you visit and we offer you some....we won't give you the same bottle the kids have sucked on!

:)

Hanging out with Elmo

So for Christmas, the kids got the TMX Elmo. If you don't have one, I can assure you DON'T get one. He's cute and all, but probably one of the most annoying toys. He giggles and laughs, falls down, gets up. Pretty cute the first few times, but it gets old. But our kids really like the guy. So he is often put into the window to 'look for cars' as Cailin says. I guess Elmo has a fascination with traffic as it passes the house. So in this picture, she propped him up and of course Drew had to help out as well. Those two are peas in a pod!

:)

Drew has spent a lot of time mastering his walking as well these days. He will walk along anything and every once in a while, he lets go. He only seems to panic once he realizes that he's not holding on to anything. He also LOVES to walk. If he's holding onto your hands, he cruises!!

Big Walker

Drew has been crawling for well over two months now. We all thought he'd skip that due to his rather larger size, but he LOVES to crawl!! I think it's the idea that he isn't dependent on anyone else. He seems to like that a lot. PLUS, he's just like big sis now too!! He's mobile. Plus he thinks it's really funny to come after you when you have the camera out to try and take pictures!!

"Sit here dew....."

That is what Cailin says to Drew almost every morning. Mike usually gets them up, as Mommy is already at work at that time. Daddy will get Dew up (as Cailin calls him), get him dressed and fed, then go into see Cailin. Cailin will then direct Daddy to put Do down in Cailin's crib. She will clear a spot out in the crib (as there are a few bears around in there) and Do will be placed as directed. Drew really thinks it's pretty fun. He kind of likes his big sister! This picture is of the two of them seated in her crib. The pictures were dated mid-April, so it's a little over a month ago. He loves sitting in her crib.

Long time overdue....

Sorry for the long delay. There was a slight problem locating password info. And it took FOREVER to try and get it straightened out. But, here we are again. I'll be posting several updates here very soon!!!

Itsy Bitsy Spider

Cailin was reading a book by herself the other day when she was busted doing this. It's one of those books where you go to the page, and push a corresponding button, it plays a song. Well this page is the Itsy Bitsy Spider. She was doing the spider moves as well as listening and dancing to the music. She was very serious about it too.

Just like big sis

Not sure if anyone remembers the semi-famous photo of Cailin when she found this book, "What to Expect The First Year". She was actually famous enough to make the Tichy/Loughlin issue of the "Nattering Nabob" that year for that photo. As every parent knows, if you have this book, it is always within arms-reach with the first kiddo. We haven't used it as much this time around with Andrew, we think we're old pros, only to be put into place every now and again. But we had it out recently because we couldn't remember what examples of first 'table foods' were good ones, since Andrew is now eating table foods. So we pulled the book out and to our amazement, all he wanted to do was play with it. So we snapped a shot of him playing with it. You know to be fair and all since Cailin got her photo taken as well with this. No second child syndrome here right??

This shot on the right is Cailin. She was about almost a month younger than Andrew was when his photo was taken doing the same thing.

What can we say, they are both brilliant!!

:)

Awwwww Shucks, isn't that cutie, wootie...

Ok, enough with the schmoopy stuff. But here is big sis and lil bro hanging out (or hanging on) together this past weekend. Just to give you an idea of what Drew thinks of his big sister.

Actually the way this went down was that Drew was playing with this car (which is supposed to help a kid learn how to walk better, they can hold onto it and then walk behind it....) when big sis budged her way in (since she usually gets jealous when Drew is playing with a toy or two), then Drew tackles her, because she's there to grab onto. They both laugh and think it's great fun. Someday he may figure out he's bigger than her, which seems to be getting closer now, and may put up a stink about it, but for now, he just LOVES her, as you can tell by this photo.

Again, to quote Uncle John "isn't that cutie wootie, da little Drew and Cailin just wove each other, ooooh gooo goo, ga ga."

:)

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.