The Winter That Never Ends

With all of the snow and freezer temperatures outside, we have spent a lot of time inside this winter. All this time indoors gives Andy and Sammy lots of time to work on playing together and sharing. Some days they are better at this than others. We currently spend our days playing chase, building spaceships and coloring. Unfortunately, the markers were taken away when Andy decided Sammy needed tiger stripes drawn on her arms and face. It's a good thing they're washable.

Mastering the sit-n-spin


Building


Silly girl


Eating yogurt by herself

The little rocker

The tallest tower ever with Trio blocks

Eighteen Months!

Our little Sammy is 18 months now. At her checkup, she finally made it above the 5th percentile. She is now 21 lbs and 31 in. tall. Despite her size, she can hold her own with her brother. She becomes quite vocal with a "delightful" scream when she's wants something he has. Trying to keep up with Andy keeps her very busy. They enjoy chasing, playing hide and go seek, blowing bubbles in the bathtub, reading books and dancing together. She loves to play and is very good at entertaining herself. Highlights from the last three months included a broken finger (courtesy of a bedroom door), the end of bottles and playing in the snow for the first time.

A Snow Day

It snowed again here in KC. At least this time, the temperature was above zero! We took advantage of the beautiful day and perfect wet snow to build a snowman and a snow fort/slide. We also did a little sledding down the "hill" from our neighbors house. Sammy struggled to get around in her boots and snowpants, but she was a big fan of the sled. Needless to say, it was a good nap day at our house.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We celebrated a very quiet white Christmas this year. Santa's arrival was highly anticipated this year by Andy. Sammy had no idea why Andy was so excited, but it was enough to get her excited too. The highlights for Andy were a new bike, Transformers, and Legos. Sammy has a new kitchen, but prefers to do whatever big brother is doing. Sammy is very into doing "big" things like Andy.

Christmas Eve in our Christmas PJ's...


Decorating cookies for Santa...


Opening gifts Christmas morning...

Andy's Fourth Birthday Extravaganza

Last weekend we celebrated Andy's 4th birthday. We are still recovering! We started the weekend with our annual trip to Union Station to see the model trains and Crown Center to eat at Fritz's. Apparently, the novelty of a train bringing chicken nuggets will never get old for Andy (his sister liked the trains, too!).

On Saturday, Dan and family along with my Mom and Ron arrived for Andy's party. This year the party was outsourced to Andy's indoor soccer program. He invited his whole preschool class for an afternoon of games, pizza and chocolate cake. The kids seemed to have a great time...and likely slept well after all that running!

Sharing lunch...

Nathan's ready to party

Andy and the girls...

On Sunday, we celebrated an early Christmas. The kids had a great time playing together. Andy wants to know when Abby is coming back!

On Andy's actual birthday, he opened a few more gifts from us and we took him to the restaurant of his choice for dinner. Since his birthday, Andy has been playing non-stop with his new toys. He has combined several of his favorites (e.g., construction site, fire station, garbage trucks) to make an elaborate "city."

OH Chistmas Tree!

After much pleading from Andy, we got out the Christmas tree this weekend. My little "helper", Andy and I took on the project during Sammy's nap. He was facinated by every ornament and only broke 3 in the process!

Sammy was also very facinated with the tree. She will not leave it alone. We will now spend the next 20 days tring to keep the ornaments ON the tree.

Breakfast with Santa

On Saturday, we took the kids to the annual "Breakfast with Santa" at our church. The morning included a pancake breakfast, craft projects, stories with Mrs. Claus, and a picture with Santa. This was the first year Andy was not afraid of the Big Man. He took full advantage of his time with Santa to tell him all of the toys he wants for Christmas. Sammy couldn't decide between crying and curiosity of the stranger.


Pancakes..."a special treat!"

Sammy crying

Writing a letter to Santa

Mailing our letter to Santa.