Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Birthdays

Aaron's 4th Bday


I uploaded some pictures of Tyler's and Aaron's birthdays. For Tyler we stayed home and just had a few people over. I made him a train cake which he loved. It took a long time to make and eat also but it was worth it. It was fun! 

For Aaron we went to PA to my parents house to celebrate with my family and his cousins. Daddy dressed up in a Clifford costume since Aaron loves that show. Aaron was so happy and thought it was the coolest thing that his Daddy dressed up. Tyler wasn't too sure about it at first but he warmed up to him. 

Now birthdays are done for awhile..well Wilmer's is in May but I don't have to do a party..do I? =)

Monday, April 20, 2009

Spring 2009 Family Update

Wow! I can't believe it has been 5 months since I have posted anything here. That is so bad and sorry to those who keep checking! Soooo...a lot to say but can't remember it all! Kids really do fry your brain cells! =) 

Aaron is 4 now and loves to tell everyone that soon he will be 5 and ride the school bus. Almost every day he asks if his birthday is "tomorrow so I can be 5." Time already flies and he wants it to go faster! Warm weather is starting to stick around a little more so he gets to ride his bike a lot more now. Yes he remembered how to ride with NO training wheels (he learned in the fall and only rode a couple times before snow came). He loves to take a ride with just him and Daddy. Last fall we bought a practically brand new bike trailer (from craigslist..great website!) and so now we can all go out. Jordan has been in it once and seemed to like it with Tyler sitting in there beside him. Aaron is learning more about words and reading and now loves to read books. He has his favorite book (from a box of Cheerios) called Wiggles and has memorized it and so now HE reads it every night. We have to sit with him and let him read to us..we are not allowed to read it to him. But he does recognize some of the words so at least that is helping him to sound words out a little. He has moved up to the next age Sunday school class and loves it. He is with his friend, Brandon, again, and I am sure that is a handful for the teacher! He is learning the Bible verses and remembering them much better now and it is so encouraging to see. He loves to share about the stories he learns as we drive home. I am going to teach preschool at home instead of sending him to one, so that should be interesting. He is very excited about it though and wants to start now. He know his alphabet very well and many of the sounds of the letters also. He can recognize capital and lower case letters in any order. He is learning to write some of them pretty recognizably. He knows how to spell, write and sign his name! He also learned how to spell Tyler, Daddy, and Mommy and knows Jordan starts with a J! He has a calendar and so is learning about the concept of time and dates. We write things on there and he learns the days/weeks/months. He crosses off the days as we go and is very excited to say the next day and date. He is learning about numbers over 20 because of the calendar. Wow, just reading back over this, I realize how much he has absorbed and learned in the past 5 months. He also understands and speaks so much better now. It's scary how old he sounds sometimes! He also has a memory like a trap so don't ever tell him something unless you really mean it!! Some of his favorite indoor games are hide and seek and the board game 'Sorry'. The little stinker usually wins that game every time and Mommy doesn't give him any breaks either. We play by the rules but he is a lucky kid!

Tyler is 2 1/2 now. He is halfway potty trained..by that I mean he only pees in his pullups. He almost always will go poopy in the toilet. So at least that means I don't have very many dirty diapers to clean up after right now. He knows the alphabet song now and can get almost all the letters. He doesn't recognize the letters specifically very well yet but every time he sees a word or group of letters he says "ABC's" and starts to sing! He is very much a chatterbox and extremely independent. He wants to do everything Aaron does and gets very frustrated when he can't. He has learned his colors and loves to color and paint. He loves car and motorcycles like his brother but he also likes to play with just about anything. But one of their favorite things to do is ride their motorcycles around the house. This game consists of putting their hands up like holding onto the handlebars and revving their motors (very loudly with their mouths) and "driving" all over thru the house. They will play this game for quite a while but it drives Mommy crazy!! Usually they get along quite well and can play together fairly nicely. That is, until I am talking on the phone or am rushing around trying to finish something quickly...then they are not so cooperative. How is it that kids always know when it is most annoying for them to fight? Tyler is very friendly and not as shy as Aaron. He also knows how to use his cuteness to try to get away with something. His other favorite game to play is duck duck goose. He learned how to ride his tricycle and likes to. But he gets so frustrated because he can't peddle fast enough to keep up with Daddy and Aaron. He would love to ride a big bike with training wheels but his legs are just not long enough yet. He would rather ride a bike than ride in a trailer but he has to grow a little more. Poor guy, he gets so frustrated hearing that all the time "You are too little" or "You have to grow a little more". He will turn it around on Jordan and tell him "I am bigger so I can do this but you are too little". =) So funny! He loves to do puzzles! We have a huge floor puzzle that is a zoo and he loves to do it. Grandma has regular puzzles for children that have interlocking pieces and he can do them all! He takes after Mommy because I love to do puzzles also.

Jordan is 5 1/2 months. He is such a good little guy! He definitely his own person. He is not a mover like Tyler was but not as quiet as Aaron was. He is very vocal and is always "talking". He is quite laid back and loves to just watch his big brothers. He is very fascinated by them. Aaron will sit with him and make him laugh so hard! When he hears Aaron's voice, he will look all around until he finds him. Tyler is pretty good with him but he just forgets how to be gentle. When we ride in the car, Jordan is in the middle and Aaron and Tyler each hold one of his hands, usually. It is so cute! Hopefully they will all still be best friends when they get older. Right now, they like to share their toys with Jordan but we'll see how it is in a few months when he can grab them himself! I started giving Jordan some cereal about 2 weeks ago and he really likes it. He sleeps pretty good at night and 3 nights in a row, I got at least 7-8 hours of sleep straight! He rolls over both ways but really likes to roll onto his belly. He is now learning to sit. We practice a few times each day and he is learning to balance. No teeth yet (thankfully =) for me) but he chews hard so I think they are not too long in coming.