Andrew the Great

Andrew The Red-Nosed Reindeer...

2009-09-28T13:39:00.000-07:00

While riding his scooter down the neighbor's driveway he hit a rock and face-planted into the concrete. I'm glad that this is ALL that happened! So now he has to sport a scabby nose for a while. I think I'll wait to take our yearly family picture until it heals. He's still cute!

The "Fourth"

2009-09-03T20:27:00.000-07:00

Andrew and I talking while driving to go grocery shopping. So cute. Classic Andrew:

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Andrew: Mommy...do you know what the fourth is?

Me: Yep I do.

Andrew: Well what is it?

Me: When you're counting and you count 1-2-3-4...the one that is #4 is the fourth.

Andrew: Nope. That's not it.

Me: Really? (At this point I'm only listening to him half way...at least until he said this...)

Andrew: Pretend I'm Obi-wan-kenobi...and the window is down, and there is a bad guy over there. I'm going to use the fourth to win a fight with him.

(By now I am holding back my laughter...see, Andrew has a lisp. All of his "S" sounds come out as "th".)

Me: Ohhhhh...ok. I get it now........

Andrew: The fourth gives you power!

Me: (Quiet for a sec) Lets practice your "S" sounds again ok? Say "sssssssss"...now say "forsssssss".

All About Dinosaurs:

2009-08-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Drew makes me laugh. Here is one of our conversations on the way to pick up the boys from school...so cute!

Andrew: Mom...dinosaurs are all killed right?...And they live at the museum?

Mom: Yep! Dinosaurs are extinct.

Andrew: Yeah...they ARE pretty smelly!

He's Not Afraid of Water Anymore!

2009-08-04T10:46:00.000-07:00

Before going "swimming" for Andrew meant walking into the pool waist (maybe shoulder) deep. He took 1 session of swim lessons (6 weeks) and viola...his fear is busted! Whew...I was starting to get worried. Now he's just like the other boys and just goes for it. Lily is actually following suit now and has started to want to jump in the water too. Here are some fun pics of the first day that he jumped into the pool without one of us there to catch him. Go Drew!!!

These are 3 separate jumps. I love the puffed out cheeks and the great poses that he does.

Treasure!!!

2009-08-04T10:37:00.000-07:00

Andrew now has a "cool stuff" collection. He has his treasure box and whenever he finds something cool enough it gets put inside. He asked me to take this picture of him. So cute.

2009-06-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

Here's a cool video of Andrew during his swimming lesson. As long as I can remember he has always been afraid of the water. He won't even let us wash his hair without some kind of drama. Look at him now! Good job buddy.

Pre-School Is Over

2009-06-22T14:21:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year and it's time to say goodbye for a while. Summer is here and school is over. Only the scheduling didn't work out this year and Drew isn't going to be back for his Pre-K year. We love Mrs "K" so much. She has been a pert of our lives since Matt was 4! So thank you Mrs "K" for all the time and love you put into your school. We will miss you next year...

A Trip to the Mesa Firestation

2009-06-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

With Andrew's pre-school we were able to visit a firestation and do some fun stuff. The coolest for him being able to shoot the fire hose!

Joey-5, Andrew-4, Lily-2. 4-9-09

A huge, loud truck shows off what it can do...

Andrew is not amused. "It's too loud."

Good Morning!

2009-01-30T06:48:00.000-08:00

"Cuddle with me! (Whether you want to or not!)"

This is how it goes about every morning with Andrew. It is about 7:30 am here. He gets up, hunts down a cat, and lays on the couch. Our cats are as aggressive as a bag of cottonballs. If you hold then against their will long enough, not letting them go, they'll just give in as to say, "Oh well, I guess I'm staying here." So apparently Maya has adjusted to the idea and Drew has won once again. She actually looks as though she's enjoying it now!

And take notice to his hat. We gave each of the boys hats for Christmas. They all were very excited, but Andrew loves his most. He wears it 24/7. Not an exaggeration. He sleeps in it! It comes off to bathe, and to go to church, but that's it. I need to wash it very soon. You see, he sweats when he sleeps and the hat is getting...well...gross. I noticed that I could see the sweat marks on it. It is very cute though. He hasn't been this attached to anything since he was a baby and he had his very favorite pillow.

Pre-School Halloween Carnival

2008-11-08T18:14:00.000-08:00

The kids got to get dressed up a few days early for this carnival. Well, Lily didn't want to wear her costume, so I didn't want to fight it.

There were crafts, lots of games and even a little bit of trick-or-treating from parent to parent at the end. It was hot, but we had a lot of fun, and I got some cute pics!

Pre-school Field Trip

2008-11-08T10:44:00.000-08:00

On a beautiful Arizona fall day (95 degrees) we were able to visit a local farm with his pre-school. We didn't let the heat get us down and we explored many of the sights and rides around the farm. First stop, a historic (old) carousel. It is so old that the guy running the ride presses "play" on a cd player that played the carousel music! So funny, but Andrew couldn't get enough of it...

So he rode it again on this strange looking red-striped horse. (The guy didn't press play this time, we were the only ones riding.)

I was able to get him away from the carousel with the promise that we could come back and we found this great tennis ball launching game. There were big targets that you tried to hit. He did this MANY times too. :)

LOVE the face here!

Then it was over to the airplanes and some cute photo ops!

Then, of course it was back to the carousel. He had to ride the bunny...

And the chicken.

So we had a great time together. We saw a little show with a dog that did tricks, we played on the play ground and rode a train. At the very end of the day he got to pick out a pumpkin to take home. Very fun!

We were hot and dusty but we'd do it again in a heartbeat.

Drew's 4th Birthday Party

2008-09-11T10:59:00.000-07:00

Yep...you guessed it...an ARMY PARTY! And, personally, I hope I get to do this kind of party again! It was a lot of fun. I decorated with American flags, and cupcakes with an army man on top of each of them. When we got to a nearby park on that sunny Saturday morning, we were ready for battle. It was us against the 3 & 4 year olds that were coming. We were armed with face paint, hats, dog tags, games, and food. Little did we know that our real enemy that day would be the WIND! Tablecloths, papers, bowls of chips...nothing stood a chance against this unexpected nemesis. The hats wouldn't even stay on the kid's heads! This is the story of our VICTORY!

Dad had a real knack for the battle paint. The kids looked great...well, the ones that wanted it. (Only one of his friends and his brothers.) Then the kids got their personalized name tags and they were ready for their training mission.

We have to whip these soldiers into shape! (In case you couldn't tell, they are saluting and not shielding their eyes from the sun.) And you might notice that Andrew's face isn't painted anymore, but is still a little green, well, he wanted it off after about 3 minutes. And we learned that the black and the brown come off great, but the green tinge stayed for about 24 hours.

Now comes the serious stuff...PROJECTILES! Who can throw the grenades the farthest? Well, that's how it started. They ended up just trying to get Jess wet.

Next came target practice. The wind tried to win this battle when it wouldn't let me attach the targets to the volleyball net.

Who needs a volleyball net when our friends can just hold the targets!

Not only did the wind loose that battle, the game turned out better and more fun because of it!

Present time!

Okay...so the wind did win one battle. The battle of the candle. It would not stay lit for even a second so he could blow it out. And no matter how we shielded it or angled it, we didn't have a chance. But he didn't seem to mind just singing the song and jumping into eating!

After a little park play. the party was over. We may have lost one little battle, but over all, we won the war! It was a success and everyone had fun.

PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN!

(He had climbed to the top of the playground and was waving the flag. I think it's a great picture.)

Andrew Starts Pre-School

2008-08-13T18:20:00.000-07:00

Well, here we go. Andrew is the 3rd kid that I've sent to this local pre-school. And, you know, it doesn't get any easier. It is fun to see them grow up, but at the same time it hits you how fast it it going! He is very excited though. I've been helping him count down the days!

Here he is showing us his cubby and part of the playing area that is in his school.

He will go to class on Mondays and Fridays from 8:45 - 10:45. So he won't be going a lot, but just enough for him to have some fun and make some friends. That is the part he is most excited about. Having his own friends.

After school he was very proud of his painting, and his teacher, Mrs "K", said that he was very well behaved and did a good job. One thing that she said about him was that he was very particular about the rules. That he made it his job to help her keep everyone on track. I encouraged her to help him learn that SHE is in charge!

China Guy

2008-01-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

Andrew came to me one day and he wanted to sing a song with me. I said OK and asked him what song he would like to sing. He told me he wanted to sing "China Guy". I looked at him very awkwardly and then I looked at Val and she gave me the "beats the heck out of me" look. So I asked him, "What's China Guy?" He said "Daddy, you know? China Guy!" Finally, I told him to sing it to me. So he started singing "I am a China Guy and Jesus sent me here." My head just about exploded because I was holding my laughter in. It was the cutest thing I've ever heard and I pulled him in and gave him a big hug and said I would love to sing with him. All of this time Val was hiding in the closet because he was laughing as well. In case you don't know, he wanted to sing a song he's learned in Primary thats supposed to go like this, "I am a child of God and He has sent me here."

2008-01-09T08:44:00.001-08:00

Andrew is our 3 year old Winston Churchill. He is very passionate and has great leadership qualities. He is also the comedian of the family. All of the boys make us laugh, but Drew sets out to get a laugh. Follow along as he will soon be doing very "big boy " things. He is learning to ride a scooter and a bike, and he will be starting pre-school this year!