Happy Easter!

We had a fun-filled week with Auntie and William, or "Wee-yah," as Drew calls him, visiting for Auntie's spring break.  Drew and William had fun racing cars and Cooper and William got in some pretty hilarious wrestling matches.  Every morning William would wake asking for "Dew" and "Pooper."  The boys had a great time hunting for Easter eggs at Nana and Gumpa's and celebrating Auntie's birthday.

Easter morning we had another Easter egg hunt at our house.  This year it had to be inside because our yard is sadly still covered in quite a bit of snow.  Off to church we went and then to Nana and Gumpa's for tasty Easter lunch.  It took a little convincing to get Cooper to wear his bow tie.  We had to show him pictures of Super Man wearing a tie, Daddy also had to wear a tie, and then he decided it maybe wasn't so bad.

Cooper and Jennon then spent the rest of the afternoon assembling and riding Cooper's new bike!  He is in heaven!  His pure joy and excitement took me right back to the days when I was little and would do nothing but ride my bike around the neighborhood for hours on end.  I definitely see that in Cooper's future.   It has been a great week full of wonderful memories.  Happy Easter!

Drew loved the stickers he found in some of the eggs, decided to wear them all at once ;) 

Ready for church!

Drew is now 18 months!

The little guy is actually getting close to 19 months by now but I am a little behind posting and he was a week or two late getting his 18 month check up.  Other than his weight being a little low all is going well for Drewbird.

A few of Drew's new favorite things:
Game-Playing Hide and Seek or racing around/climbing on the couch
Toys-Cars, puzzles, light sabers
Book-Roadwork, Brothers Forever (melts my heart about the second one)
Food-Hummus and crackers

Growth stats:
Height-33 in, 67%
Weight-23lbs, 22%
Head-19.75 in, 96%

He is a spunky little guy with a sense of humor that has us laughing and shaking our heads on a daily basis.  He also continues to be a cuddle bug right before bedtime much to my delight!

Cooper is also continuing to grow, develop and keep us on our toes!  He is really enjoying preschool and has been busy all winter with swim lessons.  He has made some great progress with his skills and comfort level in the water and is already asking when we can go to the Edina pool.  I keep telling him, sadly not for awhile ;(

 Drew LOVES Gus, and thought he would enjoy a monster truck massage.

 Loving some banana pancakes for breakfast!

 Helping me shovel the snow by taking it from the side and throwing it onto the sidewalk ;)

 Coop enjoying his banana pancake on his first Snow Day from school!

 Silly guy at dinner

All ready for Wacky Day at school.  Cooper picked out his own outfit and LOVED his Electricity Man hair!

Las Vegas and Ice Castles

Jennon was in Las Vegas for work so I joined him once his conference wrapped up.  Joel and Kelly joined us there on Friday.  The boys went gambling while Kelly and I spent the afternoon at an amazing spa.  I realized my body is great at relaxing, my mind, not so much.  My parent's stayed with the boys at our house and other than my mom and Drew catching colds I think everyone had a lot of fun.  I was only gone for three days and two nights but I sure missed those little guys!  Missing the boys aside, it was a really fun trip and I'm so thankful we went.
I took the boys to the Ice Castles in Bloomington today.  They LOVED it!  It really was impressive, I can't imagine how enormous it all seemed to them.  Definitely a fun way to embrace this Minnesota winter!

Dad's and Doughnuts

Jennon and Cooper had such a special morning together today.  It was Dad's and Doughnuts Day at Cooper's preschool.  They got to enjoy Yo Yo's Doughnuts, Cooper and Jennon's favorite, and watch a science experiment show!  Cooper painted a great picture for Jennon on canvas and all the Dad's were presented with these adorable hand-made ties.  Jennon even wore his to work after having lunch with us ; )  The boys are so lucky to have such an amazing man to look up to and admire.  We love you Jennon!

On the Drewbird front, he is currently fighting a cold ;(  His vocabulary has definitely taken off and his new favorite past time is running around the living room.  He has just discovered running and giggles the whole time he runs his laps.
Take care!
Beth

Holiday Fun!

We have had a busy and fun-filled month since my last post!  Everyday Cooper would ask if it was Christmas because we seemed to often have some sort of Christmas event or activity going on.

We headed up to Duluth with Caruth's, Springer's, and Klocke's for the weekend and saw the Bentleyville Lights on Friday night, and once again rode the Polar Express on Saturday.  A great time was had by all and we were thrilled to spend time with our friends Brian and Lindsey Jungman who moved to Duluth this summer after teaching for several years in Africa.  The kids loved all of the Christmas lights, swimming in the pool, train ride to Santa, a movie at the theater, and 2 nights of sleepovers with their buddies.

Cooper admiring one of the light displays at Bentleyville

Jennon and Drew snuggling on the train ride

Listening to the reading of The Polar Express

All the kiddos actually sitting in the same spot while at the Polar Express!

Cooper had his preschool Christmas program.  Too cute!!!  I was so excited to watch him sing all of the songs that he had been singing around the house for weeks.  There were also two little poems they chanted that we practiced daily.  The little guy hardly made a peep when it came to the big production!  I think he was a little overwhelmed by the large audience.  At one point he put his hands over his ears!  The little girl standing behind him definitely did not hold back when it came to the volume of her singing ; )

A time during the Christmas program Cooper was actually singing along and doing the actions!

The boys have been able to spend a lot of quality time with all of their cousins which has been so much fun for everyone.  Drew and William have really hit it off this visit and it has been so neat seeing how they interact and play with each other.  William calls him, "Dew."  We were getting out of the car at my parents house and sweet little William was standing at the front door window in his Christmas jammies with a huge smile on his face shouting out, "Dew! Dew!"

Drew and his cheesy grin ;)

Cooper seeing Santa's empty cookie plate and the note he left.

The boys playing with the new car track Santa brought Cooper.

Caruth family Christmas was spent up in Minnesota and the boys once again had a great time playing with their cousins, grandparents and new toys.  Cooper got a new sled from Grandpa Carroll and Grandma Cyndie so we put it to good use that afternoon at the school near our house.  We had such a nice time all together.  Cooper also got to have a sleepover in his room with Owen and Gavin for New Year's.  Although it took a few trips upstairs to actually get them to stop laughing and fall asleep they did great.

Drew trying on Uncle Joel's new snow boots!

Drew and his new John Deer Gator from Grandma Cyndie and Grandpa Carroll

 

We wrapped up the holiday's with a trip to Manny's Steakhouse to celebrate my Dad's retirement.  Great food, wonderful company, and lots of laughs.  So proud of you Dad, enjoy yourself, you deserve it!

Happy Thanksgiving

We have so much to be thankful for this year and had a wonderful time celebrating the holiday with family and friends.  The week prior Cooper had Thanksgiving Feast at school, so he kept asking, "Is today Thanksgiving Feast?" as we celebrated with our families.  We traveled to IA on Wednesday and had so much fun with the Caruth/Staples clan on Thursday.  The boys had a great time playing with their cousins and seeing their Grand/Great Grandparents.  Owen, Gavin and Cooper had a sleepover in the basement both nights and it was a surprising success!  We headed home on Friday and spent the rest of the weekend getting our house transformed into Christmas!

I must have lost my mind because we decided to put up two Christmas trees this year.  Considering we have a toddler who has the nickname, WOMD (Weapon Of Mass Destruction) because he likes to tear apart everything he sees, we'll see how long the trees stay as they are today.  Both boys love looking at the trees and Cooper was thrilled to discover this morning that or Elf On The Shelf Frederick has returned.

Prior to Thanksgiving we spent a fun morning taking the boys bowling for the first time with their friends.  Both boys had a great time and we will definitely be breaking out our bowling shoes again soon.

Drew is now 15 months old and has made fantastic improvement in his walking abilities.  Although not yet his preferred method of transportation just over the weekend he has started making great strides, literally.  He will now take steps on his own at times without us even trying to coax him towards us.  I know he will be running after Cooper in no time.

Both boys LOVED the pie!  Drew above enjoying some with Daddy and Cooper below patiently waiting for his piece to get served.

Drew was thrilled to be hanging out with the Big Boys at Grandma and Grandpas.

 Just a recent pic that I wanted to include of Drew helping himself in the fridge.  We have the exact same pictures of Cooper at close to the same age.

Striking a pose for the camera :)

Our first real Christmas tree!