Cookie Exchange

The annual cookie exchange took place and that means the annual pickle ornament hunt went on too. Zoey was the winner who found it in less than a minute so extra goodies went to her. We all had a fun time and the cookies this year were outstanding! Claire's family made a chocolate one with a melted Andies candy on top. Heavenly!!

We all played and ate food and jumped in the jumping castle and then finally had some pizza for dinner before everyone went home. I was happy that none of the babies at this party were "drilled." I think Drew was sufficiently occupied with protecting his toys from other preschoolers that he didn't notice the little babies.

St. Nick's Day

We did celebrate St. Nick's Day. Drew put his slippers outside his door and got some Sesame Street ornaments for the tree.

Drew put them on the tree right away - all in row on the bottom branch. Drew also got a new teddy bear dressed in winter gear.

Thains come to visit

Next up was a visit from Lisa, Doug, William and Zachary! Trying to line all three boys up for a photo proved impossible, as you can see.


We were so happy to hang out with these little boys and anyone with little boys can imagine the amount of pure energy that was in the house that night. And once we filled them up with dinner - well only Clifford on the TV was able to calm them down for a bit. Eventually they all made it to dreamland, but not after inspecting each and every toy and non toy item in the house.

Drew was in particularly great form this evening after deciding that he wanted to "drill" the baby Zachary.

Thanksgiving

"We are thankful for turkey legs and fish."

We're also thankful that Aunt Erin posed so nicely in the car so that I could take that photo. :)

Auntie Ericka

So, Miss Ericka, you will likely clobber me for posting this picture, but it's really cute. Auntie Ericka came for a visit - mostly to surprise Auntie Erin at her engagement party. The upshot for Drew was that he got special time with both of them and also managed to talk Ericka into reading some books.

During this visit we also all went to see Madagascar II which was a huge hit. In this house, it's known as the "Move it Move it Movie" and arriving home we promptly listened to that song LOTS of times!

What have we been up to?

What busy people we must be that I have completely ignored the blog. Well....it's more like a new Facebook addiction! (Dare I speak its name!)

I will try to post all of our activities in chronological order...

First thing first - Our friends the Petersons came for a visit

Favorites

Following Claire's lead, I decided to ask Drew (now that he's 3) what his favorite things are:

Favorite color: Red
Favorite number: One
Favorite toy: Bobcat
Favorite place to go: Museum
Favorite food: Cake
Favorite game: Hi Ho Cherry-O
Favorite thing to wear: Pajamas
Favorite thing to do at school: Play on the slide
Favorite animal: Tiger

I might also add a list of favorite artists to this. Erik and I have been playing a lot of different music around the house and here are the artists that Drew likes the most so far: Apocalyptica, Amy Winehouse and Elmo. His favorite song is the "Move it, Move it" song.

Weekend Fun

Some pics from last weekend...
The Fitchburg Firehouse had an open house and we got to climb in all of the vehicles there. We also took a trip downtown and went to the Children's Museum.

Chinese Food Good Luck Fortune

Last night we got Chinese Food and here is how that went:
Drew: What's that?
Me: It's a fortune cookie (aside "crap, why didn't I hide that")
D: I want to have it
M: After dinner
D: I want to have it now
M: Eat some dinner first and then you can have the cookie
D: But I want to have it now
M: It's for dessert, you eat it after dinner
[enter dad]
Dad: Drew, eat at least some rice first and then you can have the cookie
D: No, I want the cookie now!
Dad: OK, here's half the cookie - you get half now and then the rest after you eat your dinner
[can you see where this is headed??]
D: I want more cookie
M: Eat your dinner
[Drew eats one grain of rice]
D: I wanna be all done - it's time for my other cookie
M: That's not dinner, please eat more
D: I want my cookie
M and Dad: OK Fine! Just eat the cookie!
...
M: Wait - what was your fortune? "Assert yourself. You have the power to get what you want."

Sunday at the Farm

Last Sunday was a day to take Drew and his friend Ava to the farm. (You can go to her blog to see pictures of us from Anne's camera.) It was the "Fall Festival" there with everything you would imagine for a farm fall fastival. Lots of things to do and things to pet and ways to clean your hands. (Love it that Purell is now a household name - if only healthcare workers were as good...) There were a couple of "scary silos" too that we thought about going in. When we saw 7 year olds scream their way out of there and cling to their parents, we thought better of it.


We got there in the morning and walked around a bit looking at the animals, petting the kittens and going through a corn maze before hopping on the back of a tractor to hitch a ride to the pumpkin patch. We picked out our very own and headed back for a hot dog, a puppet show and the first caramel apple of the season.

Here we are sharing the caramel apple.

This is our friend Ava with her mommy.

The family photo (rare appearance, I know)

And this is what Drew did when he finally chose his pumpkin.

Rocketship cake

OK - so here is the cake.

Fun at the park!

For celebrating with friends, we invited folks to meet us at the park to have snacks, cake and play time! It was a super morning except for the fact that there was zero parking due to lots of other events planned for the exact same place and time. It did get hot though - probably close to 80. Apologies to the pregnant ladies there - that was a hot one for you!
There is always a pull to document every waking moment of your kid's life (or is that just me??) and then there is the pull to relax and have fun. In the end, I have some pictures from the park but didn't catch everyone who was there. And - horror of all horrors, I didn't get a picture of Drew with his rocketship cake (and after all the stress over that cake making it to the park without falling over...)
Here are the shots I got! You might get hot just looking at them.
Colin, Drew, Drew and Noah

Celine, Leila and Dad Sean

Zoey and Max on the swings

Aiden and Anika enjoying the cake

Blake and Lily waiting for cake

Colin and Drew

Erica, Wesley and Henry

Last night when I was putting Drew to bed I asked if he enjoyed his party at the park. He said "Yeah, I played with Colin and then I had poopies." And there you go.

Birthday morning

Forgot to post this - Grandma Karen and I put candles on the special birthday pancakes Friday morning. It took many tries with some secret help from me in the end. Lots of spit went all over those pancakes. That sealed the deal for "no candles to school."

Birthday Boy

Yeah! Drew turned three today!
What a great day for all of us. (Minor pre-dinner meltdown excluded.) Drew did go to school today - we hung out at home for a while in the morning and got there in time for some outside play time. It's beautiful here this week - about 70 today and will be warm again tomorrow. Anyway, Grandma Karen and I worked on making the cake for tomorrow's party. This is the cake that went to school as part of afternoon snack. What is it? Race car? No. It is a roller truck! And the kids loved it!

Here is Drew at school with his friends and his cake. Notice the crown on his head - cute! He got to be king for the day and wore his birthday crown all day long.

Drew also got to open some of his presents (I think there are a couple left). This is his new hot wheel bike that Grandma and Da got for him.

Now it's late and we are pooped. Tomorrow is swim lesson and then a friend party at the park. I made a rocket ship cake for that party. I have eaten so much cake...all that great weight loss, gone.

Ellensburg

Hello everyone!

Yes, still trying to keep up with this blog and life and such. So after Seattle, we hopped the road to Ellensburg, WA to visit Aunt Erin and Chris. We had a great time and Drew is still talking about the helicopters. The biggest bummer was that our favorite bakery was closed for the week so no pain au chocolat for us. :(

Here are Erin and Drew!

We also went to the Children's Museum one morning and here is Drew playing at the Farmer's Market.

We had a great hike next to the river, but favorite of all, we got to see the fire rescue helicopters!

Weather Report

This is a conversation Drew and I had as he was getting out of the bath tonight. FYI - since fall is coming it gets darker earlier now.

Drew: It's getting dark now?
Me: Yes, I guess it's almost time for bed.
Drew: I want it to be partly sunny. Partly sunny is my favorite. That's when the sun is peeking from the clouds. Momma, do you like partly sunny? (Imagine cute little hand motion of sun peeking through the clouds here.)
Me: I love partly sunny.
Drew: I love partly sunny too.

Seattle

Two weeks ago Drew's daycare was "off" for a break between summer and fall semesters (yes, it does bug us that daycare has semesters and that there is time off...) Anyway, we decided to take advantage of the time off and took a trip to the Northwest. First off - Seattle, WA to visit the Peepers.
If you didn't know already, Craig is famous for his homemade waffles and whipped up a batch on Sunday morning. The kids helped out and I was pleased with the makeshift planets smock that Erik fashioned.

We went to the zoo where the highlight was the Jaguar who was up and playing and - eating MEAT!! It's hard to see in this picture, but it was basically walking around with a carcass in its mouth.

Then, we played indoors and outdoors. Erik told me that it would be cold there (like 60s is cold or something). Whoa nellie! 60s is cold and I didn't really pack for the occasion. It also rained a lot so we stayed indoors more often than we ventured outdoors. Luckily for all of us the Peepers own a new train table which kept everyone pretty much occupied. It also forced a trip to the toy store so that Drew could indeed have his very own pieces of train that were different from Lily's own pieces of train.
Ah, toddlers!

Where have we been?

Sorry for the lost postings. I was traveling while Drew was up north with Grandma and Da, then we were all traveling to Seattle. I'll organize all those pictures and post them soon!

Welcome Lauren!

Our friends Jared, Nicole and their daughter Lauren visited this weekend to celebrate and participate in a wedding. They stayed with us so we got lots of kid time together. Lauren is just over a year old and happens to love blueberries. Here is Drew hand selecting blueberries and passing them to Lauren.

Lauren was a big fan of Drew's art work (you see behind them on the wall) - it was being torn down and put up a lot. Lauren was also a big fan of the new toys to play with. How did she manage to find all of Drew's favorite things?

Dane County Fair

The Dane County Fair was last week so Drew, Grandma Diane and I headed over. We saw all the animals (cows, horses, chickens, goats, donkeys, pigmy goats, etc.) and then had a dinner of fried foods. Then the very special surprise was that Drew is greater than 36 inches tall so he got to go on rides. Some rides were accompanied with me and others were on his own. Either way, he had a blast and Diane and I were having a great time just watching. (Before becoming a parent I never understood how much fun it is watching others have fun.) Topping off the evening was a trip to the ice cream tent.

Drew was talking to this rooster in proper rooster talk.

Hmm, does anyone recognize that hand hygiene kiosk???

Quesadilla Cook Off

So at some point I was talking to Scott about cooking and he said "Oh, I make the best quesadillas in the world" to which I replied "That's not possible because I make the best quesadillas in the world." And thus the cook off was born. All the secret ingredients made their way into my kitchen and we squared off. The result was that the kids ate plain old cheese quesadillas and the adults feasted on the two best recipes for quesadillas in the world.

Although no pictures were taken of the actual feast, we did get this one of Drew and Ava sitting in the hammock chair before dinner. You're probably wondering if Ava is our only friend because she is all over this blog, and really, no one else is. Well - isn't that the sad case of being two busy working parents with no one to hang out with.

Up North

The weekend of the 4th we went to St. Germain, WI for a weekend with Grandma and Da at the cabin. Drew learned all sorts of new things, like how to shuck corn. And Erik and I learned that Drew can hold his bladder (for now) for the entire length of the trip so that we he actually might sometime be potty trained, we can make it without stopping. (maybe?) Since WalMart doesn't count, I got absolute zero shopping time in this trip. (Hmm, will have to make up for that some other way, like a trip to Zappos later.)

Drew woke up with a fever Monday morning - and then was ok so who knows what that was all about. Drew totally loved hanging out with Joe and Pat and Cathy (who doesn't?). Drew totally loves Spangs pizza (who doesn't?)

I drank beer and we got to hang with Uncle Ted. What could be better except maybe a picture of us with Uncle Ted to prove that we were actually together? No dice.

Here are some other pictures to prove that we were having fun.

The first thing we did when we got there was feed the chippies and deer.

Drew also got to drive the boat - yes all by himself. The result of this was very little straight line movement.

Super cool new playground!

Here we are roasting marshmallows and tasting a first ever campfire smore. Why the skeptical look? It was delicious!

Shucking corn.

La creme de la creme - breakfast at Paul Bunyans!