100 days project

Andrew's school celebrates the 100th day of school. This year he had to do a project where he collected 100 of something and apply it to a poster board. All on his own he chose to do pictures. He really wanted to display 100 pictures of his family which I thought was really cool. So, I created a bunch of collages on the computer and printed them out. He then cut out each picture and glued them to the board.

He said that no one else did a project like his and that the kids in his class liked his idea.

A funny moment

Andrew was out of school this past week. Not only do they get President's Day off, but also the rest of the week! As I was getting ready for work one morning, Claire put on some dress up clothes. She finally settled on the Sleeping Beauty dress, but had on two others before this. Then Andrew decided to get in on the fun and put on his Halloween costume.

Not five minutes later I could hear them arguing in Andrew's room, so I went down the hall to see what was wrong. Andrew kept telling Claire, "no, no"! I thought that he just wasn't sharing so I was prepared to talk to him about that when I heard, "No Claire! Princesses don't have guns - they have wands"! And "Claire you have to use the wand, not the gun". I just had to laugh and I asked them to take a picture so that I could remember that. By that point Claire agreed to use the wand instead of a gun.

A trip to Texas

Danny's brother Todd and his family live in Austin, TX. Andrew has been asking for a long time to go there and visit his cousins Ronnie and Alex. We have been watching airfare and finally found a great deal, so Danny and Andrew went there over the long President's Day weekend. I sent Danny with a camera so that he could take pictures and I think he came back with 12 pictures over four days. Since I didn't go, I don't have all of the details about the trip, but they both said it was fun.

They went to the Capitol building and walked around. They got to see the end of the Livestrong marathon outside and this great building inside.

Andrew and Alex practicing shooting a cannon.

I loved this picture of the inside of the dome. It has the lone star at the top and says Texas around it.

Here are Ronnie, Andrew, and Alex on the backside of the Capitol. They also walked around the University of Texas campus which is nearby.

The lone shot with Danny and all of the boys in it.

A favorite pastime of the cousins - Wii.

Danny brought back Texas paraphernalia for Andrew and Claire. Luckily they had nice weather down there unlike here last weekend. Andrew is looking forward to going to visit again.

February fun

We have enjoyed some unseasonably nice weather in San Jose this month. Here are some fun things we did outside in February:

We pulled out a bunch of overgrown bushes and vines. We needed to cut down a small tree and repair the fence anyway in this area, so we decided to just take out the random bushes as well. Andrew and Claire were thrilled to help. I'm not sure why Andrew is laying in the dirt and Claire is sitting. What happened to squatting down or just bending over?

After a change of outfits for Claire, they were onto playing in the backyard and being silly while I was trying to take a picture.

Grant even enjoyed the fun outside. He was quite content to sit in his car seat and look around while everyone worked.

Claire loaded up the car with her treasures and Andrew was pushing her all over the backyard. They were laughing and laughing while doing this.

Then it was onto defending the front yard. Andrew was essentially shooting at the dust in the air. Claire chose a light saber as her weapon of choice. Her outfit selection is classic. They actually asked if they could run in the sprinklers on this Saturday. I said no and they were not happy. It is so nice when the kids get to go outside to play. It certainly beats arguing with them about watching TV. Bring on spring!

Glasses!

Before January Andrew had occasionally come home from school complaining of a headache. But during the first week of January he came home from school three days complaining of his head hurting. I know all too well about headaches, so I was very concerned. I happened to be taking Grant to the doctor for his four month checkup that same week so I asked the doctor about Andrew's headaches. He said it could be food allergies, not getting enough sleep or perhaps it was his eyes. He hadn't had his eyes tested since his kindergarten physical, so the doctor recommended that we try that first. I took him to get tested and the doctor said that his eyes are under-developed for his age. She said that about 20% of kids get this and he should grow out of it. In the meantime, she recommended reading glasses and eye exercises. Andrew was really excited about the prospect of glasses.

We tried these on right after his appointment so that I could send a picture to Danny at work. Since I don't wear glasses or contacts, I was surprised to learn that even kids glasses are expensive.
Claire also wanted to try some glasses on. She was quite upset that I didn't get these pink ones for her.

These are the glasses that Andrew picked out. They are navy blue - we even let him choose the color. He takes them back and forth from school which makes me nervous, but so far he has done really well. Luckily they have a hard case. I think the novelty of them is wearing off, but we also need to be better about the eye strengthening exercises.

Why didn't I think of that?

Now that I am back at work and Natalie is back watching the kids, she has got her hands full with five kids. She told me about how she occupies Grant while making lunch for the kids and I thought "why didn't I think of that"? She puts him in the Bumbo chair and sets it in front of the sliding glass door so that he can see out. He loves it! I usually just have him in the chair in the middle of the family room and he gets bored fast. So the next time, I tried her trick it worked!


Here he is just checking out the backyard and nature.

I called his name and he looked back at me - so cute!

So serious, but so sweet.

Grant at 5 months

It seems like Grant changed a lot from 4 to 5 months. He is really interactive with people and loves to give big smiles to everyone, except for me when I have a camera in my hand. Here are a few of the fun things that Grant did this month:

We got out the Bumbo chair and he will sit in it for a few minutes while we do important things like cook dinner, go to the bathroom or break up an argument between Andrew and Claire. He especially likes to use the Bumbo with the tray.

Any picture of Grant cannot be taken without Andrew and Claire joining in. They love the fact that he can sit down and they can play with him.

Although you can't tell from this picture, Gran still loves his baths. He never cries when it is time to take one.

I wish I had this moment on video. Grant was playing with the stuffed animal and making really loud screaming noises. He is starting to discover his voice.

Claire is really into reading her own books. Even at night she wants to tell each story. Here she is reading a story to Grant while he tries to grab it out of her hands. Grabbing is a new favorite pastime for him. He loves to grab hair or if you are lucky your face with his freshly trimmed sharp fingernails.

The obligatory 5 month picture with the sign. However, the sign would not be around long....

...as everything goes into Grant's mouth these days.

A sweet picture of Grant and Claire. Grant is looking forward to next month when he gets to eat baby food.