Take down!

Don't let Ms. Innocent fool you.  She looks all cute but you have to watch her or she'll find a huge interest in the computer laptop adapter (or anything else she isn't supposed to touch.  And if you tell her no, she cries the saddest tears) ....

....or take down her brother.   Who me??

Kendall's Courage

As you know, Kendall Ruth Jansen joined our heavenly Father in January 2013.  Her parents, Mike and Nicci have set-up a foundation to honor their daughter.   Kendall's Courage is a non-profit organization that will strive to support children and their families through illness and disease by assisting with costs and lessening burden brought on as a result of medical hardship.  We are glad to help as we can with this foundation because we certainly know the need is there.  If you are a relative of ours, you will be receiving a letter in the mail from Kendall's Courage further talking about the foundation and what it means.  There will also be information if you would like to donate time or money.  Thank you for your consideration - it really means a lot to us all.  We love and miss you Kendall!

Planes!

 Trevor and Daddy had a fun day today!  It started with building an airplane at Lowe's Build and Grow event.  Not any airplane....El Chupacabra from the new Disney Movie 'Planes' (however, Trevor calls it Obama!)

After that they headed to the theater to see 'Planes'!!  Trevor brought his Dusty plane that he and Papa Steve made in Owatonna and settled in to finally see the movie!

 That is until the movie broke about 45 minutes in...but they got it fixed in about 10 minutes and all was well again. 

Gave Trevor time to play with his airplanes....and they got 2 free passes to a future movie! 

Ashley's New Tricks!

Ashley is at such a fun age, we remember this age with Trevor.  They learn so quickly and just love putting on a show.  Like when Mommy put Ashley outside for a little photo shoot to show Auntie Dawn how much Ashley loved the outfit that she picked out for her....Ashley put on quite a show.  Smiling and clapping and laughing. We got so many good pics of her in this adorable outfit!

At music class Ashley was not afraid to be the teacher's pet and get right front and center during story time.  Either that or we may need to look into glasses for her!

We hadn't given Ashley a bottle in a while because it's easier not to and we haven't had any date nights where we've needed to but Sara wanted to see what would happen if we did so she pumped and made a bottle before Ashley woke up.  Well when Ashley saw the bottle on the counter she got so excited she almost leaped out of Sara's arms to grab it.  She promptly picked it up and put it in her mouth.  The little stinker fed herself and downed that bottle in record time!  Yay!

She's learning to play the piano too.  Just kidding.  But she is practicing pulling herself up on items like the piano!

She likes to scoot right over to wherever her brother is just to antagonize him.  ;)

Or scoot right over to wherever Mommy is, pull herself up and just begged to be picked up.  She doesn't have to beg too hard, Mommy just loves cuddling with her!

Ashley loves outings and seeing new toys.  She gets so excited she claps, claps, claps!

She's just started getting into looking into containers and putting things into them and taking them out.

She also loves, loves, loves books.  She'll look through them herself or bring them to you to read to her.

On Friday of last week Trevor and Sara found the little stinker standing up in her crib when we went to get her from her nap.

She was so proud of herself!!

We got out the tent and tunnel that Trevor used to love and low and behold Ashley loved it too.  Next time we'll have to get a pic when she is coming towards us but she's so quick she whips around and goes the other way.  This kept her busy for an hour!  Win!

Ashley's 9 month pics

Ashley had her 9 month photos taken by the oh so talented Leslie Styler Photography again.  Poor Leslie has to have foot surgery in early September and was in a lot of pain but did the pics anyway.  Had Sara known how much pain she was in she wouldn't have agreed to do them but they did turn out pretty cute!

Here are the sneak peeks she posted on her blog...http://lesliestyler.com/blog/?p=11891

We whipped through lots of background changes and outfits this time around.  We were on a mission specifically to get a tutu shot.  They turned out pretty cute and this is just a few of them!

This dress was one that we had given to one of our nieces when they were born and we got it back in a box of clothes Dawn had saved!  We obviously loved it enough to gift it so it was great to have our own daughter in it for pictures!

Such sparkly eyes!

Daddy picked out the blue dress for her to wear and it looks so cute on our baby girl!  Makes her eyes pop even more!

 When they are so young it is fun to do somewhat naked pics. Especially when they can wear a tiara too!

The last set up was with a blanket.  Leslie had seen pics like this on Pinterest that she liked so we tried it out.  Ashley thought it was pretty fun!

Peek a boo!  I see you!

And when she was nearing the end of wanting to take pics, we whipped out trusty Cheerios and got a few more cute shots!

With silly smiles :)

Thank you Leslie for capturing these wonderful images and memories of our daughter.  Can't wait to see the rest!

1st Day of Mini-4s Preschool!

After a wonderful vacation in Minnesota and a staycation in Scottsdale over the weekend, it was back to school time for Trevor!  At first he didn't want to go but then he rallied and was so excited to go back to La Casa for mini-4s preschool.  It's called mini-4s because the students have to be 4 by 12/31.  As it turns out, Trevor's entire mini-3s class moved to the same teacher except one who requested a different teacher.  So it would almost be like last year except with a new teacher....which Trevor was still getting used to.  He loved Mrs. Harvey.  Loved.  But Daddy went to Parent Orientation on Monday and met his new teacher, Mrs. Mac and says the two teachers are pretty similar so we should be good.

Trevor picked out his outfit and shoes for his first day.  He did pretty good!  And he was so excited to wear his backpack :)

What a cute little model we have on our hands!

Our sweet boy even wanted a picture with his sister to remember how big they both were on his first day of preschool 2013!

When Sara dropped him off it was no big deal.  One kiss and a hug and off we went into the class room to see his old friends.  Then he remembered that Sara was still holding his placemat that he made for school and came back out to get it and show Mrs. Mac.  She loved it and said that she too liked Mike Wazoski.  (They were supposed to decorate their placemat for snack time with things that they liked so he put a family picture, one of him holding Ashley when she was just born, a Batman sticker then a bunch of cutouts from the newspaper coupons...pizza, candy, steak...you get the drift!)

After Trevor went in, Sara and Ashley went to the coffee that was held for all parents.  It was fun seeing the other preschool Mommies that were familiar faces!  When it was time for pick up, Sara snuck a peek in the room and Trevor lit right up when he saw her.  Can you see him waiting patiently for his name to be called so that he can come out?

He couldn't wait to tell Sara all about his day and he waited until all the students came out before insisting that he show Mrs. Mac and Mrs. Webb his baby sister.  :)

We snapped one last picture on the way out of Trevor on his first day of school.  What a great day he had!  Glad we went with this option :)

Staycation!

Scottsdale Quarter, a nearby shopping establishment had a promotion going where if you spent so much money in a day you got a free night at the Westin Kierland.  We only knew about it because our friend Julie who lives in Fireside told Sara about it and we were glad she did.  Might as well get something for free if you were going to spend the money anyway!  So we got one night free but Julie and her husband needed so much stuff that they got three free nights.  They then gave us one of the nights so we could coordinate dates and have a weekend staycation out of it! How fun is that!  

We both checked in Friday evening and discovered that it paid to have asked for rooms on the first floor next to the pool...and nearby one another of course!  It also probably helped that our neighbor across the street is a sales manager for the hotel and totally hooked us up with the best rooms along with yummy goodies for the room - chips/salsa/guacamole, chocolate chip cookies and Coronas!  She knows us well!  Trevor had no problem eating most all of the huge cookies throughout the weekend!

That evening we all checked out the property, had a s'mores appetizer and then headed to the hotel restaurant for dinner.  It was so nice hanging out with them...the seven of us hadn't done so since we first met at the December bagels and brew at the clubhouse.  Julie/Remy and Sara/Ashley had seen each other once a week at music class the past few months.  Luckily the boys still got along and we had a fun evening hanging out on the patio drinking wine after the kids went to bed.  We were up until midnight chatting away!

On Saturday morning Sara and Ashley were up before everyone else so they went and reserved pool chairs right when the pool opened at 8am.  It was nice to have the pool to ourselves and just chill for a bit!

We spent all day at the pool...both kids loved it and it worked out to take Ashley back to the room for nap.  The Westin's have heavenly cribs which was fabulous.  She slept like a champ for naps and only woke up once at night!  Score!

We had our own water boy who did a fabulous job.  Probably should have tipped him more ;)

The kids also really enjoyed playing with the sunscreen containers.  Again, why buy toys?

Trevor enjoyed the pool, the beach entry, the splash pad, the lazy river but once he discovered the kids water slide it was over.  He must have gone on it a hundred times!

He loved it!!  Such a water boy!

Ashley was excited to watch big brother on the slide the first few times....

...and then it was lights out!

Saturday night was pretty low key after being in the sun all day.  We were all exhausted so we did dinner on our own (we grabbed hamburgers from the hotel grill that was set-up) and ate in our room because a storm was coming through.  Brian and Trevor fell asleep watching Home Alone2 so it was an early evening for us all.  And thank goodness it was for Bobby and Julie.  As it turns out Remy (who was home with her Grandma most of the day) returned to the hotel only to get sick all over Bobby.  She slept off and on but at 2am they packed it up and went home.  So Sunday we were on our own and we made the most of our last day on staycation with some time at the pool.

It was like deja vu from the day prior.  Trevor was all about the pool with Daddy and doing the slides all by himself while Ashley was asleep in the shade in Mommy's arms. 

We had so much fun that we hope Scottsdale Quarter does the promotion again next year!  Another great part to staycation?  The drive home was only 20 minutes!

Ashley's 9 month onesie pic and stats

And yet here we are again with another onesie update for our growing girl!!  9 months old!!

She still has her four top teeth and two bottom teeth but the way that her hands are always in her mouth, you'd think more are on their way!

The girl loves to eat.  Understands some basic signs and let's you know by smiling or crying what she wants when seeing such signs!  Favorite foods are rice cereal mixed with green beans, peas, sweet potatoes, peaches or pears.  Although she's started gagging at the pea combo.  She prefers them without rice cereal mixed in.  Oh and let's not forget her love of Cheerios!

She started saying Mommy right before her 9th birthday.  Best sound yet!

The girl is incredibly flexible.  Usually she's chewing on her toes (gross) or doing the splits. 

Who me??  Ha!  

 She passed her 9 month appointment with flying colors.  And luckily there were no vaccines needed.  Just a toe prick to check iron level which was on the low end of normal so we'll start on chicken and turkey soon!

Stats:

Height- 27.75" (57th percentile)

Weight- 17lbs (16th percentile)

Head- 45cm (79th percentile)

Ashley's pediatrician isn't worried about her weight percentile because breastfed babies tend to be on the lower end of the percentiles but she is following a great growth curve.  The only thing that raised an eyebrow was that when we took her in 2+ weeks prior for a potential ear infection (false alarm) she weighed 18lbs and now she weighed 17lbs.  However, it was different scales so we aren't exactly sure if it should be a concern or not.  The way she eats is good but the girl is always on the move army crawling from here to there and that takes a lot of calories.  So if anything, try to feed her more!   Not sure that is really possible but we'll try.  The pediatrician also said no more night feeding (anytime A woke up at night Sara was feeding because of her skinny disposition) but the doctor said we didn't need to do that anymore.  Ah, relief!  So her weight definitely isn't that big of concern or Dr. Engle would say to keep feeding her at night for the calories!

Last but not least, Ashley adores her big brother who loves her just as much.  The two of them will crawl in circles around the kitchen laughing all the way.  He's learning to share his toys because she wants to play with everything he is playing with.  Ah, such sibling love!