Mary and Andrew NYC Getaway

Megan and Nate had Mary and Andrew come and stay in the city for 2 nights back in July.  Megan took the train in to New Haven to get them, then Matt took the train in to the city a few days later to pick them up.  They had so much fun.  Exploring, going to the movies, painting, eating fun food, staying up late...you know, all the normal things you do when you are away from home!

Thanks Megan and Nate--they are hoping to get to do it again.

Megan loved that their favorite part of NYC was climbing rocks--I guess kids are kids regardless of where they are. :)

 

 

A Birthday Boy

Andrew is 8.  We don't do birthday parties every year, we rotate party and out to dinner.  This is party year so all the kids are super excited.  Andrew decided on a Minute to Win It birthday party.  We had a ton of fun.  I think it was one of the easiest and most fun parties I've ever thrown.

The cakes were non-theme related.  He just wanted a cake that he could put Lego mini-figures on.  We settled on Lego bricks.  Also easy.  Likin' this party.
 

A happy boy with his cake.

As the boys arrived, we had random skill tests going on like stacking soda cans, milk jug lids, etc.

Then on to the competition.  Below, Andrew is being a cookie unicorn.  For full points, contestants had to stack 7 oreos on their heads.  Andrew is using the lean up against the sofa cheating tactic.

Another round of the competition involved stacking 5 dice on a spoon in your mouth.  Only a few succeeded.

We made towers using marshmallows and toothpicks.  Instead of 1 minute, they got 5 on this one.  We had some pretty fun towers and some obvious 'we don't know how to make a tower' towers.

Here I am demonstrating the Elephant March.  Contestants had to knock over water bottles with their trunks.  Another big hit.

Water transfer--getting water from cup to jar.  One of the quieter moments--loved it.

We had about 8 or 9 competitions and kept track of score on a big score board.  You have to keep score.  8 year old boys are competitive.  Then on to cake and presents.

We ended the party with a tape ball--probably the biggest hit of the evening.  I wrapped candy and fun little toys up in a big ball of packing tape.  Kids had 30 seconds to get whatever out of the ball they could.  When the timer went off, the ball had to get passed.  They played for over 20 minutes and we didn't even get everything out of it.  Very fun.

A happy birthday boy.
We are lucky to have such an awesome kid in the family.  Love you Andrew.

 

There's a Cub Scout in the House

I see I'm about 6 weeks behind on life, and life has happened to be pretty busy!
Lots of big things for our boy in the past month.  Andrew turned 8!  Just 2 weeks before his birthday was the Blue and Gold Banquet.  His scout troop let him come a few weeks early and participate with his troop in the skits.  We have one happy cub scout.

 

Earning his Bobcat.  The fastest badge ever to earn.
Fun times ahead.

Singing Between the Sickness

In between bouts of sickness at this house, some kids have had their winter concerts.  I guess, technically, Mary's concert was pre-sickness; Andrew's was only attended by the healthy few at the time.  Both did well.

Andrew even got to play the xylophone.

Here he is with Mrs. Barna.  She's been a great teacher for him this year!

Art and Hospitals

2 quick school happenings:

Andrew got a letter in the mail from the Superintendent letting him know that a piece of his artwork was selected to be on display for the month at the Board of Ed office.  Obviously we had a to take a trip to see it.  It's his self portrait.

Way to go Andrew!!!

Whit had her kindergarten field trip to the hospital and I got to be a parent helper.  It was great watching her with her friends and seeing her in the classroom and on the trip.

They got to try out a lot of hospital-ly things like blood pressure, stethescopes, hospital beds, wheel chairs and crutches.  A happy happy day.

Road Racin'

There is a big race by our house every fall and this year we decided to be a part of it.  They have a kids run, a family fun mile run, and a 5K.  Mary, Andrew and I did the family fun mile run.

They were loving their bibs and new t-shirts!

The elementary school gym teachers led us all in some warm-ups.  Even Whit got in on the action (though I don't recall them having us do the splits)

Here we go!! (I don't think we are visible)

Here's Andrew heading to the finish line.

And here come Mary and me

Perfect time for a family photo.

Happy day!!  Now we have times to beat for next year. 

The life of Andy

Andrew, aka Andy has been up to some fun lately.  I still call him Andrew but find myself occasionally calling him Andy or calling him Andy as I correspond with people from school.  Still doesn't feel totally normal.

He's been playing baseball this spring and loving it.  We've definitely seen skill improvement this year and a lot less dancing in the field.  Good times. :)

Matt and Andrew went camping a few weekends back and had super amounts of fun.  Get this boy outside and he's one happy kid.

Andrew's Concert

Andrew (or I guess I should say "Andy" since that is how he is known at school) had his 1st grade music concert a few weeks back.  He was excited to get to play the drums.

Here he is with his class--spot him on the back row.

And here's our drummer

Afterwards with his dragon art work

 Happy siblings!

Andrew and his good friend, Emmy, were lucky to be in the same class this year.

What a wonderful teacher....Mrs. Madigan.  We love her. 

Birthday Boy

 There's a 7 year old in the house.  How did that occur? 

Andrew is our lego lovin', bike ridin' boy so it's no wonder that this birthday was full of Legos and a much needed new bike.  Yea for awesome grandparents to get this boy all Hero Factory and Ninjago'ed out.  I think he's set for a while.

It's a non-party year but I still love to make them whatever cake they want.  This year he wanted a Ninjago Snake cake, "Scales" to be specific.  I did my best and Andrew was pleased.  He definitely knows how to charm a cake maker. 

7 Things About Andrew--

silly, lego-maniac, 1st grader, Wii lover, math man, artist, and...well, the boy's got rhythm.

We love you Andrew!!!

Just Another Monday....

Monday around noon, I got a call from Mary's school nurse.  I hate calls from the school b/c I usually find myself driving to pick up a sick kid.  It's happened a silly number of times this year.  Well, no emergency but she was letting me know that Mary biffed it at recess and scraped up her nose pretty badly.

1 hour later, I got a call from Andrew's school nurse.  No emergency but she was letting me know that Andrew had a bad collision in gym class and hit his eye pretty hard.

They survived.  Andrew ended up with a migraine and was sick all night.  Mary, one week later, is looking back to normal.

I told Whit and Annie that since Mary and Andrew had hurt their eye and nose, those girls better watch their mouths!  They thought that was pretty darn funny.