Sunday, June 14, 2015

Drew @ 2

So Drew’s 2nd birthday was pretty close to non-existent.  Grandma and Grandpa Fletcher came over the day before we left for Utah bearing gifts for Drew to open – a few summer clothes, a book, and a wooden shapes toy.  


His birthday may have been passed over, but this kid can never question the love that we have for him and I have plenty of pictures to show that.   He is such a joy in our family.  So easy going.  Happy and playful.  The perfect little caboose for our crazy train!

Drew loves, loves, LOVES baths and showers; especially when we give him some extra time to play.  


When we throw him in the shower he loves to spend his time squeeging the glass walls and insists on staying in after the shower has been turned off to finish the job (well, as high as his little hands can reach).

Drew loves being outside – rain or shine he’ll stay out as long as possible.  He enjoyed walking Katie to preschool twice a week.  Occasionally he’d try to sneak into preschool with his big sister.  My friend took these pictures of Drew one afternoon while we were waiting for Katie to finish school.


Good thing I’ve still got two years before I have to send this little guy off to preschool!

Drew is a good helper.  His favorite household chore to help with is unloading the dishwasher.


I can’t even count the number of times I’ve found him carrying a sharp knife in his hands (or mouth) though – we’ve seriously been so lucky he hasn’t hurt himself.

I wouldn’t say Drew is much of a snuggler.  He still likes to sit with us in the rocking chair before being put into bed, but he turns himself facing forward so he’s pretty much just sitting on your lap.  He does give great hugs though. 

Drew wants nothing to do with sitting in his high chair anymore.  He much prefers to stand on a regular kitchen chair or kneel on a barstool.  Of course he’s toppled off a couple+ times, but there’s really no stopping the inevitable process of these kids growing up.  Not much room to spare on a barstool, but his big brother is keeping him safe.


Lately Drew has been preferring to sit with someone.  He’ll climb onto the chair next to you and then climb over onto your lap.  Makes eating or accomplishing things much more difficult, but how can you say no to a cute lap buddy like this?


I recently cleaned up his infant seat and high chair to sell and the other day Drew locked himself in the chair and sat quietly looking at the removable placemat.



Drew is a fantastic little tag-a-long to all of his siblings’ events and activities.  Actually, with two capable babysitters in-house he probably stays home more than the other kids were ever able to, but when he does tag-a-long he happily makes the best of it.


Like many kids, Drew finds enjoyment in the simplest things.  Like stuffing wrapping paper down his shirt.


Even just eating a scone can turn into something silly.


The coat closet is always fun…


Daddy’s shoes…


Drew loves to dance and spin...

 

Drew does have a strong love of all things techie - he’d watch TV for hours if his mama wasn’t such a stickler about limited screen time.  He’s been found playing on our phones by quietly pushing a barstool over the counter.  He wants to hold the remote anytime the TV is on and often changes the channel or input on us.  I don’t have any kid games on my phone and just a few on my iPad – it’s a special treat when he gets to play for a few minutes, but I can’t leave him unattended cause he can get into all sorts of apps in a matter of seconds.


Just a few more pictures from the last couple months:


“Cheese!”

Drew speech is coming along.  He can make most sounds when he’s asked – he’s a smart kid, but the “words” he uses on his own are:  ma (that’s me!), ah-o, up, aba or ba (for Abigail), hi, off, ball, ah-ck (for chocolate milk), and no

I took some video a few weeks ago when I saw him create a tee by removing the basketball hoop and then proceed to carry everything into his bedroom.


Drew continues to be a fantastic sleeper – goes to bed easily, sleeps about 12 hours a night, takes a 2-4 hour nap every afternoon and will sleep in a play-n-pack pretty much anywhere.

He’s a decent eater too – he likes a variety of food, but on any given day you don’t know how much he’ll actually eat.  On occasion he’ll want nothing to do with dinner and he’ll be fine without anything.  We drink lots of green smoothies though so I know the kid gets plenty of healthy nutrients and veggies.

Drew isn’t very shy.  It might take him a minute to warm up to a new adult, but once he does he’ll be super playful.  He is also very comfortable going off on his own so we have to keep close tabs on him outside cause he’ll just wander off where he wants.

We seriously scored with this kid (as we did with all our kiddos).  I’m so grateful to be his Mom and to have his sweet personality in our home!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Utah Part II – Family & Memorial Day

Thankfully the next day was Sunday and we could sit back and enjoy time with family. We all came back to my Mom’s after sacrament meeting and my Aunts and Uncle left for Kay's house in St. George.  Ray’s family came over for lunch and games and we were able to convince Brenda and her boyfriend to join us for a few rounds of nines when they dropped by. Val's son has moved out of their basement so we had the entire basement at our disposal, including the theatre room! We'd picked up a few movies at Redbox to enjoy that evening.

My Mom had a bird’s nest in her BBQ.

They’ve peeked inside every so often to watch the process from egg to naked freshly hatched babies to growing baby birds with feathers.  We hoped the kids would be able to take a peek so we all gathered around and as my Mom lifted the lid the birds flew out in a panic.  Actually we’re not even sure they could fly yet, but they glided away.

Whoops!  Hopefully the babies were old enough to take care of themselves or the mama bird was able to gather them up.  Val had quite the task cleaning up the mess they’d left behind.

Cammy picked up a little birthday cake so we could sing a proper Happy Birthday to my baby – who was now 2 years and 2 days old. 


He thought the smoke was pretty neat


We took a little walk around a nearby pond.  Drew was pretty excited about the ducks.


Ray suggested a great plan for our Memorial Day. We headed up north first thing Monday morning and met Ray and his kids at the newly renovated Ogden Temple. This was the temple nearest to me while growing up. Not only does the temple look entirely different, but the entire block seemed unrecognizable as well.


Drew was being absolutely adorable!  Do you see him resting his little hands on top of Justin’s head?

the west entrance

After a few pictures we caravanned to the Ogden City Cemetery to visit my Dad’s gravesite.  


Drew REALLY liked sitting on the headstone.


I sure love this little boy and those baby blues!


My paternal Grandparents and Great Grandparents are also buried near my Dad.


Next stop was Farr's Better Ice cream, a favorite of my Dad's.  Justin and Ray even got one of Dad’s favorite flavors - green pineapple.


Then it was lunch at Zupas, a first for Justin and the kids. It was a big thumbs up for everyone.

The caravan continued to Antelope Island where we attempted to rope cattle and roamed through some old ranch buildings and nearby woods.

Jayden was really close to roping the cattle


Who wouldn’t want to rope these two cuties?

“more”

We spotted antelope, deer, lots of bison, and a coyote.


Drew and Katie enjoyed driving with the windows down.


We hit a few stores (and three different eating establishments) on the way back to my Mom’s. Utah's plethora of shopping and food amazes me every time we visit! The girls got to stay up late playing games with me, Justin, and Grandma. We decided we wouldn't set any alarms in the morning and instead just got up and ready when the kids started waking up. We were on the road at 8am.

I wish I could say the long ride home went as perfectly as the ride there but by this point the kids were pretty tired. There was some whining, a few spatial issues (understandably so with three kiddos squished along the back seat) and apparently we didn't dehydrate the kids enough because we had to make four stops along the way.  One potty break at a rest stop also included a little family volleyball.  

I'm typing this as we are driving home and Justin wants me to include all the quantifiable facts so insert here how long it took us to get home we pulled into our driveway just before 8pm which means it took us just shy of 13 hours to get home.  Seriously though we can't complain. We've been blessed with great little travelers who thankfully don't mind being restrained for an entire day.


Thus ends the fastest trip to Utah ever! Totally worth it! We were so glad to be a part of Grandma’s 100th birthday celebration and we very much enjoyed the time we were able to spend with family.