Station 5 . . . with cousins!

We recently made a trip to Battle Creek to visit Uncle Todd at the fire station.  I'll start with a picture of Drew because I didn't get many of him on this trip.  He was all over the place!  The last time we visited Battle Creek Kate was sick and had to stay home, so this time I got lots of pictures of her around the fire engine.

After some initial reluctance to sit in the fire engine, Kate began to warm up and we were able to coax a smile from her.  It either wasn't the day for it or Drew is getting older, as he didn't want to wear a fire helmet for the visit.  Kate, on the other hand, proudly wore her fire helmet the whole time.  It was kinda adorable (in my opinion).

We were thrilled that Shannon and her sons Joe and Ryan were able to join us at the fire station.  I was realizing as I started this post that I probably haven't put news of Todd and Shannon's engagement on the blog yet.  This is old news, but Congratulations!  They are getting married this summer.  Our whole family is involved in the wedding (Mark=best man, Jana=matron of honor, Drew=ring bearer, Kate=flower girl) and we're looking forward to it.  In the picture below, Shannon and Kate are lying on top of the fire engine.

At times Shannon had to work to get a smile out of Kate, but she had some giggles in her.

On the way home I always ask Drew and Kate what their favorite part of the fire station was.  You may recall that the last time Drew and I went to Battle Creek, the favorite part for Drew was the workout room at the fire station.  This time, it was unanimous for Drew and Kate: seeing Ryan and Joe was their favorite part of the trip.  Drew and Kate are very excited about having cousins!

Todd will be glad that I cropped him out of the picture below.  He was making the water noise while Kate directed the nozzle.  It's heavy!

At first Kate was shy around the fire station and the fire engine.  By the end of our visit she was having a great time and particularly enjoyed this seat in the back of the fire engine.

The obligatory shot of the children in front of the fire engine is below.  It was made a little more difficult by the sun, so Shannon and Todd held something up to provide shade.  This is the best one out of the ones I took.  I think I need a new camera so I can take more rapid pictures!  Getting everyone to "smile" and be looking anywhere near the camera required a minor miracle.

We rolled down the window in the back of the fire engine and the kids had a great time clambering in and out of the fire engine and saying hello to the adults out the window.

In a dramatic change from her first picture, Kate asked to sit in the front seat again and to wear a headset.  Uncle Todd couldn't deny that request, so with the lights on (in the background) Kate talked for a bit over the headset.  Everyone got in on the act and talked on a headset (there are 4).  Kate loved it!

As usual, we had another great visit to station 5.  Drew and Kate talked the whole way home about the things they saw and did.  Drew kept on exclaiming how amazing it was that Joe and Ryan were there:  "Dad, how did they know we would be there?  That was so cool!"  "Drew, I told them we would be there."  "But Dad, how did they KNOW we would be there?" and so on :)

Three year old Kate

Yesterday our big girl Kate turned three years old.  In the few days before her birthday we had fun telling her the story of her birth, about how big brother Drew handled it, and how excited we all were about her arrival.  We can't believe it's already been three years! 

A few weeks ago Kate made the switch to a big girl bed.  For a while, we've had her crib modified toward a bed, but this is a twin mattress and headboard.  Very exciting!  Kate and Drew helped me take down the crib and set up the new bed frame and mattresses.  That part was probably more exciting to Kate than actually sleeping in the bed :)  After putting in a little railing for her (because Kate is a roamer in bed) she was all set to go.  Below is a picture of Kate in her big girl bed for the first night.

Drew has had a stepstool next to his bed and it was so sweet to watch him get it from his room and set it up for Kate so she wouldn't have any trouble getting into her bed.  While she was looking huge in her crib, Kate now looks so little in her big bed!

I should also brag for a moment about Kate and her ability to sleep through the night without wetting a diaper.  Kate just turned three and has been clean and dry 24 hours a day now for 3-4 weeks.  Drew is 5 and he still routinely sleeps so hard his nightime diaper is a little wet in the morning.  While Kate was a little harder to potty train, she's clearly got the hang of it now.  Way to go Kate!  We take no credit for this success, as Kate has done it entirely on her own.  Now if we can just get her to teach her brother :)

First lost tooth

One of the exciting events in our house over the past month has been Drew losing teeth.  Yes, teeth plural!  We noted first that he had a loose tooth in his lower set of teeth and he proceeded to wiggle it with his tongue and his fingers.  Then one morning after being good with breakfast and asking to have a piece of candy, we gave him some Laffy Taffy.  After he finished it, Jana looked closely at Drew and said, "Buddy, where is your tooth?"  Drew looked startled and quickly realized it was gone.  He swallowed it!  Not willing to do any sort of eventual hunt for this momentous first lost tooth, we instead had Drew draw a picture of it.

We've debated participating in myths like Santa Claus and now we had the same debate with the Tooth Fairy.  Drew quickly settled the debate though.  When we asked him if he wanted to put the drawing under his pillow to see if the tooth fairy would bring him something, he replied, "Actually, I don't think the tooth fairy is a real person.  I think it's mom and dad.  I don't BELIEVE in the tooth fairy."  Not wanting to lie to him, we gave in.  Although, Drew did still put the drawing under his pillow and he did still get $1.

Drew's second lost tooth was much less eventful, particularly for Jana and I because it happened while we were out of town and Drew and Kate were staying with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill.  That tooth was saved and Drew now keeps it on his dresser (although he still managed to snag $1 for that one too).  Below is a picture of our toothless boy.

While Drew was busy losing teeth, Jana and I were on a fun just-the-two-of-us trip up north.  We went up north to go snowshoeing.  One problem though . . . there was almost no snow.  We made the best of it though and did some great hiking and had a great time enjoying the outdoors.  For this particular hike, it was rather chilly despite there being little snow.

Our hike took us near Lake Michigan and we had fun checking out the ice buildup near the shore.

We did manage to find some snow that hadn't melted and were able to snowshoe one day.  The irony of our trip was that while we were gone, Lansing got hit with a major snowstorm that dumped over 10" of snow!  It missed the area where we were and we arrived home to dig out our driveway. 

One final picture of Drew is below.  When he smiles normally, you can hardly see his missing teeth.  Kate will be prominently featured in the next post. 

visit to station 5

What blog update is complete without some pictures from a visit to the fire station?  Drew got a special treat and the two of us went down to Battle Creek together for a visit with Uncle Todd and station 5.  Kate had to stay home with Jana due to a fever.  Drew was pretty excited about the one-on-one time with me and with getting to see Uncle Todd on his own.  When I asked him on the way there what he was most excited about seeing, he told me it was the tools on the fire engine.  Therefore, that's what we saw first!

Drew is getting a lot bigger, but he looked small wearing Uncle Todd's fire coat.

Firefighter Drew ready to go to an emergency!  Drew's goal remains to someday be an "uncle firefighter."  Can't figure out where he gets the idea that would be cool :)

Drew also tried on a pair of Todd's fire boots and clomped around in them for a bit. 

Todd turned on the communication system in the fire engine, so we all talked to each other over the headsets.  On previous visits Drew hasn't shown much interest in talking into his headset, but this time he talked a little bit and enjoyed listening to Todd and I talk.

After seeing the sweet fire engine and admiring all the tools on the engine, I was surprised to hear Drew's favorite part of the visit when I quizzed him on the ride home.  It was the firefighter's exercise room!  We went upstairs to see the weightlifting equipment, treadmill, and exercise bike that Todd uses at work.  Drew also continues to love the bedroom where all the firefighters sleep.  It's so novel to have a job where you sleep overnight.  Drew is fascinated by the idea of living at the fire station for a 24 hour shift.

random stuff

Over winter break Jana had Drew and Kate at home with her for a few weeks, which gave them the opportunity to explore some things around Lansing.  One of the things that was on the list to check out was our local children's science museum.  Not suprisingly, Drew and Kate loved it.  In our house, I'm the one who does the cleaning, so it makes me proud to see Kate carrying around a broom.  Apparently, even cleaning can be exciting!

Drew and Kate also enjoyed the water table at the museum.  I'm always amazed both by how much fun kids have with a couple inches of water in a table and by how incredibly wet they can get while playing with the water.  It's incredible!

Drew has been doing a lot with Legos lately.  Legos were always one of my favorite toys growing up, so I have done little to discourage him with Legos and all the attention I give his Legos might actually be encouraging him!  He does a great job of following directions to put things together, but what really delights us are the things he comes up with on his own.  Below is his cherry picker.  It has a rotating arm that raises and lowers with a bucket at the end.  The bucket is hinged so that it can remain level.  On a platform attached to the base of the arm are two yellow rails that hold tools (the tools are the black things).  Jana and I found this creation to be absolutely delightful.

This is what every night at our house is like.  Lots of fun and giggles during bath time.  Well, not really, but sometimes it is lots of fun!  Kate's hair continues to get longer and makes for a great shampoo mohawk.  Drew, on the other hand, refuses to have any products or anything in his hair that might add texture or body.  The only place he doesn't mind is the bath.  So we had some fun with both Kate's hair and with Drew's hair and they both found it to be hilarious.

I don't know what it is about little girls and cameras.  Every once in a while Kate will strike a pose like this.  Drew never did that.  In general though, Kate is much more likely to ham it up than Drew is. 

We continue to read books a LOT.  Even when we get tired of reading to Drew and Kate, they still "read" on their own.  Drew was reading one evening on the couch and Kate just put herself on the couch right next to him and joined in on the story.  Drew tolerates Kate's attention very well and just continues reading with her there and he may even start reading aloud to her.  Our favorite thing is when he tries to teach her something.  He'll sound out a word for her until she pronounces it correctly.  It's so fun to watch!

Lest you think that last photo was staged, here they are at it again.  At this time, Drew was naming things of the page and then Kate had to find them.  Each time she found something, Drew would say, "Good job!  Good job Kate!"  He's actually a pretty good teacher and he's very patient and kind with Kate.  It's so much fun to watch the two of them together.  They play beautifully.



Christmas celebrations

In this post I'll try to summarize our Christmas 2010.  Drew and Kate are at an absolutely fantastic age and we thoroughly enjoyed this Christmas season.  It's actually fun to write about it a little afterward because I have more perspective on it . . . or at least that's what I'm telling myself to not feel guilty about taking so long to write about it! :)

When we celebrated with my mom's side of the family Kate got a Zsu Zsu Pet.  She was absolutely enamored with the way it made noise and would move along a smoot surface.  Pretty soon the whole room was enamored with her as her enthusiasm was quite infectious.  In the picture below she's showing off her new toy to great-grandpa Vryhof and eliciting grins and laughs from everyone.

Drew and Kate both like to dress up and role play.  One of the things they got were some dress up clothes to facilitate that imaginative play.  The first thing Drew tried on was a doctor's outfit. He looks pretty natural in that outfit, doesn't he?  (He still desperately wants to be a firefighter when he grows up though)

Jana and I continued our family tradition of having the kids pick out our presents for each other.  Drew and Kate mainly receive gifts, so we have been making a concerted effort to remind them of the value of giving.  I shopped first with the kids and then Jana shopped with them.  We learned from my experience and the kids (well, basically Kate) did a lot better job with keeping my present a secret.  For Jana we went to the mall to find a necklace.  As we were walking around a store looking at jewelry, Drew looked up, pointed to the necklace that Jana is wearing in the picture below, and he said, "Mom would look beautiful in that necklace."  Sold!

We also got Jana travel mugs from Biggby Coffee.  I had this great idea to let each child pick out a mug.  Great idea, but when we got to the shop they both picked out the same one.  I didn't anticipate that one.  I couldn't get either child to budge, so we ended up with two of the exact same travel mug for Jana.  I also failed to impress on Kate that this mission was a secret one because the first thing she said to Jana when we saw her was, "We got you a mug for Christmas!  It's from Biggby Coffee."  The only part of the gift that remained a surprise was that Jana got two of the same mug!

For my gifts, both Drew and Kate did a nice job of keeping me in the dark.  One of my gifts was a nice selection of microbrew beers.  When I picked up the wrapped present at our family Christmas celebration and felt the weight, I asked, "What is in here?  It's heavy!"  Without hesitation, Kate replied with a forlorn voice, "It's just bottles."

Drew enjoyed Todd's new dog, Mattie, at my family's Christmas celebration.  While Mattie sat in Grandpa Bill's lap, Drew giggled away and let Mattie lick his face.  With Jana and I both suffering from animal allergies, it was fun to watch Drew enjoying a dog.

No particular story is associated with this picture from celebrating Christmas with Jana's family.  I think I enjoy it because it shows off the similarity between mother and daughter.  Over the past few months we've had many people note how much Kate looks like Jana.  I have two beautiful women in my life!

catching up

Yesterday by brother reminded me that I have a blog.  It is rather obvious that I've gotten out of the habit of posting stories and pictures, but it's never too late to start again, so keep looking as I work to get caught up.  I have pictures all the way back into December, so I'll try to hit some highlights of the past few months.
Below is a brief video of the Christmas party at Drew and Kate's daycare.  The daycare kids are singing a song they practiced for the parents.  Drew and Kate also did some practicing for us at home, which we highly enjoyed.  However, on the big stage they all got a little quiet despite all that practice they put in.  It was still very cute though!