MSU gardens

I forgot to put this first picture on my last post, and it is one of my new favorites because Kate looks like such a big girl. Can't you almost get a sense of what she's going to look like as she gets older?! The other night Kate fell asleep on my chest and since Jana wasn't around, I took a picture of it myself. It turned out all right, and you can get the idea of how sweet it was to have her hand pulling on my shirt and her head nestled into my chest. She's such a pleasant weight right now when she falls asleep on you.

Kate still looks like a baby in her pajamas and bib. She's so soft and huggable in her soft footed pajamas!

One of my favorite places at MSU is the gardens that include the demonstration gardens and children's garden. They are such cool places to walk through and amazingly, Drew and Kate had never been there. This past weekend Jana was at a retreat, so on Saturday night to get out for a bit I took Drew and Kate to the gardens. Drew had fun checking everything out and exploring the gardens.

The garden is right next to the train tracks and while we were there a train went by on the tracks. Drew has seen MANY trains from the car, but it was the first time we were up close when a train went past while blowing its horn . . . and it was loud! Drew's eyes were huge at the noise the train made. After seeing the train, Drew got up in this play train and enjoyed driving it.

He poked his head out of the engine room to say hello to me and Kate.

To my disappointment, this part of the garden wasn't operating. Usually you can rotate the metal thing Drew is holding and the frogs in the background have water pumped out of their mouths. It's pretty entertaining for kids (and adults too), and I was hoping to show it to Drew. Drew still had fun rotating it around, but it wasn't the same without the water shooting out of the frog's mouths.

Both Drew and Kate were THRILLED when Jana came home. They had a good weekend with Dad, but they lit up when mom got home. Kate chatted away and smiled all night, and Drew was giving everyone hugs!

spicy

Jana and I continue our nightly tradition of going in and checking in on both of our kids. Kate has settled in for sleeping and sleeps just as soundly as Drew now. We go in and give her a little kiss and I rest my hand on her chest to feel her breathing. She's getting so much bigger, but when she's sleeping she feels so fragile and tiny! The other night Kate was lying with one arm out and we snapped a picture of her sleeping. We could stand by their beds and watch our kids sleep for a long time! Kate was rocking her dress earlier this week and Jana snapped some pictures of her. Kate is at that age when she likes to work it for the camera. As soon as we pull out the camera she starts cooing and smiling. It's too cute!

Drew, on the other hand, hams it up in a different way. The best way to get a nice picture of him is while he's sitting in his chair eating. Otherwise, pictures of his "smiles" are hit or miss. We're still working on him giving a nice smile for the camera when we ask.

Kate lights up whenever I enter the room. It's so much fun to be around. Sometimes I'm distracted and I don't notice it, and Jana will say to me, "Will you at least look at Kate? She's been grinning and making noises at you and you haven't noticed!" Once Kate has my attention it's hard to get back to what I was doing!

Tonight I sat down to dinner with Drew and Kate and Drew looked down at his plate and said, "This food looks very spicy for me." He still tucked right into it and after eating a bunch of his rice and chicken he looked up at me and said, "My food does taste spicy to me." You know what? He was right! The rice and chicken that I made for him WAS a little bit spicy and as soon as he mentioned it the first time I realized he was right. I didn't even know he knew what spicy meant!

first apple picking trip of the fall

Drew and Kate continue to be absolutely . . . delightful! Drew still loves to hold Kate and softly touch her and make her laugh. He was so excited in this picture that he got to hold her! I've been enjoying snuggling with my daughter (and so has Jana). She's been pretty tired at night lately, so sometimes she falls asleep in my arms before we get her to bed. That's a special treat! A few weeks ago Kate and Drew both had colds, and one night while comforting Kate and suctioning her nose, she fell asleep like this on my chest and I didn't realize it until we both woke up several hours later. Jana and I have been cherishing the experiences of Kate being this small because she's continuing to grow and get bigger. Keep at it Kate!

Kate's eyes continue to stay dark, although the exact color is going to be difficult to determine. Her hair is also starting to come in a little bit . . . and it's dark! Kate is starting to look more and more like Jana (and that's a GOOD thing!!).

This past week we went apple picking one night after work. Last year we only went once and we ran out of apples within a few weeks. This year we decided to get out to the apple orchard as often as possible! Drew was a big help and frequently had two apples in his hands: one apple to eat and another to go in our bag.

Kate went along for a ride with Jana in the Baby Bjorn. This was Kate's first time apple picking, and it was Drew's THIRD fall of apple picking!

I pulled Drew over for a picture with me. He was squirming away and still doesn't like to pose for pictures (yet he loves to look at pictures of himself).

Drew loved striding around the orchard with an apple in hand. He ate two apples while we were out picking them. We saw lots of cool tractors that Drew needed to check out.

Drew enjoyed the freedom of wandering around the orchard. He's getting to be a big boy, isn't he? People continually mistake him for a four-year-old!

Drew liked wandering under the trees and helping us with picking apples. The apples were a little small this year, but they taste delicious!

I caught Drew in this picture with a mouthful. He would take a bite of apple, walk around, take another bite of apple, walk around, pick an apple for us, take another bite of apple, and so on. He always had an apple he was working on eating!

Jana gave Drew some help on picking some of his apples.

It was absolutely beautiful out in the orchard with the sunshine and the rows of trees filled with apples. We went before the weekend crowd, so the trees were FILLED with apples.

Kate enjoyed her tasty Baby Bjorn and had it completely soaked by the end of the trip. We're pretty sure she's headed toward some teeth as she's been chewing on everything and drooling like crazy.

Mom and daughter had fun apple picking!

On our way out we had to check out the farm equipment and the pumpkins one more time.

Just like last year, I needed a shot of the sign advertising the place we went to pick apples. It's the perfect place for families to go apple picking. We had a great time!

The other night, to Jana's amusement, Drew and I got ready for bed in the same outfits: black Addidas warm ups and white t-shirts. Drew's mouth dropped when he saw what I was wearing because he LOVES to have similar outfits as I do. Although he doesn't always get it quite right, about once a week I let him choose my outfit so that the two of us "match" (at least in his mind :)

This past Saturday we had a "party" at Michigan State University. We tailgated with Jeremy (on the left) and his wife Kristin, and Jayme (on the right) and his wife Lindsay and son Cole, and with Uncle Todd. It was a beautiful morning to be outside and we had a great time making and eating breakfast (bacon, sausage, eggs, potatoes, and pancakes . . .yum!).

Drew brought along his soccer ball and had fun kicking it around the grassy area next to where we were sitting.Drew is quite adept at dribbling a soccer ball. It is so much fun to watch! I'll have to get a video of him doing it because he can run almost full speed while dribbling a soccer ball. I gave him some rudimentary lessons on kicking the ball, but his skill at dribbling is all natural. I hoped he might play football, but maybe his skills are in soccer.

pool party

A few weeks ago Kate got her first bath in the sink, which happened at Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill's house. Her eyes get quite wide open in the bath, don't they? This picture is actually from Labor Day weekend, which we spent in Grand Rapids with both sides of the family. Drew has never been much of a guy for sweets, but just recently he's show more interest in chocolate. He's sitting here at the kitchen table getting ready for some birthday cake. To our surprise, he was very interested in birthday cake!

Even though it was a happy birthday for Jana, Drew loves to sing along to "Happy Birthday." He's fascinated by the whole process of lighting the candles and blowing them out, so we always do it more than once.

Drew was a big help for Jana with getting all the candles blown out.

We all watched in astonishment as Drew polished off this piece of cake. He was making appreciative noises and working his way through it consistently. Jana and I were quite surprised! Usually, Drew would rather have meat, fruit, or vegetables instead of cake.Grandma Sue got the special treat here of reading a story to both her grandchildren.

Kate has been growing a LOT lately, and we have the feeling that the next time we see the doctor she won't be in the 25th percentile anymore. Drew took off in size as he approached six months, and it appears that Kate is going to do the same thing. She's getting much longer all of the sudden and she's been gaining weight like crazy.

On Labor Day it was quite warm in Lansing, so Drew and I went out in the morning and set up our little backyard pool. We put it out in the morning and by the afternoon, the water temperature was in the low 80s. Our whole family headed to backyard after Kate and Drew's afternoon nap and we had a pool party! We stripped Kate of her diaper and even she got to go for a little swim.

Kate enjoyed the water, but not that much!

Drew asked to hold Kate, so we gave him a turn holding her in the pool (closely supervised!!). How sweet!

Kate likes to relax on the couch. She's pretty good at sitting on the couch or standing next to it, but she hasn't quite gotten the hang of sitting upright yet.

We've been enjoying Kate's continued growth, her smiles, her giggles, and her increasing appetite. After some initial resistance to solid foods, she's been eating like crazy lately! It's impressive how much squash that girl can eat.

Kate tried to camouflage herself in her bed. I snuck in to take this picture, which was helped by the fact that Kate has become a much more sound sleeper lately. Our new nightly tradition is for Jana and I to sneak into each kid's bedroom to give them a kiss while they are sleeping and say goodnight.

This is a picture that Jana took of Kate lying on Drew's bed. Kate had reached over and grabbed Jessie, Drew's giraffe from the Binder Park Zoo.

Drew and Kate were on the bed together and Jana got a picture of the two of them together, which isn't the easiest thing to do. They are both rarely looking at the camera or in good poses at the same time!

video of a video

I've got more pictures coming (lots more), but I thought I'd get started with what I've managed to get on here so far. Drew likes to close his eyes and make goofy faces for the camera, so the best way we've found to get him to smile for a picture is . . . tickling! In the picture below I was madly tickling him and then we both paused while Jana snapped a quick picture. After doing this a couple times we arrived with a somewhat satisfactory picture of the two of us.

Drew has been enjoying daycare and playing with Jana, but he's been rather Dad-focused lately, which I'm not complaining about! We've got a routine in the morning where I get him out of bed and we both quietly ease our way into activity and talking. In the evening, Drew is constantly clamoring for me to head down into the basement to play with him. At the same time, Kate has been thoroughly enjoying Jana. You should see her smile when Jana walks into the room! I need to capture it on film because it is a look of pure joy.Whenever I'm on the computer Drew asks if he can see pictures of himself and especially "talking pictures" of himself, a.k.a. videos. A little while ago we were going through pictures of his first visit to Uncle Todd's fire station, and Drew was captivated by the video of the fire rescue coming out of the station. He wanted to watch it over and over again. We're continuing to work on Drew's manners and you'll notice me ignoring him at the end of the video of us watching the video. We don't even pay attention to him unless he requests something politely. Once he does that, we still often say "no," but we at least acknowledge his request!


I will try to get more pictures up soon, especially of Kate. She is a cutie!!