How Can You Resist...

this face... I know I already posted about Cooper today, but seriously, how could I not post these pictures?

The Young Jedi

Drew got a Light Sabre (or Light Saver, to him) from Santa for Christmas. He loves it, and often calls himself a Jedi while playing with it. He is usually trying to kill Darth Vader, since he is Luke Skywalker. This particular morning I think he was taking it very seriously.

He has some pretty sweet Jedi moves.

This is his mean Jedi face

After the Jedi training, he wanted to have his Jedi hair. Any time I give him a faux hawk, he calls it his Jedi hair. This happened to be the last day of school so I let him go to school with his hair like this. He loved telling all of his teachers that this was his Jedi hair. They thought it was pretty cute!

He really enjoys making silly faces while I am trying to take pictures.

Finally one with his sweet face.

He looks like such a big boy in this picture! I can't get over how quickly the time is going by. It feels like this school year just started, and now it is over. It was such a great year for him at school, he loves it so much. I can't wait to see how much he learns next year.

Sitting Up... Sort of.

I have told you all before how my youngest son, likes to take is own sweet time in doing things. So of course, sitting up has been no different.  This week he has finally started to sit on his own... a little bit.  He can sit for a few seconds at a time, especially if he is distracted by a cool toy.  But he pretty quickly wants to lay back down.  

It still counts with his back against the couch right?  

And some pillows beside him, those are really just for safety!  

See, I told you he needed the pillows!

Anyway, he is getting there.  He still has absolutely no desire to get onto his hands and knees, but this week, we are just going to work on his sitting up skills!  He is 8 months old after all!  

Brothers

I decided that my blog had been a little Drew heavy lately, with all the birthday stuff.  So, I decided just to post a sweet picture of both of them.  

Cooper isn't doing much that is new, so I don't really have much of an update on him.  He is still super sweet, unbelievably mellow, and crazy about his big brother.  He just really isn't too interested in becoming mobile!  Which, now that I think about it, is probably a blessing!  Thanks God!  I am not sure if I am ready for 2 mobile boys in the house!  

The Actual Birthday

Now for Drew's actual birthday.  We started the day by letting Drew open one small present. Then it was off to the doughnut shop!  At his preschool you get to bring a special snack to celebrate your birthday, so Drew wanted to bring doughnuts.  He was really excited... he always loves it when it is his turn to bring the snack.  As another special treat, I brought him McDonald's for lunch that day.  I felt a little bad that he had to go to school on is birthday.  You see, my birthday is so close to Christmas that I never had to go to school on my birthday. So that thought to me is just terrible.  I think Drew really loved it.  Once we ate lunch, I took him home so he could get a good nap at home.  Daddy got to come home a little early that day, and was there when Drew woke up from his nap.  I think that in itself was a gift to Drew.  We let him open a few gifts before dinner too.  

This is Drew opening a Star Wars card that had music.  He loves those cards.

After that it was time to head out to dinner.  Drew had picked Red Robin for his special dinner. My parents meet us there too.   Drew had started to get a bit of a cold so he really didn't eat much food.  He didn't even touch the ice cream sundae they brought him.  

I think he got a little nervous when they were singing to him.

Next it was back to our house.  He had Drew ride with Grandpa so that we could get his main present ready.  So Grandpa and Drew went to their house to pick up the homemade ice cream my mom had prepared, while we headed to our house.  

Drew and Grandpa waiting on the main gift.

Finally we told him he could look.  I think it took a minute to sink in. 

Then he finally got to put on his helmet, go outside, and ride his first big boy bike.  At first he was a little scared of it, and he thought it was a little too hard to do.  At one point he wanted his old bike back, but he really loves it now.

Drew on his new bike.

In this one you can tell he just isn't feeling well. 

Between the Pump it Up party and his actual birthday we had a celebration with Andy's family for Drew's birthday as well as his cousin Brenna's birthday.  Unfortunately I forgot my camera. Granddad did send me some but I have not been able to go through those yet, so that will have to be for another post on another day.  

Pump It Up Birthday

I am finally getting around to blogging about Drew's birthday festivities.  We started off his birthday week with a party at Pump it Up.  Drew's best friend Jake is only 8 days older than Drew.  They go to school together, they are in the same Sunday school class, the same children's choir class, the same Mission Friends class, and since they live about a mile down the road from us they will go to the same schools.  So it was only natural that we give them a joint birthday party together.  I am not sure if Drew had more fun at the party, or just thinking about getting to share his birthday with Jake.  But needless to say, they had a great time, and really... so did we. 

Drew and Jake watching the safety video before the party started.  
(Jake's sister Natalie is sitting next to Drew and Drew's cousin Madeleine is next to Jake) 

Jake and Drew sitting in the inflatable chair in the party room before pizza was served.

Enjoying some pizza, they were all starving.

Blowing out the candles.  Notice how clean Jake's face is and how messy Drew's is! 

I took a ton of pictures while they were playing on the inflatable slides and other things, but the kids were moving so fast that I didn't get many good shots.  The adults didn't move as fast, but no one really wants to see that!  

I have to say a big THANK YOU to Jake's parents!  Kristin and Stacy...  Thanks for booking it and sending out the invitations.  You guys are so easy to work with!  I am so glad our boys are friends!  

4 Years Old

Today Drew turns 4 years old.  I can hardly believe it!  Four years ago today God brought one of the sweetest, smartest, funniest and kindest little boys into this world.  He has been such a blessing to us.  

Let me tell you a little bit about Drew this year:

He had his first trip to the ER to get stitches just after his last birthday.  He ran into a corner of the wall in Andy's office and came out crying and bleeding profusely from the his head.  We rushed him to the hospital (about 2 minutes away).  He was such a good boy, once they numbed it, he was playing and ready to go.  He stayed calm and was such a big boy the whole time.  We were so proud of him!  You can read more about that here.

Last summer, after crying everyday at swimming lessons, Drew became a great swimmer.  He would swim, with his head under water, eyes open the entire length of our pool.  Granted, it is a small pool, but that is pretty good for a 3 year old.  He even got to where he could come up for a breath, and keep swimming.  

In September, Drew became a big brother.  And what a great big brother he is too.  He is so sweet with Cooper.  He has always loved to hold Cooper, and play with him.  If Cooper fusses, Drew will talk, or even sing to him to keep him happy.  And, oh, does Cooper LOVE Drew.  Cooper's face just lights up when Drew is around.  And the rougher Drew plays the more Cooper loves it.   

Drew attended First Faith Preschool again this year.  He loves school so much.  He teachers always tell me how smart he is and what a great memory he has.  Andy and I think the memory part is both a blessing and a curse!  He will return to First Faith next year and will be going 3 days a week, instead of 2.  I can't believe this will be the last year before kindergarten!  

In the Fall, Drew played on his first soccer team, and was a pretty good goalie.  He also started singing in the preschool choir at church, and started attending Mission Friends on Wednesday nights.  He loves church too, and has started asking me some pretty tough questions about God, and Jesus.  I have already had to email our preschool minister to make sure I answered something right!  

It has been such a great year!  No words can express how much we love this little boy!  Every night when I tuck him into bed and look at that sweet face, I thank God for trusting us with such a sweet heart.  I can't wait to see what this next year hold for him.  He is one special boy!  

Brotherly Love

My boys were being so sweet together this morning.  Drew insisted on holding "the Cooper Man" right after breakfast.  He is such a great big brother, Cooper is one lucky little guy!  

Such Sweet Faces

I have been playing around with some picture editing software, and theses are my latest creations. These were done @ http://www.picnik.com/. It is pretty cool, and free (unless you want to do the really cool stuff.)