More Caspar Babypants Fun!

We attended our 6th Caspar Babypants concert last weekend with our friends the Devereuxs and the Fishers and we had a ball! He just rolled out his newest CD and as you can see Evan was very excited about getting it! It was held at a children's museum so the kids got to play during the concert which made it even more fun for them. It was a risky endeavor taking Ava out at that time of night because she melts down around 7 pm if she's not put down for bed. Fortunately she did amazingly well and seemed to enjoy all the stimulation of the music and all of the kids running around. Eventually she managed to fall asleep amidst the chaos.

Happy Kids!

4 Months Old

Ava turned 4 months old last week - hard to believe! She is now just under 12 pounds and is a very sweet, happy baby. She giggles and smiles all the time now, especially at Evan. She rolled over for the first time a few weeks ago and did it several times that day but has not done it since. She has started to play with toys which is fun to watch, she has a few favorites that really make her smile.

Last week Evan had his first preschool field trip! We went to a farm about 30 minutes east of Issaquah called Oxbow Farms. They had a pumpkin patch but the focus was more on teaching the kids about where the food they eat comes from. It was a great tour and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. They had a very cool area specially designed for kids which included a tunnel and tipi made out of vines and a corn maze.

Salmon Days

We had a great day last Sunday as a family spending the day at Issaquah's Salmon Days Festival. Evan got to hear his favorite band (Caspar Babypants) play, we saw salmon jumping up the fish ladder, we rode a train, ate a ton of fatty food, and Evan rode a pony. We were there for over 4 hours and we managed to get by without any meltdowns which these days is a rarity!

First Day of Preschool

Evan had a great first day of preschool on Thursday. He completely surprised me by not shedding a single tear. He had been extremely reluctant to talk at all about preschool and repeatedly said he did not want to go. Suddenly on Wednesday out of the blue he said "I am ready to go to school Mom". And on Thursday morning he said with a smile "I am excited about preschool". We went into his classroom together and walked around to the different stations, five minutes later I said I was leaving and he said 'bye' and that was that. I was invited to a brunch with all of the other moms during the time he was in class and it was great to commiserate with everyone. I held back tears the entire time and was really anxious to hear how his first day went. When I picked him up he ran to me with the sweetest and biggest smile on his face that I will never forget. He ran into my arms and gave me a huge hug. It made me so proud. He is definitely ready for this next step of independence. (NOTE: the girl in the picture with him is Molly our neighbor across the street. I think it helped both of them to have a familiar face in the class with them).

Sweetest sound!

Ava turned three month's old on Monday. Time is passing very quickly and I am already feeling sad that the newborn phase is behind us. She is such a sweet, easy-going baby. Her only need is to be where the action is and she's happy. She is very energetic (constantly moving/kicking her arms and legs) and very interactive. She loves watching her big brother! I think it is safe to say that everyone in the family has fallen in the love with her, we all sit around and stare at her and try to make her smile (which she does often!). She has started to become ticklish and tonight for the first time I made her laugh several times. It was the sweetest sound! She has Mommy wrapped around her finger already!

Highlights of Summer

We've had a great summer so far, attending three outdoor children's concerts, soccer classes every Saturday, Seafair, a wallaby ranch, an animal farm and several trips to the Kristoferson Farm.

Ava is doing great, smiling constantly and growing like a weed. At her two-month check-up she had gained almost 4 pounds since birth. So far this week she has slept in one five to six hour stretch each night which I am immensely grateful for! Prior to this week no one seemed to be getting any sleep in our house. Evan was getting up repeatedly each night and the only way I could get Ava to sleep at all was to sleep with her on my chest while I elevated myself on pillows. Up until two weeks ago Aaron slept in our guest room on a twin bed (or on an air mattress during the five weeks we had guests here) so he was sleeping terribly as well!

Evan turning three has brought with it new adventures for us. He has entered a phase that is both incredibly fun at times and incredibly frustrating. His personality is adorable, he says the funniest things and can be very polite and sweet when you least expect it. He recently told me I was beautiful and today he said I was the best Mom. He loves music and we are constantly singing together. I have tried desperately to get him to like some of my music so I am not listening to Caspar Babypants all the time. For some reason he likes the Bangles and now we sing 'Walk Like an Egyptian' and 'Manic Monday' all day! He has given up his nap which causes him to be extremely hyper by the late afternoon...not fun I can assure you! He also has started to 'talk back' to us which took me by surprise when it first started happening. Everyone talks about the 'terrible two's' and I was really looking forward to getting past that stage. Now we've entered an equally challenging stage at age three that I was not prepared for. Tantrums have reemerged as well as some seriously annoying whining! Preschool starts in two weeks and he is technically supposed to be potty trained so we've been aggressively making attempts to get him there in the last month. Unfortunately it is not going so well despite all of my attempts at bribery (sticker charts, M&M's, toys).