Happy birthday Andrew!

Lot's o' birthdays in a short span of time for this fam.  This year, Gma Cherie and GGma Darlene got to visit us for Andrew's birthday.  The kids had a lot of fun "helping" Dad open his presents.  Our Ninja crew is now complete…Arjen specifically said he wanted to get Andrew a red ninja mask, like his orange one, so they could play Ninja's together.  He also pretty much listed off everything else he got for his birthday, as what he wanted to get dad this year.  It was pretty cute.  

We had a great visit with "the grandmas".  During the days, the boys had fun playing tour guide, pretty much around the entire bay area, making it all the way down to Half Moon Bay to check out the pumpkin patches that we've been hearing about for years.  I was working, but enjoyed coming home to see everyone for dinner and hear about all the adventures.  

Helping Dad open his presents

Sorry for the blurry pic…best I could get of the majority of the bday dinner crew…and no, it was not a Packers game night, but the team spirit was running high regardless!

The October bday boys sporting their new Packers gear (and Arjen is holding "bumblebee" his new transformer toy)

What's a trip to CA without a stop at the Golden Gate Bridge?

Any visit with "the grandmas" wouldn't be complete without a game of Shanghai! 

Happy 4th birthday Arjen!!

Four years old!!!  All of a sudden we have a full blown kid.  This guy is no "preschooler" anymore.  He continues to show us just how smart and grown up he's becoming.  It's frightening and amazing all in the same breath.  

What he's doing now:

- easily riding his bike all on his own, up and down hills, in circles, to the park…in fact, he got a new big bike for his birthday!

- writing his name and any other words he has the patience to write out if we help with the spelling

- helping in the kitchen (a fave is helping make pancakes on the weekends)

- bossing his little brother around (I'm hearing more and more of my own words coming out of his mouth and being directed at Gus these days)

- tattling on his little bro ("Mom! Gus dumped out the legos!") or worse yet, blaming whatever they both may be in trouble for on the little bro.  It's impressive.  ("but Gus did it!") 

- trying to do anything Dad does (he's a big fan of helping to hitch/unhitch the trailer)

- playing Wii video games (he's a big fan of being the luigi character in Super Mario Bros, mariokart, and olympic winter sports)

- acting out his new ninja skills that he has picked up from watching Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

- telling us he loves us, then taking it to the next level (I love you 100! I love you 42 hundred! and whatever other big numbers he can manage to spit out that are higher than what I come back with.  Definitely one of my favorite current games to play with him!)

Life with this guy is nothing but interesting, enlightening, and exciting!  Happy Birthday Arjen! We love you infinity!

He chose Chili's for his birthday dinner - he loves being able to "read" his own menu (pictures) and choose his own food.  The free birthday ice cream didn't hurt either, although, he wasn't too thrilled when he was in the spotlight while the waitstaff sang "Happy Birthday" to him!

Decorating for his Orange themed birthday party

The fam came over to help us celebrate Arjen turning 4…The kid couldn't have picked a better favorite color to have  with an October bday, and during a Giants playoff streak!

I think he likes the new bike, even though he told us we needed to take the training wheels off!

the Orange Crew.  

Gus was grateful to Aunt Shannon for bringing his shopping cart downstairs.  God forbid that thing didn't follow him from room to room!

Checking out a little Giants action

Turtle power!

Sorry for the darkness…the boys were enjoying a moment outside with some new transformer RescueBot toys

Think he partied hard enough? 

Practicing for three

The boys and I got a chance to go visit miss Sloane (and Shannon and Brian of course) today. For the most part, they were both great with her, and even got to hold her! And to be fair, Sloane was great with both of them too! 

Arjen didn't skip a beat before asking if he could hold her. Poor kid has been waiting her whole life (two weeks)!

Getting a kiss from Gus. 

Getting a kiss from the bump. 

Welcome baby Sloane!!

On Sept 12, Sloane Marie Crossman joined our family. We were able to take the boys to the hospital to meet her. A few pics from that afternoon:

Not loving her first bath

Arjen was very curious about the new baby 

And very gentle too!

Gus was curious for maybe 2 seconds

All the ladies. :)

We couldn't be happier for Shannon and Brian and their newest family member! Thank you for sharing her with us!! Time to pay you all another visit...these pics already seem outdated!!

Go Badgers!

We celebrated the college football season kickoff last weekend with an impromptu family gathering to watch the first Wisconsin game. Good thing the company and the food was great, 'cause the game?? Not so much. 

Getting set up for dinner on the patio. 

The boys needed to get a closer look at the score. Didn't believe their eyes. 

We also did an early celebration for Grandpa Wayne's birthday. 

Baba and Gus cozied up for a bedtime story. 

Big and Bigger

Ha! Probably the only time she'll ever be bigger! And yes, this means there will be baby cousins come Feb 2014!!

Gus the builder

This kid has quite the imagination and ability to think outside the blocks. He built a road this morning. With a gate. And a bridge (the part over the tape measure). Love watching him play. :)