Memorial Day Weekend

We had such a great weekend! Philip actually was off the entire weekend AND the holiday- yay for family time! 

We filled our nights with friends, families, lots of fun and hotdogs:) and not as much sleep as we had hoped ;) 

Philip took A to Lowes to buy flags and a pinwheel for the holiday 

Saturday night we went to Jordan and Nicks for a cook out. The kids had so much fun playing, and only 3 out of 8 kids got hurt:) nothing major- but swings are a hard concept to understand for kids. Rachel from FRIENDS knew the dangers. 

Sunday we went to our neighborhood pool in the morning and both kids had so much fun. Ainsley was swimming and jumping in all by herself (with her puddle jumpers). Parker is still working on loving the pool but seemed to enjoy it for the most part. 

That night we went to Brian and Lindsay's for a cookout and games. Brian is a great cook- and Lindsay's family gets nicer the more time we spend with them. Mrs. Raynee is going to be a great grandma one day;) 

Monday we spent the day at my parents. Playing outside and on the farm. After Parker went down for a nap we took Ainsley on the lake in an inherited paddle boat. 

We grilled out for dinner and Matt, Rachel, AB, & GG joined. It was a hot day but a perfect Memorial Day. Ainsley and Parker played hard and are both passed out. Momma and Daddy aren't far behind:) 

Ps I made this corn salad and it was delicious (and so easy). 

9 months

Height/weight: 28 1/4 in (50%) / 20.10 (53%) OFC: 45cm (40%) 

Size: he's in size 3 diapers during day and size 4 night time diapers. This is the size Ainsley ended diapers in haha 

Eat/sleep: he's adding lots of new foods to his list this month. blueberries, raspberries, chicken, turkey, oranges, and water from a straw. He takes 4 bottles a day (5-8oz each depending on his mood). He gets cereal after his morning bottle, fruit for lunch, and veggies for dinner. He also snacks on puffs, Cheerios and blueberries:) he has a serious love for puffs. He despises bananas. 

He goes to bed around 745pm and wakes up anywhere from 6am-7am. he sleeps in his sleep sack with a knitted blanket that was given to him by one of Mom's friends. he is a huge lover of his paci and will wake up mad if he doesn't have it. we are working on ways to help him find it on his own and put himself back to sleep. we knew we weren't going to be blessed with two awesome sleepers. 

he still takes a 30-60 minute morning nap and a 2-3 hours nap in the afternoon. 

Physical: on his 8 month birthday he sprouted his first tooth - now he has his two bottom teeth! 

His hair is getting long in the back and around his ears. And he's got curl to it- it is adorable. he's got the chubbiest most kissable cheeks in the world. his eyes are still blue and his hair is sort of strawberry blonde like Ainsley's was. 

Developments: 

We have a crawler! Not just sort of crawling- he is all.over.the.place. 

He sort of started army crawling then the next day stumbling through crawling, now it's a coordinated crawl. He also pulls up on everything. He wants to stand all the time. His forehead is covered in bruises of various stages. He seriously needs to be in a bubble. I need an extra set of arms and eyes in the back of my head for these two.  

changing his diaper is one of the most frustrating things because he refuses to lay on his back 

New things: 

He LOVES bath time. He was getting a bath every other night but when Ainsley is in the tub he is literally trying to flip in there with her. He loves to splash and be in the water. 

He claps his hands together- not so much on command yet. 

Hasn't started saying any syllables yet, just screams and likes to hear his own voice. 

He loves the color yellow. If you put several things in front of him he will go for yellow, every time. 

kid loves food 

he loves being in the big boy stroller and going on walks 

He is into all of his sisters things. It has been a learning and trying time for all of us:) sharing her things is hard apparently. 

Schools out for the summer

Today was Ainsley's last day of her first year of preschool. She started 2 year preschool at Crossroads Christian Church last September (10 minutes from home). She went every Tuesday and Thursday from 9am-12pm. Philip and I have been beyond impressed with this preschool. 

They have taught her so much, she has made some best friends, and come to love both of her teachers- Mrs Shelley and Mrs Barb. 

They had two concerts, a Christmas and a spring one. They took a field trip to the orchard. They had seasonal parties and celebrated each child's birthday. We had two evaluations with Mrs Shelley to talk about how she was doing and if she was where she should be. (Of course she was ;) )

she is enrolled to be going back again next year for just the two day 3 year old program

 Not only did she make some great friends her age, but I also made some good friends my age :) In fact two of the moms are going to be doing BSF with me next fall :)

pajama day at school! of course ainsley is obsessed with the stuffed animal 

Her concert today went much better than the Christmas concert. The kids actually sang and did the motions. And even though Ainsley was one of the more reserved and shy ones on stage, she still mouthed the words and did the motions on a smaller scale. 

her biggest fans! 

At the end of the concert they did a very sweet slideshow of all the kids and memories from the year. And then had doughnut holes which of course were a hit:) 

Her sweet teachers made a photo frame collage for us to take home and made a t-shirt for each child with their class picture on it. 

One of Ainsley's favorite activities they played at school was "shape monster". Mrs Shelley gave each student a shape and sang a song asking for that shape to eat for shape monster. That child who had said shape would feed shape monster. Ainsley LOVES this game. And Mrs Shelley sent shape monster home with her! With a sweet note saying she knew she would keep him fed:) She was ecstatic and wants to take him everywhere. 

Looking forward to a fun filled summer with these two wild and active kids of ours:)