A little bit of everything

This week has been a lot of fun and a little bit crazy. 

We kicked off last weekend with a sibling get together. We're going to try and party at least once a month... though in my family it is hard for us to limit ourselves to only hanging out once a month :)

Jessie hosted our first get together down at her apartment and now the rest of us will have a hard time competing in future months. She made amazing fondue with all the fixings (two savory ones and a yummy chocolate one)... even the babies got in on the action :) Our other crazies had fun at home with a babysitter, so we loved our date night out.

Jessie gave Andrew his last Christmas present over the weekend too... he's a big fan. He makes sure to model his Buzz Lightyear costume for everyone that comes to our house... and launches himself off our bed again and again in his costume (and like Buzz he also falls really hard onto the floor instead of flying and does it repeatedly). 

We are wimps now that we live in California. If the temperatures dip below 40 we freak out a little. This past week it has been in the thirties. The only thing exciting about that is that Catie has been able to try out all of her cool winter coats and accessories. We actually wore socks almost every day this week... which never happens at our house... so that's how you know it is cold. 

Catie's cute vest from one of our neighbors

Catie's pink puffy coat from Grandma Julie

We've been doing reading and learning time every night before Andrew goes to bed since the new year started. It is fun to have some special 1:1 time together every night just the two of us. He is really excited about reading and writing so he pushes me to make it longer every night. He is also a huge fan of the Get Ready for the Code workbooks that I had from when I was teaching. I don't love workbooks, but he is obsessed. He even convinced the babysitter to let him do a few pages when she was over on Saturday night. I make sure to balance out the workbook time with more fun learning activities and games... but he asks me every day when he can move to the next workbook. Too funny! I have a feeling next year when he has to do homework and worksheets he'll have a different attitude... but for right now it is a novelty.

Catie keeps me on my toes lately because you don't totally ever know what to expect from her. I love her cuddles and kisses. She and Andrew have been playing much nicer together too... but any contact with strangers or new people in her personal space (which includes baby Ryan, our house, anywhere within several feet of her, her toys, her stuff, her room, etc) sends her into fits of rage. She is turning into quite the dramatic two year old and I already thought she was pretty emotional to begin with. I am using all of these strategies and them some every single day. Good thing she is SO CUTE the rest of the time (and even when she is raging actually) so I can't get too frustrated. Today she helped me make cookies, loaded all of the silverware into my dishwasher, and helped me put all of the clean laundry in baskets. What a sweetheart!

My little darling Ryan is huggable and so adorable. He is my special little buddy that tags along everywhere and is a positive delight. On Monday night I had a preschool executive board meeting that went from 7-10:30pm. He came with me and didn't make a peep the whole time... just chilled, smiled, played, ate, and slept. Last night he came with me to Young Womens and slept the entire time and then went home, played with us for a little bit and then went to bed and slept from 11pm-7am. I am enjoying every single second of holding him and cuddling with him!

Not too much else going on this week. We've watched way too many movies, eaten a lot of ice cream, and cleaned up a lot of messes! I have a feeling we'll be doing that again tomorrow too :)