my little man

I do so many updates on my little miss for her monthly milestones, I thought it was about time for an update on my little man... my almost FIVE year old!  This is his school picture this year.  I just love it.  Everything except for the fact that he looks... well.  FIVE.  He looks so big to me, I just can't get over it.

Here is another one of the poses

This is his little class at his day care preschool.  We just love his teacher Missey, and his other teacher at his afternoon preschool too.  Both of them have taught him so much, and he has grown so much just in the past year.

We had his fall conference a couple of weeks ago.  It was so fun to see the changes and how much he's grown.  His teacher said he is right on track for Kindergarten!  We were so relieved and happy to hear that news!

 When I compare all these drawings of himself over the past year, I can't believe it.  The first one, scribbling basically.  To the last one.  He decided not to draw just himself, but mommy and daddy too.  I think we look fabulous, don't you?  Look at my hair!  Ha!  And I am not sure what happened, but somehow he forgot about his sister!  Ha!

 Writing his name has been challenging for him to learn.  He's been working on it for quite a while now. We help him at home, and he also does it daily at school.  I think he's come a long way from the left (bottom in pink letters) he had to do with no boxes or sample.  The one on the right shows his no boxes and no sample- independent writing.  We are still working on connecting the "A" at the top.  He also knows most of his letters.  The ones he doesn't, we have posted around the house and I make him say them every time he walks by!  Ha!

We really need to start working on lowercase letters next!  Those will soon be posted around the house, as soon as he has all the capital ones.  We've been playing matching games and he's doing really well.

This was an example from his journaling page.  So cute!  I like how he tried to draw his Mr. Incredible mask from his costume!  Ha!

I thought this was pretty good- he drew these shapes with no help and not looking at a model!  I think it is funny he can connect his triangle at the top, but not his "A"!  Silly boy.

His teacher, Miss Erin, is so amazing, she makes these wonderful portfolios for all the kids and keeps adding to it each year (this is his third year in her class).

She puts so much time and effort into them, and even takes pictures so we can see what Andrew does in her class!  So fun.

Speaking of preserving memories... I ordered and received my first Christmas present to myself the other day!

My second blog book!  Now I am all caught up- up until we announced our pregnancy with Kerigan.  I figure my next book can include her and my pregnancy updates.

I use Blog2print.  I have seen several others, but this is my favorite one.  It is very low maintenance.  I have heard of others taking lots of time to perfect theirs and place their own pictures, even download them again so the resolution turns out.  For me, I do absolutely nothing to mine.  I just upload it, and this is how it comes out.  The pictures are great quality.  I just love that all the time and effort I put into the blog has a finished product.

This is why I do what I do!  We loved getting it back and reading about our Disney trip last year!  I haven't had time to scrapbook it yet, but this is the journal of our whole trip- all in one place with every story, photo and memory we loved.  What a perfect keepsake.  If you are looking for a Christmas present, they have gift cards!  Tell your husbands this is what you want!  Ha!  (The price is not too bad- I wait for 15% off sales.  I also pay a little more to have my layout stay the same, otherwise my captions don't make sense.  I figure by the time I'd buy a scrapbook, paper, stickers and all the scrapbook accessories, plus print off all my photos, the price is comparable, probably even better).

Anyway, back to the little man...of course I have a few funnies to add to his list...

The other morning we were getting ready to go somewhere and I said, "Andrew, do you want to change your clothes?"  and he said "No... Sorry!"  Ha!  (I quickly learned that I shouldn't have asked!)

I was driving him and Kerigan home from the store the other day and Kerigan was crying because she was ready to eat.  He was talking to me about her being sad and I was explaining she needed a bottle.  He said "I'm not gonna drink her bottle... that would make me DIE!!!!!!"  

The other day I was getting annoyed frustrated with him because he was being loud when Kerigan was sleeping.  He was breaking his train tracks and then expecting me to fix them!  He got mad at me and went downstairs (I was at the computer).  Pretty soon he comes back up and came over to me with his smiley face mouth from his Mr. Potato Head.  He handed me the smiley mouth and said "You're sposed to be like this!"  Ha!  It was so stinkin funny I couldn't help but laugh and just hug him!

His new thing is saying "oh!"  all the time.  Like when he asks us a question and we answer him he'll say... "Oh!"  Like oh, I get it now!  It is pretty funny.  He said it the other day even when I explained why he couldn't have a snack (because it was almost dinner time).  "Oh!"  he said so matter of factly.  He's darn funny.

Lately, he and I have been having all kinds of conversations about Buddy, his Elf.  It is so fun to watch the amazement on his face when Buddy is in a different place each morning.  The first time he arrived (Thanksgiving night), when we came home from our weekend out of town, Andrew found the book Buddy left for him and found him up on our shelf.  He didn't take his eyes off him the whole night.  The book explains that you can tell Buddy to give messages to Santa about what you'd like for Christmas.  And every once in a while I catch him walking up to him and whispering his wishes!  It is so cute!

I've had to get more creative because of so many fun ideas I've seen on Facebook and Pinterest.  So one night Buddy built a snow fort!

He's gotten into our candy dish and played with Andrew's cars he left out one night!  Andrew loves his little antics and can't wait to see what he does each night while he's asleep.  The only problem is now... there's still 20 more nights I have to think of something creative!  Ha!  It is just so fun to have a real believer in the house and watch his face light up with every new and exciting thing about Christmas.  It is just such a magical time for kids.

And speaking of Pinterest... oh my.  I think it's safe to say I'm addicted.  And it is seriously such a time waster!  But there are so many fun ideas, I just get so inspired to do everything!  I've been trying hard to pin only things I that I will have time to do and are reasonable.  I finally made a snack tub, which has been so nice!  Andrew is allowed one in the morning (if we are home) and one after school or in the afternoon.  He knows the rule and he can go pick his own.  It is really nice if I'm feeding Kerigan or can't get him one right then.  It is also nice having them already portioned out so I don't have to pour them in a bowl each time.  Love it!

Another favorite idea is getting a shutter for Christmas cards.  This is my work in progress.  I really wanted to find an old beat up, wooden one to paint, but I wasn't sure how or where to go for it, so I found this one at Menards- already painted!  That's my idea of saving time and work!  Ha!

Now I just need to paint and decorate my clothespins to clip the cards to!  I can't wait to see how it's going to turn out!

I keep getting on tangents... so my little man...

I can tell how grown up he is because he is starting to do more of this kind of thing...

He dug all this stuff out this afternoon and I thought, oh no.  Big mess coming my way!  But it entertained him for a good hour.

The whole time he worked independently and I put away laundry and cleaned the whole bathroom!  Now I'd call that productive!  Ha!

Andrew, you are getting to be such a big boy.  Daddy and I can't believe you will be five in a couple of months.  You are growing up so fast and we are so proud of you!