Happy 4th Birthday Austin!

Austin had a great birthday week!  Because we are going on a cruise soon, I couldn't take off his birthday like I've done in the past.  But Brian and I made sure his birthday was special at school.  We ordered pizza and had it delivered to school.  Sydney wanted pizza too so I ordered enough for both classes.  Then each class also had cookies for dessert.  His teacher also made him a crown to wear for the day.  He thought that was cool.

After school, we all went to pick up his ice cream cake.  Austin decided he wanted a fire truck cake.  He really likes fire trucks right now.  Then we came home and I made him his favorite meal, sloppy joes and macaroni and cheese.  Nana was driving up during this time.  She was really hoping to make it in time however she got out of work late and didn't arrive until the middle of the night.

After dinner, Austin opened up his presents.  He got his own laptop computer.  He works on his computer after nap while we wait for Sydney to wake up.  Austin does ABC Mouse and Reading Eggs.  He is starting to learn to use the computer.  He very good at his Kindle because it's a touch screen. The mouse is tricky for him but he is doing well navigating it.  He also got some additional wooden train tracks.  He really enjoys building and playing with train tracks.  Meemaw and Papa got him some trucks to play with.  Sydney got a Minnie Mouse purse.

Then he was time for Austin to blow out his candles.  He enjoyed us singing happy birthday.  Sydney knows the song too and sang.  I really like getting birthday cake pictures because it works out great for my yearly family calendars I make.  So it took some time to get some pictures.  Austin and Sydney kept putting their fingers in the cake.  Finally we got some good pictures.  Then everyone got to have cake.

On Friday morning, Nana was here.  The kids stayed home from school to spend the day with her.  They cooked a lot.  Austin and Sydney enjoy cooking.  They got to play with Nana all day long.  That evening Kaitlyn came over and they bounced in the bounce house.  The kids love the bounce house!

On Saturday morning, Brian had to go to the science center for his volunteer work.  Nana and I took the kids to swim class.  They do so well with swim class.  I can't believe how good of swimmer Sydney is.  Austin is doing great now too!

After swim class, we needed to pick up the cupcakes from Lauren.  She made fabulous spiderman cupcakes for Austin's birthday party. The kids got a quick nap before it was time to leave for Austin's birthday party.

His party was at the Little Gym.  I invited his entire preschool class.  There were 12 kids at the party which was a great number.  Austin had a great time!  They got to play in the gym for 1 hour and 10 minutes.  The staff did a great job getting Austin involved making sure everyone knew they were celebrating his birthday.  Austin did a good job interacting and answering all the questions too.  Many times Austin is shy and doesn't always interact with strangers but he did great during his party.  Brian and I didn't even need to be near him for anything.  They did fun things like having Austin sit in the middle of the parachute while they spun him around.  They played hide and go seek.  They also had plenty of free time to play on the equipment.  You could tell by all the pictures all the kids had a great time!

After play time in the gym, we went into the party room and had pizza and spider man cupcakes.  Austin and I made cute spider man party bags with a cup, stamps, and bracelets inside of it.  Austin enjoyed putting them together.  We were so glad everyone had a great time especially Austin.  He had a perfect 4th birthday.

It was nice Nana was in town.  Brian and I took advantage and went to a Cavs game alone.  It was only our second Cavs game we went to alone.  The kids do great when we take them to games but it's definitely easier when we go alone.  The kids have been to six games so far this season.  The Cavs are doing great this year.  It would be so awesome if they won a championship soon!

Austin also had his 4 year check up.  The doctor quizzed him to see if he is meeting all milestones.  He did great with communication.  When he wrote his name, he held the pen with a fist so we need to work on that.  He usually does good holding a pen but he does prefer his fist.  He spelled his name correctly though.  He was in the 60th percentile for height and weight.  He's almost 42 inches and 38 pounds. It's crazy how big he has gotten.  Time is really going by fast!

Happy New Year (3.99 years and 2.4 years)

On New Year's Eve, we took the kids to the zoo.  They have Noon Year's Eve.  They have lots of crafts.  They had an animal show.  Then before noon there is a count down just like at midnight.  It was very cold.  Most of the activities were inside though.  We had a good time.

That evening, Brian and I watched a movie.  I actually stayed awake until midnight.  I haven't done that since Austin was born.  The kids have been sleeping better at night which allows me to stay up a bit later.  Brian usually goes to bed around 1 am.  If the kids get up after that I am always up with them.  Austin likes to get up around 5 am for a diaper change.  Many nights he then come down to the couch.  However recently I've convinced him that his bed is better.  Sydney wakes up at weird times and all she wants is me to be with her and she falls back to sleep.  It's easy however it messes up my sleep cycle.  Sometimes I go right back to bed and other times I don't.

The kids have been in swim classes basically since they have been 6 months old.  Brian was always in the pool with them.  I did a few classes but it was mostly Brain.  However Sydney has graduated from the baby class.  She is now in toddler 1 class.  It usually starts at 3 but Sydney is such a good swimmer they recommended we move her up.  It was kind of sad for us but exciting to see how well she does with swimming.  Kaitlyn and Austin are in the same classes, toddler 2.  I was worried about how Sydney would do alone and she did great.  She went right to her teacher and swims great for her level.  She loves the water.  Her teacher told us she is the best in the class and also the youngest.  I'm so happy she does so well in the water.

Last year I learned about the Indianapolis Children's Museum.  It's rated number 1 in the country.  I wanted to take the kids there.  The best time is the winter since there is not as much to do.  We decided to leave on Saturday after swim class.  We drove and got a hotel.  After we checked in the hotel clerk told us about a winter storm coming.  And sure enough an ice storm was forecasted for Sunday afternoon and evening.  It was too late now.  We decided we would go enjoy the museum and hope for the best driving home.

After breakfast on Sunday, we went to the museum.  We were there from open to close.  It had five levels of activities for the kids.  It was awesome!  There was a dinosaur area.  Austin and Sydney even made us dress up.  They got to dig for some fossils.  Another area was a train station.  Austin enjoyed working the ticket counter.

There was a special area for kids under 5.  It was perfect for Austin and Sydney.  They had a art class that they took and loved.  Later in the day there was also a music class.  Austin loves music.  During music class the teacher would ask questions and Austin would answer appropriately.  It was so great for us to see.  Austin is shy and he coming out of his shell.  He participated more and doesn't need us to be right by his side all the time.

There was China exhibit.  They had fun playing with the panda bears and at the market.  There was also a plane but they were not too interested.  They have been on real planes a lot and they were not that impressed.   They got to play all day long.  It was great for them.

They watched a movie in the planetarium.  It starred Big Bird and Elmo and Elmo went to space with his friend from China.  It was a cute movie.  It was perfect since they just had their "real" space rocket for Christmas.

We all had a great day.  At the end of the day, we marched in a parade with the dinosaur.  It was another cool experience for them.  Once we got into the car to drive home, Sydney went right to sleep.  She was exhausted.  Austin stayed awake.  It was icy buy luckily the roads were well treated.  We made it home around 10 pm.  It was a long but fun day!

We have been going to the library every week for about a year now.  The kids really enjoy story time.  There was some issues this time with story time because 2 year old and 3 year old are supposed to be in a different class.  That makes things a little hard.  We tried a new story time on Mondays and the kids were terrible.  And I did not care for the teacher.  So we are back to story time on Tuesdays.  They are doing well.  The teacher would prefer them to be in different classes but it's not practical right now.

Some of their favorite books are Pete the Cat books, Dinosaur manners book, and anything with trucks.  Sydney enjoys short books.  Austin likes reading longer books.  Austin knows all of his letters.  Sydney probably knows about 25%.  I am starting to work with Austin with reading.  I have tried to get him to get beginning reading books at the library but he doesn't like them yet.  However when I do read I show him words and he "reads" them.

It's so great to have everyone potty trained.  We have very few accidents.  If we do, it usually Sydney and it's because we didn't remind her to go potty.  Sometimes Sydney doesn't want to go potty.  I play a game that I have to go and I'm going first and she doesn't like that so then she will go.  She likes everything on her terms.  Probably about 50% of nights she is dry when she wakes up.  Austin is still wet every night.  Hopefully that will come soon but this doesn't bother me from where we were a year ago!