more christmas pics

 

I tried making my own background for photos; turned out ok for my first attempt. It needed more colors and less of the blue wrapping paper but I tried, haha. Not a professional, but Evie and Andrew are very good models. Brandon just finished his first week in the psychiatric hospital. He says it is interesting but would not want to work in that area. He misses being in a regular hospital. Andrew had a playdate with one of the boys in our ward this week who is his same age. They played really well together and I got a long great with his mom so that was fun. The other boy speaks english and spanish already so hopefully Andrew can pick something up from him. They only had one little incident. His mom had to give him a time out on the couch becuase he smacked Andrew once and he just kept looking at me saying "save me, save me", haha, it was kinda funny. Hopefully we can get them together more, Andrew really liked it.

Excited for Christmas

 Can't quite get a good Christmas picture. My camera cant take good pictures in the evening without the flash, but she still looks cute in her little dress. She sure hates it though because she can't move, haha.

This week Evie has started taking a few steps by herself! She is getting so big! We decorated for Christmas and got a little tree the kids were very excited about. Andrew really wanted to put the balls on it so I got some for him to put on. They ornaments are now almost all destroyed haha, Evie loves to pull them off the tree. Brandon is finally done with his surgery rotation so now he moves on to psychology which is supposed to have a lot better hours and he gets weekends so that will be nice! 

Thanksgiving week

 Monkey Joes jumping place

 Splashing in the rain puddles!

 Evie loves her shows, haha

 Evie loves the thomas tent we have. She goes crazy in there

We had a great Thanksgiving week! Brandon's family came to visit for the week so it was really fun to have them here. Andrew can say everyone's name now. He was Bryce's little shadow the whole week, haha. We had rotisserie chicken, mashed potatoes, berry pie, and pudding pie for Thanksgiving. It was great! Brandon and I went to see Catching fire and went out to dinner at olive garden to celebrate my birthday so that was fun! We also went to the beach. Andrew actually played in the water with me for about a half hour so that was an improvement. Andrew was very sad when everyone had to go home. He kept asking for Bryce and Ellie and Grandma and Grandpa over and over. His memory is getting a lot better now.

Finally getting better over being sick!

 I put Andrew's alphabet flashcards on the wall and he loves it! He can find a lot of the letters if I ask him too and can say A B E U and M. He likes to sing along with the alphabet song. I think his speech is improving quite a bit.

 Andrew likes making collages, though he gets frustrated when the pictures don't come back off of the sticky paper.

 Andrew likes to say cheese for the camera now and then look at his picture

 I opened a few of the tables from Andrews Christmas train track box. He has been very creative with them and I don't know how we ever got a long without them now. He loves to put all his cars up there and puzzles and anything.

 Evie climbs on everything now and just wants to stand up. She is such a trouble maker! She especially loves to pull books down and get in to any electrical cord she can find. And of course loves to be anywhere Andrew is stealing his toys, haha. She doesn't want it unless he has it. She just started taking some steps while holding on to my hands. Can't believe she is already 9 months old! It has gone by so fast. She is such a sweet happy little busy girl.

This week we are finally starting to feel better. Brandon went to the E.R with a bowel obstruction and is still not feeling well though. He can't eat anything without getting sick :( And he still has to make it through his long days at the hospital. Hopefully he heals soon! We had the little neighbor boy come over yesterday for the first time. He is just a few months younger than Andrew. Andrew loves to have a friend! Although after the first hour he started getting very frustrated that he had to share so much with him, but it's a good learning experience for him. Andrew has been very sweet lately. He likes to hold doors open for me now like a little gentlemen, haha. At night when it is bedtime he turns into the sweetest kid I have ever seen. The other day he just wanted to snuggle with Brandon and me and he kept grabbing Brandon's hand and making him rub his head, haha, it was cute. He knows how to turn on the charm when it is time for bed so he gets to stay up later. 

children's museum

We went to the children's museum in Boynton beach today for something different to do :) We had a good time. They had a big wooden train table that was by far Andrew's favorite, he played with it for an hour! We are almost to the end of Brandon's really hard rotation. He has been going in at 5 and coming home around 6 for the past 3 weeks so it has been tough! But this is the last week and then it should get back to a more normal schedule again. The kids are still have stuffy noses but they are a lot better.

Yesterday we met our neighbor, a stay at home dad, who has a little boy Andrew's age. We had him come over and play and then Andrew went over to his house to play. They have a cat so Andrew was super excited, haha. Nice to have another little guy around for him to play with. They are 7th day Adventists so it was interesting to learn about their religion. I have never really learned much about it but it sounds a lot like our religion with a few little differences. He really wanted to talk religion so I got to correct some of the misconceptions he has about mormon's being polygamists and racists. It was an interesting conversation. He was just curious and respectful about it so it was a good experience for me to be able to share a little about our religion with someone else. I haven't had that opportunity very often. He was really good at explaining his religion and I am not as eloquent at explaining ours but hopefully I can be better prepared next time!

 My hair doesn't quite rival Polamalu but pretty close, haha

Andrew got to go to the ward trunk or treat this year. He learned how to say trick or treat very fast, haha. He loved getting candy. Unfortunately now he has a nasty cold virus again so we have had a crazy couple of days. He spent the whole night waking up every 20  minutes. Last night he finally slept but Evie had her turn of waking up a lot so we are pretty worn out now. Hopefully it passes quickly. i took them to the doctor and they don't have ear infections and their lungs sound fine so I don't think it will be as bad as last time.