Maverick's First Flight....

....of stairs!  Yes, we've got a climber on our hands!  We haven't dug out the gates yet, but we probably will soon.  In some ways it seems like so long ago that Mitchell was this age...and in other ways it seems like it was yesterday! 

5 Years!

Jacob and I celebrated our 5-year anniversary yesterday. Jacob took the afternoon off, so we spent some quality time with the boys. My Dad watched the boys so that we could enjoy a Plaza dinner for just the two of us. It was so nice to get out just the two of us! Usually when we have a sitter, it is for an event where we're meeting up with a bunch of other people (wedding, etc.). We so rarely get a sitter just to spend time alone (I think we could count 3 times since Mitchell was born!) We decided we'd like to do that more often. We were home and exhausted by 11pm, but it was a great day!

Here are a few pictures of our big day 5 years ago...


Loading up on the trolley with our wedding party following the ceremony



In front of the Liberty Memorial (duh!)

First dance


I apologize if this triggers your gag reflex, but I can honestly say that we're still as still as happy together as we look 5 years ago...and hope to still be able to say that in 50 years.

Weekend in Wisconsin

Jacob and I took the boys to Wisconsin for the weekend to visit the fam.  We had a great time!  As I mentioned in an earlier post, my sister got engaged to her boyfriend (Mark) so we did lots of wedding planning!!!  The wedding date is set for April 30th, and I'm very honored to get to be her matron of honor! :)

The boys with Grandma & Grandpa.  One smiling and one starting to cry :)  Typical for my opposite boys!

"Say cheese Mitchell and Grace"  Wow - doesn't it look like the dog is smiling too? :)

One of our favorite fall activities is to go to the Apple Orchard.  We had so much fun picking apples & riding the hayride!

Obviously we had to sample the merchandise!

On the hayride.....always a family favorite :)

Smiley Mav and Aunt Kel on the hayride.  I think we all enjoyed spending some time outdoors, even if the Wisconsin fall weather is a bit colder than the Kansas fall weather!

Overhead picture of the apple orchard

Mitchell rolling in the hay (literally)!

Mom scored us some tickets to the Twins game on Sunday. 

"Ooooh, how I love baseball" 

Mitchell and Daddy at the new stadium

A picture of the three of us on the golden glove. 

Maverick stayed home with Grandma while we went to the game.

Aunt Kel & Uncle Mark went to the game with us on Sunday.  What a great stadium!

Maverick learned some new tricks on our trip!  He started pulling up on September 18th!   I wasn't expecting it quite this soon.  Mitchell was closer to 10 months before he started pulling up...but he had a few extra pounds to lift :)

He is so proud of himself :)

Maverick & Grandma

Mitchell always enjoys exploring in Gma & Gpa's big yard!

I guess it brings out the goofiness in him :)

New Friends & Enemies!

Mitchell seems to be making friends at pre-school....and enemies! He returned home from his 2nd day at the Bible Pre-School with a nice little bite mark next to his mouth! :( I am not sure what he did to prompt the other boy to bite him, but apparently after the bite Mitchell told the little boy "No, I do NOT like that. You are going to get a BIG spankin'!" While his teacher felt terrible for the situation, she did comment that Mitchell is one of her more "verbally gifted" students. She claimed that our little tough guy didn't even cry when bit. It has turned into a nice little bruise today. Hopefully it'll heal soon!


Exhibit A

Maverick is trying desperately to pull up on things lately. He gets to the below position very easily and is trying to hoist himself onto his feet next. He can do it on lower surfaces like steps, but not quite on higher surfaces such as chairs or tables. It won't be long!


Exhibit B


I can barely express how much we love our nanny situation right now. We absolutely love Alicia. She is fabulous with the kids and very flexible with my sparatic schedule. I had short campus events every day of the week last week and she was so great to cover all of them, she may even do an overnight stay in October. Mitchell seems to really like her and is always asking where she is when she's not around. I just pray that we're able to keep her around for a while!

Mitchell has come to realize that when Alicia comes, that means I'm leaving. :( Although he loves to see her, he would still rather not have me leave! Last week, I explained to him that I had to leave to go to an event at K-State where Willie the Wildcat lives. The next day I had to "visit the Jayhawk". Alicia came to watch the boys again today, and Mitchell immediately said "I don't want you to go see Willie the Wildcat. He doesn't need you, but I do!" That is a hard one to disagree with!

I recently asked him what he thinks he'll be when he is big enough to go to college....a Wildcat, a Jayhawk or a Tiger? He informed me that he will be a Jayhawk for college, but that he would like to be a Tiger for halloween (which is what he was last year). We'll see about that! And yes, I should've thrown a Husker in there for Jacob and my Dad. The girls at the gym the other day were laughing about him his random chants of "Go Big Red!"

Last 2010 trip to the pool!

We took the boys for their last trip to the pool on Labor day. We have really enjoyed the pool this summer and will miss it! Fortunately our gym has a nice indoor pool...but it just isn't quite the same!

Here are the boys (and me) in the baby pool.

I knew I wouldn't get a good picture of them together at the pool because they'd be so excited, so I snapped a quick one of them siting on our front step before we left. Maverick looks so serious!

Thanks to Gran for their coordinating swim gear! We've gotten lots of use out of it this summer!




Daddy took Mitchell down the "big slide".

I'd say they both enjoyed it!

Mitchell is quite the little fish. We are big fans of his "bubble", which allows him to swim in the big pools unassisted. We were ESPECIALLY fond of this on Labor Day. The water was COLD!

Maverick loves swimming too. He really enjoys crawling around the baby pool! I actually found it fairly easy to keep up with both boys by myself at the pool this year, but I'm a little worried about what's to come next year! One year at a time, right? :)

Mitchell's First Day of Preschool!

Hi, everyone. Let me tell you about my very first day of preschool on Tuesday. I was so excited that it was hard to keep still so that Mom could take a picture!

Here I am. My first day at Sunshine Preschool!






Contents of my backpack at 9am:
A change of underwear and pants, just in case!

Here I go!


Mom & Dad both came with me on my first day for a little parent's meeting (oh, and Little Mav came too). When their meeting was over, Daddy said "Okay, we're going to go now, buddy." I said "Oh, we're leaving?" He said "No, you are going to stay here and play." and I said "Okay, bye!" That was it. No tearful goodbye...barely even a wave. I was too busy with all of the new toys!

I saw some mommies have a really hard time dropping off their kiddos. One daddy had to literally drag his wife out. When Mommy & Daddy drove back by the building to leave, she was still peeking in through the window at her son. I think he was fine :)






11:30am
I'm ready to be picked up! We wait here patiently while our parents pull up into a drivethrough lane with their cars. They help load us into our carseats so that our mommies don't have to unload their other kiddos to come pick us up! Mommy loves this plan :)

Contents of backpack at 11:30am:
The same dry, clean change of pants and underwear! Yeah!
And one craft where I glued different colors of scrap-paper to a sheet of paper and then my teacher (Mrs. Roach) wrote the name of the color by them. I continue to tell people that my favorite color is green. The other day in the car I told Dad that "Girls like pink, but I like green." I also requested my Grandma to make me a green cape that I can wear around and act like a superhero!

I'm in a class with 5 other boys that will be 3 this year! Yes, all boys! Roman, Ethan, Christopher, Wyatt & Logan. Three of them are sitting with me below, and that is my teacher Mrs. Roach.

Mom asked me if I wanted to hang my craft on the refrigerator at home and I said "Umm..Mom. I think you are going to need a magnet if you want it to stick."

I think it's going to be a good year!

Mitchell is 2 years, 8 months!

Wow - it's hard to believe he'll be three in a few short months!  He is SO much fun these days!  When I spent alone time with just Mitchell when he was a baby, I enjoyed it...but would find myself watching the clock for Jacob to come home.  I hardly ever do that anymore...time flies by, even when Jacob is gone all week!  I thought maybe it was just because I'm busier with two of them, which is partially true.  However, I honestly think the reason I'm not dying for adult interaction is because I interact with my best little buddy all day long!  I honestly feel like I can have a pretty adult-like conversation with him!

Mitchell will be going to pre-school three mornings a week this school year.  Tuesday and Thursday mornings will be his real pre-school (more about that later as I post about his first day!).  Wednesday mornings he is going to Bible pre-school, while I go to a Bible study (and Maverick goes to the nursery).  He had his first Bible pre-school last week.  I asked what he learned and he said "Jesus wrote the Bible."  Close!

I've already posted a version of this picture, but here it is again.  Mitchell is sitting in our stroller saying a prayer for our little friend, Lucy, who is battling brain cancer before the Head for the Cure 5k.

He LOVES to play with my computer(s).  His favorite activity is to type "big" and "little" letters into Word.  He is getting really good at learning all of his letters!  :)

He loves reading books!  His recent favorite is Peter Pan!

We certainly still have our challenging moments at times...although he was literally perfect this weekend!  Here he is curled up on the couch.  Probably pouting because I refuse to let him watch another episode of his favorite TV shows (Dora the Explorer & Go Diego Go). 

And for the BIGGEST news of the month!  WE ARE POTTY TRAINED!!! I let Mitchell run around the house naked for about a week straight, and it worked (hence the picture below)!  We also allowed him to aim at cherrios in the toilet bowl :)  He has had about 1 or 2 accidents per week (usually when we're not at home or close to a toilet), which I think is pretty good!  I am so proud of him! I guess I must tell him that a lot because after he's done, he'll ask "Mom, are you so proud of me?"

Yes, that's right.  He is so grown up now that he no longer calls us Mommy & Daddy.  Just Mom and Dad.  I have no idea how he knew to shorten them, but he just did.  Once in a while, if he REALLY needs me, I am still Mommy though :)

Anytime it rains, he immediately needs all three pieces of rain gear (umbrella, rain boots & rain coat).  He loves to run around outside jumping in puddles and playing in the rain!  Everytime we do it, it reminds me of my late friend, Amy.  She made a bucket list before her death, of very realistic things...and playing in the rain with her 2 year old son was near the top.  I am so thankful to get to play in the rain, amongst so many other things with my boys.

Mitchell has sensitve little eyes, like I do.  He has a hard time opening them in the bright sun.  We try to keep shades on him...but there is no telling how many pairs we've gone through this summer!

We're working on sharing our toys with Maverick now that he is more mobile.   I have a feeling things are going to get interesting around here!

They do share a bath these days.  Maverick loves to do anything near his big brother!

Mitchell actually watches sports now!  While at the baseball game, he began to realize that they would show the batter's picture when he was up, so he'd ask "Mom, who's this batter?" while we'd look at the picture.  Jacob bought him Royals baseball cards and he can pick out a few of them, including his current favorites Zach Grienke & Billy Butler.

Maverick is 7 months!

Little Mav is already 7 months old...and we've had a big month!  Here are some pictures of him throughout the month that I didn't get a chance to post.

The monthly chair picture....  Click on the link to see Mitchell's seven month picture for comparison.  They are looking less and less alike to me!

How can you resist pictures of kiddos in hoodie towels? :)

...especially scrunchy face, smiley ones!

The jury is still out on how much he enjoys his Johnny Jump-up, but he looks happy here!

Look out world, here I come!  Maverick officially started crawling on Augst 19th (6 1/2ish months).  He was a little 'bambi' like at first, but he's really moving confidently now!

Things are so much more fun now that I can move from crawling to sitting and back to crawling.  I entertain myself pretty well these days, but Mom & Dad have to keep a close eye on what I am putting in my mouth!

Mommy's wildcat

After Maverick's 6 month check-up, they assured us that the little man should be able to make it 10-12 hours at night without eating.  We started letting his cry it out a bit and it seems to have worked.  He still sometimes wakes at 10 hours for a feed, but has also slept the entire 12 hour night once or twice without waking.  We are both enjoying our extra ZZZZZZs!

A self portrait of Mommy & Mav

Maverick & Daddy

I love these pictures.  He was having a great time crawling around in the cool grass one August evening in our friend's backyard.

Last weekend, we participated in the Head for the Cure 5k in honor of our little neighbor friend, Lucy who is battling brain cancer.  Mitchell is helping us say a little prayer for Lucy before the race began.  Maverick was a happy rider!

 Maverick is a big fan of bathtime. I have both boys in the same tub together now and Maverick loves watching Mitchell splash around...

...but he's a little protective of his toys (toothbrush!)! Ha!

Maverick is a good little eater.  He has tried squash, sweet potatoes, carrots, green beans & peas, all with success!  We'll start moving onto fruits soon.