Andrew turns SEVEN!!!

We celebrated Andrew's 7th birthday this past weekend. Boy-oh-boy did he feel the love. Andrew is not one for limelights and attention, but he was much more at ease about the whole thing this year. If you look hard at some of his pictures you can see the joy of the moment shining through.

We headed over to Cape on Thanksgiving night and spent Friday baking and playing with cousins.

The fun continued on Sunday. We celebrated with the rest of our cousins.

Finally! On his real birthday we continued the tradition of opening one gift before school and then enjoyed cookie cake together that night. Yes, if you counted that was three different cakes and sets of candles. A little much, I agree. But there is no doubt in Andrew's mind how much he is loved by all of his family.

Andrew is our middle child (at the moment) and we just can not imagine life without him. In honor of his 7th, here are 7 things we love about Andrew!

1. His smile, which happens to be missing 4 front teeth at the moment. It is a precious thing.

2. Andrew's bear hugs are like gold. He has always been a cuddler. I am talking about since his first week on earth. I am so thankful for his hugs.

3. Andrew loves animals and memorizes fun facts about them.

4. He is our non-fiction child. Give him a story book, and he'll drop it in a minute. However, hand him an encyclopedia of how things work, and he is hooked.

5. His laugh is contagious. It may not be often , but when he gets really tickled about something, there is no stopping it. You have to join in.

6. Andrew is a spiritual barometer in our home. If we are off balance and too busy, he has ways of letting us know. When we remember what is most important and keep our priorities straight, he shines. I am thankful for this aspect of his personality, because it keep me in line.

7. He is generous. He would do anything for the affection of his big brother, and shares all that he has.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank You Tanner B

Thank you Tanner, for practicing your piano this morning without any Mom-nags , prods, bribes or threats. I can not tell you how much it meant to me to hear you playing while I was getting ready. On top of that you warmed my heart when I overheard you telling Andrew that you really don't mind piano and even think you are pretty good at it. I do too. Keep up the practice!

(I am thinking of the tunes I heard this morning instead of the fact that I just managed to drop a glass jar of tomato sauce on the garage floor. It shattered, of course, and splattered me and the van and everything within 10 feet with red gore. I am also not going to think about how much fun it was to mop it up. Mopping the concrete garage floor is wrong. But I am going to pray that I reached every tiny little shard of glass the next time I back out.)

Pre-K Field Trip

I have done this exact same field trip with each of my children, just with different teachers and classmates to share it with. But I have to say that it never gets old. There is something about singing fall nursery rhymes on a hay ride that I just love. So once again this year we set out to sing songs and roast marshmallows and bury kids in the corn. Margaret loved every second of it. She has a wonderful class and two of the best teachers I have ever met. They obviously love their job, and get a lot of friendship and admiration in return.

Halloween

My Minions and Rapunzel had a great Halloween weekend. We trunk-or-treated (twice) and trick-or-treated (once). We now have enough chocolate to last us until Easter, or at least Valentine's Day.
I love the wonder of Halloween. Walking through our neighborhood in the near dark and stopping to chat with friends can't be beat. Neither can running into best buddies and joining them on the romp. Some of our friends were making doughnuts at their house and you know I could not refuse a sample (all right, maybe it was a plateful).
I have to say I also love that Halloween is done. I can rip down our ever-so-tacky spiderwebbing from the front porch and move on to other things. Right now I am surrounded by paint brushes and miles of baseboard that I should be painting. We are finishing out our basement as we prepare for our new arrival. This is a fun project and the boys have been excited about helping. Their new room now has a ceiling, paint and doors. We are hoping to get everything done in time to move them over Christmas break. They are conspiring like theives about the fun they are going to have living so far away from the rest of us.

Halloween of Old

I just could not let the season pass without sharing this blast from the past. Jason has lots of fond memories of this time of year. I can see why! He is Darth Vader on the right with his brothers on the left and some buddies in the middle.
(Jason is always telling me he sees so much of his twin brother in Andrew. Looking at this picture, I would have to agree. Uncle Ryan is Han Solo on the left. Same little build as our Andrew for sure.)