Weis Christmas 2010

On the 26th, we celebrated Christmas with the Weis family! We arrived early and were treated to a delicious brunch of pecan rolls and breakfast casserole! Evan was super excited to get to the gifts ;)
We were so blessed by our family with so many wonderful gifts both for us and the kids. One of the highlights was this cool bike that Evan got from my parents. It's like a big wheel, but it can spin out and do 360's. He was squealing in the basement riding it around!

Jen and Chad made Ainsley an adorable dress up kit. They re-did an old suitcase and filled it with fun stuff. As you can see, she loved it!
Evan also really liked his shooting game, just like Chad had when he was little..
Here we are in an intense game of Qwirkle:
We stayed the whole day and played, talked and hung out! It was so much fun. An awesome day with great memories. Of course, no Weis Christmas would be complete without a wrapping paper fight ending with Evan in the trash bag :)

Christmas Morning 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas (so far) this year! Doug and I felt so blessed this year by our family and our two awesome kids. I have to say, watching Evan this year has to be one of the biggest joys. He loved all his presents, and made sure to say thank you after opening each one. (Seriously, it was too sweet.)

Here was our tree, all set for the kids:


A slept in until 6:30 and Evan was up at 7 and they were super excited to see what was under the tree!

We rushed downstairs and Evan and Ainsley each opened up their first present. A few weeks ago, Evan had bought us presents while staying at my parents house. He was so excited to give them to us that on Christmas morning, that after only opening one of his, he wanted us to open our gifts from him.

After a few presents, Evan spotted a big blanket hidden behind the tree. It was his one big wish from Santa - a doggie he could sit on. He hasn't stopped playing with it and has taken it with us everywhere since.

Ainsley has been super sweet as well. She got two different dollhouses, and hasn't stopped playing with them. She loves to play with the mommy, daddy, and babies. She likes to rock the little babies and put them to sleep under their blankets. It's too cute to watch.

After all the excitement of presents, we sat down to eat breakfast, but not before hearing the story of Christmas and singing Happy Birthday to Jesus with our cinnamon rolls.

What a wonderful Christmas. I hope I never forget it!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we all went to my Aunt Diane's to celebrate with the Chandler side. We had a great time! After a yummy dinner, we first started off with family pictures, complete with 6 dueling cameras... (while explains why we are all looking in different directions) :)

The whole "Weis" family:

Our family: The cousins (plus a few, minus a few):
We then sang Christmas carols with Evan leading us on the guitar:

We exchanged gifts and the kids got some really fun stuff from my Aunts! We wrapped up the night with our annual white elephant exchange - which I think Evan was more excited about then anything.

We got home around 9 and Ainsley was out. Evan has some work to do however.. setting out the milk, cookies, and carrots for Santa and sprinkling the reindeer food (oats and glitter) outside! He even decided to sprinkle it on the walk so he could check and see if they ate it the next day. We finally got him to sleep around 10.. although while snuggling with him, he just kept telling me he couldn't wait for tomorrow.. I had to agree :)

Ainsley is 18 Months Old

Wow - in one week Evan turned 5 and Ainsley is now 18 months. Time is flying! A few things about my sweet 18 month old:

- The stats - weight: 22lb 10oz (25%), height: 31.5" (50%)


- She is quite the talker! I haven't tried counting, but it has to be at least 200 words. She'll try saying anything! Some of my favorite words she says are: by-kick-lul (bicycle), hold-you, love u, hap-bir-day, and up-sight-dow (upside down). She also knows how to say yes and no, and she knows how to use them!

- Some of her favorite things to do are to look at books, coloring with crayons, and playing with her baby dolls (feeding them, putting them to bed, strolling them around) I have recently started taking her to story time, which she loves. Ainsley also loves singing songs - especially the Elmo cd in the car. And, although I wish she didn't love it so much, Ainsley loves Elmo's world on tv.


-Ainsley loves to be upside down and it almost always does the trick to make her happy.

- She has the most expressive faces, loves to squeal, and is very girly!

- She is warming up to daddy, but is still a momma's girl! She also has crazy stranger anxiety, which she will hopefully grow out of soon.

Ainsley is turning into our sweet little toddler!

My 5 Year Old Boy!

A few days ago, Evan turned 5. I can't believe it. Wasn't he just a tiny baby? Where did my little guy go? Seriously though, I love my little BOY so much! He is so much fun. I feel thankful that I get to spend my days with him.
I don't know where to start about him.. I guess first the stats. He went to the doctor and he weighed 40lbs (35%) and was 42-1/4" (25%) tall. It was actually super fun at the appointment because the doctor asked him all the questions, instead of us, so we got to see him "show off" all he knows. He is doing great :)

Evan is so much more of a boy now then ever before. He likes silly knock-knock jokes, nerf guns, being crazy with his friends, wrestling, jumping, carnival games, and anything with water. It's fun to see him by so boy-ish (and a little adjustment for me too :)). He is also so much more grown up. You can have a real conversation with him or ask him to help with Ainsley or the grocery, and he does!

He is doing really well with preschool. He really likes going and I even get more details this year about his days. So far, they have been really focusing on penmanship, beginning reading, and math skills. He really enjoys math and numbers. We are always adding numbers (up to 20, in the 100s, 1000s) and counting, counting by tens and any other patterns.

Evan does get frustrated when he can't do something right away (like learning to ride his new scooter), so we are working on that! We have turned him into a thrifty little boy - wondering how much everything costs and telling us that things we buy are too expensive :)

He still loves Scooby Doo, silly bandz, and playing the wii. Over the summer, he went from being afraid to even ride the little coaster at KI or go on the the little slide to riding almost all the rides and swimming like a fish. He has definitely found his confidence.

On the night of Evan's birthday, after he was in bed, Doug and I just looked at each other and agreed - how did we get so lucky? Evan is such a sweet, caring, fun little boy. We both feel so blessed!

Cousins

We feel so blessed that Ainsley has her cousin Mya!
The girls are only 15 days apart, and we hope that as they grow up, they will be great friends.
For now, the girls are happy to swing together...
And just hang out...

15 Month Stats..

We went to the doctor yesterday for Ainsley's 15 month doctor appointment. It was crazy! She was completely scared of everyone that touched her.. I don't know if she remembers being there? I couldn't even get her to sit on the scale with the nurse across the room - she was screaming her head off! I guess she knows what she likes and doesn't like!

Anyway, here are her stats:
Weight: 21 lbs 12 oz (30%)
Height: 29 1/8 inches (30%) - I highly doubt this measurement, Ainsley was kicking and screaming
Head: 46 cm (50%)

Hopefully we won't have to go back for another 3 months!

Mini Trip #2: Dayton

On the Tuesday after the 4th of July, we took another mini-trip. Doug took the day off, and we headed with kids to Dayton. The first stop was the Wegerzyn Gardens. I had read about this park in a book and it was free, so we decided to check it out. It turned out to be awesome!! There was a special Children's garden with plants that the kids could touch and smell, and also an area were kids could water fruits and veggies that were being grown.
The grounds were beautiful, and we spent some time walking around. The kids loved it!


The highlight of the garden for Evan was the stream leading to the waterfall that he could play in! He would have run around for hours if we would have let him.




Ainsley even posed for some pictures for daddy..
After we left the gardens, we headed over to the Boonshoft Museum. We got to watch a cool laser show in the planitarium that felt like you were riding amusement park rides. Evan played with the locks at the water table:
Ainsley had a great time dancing in a crazy room that projected the outline of your image on a wall: She had a blast playing on the air table with daddy:


Check out the video of her playing:



We had another amazing day and made more great memories!!