Drew's Fire Station Field Trip

Drew's kindergarten class took their first field trip this week.  They have been studying about fire safety, so they took a field trip to the fire station.  Maddie and I were able to tag along for this little field trip.

We started out in the dispatch room.

 Next, we sat in the firemen's living room to have a short fire safety lesson

 and to watch a fire safety video.

 Then a fireman showed us all his safety gear.

 When we went out to see the fire trucks, one of the firemen offered to hold Maddie for me so I could take some pictures.  She didn't seem to be scared of him at all.

 We learned about the trucks

 and the air tanks.

 Maddie was still being happy with her new friends.

 The kindergarten class lined up to see the trucks.

 Waiting patiently.

 Drew was very excited to climb into the truck.

 We got to peek into another truck.  Maddie was still being entertained by the fireman.

 The class got to get a group photo on the front of the truck.

It was a fun little trip, and we all enjoyed our morning at the fire station!

Our September

The month of September has been a busy one for us so far, between getting into a routine with Drew's school schedule and Jim's busy time at work.  Jim has been working a lot of long days, so he has been tired, and we have been missing him!  Drew is enjoying kindergarten, and we have been impressed that he is already learning to read some words.

I celebrated my birthday this week, but it was a bit of a different birthday.  Jim opened at work that morning, and then came home to pick me up to go to a funeral.  The husband of one of our former colleagues at school passed away last week due to complications from heart surgery.  This teacher was Jim's sixth grade teacher, and we are friends with her daughter and her family.  It was a very nice service, and we were able to see many former students and other people we do not normally see.  After the funeral, we came home for the afternoon.  It was Jim's first (partial) day off in two weeks, so it was nice to be able to spend some time with him.  We went out for dinner with Jim's mom that evening.  Maddie cried the whole was to the restaurant, but she calmed down once we got there, and we were able to have a nice evening.

Jim got me this new ring (it is actually two, stacking rings) for my birthday.  The stones are Drew and Maddie's birthstones.  I love it! 

 One other thing I asked for was a current family picture, so I set the camera on a table and set the timer.  My family humored me and posed for some pictures before we left for dinner.  You can probably tell from this picture that I got my hair cut quite a bit shorter a couple weeks ago.  I am enjoying my shorter hair, and I love having a style that doesn't go into a ponytail every day!

Our church's new youth pastor has a little girl who just turned one, and she and I share a birthday.  Her party was this past weekend, and I decided to use up some of my fabric stash and make my little "birthday buddy" a soft fabric alphabet set with a bag to store the letters in.  I made a duplicate for Maddie while I was at it.

This is a drawstring bag I made using this tutorial. 

I cut out paper letter templates, and then I used them as a pattern to make some fabric letters.  I sandwiched batting between two layers of fabric, and then I stitched around the outer edges of the pattern, using a triple stitch.

After I did the stitching, I cut around the outside edges of the letters using pinking shears, and I used some small, sharp scissors to cut around the inside edges of the letters.  I think that they turned out so cute.  I am planning to make Maddie a set of numbers too.

I used this tutorial for making the letters, but I made my letters bigger than the ones in the tutorial.  Mine are about 3 1/2 inches tall.

 I took the children to Krispy Kreme on Wednesday for their "Talk Like a Pirate" promotion.  I dressed Drew up in a pirate costume from the Dollar Tree, and we headed to Krispy Kreme after school.

 He tried to open the door with his hook.

 His friends were there, and he was excited to see them.

 He was so excited to eat his doughnut that he was busy asking me for permission to eat a doughnut while the worker was giving him his free dozen.  I had to make him turn back around to thank the worker and talk politely to her.

 The happy pirates.

 Our baby girl who has a cold.  She probably would have loved to eat a doughnut!  Both of her teeth have popped through, and she is just starting to crawl this week!

 Watching the doughnuts go by.

This month has been full and doesn't show any signs of slowing down as we head into the second half, but we are thankful for all the good things in our lives that are keeping us so busy, and we are thankful for our family.  We are blessed!

Big Girl

Maddie is getting to be such a big girl!  She is 6 months old (actually closer to 7 months!), and she has just started to do some new "big girl" things in the past couple of weeks. 

She is sitting up better and better each day.  She can't get herself into a full, upright, sitting position, but if we sit her on the floor, she can hold it for quite a while.

She is generally a pretty happy girl,

 and she is also playing with toys more these days.

 Maddie is also trying to crawl.  Sometimes she tries to walk on all fours, like this, and sometimes she scoots around.  She is getting quite good at scooting, and she usually finds a way to get where she wants to go.

 We often see her lying on her side, propped up on an elbow.

 She can push up into a leaning, sitting position.

 When she tries to crawl, she can't quite get all the movements in sync.

 Maddie is always moving!  She loves to be on the floor where she can roll and move.

 We are pretty sure that real crawling is right around the corner!

Last week was Maddie's six-month well-visit.  She weighs 17 pounds, 9 ounces and is growing perfectly. Her doctor said that she can start to eat meat, so we've been giving it to her for the past few days, and she seems to like it.  The doctor also noticed that Maddie has two teeth coming in on the bottom.  I had been feeling her gums and hadn't felt any yet, but sure enough, when the doctor shined her little light in Maddie's mouth, we could see them.
One of the teeth popped through this week, and Jim and I were both surprised at how cheerful Maddie was as it came through.  Drew got his first two teeth at six months, and the day they were popping through was one of my most embarrassing experiences.  I had taken Drew to a thrift store, and I had found a dress I wanted to try on.  We got into the dressing room, and I had just taken off my clothes and put on the dress, when Drew started sobbing.  I took him out of his stroller and held him, but he wouldn't calm down.  I tried giving him a toy, nursing him, checking his diaper, bouncing him - everything I could think of, but he wouldn't stop sobbing.  I tried putting him down so I could get out of the dress and into my own clothes, but he sobbed harder.  I could hear people outside the dressing room talking about his crying.  There were suggestions of giving him a bottle or a pacifier, and someone even knocked on my dressing room door to see if he was alone in there and if he was ok.  I finally put him down, despite his cries, pulled that dress off and threw my own clothes back on.  I practically ran out of the store, with Drew still sobbing all through the store.  He cried the whole drive home, and when we got home, I laid him on his changing table and thought to check his gums.  There they were - two little teeth!  I gave him some Tylenol, and he finally calmed down.  With that introduction to teething, I was expecting something similar this time around, but Maddie has done great so far.  We are praying that this continues!
We are so thankful for our healthy girl!

End of Summer Toledo Trip

We took a little trip to Toledo last week to see a Toledo Mudhens Game.  This trip has become a family tradition each summer, and this year, we managed to squeeze it in right before Labor Day.  We had originally hoped to also go to the Toledo Zoo, like we usually do, but with a baby and since Jim and Drew had work and school that morning, we decided that the game would be enough this year.

After our traditional Tony Packo's dinner right beside the baseball stadium, we walked over to the ballpark for the game.  Drew was very interested this year.  He has been playing a lot of Wii baseball, and he understands a lot more about balls, strikes, fouls, outs, and runs now than he ever has in the past.

 We had nice seats behind home plate, but in the shade.

 Maddie was fascinated by some women sitting behind us.  She spent the first few innings watching them,

 and Drew spent the first few innings watching the game.

 Drew was quite upset that he did not receive one of the balls that was tossed out into the stands.

 Drew and Maddie entertained each other for a while.

 

Drew started getting restless, so he and Jim decided to go in search of a snack.  They were gone for quite a while because they ended up walking around the entire ballpark.  When they were out by the outfield on their walk, Jim told Drew that they should call me to see if I could see them.  As Jim pulled out his phone to call me, Drew started yelling as loudly as he could, "Mommy, can you see us?"  I didn't see them (or hear their calls), unfortunately.

They came back with ice cream sundaes in little baseball helmets.

Drew enjoyed his very much!

 The entertainment between inning was a little group called, "The Ghost Riders."  It consisted of monkeys who ride on the backs of sheepdogs, chasing sheep.  They were very cute.  You can see them best on the screen in these pictures.

 The little monkeys were dressed like cowboys.

 Drew loved them!

 By about the sixth inning, both Maddie and Drew were ready to go.

If you live in the Toledo/Detroit area, I would highly recommend a Toledo trip.  We LOVE the Toledo Zoo (we wish we could have gone there this time!), and we really like going to the Mudhen games as well.  The Toledo stadium is smaller and easier to navigate with small children than Comerica Park, and parking is very close.  You get the same baseball game feel in a smaller setting.  This Toledo trip is a tradition we plan to continue for many years to come!