Big Boy Drew

The end of May marked two huge milestones for Andrew: We changed the crib into a Toddler Bed and he began to use the Potty!!

He picked out a ball cap (like dad's) to wear to the park on sunny days...

 We set up the big boy bed while he played in Maddie's room, then surprised him...

What happened to my bed?! 

It looks different!!

 He was super excited to climb on it himself, then climb out, then climb back in, then jump on the bed...

He's been staying in bed pretty well so far through the night... although in the mornings when I hear him talking I'll go in his room and he'll be waiting by the door for me ;)

At 2.5 years, and having never potty trained a boy before, I wasn't sure this whole using the potty thing was going to work out. But, he was really interested in using the potty and wanted to read the book, "It's Potty Time!" and watch "Elmo's Potty Time" DVD a million times, so we thought we'd give it a try.

Big boy Paw Patrol underware. 

 After bible study ended for the year, we took off his diaper and let him run around commando for 2 days. I was shocked that on day 1 he actually went pee in the potty?! So we tried day 2, and he went 3 times in the potty! We had many accidents... but he's doing great!

 One thing that helped is that Andrew LOVES to read... he enjoyed reading book after book "waiting for the pee pee to come out."

 Washing his hands...

 On day 4 he poop'd in the potty... he was pretty proud of himself! He got 1 M&M for pee and 2 M&M for poo....Way to go Buddy!!

The only issue we had with him is he didn't like wearing underwear. He preferred to go commando, but my sweet friend Liz and Mom of 3 boys suggested we try the boxer-briefs her boys use. She gave me a couple pairs her youngest son didn't wear to try out. Andrew loved them.. he was so excited to be wearing the same kind of underwear that Tyler wears. LOL. They were a hit!!

Thank you Miss Liz!

Andrew was so proud of his Potty Chart... he got to put a sticker in each box when he went to the potty!

For the first week I put him in a diaper at bed time, but he woke up dry each night, so we just put him in underwear now. He's been doing great, and I can't remember the last time he's had an accident! Good job Andrew!! We are so proud of the Big Boy you are becoming! 

Madison's Kindergarten Concert

Madison had her Kindergarten Concert at the beginning of June, and it was so precious! It was called, "Prime Time Nursery Rhymes" and they recited nursery rhymes and sang songs. Madison did it twice, once for the kids at the school, including Big Sis, and once for the parents.

Madison Grace, 6.5 years

Maddie's class was on the far right hand of the stage.

 She was too cute, and wanted me to curl her hair in the morning for her big performance ;)

Here's the link the school provided of the show:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkZjN5s6MCY&feature=youtu.be

Madison's on the far right of the stage, and has a speaking part at the beginning of the show. At about 9 minutes in, she has a dancing part for a second before the camera pans away.

 We got some cute videos of her singing, but we were pretty far from the front of the stage.

 Maddie Grace was right in the front, which was so nice so we could see her!

 After the kindergarten concert, her teacher had an End of the Year celebration in the classroom for parents and students. There was food and she received a sweet certificate of completion for kindergarten.

 So proud of this girl!!

As room parent, I put together the class gift and presented it to the teacher and teacher's assistant. 

Mom. Another picture? Really?!

 Madison with her fabulous kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Pacuta.

What a great year kindergarten has been for our big girl! Madison, you continue to amaze us with your brains, beauty and kindness! We are so proud of you!!

Fisher Family Fun Day

A few Saturdays ago we went on a Fisher Family Fun Day adventure to the Philadelphia Natural History Museum. Lindsay was suppose to go on a field trip there in April, but it ended up falling on the day we were out of town in Washington DC. We promised her we would take her in the future, and made it a fun day for the whole family. 

We got to Philly we just had to go to Reading Terminal Market to try out a new gluten free food place called "Fox and Son's". They had GF Corn dogs and Funnel Cakes! I think Maddie almost cried tears of joy when she took a bite of both of them!

Lindsay has been craving a nutella crepe, and we happily got her one from the stand in the market.

Playing movie star in front of the green screen.

After lunch we headed to the museum and the first stop was the dinosaur exhibit.

Touching a Triceratops.

Checkcing out the excavation room...

There was a butterfly garden where you could walk through and get an up close and personal experience with a butterfly or two...

Andrew checking out a butterfly that landed on the ground.

They had fun playing paleontologists, and digging for dinosaur fossils...

Andrew: Nope. Not wearing the googles for a picture. 

Lindsay 8 yrs, Madison 6 yrs, Andrew 2.5 yrs

The kids had a blast running through the museum, and really enjoyed taking our time through it. It wasn't busy at all, and was just the right speed for our crew. Our resident scientist, Lindsay, was in hog heaven, and chatted away about all the connections she was making with what she was learning in school. It was a fun day, topped off with ice cream of course!! YUM!

Wrapping up May

The month of May flew by, and we celebrated Mother's Day, finally had some warmer days and are enjoying the last few weeks of school before summer vacation! 

Mother's Day was wonderful.. snuggled up with my babes after church is the best!

I love homemade gifts ;)

Thanks Nonna & Grandpa for the fruit bouquet!!

Springtime makes me a little bit restless, so one Friday morning I decided I needed a project so I pulled up the carpet on the stairs and was delighted to find the hardwoods continued.... however, were in pretty rough shape.  

So I decided to refinish the stair treads and paint the risers white. I am not sure I would have still done it if I knew how much work would be involved....LOL.

Pulling what felt like a thousand carpet staples out with pliers=blistered hands. Not so pretty.

After multiple trips to Lowes and two different sanders... paint, stain and polyurethane.. ta-da!! They were finished!

It only took a week to complete the many-stepped project, but it felt like forever. fay! They are done!

We heard the ice cream truck for the first time this year and of course, ran outside to get ice creams!

For teacher appreciation Lindsay saw a candy-bar craft to make for her teacher on pinterest that we re-created...

It was a hit with the 2nd graders ;)

Take your Daughters to Work Day

In late April was Take Your Child to Work day, and Lindsay and Madison both got to go to work with Daddy for the day! He took them to check on the renovations he is overseeing in one of the arts buildings at Princeton... they had a blast!

The girls got to be on radio at WPRB Princeton! 

 They had to check the quality of sound on the grand piano for the students of course....

 There was a nice Mac used by students for digital media that Lindsay took for a spin...

 And of course, don't forget the brand new dance studio. These girls were in heaven!

 Daddy swung by the ice hockey rink too...

At lunch time he took the girls for pizza in downtown Princeton and they enjoyed Bent Spoon Ice cream for dessert! I picked them up in the afternoon (so J could actually get some work done..LOL and go to some boring meetings). They had a blast with Dad at work, so much so that they want to go with him every day!