D is for Donut

Last week was D week. To celebrate the occasion, and the beginning of fall, we made some cinnamon donuts. Here was one of my very enthusiastic helpers.

I had some others who wanted to help as well.

Checking out the progress.

Everyone else wanted to check out the view as well.

Here's what they were staring at.  It smelled awesome!! 

After they were done frying, we coated them in cinnamon sugar. 

Everyone (except Albert) got a chance to help.  I think this was everyone's favorite part.

 Our finished product.

This was Asher's very first taste of a donut. He seemed to like it!

Bite!

Addilyn liked them too!

Poor Albert didn't get to try them. He did enjoy some donut-shaped Cheerios.  That counts, right? No?

Daddy was working that morning so we decided to save a few for him.

Elias was pretty sad when his donuts were gone. 

What do you mean, "You think I've had enough,"?

Ahhhh!!

But seriously, I'd like another one please.
Later in the day, after Daddy came home and we went out for a drive and back, the little ferret may have sneaked into the kitchen and ate most of the two we had left (which I made the mistake of leaving out on the counter).  Stinker!
On the whole, these donuts were a hit on all counts. Yay for D week!!

C is for Car and Comrades and Chaos

And now we come to C week.  We had some planned C activities like painting.  Painting is always a hit.

This week Asher also learned how to draw a cat (and write the word 'cat').
Here's a better picture if you're interested. Not too shabby.

I got out the big car for the boys to play with one morning.

It tends to cause fighting so it's normally put away. We got to work on our C sounds and taking turns.  Big day.

They were "working together." Asher was on our bee scooter and they were backing into each other.  Both seemed to enjoy it. Weirdos.

Addilyn loves playing with Albert.  She is especially found of carrying him around.

He doesn't seem to mind hanging out with her either.

These two had snuck away together with Addilyn's camera and were playing with it in the dark.

Cohorts.

Chaos.  We have reached this stage of babyhood.  I remember both of the other boys really enjoyed clearing off the bookshelves for us too. Now if I can only convince one of those boys to think it's really fun to clean up the chaos. 

9 Months

 

Albert turned 9 months old yesterday!

He went to the doctor yesterday for his 9-month appointment and weighed in a 21 lb, 5 oz.  That puts him somewhere between the 50th and 75th percentile on weight for his age. The doctor actually asked if I was concerned about him falling on the percentile scale. Not so much, especially since Addilyn and Elias did much the same thing.  Even though our babies start off huge, eventually they come back down to normal.

His head circumference on the other hand, is still off the scale. You might notice that this hat, which we originally bought for Asher at age 2 and a half, fits him snuggly.

Other than that, he's a pretty happy, healthy, normal 9-month-old.

He loves exploring the apartment.  He's getting better and better at getting around.  He can crawl with his belly off the ground if he wants but seems to prefer getting around by scooting on his belly.

He's really good at mimicking sounds.  He's freaked us out a few times by saying things like, "Hi Daddy." or repeating his name, Albert.  He doesn't seem super aware that he's doing it and certainly doesn't do it on command but he does do such things fairly frequently. 

In the last month, he has finally gotten his 7th tooth.  He had a break from teething for most of the month but in the last few days has seemed to start another round. 

He has mastered pulling up in the last month. He likes to pull up on just about anything, his crib, the couch, in the bath. 
Happy 9-months, Baby Boy!!

First Day

This might be my favorite picture ever...

Except for maybe this one.  I fully intend to bring this one out for graduations and weddings.  I love it!  Their expressions and the way they are standing just kill me.  Awesomeness!

Brother hug!  So cute.

Although this is a bit more accurate.  Gotta get away!

So what was I supposed to be posting about?  Oh yes, Asher's first day of preschool. I keep getting distracted by how cute he looks with his hands in his pockets.  

Oh wait, he was digging for cars.

Anyway, Monday was Asher's very first day of preschool.  We didn't think to sign him up until very late in the game so we were scrambling a bit to find him something.  When I had just about given up (as you might have noticed by my vague attempts at homeschooling), someone tipped me off about a program through the Chicago Parks District.  I checked it out and there was just one spot left.  Perfect!

He was super excited!

I mean SUPER excited!  

His first day was a success.  Although as soon as we walked out the door he told me, "I didn't make any friends." He wasn't sad about that or anything, just stating a fact. Luckily, one of the other boys in the class practically climbed into our van to say goodbye and that seemed to be just the instigation Asher was needing.  Now he has a friend named Alex (which he is very proud of).  He still doesn't know anyone else's name but he's made progress.
He was pretty sad that he doesn't get to go everyday (it's a Monday, Wednesday, Friday program) so I'd say he likes it.  Woohoo!

Oh, a note on his hair: We were doing a pre-preschool hair cut and may have accidentally knocked off the guide in the process.  Whoops!  So he got a Daddy hair cut.  As Tyler said, it was going to happen eventually.  He didn't seem to mind so that's good.  Anyway, just to reiterate, he's not sick, just a little less hairy.

Thirty One

This past Friday Tyler turned thirty one.  It was Friday the 13th, of 2013.  Special day. At least in Tyler's mind (especially since he was turning a prime number as well).
Here he was opening Addilyn's birthday card.

We decided to go really low key.  Tyler drank some coffee in bed and read a book.  Then, later on, he went to a coffee shop and drank some more coffee and read a different book. 

The kids enjoyed some rainbow cupcakes in honor of Daddy's big day. 

I did a much better job with the brown sugar frosting this time.  I don't think the kids noticed.  It's colorful sugar; they don't really care how it tastes. 

We had some friends over for dinner and dessert.  We even managed to have them over late so we were able to feed the kids and put them to bed before our adult dinner and dessert. 

For dinner we had some Turkey Meatball Hoagies, per Tyler's request.  

For dessert we stuck with tradition and had tiramisu. 

Mmm...tiramisu.  Seriously, so good.
Happy birthday, Sweetie!  I hope it was a good one!!