Labor Day

We had a nice and relaxing Labor Day with family this year. We enjoyed some college football on Saturday and even got the pleasure of buying a new refrigerator. I'm not sure if I mentioned it in one of my previous blogs, but our air conditioner and our fridge broke on the same day in August. Of all the luck! We thought the fridge was fixed, but it broke again with the same issue a week later. Basically, we used our neighbor's fridge and lived out of a cooler for weeks. It was AWFUL!

The Friday before Labor Day, Andrew made 4 Grandparents' Day necklaces. He was THRILLED when Marcia and John wore the necklaces to his soccer class and my dad and Myrna wore their necklaces at Granite City for dinner Saturday night. I know my mom would have loved to wear that necklace!

Labor Day, Mike's parents' did their annual breakfast at the park, so it was a good chance to see family. On Monday night, we had a beautiful trip on Mike's parents' boat. They ordered pizza and the weather was great. Mike's cousin, Beth, took some really neat pics of Andrew and me.

Here are a few from my camera:

We have also been seeing these beautiful hummingbirds on our flowers in the evenings. They don't seem to be afraid of humans.

Something else really neat that happened over the weekend was a hawk that made a little visit. I told Mike on Saturday night that this hawk that we always see on this particular road while driving is my mom watching over me (we just see him so much!). Well, Monday morning, Andrew and I are sitting on the couch eating breakfast, and Andrew points to the window. I asked him if he wants his milk, and he says, "No. Big bird!" I look out the window, and there is a hawk on our deck looking at me and Andrew in the window! WHAT!? I yelled for Mike to come in, and we all stared back at it until it spread its huge wings and flew away. A little coincidental, don't you think? :)

Baseball and Fishing

Andrew has been a busy boy these last few weeks! 

This past Saturday night, he went to his first baseball game. It was just the Rockford Aviators, but he was really feeling it! Mike had free tickets from work, and we met some of his co-workers out there. Andrew was hooting and hollering and really came out of his shell. I think since everybody else was yelling, it gave him the go ahead to act silly without the risk of people looking at him. He would yell out, "Hit the ball!" and "Go, Rocco!" Rocco is the mascot, but I think he might think it's the team. 

On Sunday, he also went fishing for the first time. We had to go to 4 different places last weekend to find a Mickey Mouse fishing pole. He easily lasted 3 hours fishing and was not happy about going home! 

Last weekend, he went to Peyton's 4th birthday party. He was feeling a little shy, but was opening up more and more towards the end. 

Last Sunday, Andrew and I went out to the nursery to pick out some flowers and plant them together. 

 The other big adventure lately has been getting Andrew a twin bed. Last week, Tammy said she had Kaden's bed for sale on Craigslist, and I jumped at the chance to get it. Friday night, Mike and his dad went to go pick it up. Andrew was jumping up and down with excitement. Saturday we bought a mattress and Andrew picked out Angry Bird sheets and a comforter at Walmart. However, once we got everything all set up with the mattress, we saw the bed was just a little tall for him right now because of the shelves. We bought a railing, but he still struggles a bit to get up and down, so we had to put his bathroom stool in there. I tried to have him sleep in there all by himself, but he wanted me to sleep with him. When I tried to walk away, he got so upset that the height wasn't safe. Still trying to figure out what to do. He sure is happy, though! 

Magic Waters

Andrew had some time off of daycare the first week of August, so I took a few vacation days. One of those days, we went to Magic Waters for the first time. We pretty much stuck around in the toddler area the whole time, but it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be (as I am not a water person). He was a little unsure at first, but got braver and braver as the day went on. 

The next day, we met my friend Andrea and her kids for a play date at their house. We decided on McDonald's to eat and play for lunch. It was Andrew's first time at McDonalds. He only ate about 4 french fries, so my fear of a fast food addiction was short lived. All they wanted to do was go and play. 

That weekend, Mike's family came in from Arizona, and we had a get together at Mike's parents' house and we spent an evening out on the boat. It was Andrew's first time on the boat at night and probably the latest he had ever been out. Near the end, he was asking when we were going to go back. He was a tired a little guy!