Starring Kinnie

We are having A LOT of fun being back in Salt Lake. We have been here for two weeks and have two more weeks left. I will post some of the highlights when we get back to Omaha. Today we made a somewhat random trip down to Liberty Park so Kinnie could ride the old school rides that I used to ride when I was little. While we were there KSL 5 News was doing a story and filming the kids riding on the rides so Kinnie made the news this evening. It was fun to see her on tv. Click here if you want to see the news clip.

Andrew turns ONE!

Yesterday we celebrated Andrew turning one! One whole year has gone by with this sweet, happy, playful boy in our family.

It seems like he was a newborn baby just yesterday. Now he is one. I am sort of in denial that he is actually a one year old.

He really does seem older, it is weird how that works sometimes but I think he even felt like a big boy yesterday and knew it was a special day.

Thank you for the birthday packages! His grandparents sent some fun books and cute shirts!

Andrew got a new doggy to snuggle.

His new drums and muscial toys were a success. We put it in front of him and he knew right what to do with it.

He loved when we sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He didn't know what to do with the candle but Kinnie helped him out. It was fun to see Kinnie be so excited for him. She is a great big sister.

Looking at the frosting...

Licking the frosting...

And rubbing it all over his tummy...

He never really "dove" into his cupcake but oh well. It was a mellow but fun day yesterday. We kind of just celebrated a little here and there. We are so happy to have our "bud" in our family and love him soooooo much! Here is to another great year!

Recently...

Andrew

• Is loving life!
• He loves airplanes, trains, doggies, birds, and any animal at the zoo that is moving or just really big.
• Loves to swing, especially when his dad does really silly things and makes him laugh from the gut.
• He loves lasagna, pizza, enchiladas, waffles, pears, grapes, and of course popsicles.
• His steps are up to 7 or 8. He is getting so brave and will just start walking without encouragement. He does better when he thinks it isn't a game.
• Loves Kinnie and has so much fun with her. They love to play and be silly.
  
• Is starting to throw tantrums. It is sort of cute at this point because it makes him seem so old and he is pretty good at it.
• Is finally falling asleep on his own! I gave up one day on letting him cry it out. I missed my boy and it just wasn't working or progressing. But Landon talked me in to not giving up and I decided to try harder. I am so glad I didn't give up! He still wakes up in the night but we will work on that soon.

Kinnie

• She will say "I like my new house (pointing around with her hands), but I don't like being far away." Of course it sounds like this though "I wike my new haus, but, mice don't wike being fa away."
• Or sometimes she will say "I'm trying to be happy but I'm really sad" So I ask why and she says "Cause I can't go to Magga Bell's house anymore."
• One night when giving her a bath she said "I'm so happy!" And I asked her why and she said "Cause I talked to Grandma Bruschke on the computer!"

Do you see the theme here? She has a lot of fun here but she is missing everyone back home. It is sad to hear her say these things but we expected it to be hard for her for the first little while. I am glad we get to go visit everyone soon. It might be even harder to come back to Omaha for her but I think she will get used to the idea and cherish the visits back to Salt Lake even that much more.