Our TREATS!!

We have had a fun few days of dressing up!

Ann Evelyn's MMO class had "Let's Pretend Day" last Thursday at school. They wore their costumes and paraded by the church staff for candy and treats. I went up to take pictures and love this one of Ann Evelyn getting her treat from Daddy. He forgot a costume and borrowed Pastor Wheat's robe. :) One happy, beautiful princess!

Here the kiddos are dressed and ready for the Reformation Celebration at church. We had such a fun time with our church friends playing games and eating hot dogs (and candy, of course!).

Ann Evelyn and Forrest dressed up for Kindermusik today. Here they are with sweet Ms. Robin and some of their Kindermusik friends. What a cute group of princesses... and what a handsome knight to defend them!

Then it was trick-or-treating time! Andrew has been counting down the days on his calendar! He was so excited and all 3 kiddos had a blast! We loved having Aunt Semmes join us for part of the night.

Trick or treating at May-May's... she always has extra treats to give!!

Andrew's Pumpkin Field Trip

Andrew went on his first field trip to Freshway Produce... the perfect place for a 4 year old field trip! They played in the back of the building where all the big pumpkins were lined up before having the opportunity to pick out their own. They could choose between 3 little ones or one pie-sized. Andrew chose 3 little ones - great to decorate our kitchen table! Before leaving they sang their "5 Little Pumpkins" song to the men and women who work there. I love this little song, especially from sweet 4 year old voices. :) Andrew loves his little preschool buddies, and it was a treat for me to drive on the field trip and watch the class interact with each other.

Ann Evelyn's Big Girl Bed

Well, the kiddos have been having a great time playing together as always. One of their new favorites was to all climb in Ann Evelyn's crib. We were finding this more and more in the mornings! They were having a blast, but Wilson and I were a little worried that the crib might not be able to take much more of 3 rowdy little ones rough-housing in the bed. And we need that crib to last with Baby #4 coming in April! :)

So... now our baby girl who is soon to be a big sister is sleeping in her new big girl bed. And she is so very proud!

C is for...

"Cap Day"

I have never seen Andrew so excited to wear a cap! He is not a big cap fan, but needless to say, he was loving it on "cap day" at school! He's wearing his cap from T-ball this year - his team was the San Francisco Giants. :)

Ann Evelyn's 1st Day at MMO, Fall 2011

I had originally planned to keep Ann Evelyn home with me this year. I had thought it might be fun for us to have a little girl time together when both of the boys were at preschool on Tuesday and Thursday. Well, in the weeks that the boys began preschool, I began to rethink my plan. AE was asking to go to preschool, too. Some days she would cry after her daddy left to take the boys and was just not happy being home with me. Then, she started getting out her lunch box and wanting to pack it with a snack (like her brothers take to preschool) to take with us where ever we were going! She just wanted to go play with friends like her brothers! Thankfully our sweet MMO director had a spot for her and she now goes one day a week! She loves it and comes home happily talking about what she did and who she played with!

Here she is her first day, holding her sippy cup and one of her small nursery rhyme books in hand! Ready to go!

Peter Pan

Bubby and May-May took Andrew and Forrest to see their first musical this week... Peter Pan!! It was the perfect first show for these 2 boys. They looked forward to it all week and were so excited when Bubby and May-May came to pick us up. I was just as excited as the boys (I was able to tag along)! It really was such an entertaining show - wonderful performances - singing - dancing - costumes - sets! The boys literally were on their feet watching, clapping, and taking it all in for the entire show. What a special treat and one we'll always remember! Thank you, May-May and Bubby, for such a fun night!

Our resident pirates!

Playing pirates and treasure hunting is popular at our house. Forrest got a pirate costume from Izzy and UncDawg for his birthday. He loves to dress up and wears this costume quite a lot. Wilson found a pirate costume for Andrew and we gave it to him for his birthday. We took this picture after Andrew opened his presents the morning we celebrated his birthday at home. They were 2 happy boys... or should i say 2 happy pirates!

Andrew's Pirate Party!

We had so much fun celebrating Andrew's birthday with his friends. He decided he wanted to have a pirate party in the backyard, with the plan for Daddy to convert our play set into a "pirate ship". It was a success! Andrew's buddies came in their pirate gear (and we supplied some extra!) and they joined in on all the fun! We put on pirate tattoos, made & decorated pirate hats, played "Pin the Parrot on the Pirate" and played on the pirate ship. It was cute to see the boys "cut loose" - some even took off their shirts for better play!

Andrew and Forrest, waiting for guests to arrive

The Pirate Ship! Daddy did a great job! He added sails, ropes and a pirate flag. Then, he completed it with buried treasure in the sand underneath, walk the plank, and a rope swing over a pool of water!

Our pirate princess and Andrew's sweet friend, Ellie

The boys tossed the crocodile into the pool to make the swinging a little more adventurous!

Pirate cupcakes with chocolate gold coins... yum!

my sweet birthday boy!

Andrew said this was his favorite part of the party - sitting with his buddies, eating cupcakes and telling jokes :)

We ended the party with a treasure hunt. Everyone loved solving the riddles and finding the next clue... the last clue led to a treasure chest pinata filled with candy! Certainly a fun way to close a pirate party!

What fun we had with these cute pirates!

More of Andrew's Birthday

On the morning of Andrew's birthday, Wilson went in to get Ann Evelyn out of her crib. The first thing out of her mouth to Wilson was "I am excited it's Andrew's birthday today!" After coming out of her bedroom, she ran into the kitchen with a big smile and gave Andrew a big hug, saying "Happy Birthday, Andrew!" I grabbed my camera and although it's blurry, I'm glad a captured the memory. It was so sweet!!

After church, we went to May-May and Bubby's for lunch.

May-May had a yummy "brown" cake. :)

He's 5!

Izzy and UncDawg helped us celebrate!

After cake, it was time to open presents. May-May wrote a scavenger hunt for Andrew and had his presents hidden. He solved 3 clues and found the presents in her and Bubby's bedroom.

He was so excited about his walkie-talkies, spy gear, and new watch!

Then we went outside to play and take a ride!

What a fun afternoon!

My handsome 5-year old!

I took these pictures yesterday afternoon on Andrew's actual birthday and can't get over how old he looks!

Andrew is 5!!!

My sweet baby boy had a big day today - actually a big weekend! We've been celebrating big-time around here because our sweet Andrew is 5 today!! Five years ago today, on the 5th anniversary of 9/11, God reminded us how He is the Creator of new life, how all things are in His hands, and how a day of sadness can also be one of great joy!

He gave us our firstborn, Wilson Andrew Shirley, Jr!!

Andrew is such a dear and is just so proud and excited to be 5!! This 5th birthday seems like a big one to me... he's just growing up. I am so thankful and certainly feel blessed by our Heavenly Father to have Andrew as our son. I can't help but be a little sentimental about him turning 5 - but at the same time, I could not be more proud of the boy he is growing into. He has such a sweet heart and sensitive, thoughtful spirit - he loves his family so, so much. He is truly the sweetest big brother and just knows how to demonstrate how he loves us. We love you bunches, Andrew!!

A few pictures from our Saturday morning celebration at home...

I am five!!
Blowing out the 5 "sparkler candles" on his birthday breakfast of choice - beignets!!
Opening his presents after breakfast... notice that Forrest and Ann Evelyn are each opening gifts, too. Andrew let them help open his presents! He decided this all on his own, and of course, they were thrilled! What a sweet big brother!
So excited about his Battleship Game!

His big present was a new bike!! It even has brakes on the handlebars! What a big boy!

God made you special, Andrew, and you are so very special to us! Happy Birthday!!

Ann Evelyn at 2

Our sweet girl is full of personality. She brings so much joy to our house. She is quite a talker, and she loves to be around others. Her brothers are her best buds. She loves them so much! When she wakes in the morning, she'll say "I wanna check on my brudders." And the past few nights she has asked them if she can go to sleep in their beds with them. "Can I lay down with you?" To her dismay, the answer has been "no". There is plenty of sibling love in this house but at night everyone wants their bed to themselves. However, they don't mind sharing mom and dad's occasionally. :) She is really missing them when they go to preschool. Ever since they started, she has been telling me "I wanna go to preschool, too". Today she even packed her own lunchbox with a snack in it to take with us in the car while we ran errands while the boys were at school. Cutie! :) So she starts MMO one day a week this week. We went last week to meet the teachers and play... she loved it!

Besides playing with her brothers, she loves books and frequently is asking to be read to. A few recent favorites are Pinkalicious, her Eric Carle board books, her Little People School Bus book, Katy Duck, I Love You So, and her book of Nursery Rhymes. She loves nursery rhymes and knows quite a few by heart. She will be playing by herself and reciting nursery rhymes. :) She loves music - singing and dancing - and has begun to request songs to listen to in the car. She loves singing praise songs when Daddy plays his guitar at night and I love hearing her precious voice praise the Lord in song. She also always asks to pray when we finish our family devotions. How sweet to hear a 2 year old voice talking to our Lord!

Ann Evelyn also is loving puzzles these days and has enjoyed coloring and painting, too. She loves playing with her baby dolls, and I think this is so sweet to watch. It's so cute to see her pretend playing - feeding her babies, cuddling them and then putting them to sleep. So sweet. She loves to play dress up, and Forrest loves this, too. They have a lot of fun dressing up together. She has really enjoyed her rocking horse lately, too - especially when pretending to be Jessie the Cowgirl! Overall, if she has someone to play with she is tickled to play whatever - cars, construction, trains, etc!

She is still a big girl - 90th percentile in height and weight. She has been blessed with great health and she is a great sleeper! Praise the Lord!

What a blessing she is! We are so thankful the Lord gave our family Ann Evelyn!

A few recent pictures....

Happy times together for these 3!
Trains at the children's museum
Painting with Andrew
Forrest reading to Sissy (a little hard to see but he's pointing out the pictures in this "I Spy" book - a favorite we checked out from the library)
Loving on her baby doll - sorry it's a bit blurry
Reading one of her favorites - Nursery Rhymes!
Big girl! Ready to wear a helmet and ride a bike like her brothers!
Singing and dancing on the beach with Andrew
Science Museum trip with sweet buddies Meredith and Micah

Playing dress-up with sweet Julia - loving that belly :)