100th Day of School

Avery's class celebrated the 100th Day of School this week. Ashley and Avery made a Gumball shirt with 100 gumballs inside to wear for the celebration. They did lots of different activities around "100" - Avery brought in 100 grains of rice and came home with lots of "100" themed activities in her school folder. She was really into it!!

Fun Weekend in Ann Arbor

We headed to Ann Arbor this weekend to spend time with the Salah's and Patel's. On Saturday we stopped at Big Boy (nostalgic stop for me although it felt like a truck stop and not sure we need to go back anytime soon...) and then headed to Mia's 6th B-day party at Revel & Roll. Avery bowled a little and we spent most of our time in the awesome arcade. Avery was focused on winning stuffed animals and tickets and Tay just ran from game to game. At one point we lost track of him and found him enclosed pretend playing this Star Wars virtual reality game. He was in Heaven! After the party we headed to Briarwood and Avery and I got some new Mich Gear. And then we got OLGA's!! My favorite :)

We spent the night at Lauren and Nader's. The kids had lots of fun playing together - Avery and Mia hit it off and had a sleepover in her tent bed. Tay followed Z around copying what he did. It was super cute. On Sunday we had brunch at their house and Sanjay and Karen and their 4 kids joined us. Avery really fell in love with their middle daughter Neela and the two were inseparable during the bball game. It was the first Michigan game for the kids and they really had fun (despite Tay screaming in most of the pics - I swear he was having a good time!). It was fun to catch up with old friends and the kids had a blast, too!! Go Blue!

Big Boy - A bit more depressing than I remembered....

 Tay Enjoying Cake but refusing to smile

 Olga's!!! And we were there with Tarik Black

 Getting ready for the game!

 Avery made a sign that said "I Love You. Go Blue!"

 Poor Tay!!

 The Storm Trooper!

 Tay and Z getting cozy and watching a show near the end of the game - And we finally got a smile!

 Avery and her new BFF Neela :) 

Taylor 28 Month Update

Here is what sweet and crazy Tay is up to in Month 28:

• I am LOVING talking Taylor - It is so fun to hear all the new things he is saying. Some of our current favorites are:
• "Shank Shu Shishy" (Thank you Sissy) - He really has amazing manners and thanks us all the time for everything. We love it!
• "I need Shu Mama" (I need you). We hear this one a lot whenever he needs help and how can anyone say No to that??
• "Shanta says Ho Ho Hooooo"
• "O-is Yike Me" (Otis likes me) - We heard that one a lot while Du was here. He was really into Otis. And he is always saying who likes him "Dada yike me"
• "Ah-New" is Uncle Du, and "Guy" is Cullen.
• "Lo-Lo" is Yo-Yo
• When you turn on the light after his nap or in the morning he says "Ish too briii" (It's too bright) and closes his eyes in pain. Same with loud noises - Covers his ears and says "Too Youd (loud) dada".
• And he has the sweetest way of saying "Yeah" with this cute nod. I need to get all of these on film!
• "Bow How" is Bounce House. He is really loving playing in the basement and bouncing around. So he'll say "Bow How?" and then head down to the basement. He loves to get "stuck" in the side with Hung and then have Avery save them. Both kids just giggle the whole time. It's a nice way to burn some energy with the cold weather!!
• Tay still loves Choo-Choos. He carries a few around in this little cooler bag that zips up and sleeps with them every night along with a water cup ("wawa"). We are excited to get his new train track systems set up and glued down on his train table  that he got for Christmas but he has been playing with them a bunch recently.
• He got a couple new drill toys for Christmas and is loving those - He spent Christmas Day pretty much drilling little screws into this toy he got from Maddie. He still loves his tools and wants to help Hung fix things.
• He has not been very interested in food lately (except treats!) so getting him to eat good meals has been a struggle. He's such a skinny little guy and we are constantly trying to get him to chow down despite his protests. The one thing he LOVES are plain Penne Noodles (Noo-Noo's).
• He is mostly in 2T - some 3T. Size 7 shoe.
• Tay is always asking my for my phone and wants to watch shows only on my phone - Anyone else's makes him mad. He is really good at navigating things like NetFlix and dismissing alerts and things like that. Too funny. And he'll ask for "big show" when he wants to watch a show on the TV.
• He has this thing where we wants to name everyone in the room "Mama, Dada, Sissy".
• He has no interest in potty training - When I ask him if he wants to use the potty and be a big boy he says "No I a baby." LOVES to tell you that he is a baby!
• Everything is MINE. We hear Mine a lot!! And he wants everyone to have what is theirs - He was mad a Avery today for playing with the balloon sword that Avery gave to Ashley. He only wanted Ashley to have it. So trying to encourage sharing is a goal right now :) 
• Tay and Avery have a new sleeping game - They get pillows, blankets and coats and Avery puts Tay "to sleep" in the ottoman in the sunroom. She shuts the shades, turns on white noise and he pretends sleep. Totally odd but entertains both of them. They are finding more and more ways to play together and it just makes me melt. She couldn't be sweeter to him and I love seeing them enjoying each other.
• He has SO much energy - Always jumping, play fighting/ninja type moves, shooting things, on the go! He can have his snuggly moments, too (when he feels like it). Just such a sweet and awesome boy - I want to freeze him at this age and wish I could capture every cute thing coming out of his mouth!!

REALLY not wanting his picture taken and making mad faces at me...

 Caught him watching "Big Show" 

Merry Christmas 2017

We had such a wonderful Christmas Vacation - Lots of great family and friend time! We started on the 22nd with the annual Christmas Breakfast at Lilly with the Popovich's/Morrison's. The kids had fun in the photo booth, getting tattoos (Tay was scared at first but then was obsessed with the choo-choo he got on his arm) and seeing Santa.

On the 23rd we celebrated Christmas at G and Papa's with the Armato's and Grammy. On the 24th Grandpa, Grandma T, Aunt Maddie, Uncle Nate and Aunt Debbie all arrived. We spent 4 days basically eating, playing games and laughing! We had a wonderful Christmas Day - the magic of Santa was in full effect. Avery loved her talking parrot, new play kitchen gear, new games and lots of craft supplies. Tay was really excited about all of his Choo-Choo's and he also LOVED this drill set that Aunt Maddie got him. He walked around all day going from toy to toy and trying everything out. He was just in heaven. Teri made us steak and crab legs which were delicious. Debbie made apple pie and G, Papa and Aunt Amy joined us for dessert which was the perfect ending to the day.

On the 28th, Uncle Du and Otis arrived with another round of presents :) The Balloon Animal set was the hit of the season - We have made tons of dogs, weiner dogs, hearts and swords. That is all we can make so far but the kids LOVE it and any kid that comes over loves it, too! 

On NYE, we had over some neighbors and their kids, Cullen, KJ and Du. The kids had lots of fun with the balloon animals and playing in the basement. The adults played games and had a great time. Avery and Tay both made it til midnight and slept until 10:30 on New Year's Day. Avery heads back to school tomorrow and life returns to normal but it was an awesome winter break!!

Lilly Christmas Breakfast

All these present and Tay just wanted to play in a box!

 Last day of Ella the Elf

 Christmas Morning

 Trying out his fishing pole on Grandpa

 Family Pics and Snap Chat Fun

NYE - Tay hated the noisemakers and then loved them