Andrew in Feb & March 2014

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew.

What is this kid up to?  Reading - he is really really loving the Magic Tree House books - I think he is on #26 now.  He loves to read them at night when the other boys have already fallen asleep or just whenever.  I think he will definitely be done with the series by the end of the summer - probably before then.  I am so excited to see him love reading and love all the things he is learning.

Andrew has been busy in school.  He keeps moving up levels in reading at school so all the reading at home must be doing something.  He does pretty well at math - they have been learning two digit addition and subtraction (without carrying and borrowing) and are now doing hundreds chart.  In science, Andrew learned about the moon and has been coming home with all kinds of science sheets - so they must be learning something!  He learned a lot about Black History in February.

It has been really cold lately.  Walking School bus has been cancelled a lot lately, so I or Katsu have to take him to school on the way to work.  Sometimes, it has been raining a lot, so I will drive to pick him up because I remember hating walking in the rain when I was a kid.  But he must be becoming like me because he has been telling me "You should have just walked.  I don't mind walking in the rain.".  They don't have outside PE when it is too cold, so they stay inside and do things like dance to Just Dance for Kids videos on youtube.  It cracks me up, but Andrew loves to show us his moves.


Fun Things This Month
~ February ~
- Super Bowl - snacks and fun with the family
- Setsubun - Andrew totally knows it's Katsu, but he still loves throwing jelly beans at Dad.  The tricky thing was finding jelly beans for it.
- Puppet Lady at Jarvis - okay, we were not very impressed with the show.  The lady was kind of weird and it was all about germs (and kind of gross). Andrew really enjoyed using his allowance to buy snacks for him and to share with the other boys.  They were disappointed we didn't buy chic-fil-a.  I guess for next time.
- Lowes - Andrew went with Katsu to build a love note holder.  He enjoyed it, hammering things in.
- Ultrasound - Andrew didn't get to see it but was a little disappointed that we are having a new boy.  He got over it quick and is excited to tell everyone that I am pregnant.
- Cold weather - a 3 hr early release, a day off school, and a 2 hr delay.  Snow.  So.  Much.  Snow.  This.  Year.
- Valentine's Day - Andrew enjoyed the treats we shared at breakfast and all the fun valentines.  He had a (really low key party at school - basically just treats), and I was able to come to the party and help pass out the snacks.  The hit was Krispy Kreme heart donuts.  Andrew got lots of valentines  and loved opening them and eating all the candies.  He was pretty good at sharing with his brothers.
- Working on the garden.  Andrew has enjoyed helping water and planting seeds and loves to watch the plants every day.  He is especially excited about the strawberries and can't wait to show them to everyone he sees.
~ March ~
- Another season of soccer started.  Andrew works really hard and really wants to try to get better.  He is not aggressive and has a hard time getting himself out there, but he has a good sense of where to be on the field and is getting better slowly.  He has games each weekend and practice every Thursday evening.  Soon he will have games during the week as well.
- Grandma and Grandpa came in town.  Andrew was excited to see them when he came home on the walking school bus and to play with them.  He took a day off of school to hang out with them.  And of course, we went and ate at the Chinese buffet.  On Thursday, we drove to New Bern and stopped there (mostly to take a break), but we ended up walking around and trying to see all the bears.  Andrew was upset that we didn't get to see all the bears (but there are like 50).  It was fun, but very cold!  We also stopped to see where they made Pepsi, when to the Cow Cafe place, and played at the pirate playground at the history museum.  Then, we drove to Pine Knolls and went to the Aquarium.  Andrew really loved it.  The crazy part was when a shark suddenly attacked a fish.  The boys were mesmerized!  He didn't die (at least not then), but he had a big chunk out of him.  They also got shells and got to touch sting rays and other sea animals.  It was pretty cool.  They also got to play at Chic-Fil-A for lunch which was fun.  Grandpa was sick the rest of week, so we didn't get a chance to do anything else fun much.  On Saturday, we went to the St. Patrick's Day parade which was really fun and Andrew had a soccer game.
- St. Patrick's Day was chill - just a simple cabbage and bacon soup and Irish soda bread and green pudding.  The boys loved it.
- Kid's Fest - we went to the convention center - he was a little old, but he did get a free book and some candy, which he loved.  Plus, we found out we won a free birthday party!  That should be fun for both boys to have a joint birthday party on Andrew's birthday.
- College week at school.  Andrew got to wear a college hat one day (Michigan) and an ECU shirt another day.  Funny story - I said he could wear a college shirt, and he asked if he could wear his Cardinals or Red Sox shirt.  No, prof. sports teams are not colleges.  It was a fun break from the usual uniform.
- Luckily, soccer was cancelled this Saturday from all the rain, so we got to spend 3 or more hours at the ECU youth arts festival.  It was AMAZING.  They had art projects going on in probably 50 rooms in an ECU building, plus performers.  Each room had like 3 art projects.  Some where kind of small, but some were super involved - pottery, making wax patterns on cloth and then painting it, painting on silk.  The boys had SO much fun and Andrew was sad we had to leave.  We grabbed a dinner out afterwards because we were so tired and hadn't eaten.