Happy 14th Birthday, Cole!

Cole is one more year closer to getting a driver's license, turning 14 yesterday. :shock: He got all sorts of great birthday wishes from what we heard, with a singing voice mail from Grandma Pat and phone calls from (among others, I'm sure) Grandma Marilyn and Grandpa Dan, Grandpa Bob, and of course us.  Zach and Alex even sang "Happy Birthday" to their big brother, which made Cole giggle.  Cole's got a pretty fun weekend lined up to celebrate, with a birthday party with his friends on Friday night and a party with our side of the family on Sunday.

The Terrific Twosome turned three!

Alex, Cole & Zach at the concert

Zach and Alex turned 3 on January 29th, so we all helped them celebrate the big day.  The Sunday before their birthday, Grandma Pat, Papa Bob, Debbie and her boyfriend, Ben, came over for a little party.  The boys had a ton of fun opening their presents, although they were a little confused as to why no one else had presents like at Christmas.  They got a bunch of great games, cars and other toys and even got a set of their very own tractors! After opening the presents, the boys went downstairs to try out the tractors and some of the games. To cap off the day, we had a chocolate chip cake with chocolate frosting that was decorated with Star Wars figures, which they thought was pretty darn cool.

Their checkup was on the 28th, and they are doing great, although they are of course still skinny.  Zach measured in at 25 lb 15 oz (under 5th percentile) and 36.75 inches tall (30th percentile).  Alex was 26 lb 8 oz (under 5th percentile) and 37 inches tall (30th percentile).  Both of those marks are pretty consistent for them so far.  They are doing great in development too - they exceeded most of the development marks expected at their age, esp with speech and reading, and the only thing on the list they couldn't do yet was pedal a trike, which they are close to doing.

On the day of their birthday, Debbie surprised them with a breakfast treat of donuts and then Joe took them to the Children's Museum.  They wore little "Birthday Boy" buttons that they had picked out at the store - they were SOOOO excited to wear them (their "ties" as they called them).  They've been working really hard at holding up just three fingers and telling people how old they are.

We of course have a ton of pictures that we took, and they've all been posted in the Zach and Alex's 3rd Birthday album.  There are also a number of pictures in the new Jan - Feb 2009 album, including photos from Cole's recent band concert.  Cole's band did a fantastic job - we were all so proud of him!

Also, I never posted the link to it, so if you're interested, you can check out the Christmas 2008 album to get a peek at our celebration.

Oh my, they're getting so big!

Zach and Alex crossed another milestone today, when we took the crib tents out and changed the cribs over to "big boy" beds this morning.  They were SO excited - they even helped Daddy by using their own tools on the bed and hanging on to the screws.  The last time we tried this at 18 months old when they started climbing out of the cribs, it did not go well - hence the crib tents that, to me, are easily one of the all-time greatest inventions.  Now, 18 months later, the tents are falling apart and the boys seemed ready for the transition now that they are almost 3.

Right now, at nearly 10:30 PM, I'd say it's going fairly well even though we went in to shush them about 15 minutes ago. I think that had more to do with the excitement of birthday presents and cake from their party today than it did the bed.  Besides, they've stayed in their beds the whole time even though they were still talking. That's a huge win in my book, esp compared to last time!

The other big recent milestones? We now have them in booster seats instead of high chairs at their meals.  They've done so well that we've cleaned up the high chairs in preparation to give them to someone else.  They're also wearing Pull-ups a lot now, which they are quite proud of, although they still don't use the potty real consistently.

All this and they turn 3 in a couple days - my little babies are turning into big boys so quickly!

Damn it's cold!

For those of you that left the great state of Minnesota or those that never had the privilege of living here, you missed a cold one! With low of temp of -20.3 °F and dew point low of -25.8 °F it was one of the "hot" topics of the day. Weather forecasters (if you are to believe them) say the coldest day will be this Thursday with a HIGH of -6 °F.


A little sample of our temps and dew points for today, the source of the data is my personal weather station in our yard (Davis Instruments Vantage Pro2 Plus).

Yowsers!

Merry Christmas!

The Vandermarks, Christmas 2008

We hope you and your family are having a wonderful Christmas this year.  We had a really nice one - although it certainly would have been better if a big issue at work hadn't kept me on the phone for more than half of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Oh well, sometimes work happens.  In any case, we were thankful for the time we did spend together and with my parents on both of those days, enjoying some wonderful meals and some fun times playing together.

This was the first year that Zach and Alex got the concept of Santa, so that was a lot of fun. They had gone to visit Santa at the mall a few times while there to play at the indoor play area, and they had asked him to bring them "dump trucks and Star Wars stuff." For the days and weeks after that, they'd remind us over and over that "Santa is going to bring us presents!"  And sure enough, he did.  They did indeed get some new dump trucks and some Star Wars figurines, but I think their favorite gifts are their very own flashlights, which also double as light sabers.  They carried them everywhere yesterday and today.  Some times it is the simplest things that bring the most joy...

It's taken me a while, but I've finally uploaded a bunch of pictures from November and December onto the site.  In the Nov-Dec 2008 album, you'll find photos chronicalling art projects and holiday decorating, as well as some fun in the snow.  In the Thanksgiving - Chicago album, we have pictures from our visit to celebrate the holidays with the Belousek family and with Great Grandma Jean (be sure to check out the video clip of the boys enjoying pie at GG's house - they were pretty excited about that pie :) ).  Now here's hoping it doesn't take me another month to get the Christmas pictures posted...

Happy Holidays!

Because we love Christmas (and because I'm a complete nerd), theVandermarks.com has been "decorated" for the Holidays!  We wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy New Year, and best wishes for whatever holidays you and your family celebrate.

Three Handy Mannys and a Roman Soldier

Our Handy Mannys

Cole the Roman Soldier

This year for Halloween, Zach and Alex dressed up as their favorite character, Handy Manny, complete with their own tools. They were so excited! To celebrate, we went down to Joe's office to join their Halloween party and then stopped by Grandma Pat's office to say hello before we picked up Cole on our way home.  After dinner, we went to visit Dar and Gary, Debbie's parents and two people that Z & A love to visit, for some Halloween treats.  Then Joe and Cole, who wore his Roman soldier costume from a couple years ago, took them out trick-or-treating for the first time; they didn't go to a lot of houses, but they had a lot of fun!

Check out all the great pics from when Z & A got their new toolboxes and from Halloween itself starting on page 4 of the Sept-Oct 2008 album.

In addition to those pictures, a ton of others from the past few months have been added, pictures that Debbie took with her own camera.  In the July-Aug 2008 album, you'll find a few trips that Debbie, Cole, Zach and Alex took to the pool, a trip they took to the Children's Museum, and a visit to a fire station with one of Debbie's sisters and nephews, as well as some just general playing-around pics.  In the Sept-Oct 2008 album, there are a couple trips to some parks, including a set that Debbie took as a photo shoot to make special Autumn/Halloween present for the boys' grandparents.  Those pictures are just adorable (OK, so I'm a little biased on the subject matter).