January 2011

This new year has already been full of activity for the Metzlers.

We have had some great adventures both indoors and out.
We explored the Chicago Children's Musuem at Navy Pier for the first time EVER the other weekend and are excited to return (on the first Sunday of every month when kids are admitted free!). We have also been able to enjoy a couple of days outside doing traditional wintery things.

Unfortunately we have not yet been able to celebrate little J.J.'s second birthday, which was on January 19th, as he, Ally and I have all been hit by a case of strep. We are on the mend though and look forward to having a little family party for him soon!

Here is a timeline of photos from the first half of the month...please excuse the quality of the photos, I have been camera-less lately and am relying on my phone to document these precious moments!

We proudly cheered on the Colts during their all-too-short playoff run...

...then we buried our heads in sorrow after their defeat.

We have been utilizing our new Christmas gifts,

and practicing lots of tummy time!

We took a trip to Indy,

and learned how to perfect drawing a peace sign at the age of 4! I found this in Ally's backpack, apparently this is what she doodles at school in her spare time. As Ally would say, "Peace, love and happiness, mom". She's so hip.

We discovered how to take photos of ourselves and want to do it everyday (well, J.J. does).

We had fun in the snow making snow angels,

sledding (at least that's what they called me pulling them around and around in a circle in the "backyard" while baby Andy was asleep inside!),

making a totally cute snowman at Grandma and Grandpa's house

and ice skating at Wrigley with friends.

J.J. did some tormenting of baby Andy. He likes to take Rudolph and hold the light-up nose against things to watch its reflection...here I caught him using Andy's forehead to do so.

But J.J. is also working on potty training! Yeah!

While baby Andy is working on being cute.

I'd say he's pretty darn good at being cute...

...they all are...

...especially when working on self-assigned "homework". When I tried to help Ally make her 3s without a loop in them, she was quick to point out that, "Oh mom, little kids always put bubbles in their 3s." Duh.

One last photo of little Andy and his constant companion, not-so-little Ally.

Until next time, enjoy your Januarys. Smile, laugh, have fun and be nice. That's our motto for the month.