Andrew: Three

Happy Third Birthday Andrew John Nullmeyer!

I can't type out your full name without hearing your cute voice saying "I'm Andrew John Nullmeyer". If anyone ever asks you your name, you say your entire name. Although around here you're just "Drewski", or "Drewski-man".

At the age of three you are both Mr. Independent and a total Mama's boy. You enjoy doing lots of things for yourself now, like pouring water from the refrigerator into your cup, climbing onto the counter to help, and trying to put on your socks. However, you still love being held and cuddling with me, and you can be quite clingy and needy.

You are into everything! You're full of energy and curiosity....and a bit of mischief. Off the top of my head I'm remembering that blue toothpaste on the carpet, the flooded bathroom, the pink nail polish on our new couch.....just to name a few of your recent activities.

I wouldn't necessarily call you easy-going. You don't throw huge tantrums like your brother Lucas did at this age, although you have started hitting a little bit, or screaming when you get really upset. You fight me over getting into your carseat, you fight with your sister over toys, and you can be kind of moody.

You play with Jenna the most, since you two are home together most days. You do love being goofy with Lucas, and you two seem to kind of "get" each other. Grandpa is one of your favorite people, and you will almost always go to him and just kind of curl up in his lap.

Your favorite foods include lots of protein foods like eggs, meat, chicken, beans, sausage. You also love cheese and you love to sneak into the fridge and get your own string cheese for a snack. You aren't as picky as your older brothers....you will eat foods like steamed broccoli and roasted brussels sprouts, although you don't love many fruits.

Your sleep still isn't great. You end up in our bed every single night, pretty much attached to me. I'm vowing this will be the year for you to stay in your own bed! And potty-train. I have lots of goals for us to tackle! I'm grateful that you still take a nap most days (on the couch), although lately they have been getting much shorter.

We're pretty sure you're going to be a lefty (like Daddy!). You always throw and kick with your left hand/foot. You seem pretty coordinated to me, so I'm sure you'll play sports like your brothers. You already think you're a baseball player. 

We had planned to send you to the same 2-day in-home preschool class your siblings went to when they were 3, but that won't be an option next year. So now I'm trying to figure out if/where to send you to preschool. You already talk about your "class" and your "friends" as if you were a big kid, so I'm sure you'll enjoy school whenever you end up going.

Just look at you at 3 months....

versus 3 years!

Andrew I love you so much and time is just flying by with you. My baby is 3 and I don't know how it happened! I pray you would continue to grow into the boy God made you to be; the laughing energetic crazy cute Drewski.

Snow Vacation

We had such a fun time in the snow this week! The last time we did a joint trip with my sister's family was the summer of 2014, when we were both pregnant with our girls. I blogged about it here. So this year we decided to spend a few days in Truckee playing in the snow.

 After we unpacked a little bit, Adam and Ryan headed straight down to the snowy backyard.

 This girl was so excited!

 There was a bit of an hill in the yard, so we were able to do some sledding.

 We discovered a snowman

 And then got into warm PJ's and settled in for the night.

My sister and I chose to cook all our meals in an effort to save money. That night we ate tacos and played lots of Dutch Blitz.

Monday night Adam and I slept horribly. Andrew was awake every half hour crying, and our room was like a furnace. I didn't doze off until close to 4am.

Tuesday morning was cold but sunny.

 We drove about 15 minutes to Soda Springs snow park.

 I thought this little girl looked so cute in her snow clothes and smile.

 Us.....not nearly as cute!

 Soda Springs was perfect. They had a regular area for skiing/snowboarding and tubing. And then there was a kids' area where they had this tube carousel.

 Small tubing hills.

 And even kids' practice snowboarding!

Andrew and Jenna never once complained about the cold or the snow. They absolutely loved it!

 My older boys alternated between the kiddie stuff and the bigger tubing hill.

 Lucas gave me a hard time about his snow overalls, but in the end I won and I thought he looked adorable.

 Another adorable fella....

 Lucas and Ryan came over and tried the kiddie snowboarding.

 While Auntie held a sleeping Andrew.

We ate lunch in our cars, and unfortunately Matthew had to sit out the entire day due to a hurt back. We were at the park from 10-4 and all the kids did great!

Snowball flying at me! Do you see it?

That night we ate chicken drumsticks and played a logic/trivia game that we found at the cabin. Unfortunately Ava was not feeling well for most of the trip, and that feeling soon spread.....

Wednesday morning we got on our snow clothes, and planned our day by the fireplace.

 We played out front.....

 Before heading down to Donnor lake! Have you ever played in the snow on the beach? It was a first for all of us.

If you didn't see the snow, you might think it was a warm sunny day at the beach. And honestly, I was wishing it was 85 degrees. I was starting to feel really chilled.

 We played along the shore, and discovered parts of the lake had a thin layer of ice.

 We picked up the ice, smashed it, and got out lots of aggression. It was like breaking glass!

 Can you see the giant piece of ice he's holding??

Then we found a smaller, frozen lake. Adam and the boys were walking out on it until I yelled at Adam to get them off. They complied, but then Adam decided to test the thickness of the ice by jumping on it. It cracked and down he went! Only a few feet, but he got pretty soaked. Too bad I didn't get an actual picture of him in the lake.

 Back at home we thawed out

And played some Jenga. It was around this time that I started feeling really achy and chilled. I lay down on a giant bean bag, covered myself with a blanket, and literally did not move for 2 hours. I wasn't sure if I was just sore from all the snow play, or coming down with something.

My parents came and visited for a couple hours that afternoon. I felt good enough to put on my snow gear and take a few disc runs down the backyard. I may have almost knocked Adam off a little cliff, because for some reason I couldn't figure out how to put my feet down and slow myself!

 The view from up on the balcony of the cabin.

That evening we ate ice cream, danced to Alexa music, and played more dutch blitz. I felt better but my throat was starting to tickle. By the next day both Adam and I felt pretty sick, Luckily it was time to leave and go home. Lyla, Bella, and Lucas all got sick that day, and now Ryan is also really sick.

I'm thankful most of us enjoyed the snow before we started feeling so crummy!

Although both my sister and I agreed that we would never want to live in the snow, (so much work getting kids in and out of snow clothes!), we all had a ton of fun together. Now I'm focusing on getting my family better because we actually have another fun trip coming up soon!

Dinners of the Week

I have a week's worth of dinners to share with you! What did you eat this week?

Sunday: Caprese Chicken with Pasta, Green Beans

I love the flavors of pesto, cheese and tomato, so I was excited to try this dish. I thinly sliced chicken breast and topped with pesto, then tomato slices and finally some mozzarella cheese. It was pretty good! I served it with whole wheat pasta and steamed green beans (topped with lemon juice and garlic powder).

Monday: Turkey Burgers, Potatoes, Kale Salad

On this night I cooked some homemade turkey burgers on the stovetop. I try not to eat meat every night, so I made a quinoa veggie burger for myself. The others had theirs on whole wheat buns, but I had mine without. I baked diced potatoes and sweet potatoes in the oven. I'm still trying to make myself love sweet potatoes, but the only way I really like them is baked with lots of salt and butter. I also made a kale caesar salad earlier in the day and it was SO good. Here is the recipe. Seriously, make it!! It is my favorite way to eat kale these days. Jenna gave it a thumbs up.

Tuesday: Ramen, Broccoli, Edamame

I tried a recipe from Pinterest using brown rice ramen noodles, and honestly it didn't turn out that great. I ate it, but nobody else really did. It contained tamari and a few other asian ingredients, and strangely enough....parmesan. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't great. I steamed edamame and broccoli to go with it.

Wednesday: Hamburger Soup, Homemade Bread

I used my mom's recipe to make hamburger soup. This is one of those dishes I remember eating as a child and really enjoying. It contains ground beef, soy sauce, tomato sauce, celery, carrot, split peas, pasta, basil, oregano, seasoned salt, dried minced onion, and I always top it with parmesan. On the side I made a quick loaf of no-knead bread. I believe I used this recipe, and I used half white and half whole wheat flour. Topped with butter of course!

Thursday: Green Chile Chicken, Rice and Beans, Pico de Gallo

I tried a recipe from one of my Pioneer Woman cookbooks for this green chile chicken. It was marinated in some oil, citrus and mexican spices, and then cooked with green chiles and cheese on top. I served it with white rice (brown for me and the little kids) and black beans. I also made some pico de gallo earlier in the day, which was delicious. Fresh raspberries on the side.

Friday: Steak, Baked Potatoes, Asparagus, Truffles

This was Valentine's Day, and I decided to make steak since it isn't something we eat very often. I also made baked potatoes and roasted asparagus. Ryan helped me make homemade truffles for some teachers and family members, and we ate what was left after dinner. Yum!

Saturday Ground Turkey, Cheese Tortelloni, Broccoli/Cauliflower

I planned on serving leftover chicken this night, but it all got eaten for lunch. So I cooked ground turkey (topped mine with worcestershire), and then cooked some quick cheese tortelloni from Costco. I also steamed broccoli and cauliflower to round out the meal. If you're wondering why I cook ground meat so often, it's because it is the only protein all of my kids will happily eat. Ground beef or turkey is on our menu every week, usually more than once.