Art Projects

Andrew has been very busy this winter break with stickers. He received lots of supplies and put them all to great use - check out some of his masterpieces!!


Snow buddies.


Santa Claus.


And our favorite - the manger scene. Andrew just LOVES Baby Jesus and wanted to make sure that everyone/thing made it on the page :)

Merry Christmas!!

We wish you a Merry Christmas with all of your loved ones!!

Andrew and Nathan must have been VERY good boys this year because Santa sure did go all out!! The boys woke up to lots of presents to open and had a blast!! Then we headed over to Uncle Todd's to celebrate with the Bruemer side of the family. It was just a wonderful Christmas holiday together as a family.

Christmas morning.


Andrew LOVES his kitchen and cooks up some inventive meals!!


Just a cute picture of Nathan moving around :)

Merry Christmas Eve!!

This evening we celebrated Christmas Eve with the Vehige side of the family. Andrew and Nathan absolutely LOVED being around ALL of their cousins!! It's quite the get together with all 33 of us (16 adults and 17 grandchildren)!! The boys had a great time opening presents and singing Christmas carols.

Pops leading the majority of the grand kids in song.


Andrew's turn to pick out a carol - Jingle Bells!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow!!

We were SO EXCITED to wake up to SNOW today!!


Andrew all ready to go!!


Starting the snowman.


Andrew helping pack the snow.

Making sure it's solid.

Our first snowman!!

Andrew shoveling snow.

On a mission...

Bringing back his bucket of snow - heavy load.

Daddy making it snow even more on Andrew!!

Here's a good branch to shake!!

Our snowmen - Andrew & Nathan :)

All done - coming in for some hot chocolate.

Andrew's all ready for his hot chocolate!!

Sick Day

Andrew had his first sick day home from school today. It would not be that big a deal, but given the time of season, he missed his Christmas Celebration and Party at school :( We were all ready for the big day, but our little guy woke up with the flu. Thankfully, it just lasted one day and no one else in the family got it!! We are glad it's in the past and we are looking forward to the rest of our holiday break HEALTHY!!

Gingerbread Choo Choo Train

Andrew had his first snow day home from preschool today, so we passed some of the time with making a Gingerbread Choo Choo Train...

The train and caboose are all ready to go.


Decorating with lots of candy!!


The finished product - so proud!!

Sound Sleeper

There's nothing better than a sleeping baby!!

Night at The Four Seasons

Steve and I were able to have a much needed day to ourselves and enjoyed the down time!! We spent the afternoon around town, had a fabulous dinner at Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, had some fun at Lumier and ended the night at The Four Seasons.

THANK YOU Gigi and PaPa for spending the night with the boys and letting us get out and about!! The boys had a GREAT time as always!!

Lunch with Santa

This morning we headed to have lunch with Santa, Mrs. Claus, their elves and even two clowns!! The boys loved all of the action and hanging out with our friends.


Andrew and Dad singing Christmas carols with Santa.


Family pic with Santa and Mrs. Claus.


Group shot...not one kiddo is even looking at the camera!!
Clockwise - Me, Nathan, Andrew, Steve, Julie, Benjamin, Jason, Christy, Addison and Nicholas


Nathan all smiles on the way home :)

Andrew all smiles with his candy cane balloon made especially for him!!

Nathan's Updated IFSP

We met this afternoon with Nathan's team of therapists and First Steps' coordinator to review his service plan for the next six months. We are staying consistent with the majority of his therapies and increasing his occupational therapy to an hour and a half each week to start concentrating more on feeding. Nathan continues to make progress and we are hoping to hit some big milestones SOON!! It's amazing to think the next time we will be meeting formally with Nathan's team, we will be discussing his transition out of First Steps - oh how time flies!!

Happy St. Nick's Day!!

The boys were quite surprised finding gifts under the tree already from St. Nicholas. We received a special gift for the season, Ernie, one of Santa's elves. Ernie watches over the boys and each night reports back to Santa at the North Pole. Every morning Ernie is somewhere else in the house and the boys have fun trying to find him. So far, Ernie's a hit!!

Our Christmas Tree.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by loved ones!! This is Nathan's first debut at both the Vehige's and Bruemer's feasts - we are very blessed for a healthy and happy holiday!!

Our Boys

Just some pics of the boys relaxing...


Nathan catching a quick cat nap during errands.


Hanging out together - both Andrew and Nathan get the biggest kick out of sitting in the same chair with each other - it's great!!

Welcome, Ryan Robert!!

Congratulations, Witthaus family on the arrival of Ryan Robert!! We are so happy for you and wish you all the best with your newest family member - what a sweetheart!!

Big Sister Ellie already taking great care of her little brother!!

Happy 3rd Birthday, Andrew!!

We can't believe our little man is three years old today!! We can't imagine our lives without him and have a hard time remembering our lives before we welcomed Andrew into this world!! We have enjoyed every single minute of Andrew's lovable personality and can laugh at the trying times we have faced with our toddler :) We have a busy birthday planned and a party this weekend with some of our family. Happy birthday, sweetheart - we love you more than anything!!


Andrew helping bake his birthday cupcakes.


Making sure to get all the batter off his fingers!!


All smiles now that the cupcakes are in the oven.

Getting ready to make his birthday wish and blow out his candle.

Look at me on my very own potty!! We are hoping for successful training later on!!

A pitcher's target - Andrew got his very first baseball glove too - he's all set!!

A magnetic, dry erase and chalk board easel - THANKS Uncle Todd and Aunt Laura!!

Andrew on his new tricycle - he is getting the hang of it!!

Wagon Ride

Andrew decided to take his wagon out - this time giving the ride for a change!! I wasn't paying too close attention and looked up to see Andrew down the street at our next door neighbor's with the wagon full of his toys!!


Working hard pulling quite a load.


About to take a turn.


Where's Andrew?? Don't worry he's behind the bush pulling with all his might to get the wagon through!!

Made it to the front porch for a pit stop - he loves checking it out!!

Happy Halloween!!

We had a GREAT fun-filled Halloween weekend!! Friday night, we headed over to Grandma's and Pops' house in our costumes to visit with all of our nieces and nephews and the rest of the family. ALL of the kiddos were too cute all dressed up!!


Nathan ready for the rest of his tiger costume.


Andrew all ready to go!!

Our lion and tiger all smiles :)

ROAR!!

The boys with a few of their cousins...Caroline (50's girl), Andrew (Lion), Nathan (Tiger), Kathryn (Minnie Mouse) and Henry (Monchichi - a Vehige favorite!!)

Then, on Saturday we were able to celebrate our good friend, Kate's first birthday!! We had a great time at the park and LOVED seeing Kate dig into her cake :)

Finally, Halloween was here and the boys were all excited to go trick-or-treating!! PaPa, Gigi, Uncle Todd and Aunt Laura all were over to help us celebrate Halloween. The boys had quite the entourage following them door to door :)

Nathan and Andrew all ready in their costumes.

Andrew starting out at his own house getting LOTS of candy from Gigi.

On the prowl.

Our little tiger hitching a ride from Gigi.

Andrew had no fear even at some of the scarier houses - he was just focused on what kind of candy was behind each door he went to :)

Our little lion finally pooped out and had to get a lift back home from Daddy.

Enjoying some of his treats!!