Pierson Clan

Jam Making

2011-07-10T20:32:00.000-04:00

I've been learning how to make jam. I made Blueberry (12) and Cherry Jam (7). The kids helped me pit lots and lots of cherries for our freezer too. Yum!

1 year!

2011-07-10T20:28:00.000-04:00

We "celebrated" Kayla's stroke on Friday. It's been 1 year since that fateful drive. We spent the whole weekend as a family. Friday we went blueberry and cherry picking. It was yummy!

4th of July Neighborhood Parade

2011-07-07T23:21:00.000-04:00

We finished our busy weekend with our neighborhood parade and then a wedding. Ben loved riding with the big kids this year! popsicles at the end.

Don't you love the scrape Kayla got falling out of the sandbox?

The kids on our street!

tuckered out!

2011-07-07T23:15:00.000-04:00

This is how Ben and Kayla looked in the afternoon on Saturday. Then up and at em for another party!

4th of July Picnic

2011-07-07T23:12:00.000-04:00

4th of July Parade continued.

2011-07-07T23:09:00.000-04:00

Daddy day

2011-07-07T22:57:00.000-04:00

Andy took the kids down to Home Depot so I could get some sewing done. Grandpa got us a new mower...yippee!!!

Dramatic Play

2011-07-07T22:53:00.000-04:00

Have we mentioned how much Ben is into dramatic play righ now. He is really into it. REALLY into it. I love to see how amazing and creative he can be!

Sillies

2011-07-07T22:50:00.000-04:00

Ben in his knight helmet and jet pack. Kids silly below!

Ice Cream!

2011-07-07T22:45:00.000-04:00

JEEP!

2011-07-07T22:44:00.000-04:00

Ben rode in Grandpa's jeep and LOVED it. Grandpa bought him a jeep of his own. :)

Visiting Grandma and Grandpa

2011-07-07T22:41:00.000-04:00

We went to visit Grandma and Grandpa in their new house! Grandpa made sure to introduce Ben to Mr. Dingaling. In the mountains he watched for turkeys and deer...here in Ballston Spa...Mr. Dingaling. gotta love it!

Fun with the Merrimans.

2011-07-07T22:32:00.000-04:00

Brendan is 5 months younger than Kayla and they have been "discovering" eachother lately. It's awesome.

Strawberry Picking

2011-07-07T22:30:00.000-04:00

Lovin' it!

Father's Day cont.

2011-07-07T22:26:00.000-04:00

Father's Day!

2011-07-07T22:23:00.000-04:00

Andy has been working long hours. the kids have really missed him! happy Father's day to the love of my life.

Elizabeth's Grad Party

2011-07-07T22:19:00.000-04:00

Our babysitter and next door neighbor Elizabeth is graduating! We celebrated at her party with her. We will miss her so much!

Obsession

2011-07-07T22:13:00.000-04:00

Kayla and Ben have an obsession with Mary. OBSESSION.

Kayla Ann

2011-07-07T22:12:00.000-04:00

Home!

2011-07-07T22:11:00.000-04:00

Long grass. mommy has a bruised sternum. daddy is working overtime. We are playing. playing. playing.

Cuteness!

2011-07-07T22:09:00.000-04:00

Last Day

2011-07-07T22:00:00.000-04:00

Last Day. Auden surfaced after 4 days sick in his room. The kids tried to take a picture together. Below are some of the "interesting" shots we got! Ben was frowning, rayna had her fingers in her mouth, kids were looking everywhere....priceless.

Ella's Birthday and end of trip!

2011-07-07T21:53:00.000-04:00

Beach!

2011-07-07T21:50:00.000-04:00

Day 4: smiles

2011-07-07T21:31:00.000-04:00

Well, the stomach bug hit daddy as well this week. And later this week will hit 3 other cousins and 2 uncles! yuck! Mommy and Kayla stayed healthy though! We kept on smiling though!

Day 3: Family

2011-07-07T21:13:00.000-04:00

More from the first night

2011-07-07T21:10:00.000-04:00

First Day at the Beach! Well...night!

2011-07-07T21:08:00.000-04:00

We arrived. We conquered. We dove right in.

Day 2: Hotel and Richmond

2011-07-07T21:03:00.000-04:00

The 2nd day of our trip we visited the Richmond Children's Museum. We LOVED it. It was beautifully designed and unique. The kids jumped from one activity to another trying everything. They had a tree house, a cave, a store, auto shop, weather station, bank, apple picking tree, outdoor play area, dinosaur bones, and so so much more! After the museum we drove the rest of the way to outer banks.

2nd Stop: Quiet Corner

2011-07-07T20:59:00.000-04:00

We stopped in PA at a very small museum called the Quiet Corner Children's Museum. It was a neat museum as it was in a n old Victorian house. Each floor had a different theme from dramatic play to science to exploration play. The kids had a great time. That night we ate mexican food and then traveled all the way to Richmond, VA to stay in a hotel.

Day 1: stopping for lunch

2011-07-07T20:49:00.001-04:00

We stopped at a local park for lunch right after the wings museum. We had fun burning some energy on the playground. Ben actually had the stomach bug in all these first few days of photos but he's such a trooper and had fun anyway. We loved the family time.

Vacation: Day 1

2011-07-07T20:44:00.000-04:00

The first day of vacation we broke up our trip by stopping at several museums on the way down. Our first stop wasn't far from our house in Horseheads, NY. We stopped at the Wings of Eagles Discovery Museum. The museum is in a temporary location as a new facility is being built so there wasn't too much to see. We still had fun doing some computer flight simulations and climbing into old vietnam helicopters. Papa would be proud!

Family Vacation--driving down

2011-06-11T23:08:00.000-04:00

On the way to the outer banks, we made our way through several children's museums. We stopped at a flight museum in horseheads, ny. From there we went to a children's museum in PA.

New mattress and snuggles

2011-06-11T22:38:00.000-04:00

Last Day of school and Swimming

2011-06-11T22:33:00.001-04:00

play

2011-06-11T22:29:00.000-04:00

Campfire!

2011-06-11T22:25:00.000-04:00

water!

2011-06-11T22:22:00.000-04:00

this is how we waste away our afternoons

potty

2011-06-11T22:19:00.000-04:00

hat

2011-06-11T22:14:00.000-04:00

Park!

2011-06-11T22:06:00.000-04:00

We went to the park. The days are finally, finally, getting warm and sunny again. Ben is a climbing machine and Kayla isn't far behind.

Mother's Day

2011-06-11T22:00:00.000-04:00

Alas, no pics of Jenn with the kiddies. The guys made us brunch though and then we headed home for family time around lunchtime. Fun day, busy...and full of family.

Auden's Birthday Party

2011-06-11T21:53:00.000-04:00

Auden turned 5! Amy hosted a surprise party for him. He was very surprised!

Cinco de Mayo

2011-06-11T21:40:00.000-04:00

After school one day we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with friends. We had yummy quesidillas, fake (and real) margarittas, and lots and lots of bike riding. We went to Molly's house with Arielle and Atraiu. Patrick's family joined us after lunch. Fun! Kayla is below with atraiu. Sara said Atraiu has learned how to hug (and kiss!) from Kayla. :)

Firehouse visit

2011-06-11T21:31:00.000-04:00

Rochester Museum and Science Center

2011-05-04T19:43:00.000-04:00

My friend Sara took this picture of Ben. As she put it... " Here he is ladies- come and get him! Paleontoligist Ben is ready, waiting and roaring :-)" Love him!!!

Rainy Day Fun

2011-05-02T22:17:00.000-04:00

Kayla's first experience with shaving cream!

Go Ben Go!

Playing in puddles. They were out there giggling like crazy. Came in covered from head to toy in mud!

Picnic, Hibachi, and Bonfire!

2011-05-02T22:14:00.000-04:00

Sliding!

2011-05-02T21:59:00.000-04:00

Most of the pics daddy took of me were showing me naked! Mommy was able to show these. That's it. :)

Spring!

2011-05-02T21:58:00.000-04:00

Easter!

2011-05-02T21:46:00.000-04:00

The night before easter

2011-05-02T21:43:00.000-04:00

Ben decided to jump off of auden's bunk bed. We thought his wrist was broken, but it's just sprained. Amy used her magical ways to distract him and they picked out treats to leave for the easter bunny. An egg, carrot, and avocado. Too funny.

Decorating Easter Eggs

2011-05-02T21:38:00.000-04:00

Decorating Eggs

2011-05-02T21:36:00.000-04:00

Easter Weekend with the cousins.

2011-05-02T21:32:00.000-04:00

Ithaca continued

2011-05-02T21:28:00.000-04:00

Uncle Jeff's Birthday

2011-05-02T21:25:00.000-04:00

Flying Sword Benji

2011-05-02T21:22:00.000-04:00

Hard Night

2011-05-02T21:20:00.000-04:00

Kayla had a rough night. Daddy took over and then had a drink to celebrate his victory.

No one is like daddy

2011-05-02T21:19:00.000-04:00

Egg Hunt continued

2011-05-02T21:16:00.000-04:00

Egg Hunt

2011-05-02T21:13:00.000-04:00

We hosted a small egg hunt gathering. The kids hunted for eggs, ate and played. We did burgers and everyone brought side dishes. What a great family time. We are loving the relationships we are making with new friends.

Painting. Obsessed. Enough Said.

2011-05-02T21:09:00.000-04:00

Ithaca with Audie!

2011-05-02T21:06:00.000-04:00

We met Audie and famiy in Ithaca for a hike. I missed my big guy cousin!

Visiting Uncle Jeff

2011-05-02T21:03:00.000-04:00

How surreal for Mommy to watch me ride my bike like a big boy with no training wheels on the ag quad and across campus. Coolest thing that happened when we saw Uncle Jeff. We were heading near the clock tower and we passed a group of maybe 10-15 HS students with their teacher. The teacher asked how old I was and mommy said 3. The teacher said wow that's young and everyone started clapping for me. I got a big big grin on my face. Uncle Jeff was impressed by my ability too. Kayla kept wandering away exploring with no fear. Uncle Jeff started laughing when he saw my pink princess bike. Talk about socialization of gender roles. He loved that!

Reading Time

2011-05-02T20:56:00.000-04:00

Mommy started teaching reading time to me and my friends in February. We've had a really good time! In these pics we just read Not a Box and were creating our own things from boxes.

Molly's was an elephant

Nina was a spotted dog.

Tyler was a rocket ship.

Kevin had a race car like Ben!

Henry was a monster.

Arielle was an airplane.

Thomas was a ....oh shucks, I can't remember!

Hockey continued

2011-05-02T20:53:00.000-04:00

Hockey!

2011-05-02T20:51:00.000-04:00

We went to the last Amerk's hockey game with Patrick's family. This is what happened when we saw eachother!

Everyone's enjoying the game!

Outside

2011-05-02T20:46:00.000-04:00

Kayla is obsessed with our neighbors.

Loving Ben.

Ben gets his training wheels off! April 9th he learns to ride!

The weather

2011-05-02T20:44:00.000-04:00

The weather has been so cold! Here we are trying to burn some energy outside!

Biking

2011-05-02T20:41:00.000-04:00

The Castrechini's came over spontaneously. We had a great time biking with them. These pics are from early April.

The funny thing about this picture is that the girls all on their own were playing pic a boo around Brooke's car.

Playing

2011-05-02T20:38:00.001-04:00

The funny thing about this picture of Ben is that he's going on and on playing a song and singing on his guitar. I wish I could post the video. It's really really funny!

Swimming!

2011-05-02T20:32:00.000-04:00

Kayla started swimming! All her little budies are in it (well, most of them!)

Atraiu

Ruby

Whitney

Kate

Showing off already.

Ruby and Miss Penny (Molly's little sister and Mommy)

Sara and Atraiu (Areille's little brother and Mommy)

This is where kayla likes to eat. In daddy's lap.

Random

2011-05-02T20:28:00.000-04:00

Daddy figured out that our furnace's issue was the thermostat! He fixed it himself.

Ben had this wild "compromise" so that he could watch tv in the morning. This is what he came up with. What I want to point out is how well he signed his name!

Kayla loves dressing up like Ben.

Strong Musuem

2011-05-02T20:25:00.000-04:00

Mommy took Ben to a performance of If YOu Give a Mouse a Cookie. While Mommy and Ben were doing that, Daddy took me, Miss Kayla, to Strong. I got to go with my buddy Atraiu and his Daddy! It happened to be Star Wars weekend. Daddy was thrilled. Here are some snapshots. After we did that, all of us, plus Molly's family met up at Arielle's house for a spontaneous dinner. It was such a fun night.

Painting

2011-05-02T20:20:00.000-04:00

Kayla is obsessed. Painting is her thing. And coloring. Anything to do with putting color or marks on paper.

Peanut Butter Pie

2011-05-02T20:18:00.000-04:00

Daddy made a peanut butter pie. He shared it with the craft night girls. Except for mommy. She couldn't have any!

Double Trouble

2011-05-02T20:15:00.000-04:00

Snuggling Daddy

2011-05-02T20:13:00.000-04:00

Both kiddos climbed up into Andy's lap and gave him the biggest snuggle. They've really felt the loss of his time this year while he's in class. They both stay up at night hoping he'll get home in time to snuggle them goodnight. It's so sweet.

Dinner with the Castrechini's

2011-05-02T20:10:00.000-04:00

We had the Castrechini's over for a spontaneous dinner. Here are some candids! St. Patrick's Day feast. Yum!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-05-02T20:07:00.000-04:00

Mommy totally slacked and these are the only pics from St. Patricks Day. Grandma made me this pretty dress. Isn't it cute?

Nothing Like Friends

2011-05-02T20:02:00.000-04:00

Daddy made me a cool pancake one morning. Awesome.

Leona came over while Lucas and Miss Kim had an appt. She is a pretty pretty princess. Mommy let her borrow a crown, but Leona travels with her pink dress. Mommy is wondering if Kayla will be like little Leona soon. Then we played outside with Babi. Nothing like jammies and princess dresses outside on bikes.

Reading with Babi-March

2011-05-02T19:59:00.000-04:00

Babi visited us for a few days in March. We spent lots of time on her lap with books.

On a roll

2011-03-25T18:48:00.002-04:00

I realized that I was leaving a lot of our daily fun unsaid...so that's why I'm including random tidbits now..

tonight at dinner, Kayla said "olive" and reached for the olive can. She then ate dinner and grabbed a napkin and wiped her face. Big girl. When andy got home today, she took him to the tv stand and said "ball" so that he'd help her get the ball out from underneath! She's been peeing on the potty 1-3x per day! We are so proud of her.

2 days ago we got hit by more snow! from 60 degree weather to 30s. Ben woke up one morning and looked outside and said "Oh jeez. look at that snow. Where did spring go?" He's maturing leaps and bounds at home and school and has been said to control himself more and more even when provoked. On tuesday, he was in the classroom and mrs. higgins was asking the kids to think who the person of the day would be. She held up the name "Andrew" and Ben said "Andrew it's you!!!" Wow! How he knew, we don't know. We don't have andy's name posted anywhere. He's picking out letters more and more in words (beginning and end) and trying to say the words. At reading time we've been learning 2 words every wed. This week he learned backwards and leaping (to add to gloomy, straight, narrow, crooked, wide, guard). It's awesome his maturity level in group.

2 days

2011-03-25T16:22:00.002-04:00

We've had an interesting 2 days. After a full day with the Misra Family (Arielle and Atraiu) (Mommy watched Atraiu and Kayla while Sara worked in Arielle's class and Ben was at school, they joined us for lunch and then Sara went to work and Mommy watched all 4 of us for the afternoon. They stayed for dinner too!) whew!---Ben put himself to bed at 5:30 and then at 8:00 after happily not going to bed, Kayla projectile vommitted all over mommy and the floor. Fun! She then happily ran around again. Ben woke up with a fever. So--today we've been laying low, snuggling lots on the couch with both of us, playing, making cookies, and watching movies. A jammie movie day!

On the positive side, yesterday Kayla added duck to her words and today continued with something that sounded like love you to Andy on the phone and bye. She also spontaneously grabbed food with her right hand (a baked bean) and successfully got it into her mouth! I was washing her left hand. She did it with no hesitation! This is huge! She also enjoyed painting on the easel yesterday and today! She begged and was so happy to be big!

Ben and Kayla

2011-03-19T22:06:00.002-04:00

Mommy has realized she has been really bad about posting when Kayla and I are doing things...learning things...etc. So, here is a brief update:

Ben
I love love love cutting with scissors. I'm often found cutting paper, pajamas, strings on various clothing items. I don't like anything rubbing against me...seams, strings, bumps, on socks, gloves, etc. I love drinking chocolate milk. I can count and point very consistently with 1:1 correspondence. I can count out loud really well too---pretty high (over 30). I know all my letters and sounds (I have since around 2), but now I'm getting fascinated with recognizing words/letters in things. I find rhyming and silly books, really really silly. I love chapter books, like Nate the great. I love poems and rhymes that I can repeat to myself. I love running around and around in circles in the house dancing to "I'm going to catch you" by Lauri Berkner. I love mommy's old school songs too. I grab guitars and other instruments and jump around like a crazy man. Someone just gave me spiderman shoes that light up and I love running in circles like a superhero. I love playing with my imagination--dress-up/kitchen/anything. If I'm having a lot of fun, I'll say "say that again, or tickle me again, or do that again". Mommy and daddy here the question "why" millions of times a day....they often have to ask me "why what?" because I keep asking why. I love olives, pizza, apples, ice cream, and peppers---and much more. At the grocery store, my favorite snack is for mommy to buy a bag of mini peppers while we shop and I'll snack on them. I started gymnastics a few weeks ago, and love it! Mommy also started reading time again a few weeks ago (resurrected letter time) and I'm loving that too. I'm super fast on my strider and becoming even more of a dare devil. My pronouns are more pronounced, I'm trying to jump on 1 foot (I can balance on 1), and I'm a monkey. I make the best observations and like to share with mommy and daddy how I do things "first you do this, then you do that". I like to use the word rule "that's my rule" or "the rule is"...I also like to use the word compromise. I come up with very good ideas.

Kayla: trying hard to use more and more words. Today alone she growled like a lion, and spit like an elephant. If you say "where's your head" she'll point to it. Although the other day I said "kayla where is your ice" and she grabbed her head and said head. She calls bananas nanas. She loves loves loves balls. LOVES them. She's obsessed with ben's cars and his play car outside. She's a climber. She tries to rock chairs, any chair to my shock. She stands on tables and chairs. She is more of an observer and deliberate in my speech. She likes to flirt and smile. She's a little sneak and love to think she's getting away with something. She throws tantrums. Lots of tantrums. Ben never did that. She loves to laugh and giggle. She bites me when she has a wet diaper. She's started using the potty---well...and peeing on the floor around bath time. I think she's confused because she watches ben pee standing up. She loves to look outside and bang on the window. SHe loves to play outside and doesn't want to ever come in. She loves black olives. She seems to spill the non-spill snack cup everywhere...everywhere! She loves to hold ben's hand in the car. She's constantly attacking him hoping to get attention. She misses andy so much when he goes to work/class and often calls DADA, DADA from her bed. After being really sick a few weeks ago, she refuses to be in her crib. refuses. So, she sleeps on the futon now. We need to get her a matress. She's got soulful eyes. She's a snuggler and definitely words of affirmation kiddo. SHe doesn't like it when mommy says no or has a stern voice when I'm bitten. She loves shoes. She carries them around with her coat hoping someone will take her outside. She loves dresses, and has begun to only want to wear them.

First Movie Theatre Outing

2011-03-19T21:24:00.000-04:00

Patrick and I worked really hard to stop using potty talk at school. We earned marbles in our marble jar. After 3 weeks, we got to go to a movie for the first time. Mommy and I picked patrick and brooke up and then we all went to lunch. after lunch, we were off to the theatre. These are all our excited faces. Mommy made us pose in front of the theatre and after the movie! We had a great time. We watched Gnomeo and Juliet and all of us LOVED it. We had popcorn, candy, and even soda (natural sierra mist) ! wow! Are you in shock. Mommy and brooke wanted to make it a REALLY big deal. We've been working towards our next outing too. such a fun day!

Kayla's first painting

2011-03-19T21:19:00.000-04:00

This was Kayla's first time using a paint brush. She LOVED it!

OT

2011-03-19T21:18:00.000-04:00

Kayla is doing really great. This is her OT (Occupational Therapist) Ruth. She used to come for 1 hour every week, but now comes for 1 hour every other week. I love her. You can see what I do while Kayla has OT. I get special movie time. Mommy gave up trying to entertain me and pay attention. I'm very patient now...really...I am...but I do like watching movies.

Attack of the Sewing Machine

2011-03-19T21:12:00.001-04:00

Mommy sewed through her finger. Yup. Through her finger. The needle was stuck from one side, through the other. It was craft night. Thank goodness Daddy was home too. Mommy and the girls yelled out to Daddy (who was gaming) and finally he got the urgency. He had to get pliars to cut the needle and then while Mommy's friend Kim held tight, Daddy pulled it out. It had bounced off the bone and was bent. He pulled it out in 2 pieces. Yuck! Penny said Mommy should flick people off as she has the perfect excuse. She's practicing below.

Attack of Ben

2011-03-19T21:07:00.000-04:00

Ben decide to write/color on Kayla and himself one day ---with dry erase markers. He was so proud of himself--painting on his toes and nails---that all I could do was take a picture and say it looked so nice. Ha!

School

2011-03-19T21:04:00.000-04:00

Daddy worked in my classroom 2 weeks ago and took a lot of pictures for a special project. Here is a brief snapshot of my class.

Calendar with Mrs. Higgins

Playing at the sensory/rice table.

Puzzle fun with friends.

My art project.

I'm the special child of the day, so I get to ring the bell.

Lining up for the motor skill room.

We climb over the play equipment.

Playing a game.

Snack Time

Circle Time at the end of the day. Patrick was done...can you tell?

Off we go!

Water Play

2011-03-19T20:58:00.000-04:00

Mommy pulled out a water sensory table for us. Basically a big bucket with lots of things to fill, dump, clean, wash, etc. What's not pictured here is me stripping naked and climbing in. Mommy got a kick out of that. We just didn't have any PG pictures to share. Kayla loved the plastic baby to wash. She was rocking her in her arms too. Such a fun winter activity.

hoodini

2011-03-19T20:56:00.000-04:00

Kayla decided to crawl UNDER the couch. Yup, under and all the way through.

Ice!

2011-03-19T20:50:00.000-04:00

Snow and Turkeys

2011-03-19T20:46:00.000-04:00

Bird, Bird. Benji and Kayla watching the 15 turkeys outside the window.

Kayla doesn't quite fill Papa's boots.

Old Grandma (mommy's grandma named by Ben) hugging Kayla

Playing outside. Checking the sap in the buckets. Skating on ice.

Yum. Can't wait for Maple syrup again!

Saratoga Children's Museum

2011-03-19T20:31:00.000-04:00