Update!

It's definitely time for an update on the Andros Family.  We have had quite an eventful winter and beginning of Spring (if you can call it Spring yet).  Here's our happenings, in no particular order (it's too hard to get all of the pictures in chronological order with so many!)

In February, my sister Amanda came to visit with her little boy Carter.  Chloe was the second mom to cousin Carter (acting like she's never had a little brother before) and loved to feed him his meals!

The boys had a good time playing together, even if Mitchell's favorite game was "push over Carter and watch him fall."  Mitchell practiced his walking skills by taking cousin for a ride in the shopping cart.  It was hilarious.

Then they switched and Carter "pushed" Mitch.

At the end of February, our dog Daisy had 14 chocolate lab pups (can you imagine?)  Unfortunately, one was still born, and 2 were sickly and died, but we were left with 11 very healthy, very cute puppies.  Here they are just a few days old- little brown rats.

Chloe is the best little "mother" to the pups.  This is our 3rd litter and she gets more helpful and sweet with each litter.

Mitch was just 6 months old last litter and didn't have any idea what was going on, but gets now that we have puppies.  He really wasn't sure about them in the beginning, though, especially when they were this tiny.

Ben's newest hobby is dutch oven cooking!  We got some dutch ovens for Christmas and he has been trying his hand at all sorts of recipes.  Cinnamon rolls have been his latest obsession, and after many not-so-great attempts, he finally got it perfect!  We are hoping our dutch ovens come in handy as part of our food storage supply so that we have something to cook with in times of need.  If bad times come, the Andros family will have dessert!

The proud chef!

In March, Chloe went back to the ophthalmologist for a check up to see how her glasses are helping her lazy eye.  The doctor was very impressed at how well they have worked and we got the best news possible- we don't have to patch!!  The doctor was actually surprised- he said he was almost certain that the glasses might help, but not be enough and that we would have to patch her good eye to strengthen the weak eye.  That would have been miserable for all of us.  We were very excited.  Now she will continue to wear the glasses for a few more years, possibly, until everything is corrected.  I give Chloe the most credit- she wears those glasses faithfully EVERYDAY and is such a trooper about them.

Just getting Mitch used to eye doctor equipment- we're pretty sure he'll be the one in the chair very shortly!

Our little man, who is almost 18 months, is still not walking.  Not only that, but he's not talking either.  To speed up his progress in both areas, we have decided to get him evaluated to see if he qualifies for speech and physical therapy.  Everyone has said that he will be talking and walking in no time, which was a nice idea, but rather than wait months and months to see if that happens (after already waiting months and months with little or no progress in both areas), we want to help him so that in a year or two, he's not drastically behind and really struggling.  We have nothing to lose by getting help and we are very excited to see what the therapists say after next week's evaluations!

Although not walking, he sure is a little monkey and climbs EVERYWHERE!  His favorite place is to climb onto the dishwasher and unload it for me (clean and dirty dishes) and he has also been spotted on the counter in the bathroom and on top of the kitchen table.  A child who can climb as well as he can SHOULD BE WALKING!

When the weather is nice (which has been rare lately), we love to go out and play with the pups.

Now that the pups are bigger and walking around, Mitchell finds them much  more interesting.

He is learning to be very sweet and gentle with them.  It's very cute.

We have had lots of fun having both sets of grandparents visit in March.  The kids love fresh meat to play with them (mom and dad get boring really fast). 

The kids love Aunt Catherine!

Playing with the pups.

Chloe loves to cuddle the pups like a little baby, on their back.  Puppies normally don't like to be on their backs, but Chloe has the magic touch.

We are definitely tired of SNOW!  I really don't think Chloe minds it though, and when Nana and Papa were here, they played in the snow all morning.

And made a huge snowman!

Mitch's new obsession (and I mean obsession) is holding hands with someone pretty much at all times, especially if he is sitting with you or holding still.  Here in his high chair, he sucks his thumb with one hand and makes Grandma hold his other hand.  He whines in the car for someone to reach back and hold his hand and in every other place and time you can think of.  Very cute and very sweet. 

Kisses for the puppy!

In February, Chloe's preschool class went to the local Fire Station.  The kids loved it.  They even got to get inside the fire truck.

Sporting their cute fire hats.

Whew!  That's all!  A very fun winter, despite the rotten weather.  We are anxious for more of the nice weather we've had lately so the kids can start playing outside more.  The pups are 6 weeks old this week and will go to their new homes in just 2 weeks.  Happy Spring!