Augustana Early Learning Center

Louis and Andrew go to school together at Augustana Lutheran Church. Louis started in June and Andrew started in August, 2014.  This summer we have been there an entire year.
Even though they spend a lot of time there, we don't have many pictures. Here's a candid shot inside Louis's current classroom.  Andrew is there to either pick him up or drop him off.

The school puts on a musical performance a few times a year.  Each of the classrooms "sing" a couple songs, which makes for a very long performance. Here are a couple pictures from the Christmas 2014 performance. There is a picture of the whole school and one of Andrew's class with Matt holding Andrew (parent participation is necessary for some of the younger kids).

Below is Louis's class performing this spring.  Louis is in the center wearing a white shirt.

Louis is old enough that he can go on field trips. During the summer his class goes on a field trip every Wednesday to places like parks, hikes, and the Butterfly Pavilion. Ashley joined him on the first one which was a short visit to a nearby Senior Citizens Home. Here is Louis in his car seat on the bus. All the children are lined up outside before going in. His teachers for the school year were Ms. Jen (left) and Ms. Dianna (right).

Sports groups come to the school on a weekly schedule for those students who opt-in.  Louis has participated in soccer for most of the school year and also tried basketball and dance.  Here is a video of Louis playing soccer during the winter. Most of the sessions were indoors because of the weather.

The Mustache

This blog is about Louis and Andrew, but every now and then there is something beyond their lives that is worth documenting.

For about an hour, in early May, Matt had a mustache.

Best Friends

Louis has a best friend at school named Luca. And Luca's family is pretty great too.  We have had several play dates together including this trip to Belleview Park in Englewood. We rode a train and visited the petting zoo. Pictured below are Luca, Louis, Keira, and Fiona.

Now we see Luca on Saturday mornings at t-ball.  Louis and Luca are on a team coached by their dads, Coach Matt and Coach Chris.

Jumping off the furniture

It is permitted to jump off the couch.

Louis, Andrew, and Evelyn jumped onto a padded landing zone at Grandma's and Grandpa's house while Evelyn's parents went house shopping. June, 2015

Thunderbirds

In May, the Russells and Grandma Lorraine and Grandpa Brooks faced the long line of traffic to see the Thunderbirds fly over Aurora Reservoir.

Ashley and Andrew are standing in front of a Thunderbird.

Louis is playing with his new airplane toy.

Copy cat

Andrew loves to copy the things that Louis does, the things he says, and play with the toys he prefers.  These two series of photos shows how Andrew looks at what Louis is doing and copies it.

Grandma Hyer's Birthday

In April, Andrew traveled with Ashley to Grandma Hyer's 90th birthday party in Salt Lake City.

We stayed at Grandma Hyer's house and got to visit with Natalie and see Melanie's house (and backyard!)

Halloween

These photos are out of chronological order, and 10 months over due, but better late than never!

Louis dressed up like Batman and Andrew was his sidekick Robin, Laurie (and Copper) joined the walk through the neighborhood. It was the first time trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Matt was in South Africa during this time.

We joined up with some neighbor friends, all of who had a better time than Andrew.

Boys and Boats in the Bathtub

This video was filmed this weekend when Natalie was in town and staying at our house.  Just some silliness in the bathtub. 

Andrew loves trains

Over the past month or two Andrew has started to prefer trains to cars or planes or other toys. He can easily entertain himself alone playing with the train tracks in the basement playroom.

Christmas in Medina, 2014

Here are a couple of the cute moments we captured from Christmas.

Andrew loved the Santa collection and a couple Santas in particular.

The boys had a great time playing together on Christmas morning, wearing their new Cavs shirts. Louis got several helicopters and airplanes as requested.

They loved playing with all the fun toys at Gaga and Papa’s house. Andrew liked this school bus so much that Santa gave him one for Christmas.  Louis really enjoyed playing the claw arcade game in the basement and won stuffed animals for everyone.

On several occasions Louis and Andrew set up piles of pillows on the living room floor so they could running and jumping onto them.

Andrew was cuddly and adorable the whole time.