Haircuts

So since we are headed to the beach in JUST FOUR DAYS, Mommy and Daddy decided that all the boys needed haircuts. So Mommy got to work!

This is what we looked like before our haircuts! Kinda scruffy!!!

First Weston got his done. This was the first time that Mommy cut his hair, so she was excited about that. (His first haircut ever happened this summer from Great Grannie Kramer) Weston did SO good. He got to watch Baby Einstein on the computer while Mommy cut. He sat really still and even seemed to be a little concerned about what was going on. I told him “It not hurt, Weston” so he felt good. When he was done he looked SO big!!!

Gettin' cut

All Done!

Then it was my turn. Since Mommy has cut my hair about a million times before it was a piece of cake. I watched some Toy Story and sat really nice. I got a great haircut that will be awesome on the beach.

Gettin' cut

All Done!

In the afternoon Daddy got his hair cut too. Good thing because he was starting to look like Scar on the Lion King—pretty rough looking! Now he looks like the mighty Mufasa!

Lookin' GOOD!

We are all ready for the beach now!!!

An evening with the Scrivers

I know that everyone is dying to know what our little family does in the evenings and at bedtime. I would LOVE to share it with you!

Juuuuuust so you know- It kinda depends on how well Weston and I nap during the day that determines what kind of mood we are in at night. Usually we are good nappers, so the evening is pretty pleasant. But soooooometimes we are a little tired and cranky. (Give us a break! We are only 2 ½ and 10 months! What do you expect?)

One of the great things about China, compared to when we lived in Milwaukee, is that Daddy gets home from school WAY earlier. We usually get to play a little before and after supper. It’s so great!

Our family usually eats supper around 5:30 (or a little later if we go out to eat) After that it is play time! Right now Weston and I really like to play cars or trains, read books, play the drums, or cook with our kitchen and food set. I always tell Mommy and Daddy to “play wif me” Some nights we get to take baths too. That is our favorite! We love to play in there!

Movie time

At around 7:15 it’s time to pick up all our toys (sometimes that’s a lot!) and then we get to watch a movie for a little bit. My favorites, of course, are Cars and Cars2, but I also like Charlotte’s Web, The Lorax, and Madagascar. Daddy, Mommy, Weston, and I all sit on the couch. Weston and I get our beets and deets. (Translation: blankets and nuks) and we all cuddle a little bit. It is so relaxing. After a little bit Weston has a bottle. Then when he is finished I eat my snack: Goldfish and a glass of water. Yum.

Weston is big enough to brush his teeth like a big boy now. We are both so proud to brush together. Mommy and Daddy get to brush our teeth at first, but then we get to try by ourselves. I know they miss some stuff in there so I better get what is left over.

Then it’s time for me to use the potty and Weston gets a diaper change. Then it’s jammie time! I am almost grown out of my 3T jammies already and Weston wears 12 month ones. We are both really tall!

Now it’s time for my favorite part of the night. My whole family sits on the bed and we get to read Stories!!!! Lately Weston has been reading “Jesus loves to hear me pray.” And I get to read a story or two out of my children’s bible. I always ask to read one more! After stories we sing. When it was Christmas time we sang “Away in a Manger” and “Silent Night” Now I am learning “I am Jesus’ Little Lamb” I sing really well! Wes LOVES when we all sing. He sits so still and listens. Then it’s prayer time. We say a couple of common prayers and then I have the chance to say a “special prayer” if I want to. I usually say sorry for things I did wrong and thank you for my blessings. If Wes and I were big boys during prayer time we get to sing one more song!

Just recently I started giving Weston a hug and kiss before he goes to lay in his crib. We both giggle when we do this. Then we both get hugs and kisses from Mom and Dad. Weston gets his beet and deet. ( I only need a beet at night, and not my deet because I’m a big boy) Our music and turtle night light gets turned on and Mommy and Daddy say goodnight and leave.

Moooooost of the time Wes and I go to sleep soon after they leave, but sometimes (like last night!) I play with Weston while we are in our room together. He giggles when I bounce on the bed and talk to him. Mommy even came in last night to tell us to be quiet. Wes was standing in his crib and I was out of bed standing by him. It was fun. Mommy’s face showed she didn’t think it was all that cool. Little does she know that it’s only going to happen more as we get older. Muah ha ha!

Anyway- most nights we are in bed by 8pm. Weston has been waking up at around 6-6:30 in the morning, but I usually sleep until at least 8, if not 8:30. I get to get up “when the sun is up”

I think that’s all that I wanted to share with you this time. Maybe you don’t care about what we do at night, but if that’s the case you shoulda stopped reading after you saw the title of this blog. 

Brother cuddle time
(pic courtesy of Amber Schlomer)

Brothers

BROTHERS!

I love having a brother. Weston has been a pretty great little brother so far. Even tho he has only been in my life for 10 months, I don’t know what I would do without my little buddy. Yup, that’s what I mostly call him. Mommy thinks it’s adorable. I can’t say I disagree…

Favorite things to do together??? Well, we really like to play cars. By that I mean, I like to play cars and I tell Wes which ones he can and can’t have. We like to play other things together too. Weston got a new drum set for Christmas. He has no choice but to let me play with him. We like to jam out together.

Mommy took a few videos in the last couple months that really show you some high points of our relationship.

This first one is really funny to me. I am giving Wes a Deet Deet Deet. You know like the song. Mommy says it’s the William Tell Overture but I think Deet Deet Deet is waaaaaaay cooler. … I can’t wait until I can Deet Deet Deet Weston all by myself! I think I should be able to in a couple days…

Next I will show you how good I am at sharing. Watch how many animals and balls I give to my brother! I’m not sure why Weston is so quiet.

I can teach my brother things too!

One day Weston and I got to play in the snow. It was his first time so I had some explaining to do. After Mommy turned off the camera I tried to have a snowball fight with him. I totally won… until Mommy said I had to stop. She is such a party pooper sometimes.

As you can see I really love my little bro. I think he loves me too. I can’t wait to hang out with him some more as we get bigger. We are best friends!!!!

Kisses

Hugs

Bathtime

Us on Christmas Eve

Blanket fort

As you can see I really love my little bro. I think he loves me too. I can’t wait to hang out with him some more as we get bigger. We are best friends!!!!

圣诞节快乐! ---- Merry Christmas!

It’s time for my annual Christmas letter. Where should I even start? Well, I will just add some pics from each month and recap the year that way. Everyone likes to see pics of me (well, and my brother too) right????

January- This first month of 2012 was my last month of being an only child. So this month all the pics are just of me! (I kinda like that!) We got a decent amount of snow to start the year so I had fun playing with it. I was 1 ½ and loving it!

Lookin' good for church

Eating is fun, but it sure is messy

I love sledding!

February- I almost made it all the way through this month with no brother also. Good thing there was an extra day in February this year so Weston Kurk Scriver could join our family on the 29^th. I love my little brother (most of the time.) and our family can’t imagine life without him. Weston also became a child of God a couple days after he was born. What an amazing day that was!

Weston's baptism day

He was such a precious little guy!

Peanut!

March- Mommy and Daddy both got older this month since they both have birthdays in March. (Mommy would kill me if she knew I was writing about this. Don’t tell her that I am telling you that she and Daddy are both 27 now!!!) Anyway, I started learning how to be a good big brother this month. I am pretty awesome at it!

Kisses for my brother

Mommy's first time holding both boys

April- We got to see people in our extended families a lot this month. We traveled to Minnesota to see Mommy’s side of the family and also got to visit with Daddy’s family that lived near us. Weston got to meet so many new people.

Wes with Great Gma Wylie

In Gibbon with
Great Grannie and Gramps Kramer

Easter

Me, Wes, Daddy, Gpa Scriver,
Great Gma Scriver, Great Great Gma Borns

May-It got warm out this month!!! We got to do so many things outside. I especially liked to help Mommy with the flowers and Daddy with the lawn. I am such a big boy! We celebrated Mommy on Mother’s Day with a trip to the Botanical Gardens. We all really enjoyed that.

Daddy and Weston

Botanical Gardens

Gramma and Grampa K
came to visit

Planting flowers with Mommy

June- Many exciting things happened in June. To celebrate Daddy on Father’s Day we went to Regner Park in West Bend. It was fun to swim and play. Mommy and Daddy also took me to a Cubs game at Wrigley Field. I LOVED that! I was such a big boy on the elevated subway train and at the stadium. The Cubs even won!

Wrigley Field

Father's Day

Big Bay Beach in Milwaukee

Scriver side of the family

 July- On the Fourth of July we went to a parade near our house. It was SO hot that day, about 97 degrees! I loved watching all the cool things in the parade though. Then the most exciting thing about July happened—MY BIRTHDAY!! I turned 2 this year. We went to the airport to watch planes and then to an indoor playground. I also got to open presents and eat cake. I loved my birthday. I can’t wait until July next year! … Also this month we spent a couple days with Daddy’s extended family. We went to the zoo and had a cookout. We also cooked Chinese food one afternoon. It was good to see everyone. Then at the end of the month we moved out of our house in Milwaukee. It was ok to leave our house, but we were REALLY  sad to leave our puppy, Jayvee. Mommy and I especially, miss her almost every day.

I'm 2!!!

Great Gpa Kapanke with his grandkids

Happy Independence Day!

Last family picture with Jay!!! :(

August- What a whirlwind month! We spent a couple weeks at each of my grandparents house before we left for Beijing at the end of the month. I really liked all the time I got to play with everyone! We went to beaches, parks, the fire station, and a hotel. Everything was super fun. On the last day of the month we got on an airplane bound for China. My brother and I were so good on the plane. What an exciting adventure we were about to have!

Playing with Gma and Gpa Scriver

Wes & Aunt Emily at the beach

At the park with Gramma and Grampa K

Swimmin at Jackpot with
Mommy, Karissa, and Trisha

Weston's first haircut with Grannie K

Aren't we cute???

September - We spent a lot of this month settling in to our new life. Mom and Dad worked hard on our apartment and Wes and I worked hard playing with new toys. Our family also got to start exploring the city and Daddy started school.

First family pic in Beijing. At BeiDa University

Just doing some playing in our new room

October- October was really fun! China has a national holiday that lasts a week. That meant no school for Daddy and lots of time to do exciting things. Weston got to dress up for his first Halloween too. He and I were both Batman (Ok- will some one please explain to me why Mommy laughed so hard every time I told her that I was dressed up as Baseball Bat Man? It’s the same thing, right???)

ShiJingShan Park. aka Fake Disneyland

Happy Halloween

Fragrant Hills

November- Since Wes was 9 months this month it really seems like he grew up. We have started to play a lot together. I really like to boss Wes around and tell him “Have good listening, Wes!” when he doesn’t do what I want him to. He started crawling so he tries to get my toys. Mommy says that I have to give him something else to play with if I don’t want to share with him at that moment. So I always make sure to give him a spoon, a baby rattle, or something super fun like that. I am not sure why he doesn’t think those things are as interesting as my train set or my cars.

Giving Wes a bath in the sink

Wes crawls now

Brothers!

December- I love Christmas time! I had a blast decorating with Mommy and helping Daddy with the tree. I also really like hearing the advent devotions and snuffing out the candles! It snowed earlier this month too! Wes and I both played in it and it was awesome. Since it is the end of the month we are having many Christmas celebrations. Happy Birthday, Jesus!!

Helpin Mom decorate

Putting the star on the tree

Weston stands now!

I love the snow

Snow is fun!!!

Playing

Laying in bed together

Now that I am 2 ½ I am really into playing cars. I drive them around and say lines from the movie Cars. I also really like to read books. I ask Mom to read at least 5 times a day. I am also really into cooking. I love to help Mom in the kitchen with making supper or baking anything. I like to have my own bowl and spoon for pretend cooking. Some favorite things to make are eggs and bacon, quesadillas, and cereal. One other thing that I want to share is that we went to the doctor for check ups last month and I am in the 97^th percentile for height!

Weston is almost 10 months. He is saying more words all the time. He likes to say “Na na na” when he wants more banana (which is all the time!) and also can imitate other words Mom or Dad say. His favorite thing to do right now is pull himself up and anything and everything. He will be walking soon! I can’t wait until we can run around together.

I have been learning about faith in our family devotions. I always say it means to “love Jesus” What a wonderful blessing that he loved us first and came to be our Savior ( I also just learned that word!)  I can’t wait to think about that wonderful gift when my family opens all our presents soon.

Merry Christmas to you!! May your life be filled with HIS love this new year and always!

It's a little blurry, but wanted to share our Christmas card!!!