Temple Trip

Al was post-call last Sunday, so after his long nap we decided to go on a drive and find the Houston temple. The temple is in a really nice neighborhood, as you would expect. There are lots of large estates on the same street as the temple. The temple itself is surrounded by tons of trees. Since it was a Sunday the gates were closed and so we couldn't walk around the grounds, but we did a couple of drive-bys. It is a beautiful temple. After the drive-bys we drove around one of the surrounding neighborhoods and found an elementary school with a park for the kids to play on. Avery had a ton of fun and this was James' first time going down a slide.

Galveston

Al had the whole day off Saturday and so we decided to give Galveston another try. I packed a picnic and then we headed out. Last time we went we drove through 'downtown' and to the east beach. Admittedly, that part of Galveston is pretty ghetto. It is very old, and I think even before the hurricane it probably looked really run-down. You can see tons of hurricane damage--lots of boarded up buildings, abandoned buildings, etc. I also thought it was kind of weird that there was no where to eat, no gas stations, nothing.

But this time we went to the west beach, which was way different. There are some very nice hotels just off of the beach, some restaurants, grocery stores, sno-cone shacks, a lifeguard on duty, and so on. Driving in on the west side are some fairly large, new vacation homes.

We found some much larger ones, various colors and shapes. We also saw a hermit crab scurrying across the sand, just under the water. We splashed around a lot and got a little bit sunburned, but had a lot of fun.

Look At What Else James is Doing...

As cute as this is to watch, and it is, I am kind of scared about it. I think I could be in trouble! At least when you let your babies get attached to the paci you can easily take it away. I'm not quite sure how to get a 4 month old to stop sucking on his thumb. He prefers it to the paci. Luckily he only does it in his sleep...for now. Sometimes when he is asleep I try to take his thumb out and replace it with the paci, but that doesn't last for very long.

Has anybody else had a thumb-sucker? Any advice?

Look Who's Sitting Up!!

Sort of :)

We're working on it. Whenever laying down James almost always tries to sit up. I think his abs are getting pretty strong. So I figured we might as well start working on it. He does pretty well!

The last picture isn't of him sitting up...I just like that picture.

Cute Project

Avery brought home the cutest project today from preschool. They studied the letter B this week and bugs. Last week was A and apples. Every day Avery brings home a fun little project and poem about a lady bug or whatever. On Tuesday when she came home Avery told me that she had to leave her caterpillar at school. I didn't really know what she was talking about, but told her that maybe she'd get to bring it home the next day.

On Wednesday Avery came home and told me that her caterpillar was in a cocoon and when it came out it would be a butterfly. I still didn't really understand what she meant by 'her caterpillar' but liked that she was explaining the life cycle to me.

So today I dropped off Avery and picked up Callen to babysit. Miss Annie was changing Callen when I got there and so I waited in their entry way for a little bit. I just happened to look up to the loft and could see a row of brown lunch bags hanging from the line that Miss Annie has strung up there. Then it dawned on me. I asked Annie if the brown bags were the cocoons. She said they were and that the butterflies were ready to hatch.

When I picked up Avery today she was SO excited to show me her butterfly. The first day they had made the caterpillar out of the egg carton. Then on the second day they crumbled up the brown lunch bags to make them crinkly and soft and put their caterpillars inside the bags. They also water-colored and cut out the wings. Miss Annie attached the wings to the caterpillars last night and then put the butterfly back in the cocoon, and so when the kids opened the cocoons today they got to pull out a butterfly.

Avery just loves her butterfly and has given it a name...although I don't really understand the name and so I can't type it here. And she LOVES preschool. Yesterday when I went to pick her up she said, "Mom, why did you come and get me?" I don't know if I should be happy or sad!

Big Boy

A couple of weeks ago we decided to start James on vegetables and fruits, hoping it would help him sleep better at night. He has tried quite a variety now. I haven't given him beans or peas yet...I'm not sure I'm going too. Avery hated them in baby food form so I never bought them, but she has loved frozen/fresh beans and peas ever since she was able to eat solid food. I just don't know if I can subject James to the purees ;)

Anyway, he has eaten everything that I've given him fairly well, except applesauce. He didn't care for that very much. Squash is far and away his favorite, or so I thought. He wolfs down squash as fast as I can put it in his mouth. But yesterday I had him try a banana/peach/granola combo that is newer on the market. I was expecting it to take a few bites for him to decide if he liked it or not, which is usually how it is. Well, it only took one bite for him to decide that he LOVED that combo. He could not eat it fast enough, and when he decided that I wasn't spooning it in at the rate he wanted he started sucking it off of his fingers. When the finger supply was gone he went for his bib, stuck the bib in his mouth and started sucking the food off of the bib.

It was a 2nd level baby food, meaning it is a little bit thicker and comes in a bigger container, but James ate the whole thing. And he slept from 8pm until 3:30am!! So I'm hoping that this heavier food will continue to make a difference, 'cause I am exhausted!

These pictures are of James the first time he had squash, and the last picture is of him cleaned up afterwards. As you can see he's getting quite a girth :) Tomorrow is his 4 month check-up and I'm wondering how much he weighs...

Rolling Over

James has been rolling over in his sleep for about a month. He tries to find his paci and just keeps rotating until he's on his tummy. Now the last couple of weeks he has started rolling over like crazy while he's awake. Look at him go!

Avery's First Day

Today was Avery's first day of preschool. She was so excited that when we got to her teacher's house Avery started jumping up and down.

Yesterday we went to the grocery store for a few things. I let Avery pick out what she wanted for breakfast on her first day and she picked powdered donuts. She also decided that she needed some teddy grahms for an after school snack. On the way to the checkout we noticed that they were having a sale on nail polish, so on a whim I let Avery pick out a new color so that we could paint her nails for school. She picked out a shade called Fuschia Fever...it's about as bright a pink you can get.

Later that night, after dinner, Avery had a bath. We set out her outfit for the next day and then I gave her her manicure and pedicure. She giggled in delight when she held out her hands in front of her with the fuschia nail polish on. Then we went downstairs and had FHE with Al. Al had decided earlier that it should be a tradition that the kids get back to school blessings, and wanted to start the tradition with Avery's first year of preschool :) We explained in basic terms what the blessing was for and Avery was so quiet and calm during the blessing...very un-Avery like.

This morning Avery woke up with a big smile and happily ate her donuts. Then we got her ready and did a quick photo shoot before we headed out. The 2 1/2 hours she was gone passed quickly, but I found myself checking the clock often- wondering how Avery was doing and what she was learning. When I picked her up at 11:15 she had a huge grin on her face. She exclaimed, "Mom, I missed you!" I buckled her in to her seat and rolled down her window because she wanted to say good-bye to her friends. It was too cute as she called out, "Bye Anna!! Bye kids!! Bye Miss Annie!!"

The teacher emails out a weekly newsletter, so I knew that this week they are learning about the letter A, working on writing their name, learning about apples, the calendar, and a few other things. Avery told me they talked about 'A' and that they had apples and popcorn for a snack. She said she sat by Anna and they talked about the rules. They also did the calendar but Avery informed me that she didn't get to hold the pointer. Maybe tomorrow :) I can't wait to hear about tomorrow.