Tinkerbell

Today was Avery's preschool Halloween party. She was SO excited. She has been asking every day this week about wearing her costume. When I pulled out the wings to put on her she whispered, "Oh...they are beautiful!" It was pretty cute.

I tried to do Avery's hair like Tinkerbell's. It kinda worked, and I thought she looked so pretty, but the humidity makes it a little hard to make the hair stay where you want it to. Tomorrow is the ward Halloween party and I will try to put the ponytail higher and use less product to see if that works.

Miss Annie had a black wig on, which I think kind of scared Avery. She is kind of weirded out by wigs. But after Avery gave her a few glances she warmed up and was okay with it. One of the other mom's was in charge of the party and she helped them make these cute pumpkins! The moms got to go and pick the kids up 5 minutes early, so we could take pictures of the whole class in their costumes. There was a little bit of confusion about which pumpkin belonged to which kid, but the mom knew without a doubt that the pumpkin with the green hair was Avery's. She was the only kid that did green hair. Her favorite color has been green since she's been able to vocalize it, and has never wavered.

Tomorrow is the ward party, so we will take more pictures.

He's Up

Going Mobile

James is really starting to move around. He lifts his whole chest off of the floor, and sometimes gets his tummy off the floor too. We've seen some scooting and he uses his feet to give himself little pushes forward. James does the froggy legs a lot, but has also started alternating legs, getting the motion of crawling down. It is fun to watch him in action. He gets so excited! He still rolls around a ton, and is able to get around a lot. Sometimes I find him across the room from where I sat him down.

James is still really enjoying meal time. He eats anything that we give him. He still loves the peach banana granola combo, mangoes, squash, and a sweet potato and corn mix. He even likes peas. The other wake I started giving him teething biscuits, just for fun. Those are a hit too. As you can see, he is kind of a messy eater...he likes to put his hands in his mouth and suck on his fingers while he's eating. Then he rubs it all over his face, in his hair, etc. We've also had a couple of spills where he hooks the bowl with his fingers and sends it toppled over onto the ground. Days later I find splatters in various places.

He continues to be a really happy and smiley baby. The last two days he has woken up at 5 am, ready to be up for the day. I'm not loving that at all and have got to figure out how to tweak that bug.

Making Progress

Avery is still loving preschool. Last week they talked about the letter 'F' and families. On one of the days they were asked to take a family picture to class so they could tell their classmates about their family. That morning I was getting Avery ready for school and I asked her if she was excited to see everybody's family pictures. She said, "I'm excited to see Tayt's picture!" Tayt is a cute little guy in her class who is also in our ward. I said, "Oh, do you like Tayt?" And she said, "Yeah, he is a funny guy! He makes me laugh. And I make him laugh." Then I started to laugh.

Avery wrote her name all by herself. I think it is really good for a 3 year old. She wrote the letters in proportion to each other and in a straight line, and they are very legible. The other side of the paper is a practice sheet for the letter 'F', so I'm guessing she finished early and flipped it over to doodle on the back. I was pretty proud of the name when I saw it.

She knows how to spell the word 'no' and that if you switch the letter it makes 'on.' And she can sight read Grace, Tanner, Boom, Bob (from a book she likes), and James. She is learning so much. She also said to me the other day, "Mom, do you know what the number 9 is upside down?" I just went along with it and said, "No, what?" She said, "It makes a 6! Do you know what the number 6 is upside down?" I hid a smile and said, "Uh-uh, what is it?" She said, "A number 9!!"

Pillsbury Dough Boy

We have our own little Pillsbury Dough Boy here. Every time Avery pokes his tummy he starts laughing.

Look Who Was in Town!!

My little brother was in town this week on business. He has a client out here that he works with. It is funny that he knows the city way better than we do, even though we are the ones that live here.

The kids and I went out with Jon Monday night. He took us out to this great Mexican restaurant. The partner was in town for Tuesday and Wednesday, so we didn't see him then. But last night Al, the kids and I met Jon at his office and he took us out to this really good Texas BBQ place.

There were some people at the bar when we walked in. They were saying, "Oh, look at the little baby!" And then the other lady goes, "That's not a little baby, that's a big baby!" Then..."How old is he?" Me, "5 months." Them, both at the same time, "Oh!" Then one of the husbands chimes in, "Have you had that boy outfitted for a helmet yet?" As in a football helmet. We are in football country. We chuckle and say no. Then the other husband says, "You might be carrying that baby right now, but he looks like he will be carrying you pretty soon!"

After dinner Jon showed us where this ritzy shopping area is. He bought us some cupcakes at this little gourmet bakery and we sat outside on some benches to eat them.

Then we went back to his hotel and hung out for a few minutes before we said good-bye. He is coming back out here in a few weeks and then I think in November. It is so fun to have him here. Avery loves her uncle Jubes.