Crafts

The kids and I just got back from 5 days in San Antonio visiting Becky and her family. It was a blast. Becky spoiled me as usual and had her husband babysit the kids the first night we were there. Then she treated us to pedicures, shopping at La Cantera, and dinner at a great little Mexican chain they have there.

The next day we braved Costco on a Saturday and Jon babysat again so that Becky and I could go to dinner and more shopping. I was super happy to find a $7 shirt the first night, but didn't luck out much on Saturday night. It was still just so much fun to be out with Becky though. We've been best friends since 6th grade and it is always like old times when we are together. Lots of laughing and lots of talking :) But seriously, how much of a champ is Jon for watching the kids 2 nights in a row?! The trade-off was that he got to golf all day on Saturday before our night out...I still think we got the better end of the deal though.

Most of our time was spent hanging out at Becky's house, which is always fun. The kids play so well together and Becky goes to town on her crafts and lets me assist when I can. It always makes me desperately want a sewing machine and money to buy fabric or whatever. But Becky is always super generous and provides all of the materials and talent. We spent a couple of afternoons/nights working on these shirts for the girls. I think they turned out so cute. Becky made all of the coordinating hair bows too. Today Avery wore the Halloween shirt and bow and looked so festive. Becky also made these cute snack bags for the kids. They are lined on the inside with a washable fabric and are more durable and easier for James to use than a plastic baggy.

We did exercise a couple of days while we were there. We worked out at the gym one day and went on a really long walk another day. Becky lives in the "Hill Country" of San Antonio. It is so much different than Houston...lots of hills, lots of trees...I'm not sure the exercising made up for the mass quantity of double-stuff Halloween oreos that were consumed though...

Avery in Action

So, here is Avery 'water-skiing' and singing her favorite song on Rock Band. Pretty cute :)

Sturdy

These pictures are from a while ago, and I kind of forgot about them until Avery brought it up today. She said, "Remember when I was driving the car and Lincoln and Cal were on top? I wanna do that again!"

Seriously though, look how sturdy that little car is! They tooled around like this for quite a while. I didn't get a picture that showed Cal's face, but he had a big grin too and they were all three laughing hysterically. I love how happy Lincoln's face is in the pictures too. Later on in the night James got in on the action too. Good times.

Minnesota

We went to Minnesota for 8 days in August. My parents flew us out there and Jon and Jessie, and my mom and dad met us out there at Derek and Jen's house. It was a lot of fun to be together, and sadly it doesn't happen very often. I think the last time was at Jessie and Jon's wedding.

Avery and James had a blast playing in Derek and Jen's basement in their huge toy room with their cousins. We didn't see a whole lot of them for long periods of time. Besides the mass quantities of toys the toy room is equipped with karaoke, a DVD/TV and a wardrobe filled with dress up clothes. Plus a mini trampoline. Paradise for any kid.

The kids also loved being outside. The weather was perfect!! I think it was in the 70's and 80's while we were there and little humidity. We were outside for hours at a time soaking it all in. My kids especially liked the huge sandbox under Derek and Jen's deck. And one day we were there Derek set up a huge water slide for the kids in the backyard. I kinda wanted to go down it too. How come they don't make those for adults?

But the majority of the vacation was spent on Derek and Jen's new boat. They bought it at the end of summer last year and none of the rest of us had ever been on it before. There is a lake about 10 minutes from their house and we went there almost every day for hours. I haven't had that much exposure to boats over the years, so I'm not an experienced skier or anything. But I did get up a few times :) I also did a little knee-boarding, but didn't brave the wake-boarding yet. Avery's favorite thing to do was swim in the lake. But they also had this awesome tube thing for the kids that is kind of like a cross between a tube and water-skiing. I have never seen anything like it. We all just laughed hysterically when little Ethan popped right up on it and then the same thing when it was Avery's turn. She got up on her first try and stayed up for a long time. They had the tube for the adults too, but I'm not a big fan of that. I really hurt my back on one a long time ago and it took forever to get over. Derek and Jon mostly did wake-boarding. My dad is an excellent skier, but it has been a few years since he's been behind a boat. He ended up pulling his hamstring on his second run...the back of his leg was all bruised and everything. So that was the end of skiing for him on this trip. Sad :(

We did make one trip to the Mall of America. I think you kind of have to if you're out there! Jon and Jessie announced that they are expecting their first baby in March, which is really fun and so we helped Jessie pick out a lot of new maternity clothes at the mall. The rest of us did some shopping and looking around too. I barely saw Avery that day because she went to the amusement park with the guys. And James did surprisingly well for a 1 year old all day at the mall.

We also spent a few hours in a little town called Stillwater. Although none of us could never remember what it was called except for Jen. So we alternated between Stillwater, Sweetwater, and Saltwater. It just has a bunch of fun little shops and restaurants. Just the girls went on that outing.

I think some of my favorite times though were down time at the house. We played a ton of cards and board games, some wii and some Rock Band. Avery loved the wii (well watching...or keeping her character in a bubble for all of you wii super Mario fans) and Rock Band too. She got to sing her favorite song a couple of times..video to come :) I paid respects to the 80's most of the times and I'm pretty sure I rocked 100% vocals on Love is a Battlefield and Rio. My parents actually did a duet to Happy Together, which was a highlight. But I think nobody can top Derek with his rendition of Mr. Roboto. Wish I had footage.

First Day of Pre-K

Here are a couple of pictures of Avery on the first day of pre-K. She was so excited to get inside Ms. Annie's house that she didn't give me much of an opportunity to take pictures, but these couple turned out cute. I also had James screaming in the car so I didn't get to focus on Avery as much as I wanted to :(

The day before school started we went to Target and picked out a new nail polish color, kind of our tradition. Avery picked out this goldish/bronze color. It is kind of a fun color. So I painted my toenails and Avery's and toe and fingernails.

We missed the pre-K open house this year because we were in Minnesota so Avery and Ms. Annie worked on Avery's preschool bag the first week of school. It is very random and I'll have to take a picture of it. Some of the painting was done by Ms. Annie and some by Avery. Ms. Annie said she did it exactly to Avery's specifications :) There is a spider...?! And the letter 'c' because it is her favorite...?! And a shooting star, the Earth, and I can't remember what else.

Ms. Annie is doing two different preschool classes this year- a 3 yr. old class and a 4 yr. old class. I think it will be nice to have the ages split up. Avery is already really excited about what she learned the first week.

Also, on the second day of school, Avery and her friend Anna jumped in the van. After I buckled them in and put the van into drive they said rather coyly, "We have boyfriends!" Boyfriends?! I didn't even know that Avery knew that word! So of course I had to inquire as to who they were. Avery's supposed boyfriend is the older brother of Anna, the family I babysat for 10 days. At first I was kind of alarmed about them stating such a thing. But then I remembered that I had my first "boyfriend" in Kindergarten. So I guess we both started early ;)

I am really behind on my blogging. I will have to post about our Minnesota trip and the babysitting job soon.