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.

Child Labor

I was cleaning all of the glass surfaces in the family room and Avery and James descended on me. They thought it looked to be about the funnest thing ever. I let James give it a try with the paper towel, after I had sprayed windex, and he did surprisingly well. I mean, he's only 1! Avery wanted to be the permanent sprayer.

And on another day I was dusting the family room and the kiddies were practically fighting over who got to use the feather duster next. I'm thinking of investing in a second one just to get the jobs done quicker.

It made me remember when I was little I used to beg my mom to let me iron my dolls' clothes and hair ribbons. A little OCD I guess. She used to lower the ironing board to my height and I would go to town. I wonder when ironing stopped being fun...?

July

July has been such a long and rough month for us, but at the same time I can't believe it is almost August and time for 'back to school.' We didn't get out much for the month, but here is kind of a re-cap of what we are up to. Hopefully, now that we are back on track, I will start blogging more regularly.

The picture of Avery was taken right before church one week. She asked me to take her picture :) And James has taken to wearing the Fisher Price stethescope around his neck while he goes around the house playing.

Avery has taken 3 weeks of swimming lessons, with two more to go. She has really improved. Putting her face in the water is not a problem at all anymore. She can basically do the elementary backstroke on her own, is great at floating on her back, and loves using the kickboard. Right now she is working on using her arms, legs, and putting her face in the water at the same time. She loves the water...just like me. At night she asks me to tell her stories about when I was a little girl. Sometimes I tell her about when I was on the swim team, about my races, etc. She gets really excited to hear about my past adventures.

Avery is very excited to start preschool and I am excited for her. I love to watch her be excited about things. I am also signing her up for a dance class that will run from Sept. through December. One of my friends in the ward grew up a dancer and has been teaching dance for years. She is starting classes out of her home for a very reasonable price and Avery will be in the class with some of her friends. She has also asked about joining soccer. We will have to see I guess. Avery loves to be involved in activity around the clock, loves to entertain, or socialize.

She thrives on hearing about what Al does at work. Every day when he comes home she wants to know what surgeries he did the night before or that day. She hangs on every word and can tell if you are leaving out information. She wants to know EVERYTHING. She will ask all sorts of questions as Al explains why he did what he did, etc. At times I have wondered if it is too much, if Al tells her too much. She is only 4 after all. But she never gets scared, or disgusted, just more enthralled. She was the same way about my recent health problems and was never satisfied with my answers. She could always tell that I was shortchanging her on the info. Or was just really vague. Then she will tell Al about surgeries that she did. She will completely make up some scenario about a person getting hurt, and then what needed to be fixed and how she did it. It really is amazing what she retains from what Al tells her and how she can use it to come up with her own material. Lately she's been doing a lot of surgeries involving the spleen :)

Avery has also been into doing chores around the house. Every night after James goes to bed, and sometimes throughout the day, I will give her tasks to do. She got a charm bracelet and wants to earn 'dollars' to buy more charms for the bracelet. She works really hard and does a good job. I wish I had gotten her the charm bracelet a long time ago! Mostly she helps pick up toys and things around the house. But chores can also include playing with James for a little while, trying a new food, practicing her letters and her reading words, etc.

James stays busy, emptying anything and everything from all cabinets and drawers around the house. Sometimes I just give up on trying to put everything back. We will definitely need to child-proof everything soon. It is driving me crazy. He isn't too much into talking yet. Still just says more, or "Mah, mah, mah!" Always 3 times in a row, really fast, or one emphatic, "MAH!!" I think he said bye-bye the other day. About a month ago he decided he was done with all baby food and also that he didn't want any help with eating. All on the same day. So things have gotten messier, but he is happy. He knows where his tongue and belly-button are. He is learning the animal sounds. He is really good at doggy, cow (a really short "boo" instead of moo), and quacking. He loves to growl/roar. And that is used for dinosaurs, tigers, lions, and hippos...I guess he thinks a hippo looks like it could make an impressive roar. And it really is impressive for such a little guy. I'll have to see if I can get it on video some time. His latest trick is that he throws his dirty laundry into the laundry basket. After he does it he gets the biggest smile on his face. Very cute.

He has also started squealing/yelling a lot. It will be so much easier for him when he can say a few more words...much easier for us too. James would stay outside every day, all day if we let him. He just can't get enough, even in this miserable heat and humidity. He still loves to cuddle, be rocked, and smiles all of the time.

Al is busier than ever. We don't see him much...maybe an hour and a 1/2 a day. Or sometimes not at all. I will be glad when trauma is over. This past month has been hard and lonely. But just one more month and he will be done and onto something else.

Some of my Favorites

I took a lot of pictures on the trip to Utah, but these were some of my favorites:













These pictures document a lot of what we did, but not everything. We really packed a lot into a month: 3+ trips to Thanksgiving Point, pony rides, The Dinosaur Museum (way cooler than I remembered), 3+ trips to Gardner Village, Park City--hugely successful shopping and we got caught in a rain storm, the Aquarium, 2 trips to Gateway, Children's Museum, 5 private swimming lessons for Avery, 4 trips to Dimple Dell Pool, Kangaroo Zoo (awesome--even worth getting lost on the way home. It made me wish I was a little kid), Fashion Place, 2 trips to SouthTown, 4+ trips to Costco, 2 trips to Baby Heirlooms and some of my other favorite boutiques, 1 date night with Al, Deseret bookstore, 1 unexpected root canal, 1 book read, and ate out more lunches and dinners than I can remember or should admit to, and many other adventures.

What a great trip! It was so much fun to spend time with family and see everybody. Who knew a month could go by so quickly. It was good to get back and see Al...I know he was lonely and we really missed him. It was sooo nice being spoiled for a month though. In a month's time it seems like I have somehow forgotten how to plan meals and have also forgotten what we do all day here. It is always an adjustment to come back and pick up the routine things again...and to come down off of the shopping/dining out/being constantly entertained high. But we do have some fun things lined up here. Avery starts swimming lessons next week and that will be a lot of fun for her. We had a play date today and I am going to Eclipse with some friends on Thursday night.

Most of my friends here are leaving or have already left for the summer. I have never lived somewhere before where people clear out for the summer. I think it has a lot to do with the heat, humidity, and husbands studying for big tests or husbands having horrible schedules. But our trip to Utah was on the shorter side compared to some! I can't say that I blame them though...walking out of the airport at 12 am and getting greeted by the heat and humidity was a little tough to swallow. And Al had the day off after we got back and then started a 10 week rotation on trauma. We survived intern year (yeah!!! We never have to do it again!!!), but Al's hours aren't any better, just different responsibilities now. It is quiet here. I grew accustomed to having people around to talk to. But I got the next book club book and a huge stack of ads and magazines that Al saved for me from when we were gone.

Fire Station Field Trip

On Wednesday Avery's class took a field trip to the fire station. All of the kids were very excited! I have to say that it was pretty neat. I didn't get to see everything up close like the kids did because I had James in a stroller and was kind of lagging behind the crowd, but what I saw was really impressive. I can't believe how much equipment is stowed on a fire truck! There are tons of compartments all packed with various tools, first aid, etc. The fire man in charge of the tour was very good with the kids--I think they have given quite a few of these tours. He explained what all the tools are used for and the moms and I had a chuckle when he talked about the "jaws of life" and how the kids had "probably heard of them in a movie." They are only 3/4 years old :)

We got to see a huge fire truck that had the ladder on top and then a smaller one without the ladder. Then one of the firemen put all of his equipment on for the kids to see. He explained everything that he put on and then talked to them through the mask. He told them that if they ever see a fireman like this in their house to not be afraid, but to go to them because they are there to help. I thought that was good for the kids to hear.

We also got a tour of the inside of the fire station. We saw where they sleep, watch TV, etc. The kids were fascinated by the kitchen for some reason, "What's in the fridge?" "What's in that closet?" and so on. Kinda funny. When we left the kids all got their own hat and some coloring pages to work on. It was a pretty great field trip.

Powdered Donuts

This is one of those "I only left the kids alone for a couple of minutes..." things.

Avery got the powdered donuts off of the counter and took them into the family room. Then she left the bag on our ottoman, right at James' eye level. When I came into the room there were powdered donuts all over the floor and James was grabbing them in his hands and crumbling them up. The donut bag was empty. Luckily there weren't many left when the incident started.

When James realized he was caught he smiled really big, and then proceeded to finish the crumbling job, except for the one that he smashed by accidentally sitting on it.

The Train Cake

I got home from San Antonio on Sunday afternoon and baked the cake so that it would be ready to decorate on Monday night. Al was on-call Monday night, so after I put the kids in bed I set out to deck the cake out. It took me a long time! Over two hours. Because I had to do the tracks and the grass first. And then those little train cars...even though they are tiny they took forever! There were 9 cars total, but only 6 fit on the track. I was kinda glad I didn't have to do the last 3. I guess it's kind of a cross between a cake and a gingerbread house with all of the candy on it. But I thought it was so cute! And appropriate for a boy's 1st birthday.

James smiled at first, but then it spiraled down hill pretty quickly. He didn't want anything to do with his cake. Didn't want to touch it, taste it, see it, smell it, etc. You get the idea. He finally put one finger in the icing and cried and cried. Avery just wanted to pick the candy off the train and Al had a big serving of ice cream and nothing else. So all of that work on the cake for nothing!! Nothing! How lame is that?!

James' Birthday

Here are some of the pictures from James' birthday. He was sick the day before and the day of his birthday, so he wasn't in the best of spirits...as is evident in some of the pictures. Poor little guy. We took the family pictures at the beginning when he was still pretty happy. We had pizza for dinner, which is usually one of his favorites, but he didn't touch it. Then we let him open his presents. We gave James one of those little cars to ride around in. Avery has been asking for days if James could open that present. I ordered it a while ago and it had been sitting in the laundry room until the big day. So she was more than anxious for the present opening. We also gave James some sand/beach toys which he seemed super happy with. Avery wanted to help wrap presents too so earlier that day when I was wrapping James' she grabbed some random toys from around the house to wrap up for James. It was pretty cute.

I had been toying around with having some friends over for cake and ice cream, but am glad I decided not to because James was sooo ornery. He spent most of his birthday sucking his thumb, crying, whimpering, etc. At 7 o'clock we decided that the party was over for him and we put him to bed. Avery was pretty thrilled that she got the car to herself for a while.