A James Pose!

I love these kids :)

Full of Poses

I don't know if anybody has noticed over the last several pictures I've posted of Avery, but she is super into posing now when I take her picture. I don't know where she learned it from, but she definitely gets into it. In the top picture she is "Make-up Girl"!! That's what she called herself. Like a super hero name. She applied her own make-up from some play make-up she has and came in to show me and Al. Then Al went and got the camera and Avery gave us a signature pose. After Al left Avery informed me that she was Make-up Girl and it was her special power/mission to go around and help people wear make-up that aren't wearing any :)

In the picture with Avery and James I had to laugh because we were running out the door to go somewhere and I thought the kids looked cute so I took a couple of pictures. Avery pulled out the poses and then James was trying to be like her. His pose was hilarious. He held one leg up, with the knee bent and then kind of had his arms out to the side. He couldn't hold the pose for very long and so I wasn't able to capture it, but he still looks super cute.

St. Patrick's Day Festivites

We had a fun St. Patrick's Day this year. I don't usually do much for the holiday, but thought it might be fun to start a few traditions. A week or so before the 17th I made these rainbow cupcakes for Avery's preschool class. Avery of course was thrilled with the green sprinkles on top and I wanted to add a gold foiled chocolate coin on top but couldn't find any. Anyway, Avery loved the cupcakes and I heard they were a hit with her class, so they might have to become a yearly thing for us.

The day of St. Patrick's I subbed in the morning for Avery's preschool class. It felt like a definite blast from my past and was a lot of fun. Then we headed over to a nearby park for a great party. My good friend, Kim, put together a St. Patrick's day potluck with the rules being whatever you took had to be green or authentic Irish food. We took a pineapple pudding cake that was dyed green and some Irish soda bread. The picnic tables were a sea of green- green veggie trays, green fruit salads, green pasta salads, guacamole, leafy green salads, candies, cupcakes, etc. It was pretty spectacular to see all of that green food! After the picnic the kids had a pinata, which of course was a big hit. It was a lot of fun and Avery loved celebrating her favorite color. Next year I am going to try to do something festive for dinner too!

Houston Rodeo

Okay, first of all, sorry this is going to be so long. But there is just so much to tell about the rodeo.

It was AWESOME. Truly. We got there at about 10:30 Monday morning, which I think was the perfect day to go because the crowds were super reasonable. We figured out where to park and saw a tram right by our lot. We went over to board the tram and were greeted with that southern hospitality. Everybody working at the tram, and in the rodeo, is decked out in their western gear complete with cowboy hat. I looked at Al as we boarded the tram and heard the country music blaring and we both had these huge grins on our face. The tram took us right up to the gate of the rodeo and dropped us off at the ticket booth. We got the cheaper tickets, which were only $7 for adults and $4 for Avery. James was free, so not bad! The other tickets were I think $14 and that's for if you stay and watch the actual rodeo that's in Reliant stadium, which we opted not to this year with James being so little and probably not sitting through most of it.

We entered this huge building, which has been completely decked out with banners, artwork, etc. and then went into the main part of the rodeo. The first thing that you see is rows and rows of shopping booths set up. I was amazed at how elaborate everything was. All kinds of western clothing, boots, hats, belts (lots of rhinestones :))household furnishings, kitchen/cooking things, artwork and sculptures, etc. It went on and on, so much so that they had named the 'streets' so you could find where you were on the map. Avery had her heart set on getting a pink cowgirl hat. We passed several hat booths and finally settled on one. The salesman was so cute with Avery and had several pink options for her to try on. She would put one on and then he would say, "Now go look in the mirror and see what you think." They had this full length mirror and every time Avery tried on a hat she would go to the mirror as the man suggested and strike a pose. Then she would take the hat back and try another one. She finally settled on one and Al bought it for her with his birthday money. We got James a tiny little hat too :) After Avery's hat was paid for she put it on, went over to the full length mirror, struck her pose, and said, "Howdy, boys!" It was hilarious. Where did she get that from?!

After more shopping we headed into the livestock area. There were rows and rows of cows there that were going to be shown in competition. You can walk down the aisles right up close to them. The kids were fascinated by this, especially James. We watched a few of them get walked around. Avery was super excited when she spotted one with a gold ring through it's nose.

Then we moved on to the petting zoo, which was adorable. Sheep, a llama, a deer, little piggies, chickens, tons of goats of different colors and sizes, ducks and even a couple of kangaroos...? Anyway, these animals were used to kids and would just sit there while you petted them. James would always get right in their faces, which made me a little nervous, but they didn't seem to mind. He also manhandled a big, fat chicken and lifted it up and was holding it, which was hilarious.

There were tons of other animals displays too, and we took most of it in. We went to the birthing center and saw tiny piglets that had been born earlier that day. Very cute.

Then it was time for lunch. We ventured back outside and went to the food pavilion, which was giant. I would say there were 30+ places to eat in the main eating area, and then tons of other places located all around the fairgrounds. The smells were just heavenly...smoky BBQ, Mexican, funnel cakes... We walked the main eating area twice, trying to take it all in and Al made fun of me and asked if I wanted a third walk through. There were just so many choices!! But we finally settled on a BBQ place that was really yummy. Then we headed out into the fair.

There were tons of rides set up, mostly geared towards little kids. It was much more elaborate than I had imagined and so big that they even had 3 ferris wheels! James didn't meet the height requirements on any of the rides, but I knew it wouldn't work to just let Avery go, so we sneaked him on a few rides where the workers didn't seem to mind...nothing too wild, just flying elephants, airplanes, etc. They had a blast.

We were walking through the fair to explore what else was there when I guy called out to us that the pig races were about to start. So we took the kids in and sat in the stands and in just a few minutes the announcer came out to start the races. It was hilarious. There were several races, and each race had 4 little piggies what would race around the track. I didn't know, but Al said they were racing around the track to get an oreo. I didn't know pigs could run that fast! Anyway, Avery got selected to be one of the helpers. So she stood at one point in the track, to help cheer her pig to victory. Her pig was pig #1 and he ended up winning the race, so Avery won as a prize a piggy bank and a little pig snout/mask thing to wear...which James is terrified of. But that's a different story.

We did more rides after that and Avery got her first taste of cotton candy. She has been dying to try it and it was so fun to watch her and James experience it for the first time. We did a few more rides after that and then headed back to the food alley to try a funnel cake, which Al and I had never had before in our lives. It did not disappoint :) And James LOVED it. We also tried a deep fried oatmeal cream pie, which Al didn't care for, but I thought it was pretty good.

By that time I think we were all exhausted. We decided to call it a day and head back to the tram. On our way out of the park we passed several cowboys coming into the rodeo grounds to get ready for the actual rodeo. Fun!! James was asleep before we even reached the tram, and I think Avery almost was. I said to Al that I hoped he was just planning on doing this for his birthday every year, because it was an absolute blast. He seemed happy with making it a tradition.

The rodeo lasts for a few weeks and a girl in our ward that is from Texas told us it was believed to be the best rodeo in the world. I believe it! There was so much to do and see that we didn't even get to. And every night they have a concert that you can go to as well. And it's big names, like Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Janet Jackson, Miranda Lambert, Martina McBride, etc. They play in the big Reliant stadium after the rodeo show. My friend Leslee went to Keith Urban with her husband and said it was great. Maybe Al and I will have to take in a concert one of these years :)

Avery's Birthday Money

Avery got a little spending money for her birthday from Granny, my little brother and his wife, and from an alarm clock that she returned since she just got one for Christmas. With Granny's money she bought the movie Despicable Me, which we have already watched a TON. It's a pretty funny movie for those of you that haven't seen it.

When she returned the alarm clock she bought a Rapunzel barbie at Target. She has had her eye on the Rapunzel barbie for quite some time and was so excited to finally get one.

Which left the money from my brother and his wife. Avery isn't really one to hold on to her money for long, and sure enough she had only had it for a couple of days when she stumbled onto her treasures. Al and I were out with the kids Saturday at the local shopping center, doing a little window shopping. Sometimes on the weekends the Town Center has craft booths in the courtyard and it is usually pretty scary stuff that they are trying to sell. As we walked by the booths Avery spied a table that was selling some crazy jewelry, purses, hair accessories, etc. She told me that she really wanted to stop and see what they had but I kind of brushed it off and said maybe when we were finished at the stores. Well, Avery didn't forget, and when we left the stores she said, "Mom, what about that table?!" Oh yeah... So we took her back to the table and within about 30 seconds Avery came across this mask. And she had to have it. I asked her if she was sure, if this was what she really wanted, and Avery was positive that she wanted that mask. As she was paying for the mask she caught a glimpse of these hair clips with the neon hair. And she had to have them too.

She has worn the mask a ton around the house, so I guess it was a wise purchase. So much so that her cheeks and forehead have a green tint from the metallic paint wearing off. She calls it her "Mousequerade" mask. She almost has the word right :)

Sandbox

My dad built Avery a sandbox for her birthday. I feel badly because the week before my parents got here the weather was in the 60's, and this week it is in the 70's. But the week they were here the highs were in the 20's and 30's. My dad has had the sandbox planned for a while, and since there wasn't anything he could do about the weather, he was out there in the freezing temperatures putting together the sandbox.

Avery spent a lot of time out there with him, 'helping' him build the sandbox. The helping I observed mainly consisted of cheerleading...but I don't think he minded the company out there :) The kids have played in the sandbox several times already. Yesterday they went out there for an hour or more while I stayed inside folding laundry. They were having a blast and I was enjoying a little quiet time while I caught up on my shows and did housework. I have noticed that bath time has become a lot more frequent since the addition of the sandbox. Oh well- a small price to pay for hours of entertainment.

While my dad was building the sandbox my mom and I painted the master bedroom and bathroom. It looks so good! I love the color I picked out. I'm not quite ready to post pictures, but soon.

Loves to Laugh

James is almost always just a happy, go-lucky little guy. He is so much fun to be around and just so cuddly and easy to laugh and smile. I love these pictures because I think the expression on his face is just pure delight. He loves Al and is always so excited when Al is around to play with. This is what James was doing to entertain himself while Avery was opening her birthday presents. Al was a good sport to let James bounce up and down on his stomach right after the huge Texas Roadhouse dinner :)

Avery's Birthday Party

Avery had a Tangled birthday party the day before her actual birthday. It was great having my mom there to help with the party. It was so nice to have an extra pair of hands to help pour drinks, pass things out, etc. My mom had flown in late Tuesday night and upon arrival gave Avery this Rapunzel dress. I knew that Avery would want to wear it to her party. She's always one for dressing up :)

Avery invited 7 little girls from church and pre-K. They are a cute little bunch and were all so excited for the party. It was so cute to watch them all bouncing up and down in excitement, being gracious, etc. We started the party off with pizza and a sprite/fruit punch combo that Avery requested. While the kids were eating their pizza and visiting my mom and I hid tons of little jewels around the family room so that the girls could go on a gem hunt. After they were all done eating I passed out their party favor bags to collect their jewels in. I told the little girls that they were searching for gems and the ooh-ing and ahh-ing began. Little girls love sparkly things so much! They all wanted to know if they could keep the gems...it was a big concern :) After all of the gems were found we moved on to a pinata. Avery had a pinata shaped like a tiara that was pink and silver with streamers. The girls each got several turns to hit the pinata and then I finally did the honors and cracked it open. Then the girls stuffed the candy in the favor bags along with their gems. The bags were bulging at this point!

Then we moved onto a game of pass the tiara. The girls played along to the music from Tangled and if the music stopped when they were holding the tiara they won a prize. I found these tiny water coloring sets at the Party Store for $0.50 each and since Rapunzel paints so much in the movie I thought it would be the perfect favor. When everybody had had a turn to win we switched to playing musical chairs. The girls each won a set of hair elastics.

After all the games were finished we sang to Avery and had cake. Then on to presents. The little girls were so excited for the presents too, and huddled around Avery in a big mass. Then the girls got to color a picture of Pascal, the little chameleon from the movie. Afterward they could cute out the chameleon and tape it together so that it could sit on their shoulder.

Later that night we picked up my dad from the airport. He was supposed to fly in the night before, but the entire city completely shut down due to 'possible' snow/ice. A 20% chance of less than .1 inch accumulation to be exact. So that took a day away from his trip here. To be fair...Texas isn't really used to dealing with super cold weather, etc. And so the worrying sets in. The kids were excited to see him when he finally got here though and James couldn't wait to show him all of his cars.

We waited and did our family celebration on the 5th, Avery's real birthday. My parents took us to see the movie Tangled in the theater and then that night we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner-- Avery's choice. After a great big dinner we came home for more cake and ice cream. Avery picked strawberry ice cream and mint chocolate chip (it's green, hence Avery's favorite flavor) and then on to pajamas and present opening from the grandparents and mommy, daddy, and James. I would think all in all she had a pretty fantastic birthday.

New and Improved...

For part of our birthdays and Christmas my parents gave us a new fan and light fixture for the family room. They look so good! We had them installed a couple of weeks ago and I'm sad to say that we've already been able to use the fan. The old fan barely worked, had 4 smaller blades, and was very unstable. It always shook back and forth when you turned it on. This new fan is much more powerful, which is exactly what we need for the summers here. We had the handy man set it on the highest setting and it feels wonderful and doesn't shake at all! It doesn't provide quite as much light as the last one (which Al is happy about) but I am okay with that.

And the light fixture in the hallway looks so much better. The fan and light fixture both helped update the room so much.

Trying Out the Scooter

Yesterday the kids and I headed to the park by our house so that Avery could really try out her scooter. She loved it! James and I played on the playground while she rode around. We lasted for about 40 minutes, but then it got cold with the breeze. None of us had mittens on and James' poor hand were so red. I didn't even buy anybody mittens this year, thinking it was a poor investment, but maybe we'll get some cheap ones some where for those few days we might need them.