Getting ready for Halloween

Monday Wes carved a pumpkin with the kids... inside. Actually it wasn't too messy. Avery stuck her hands in the pumpkin one time and said "Eww.... I need rag." I asked the kids what the jack-o-lantern's name was and as expected Austin said "Shocker" and Avery said "Allison". This is what they name everything. Not sure where Austin got the name Shocker, but Avery has used the name "Alli" or "Allison" for a while because that is what we were going to name Caleb if he would have been a girl. Anyway, finally we decided on the name "Bob" - Bob the Pumpkin.

Here is Avery and Austin making pumpkins for the kids in their class. Because the school they go to doesn't observe Halloween (Baptist), they are having a Noah's Ark party and the kids are supposed to dress as an animal. I'll save their costumes for a post after Halloween, but let me just say they are pretty darn cute!!!!

This is Avery's costume from last year - it still fits. I just don't know that I'll ever find something this adorable.... a peacock. She knows how to strut her stuff!!!

Quote of the day

On the way home from school we somehow got on the subject about Avery and Austin being in Jamie's wedding. Avery talks about wearing her white princess dress and she will tell you that she is going to be a flower girl. I asked Austin if he was going to wear a tux and be a ring bearer. He said "No, mama. I no be a ring bearer. That's silly. I be a fire truck."

Beautiful fall weekend

My best attempt to have all 3 in a picture


Avery enjoying the hobby horses. (That's Della Jasinski and her dad Della beside her)

Horns had another great game this weekend. Caleb was ready to watch the game.

Austin's catfish he caught at KidFish.

Fishin' at the pool....

I am experiencing a very rare moment... someone called and asked if they could come pick up our children. Of course I wouldn't let just anyone get them... Jamie & Kelcie called and wanted to come get ALL 3 kids and take them back to their house for a little while. They didn't have to ask twice!!! I gave them fair warning that Caleb had not slept long this afternoon and Avery and Austin had not slept at all and they still took them!!! That is a first for us (no naps), so I'm sure this evening will be trying.... I am preparing myself now.

We had a fun weekend. Got to love the weather. Yesterday we had a full agenda: KidFish, 2 birthday parties, a 60th wedding anniversary, and a wedding. We made the first 3 events and that was enough for us. Kidfish was fun... catfish are put in the outdoor pool at the Aquatic Center and then kids get to fish away. Austin caught a fish, so it made the event well worth it. It is safe to say that Avery and I share the same thoughts on fishing... no thanks. She preferred to play on the slide. The bday parties were fun.... after 3 consecutive weekends at the carousel, we are now pros. No more crying. Today we had church and then lunch with my parents and Uncle Steve and Aunt Candice.

2 year old conversations

I love to hear Austin and Avery carry on conversations... at least the ones where they don't end up screaming at each other. Here are a few that stick out in my mind from this week..

While playing with their UT building blocks:

Austin - "Look, Hook 'em horns. You say it Avery."
Avery - "Hook 'em horns."
Austin - "Very good, Avery"

Austin finds Avery crying by the back door:

Austin - "What happened Avery?"

Avery - "Avery hit head on floor."

Austin - "Where Avery?"

Avery - "Right here." (points)

Austin - "Right here, Avery?" (points)

Avery - "No Austin, right here."

Austin - (pointing at floor) "No, no floor, no hurt Avery. Go time out."

Austin to Avery who is banging blocks on the table: "No, no Avery. No hit blocks on table. Make Austin sad." (If the kids do something I don't like I say it makes me sad)

A few random pics from the week....

Lopsided pig tails.....

Doesn't Austin look different with his hair combed to the side?

Caleb turned 8 months this week!!!!!!

Butterflies

Two weeks ago, we went to Della Jasinski's bday party (butterfly theme) and part of the party favor was a catepillar in a small plastic container. It came with instructions (thank goodness) and better yet they stated that all we had to do was set the container in a safe place and the catepillar would turn into a cacoon and then into a butterfly. My initial thought was "Yeah, right." But, I gave it a chance. I set the 2 plastic containers in a corner in the kitchen and paid very little attention to them. Earlier in the week I did notice that both had formed a cacoon and truth is, it was pretty cool. Well, yesterday when we got home, Wes brought out the 2 containers with 2 live butterflies in them. We had a ceremonial release... if you want to call it that. We're pretty lucky they were both alive because Austin was very interested in stepping on them once they were out of their containers. It was a pretty cool thing to see!

Happy Birthday Mimi!!

Today is Mimi's birthday! We celebrated by going out to eat and were reminded why we don't do it more often. Caleb is at an age where he doesn't want to sit still, even if being held. Avery and Austin are pretty well behaved, but they can be noisy and prefer to eat what is on everyone elses plate instead of what is on there own. Luckily it was a fairly slow night so there weren't too many people in the restaurant to get annoyed with us... but there were a few.
How old was Mimi today? According to Austin: "5". Happy Birthday, Mimi.... we appreciate all you do for us!

On a more serious note....

I read this story on the CNN website the other day and it has stuck with me ever since. It was about a woman on Oprah who tried to be "supermom" and wound up leaving her daughter in her car on a hot August day. It brought tears to my eyes as I read it and it was very surreal. No, I don't regulary forget my kids in the car, nor do I intend to, but I do understand the feeling of being overwhelmed with everything going on in life and trying to stay ahead of the game and be prepared for whatever the day may bring. It's not easy and can be very overwhelming and draining. I'm not telling most of you anything new, but I guess this is my reminder to all of you raising little ones to remember what is important. "Life's too short to sweat the small stuff."

Here's the link to the story: http://www.oprah.com/slideshow/oprahshow/20080902_tows_moms/1

Wedding shower with the fam...

Saturday we helped host a wedding shower/party for (the other) Jamie Maurer and her fiance Kyle Hafner. We couldn't have asked for better weather.... gorgeous. We were able to arrange for the kids to stay with my parents overnight so we were able to stay out past 9:00pm and better yet, we were able to sleep past 6:30am and wake on our own, not a baby monitor!!! Yes, it's the simple things in life......
Here's a few pics from the party...

Austin, Kennedy Schramm (Kim & Jeremy Schramm's daughter) and Avery. For those of you who may not have heard, Kim is expecting! Kennedy will be a big sister in March.

Senorita Avery...

Caleb getting some grub at the party.... Hook 'em Horns (On a side note, good thing they had a tv at the party or Wes may have been a no show :-)

Wes & I.... this is for the individual who said I never post my pic. It won't happen often.

Pancho Popo

I couldn't keep a straight face when I took this picture. Yesterday Popo came over and picked up Avery and Austin to take them to the park. When they got down there they realized there was a small festival going on so they got to ride the hobby horses and visit the face painting booth. Apparently Austin didn't want his face painted , so while the kids were on the hobby horses with Uncle Jason, Popo was a trooper and went and got his face painted and this is how it turned out. After that Austin wanted his face painted just like PoPo's!!!

Angel Kiss

Today Wes and I took Avery to Houston to see a specialist in pediatric dermatology. She was born with a hemangioma (abnormal build up of blood vessels in the skin) on her upper chest and we wanted to make sure we were doing the right thing by doing nothing. We were told early on by several different pediatricians that this was fairly common and would most likely go away by the age of 7.... the blood vessels will break down, the redness will go away, and the skin will flatten. Most likely she will always have some kind of scarring, but it could be minimal with todays cosmetic procedures. There are some procedures that can be done to remove it, but they are fairly aggressive and not recommended for someone so young, especially since she has so much growing left to do. Avery's hemangioma - her "angel kiss" - is purely cosmetic. It doesn't cause her any pain or bother her. I have seen kids on the playground point at it or ask her what is wrong, but she doesn't seem too phased by it. Our main reason for going to a specialist was to make sure there wasn't something we could be doing to help speed up the breakdown process. I hate for Avery to be 7 and we go to someone and they tell us that if we had been done something a few years back, she would have seen quicker results.

The doctor pretty much told us what we had already heard and was not in favor of any aggressive action. She gave us a prescription for a steroid bandage to put on the hemangioma for 2 week intervals and this may or may not at least flatten the area a bit. The big thing that sticks out in my mind was the fact that the doctor said that in dealing with hemangiomas there have been comparisons between God's work (leaving a hemangioma to clear on it's own) and doctor's work (medical intervention) and there has not been a big difference in the final results. For now we are going to leave it in God's hands. If it starts to become an issue when appearance gets to be a big deal for Avery, we may have to rethink our course of action. Again.... we'll leave it to the Man upstairs.

On a side note... our trip reminded Wes and I that Houston is no place for us. I lived there for 3 1/2 years while attending college and it was good to me then, but no place for me to be at this point in my life. I no longer have the patience for traffic. Why oh why does it take 56 minutes to get from the Beltway to 610 on a Tuesday morning at 9:15am!?!? We're talking 10 miles..... The trip there took 2hours 20 minutes. The trip home 1 hour 45 minutes and that includes the time we stopped to eat. Speaking of.... we go to Houston and pass just about every chain restaurant and fast food spot you can think of.... where do we eat.. McDonalds. It was Avery's choice. She wanted to slide on the slide. I was hoping for Panera Bread or Chick Fil A, maybe Pappasitos, but I was overruled by a 2 year old. Unfortunetly I'm used to it :-)

Little Big Guy

Here's our little guy after bath time. Look at that hair and those baby blue eyes!!!!

Fashion diva... maybe not

So here is the story behind this picture.... Saturday we were watching football around the house and Avery went inside with Wes to change her diaper. Going in, she had on a pair of striped pants that MATCHED the pink shirt she had on. When she came out, this is what she was wearing. Apparently she wasn't happy with what she was dressed in and Wes let her pick out what she put on... what a fashion statement! Yes, that is a puppy dog hat... it's this fall's "must have accessory" for 2 year olds.

Kitchen in time out

This is Austin practicing washers... he's a natural.. ha ha. A funny story from this weekend... Saturday morning as we were getting things together to go to Della's 3rd brithday party, Austin stumbled and fell in the kitchen. As he cried in my arms and started to settle down he said "Put kitchen in time out, mama." I didn't have a corner big enough to set the kitchen so instead I sternly told the kitchen that it was in time out and that it shouldn't hurt Austin anymore. The kitchen behaved the rest of the day :-)

A picture of the pack rat

In a previous post, I talked about how Avery fills her bed with "stuff"... so much that it's hard to find her a spot to lay down. Here is a pic of Avery as she was getting ready for nap time. I had told her she could bring 2 books to bed and this is the result:

Sugar Cookies

Sometimes I attempt to be the over achieving All-American mom who does a little something extra. When whatever it is I have decided to do is over, I usually ask myself, "What the #*!# were you thinking?" I had one of those moments tonight. I've had some sugar cookie dough in the fridge that I made last weekend (yes, from scratch) so tonight I thought it would be great to roll it out and make longhorn shaped cookies for the big UT/OU game tomorrow. Without going into too much detail, the cookies were made and the kitchen is now clean. It took longer than I had hoped... but it got done. Avery and Austin were excited about putting sprinkles on their cookies, but really all they cared about was getting to eat them.

My Pack Rats

Imagine this: It's time for school and you are eagerly and patiently trying to get 3 small children out the door and loaded into the car. You already have all necessary bags loaded so all that should be leaving the house is you and 3 kids, right? That would be ideal. Instead, let me tell you what I wound up with in my car before we left for school yesterday morning: 2 hula hoops, 1 dinosaur, a red purse, a black purse (the pink one could stay home), 1 pink box full of hair accesories, 6 books, 2 cups w/ granola bar and raisins, and 2 sippie cups. No, I'm not kidding. I wish I had thought to pull out my camera. Austin and Avery start playing with things in the morning and then want to take it in the car with them. I do attempt to stay "no" but if that results in a fit, I try not to fight it.. not worth the battle. I wind up carrying most of it myself and then it sits in my car all day. Yesterday we seemed to pack along more things than normal... Of course, this really doesn't suprise me. There have been a few nights where we have had to make room for Avery to lay down in her bed because she insisted on putting all of her baby dolls in bed plus her usual 3 or 4 books, hippo pillow, and Minnie Mouse. I attempted to take a few of the dolls out when tucking her in, but she caught me and insisted they go back in the bed. I had to wait until she was fast asleep to remove some of the things.

1st tooth

Well, Caleb got his 1st tooth today. With his drooling, chewing and occasional fussiness, we've been on the look out. As I type this, he is crawling around, exploring, and blowing bubbles out of his mouth. He just got done with supper - broccoli & rice, turkey w/ vegetables and cereal with apples and cherries... all baby food of course. A full course meal for a growing boy and yes, he ate every bite. He eats better than I remember Austin & Avery eating at this age. He's got to keep his strength up if he wants to keep up with his brother and sister!

A weekend at home...

The kids are in bed and all is quiet. I usually try to go to bed once the kids go to sleep because there is no telling who may wake up during the night, but then there are some nights where it is just nice to stay up and enjoy a little bit of peace and quiet in my own home... that doesn't happen when the kids are awake.

We stayed around the house most of the weekend. Staying home is nice in that we don't have to worry about packing up - bottles, food, books, diapers - or arranging things around naps, but it also means it's just us entertaining the kids ALL day and that can get long, especially when there are things that we'd like to get done around the house. Of course we always have visits from Toppe & Grandpa and Mimi & Popo, so that helps break things up and they do play pretty good on their own.. for a little while. Avery & Austin usually wind up fighting about something though. They haven't quite got the "sharing" concept down yet and even though we try to have 2 of everything, one wants what the other has.... go figure.

I believe we are officially in the "why?" stage. Let's hope it's a short one. Actually Avery is the one asking "why?" Austin has started saying "huh?" It's funny now, but by the end of the week it will be driving me crazy.