A little Q&A

We are really into "favorites" right now. Everytime I give Avery something she likes, she gets a big grin and says "that's my favorite". This afternoon I asked A&A a few questions...

Favorite color: Austin - blue, Avery - pink
Favorite book: Austin - Animal Train, Avery - Pinkalicious
Favorite snack: Austin - cheese chex mix, Avery - peanut butter crackers
Favorite ice cream: both said chocolate - not sure why because the only thing we ever buy is Homeade Vanilla
Favorite drink: Austin - chocolate milk, Avery - orange juice
Favorite lunch: Austin - pizza, Avery - chicken nuggets
Favorite friend: Austin - William, Avery - Chasidy
Favorite toy: Austin - fire truck; Avery - kitchen

What we've been up to....

The last few days have been somewhat routine for us or at least nothing too much that deserves it's own blog post.... Here's what's been going on:
- thanks to a garage sale, "stuff" has been cleared out of the attic & garage. Now it's time to get more stuff!
- playscape building has begun. "Wes the builder, Yes he can!"
- we leave for the beach next week. We are prepping the kids for what to expect, but then all they ask is "Can we go right now?" This will be Caleb's 1st beach trip....
- A&A will be 3 in August so birthday party planning is underway. Invites should be in any day now. I love invitations!
- A&A are starting to play more on their own which has been nice. I found Avery in her room yesterday reading to her babies. She had set them all out in front of her chair. Austin can't seem to get enough of his train table. If only his little brother wouldn't come along and tear up the tracks!

Austin Children's Museum

We took the kids to the Austin Children's Museum this past Saturday when we were in Austin. This place is amazing.... so much for kids to do. I highly recommend it, but advise not going at 10am on a Saturday morning like we did. In addition to weekend visitors there were 2 large birthday parties which made things a bit chaotic. Our crew loved it, but I think it was a bit overwhelming with all the activities and all the people. Lucky for us, they were a bit late getting the ticket booth open so we had to wait in line for about 10 minutes. They gave us 6 free passes to come back for having to wait!

Sing a long and story time.

A weekend in Austin

This weekend we packed up our bags and headed to Austin. We made ourself at home at Uncle Jason's. Our agenda was pretty low key and very kid friendly. We took the kids to the Children's Museum and Butler Park and we did get in some pool time. Other than that we enjoyed hanging out at the house with Jason and Bruce.....

The kids loved this little pond with goldfish in Jason's backyard. Fortunately for the fish, the small catch net mysteriously disappeared right before we got there, otherwise Austin would have tried to catch fish the whole time.

Caleb ready to go check out the Children's Museum.

Butler Park

A&A loved making homeade blueberry pancakes with Jason. They were much more exciting than the ones we put in the toaster at home.

Austin's swim lessons

We decided to opt for group swim lessons at the Blue Bell Aquatic Center this year and I really think that Austin benefitted from that. Right now he is more of a follower so seeing the other kids get in and splash around and put their face in the water helped him. He is our cautious guy. He will try something, but only after being reassured that it is ok.

Avery's swimming lessons

This year we decided to skip the one-on-one swim lessons and take advantage of the group lessons at the Blue Bell Aquatic Center. Avery is our No Fear girl. She loves the thrill of running and plunging in the water. Her favorite thing was to stand at the edge of the zero depth entry and then I would say "Ready, Set, Go".... then she would take off and when she lost her footing she'd plunge face first in the water. There is a pic below where you see a faint shadow in the water.... that is her. The instructors were very impressed with her progress. Only thing is the girl always had her eyes open under water so we would leave lessons with red eyes.

Watermelon!!

It is hard to find anything refreshing these days with daily temps in the 100's. We're trying our best though. Today we got out a watermelon and Wes cut some extra large pieces. YUM!!! Yes, it was a bit messy and sticky, but nothing a water hose couldn't handle.

Dora LIVE

A few months ago I found out Dora LIVE was coming to Houston and I thought that would be a fun thing for Avery& Austin to go see. Dora is one of the only shows they will sit and watch. Dora speaks some spanish, so it's educational, right? Wes and I were originally supposed to be out of town this weekend so I sweet talked Mimi and Toppe into taking them. I can honestly say they weren't quite as excited about the idea as I thought they would be when I first presented it to them. I'm sure the idea of taking 2 toddlers to Houston to a show with tons of other toddlers to watch a cartoon character that they know nothing about didn't sound very exciting, but they played along and agreed to take them anyway.

Our plans fell through and Wes & I wound up staying in town, but Toppe & Mimi still took A&A. From all the reports, everyone had a fun time. A&A watched Dora intently and Avery didn't flinch when Swiper came on stage. Before they left, she kept saying she didn't want to see Swiper because he scared her. Now she says that was her favorite part of the show! Anyway, after the show the crew went to The Aquarium thinking it would be a fun eating adventure, but apparently just about everyone else thought the same thing and the line was out the door. Instead, they hit the gift shop and still got to see the aquarium tanks and then lunch was a magnificent combination of chicken nuggets and fries.... a McDonalds feast.

THANKS Mimi & Toppe for taking A&A to see Dora!!!! They have been talking about it ever since.

An evening of tears...

So we have fun nights like I blogged about last week where everyone is in a good mood and we do fun things like dance to Milli Vanilli's greatest lip synch hits. Then there are nights like tonight where tears are shed at the drop of a hat and all we want to do is get everyone to bed without losing our cool. At one point tonight all 3 kids were crying and it all started because when Avery and Austin walked through the back door, Austin wanted to close it and he didn't get to so he started crying. He may have then nudged Avery because he was mad at her and then she started crying and then Caleb must have felt left out because he started crying. We settled down a bit as soon as supper was put on the table, but as soon as baths started, tears started again. Caleb was crying because he was basically tired, Avery didn't want to get in the tub because she didn't want to get her finger wet (she had a very small cut from earlier in the day) and Austin, well, I think he was just in one of those moods. He objected to just about everything we told him until he laid his head on his pillow. The tears and whining can make for a very long night and it makes you want to stay up a little longer after the kids are asleep to enjoy the sound of silence.

4th of July

Happy Birthday America! We had a full agenda this 4th of July. We had never been to the Chappell Hill parade but have always heard great things about the small town annual event. We threw on our red, white and blue and found great seats on the curb at the end of the parade route. I don't mind being at the end of the route - less candy for the kids! After the parade we stayed at a party in Chappell Hill for lunch and ate some ribs and watermelon - a great 4th of July meal. The kids played hard on the outside tree house/swing set and were filthy in no time. After lunch the whining increased and tears were shed more easily which meant nap time. We stripped the kids down to underwear, panties and diaper and they were out in no time on the drive home. Once home, we put the kids down in their beds and I washed everything so that when they woke we could get dressed and do everything over again, except this time in Independence. This was the 2nd year for that parade and it was a lot of fun. This time we were at the very beginning of the parade route so we got LOTS of candy. The parade started at 4pm.... yes, the exact same time of day where the temp was 100 degrees. It was HOT, but the kids enjoyed the candy and we enjoyed seeing so many people we know. After the parade we hung around for the street dance and they had a few things for the kids to do. By 8pm we were worn out, so we loaded up and headed home. The kids got in their pool and cooled down/cleaned off since they were filthy again. Wes and I enjoyed sitting on the rocking chairs and watching them unwind from the busy day. God bless America!

A pic of true Americana!

My best attempt at a group picture. Austin has this thing about holding his shirt up when I say "say cheese."

Pre 4th fishin'

Friday Wes and I were both off for the 4th of July holiday. It was nice to have the extra day to get a few things done around the house and prepare for a busy 4th of July Saturday. The boys got in a little bit of fishing and then we enjoyed a trip to the pool to cool off.