Keith, Loriann, Avery, and Adalynn

Christmas Morning with Lee Lee

2011-12-26T10:47:00.001-06:00

Lisa flew down for Christmas, which was nice for us since Keith could not get any vacation from his busy ENT clinic to take off work. Christmas weekend turned out to be most drab, weather wise. It was gray, cold, and drizzlng while both of the girls were suffering from coughs and colds. Lisa's sister Linda, Linda's son Cousin Mark, and Cousin Mark's girlfriend all came by to visit Christmas Eve night. I decided to let the girls each open one gift. All chaos reigned down on our household. They could not stop fighting over the two toys they'd opened. Needless to say, after numerous warnings and time outs, both girls were put in bed the earliest they've ever gone to bed. They both crashed quite quickly, so obviously needing the rest. I prepared myself for the worst come Christmas morning. If they couldn't handle playing together with two toys, what would multiples of toys possibly bring?! Luckily, a good night's rest and a very long-winded Thank You note from Santa (he not only thanked them for the milkd and cookies but then proceeded to remind them that sharing and asking nicely to take turns with toys was necessary for a Happy Campbell Christmas Day) produced great results. Expect the worst, I suppose, and you will be most satisfied with decent!

Avery waited patiently by the presents with Lee Lee while Addie (and me and Keith!) took our sweet time rising and getting dressed for the Christmas morning fun.

Yes... the pictures all depict the excitement the girls showed over their Princess dolls and Princess dresses. I know there's a bit of an anti-princess movement going on these days, but I don't put much thought into that rigamarole. They LOVE princesses, but they also have a healthy balance for other interests. Addie loves Hotwheel cars and tossing balls and puzzles while Avery loves dinosaurs and catching bugs and any kind of creative art, so while the pics may not depict... the majority of their presents focused on those other interests.

Keith was obviously pleased as a peach to get a set of Twilight cups in his stocking.

We enjoyed playing with all of the toys the rest of the day. I adopted a policy after Christmas 2008, when I felt like my entire Christmas day was spent opening up and setting up toys rather than enjoying any of the day. I spend the two weeks leading up to Christmas opening every toy and cutting out all of the ridiculous packaging materials, adding any needed batteries, etc. before wrapping them. It makes for a wonderfully stress-free Christmas morning, where the girls can just open the boxes, get the toys out, and start playing freely. I will firmly stick to that policy for years to come!

Avery's Christmas Interior Designs

2011-12-18T12:58:00.000-06:00

Avery, my little interior decorator, always loves throwing in a few of her own ideas when it comes to our home decor. I've learned to just let her run with it and let it be....

Here's the ginger bread decorations for our dining room table after we made these with the Ormes

It wasn't quite enough for Avery.... she decided a Reindeer Potato Head completed the look

Obviously a Poinsetta table runner on our entry way accent table without any decor is unacceptable. Avery decided to set out a few snacks for arriving guests.

Christmas ornaments are great on the tree, but what about the rest of the house? What kind of people would we be to exclude it from the ornament fun? Avery made it quite clear that the Nativity ornaments Nana bought for her were much better off hanging in the toy kitchen.

And Avery strictly applied a "No Ribbon Left Behind" rule. If the tree didn't have room for it, random lamps around the house could ensure the Christmas ribbon got put to use.

While I insisted on the easily breakable glass ornaments be hung out of children's reach, I quickly gave in and let Avery take control of the hanging of all other ornaments. The result.... quite the bottom heavy decorative tree.

Unfortunately, some ornaments were harmed in the decorating of our house. It's expected when one allows a five year old to take creative decorative control. Why..... WHY.... do they make the sturdy wooden ornaments so hard to come by?!!

Holiday Fun with Family

2011-12-16T11:00:00.002-06:00

As always I fall behind but just feel the necessity to go back and fill in before I can move on, so here's the first of a few Christmas catch-up blogs!

Nana and Papa came for a visit the first weekend of December. I was completely slacking with the photographing of their visit, but here's Avery and Addie "helping" me make brownies for our dessert:

The next weekend was followed up with a visit from the Ormes since Tom conveniently has an orthopedic class every other month in Round Rock. We made pizzas for dinner, and I did not document Avery and Addie's attempt to ruin dinner for everyone (Addie stuffed her little mouth with pizza before knocking herself out of her chair and crying so hard that she ended up puking all over the floor right next to the dinner table followed by Avery deciding to replicate the disgusting drama by stuffing so much pizza in her mouth that she began choking and puked as well.... ah.... the Campbell table decorum).

After dinner, the kids decorated Christmas cookies:

Perhaps the sugar rush Avery got from eating her designs as she went along explains why she refused to take a "pretty" picture for me with her cookies:

Declan missed out on most of the fun since he was too busy playing with toys in the playroom, but he eventually decided to join in:

And while Declan played around her, Addie conked out soon after dinner, completely oblivious to Declan playing and the cookie decorating in the adjoining room:

Keith offered to watch the kids the next morning while Rachel and I ran up to Target. The kids were so excited to play together that I don't think they caused much trouble for Keith:

Of course, it didn't all go off without a hitch. Payden and Avery's game of whispering secrets to each other did result in a knocked over bowl of tiny beads for Keith to have to clean up:

Payden found the animal masks in the dress-up box and apparently fell a bit in love with the zebra one:

Oh the beauty of technology and electronics. They completely kept the kids distracted while they waited for Rachel and me to prep and make the bases of the gingerbread houses they were going to decorate. I'll take 30 minutes of children glued to a screen over having to hear them ask every few minutes whether it's ready yet. Declan was the only one not engaged with something that requires electricity:

Next up was thee gingerbread house decorating. Avery, again, focused a little more on the tasting versus the decorating:

And Addie, of course, followed her lead:

I must say, I was pretty impressed with how well Shelby, Taylor, and Payden cooperated with each other to design their house:

Declan was M.I.A. during the gingerbread decorating. He decided he'd rather play out back. It was quite chilly, but rather than either bother to ask for his shoes or risk being told he couldn't go out if he did ask for them, he decided to simply help himself to Addie's easy-to-slip-on pink Dora boots. He stood proudly by this decision:

And a few fun pictures documenting Declan and Addie's relationship- the typical boy/girl 3-year-old relationship, where Addie is eager to hug and love while Declan is not quite so sure:

It's hard to say whether Declan just finally gave in to Addie's insistence on wanting to hug him or if he just learned his lesson earlier of what happens when he resists too hard..... he gets taken down:

A few last pictures of the completed gingerbread houses:

Followed by a few final cousin pics before it was time to say goodbye:

We also met up wit the Ormes the following weekend for dinner at the Outback followed by a drive around Santa's Ranch, a one mile trail of several Chrsitmas light displays followed by a trip to McDonalds for dessert and the chance to let the kids run around together. We were too busy chit chatting.... and watching Tom's inappropriate-for-dinner You Tube videos off his I-Phone ;).... to take any pics, but we all had a great time.

We are definetely glad to have the Ormes a hop, skip, and a jump away. Well it's more like a little over an hour drive, but it's the closest we've had any Dynes family to us since we moved to Round Rock, and Avery and Addie adore their Orme cousins, so we are most grateful!

All Dolled Up and No Where to Go

2011-12-01T13:56:00.001-06:00

I found two cute matching dresses for the girls. I figured it was perfect for Avery's upcoming fall school picture and for Christmas pics. Avery wore hers for school pictures one day, and Addie, of course, insisted she wear her dress as well. Rather than going straight to the grocery store after picking Avery up from school like we usually do, we came home first. I figured the girls would want to put on something more comfortable for the grocery trip. I figured wrong. They both insisted going to the store all dolled up!

And the dresses came with miniature versions for the girls' dolls

And, yes, the dolls came to the store with us as well!

Thanksgiving

2011-11-28T13:29:00.001-06:00

We spent Thanksgiving at Uncle Don and Aunt Michele's newly moved into home in Schertz (a small town near San Antonio).

Keith's Cousin Jennipher's kids- Alyssa, Allie, and Tony- Don and Michele's youngest, Anna, and Avery and Addie

Keith's panoramic view of the back deck. The weather was so gorgeous, we had our Thanksgiving feast on the deck dining table.

Our lazy little Addie absolutely LOVED the hammock.

And our active, always-on-the-go Avery LOVED the tire swing.

Later that evening, we roasted marshmallows out by their huge fire pit.

The next day was still gorgeous out, and Avery spent most of the morning back on the tire swing. She is very lucky her cousin Allie is an absolute sweetheart and pushed her around for a good 30 minutes.

Addie returned to the hammock, and playing what we dubbed, "I Got the Case of Lazies" Blues, on a harmonica.

We had a wonderful time, and the girls have been begging to go back again someday. The cousins all get along so amazingly well, and the girls absolutely LOVE playing with them. Avery likes being able to join in and play with all of her older cousins, while Addie loves being the baby of the cousins. They all dote on her and cater to her every need. It really is nice to have so many of Keith's family in close enough distance that we can get together fairly easily for the holidays. (Although his cousin Jennipher and family, who have to drive from Oklahoma, may disagree about the distance being close enough!)

Our Little Nature Lovers

2011-11-24T13:15:00.000-06:00

At last! Not nice but straight up lovely weather! Avery had been begging for another kite-flying excursion, so how could we deny her on such a beautiful day.

And after a few rounds with the kite, the girls were ready to head off into the "forest" to hunt for bears.

We didn't find any bears, but plenty of birds and squirrels.

And the bear hunt ended with Round 2 of Kite Flying. Avery insisted on incorporating a few trick moves into her flying.

We ended the excursion with a little bit of gigantic-sand-box-play-time, although the girls quickly figured out that the perfect kite-flying weather (i.e. windy) does not work out so well for sandbox play. Tsk, tsk. They loved being outdoors all the same.

Lee Lee's Photos

2011-11-21T15:21:00.001-06:00

I can't deny that this past summer took quite the toll on me. Ruthlessly hot. So hot that the girls didn't even want to play in the backyard come 5 or 6 in the evening. I found myself racking my brain to come up with any out and about yet indoor activities each day, knowing that if we just stayed at home, the girls would be at each others' throats come dinner time. And Avery's strong-willed determination reached a slightly impressive yet mostly frustrating high. The final blow for me was that precious Lee Lee, who had not come down to visit since early June, ended up going the longest time EVER before coming to visit us due to other obligations.

So she arrived at last. The girls were THRILLED to see Lee Lee walk through the door. Lisa spends so much one on one time with the girls, and they absolutely love it. I've always thought of her visits as being a relief for me, but after not having her around for almost 5 months and seeing such a change in the girls' (particularly Avery's) behavior within a day of her arrival, I realized that they find having her around to play with them and give them attention is a relief for them as well!

And as always, I failed miserably to take cute pics of Lisa and the girls. But she sent me plenty of photos to document their time together:

I have to admit, my biggest worry during her stay was that the girls would get so used to her attention that things would not only go back to how they were but become even worse when Lisa left. I was dead wrong. They were absolute angels for weeks after Lisa's departure. Avery would spend an hour each day "decorating" her bedroom, followed by hours of entertaining herself with her activity books and random art projects. I think that they just need Lee Lee around sometimes to remind them how to use their imaginations when it comes to creatively playing with what they already have. And as for the change in Avery's attitude and behavior, who really knows for sure. I do know one thing: my girls definitely need their Lee Lee medicine every few months!

Our Staycation

2011-11-06T14:50:00.003-06:00

Keith and I often like to take advantage of Lisa's visits and head out for mini-vacations. This time around, though, we decided to keep it cheap and simple and just spend a night downtown, just the two of us.

Even though I was excited to go out, I was having so much fun doing a sticker activity book with the girls that Keith had to remind me a few times that I needed to get upstairs and get packing if we were going to leave when planned

After checking in to our hotel, we went to dinner at a small, eclectic, jazzy French restaurant, Justine's.

We started off with my fave French appetizer- escargot in garlic butter. I don't care if I am eating snails. They're so good I quickly forget that part. And I had steak and REAL french fries. (FYI, every time I've had fries at a French restaurant, they make them all nice and skinny. So I claim those to be REAL fries and I LOVE them that way). Keith had mussels with pasta and more of what the French do best- yummy garlic butter. It was reeeaaallly good. And you can't go wrong with finishing off the stuffing of yourself with a little hot cocoa and creme brulee. MMMMMMM!

After dinner, we went to a show at a place called Esther's Follies. It's been around since our college days, but we've never been. It's basically a group of actor/singers who do several comedy skits about current events, politics, life in general, and of course poke fun at the hippie liberal side of Austinites. They also had the funniest magician I've ever seen. Magic tricks meet stand up comedy. We had a great time. And, as usual, we never think to ask anyone to take a picture of the two of us, so this is sadly the only picture we got of the two of us together.

The next day, we soaked in the gorgeous weather with a drive around good ol' hill country. We stopped at a hole-in-the-wall BBQ restaurant. It looked more like a garage. We love finding random places like this.

Next we headed out to a local vineyard with an Italian bistro. We weren't particularly hungry, but we did have an appetizer that I'd never heard of before. Brie with jalapeno jelly. It was a bit strange, but you can't go too wrong with brie.

We walked around, soaking in more of that gorgeous weather. But, as you can see in the browness of the plants in the far left, the actual vineyard didn't look like it was handling the drought too well.

I posted two pics because I wish they could be combined somehow. I have to admit that I like the effects Keith put on the previous pic, using his fancy birthday toy- the newest I-phone, but I look kind of funny in it, holding my arm out for no particular reason.

Keith is also loving the panoramic feature on his new phone. Despite the drought, there were lots of gorgeous scenic views.

I'd have to say it was the perfect stay-cation, and we owe Lisa a huge thanks. And I learned something new. Or rather, confirmed something I'd been told. A friend of mine who loves photographing nature had told me a few times that vineyards are great for family outings. Sure enough, the place not only had wonderful places to walk around but a huge playground. And even though I no longer need a diaper changing station in the bathroom, I was blown away when I noticed that the bathroom had the BEST diaper changing station I've ever seen in any public restroom. It looked like it came straight out of Pottery Barn. Anyway, we will have to go back sometime with the girls. We felt a little guilty we didn't bring the girls with us, knowing they would've had a blast running around the grounds on such a beautiful day.

Mask Capades

2011-11-02T14:18:00.003-05:00

The girls and I made some foam animal masks to add to their dress up arsenal. They were quite pleased.

Avery insisted on wearing hers as sleeping masks. Lisa would have to wait for her to fall deep asleep before removing the mask from Avery's sweaty little face.

Addie attempted to do the same, but quickly figured out that it's not too comfortable falling asleep with your face covered in foam and removed hers before rolling over to go to sleep

Trampoline Fun with Lee Lee

2011-11-01T13:29:00.002-05:00

First off, you will notice that Keith has fallen in love with the photo features on his new phone. I do think some of them turned out pretty neat looking. Bottom line- the girls love trampoline time with Lee Lee.

Trick or Treating

2011-10-31T13:12:00.000-05:00

Halloween is definitely the perfect holiday for Avery. We took the girls to a Halloween store, and Avery acted like we were at an amusement park, running around, pushing all of the buttons and squealing in excitement at the creepy, scary noises coming from ghosts and goblins and zombies. She particularly loved the zombie babies that totally creeped me out and, what Keith and I found the most disturbing, a large rat that would start eating the innards of a screaming zombie when you pushed the button. The fact that nothing disturbs her is a bit disturbing in itself. But I suppose she just has a clear grasp on reality and understands that monsters, etc. don't exist in, as she phrases it, "our land." She LOVES any movie with monsters or ghosts or vampires or anything creepy. Her current favorites are "Coraline," "The Nightmare Before Christmas," and any Scooby Doo movie. And I'd feel the need to filter it a bit if she ever had nightmares or showed any sign that they affected her, but the only nightmare she has had in the last year was after our friends showed us the new house they were going to move into. Avery woke up several times throughout the night afterwards, crying about not wanting to ever leave our house. So zombie babies and blood sucking vampires are pure entertainment but the thought of moving out of our house is sheer terror. Go figure.

A young child in the "Scream" mask is creepy enough, but Avery had to take it up a notch by pretending to poke her eyes out with fake knives.

Apparently we live on the PERFECT block for Avery. There were at least a dozen houses completely decked out with elaborate Halloween decor. You don't even have to knock on anyone's doors because the neighbors all sit out front in their decorated yards to hand out the candy. Unfortunately, I didn't get very many good photos in the dark.

This house had the most elaborate jack-o-lanterns I've ever seen. Apparently they throw a huge pumpkin carving contest every Halloween, and the best ones make it into the yard decor.

Several houses had large sound activated ghosts and monsters. Avery was in pure Halloween heaven!

This house didn't have any decorations, but a sound machine was making creepy noises coming out of the garage. Avery asked the owner, "Are there scary vampires or ghosts back there?" And then proceeded to head to the garage to find out for herself before getting an answer. Another bystander commented to me that she couldn't believe Avery would just wander back to the dark garage by herself to find out who was making the creepy noises.

And the girls favorite house of all. And, yes, while Addie has a little more reserve than Avery, she does not scare very easily either. This house was decorated all month long, and we took walks to go visit "the scary house" several times throughout the month.

They were pretty excited to find the owners had added a sound activated screeching skeleton and gigantic spider.

The woman handing out candy ran out to give the girls their candy, saying that she had to do that for the young children, because they were all terrified of the skeleton and spider and one little girl actually started crying. My girls kept setting them off over and over, squealing with delight each time.

Trick or treating was fun, but the girls were definitely ready for some down time afterwards. We still got an occasional older trick-or-treater and Avery would get up and hide under a table by the door, sporting her "Scream" mask, whenever a trick-or-treater rang the doorbell. She'd jump out once I answered the door, and she definitely terrified a few of the kids. Again- there' not too many things creepier than a young child in a "Scream" mask.

Addie's Birthday- Round Two

2011-10-29T20:55:00.001-05:00

At this point I'm more than a month behind, but I already uploaded all the photos, so I'm posting everything. Better late than never! We had a Halloween birthday party for Addie the Saturday before actual Halloween.

Cheesy. I know. But it was cheap, and everyone, including me, enjoyed teasing poor Keith for the costume he had no input in getting.

The Oakes family- Uncle Don and his wife Michele, Anna, Amy, and Austin

Aunt Linda drove down from Dallas. Her and Avery had remarkably similar costumes without any pre-planning.

Avery didn't mind the photo session at first, but did not like my direction to smile when she felt like she was already doing so.

Her annoyance turned to sadness, and so the photo session ended.

Since the kids aren't old enough to carve pumpkins without intense supervision, I bought monster stickers so they could make monster pumpkins instead of "real" jack-o-lanterns.

Avery made a handful of faces, but she loved her piggy monster the best.

Haley, Eva, Avery, and Addie take pride in their creative hard work.

The girls other friends, Maddie and Connor (sound familiar Nancy?), arrived just in time for birthday cake.

Our friend Myra made the mistake of painting her daughter Eva's face to match her cheetah costume. She was put on face painting duty for the next hour or two!

But the kids LOVED her work!

The kids may be too young to appreciate too many party games, but letting them run wild in the back yard seems to please them just fine!

Avery was excited about the Cinderella Pajamas she got from Aunt Linda. She'd been asking me for princess pjs for quite some time.

Addie loved her Belle nightgown as well. She was pretty excited to spend the next morning playing with all of her new toys.

A Weekend on the Ranch

2011-10-26T15:01:00.001-05:00

We were super excited to be invited to our friends, Karie and Tim's, ranch house. Avery is a serious nature lover. And Addie thoroughly enjoyed the company of their little girl Carlie, only a few weeks older than Addie. And the most random tidbit: The day after I talked to Karie and we made plans to meet out at the ranch house that Thursday evening, Avery randomly asked me on the way home from school whether we could ever take her to go fishing. I thought it was pretty coincidental that she should ask about that for the first time, not knowing that I'd just made plans for her to do that very thing at the end of the week....

This was as promised - a true ranch house

The girls LOVED fishing with Dad

And perhaps we gave them a false sense of the true fishing experience since fish were biting every few seconds, rather then having them sit in a boat for hours on end whilst hoping for a catch

Avery's first official catch

Addie enjoyed helping reel in her first catch, but then ran away in sheer terror before I could get a pic with her standing next to her catch

And the best part about the fishing excursion- we were only reeling in the catfish from a shallow lake suffering from the drought and transferred them all to a larger lake on the ranch. So no fish were killed during the making of our fishing photo session. (Except for the one Keith accidentally mangled with a hook. That poor guy was Tim and Karie's dinner a few nights later).

After fishing, we rode around the ranch on Tim's ranch vehicle. Avery, Keith, and I got to sit on the raised back seat while Addie rode next to Tim, the driver. Avery LOVED, LOVED, LOVED it.

The Elgin Farm Field Trip

2011-10-25T14:25:00.002-05:00

This one will be short and sweet. Avery's class went on a field trip to an hour away pumpkin patch / farm. The pictures may depict a good time, but the first cold front blew through the night before, and the day was actually quite windy and mostly freezing cold. The girls loved it all the same. Addie particularly loved the hay ride while Avery loved the corn field maze. The farm reopens for the Christmas season, so we will most certainly have to plan for a family trip back to good ol' Elgin Farm in the winter. Perhaps with the Ormes....

Celebrating Addie's Birthday- Round One

2011-10-17T14:17:00.000-05:00

I'm learning that I prefer to have two birthday celebrations for the girls. One with my side of the family and one with Keith's. I just hate when family travels to come see us and there's so many people and so much chaos that we don't get the chance to sit and chit chat and actually enjoy the family's company. Since Tom had an orthopedic training session up in Round Rock, it worked great for us to have an early birthday party for Addie with the Ormes and Nana and Papa.

Addie absolutely LOVED her gifts

And Avery was thrilled to be included when the Ormes brought her a My Little Pony gift as well

While the picture doesn't quite depict joy, the kids were excited about the ultra-messy cupcakes

And the beauty of digital cameras- you can just snap a ton of pics and hope you take enough to get at least one pic of each child looking cute!

I love this one with Payden and Avery both making goofy faces while no one else is paying attention

If only Addie was covering her mouth, this one could've been a "See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil" Pic!

And they're off. Except, of course, our two calm ones

Recognize this puzzle any Dynes family members?! I am SO excited that Nana and Papa are lending us the old-school wooden puzzles I used to love as a kid! They just don't make them like this anymore, with the odd shaped pieces.

Once the Ormes headed home, Addie and Avery were happy to get in a little quiet puzzle time with Nana and Papa, before they had to head home as well

Two Happy Sisters

2011-10-11T13:12:00.001-05:00

The girls BEGGED me to let them have a sleep over together in Avery's bed. Aren't they just precious?! Of course, it only lasted about 15 minutes before the arguments over blankets and space began, and Addie was ready to get to her bed for a good night's sleep. One of these days...

Avery discovered a Disney Princess Encyclopedia at the library. Of course there was only one copy, so I worried whether the book was just going to cause more fighting amongst the girls than its enjoyment was worth. I was pleased to find they willingly shared the book, happily looking over each page and discussing all of the pictures with each other. Little victories....

The Fairy Tale Festival

2011-10-08T13:06:00.001-05:00

With the weather finally not just bearable but actually enjoyable, we were happy to take the kids to a local Fairy Tale Festival.

Of course, the bouncy houses were the girls' favorite (and most expensive) entertainment

Avery was beyond thrilled to go to the petting zoo cage and hold the little chickies

The only thing that convinced her to agree to leave was the promise of a pony ride

Addie absolutely loved it

Of course Avery did as well

And yes- Avery is sporting a tiara AND a party hat. The festival encouraged children to come dressed up in fairy tale costumes, but Avery insisted on including the party hat in her garb

Addie wore last year's Halloween costume some of the time, but kept having me put it on and then take it off, depending on how hot she was

I just love this photo. Our Little Nature Lover...

The busy afternoon took it's toll on little Addie. She was practically dead weight in Keith's arms on the way back to the car.

Avery's First.... and Last.... Soccer Practice

2011-09-30T14:49:00.000-05:00

We signed Avery up for a soccer team at the local YMCA. Seeing as how her father loves soccer so much that he plays with an indoor soccer team every Wed. night and braves the 100+ degree weather to play on an outdoor afternoon team every weekend, his hopes were for Avery to begin a long-lasting love for soccer as well.

$150 later, here she is, all ready for her first soccer practice. Does the look on her face foreshadow what's to come of it or what:

So here's my soccer not-so-much pro, during her first team practice:

Perhaps I made the mistake of waiting until the day of practice to take Avery shopping for practice clothes and shin guards. We had such a busy shopping afternoon that I didn't have time to sit her down and get her to eat a full, hearty meal before we had to go to practice. But I really think the main reason she lacked interest was because she was too focused on the fact that she'd rather be playing freely on the playground in the near distance.

The team took several water breaks, and during every one of them, Avery would complain to me how she didn't like the stuff the coach was making them do. She just wanted to kick the ball in the goal. The last drill of the practice, the coach did instruct them to do such a thing, and despite Avery's complete reluctance to participate the entire practice, as soon as she was given the permission to do just that, she seriously directed the ball and kicked into the goal before any other kid on her team. Too bad that's not the only part of the game. At least she does look like quite the little athlete:

My biggest worry before realizing Avery was going to be quite unresponsive to the coach's instructions was how Addie would handle having to sit on the sidelines and just watch the action. I brought her a small bouncy ball to kick around in the background:

And she insisted on an extensive photo shoot of the two of us:

The practice ended with the coach asking who didn't have fun. Avery immediately shot her hand up and shouted, "Me!" The coach then responded by saying he was teasing and reiterating that he asked "Who DIDN'T have fun?" Avery immediately shot her hand up and shouted, "Me!"

I hoped that she would forget the disappointments from the practice and be ready to give it another try the following week. My hope was not to be realized. I asked her the morning before her next practice if she was excited for another fun soccer practice. She responded by asking "Are we going to do the same boring stuff we did last week?" I responded, "Yes, you will get to keep doing fun practices before your game next weekend." Her response was quite disheartening, "NO, NO, NO! I WILL NOT do the same boring stuff that makes me tired EVER AGAIN!"

After a few hours of trying to ger her more excited about the fun part of practice, I gave up. I don't know. Maybe I'm a complete pansy/ quitter, but I really felt it was a battle not worth fighting. And Keith supported me on the notion that there wasn't much point in taking her up to practice if she was just going to humiliate me and herself, and make the practice less fun for the other kids.

Lesson Learned: Don't invest too much money in any activities for Avery unless she's clearly on board.

And final funny note: As soon as I finally gave in to Avery and told her she would not have to go the second practice, Addie ran over to me, all excited, asking "Me go? Me go play soccer?!" She was quite willing to take Avery's place in the soccer practice, so at least Keith has some hope for instilling a love for soccer in one of his girls! And I will most certainly hold on to the practice clothes and shin guards I bought for Avery in case Addie does enjoy the sport a few years from now.

Boot Gloves and Paws

2011-09-18T13:24:00.001-05:00

Addie has taken her shoe obsession to a whole new level. At least Avery appreciates the hilarity in it:

She was not only proud to use her boots as gloves, but was even more excited about crawling around and pretending they were her cat paws:

Such the character!

More on Avery the Hoarder

2011-09-16T13:45:00.000-05:00

Here's Addie's bedroom:

She keeps it nice and clean and has no problem helping me pick up any small toys that end up on her floor come morning. The worse mess that can happen is when the girls get all of the dress up clothes out of the window seat trunk. It takes about 1 minute to clean up.

And here's how I'd prefer Avery's bedroom to look:

She particularly loves the hanging, sheer netting that gives her, as she dubs it, the perfect princess nest:

To get her excited about finally sleeping in her own room through the night (rather than sneaking into our bedroom and demanding that I make her a "nest" by letting her sleep on my bended knees), I agreed to take her to a few stores and shop for some bedroom decorations to make her room all nice and pretty. I hung the clock and wall decal but let her have complete creative call on where the wall decors got placed:

So that's how I'd prefer her bedroom to look. This is how it it ends up looking, less than 6 hours after I completely clean it up:

She is obsessed with spreading random toys about her room. She considers them to be necessary decoration. And when I try to eliminate all toys from her room to prevent such a mess, she resorts to sneaking other random things in to complete the decorations. In the picture below, she decided to sneak the box of coloring books up to her room and spread them out for decoration:

I even tried enforcing a rule allowing her a quiet time/ bed time bag. My rule stated that whenever she went to her room for quiet time or bed time, she was only allowed to bring up the toys that could fit in her toy bag. My thinking was that would keep a limited amount of toys from entering her room, and I'd have time to remove them the next day before the toy-hoarding process began again.

Avery most certainly pushed the limit to the amount of toys that could fit in her one quiet time/ bed time bag:

Who knows if I'll ever succeed in keeping her from turning her bedroom into a tornado-looking wreck. She just simply loves surrounding herself in chaos. Or, as far as she's concerned, quite meticulously organized chaos. When she was younger, I tried removing all toys from her room, and I found the result to be a floor covered in every single piece of clothing from her dresser come morning. And when I tried "locking" her dresser, she'd find a way to climb to the top of the closet and remove whatever randomness was boxed up on the top shelves.

I suppose some battles are better left minimized. I just have to accept that her bedroom will only be picture perfect clean for the few hours after I clean it up and vacuum. And so long as she feels her hoard of chaos is necessary for her enjoyment, I will just have to keep coming up with creative ways to minimize the number of toys that show up in her bedroom carnage!

Back to School

2011-09-10T12:46:00.000-05:00

So this isn't technically a first day of school picture since I completely forgot to take one that morning. What can I say? It takes me a few days to get it together and create a smooth school morning routine. Avery was super excited to be going back to West Side Preschool. It took a lot of consideration before deciding to put her in one more year of preschool before starting Kindergarten, but I have not doubted that decision for a second. Kindergarten at public schools these days seems to be pretty hard core, and I think Avery is enjoying one more year of simplicity before being thrown into that rigamarole.

Avery was especially thrilled to find that her beloved teacher last year, Miss Nicki, signed her son Isaac up for the same class, so she gets to see plenty of Miss Nicki.

Avery was also thrilled about her first homework assignment. Seeing as how it is titled "It's All About Avery" says it all:

And Addie was not disappointed in the least to have the house to herself while Avery is at school. The very first thing she asked to do after we dropped Avery off the first day: play computer games. I thought that was pretty funny since she has always seemed perfectly content watching Avery play but never showed any interest in playing herself until Avery was gone, as if she was getting away with something. The smile on her face when I agreed to let her try it out says it all:

It really is amazing how quickly children catch on to technology these days. By the end of the morning, Addie was able to "surf" around the Princess Disney games with ease. She enjoys playing them, but I am happy to see that she does not let it consume all of her time away from Avery. She still enjoys painting with water colors, playing with her princess dolls, and coming up with her own random creative play as well.

Cabin Fever

2011-09-08T14:15:00.000-05:00

Poor, poor Avery and Addie have been holed up inside for what seems like months now. We started giving them Vitamin D supplements because we can only handle the heat of the sun for the few minutes it takes to get from the house and into the already running, air-conditioned car. Seriously. Avery is fair skinned but lately she's looking so ghostly I felt the need to get her pediatrician's opinion on it during her last appointment.
But at least Avery can usually come up with some pretty random yet creative ways to fill the time indoors...

This day started out with a fairly normal activity: building what she dubs "parks" with the blocks she got from her Keith's brother Michael.

But once the blocks ran out, she pressed on with the use of more random materials. (At least once she gets a project in her head, she can continue on that path for hours of entertaining herself!)

Unfortunately, one concept Avery has not grasped when it comes to choosing a "park" locale is Location, Location, Location. She kept getting quite upset with Addie and I for messing up this "park," no matter how many times I tried to explain to her that placing objects with wheels in one of the highest traffic locations in the house was bound to succumb to accidental destruction.

She did get a little smarter with her next "park" by using Play Dough to stick the flowers in and ensure a little more immobile longevity.

And at least I can say she is resourceful. Just when you'd think she was out of building materials, she resorted to the most random of toys and completed the "park" with a few yet-to-be used diapers.

Honestly, if it were up to Avery, our entire house would be riddled with similar sculptures. And if I let her call the shots, they would all be permanent to our home decor. The only way I can get her to calmly agree to having them picked up come bedtime is by promising her to take pictures to ensure they will be forever remembered.

How to Make a Xylophone Stand

2011-09-05T14:21:00.003-05:00

Often times, Avery will wake me up and head downstairs while I get dressed, brush my teeth, make the bed... the usual morning routine. And usually I will get downstairs about ten minutes later to find her laying on the couch, waiting for me to turn on a cartoon and get her a glass of juice.

On this morning, Avery must have had this plan in place. Perhaps she had dreamed about it in her sleep. But she seemed to know that she had no time to waste and only had a few minutes to get everything out before I came downstairs and put a stop to her creation. In that ten minute window before I got downstairs, she managed to fill every cup with water and place a spoon next to each, dubbing it her Xylophone Stand.

She was so proud of herself that I settled for having to rinse off cups and spoons throughout the day as we needed them rather than squash that creative pride.

Hanger Hang Ups

2011-09-03T14:31:00.001-05:00

And here's how even the simplest tasks, such as hanging up laundry, takes twice as long as expected whenever the kiddos are around:

Uncle Eric's Visit

2011-08-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

We always look forward to the few and far between visits from Eric. Keith and he are very close despite their distance, and I have to admit, I pretty much think of him as the big brother I never had as well.

Addie clearly enjoyed having him here as well

Avery had a slightly different opinion. Here's her reaction to my asking her to take a picture with Eric.

She claims this is the reason for her disliking him- she doesn't like him tickling her, despite the fact that she always cracks up laughing when he does so.

Here's the best Eric/Avery pic I could get

Avery was pretty excited when it was time to take Eric to the airport

As always, I end up regretting not getting enough pictures whenever family comes to town, but it was a fun three weeks for all of us (except, perhaps Avery!)

Pool Party

2011-08-28T15:49:00.001-05:00

Don and Michele were nice to invite us to one of their friend's pool parties. Seeing as how it was 110 degrees that day, a pool was an absolute requirement for managing to be outdoors all afternoon. And it was certainly nice having their cousins Amy, Aaron, and Anna there to give me a few extra pairs of eyes and hands with the girls in the water. Avery loves the water so much, she only got out to use the restroom or get a few quick snacks. Other than that, she was swimming from the time we got there at 1 until we left at 7:30.

And the real fun part about six hours of swimming- a super easy bed time process

Chuck E. Cheese

2011-08-22T16:55:00.001-05:00

So I don't brave outings like these on my own too often, seeing as how Avery turns into a true wild child and runs around all crazy. I can't tell you how many times I'd be trying to help Addie play a game to realize that I'd lost all sight of Avery. (Thank goodness Chuck E. Cheese keeps someone at watch at the front door at all times and will not let any child leave unless the # stamped on their arm matches the adult trying to leave with them. BUT- it is a teenager on watch, so I don't rely on that system completely!) Let's just say, I prefer less stressful outings where I might actually have the chance to sit and read a good book for at least some of the time.

Anyway, I had made several promises to Avery that if she was a good girl throughout the week, I'd take her and Addie up to Chuck E. Cheese that Friday. She stuck to the deal, but informed me afterwards that she had enough of the being nice thing and planned to be bad the following day. And I must say, she stuck with that plan wholeheartedly as well!

Avery's Favorite Ride- The Carousel. She must have ridden on the thing 50 times. Of course, I had to constantly remind her to stay sitting on the horse, rather than standing on it with with one leg whilst swinging the other leg. Seriously, I think her goal is to give me a heart attack by age 40.

Addie was much more hesitant about the carousel ride, and preferred sitting on the ground rather than riding a horse.

What a nervous little cutie!

Oddly, as much as she feared the small carousel horses, she loved riding the gigantic one. Perhaps the spinning motion of the carousel just throws her off a bit? Whatever it was, she pretty much just wanted to ride this horse over and over the majority of our time there.

Although she was very sweet abut making sure to give Avery a few turns, and took to sitting on the floor next to the ride again.

All in all, the girls loved the place.

And perhaps, as Keith pointed out, Avery would maybe not act so crazy if I actually took her to places like this more often, but I'm going to stick to once a summer is enough for me!

The LPS Trail

2011-08-21T20:37:00.002-05:00

So this is Avery. Avery likes to make "homes" for her toys throughout the house. The pic below is her next to her simple fairy and pony home. Note by her facial expression that she is quite proud of the fairy and pony home. But it never just stops there. Aside from this home, she felt the need to decorate the rest of the downstairs with a trail of Littlest Pet Shop homes. For no particular reason. But a reason important enough that she made it quite clear I was not to remove any portion of the trail once she went to bed. It was of the utmost crucialty that they remain in tact come morning.

First up: Kitty with her cans of tuna by the TV (and take note that she NEVER forgets which accessories belong to exactly which pet shop animal)

Follow along to sea horse with her sea shell on the piano

Next Up: The Chef Monkey and Chef Pig with their plate of h'ordeourves and menu

Moving on to the breakfast area rug with Koala on blocks, sunglasses and tree that she came with, nearby

And a random break from the LPS toys- a super hero home next to my fancy towel basket

Not to be outdone by the LPS farm yard, every animal and accesory that came with the original package, settled in together next to my cook books

Apparently reindeer and unicorn found their home to be fit next to the shelf of placemats

While little fishy apparently preferred to stay slightly hidden behind the toaster oven, (and luckily I discovered the coral reef she came with tucked behind the oven before I utilized said oven and melted the thing)

But we must not stop at living room/ breakfast area/ and kitchen- parrot found the comfort of home in the dining room next to a nice decorative box

I actually failed to take good pics of some of my even more favorites because I didn't notice them at the time of my tour of the LPS trail. Apparently a pack of puppies decided to make a home in my cabinet, next to my bowls and plates, and a few kitties decided that my printer paper tray was the most comfortable locale. Good thing I didn't try to print anything out before realizing kitties were obstructing the paper tray!

All I can really say is that this girl will never cease to amuse me!

Copying Adam

2011-08-15T12:18:00.001-05:00

What can I say? The title speaks for itself. I just loved Adam and Carlee's "Lego" Happy B-day message to Nana and Papa and couldn't help but be the copy cat. At least I'm owning up to that before showing off my cute pics :)

First, I copycatted the idea for a Mother's Day idea for Nana and Lee Lee:

And, next, I did a repeat for Keith's step-bro, whose an artist living in NYC, has actually met Adam way back when, and I knew would thoroughly appreciate the concept:

Cousin Allie the Fashionista

2011-08-11T18:14:00.001-05:00

So I still need to get Keith's cousin Jennipher to e-mail me some of the super cute pics I failed to take on my camera during their visit. I did, at least, capture a few pics of sweet Allie and sweet Addie. Allie is quite the little fashionista and had a blast dressing Addie and fixing up her hair. And they really are the perfect pair of timid, cute, adorableness.

Allie seemed to truly enjoy finishing her dressing up of Addie with a few fun photo shoots

And Addie seemed to be quite pleased to be the subject of such fashion attention

I have to admit- Allie actually does a better job of fixing up Addie's hair than I could ever imagine doing on my own

Addie the Shoe Diva

2011-08-07T11:53:00.000-05:00

Addie began showing her Shoe Diva side by 18 months old. Perhaps I can blame my sister-in-law Carlee a little bit for hand-making the first pair of shoes that Addie fell in love with:

It did, however, become clear it was just an ingrained passion when she outgrew her beloved, handmade, leather, frilly shoes and then turned to a pair of Princess tennies. She absolutely refused to wear any other pair of shoes under any circumstance. Of course she had to eventually grow out of them as well, but her pickiness continues to press on.

She next fell in love with these rain boots. I bought a matching pair for her and Avery, but it doesn't bother her if she wears one of Avery's bigger boots with one of her smaller sized boots.

Such the ham!

I cannot describe the level of excitement she expressed when my friend Myra gave Addie a hand-me-down pair of her little girl's pink cowboy boots!

And while this picture also depicts her love for getting a free sucker from our grocery store, the little shiny flip flops she's sporting quickly became her ultimate faves. Usually, when we get home from an outing, her first move is to take off her socks and shoes, but not these shiny bad boys. She'll keep them on the entire rest of the day.

And then I found these cute sandals on clearance at Target. She actually got upset with me when I took her over for a play date and didn't give her these shoes to wear. As we pulled into our friends' driveway, she scolded me, "Mom, I no wear my pink shoes. I need show my pink shoes." I assured her I wouldn't forget to put them on for our next play date.

And her latest fave- the shiny, sparkly tennies that Keith's cousin Jennipher bought for her. While visiting us, Jennipher took her daughter and Addie to Target to do some shopping. Jennipher showed Addie one cute outfit after another, but Addie's only response was "No. I not need that." Then Jennipher asked her if she wanted to go look at shoes instead. She said Addie just slowly gave this huge smile and responded shyly, "Yeeaahh!" And Addie was, of course, quick to pick out her favorite amidst the shoe aisle.

I guess I have to appreciate her taste. These shoes are all cute and sparkly on the sides with adorable shiny bows. Thanks Jennipher!

And I just had to throw this last pic out there to show just how adorably sweet she is. When it comes to satisfying her demands for cute shoes, how can I possibly say "No" to that face?!

The Best Play Place EVER

2011-08-04T11:58:00.004-05:00

Long story short: We headed up to San Antonio to attend Eva's 5th birthday party, Avery's bestie of friends. And I have to say, I was SO jealous that Austin doesn't have a place like the "Just Add Kids" play place where Eva had her party. We would be going here AT LEAST once a week if we had one nearby. It's just a large, enclosed, square-shaped room with every type of fun activity a kid could hope for. (And a bench where I could sit and read a book while Avery and Addie run around in pure heaven). But back to the party. Corey and Myra booked this place for a private party for Eva and her friends, and the girls had a blast.

Eva and Avery: Just too adorable!

Addie loved the school bus station, riddled with lots of small activity tables

Avery, of course, fell in love with the little rock-climbing area

Addie didn't brave climbing to the top, but liked the "cave" below the rock-climbing mountain

The play kitchen was huge and ADORABLE. And before heading to the kitchen for some cooking, Avery first went into the dress-up house to get dolled up

They even had a pretend vet corner with stuffed animals, medical equipment, and even vet uniforms

On top of all the fun stations, they place even threw in a few bouncy houses and slides!

Of course the dads were immediately drawn to the air hockey tables!

The kids loved that Scooby Doo and Strawberry Shortcake showed up for the party, but I had to laugh that it gave Avery yet another chance to "prove me wrong." Whenever she asks if she'll ever get to play with any of the cartoon characters, I explain to her that they are only part of TV World and do not exist in our world. So the first thing she did upon seeing these two characters walk into the room was find me to say "See Mom! You're wrong! They DO exist in our world!"

The Birthday Gang

So this really was the perfect birthday party. And, I am again SO jealous that we don't have a place like this near us. I didn't even show pictures of the pirate ship, the dress-up play house, the toddler station, or the room right off to the side with TV's and every gaming system from Atari to XBox for the older kids. It has all of the adorable creativeness of the Houston Children's Museum, but all within one enclosed room where the kids can run around freely without me having to stress out by needing to keep a close eye on them to ensure they don't run off and out of my sight.

More Precious Lee Lee Time

2011-06-30T18:18:00.000-05:00

We enjoyed another fun visit from Lee Lee. As always, I failed miserably to take the time to get some cute photos of Lisa and the girls. On her next visit, I am going to have to take the old-fashioned route and tie a string to my finger the whole time she's here to remember to get some cute pics with her, as well as her sister Linda, who usually drives down from Dallas for a weekend visit, whenever Lisa comes to town.

Despite my photographic failures, I can always count on Lisa to get the absolute best pics of the girls whenever she's in town. I am so grateful that she takes the time to e-mail me copies because they always end up in my computer folder marked "Best Pics of the Girls!"

Avery sporting Lee Lee's latest fashions for the girls

So Addie decided a blue pair of Princess heels completed her newest look

Look #2, thanks to Lee Lee's shopping

The girls always love when Lee Lee gives them their bath

Lisa and I took the girls to a nearby water park with Aunt Michele and cousins Anna and Aaron

Avery and her precious blankie

Add caption

Addie- our Little Dress-Up Ham

Her rain boots are her absolute favorites

Quite pleased to get a hold of Lee Lee's sun hat

Ready for work, in Daddy's office shoes

Avery the Disco Queen

"Do a Little Dance..."

Daddy joins in on the dress-up fun

Family Fun Time

2011-06-29T17:20:00.002-05:00

So yes... I've been bragging relentlessly about being able to enjoy Afternoon Fun Time with the girls while Keith's at work. But we always have the most fun when Daddy joins in the mix...

Of course, finding local water parks tends to be our preferred family fun destination

Addie could spend hours filling up cups of water to throw at Daddy

Avery found water cannon fights to be the most fun

Lee Lee joined us on this trip and helped give Addie a hand at taking down Daddy with the water cannons

We came across the perfect kid-friendly water park just 10 minutes from our house, and only $4 a person. The girls were a little disappointed at first to discover they were too small to ride the gigantic tube slides, but they were perfectly satisfied settling for the toddler park area and the lazy river

Avery's First Snow Cone

We took the girls to the Central Market Cafe to listen to a live band and play on their gigantic play scape. Keith was a bit disappointed at first that we drove all the way out there, and the girls just wanted to laze about on the picnic blanket we got from the Lauricella's a few Christmases ago

Who needs a play scape when there's a comfortable place to laze about?

They really just needed a few minutes to process the craziness (there were a TON of kids running around), but the blanket got old soon enough

Always the trickster

And after a few hours of running around, it was back to the blanket for snacks and relaxation

Lesson on Diaper Changing

2011-06-25T10:25:00.000-05:00

More Afternoon Fun Time: I took the girls over for a swim in Keith's aunt and uncle's above ground pool. It's pretty much the only way I can take them swimming without Keith since his aunt Michele and cousins Aaron and Anna provide me with a few extra pairs of eyes and hands to keep track of my little ones in the water.

Don and Michele are trying to sell their house and recently had it re-painted and re-carpeted. And they've limited their furniture to a bare minimum during the staging process. SO- after we got out of the pool, I decided it best to try and put a clean diaper on Addie while she was standing on the kitchen tile, rather than risk laying her down and messing up their beautiful, soft new carpet.

I now know why putting a diaper on a toddler who is standing vs. laying is not so great an idea:

Cute jumpsuit... right? Here's how it should look from behind

Here's how it looks when adding an improperly installed diaper to the mix

Addie seemed a bit proud of the diaper bulge and welcomed my multiple pics as well as my multiple giggles

Wardrobe failure or not... how can you not smile at the adorableness?!

Props to McDonalds... and Not So Much Burger King

2011-06-23T10:23:00.000-05:00

I originally started this blog with quite the long-winded set up and explanation. It's still long... and without pics, but I tried to spare you the unnecessarily long read whilst getting the venting out of my system :)

THE MAIN POINT: I am enjoying being able to take the girls out for afternoon fun while Keith is at work now that Addie is old enough for me not to always rely on a second pair of hands for stress-free outings. HOWEVER- I can't say that all outings are guaranteed to be more fun than stressful.

LONG STORY SHORT: Another Afternoon Fun Time activity for me and the girls is to go to the library, followed by a trip to the McDonald's play scape. Yes... most fast foods send my over-active immune system into over-kill mode, but McDonald's actually does have some tasty salads for me to munch on while the girls play, and never judge a stay-at-home mom for relying on cheap but active entertainment for her kiddos.... especially a mom living in Texas summer heat where outdoor afternoon activity is a rarity :)

So last library trip, I decided to change it up a bit and try out the nearby Burger King instead.

THE MAIN LESSON: When going to a fast food place for the first time with the main goal being to find an indoor play area for your kids to burn some energy, DON'T purchase any food until you know your kids actually enjoy the play area. Unfortunately, this lesson was learned the hard way for me.

THE DISASTROUS PORTION OF THE REST OF THIS STORY:
We first headed up to the counter to order some food. I immediately noticed the food was more expensive than Mickie D's and the salad selection was minimal (minimal meaning 1 option on the menu). I ordered the food and we headed off to the play area.

PROB 1: As I was taking off their shoes and putting on socks, I noticed a sign on the play scape saying "FOR AGES 4 AND UP." I thought- Surely they only say that for liability sake. Who would spend the money making a giant play scape that excluded all toddlers and discouraged all mothers with toddlers from coming?? I assumed wrong. Barely into my first bite (and I was STARVING), and I hear Addie crying for help. Sure enough- the platforms she needed to climb up to get to the fun part of the play scape were too far apart for her to climb alone. I set my salad down and helped push her up through the platforms.

PROB 2: Not only were the platforms too tall for her to climb up, but she decided they were too far apart to climb down. She started screaming in terror at the top of the play scape. I began to try and talk her down when...

PROB 3: Avery runs over to me, begging me to take her to the potty... NOW. AAAGGGHHH!!! I can't leaving a screaming Addie at the top of the play scape nor can I expect Avery to run off to a foreign bathroom alone. I end up climbing up the platforms and pulling Addie down in the most ungracious fashion before picking up both the girls and hauling to the bathroom.

We made it in time, but I warned Avery that we would be leaving and heading back to the trusty ol' Mickie D's as soon as I finished my salad, for poor Addie's sake. I began wolfing down my salad while trying to keep Addie distracted from the fact that she could not take part in the play scape fun.

PROB 4: Apparently the complexity of the play scape was even too much for Avery, as she began screaming (even louder than Addie's earlier outburst) in sheer terror at the top of the other half of the play scape. I went over to figure out her problem, but all she could do was repeatedly scream, "I'm trapped up here Mommy! I'm trapped forever!" I tried to get to her down, as I had Addie, but the platforms where she was at were only about a foot apart. Just as I was wondering if I was really going to even more less graciously try to fit through these slots, a little angel by the name of Patrick offered to crawl up to the top and talk her down. Thank you Patrick- wherever you may be :)

PROB 5: After getting Avery down from doomsday, she admitted to me she'd had a small pee accident in her mode of sheer terror.

I gave up. I inhaled the remaining-not-so-great salad, bought them a chocolate shake to split on the way home, and abandoned any more thought of taking them somewhere else fun for the day.

Honestly though, we got home... I filled up their little kiddie pools, got the sprinkler running, and the two of them played happily ever after- until bed time. Phew! I challenge anyone to dare say to my face that a stay-at-home-mom gets away with sitting around the house eating Bon Bon's and watching Oprah!

Afternoon Fun Time

2011-06-21T15:36:00.000-05:00

Summer time with both the girls at home has brought on all new challenges, the biggest one being how to keep the girls from going into Toddler Ultimate Fighting Challenge mode by 5 o' clock. Overall, I'd say they do really well playing with each other, but who can blame them for being ready for deathly throws after being in each others' constant company all day long?

So my solution for summertime sisterly woes: (A) Put them in quiet time in their own bedrooms after lunch (B) "Bribe" them into actually staying in their rooms by promising them afternoon fun time as a reward (C) Enjoy my two hours of silence and a chance to rest and relax and prep for... (D) Afternoon Fun Time.

Now seeing that we live in Texas, afternoon fun time requires some creativity. Outdoor activities absolutely must require water, and I simply choose not to put myself through the stress of taking them to any swimming pools alone- Avery is Miss Dare Devil in the water, completely unafraid and willing to swim off and try anything, which makes me all the more fearful for her- while Addie goes into full-on timid mode and wants me to be right by her side the whole time she's in the water. Needless to say, we save the swimming for when Keith is around for family fun time!

So here's what I've come up with so far:

OPTION ONE: Nothing beats the Jungle Java. It closed down last year, and I just recently discovered that it actually re-opened under the name Safari Champ. Be it jungle or safari, the point is that this place has a wonderfully large (and clean) indoor play scape with a decent deli menu and Austin's famous "Amy's Ice Cream" PLUS a bunch of comfy leather couches and chairs off to the side for parents wanting to read or bring in a laptop.

While it's a good place for me to take the girls on my own, it's also a nice place for family fun as well

Especially since Avery most definitely prefers Keith to me when it comes to participating in playground-type activity!

And I have to admit, I was slacking on this trip and didn't get any good pictures of Lisa with the girls. She actually came with us this time and kept the girls entertained the majority of the time while Keith and I delved into some good reads. Sorry Lee Lee!

Addie does sometimes get overwhelmed with all of the older kids running around, but treating her to a cookie is our usual trick to keep her from insisting on going home before Avery's ready to go.

OPTION TWO: I found a close runner up- The Big Bounce. This place rents out bouncy houses, but they also have a physical location with about 10 bouncy houses. They are all pretty intricate, full of mazes and huge slides, and the girls both LOVED burning energy running around this place.

OPTION THREE: Afternoon play dates with Avery's former preschool friend, Madi. We alternate between going to their place and ours, but either way, it works perfectly for us all. Madi also has a little brother Connor, close to Addie's age, and I get along really well with their mom Julie. We don't ever seem to run out of things to chat about while the kids run around wild.

The Madi and Avery Dress Up Hour

OPTION FOUR: Arts and Crafts. I have to admit I'm needing to head to Hobby Lobby to replenish the craft bucket Nana and Papa got Avery for her birthday. But all it takes is a little direction, and both Avery and Addie can spend hours creating away. (And I think I just might have to re-scroll through my sisters' blogs to come up with a list of arts and craft ideas for me to work on during our Arts and Craft time!)

OPTION FIVE: The Backyard. We put a lot of time into making it the perfect hang out place, so of course I feel compelled to enjoy Keith's hard work! I usually have to hold off until a little later in the afternoon, and I know it's only a matter of time before Round Rock puts out water restrictions that I'll have to adhere to. But all I need are two wading pools, a slide, a few water toys, and a few sprinklers- and I'm set for at least an hour or two of free time to read on the porch while the girls happily entertain each other (not to mention I can check off getting the yard properly watered to keep that new fresh grass from dying.)

And speaking of Afternoon Fun Time- I believe the girls are getting antsy for it to begin today, so I suppose it's about time for me to hold up my end of the Quiet Time deal.....

Avery's Birthday Party

2011-06-20T22:47:00.000-05:00

I realized as I began to blog about Avery's birthday that, not only am I slacking at blogging, but I've also been a total slacker with taking pics. And no pics makes for quite the boring blog. Ooops! Hopefully Avery will forgive me for the lack of documentation of her 5th birthday!

We had a small family party with a few gifts and cupcakes on Avery's actual birthday

Avery loved the door hanger she got as part of Lee Lee's birthday card. One side has Cinderella on it and says "Princess at Play" and the other has Sleeping Beauty and says "Do Not Disturb." We crack up that Avery insists it be hung on her bedroom door showing Cinderella while she's winding down for bed, but will then make a point to go change it to the Sleeping Beauty side before actually falling asleep!

Yes- I cheated this year and went with store bought cupcakes!

Addie doesn't seem to mind store bought versus homemade one bit...

Avery's actual birthday party was the usual- friends and family and lots of outdoor water activity for the kids. I can't believe how few pictures I took, but Avery and her friends had a blast. She insisted on a unicorn cake and pinata. Apparently unicorns are "out" these days because I had to hunt down a unicorn cake topper and pinata online and order it via Internet. If only I had my Mom's cake making and decorating talents. It would've spared me a lot of time web surfing!

The party went on late night for Avery, Addie, and the Fabling girls. Addie and Haley enjoyed swinging together...

While Avery and Eva enjoyed the playhouse

Sssooooo precious!

(Although I have to admit that these pictures wouldn't even be in the mix if Eva and Haley's mom, Myra, hadn't taken the time to take them for me. Tsk tsk)

Avery the Play Dough Artist

2011-06-05T22:14:00.000-05:00

I've always enjoyed playing Play Dough with Avery, but it does come with it's price- she doesn't know how to use any of the fancy cut-out tools and wants me by her side, helping, the whole time. So it hasn't really been the easy pass time to get her doing while I take on needed household chores. But we've now moved on to Stage 2, and she's realizing just how creative she can be on her own:

Avery's Bake Shop is now open for business:

A little time to show off her newfound skills to Daddy:

Avery was quite pleased with her creature creations she made while Lee Lee was in town:

And during Avery's creative process, Addie was right there to add to the entertainment value for Lee Lee:

Next step for skill level- repeating the sample animal pictures on the side of the Play Dough box, starting with the penguin:

And finishing off with quite impressive "chickies":

All I can say is... the girl never ceases to amuse or impress me

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-05T19:40:00.000-05:00

In case anyone hasn't noticed.... I've been a complete slacker when it comes to not only my blogging, but reading everyone else's blogs as well. While we have been ridiculously busy these last few months, I blame part of my slacking on my not-so-thought out decision to teach Avery how to get online and play PBS learning games. I figured that that was better for her to do during Addie's naptime than just watching TV shows. I didn't take into account that my usual time for blogging during these naptimes was going to no longer be an option. I can't so much as open a webpage without Avery begging me to let her use the computer to play games. So, I'm taking advantage of the fact that Avery is too busy playing with all of her new birthday gifts today to bother with the computer. Finally- my long awaited catching up to the Blogging World!

I'll start with our visit from the Ormes and Nana and Papa over Memorial weekend. Rachel, Tom, and kids headed up Sunday evening and spent the night. Payden and Avery were very excited about getting to have a sleepover, and Rachel was actually able to convince Avery to close her eyes and go straight to sleep or else Payden would have to sleep with Rachel and Tom instead. The easiest time ever of getting Avery to sleep at a reasonable time with company over!

Nana and Papa headed up first thing in the morning so we had a full Memorial Day to hang out.

Of course, the playscape was big hit for all!

And adding a misting hose to the mix provided hours of entertainment

Declan was quite pleased with the tea set...

As well as the sandbox

Taylor performed lots of shows for us, using the bubble wands as her props

And- what did I say about Avery and her obsession with my computer? Even with her cousins over to entertain her, she couldn't resist a little down time playing computer games!

When Addie and Declan decided to try and turn our water table into a swimming pool, Keith and I decided perhaps it was time to put Nana and Papa's van to good use and buy a hard shell pool

It may be small, but the kids loved it all the same

Of course, it only took a matter of minutes before they figured out a way to turn a wading pool into something slightly dangerous! I was actually quite pleased, though, at how well the kids were at taking turns.

So there were perhaps a few near collisions!

And Avery just had to go and start a battle over the sunglasses

I will say she looked pretty darn cute in them

Luckily, Addie was able to find another pair and quit trying to steal Avery's

But poor Payden was left out of the mix. After searching all of the dress up bins and coming up empty-handed, I was glad to find that Payden was perfectly happy to settle for an old pair of Keith's sunglasses instead!

Nana and Papa brought some beautifully wrapped presents for an early birthday celebration for Avery

Avery certainly didn't mind getting more than one round this week of singing "Happy Birthday" followed by cake !

We were pleased to finally get to have a weekend visit with the Ormes. (We'd had two previously cancelled scheduled visits thanks to unplanned illness). We are definitely looking forward to having them move a little closer to the San Antonio area. And, while we appreciate all of the hard work Mom and Dad put into helping us with our never-ending list of house projects, I was glad we didn't put them to too much work this time. We did still rely on Dad for a few tidbits of advice and quick-around-the-house fixes. And he was nice to drive Keith to the store to pick up the swimming pool, but at least the remainder of the time, we were able to just sit around and visit!

The Month of May

2011-06-05T19:39:00.001-05:00

Who would've thought my kids would actually be begging for me to get out their winter garb to endure a cold front in MAY in Texas??!!

How can anyone resist this precious face?

I suppose it's a good thing Addie hasn't actually started using her training potty. First Step: Making sure she understands her toys are not to "use" the potty

Aaahhhh.....Sisterly Love

Our Preschool Graduate

You'd think the school would know better than to feed a bunch of kids cake with icing after the graduation ceremony without providing anything but cushioned chairs for them to eat it on. Thank goodness I wasn't in charge of cleaning up the aftermath of that poor decision!

"Project Runway," here we come! Who can possibly beat out Addie's creative use of her swim diapers to create her latest fashion look?

We headed out to San Antonio for a visit with Keith's dad and brother followed by a stay with the Fablings

We need one of these in Austin- a restaurant with a gigantic, well-shaded sand box. The girls loved playing here so much while we ate and chit chatted with Keith's dad and brother, that we returned the next day with the Fabling clan.

More Backyard Improvements

2011-06-05T16:07:00.004-05:00

BEFORE:

AFTER:

At last... we can finally walk barefoot in our yard! Now, we just have to hope the expected upcoming drought won't put all of Keith's hard work to waste!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Anyone want to place bets on how many tomatoes and fresh basil leaves we'll be able to enjoy before Keith and I manage to kill our little garden?!

Our April

2011-06-05T14:00:00.003-05:00

The girls love that the neighborhood kids like to come over to play, and Keith likes that all of his hard work on the back yard is appreciated!

Collecting bugs in buckets is a bit creepy to me, but the girls can't get enough of it!

Although I wasn't too pleased with Avery for digging through my filing cabinet, I had to admit she put my random scraps of scrapbook paper to good use!

Avery's Pre-School Easter Egg Hunt

I was quite proud of Avery for willingly sharing her Easter eggs from school with Addie, although the fact that most of them were filled with "yucky gooey" candy probably helped her make that decision

I wasn't at all surprised to see Avery get creative with her Easter egg dying

Addie was quite proud of her work as well

As always, messy art leads to messy body artwork

The girls had a blast having Keith's cousin Jennipher and her three kids, Allie, Alyssa, and Tony over for the Easter weekend

Just like with the neighborhood kids, Avery immediately took to playing with the oldest of her cousins

Jennipher couldn't help but fall in love with sweet little Addie

Round Two for Easter egg dying

Cousin Amy also can't resist Addie's cuteness

Since our newly planted backyard grass was still growing in, we decided to have the egg hunt at Don and Michele's

Cousins Anna, Alyssa, Allie, and Aaron

Tony and Addie had fun hunting eggs, but were ready to cool off in the pool afterwards

Thank goodness Jennipher was willing to suck it up and brave the freezing cold water. I was not particularly interested in doing so. Even Avery, who begged all morning long to go swimming, only lasted about 15 minutes before turning blue and begging to be dried off and changed. I suppose we need a few more hot days before we can truly enjoy Don and Michele's recently uncovered pool!

The long day made for an easy bedtime- straight from the car to their beds

Addie's first professional hair cut

I was really pleased with the hair dresser's cute braid on Addie. Too bad it'll never look that good again. I admit my hair dressing skills are nothing to brag about.

And we always love a visit from the Fablings- Corey, Myra, and their girls Eva and Haley

Lee Lee's Latest Visit

2011-06-05T12:53:00.007-05:00

One thing is for certain around our home. We can never get enough Lee Lee. Although she and her husband have been unable to sell their home in Cedar City and move closer to us, we are very grateful that she is able to come visit every few months.

Night-time Trampoline is the perfect way to wear the girls out before bedtime!

Walkie Talkie Hide and Seek

Avery loves showing Lee Lee her precious computer games

The girls proudly show off the Princess PJs Lee Lee bought for them

I'm not sure Lee Lee is too much of a fan of the girl's love for hunting for doodle bugs, but there's just no stopping their beloved pass time!

Peek a Boo!

Avery loves to show off her swing tricks

Although, I think Lisa and I sometimes worry they just may lead to a trip to the E.R.!

Cousin Mark and Aunt Linda came over for a visit with the girls while Keith and I were off in Colorado

Building parks and towers with Lee Lee never gets old

Nor does dress up time

It's always nice for me to get a break from fighting the girls to eat healthy. Lee Lee is wonderful at encouraging them to eat healthy foods.

Lee Lee is also great at keeping the girls looking their cutest

And Keith and I definitely love the break from fighting to get Avery to bed. Bedtime is much easier when she gets to sleep with Lee Lee, although Lisa probably has a hard time finding room on the bed with Avery and all her toys!

A Month of Backyard Improvements

2011-04-07T13:08:00.000-05:00

The downside to home ownership: feeling obligated to take advantage of nice weather to knock out yard projects instead of just enjoying the day.

The upside: feeling pride in a job well done!

ROUND ONE: REPLACING HALF THE BACK FENCE

I actually didn't pictures and Keith and I didn't exactly plan to knock it out that weekend, but the girls and I went out back to play one afternoon, and lo and behold, our fence was gone. Apparently the neighbors decided to replace the rotting fence without consulting us, so our weekend plans ended up being set for us. Keith, his uncle, and cousin Austin spent that Friday and Saturday helping the neighbor replace that portion of the fence.

ROUND TWO: ADDRESSING THE PLAYSCAPE PROBLEM

The grass, or actually lack of grass, surrounding the playscape was begininng to drive me a bit crazy. It seemed hardly worth the effort to try and get grass growing with the girls running around that area so much, but I couldn't stand for the amount of dirt they'd track into the house and on their clothes everytime they went outside to play. So Grandpa Curt came up with the perfect solution- filling in the area around it with wood chips, like a "real" playground.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Keith's architect friend J.P. gets the credit for the majority of the ground work. Uncle Don gets the credit for driving around helping Keith get the supplies. And Keith's friend Alex gets the credit for coming up from Houston the following weekend and making 30+ trips from the driveway to the backyard, wheelbarrowing the pile of wood chips we had delivered on our driveway.

And J.P.'s two daughters, Evan and Alex, get credit for keeping our girls out of the way via fun bubble entertainment.

ROUND THREE: REPLACING THE OTHER HALF OF THE BACK FENCE

This fence was leaning so bad, the girls could technically squeeze into the side neighbor's yard. We were planning on only using Papa's help (and van) to pick up the needed wood and working on the actual fence a later weekend. But the day before Nana and Papa's visit, a windy evening nearly completely knocked the fence down. So poor Papa ended up spending the majority of their Saturday visit doing backbreaking labor. Cousin Austin and the neighbor Dennis joined in the efforts.

Nana took on babysitting duty while we headed to Home Depot to pick up supplies.

Addie was perfectly happy playing with Nana and Avery until she got sight of me trying to get a picture when we returned. She was just ready for me to put her down for naptime. Addie does love her sleep.

After her nap, Addie happily returned to playing while Nana watched and took pictures.

Avery was pleased to show Nana her favorite passtimes- searching for doodle bugs under the rocks....

And bubbles, bubbles, and more bubbles.

So Papa and Nana left to drive out to our house at 7 a.m., helped out all day on fence repairs, and then headed home 8:30 that night. Quite the exhausting day, I'm sure. We are always so grateful for their willingness to help us with our never-ending list of house projects. Keith, Austin, and the neighbor finished up the following day using Papa's suggestions.

THE FINAL RESULT:

Ain't she pretty?

ROUND FOUR: THE SHADE PROBLEM

Our now covered porch is absolutely wonderful, except in the summer, specifically during the hours of 4 to 7 p.m., the times we're most likely to be out back. The sun sets directly down the side of our porch and the covered porch is suddenly completely without shade. So this project is not entirely finished. Dear Papa also spend the time, upon finishing help on the fence, to hang this horizontal beam across the top so that I can hang a nice roll down shade. I was expecting to spend about $100 on the shade, so I should've known things were too good to be true when we found two 4 foot $12 shades at Home Depot. They were not sturdy enough to handle the wind, and were completely blown askew overnight. So I'm still on the hunt for a heavy duty bambbo shade. I suppose I still have a little time until the hot summer begins, but at least Papa knocked out the difficult part of this project.

AND UP NEXT: GROW GRASS GROW

While we knocked out the problem of dead grass around the playscape, we are hoping to get some green growing in the rest of the yard. Green grass that is. We'd prefer to fill in our yard with more than just a bunch of random wild weeds. Thank goodness Uncle Don and his green thumb has already volunteered to come help!

The Month of March

2011-04-04T15:51:00.000-05:00

Call us terrible parents, but we have never taken the girls to Chuck E. Cheese before. One of Avery's pre-school classmates invited her there for his birthday party. Of course, they had a blast.

So Addie may look a little less than thrilled

She was a bit confused at first but quickly caught on to why kids were running around squealing with delight

The mini-carousel was a particularly big hit. Perhaps because they could just jump on it anytime another kid put a coin in it without having to ask us to get it going for them.

Can you get any more precious??

Dr. Suess day at pre-school. The kids were encouraged to dress up in fun and quirky outfits. Hats a must. They enjoyed a lunch of green eggs and ham. And, yes, Avery did find them to be quite tasty.

Avery was particularly pleased with the flower hat

Addie didn't get to go to school, but she had no problem getting in the fun and quirky mood

Avery's Pre-School Spring Program. I got some good videos, but the pictures didn't turn out too well. The main lesson I learned- I have to be sure to make eye contact from the crowd with Avery BEFORE the singing begins. She saw exactly where I was standing, and unlike the Christmas program where she refused to sing a single lyric, she participated full-on this time around.

Nail Polish Body Art. No need for further explanation. Thank goodness this messy passtime got old after a few days.

St. Patrick's Day. We did nothing traditional other than wear green. But we had a fun afternoon at the library.

Our Colorado Mini-Vacation

2011-04-04T15:37:00.002-05:00

We took advantage of having Keith's mom in town for a few weeks to sneak off to Colorado for a weekend. We stayed with Keith's college roommate, Jesse, and it was just like the good ol' days. The three of us hanging out, kid-free, playing cards and our all-time favorite cheesy video game. I'm willing to place bets you've never heard of it, but nothing beats "Hogs of War" on the original Play Station.

We had an early flight and left around a quarter to five. Keith was clearly ready to hit the road.

Keith was thrilled to get a day in of skiing. The last time he was able to go was definitely pre-Avery and Addie.

And here's Jesse on the snowboard.

Aaaahhh! Enjoy the view

I opted out of skiing. I sat out on Jesse's friend's cabin porch and enjoyed this view while reading a book and loving an entire afternoon of uniterrupted peace and quiet.

We also hung out in Boulder, enjoyed some really good restaurants, and had a blast meeting some of Jesse's friends. But of course... as usual... we neglected to take pictures. I suppose sometimes it's just more fun to enjoy a vacation rather than worrying about properly documenting it.

We had a blast and owe it all to good ol' Jesse.

And now... the pending question.... Absolutely Ridiculous or Perfectly Understandable??

Keith loves to tease me about the number of shoes I bring whenever we travel. Even though we were only gone for 4 days, it took me some time to narrow down my shoe selection to just these 8 pairs. Call me crazy, but isn't it best to be prepared? That's what the Boy Scout motto tells us. House slippers for the cold weather- tennis shoes in case we do something active- brown and black comfortable but cute walking shoes depending on the outfit- slightly less comfortable but cuter brown and black shoes for being out and about- and a few pairs that specifically match outfits to be worn if we go out to eat somewhere fancy.

I say that's perfectly understandable, if not necessary. Keith, however, will put his vote towards absolutely ridiculous.

Avery the Hoarder

2011-02-21T10:07:00.001-06:00

I dare say Avery just might end up on that show "Hoarders" if they ever caught wind of her silly ways. First up is her backyard playhouse. She has slowly been gathering more and more random toys and objects to keep in her collection. It may look like unnecessary chaos, but Avery will provide a 30 minute presentation, picking up each item and explaining to you the important purpose each object serves in her household:

And I had a hard time getting a clear picture, but if you look closely up in the rafters, you'll find even more random objects tucked away. At least Keith knows where to look if any of his gardening tools go missing (she's included his garden hose sprayer amongst the rafter objects):

And then there's her precious, precious bucket. She started collecting random toys for the bucket back when Lisa and Curt came to visit. She'd carry her bucket around everywhere she went:

And she slowly added more and more toys to the point where it became impossible to carry it around:

Because it got so heavy, she eventually just left it at the end of her bed. She completely stopped playing with it, but is very insistent that it remain untouched on her bed. She takes care every morning to close her door and remind me that no one is to touch it:

A Snowy Day in Austin

2011-02-21T09:42:00.000-06:00

I suppose this is becoming a February tradition here in Austin. That's when it snowed last year as well. At least this time, we were a little more prepared with rain boots and thick rain jackets that stood a chance against the snow.

Opposite Hair Day

2011-02-04T19:58:00.000-06:00

Along with night and day personalities, the girls also have night and day texture of hair. Avery usually wakes up with a rat's nest of hair in the back of her head. And no matter how hard I try to get it all pretty and fixed up, it's guaranteed to be a tangled mess in no time flat. My only defense against her wild hair is to keep it cut pretty short. And then there's little Addie, who wakes up with her hair so smooth that I can immediately run a brush through it with nary a tangle. Then came Opposite Hair Day. I'm still baffled, so don't bother asking me for any sort of logical explanation.

Avery woke up with hair smooth as silk, and here it is in the picture...ten hours later and entirely tangle-free.

And here's what I came across when I went to wake Addie up for the day. I didn't know to plan for an extra 10 minutes to get this under control before loading the girls up to take Avery to school.

Even after a serious brushing and a few spritzes of water and detangler, I just couldn't get the unusual wispiness to smooth itself out.

And by the end of the day, we were almost completely back to where we started!

Why Bother with Home Decor??

2011-02-01T10:15:00.000-06:00

I love nothing more than organization. Sweet, sweet organization. And the biggest trick up my sleeve is to find cute bins and boxes to stuff away the chaos. So I was pretty excited to see these cute bins for a great price at Ross. I was tired of our kitchen bar stools being used as coat racks and thought these would be perfect for hiding away all of our extra winter wear while keeping them in an easy-to-access area:

Avery and Addie, however, had a different idea for their purpose:

Only 20 minutes after their arrival, and the girls already managed to bend the wires so that my cute bins now sit a bit crooked:

I suppose I'm partly to blame for encouraging their behavior by laughing and taking pictures of them. And I suppose it's best to stick with Keith's credo- "If it costs enough money that you'll be upset when the girls inevitably mess it up, don't waste the money buying it." Thank goodness for great deals at Ross!