Family Pictures

So we got our family pictures taken again this week with Liz. I was so happy with how they turned out. She goes to a church close by that has a grove of trees out back. It didn't look that pretty from the outside, but once you got in there, it was gorgeous.  

Here they are, well at least some of my favorites. I will save the Christmas card photo for a surprise. The only thing was I didn't like many shots of our whole family together. My hair was doing something awful. I tried to fluff it right before, but in the pictures, it looks like I hairsprayed out the side like we used to do in the 80's. It looks so BAD. So, needless to say, I will NOT be going out on the Christmas cards. Oh-well, the kids are cuter anyways :)

10 years coming up on December 18th! I can't believe it. I was glad she had us do a few shots together at the very end. It's been a long time since we've done that.

My all-time favorite!!!!

Avery loves doing tricks with Daddy. This has been one of her favorites since she was a few months old. She laughs everytime Mike does this. As Liz was snapping this photo she started making monkey sounds. It was hillarious. Glad we captured it on film.

So That's What Bumper Pads are For

To my credit, in the Baby Your Baby classes we teach at the hospital we always talk about bumper pads. We discuss how technically they could be a suffocation hazard, although in the beginning, baby isn't going to roll around so the risk is minimal. But, we suggest removing them once baby can pull themselves up for sure. I guess some kiddos use them as a stepping stool to climb out of the crib.

So, I'm just trying to practice what I preach. Perhaps this is why she has trouble sleeping???

Happy Halloween 2009

Happy Halloween! Here is our clan.

Daven-Vater!

He drew his own face on his pumpkin. He said, "it has an infection in the eyes." 

It kind of looked like it. But it was totally random, we were wondering where that came from.

Here's the cute face behind the mask.

Fire Fighter Logan.

Busy Bee

 She doesn't even take time to stop and sleep at night. But, yes we still love her lots.

We did about half of our sub-division (about 4 streets) and the kids started to get tired. Busy bee wouldn't ride in the stroller so I carried her most of the way. I was really tired after this year's trick-or-treating. But, it was so fun to see the kids get so excited.

Bumble-LICIOUS

Okay, she really is Bumble-LICIOUS. Here are a few pictures of my sweet Avery Bug. I can't believe she is 8 months old.

I couldn't decide between the Lady-Bug or the Bumble Bee costume for Aves. But, then I decided the bee is perfect for her because she is the BUSIEST BEE in the whole wide world.

Everyone said that having a girl would be so much calmer than having boys. They are supposedly mellow, have longer attention spans, etc. Well, I don't know what happened, but that is not Avery. She was a good newborn, but now she is BUSY, BUSY, BUSY. She doesn't stop. She has to touch and explore everything, and RIGHT NOW! Here she is trying to turn around in her high chair. Yes, she can get all the way around and manages to play with the straps.

For Avery, the grass is always greener on the other side. She always wants what is OVER THERE instead of what is OVER HERE. And as soon as she has what is OVER THERE, she wants what is OVER HERE.

What am I going to do when she can crawl? I already can't leave her alone for 2 seconds.

I love how busy she is, it cracks me up. Perhaps it is in the irony of it all. 

She learned to feed herself this week. I think she is going to be a good eater. And I think I've earned a good eater after my extremely picky Daven, and Logan's Doritos and Strawberries only phase as a baby. I almost don't know what to do with myself when I put BREAD on her tray and she actually eats it. It is kind of fun. Perhaps this will make up for her business.

The moral of the story is: I think life with Avery is going to be full of SURPRISES! Can't wait for more!

Daven's Surgery

Daven had surgery yesterday. Here is a picture of him right before they took him back. 

He had a birthmark (nevus) removed. It was on his buttocks. Because of the location it is hard for me to monitor it and there is a chance it could turn cancerous when he gets older. 3 different doctors told us they thought it needed to come off. We felt like it was the right thing to do. But, still, with general anesthesia, a mom just gets all worried about things like this. Unfortanutely, it is too big to take off with one procedure. So, we have to go back and get the second part taken off in a few months.

Daven was a very brave boy. He did cry on the way to the hospital. I think it was out of sheer frustration from not being able to eat anything all morning. He was sick of popscicles :). The surgery was at Phoenix Children's Hospital. We got all checked in & then Daven cheered up. They gave him a stuffed animal when he first got there. He named him Yoda since he was too little to be called Darth Vader :) They let him pick his jammies & socks. He looked so cute in them. They showed him the mask. I was glad Mike piped in, "Look you can breathe into it like Darth Vader." He wasn't scared about that at all. Way to go, Daddy!

Then, they had a big playroom in Pre-Op & let him play until the surgery. He was super excited about that. 

The surgery went well, but was the longest hour of my life. I kept thinking, what if this was heart surgery and was 3 hours or something like that? I don't know if I could do it.

I am so thankful everything went well. He hasn't even needed pain medication yet. I am amazed at how quickly kids bounce back. Oh to be 5 again! The hardest part is keeping him down to rest. He has so much energy.

It's Official: Logan is a Preschooler

Logan has been waiting almost his whole life to start preschool. I think when you watch your older brother go for two years and you CAN'T go, it makes you appreciate things so much more. 

Logan relished his first day. He couldn't wait until preschool started. He was so excited to put on his backpack. When school was over, he came up to me. The first thing he said was, "I got a folder." He has always sat by my side the past two years, every day as I go through Daven's folder. So, you can only imagine his excitement that he now has one, too. He HAD to show me the minute he got in the car. Nevermind that there were several cars behind me. I loved it & was so happy for how happy he was. Logan is very thankful for things; I love that about him. His folder is already demolished from taking it out and putting it back in his backpack so many times because he's so excited to have one.

Logan is going to Miss Lisa's. This is where Daven went for his first year of preschool. I am super excited for him. He is absolutely loving it. And the best part is, Miss Charen (Karen) is one of the aides. Karen is one of my good friends and Logan LOVES her in a very special way. I was so exicted when we walked down to the preshool room the first day. It looked like so much fun down there.

I have to comment on his cute shirt. Take notice of it. It is a few sizes too big. We bought it in LegoLand, and it was the smallest size we could find. Well, it is his favorite shirt. He has worn it the Last Three Tuesdays! And school's only been in session for Three Tuesdays. Gotta love it. 

And the picture with Daddy will always be a memorable one. It was his special request - to get a picture with Daddy. I asked if he wanted one with mommy, but nope, just daddy.

At dinner that week, he kept bragging over and over. "I go to preschool now."

All the Reasons I Know She's a Girl

1. She is already great at throwing parties. This week she has woken up every morning at around mid-night and thrown herself a little party in her crib. Mike and I partially think it is cute. She lays there, kicks, squeals, and babbles. I am trying to teach her that I will not feed her before 3:30 a.m. So, Mike and I just lay there and chime in every few minutes, "Avery, it is time to go to sleep." She eventually does. It is oh-so frustrating & cute at the same time. Her paries last about an hour.

2. She loves to look at herself in the mirror. I nurse her on our bed. That is her "Special Spot" as one of my friends calls it. She has a very hard time nursing anywhere else. When we are done, I burp her. She sits up and ALWAYS looks at herself in the mirror for a few minutes. Whenever we pass the bathroom in the hall, she always turns to see her cute reflection.

3. She loves her clothes. Every day, I hold up her outfit. She always smiles, laughs, kicks her legs, and then flaps her arms. She loves to see her outfits, seriously. My boys NEVER did this. Logan practically hated getting dressed as a newborn...wait a minute, he still hates it.

4. She likes to watch me get ready in the mornings. The boys hated this. I would set them in their bouncer while I got ready and they would immediately protest. Especially when I brought out the BLOW DRYER - you would think the world was coming to an end. But not with Aves. She will sit there and hang out the whole time while I get ready. And, she doesn't mind the blow dryer one bit.

5. When she gets mad, she gets MAD. Overall, she is the sweetest little girl. And she is very patient. But, if you push her too far, then she does get mad. She can go from sweet to very mad in a matter of seconds. We laugh at the drama. It is quite cute.

6. She doesn't forget easily. If you do something to make her mad, she doesn't let go of it for a while. For example, the other day, some friends watched her for us. She was not a happy girl for them, she was very mad we had left her. Mike went to pick her up. She YELLED at him when he got there. She has this very distinct "Lecture Voice." She had apparently been crying, she was sniffling when he picked her up. Well, about every 3 minutes in the car ride home, she would burst out SCREAMING. Then, she would calm down only to remember a few minutes later that she was mad. I got home from work an hour later. She was asleep in her bed, but kept waking up every 20 minutes or so, yelling. She was mad all night long that we had left her! This kind of stuff happens a lot, especially if you hold her off feeding...etc. etc.

We love you Aves! We wouldn't have you any other way. You are such a precious little girl. No wonder your brothers & mommy & daddy love you so much. 

Daven's a Kindergartener!

Daven started Kindergarten 1 week ago. I am happy to report that his first week was a success. His teacher is Miss Keegan. We are on a modified year-round schedule here, that is why school has already started. They do 8 weeks of school, then get a 2 week break. I am really excited that he is in school already. It is so hot here that most of the kiddos were starting to feel couped up. I am looking forward to 2 weeks off in October, December and March when the weather is much nicer!!

I can't believe he is in Kindergarten. He was so excited to go. I did some crying the week before. I was so sad to think of him being so grown up now. Even Mike got a little choked up the night before. But, when the morning of came, I was surprised at how un-sad I was. But, I have to say my stomach was in knots for him! I don't think he was nervous but I sure was. We were driving to school and I was clenching the door handle. Mike just laughed and said, "You know, your son is not even nervous."

He was so happy to go. Mike and I drove him to school. We got to the kindergarten door. I got out of the car. He gave me the FASTEST KISS and HUG EVER. He ran through the door. He didn't even look back. So how could I cry? I ended up feeling really happy for him. He had a good first day.

I'm loving all the random tid-bits of info he gives me. If I don't ask for more information, I would seriously wonder what kind of school he is going to. It is hillarious sometimes. 

Here is the low-down on his 1st week according to him:

Day 1: "We didn't have time to eat lunch."

            Translation: I didn't eat my lunch fast enough :) He finished it in the car on the way home.

Day 2: "We didn't get to go to recess."

            Luckily, I probed for more information. I guess it was too hot to go outside. Yes, it was 115 degrees that day. So, I was glad they stayed in. I guess they got to watch a movie in Miss DeHart's room. Phew!

Day 3: "Jimmy is in my class."

           I had no clue who Jimmy was. But, apparently he colored all over his desk with crayons. He didn't get in trouble because the teacher didn't see it. Hmmm, very interesting.

Day 4: "I played patty-cake games with RAMONE."

           I have no clue what patty-cake games are.

Day 5: "They only had chocolate milk for lunch."

           What kind of school is this? This was the day he had hot lunch. I'm hoping they were just out of regular milk. He decided on a juice box.

Day 6: "Mom, our school went on Lock-down. We have to go into Miss DeHart's room."

           How scary does that sound?? I guess they had a drill. But he continued to tell me that it was for sure really going to happen. They would have to stay in her room until they told them they could go. I certainly hope not.

            "I lick my hand-sanitizer with Nicholas." We had a discussion about why you shouldn't like your hand sanitizer off. It sounds like he is having fun to say the least.

Way to go, Daven! You are growing up & I am so proud of you. You are such a good boy.

My Polka-Dot Dress

Okay, I had to post these pictures. I can't believe how utterly in love I am with my little girl. Last Sunday she wore this darling blue and green polka-dot dress. A friend had made this bow. Up until now, the bow has been way too big. It is still gigantic, but it looked WAY too cute with this dress.

Mike called it her satellite. He said his cell-phone reception improved when he held her. She seriously looked like you could pick her right out of the garden.

I had to put this last one in. We call this her ace-bandage headband. She loves her saucer. 

Camping in Mt. Rainier

We were able to go camping in Mt. Rainier National Park as part of our trip to see Mike's parents in Washington. Mike's parents came along with us, which was super special. We had such a great time. We camped in the "Ohanapacosh" campground. Mike and his sister have great memories of camping there when they were kids. 

We did tent-trailer camping. Mike's parents brought their trailer & we borrowed Mike's sister's trailer. It was so nice of them to let us take it. As a little girl, we did lots of camping in our tent-trailer. I loved it. I think I want to invest in one and go camping every summer like Mike's sister does with her kids. It would be a great way to make memories. It was so much fun!!

The first night, the boys had fun roasting marshmallows. Thank goodness Grandma likes burned ones!! Actually, after a few burned ones, Daven started perfecting his roasting skills. He made me some pretty delicious ones.

I just love the squat in this picture. He looks like a pro doesn't he?

The best part about camping are the "wake up" pictures. Here is Avery in her bug suit as we called it.

I just love this picture. She looks so adorable all bundled up & in pink, no less. It was about 90 degrees when we arrived, but the next two days were cool. It was so nice to be able to wear sweat shirts and long pants in July. HEAVEN!!!

This is a river right by our campsite. I loved going to sleep to the sound of the river & waking up to it each morning. Could sit there and listen to it forever.
We went on a hike to some very old trees. Here are the boys sitting in the roots of a tree that was probably 800 - 1000 years old before it died. This is Mike's favorite picture.

The boys loved finding sticks. Here they are fighting this tree in a pretend battle. 

Here is another wake-up picture. The second night was really cold. Avery has on so many layers. It was kind of funny because she kept trying to put her fists in her mouth, but she couldn't move her arms far enough. It was like Ralphie on the Christmas story. I just wanted her to be warm, especially with SIDS and not being able to put bedding on her.

On our last day, we took a short hike to Silver Falls. It was very lush and pretty. I'm glad the boys got to see what other parts of the world look like without cacti and rocks all over. Avery loved being in her Bjorn. We created the term, "should we bjorn her?" every time we got out of the car. She just looked around and napped whenever she felt like it.

Grandma and Papa at the falls. It was a huge drop-off, so we held on tight to the kids. Isn't this a beautiful picture? We are so glad they decided to come with us!

I wanted to get a Christmas Card picture. But, the one I like best you can't see the falls in. Oh-well. Here is another of my favorites.

I want to go back.