Smarty Pants...

Just had to post a funny thing that happened with Avery tonight. My mom is here helping me out with the girls while Craig is overseas. He goes to Lichtenstein every year for two weeks for work, and thank goodness my mom is willing and able to help me out! Anyway, today we played hard and after an early naptime for the girls, we headed out for some shopping, then some playground time at Avery's favorite park, followed by dinner out. It was about 6:30 when we returned home and both girls seemed very tired, so we decided to give them their baths and put them to bed! Avery always went to bed at 7pm from the time she was a baby up until about the past year where it has crept up to 8 or 8:30 pm. So I didn't think that 7 would be too early tonight since she was tired. Bailey of course fell right to sleep, but after about 20 minutes in the bed, Avery came walking into the kitchen and I said, "What are you doing?" She said "It's morning time!" I said, "No ma'am, you haven't even been to sleep yet!" We walked into her room and she walked over to the window and said, "See, I'll show you." She pulled back the curtains to reveal the still sunny sky. Oops :) Maybe 7 is a little too early to bed for this girl! I had to explain that it was still nighttime even though the sun was still up and that she needed to try her best to close her eyes and go to sleep. She said, "OK, Mommy, but I'm having a harrrrrrrrrrrd time going to sleep!" Poor thing. But she could use the extra sleep tonight!

Easter 2009

This Easter was great. The girls, Craig and I celebrated with my parents and the Easter bunny came to Nona and Pop's house as well! Avery received some books, pencils, a new Strawberry Shortcake watch, a magnifying glass, a new brush, a notepad, and some candy and stickers. Bailey got her first sippee cup (Yes I know it will be a while until she can use it!), a new musical toy, and some leggings called "Baby Legs." They are cute because they are just the legs and no top part or feet. We celebrated Jesus' resurrection at Nona and Pop's church and got to watch our nephew Austin be baptized. After church, Craig's parents were down also, so we all ate lunch together at Chad and Kelly's house. Unfortunately the weather had been really rainy, so we had to do the Easter egg hunt inside, but the kids didn't seem to mind. They just have so much fun being together! As I always say...it's too bad they don't get to spend more time together!!!

Happy 3 Months Old Bailey Mae!

Today Bailey Mae is 3 months old! What a short time she has been in our lives, yet we cannot imagine it without her. What did I do before I had two little ones around me all the time? What did I do before nursing and wiping a bottom at the same time? What did I do before taking Avery to her activities with spit up on my shoulder? How did I function without two sweet girls in my life instead of just one? How did I live without the smiles of a chunky-cheeked little sweetheart grinning at me from ear to ear? How did I live without this darling little Bailey in my life 24/7? What did I do before I had to check between all the thigh rolls when I changed a diaper? Oh how I love this new little girl in my life!!! What a blessing it is to have not only one wonderful daughter, but two. God has blessed us immensely and we cannot thank him enough for it! Bailey Mae, I hope you feel the love your Mommy and Daddy have for you. Oh yes, and Avery, too.

Oh dear...

I hope you all know by now how much I love my husband by all the sweet things I've written about him. He is a wonderful dad and a great husband. We all love him with all of our hearts....ok I just had to preface what I am about to show with some great compliments...having said that, sometimes daddies just don't do things the same way as mommies. :) After being so sweet to go get Bailey out of her bed and change her diaper for me, Craig brings Bailey into the kitchen looking like this...and I had to grab the camera!

Sweetheart I love you! But pants go on top of the onesie, not under it!!!!!!! (Later, Craig said, "I thought something didn't look right..." Hmmmmmm....)

Finally--dress up!

Let me start by saying my sweet Avery is not your typical little girl when it comes to some girlie things. She is not really into dressing up and playing those little girly things. She would rather be outside running around kicking a ball or reading books. I have tried to get her to dress up and play different things like this many times, all to no avail. So the other day I was shocked when she wanted to put on her Cinderella dress-up outfit she got for her birthday and play "princess"! She even put on the high heeled shoes, the tiara, and a necklace and danced around at the ball. Her prince was "Prince Elmo" and they danced and played together for quite a while. It was really cute, but I'm not holding my breath for an encore anytime soon. :)

Easter Egg Hunt

Today we went on an Easter Egg hunt at our friend Christy's house. There were 8 kids in all including Bailey, and they had fun hunting and gathering eggs in their cute baskets. We all had lunch together and the older kids made resurrection rolls where you put a marshmallow inside a crescent roll and then bake it. The marshmallow melts and "disappears" and you can use this as a tool to teach your child how Jesus' body (the marshmallow) was gone when they opened the tomb (crescent roll). Before baking, you roll the marshmallow in melted butter and then cinnamon and sugar to represent the oils and spices they put on Jesus' body after he died. Not really sure how much the girls understood, but you've got to start somewhere, right? :)

Cutie Patootie

Just couldn't resist showing you a couple pictures of our Cutie Patootie as we like to call her. :)

New House Accomplishments!!!

I am proud to say that we have accomplished a lot in the last 7 months that we have lived in our "new house" as Avery still calls it. :) A little over a week ago, we hosted a baby shower here at our house and that was our deadline to get a lot of our main projects finished. We barely made it by the skin of our teeth! There are still more projects to do, but here are some before and after pictures so you can get an idea of what it looks like around here. Looking back, we should have taken better "before" pictures and remembered where we stood so we could get the same angles in the "after" pics, but oh well. Also, a lot of these pictures are a little fuzzy and not the best quality, but you get the idea.

Kitchen #1

Kitchen #2

Dining Room

Living Room BEFORE

(keep in mind these were taken before we had even unpacked!)

Living Room AFTER

Entry Way (never took before pictures--there was nothing!)

I will have to say my hubby did most of the work. I did most of the decorating, and we both had a lot of help from my mom and our good friend Bart! I won't inundate you with the scores of pictures of all the "during" work, but Craig basically ripped up the carpet in the living room and busted up the tile in the "formal" dining room side of what is now the large living room. He then laid vinyl "wood" flooring--not real hardwood but it was cost effective, easy to install, and we love it! He and Bart painted the walls in the living room and entryway. In the kitchen, we tore down the wallpaper (ok, Mom, you did this :), and Craig and I textured and painted the walls. Craig and Bart took out the old backsplash and Craig put up new drywall in its place. We had the old green countertops replaced with granite quite a while back. My mom made the drapes in the living room and I made roman shades in the kitchen. Furniture was arranged and rearranged a bunch of times and there were countless other little projects like recovering chairs, laying out rugs and rug pads, painting shelves, hanging pictures, etc, etc, etc. The main basic projects we have left are to lay the same wood flooring in the entryway and kitchen, do a new tile backsplash, and refinish the cabinets. I want to do a creamy white color with the black stain in the crevases of the wood. Picture will explain that better in the future. Then we have to redo the hall bath and the master bath, but that won't be too bad.

Anyway, I am so proud of Craig for figuring out how to do all of the work that was new to him. We did everything ourselves and we feel a wonderful sense of accomplishment in having done this! I would not have said this was a big "fixer-upper" house when we first bought it, but I guess it kind of was! So--more to come!

Braggy Mommy Post #2

OK I promised a Braggy Mommy Post about Avery, so here it is. Remember, just think of this as a way for me to write down what she is doing at this age so I don't forget! Right now Avery is just a month over 3 years old. She can write her name fairly legibly. She knows all of her letters, upper and lowercase and their sounds. If I tell her a word and ask her what letter it starts with, she can almost always tell me although sometimes I have to exaggerate the sound just a bit when I say the word. With a little prompting, she can match pictures to their words. She can read "emergent reader" books like Brown Bear, Brown Bear. Yes, I realize that memorization is a big part of it, but she will glance to the next page to see which animal comes next so she knows what to say. You early education majors know that that is one of the first steps to reading! She is using clues in the book like the pictures to figure out what the words are. What is amazing to me is that she has done pretty much all of these things on her own. She has a mind like a sponge and if she hears something once, it's in there. I have never really sat down and formally tried to teach her these things! Of course she has known basic stuff since she was practically a baby like colors, shapes, etc. She recognizes numbers 1-10 and can count to 30, though sometimes she skips 29! She knows her address, phone number, birthday, and her parents' full names. We have been saying she was a smart girl since she was a baby and she has fully filled out our praises! I have no doubt that if I work with her, she could be reading simple books before she's 4. I am amazed at the things she knows and remembers. I think homeschooling will be a great thing for her because she can go on with learning new things whenever she wants and won't have to hold back for the rest of the class. I realize this post was mostly about academic things, so I will mention a few other things about her. She is still the sweetest big sister ever. She still loves to hug and kiss on Bailey any chance she gets and loves to show her things and play around her. She has shown more favortism for Craig lately which I think is sweet because she has always been a Mommy's girl. (Although I am not off the hook, I am still requested to do many things!) She has a pretend doggie named Christy and she loves to play with her and feed her "tummy yummies." Christy comes with us on lots of outings and rides in Avery's pocket sometimes, too. One time, trying to play along with Avery's imagination, I said something about her doggie Christy and she said to me, "Mommy, she's just pretend." Excuse me! She knows imaginary from reality and apparently will tell you about it! Chloe is still her best friend and everytime we go to church or some activity Avery always asks, "Will Chloe be there?" As I was dropping Avery off in her MOPS class last week, Chloe who was already there, turned to the teacher and said, "That's my friend." I thought it was so sweet. While they still fuss sometimes like any kids will do, they still love each other and love to be around each other.
OK this post has gotten very long. Just wanted you to know all about my little smarty pants!