The Bates Family

Turkey Day

2011-12-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

As usual, I'm running late on blogging about something...this time it is Thanksgiving :) We spent a lot of time this year really trying to get the girls to understand what Thanksgiving is all about, why we are celebrating and how Thanksgiving started. For about a month in advance, the girls wrote down something they were thankful for each day - Claire was thankful for her dolls, her chair, turkey and the TV to name a few. Avery went for some more sophisticated choices with her family, friends and pumpkins.

The kids made a papier mache turkey (let's be honest, they made about a quarter of it and then quit and Phil and I did the rest) that we used as a pinata on Thanksgiving after dinner.

I think that was the highlight for me this year - watching them bash the heck out of poor Mr. Gobble - lol.

Why Put Stickers on Paper.......

2011-11-11T10:00:00.000-08:00

........when you can put them all over your fingers!

Mud Run 2011

2011-11-04T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here are some pics from the very fun, very grueling 10K Mud Run that Team Coolenstrudel ran this year. Proud to say we completed the race in the top 50% of competitors and with no major injuries!

Halloween

2011-11-04T13:51:00.000-07:00

The girls had a spooktacular Halloween this year. Avery dressed up as the Queen of Hearts and Claire as a Cowgirl. Costumes were being sewn right up until the day before Halloween but thankfully they got done in time and the girls were thrilled with them.

The month of October was busy with lots of Halloween activities.

Claire had a Halloween party at school:

We made a bunch of different spooky Halloween decorations. My favorite is this tree:

And, of course, we went trick-or-treating...in the pouring rain (brrrr):

Fall Fun

2011-11-04T13:20:00.000-07:00

We've had lots of fun so far this fall....so much fun that we have gathered 18 pumpkins in the Bates household :)

We've visited all sorts of farms......

Took a trip out to the mountains to see the Biltmore......

Enjoyed the mild weather and carving some cool pumpkins.....

and navigated 2 mile long corn mazes.....

Now if I can just convince my mom to bring me some apple cider donuts back down from CT next week, my Fall will be perfect!

The Big Girl Goes to School

2011-09-13T05:40:00.000-07:00

Here is my overdue picture of Claire all dressed up and ready to go to her first day of preschool. She's going to class 2 mornings a week and yesterday she got to be circle time helper, which is a responsibility she held with great honor :)

Tea Party

2011-09-13T05:26:00.000-07:00

Phil had to work over Labor Day weekend so the girls and I entertained ourselves with all sorts of girly frilliness. My mom and I took the kids to a tea room for lunch one of the days and the girls got themselves all dressed up in sundresses, bracelets, rings and about a thousand plastic necklaces.

They ordered hot chocolate with loads of whipped cream and sprinkles on top and managed to not break any of the china that was on the table.

Slowly but Surely

2011-07-25T17:56:00.001-07:00

I just crossed a couple more items off of my big to-do list. So now I'm at 47 out of 101 goals completed. Gonna be busy trying to get the rest done by next April - yikes!

http://kelliebigtodolist.blogspot.com/

Math

2011-07-18T12:37:00.001-07:00

Avery and I were talking about how her day at school went today. Each day they have a "special class" (ie, PE, Art, Math, Science, etc). Our conversation went like this:

Me: Avery, what special class did you have today?
Avery: Math
Me: What did you guys learn?
Avery: Math

Twinkle Toes

2011-07-18T04:56:00.000-07:00

After Av's first day of kindergarten last week, she announced she was all done with kindergarten and was going back to preschool. Thankfully after some additional back-to-school clothes shopping and taking her along to pick out school supplies, she seems to be in better spirits about the whole thing. Av even agreed to let me take her picture this morning before school.

Check out her shoes - they are called Twinkle Toes. Just about every square inch of them lights up when she walks - it is like having our own personal laser light show.

And not to be outdone, Claire got herself a pair of Twinkle Toes too.

Trip to CT

2011-07-14T18:49:00.000-07:00

We made our annual voyage up north at the end of June. This time instead of driving straight through the night, we stopped halfway at my Aunt Dee's house for the night. She has a fantastic guest suite in her basement and the kids thought it was sooo cool that their cousin Will had guitars (I was afraid I would wake up to them playing with the guitars but thankfully they behaved themselves). It was really nice to catch up with my Aunt Dee and she made us some yummy waffles before sending us on our way for the 2nd half of our drive. Thanks Aunt Dee!

Once we got up to my dad's house, I spent a good portion of time loving on my new nephew Liam - he is so sweet! Claire took a liking to him and held him, feed him a bottle and poked him in the eye/tugged on his little baby head/etc. Poor baby Liam.

The girls had an absolute blast playing with their cousins and ask to play with them all the time since we've gotten home. They visited the zoo, went strawberry picking and just played, played, played together.

My dad, Phil, the girls and I also made our annual voyage to the Peabody Museum to check out all the cool dinosaurs, native american exhibits, etc. That is definitely one of our most favorite activities to do and then of course, we headed over to Modern for some very yummy pizza (i'm not going to lie, we went back a 2nd time during our trip for more pizza-it's a wonder i can still button my pants).

And then, I must not forget to mention our return trip to Super Duper Weenie for some hot dogs.

We also ate lots and lots of ice cream from all over southern CT - big thanks to Nan and Pop for taking us out for ice cream with the kids to a neat ice cream shop on a farm with cows and chickens and goats!

And another big thanks to Gram for making Avery such a fantastic doll. I'll have to take a picture of it so I can post it on the blog. She has had so much fun with that doll!

This is a Stick Up Pop!

2011-07-12T18:47:00.000-07:00

Just call her Pele

2011-07-12T18:39:00.000-07:00

Avery started a soccer clinic this past weekend. Our great friend Romy graciously offered to teach all our little ones how to play this summer and we jumped at the chance.

Avery brought her pink soccer ball that Uncle B got her and I swear she had a smile plastered on her face for the whole hour she played this week.

So, hmmm, I drive a minivan and my kid plays soccer....eek, does this make me a Soccer Mom?

Kindergarten

2011-07-11T04:58:00.000-07:00

The day is here...the day my little baby starts kindergarten.

Remember when she was this little:

And here she is today - she is nervous about starting a new school and didn't want her picture taken but I had to sneak one shot in (even if it shows my messy garage, lol):

Baseball

2011-06-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

We've made a little tradition out of taking the kids to see the Durham Bulls each summer when Dora the Explorer makes an appearance at the game. The NC-branch of the Bates, the Stephens, the Aherns and the Hardings all get seats together so we usually are about 20 people strong. This year there was some sort of mix-up with the ballpark and the costume people and Dora was unable to make her appearance last minute. They tried to make up for it by bringing out Scooby Doo. My kids were less than impressed with this Dora imposter - so much so that Avery couldn't be bothered to take a picture with him :) But thankfully the girls still really enjoyed themselves at the game and with all the yummy treats they had.

Avery's Ballet Recital

2011-06-17T10:53:00.000-07:00

Avery had her ballet recital this month - this year's theme was Alice in Wonderland and Avery's class were the roses. She was more nervous this year than she was last year to get up on stage and perform. Thankfully it was more just some nervous anticipation than stage fright cause once she was out on stage, she did great.

Here are some pictures from dress rehearsal and from backstage (I foolishly volunteered to be a stage mom for the class during the recital):

Girly Girls

2011-06-02T18:57:00.000-07:00

Claire has finally started to follow in her sister's footsteps and is becoming a girly girl.

And I'm totally enjoying my two fancy little ladies.

Turks and Caicos Part 2 - The Restaurant Run Down

2011-04-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

Phil and I went out to eat for a couple of "fancy-pants" dinners during our stay on Provo and then mixed that with several much more casual meals.

Our first wallet shrinking outing was to Coco Bistro, which is a neat outdoor restaurant that is situated inside this beautiful palm tree grove. I had the free-range grain fed chicken breast and tiger Shrimp with West Indian Coconut Curry, Crispy Poppadum, Jasmine Rice and a Spicy Banana Chutney. Phil had some sort of fish dish but he can't remember which one :)

For our 2nd fancy night-out, we met up with our friend Eliza's parents, who happened to be visiting the Turks islands at the same time we were. We went to the Anacaona restaurant, which was also outdoors and is right on Grace Bay Beach. I really enjoyed spending time with Ed and Marilyn (Eliza's parents) and it was definitely a fun evening. I tried Wild Branzino (which is a white fish that is found in European waters....according to my google search) and Phil had a red snapper with lemon couscous - the lemon couscous so really good and definitely something I think I'm going to try to recreate at home. For dessert, we shared a chocolate rum cake with bananas and chocolate salt...yes, chocolate salt. I have a particular affection for all things sweet and salty so this discovery of chocolate salt was quite exciting to me!

Once we depleted our wallets from our fancy-pants dinners, we switched over to much more casual, and more importantly, less-expensive dining options. Our favorite was Da Conch Shack. It is situated right on the beach in an area of the island that is much less touristy. They had some fantastic rum punch and you could take your shoes off and sit at tables right on the beach - so relaxing!

Turks and Caicos

2011-04-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

Phil and I returned last week from a trip to the lovely Turks and Caicos islands in the Caribbean. We stayed in Providenciales at the Royal West Indies resort on Grace Bay.

The color and clarity of the ocean is just breathtaking and the sand on the beaches is soft and powdery white and never really gets hot at all. Phil and I spent several days just lounging on the beach at our hotel, reading books and relaxing and it was fantastic.

After we finished relaxing at our hotel's beach, we thought it'd be good to go relax at some more beaches around the island...cause one can never relax too much. By far, our favorite beach on Provo was Taylor Beach on the southwest side of the island. The water was just incredibly beautiful and there were only a few people on the beach either of the times we visited it. It is kind of hard to find which probably explains why it doesn't get very crowded - you parked on a patch of dirt off the side of a road and then walked down this random rocky path until all of the sudden this amazing place appears.

While we thoroughly enjoyed all our laying around time, Phil and I decided to mix things up a bit and do a half-day snorkeling tour. Our boat came and picked us up right at our hotel's beach and then took us to do some diving for Conch. I swam around for awhile but didn't see anything in the water that looked remotely close to a conch shell. Apparently I'm not very good at this task cause here are all the Conch that the others collected:

We then went to a reef and did some snorkeling for awhile - that was a lot of fun. We saw lots of neat things, including some bright blue fish, yellow-striped fish, and sea fans.

Next we docked at Little Water Cay, which is home to a large population of rock iguanas. Our guides let us help remove the conch from their shells and then they prepared a conch salad for us for lunch. While lunch was being prepared, Phil and I went on an iguana hunt. They were everywhere and some were huge - we told the girls they are dinosaurs and they are pretty impressed :)

If I haven't bored you yet, stayed tuned to part 2 of this trip....the restaurant review :)

62 Tornadoes and some Frayed Nerves

2011-04-17T17:38:00.000-07:00

Yesterday NC got blasted with the storm system that had been pushing its way through the south, dropping tornadoes and causing a lot of damage. The local news spent most of Friday warning everyone about the impending bad weather, although I figured nothing really would come out of it except maybe some thunderstorms. Well, Saturday afternoon rolled around and all heck broke loose. There was just warning after warning all over central NC and, of course, Phil had to work this weekend so I was left to fend the homestead and the youngins all by my lonesome.

The girls and I built a pretty fun "safety fort" in the hall closet under the stairs - so fun, in fact, that Avery opted to have her quiet time in there when Claire went down for her nap. While Claire was still napping, the weatherman started reporting a large tornado on the ground that was heading towards Raleigh. He urged all residents to take cover...so poor Claire got woken up from her nap and we piled into our safety fort. We were extremely fortunate because because the tornado passed to the south of our neighborhood, hit downtown Raleigh and then curved upward and hit an area that is 4 exits down the highway from our house. When all was said and done last night, there were 62 confirmed tornado touch downs and 22 people so far have been confirmed killed. About 60 houses have been completely destroyed and over 400 reported damaged. We are counting our blessings today and our thoughts are with all the families who have lost loved ones, especially those families that have lost their children.

An Experiment with Paint

2011-03-25T12:55:00.000-07:00

I decided to try my hand at designing my own fabric so I got some plain stretchy t-shirt material and let the girls pick out a bunch of stamps and fabric paint. Our first experiment was on a dress for the girls' cousin Natalia's birthday. I stamped the words Love, Imagine and Dream all over the fabric with some hearts in between each word. We used her favorite color (yellow) for the top of the dress and adorned it with a fabric flower with a fuzzy black button in the center. I think it came out pretty cute. The girls designed their own dresses as well but I'm still working on those...will post them once they are done.

Some Fun in the Rain

2011-03-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

Some days these girls can't resist throwing on their rain boots and just running a-muck in the rain. I'm a wuss and just stand in the doorway and enjoy their excitement!

Claire : A Study of Two Year Olds

2011-03-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

I feel like Claire is becoming such her own little person lately and I wanted to capture some of the things she's been doing lately. Her speech has really started to blossom over the past few months - she is becoming somewhat easier to understand and has finally starting putting little phrases and sentences together. Her two most repeated phrases lately have been "No Way" and "Watch Me"...I pretty much hear these all day long. Claire is also really into doing anything and everything that Avery does and you can tell she just adores her big sister. She's been plotting and scheming lately to get Avery to have a sleep over in her bed. She will only ask Avery to do a sleepover in a whisper voice for some reason...Avery has agreed several times but Claire can't quite behave enough to allow for the sleepover to make it all the way through the night :)

Here are some recent pictures of Claire - very reminiscent of Avery at this age....

Claire doing her own makeup and then scoping out her handy-work in the mirror:

Claire going out on her first date with Uncle B (can you see the excitement in her face):

She's also picked up the habit of having a big fuss in her room at nap time and then finally just passing out on the floor:

To Do List Update

2011-02-27T08:27:00.000-08:00

I finally got around to updating my other blog with all my "to-dos" that I've been working on lately. Go check it out:

http://kelliebigtodolist.blogspot.com/

Doctors, Doctors, and More Doctors

2011-02-21T15:59:00.000-08:00

The girls still have their hives (it's been almost a month now) - between the pediatrician and an allergist though, we're pretty sure they are viral and should be gone by the 6-7 week mark at the latest. If not, it is back to the allergist.

Avery is going on over 2 months of daily stomach aches. We've tried eliminating dairy, keeping a diary of her food and when she gets the belly aches, given her tums, etc. All to no avail. Today we were back at the doctor for like the millionth time and this time they are doing blood work, pushed on her belly a whole bunch and sent us out to get her stomach x-rayed. Hopefully we'll hear results back in the next 3-5 days. In the meantime, they gave us a prescription for Zantac to try with her in case her pain has something to do with acid reflux. The darn prescription cost $90 so even if that doesn't end up being the case, I'm tempted to make her finish out the whole bottle full of it :)

Happy Valentines Day

2011-02-14T05:19:00.000-08:00

Avery says to me this morning:

Happy Valentines Day Mom. I hope you like my present. I never made it.

LOL

The Bumps

2011-02-11T17:11:00.000-08:00

The girls have been battling some mysterious bumps for the past several weeks now. Doctors are stumped, I'm stumped. Bleck.

My Baby is Two!

2011-01-27T14:02:00.000-08:00

Claire turned the big "2" this month. I can't believe how quickly these past 2 years have gone by - I know she is a toddler but I still think of her as my little baby. She's talking more and more although is still working on forming phrases/sentences. Claire is currently very much into all things Blue, all things Dora and all things Babies. She's also our little trouble maker - Avery may take Claire in age and height, but Claire is quite scrappy and willing to battle it out for anything and everything. Here are a few pics of Claire at 2:

Let's Share a Room Part 2

2011-01-27T13:52:00.000-08:00

Since Claire and Avery's idea of sharing a room meant Claire sleeping in the bookcase, I decided to take matters into my own hands. A few trips to IKEA and a lot of painting and here is what Phil and I came up with. I wish I could sleep in a girly bedroom like this!

Let's Share a Room

2011-01-04T07:43:00.000-08:00

Avery wants Claire to start sharing a bedroom with her. I was envisioning some bunk beds. This is what Avery and Claire envisioned......

Snow, Snow and More Snow

2011-01-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

I think we have had more snow in December this year than we have had in all the years that we have lived in NC. The girls are loving it though. Here are a few pics of them checking out the snow.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-29T14:37:00.000-08:00

This has been a very busy Christmas season this year. I think this week I am totally burned out and I've just been trying to relax, read a book and not do too many projects or chores. My little ones have been very busy, however, rejoicing in all their newly acquired presents. And fighting tooth and nail over them :)

This year, I decided to try and make as many presents as I could...not only cause it was more economical, but it is always nice to get something handmade I think. Avery and Claire got into the spirit and helped make peppermint hot fudge and cookies to give out and hand painted some sweet pajama pants for their daddy. I was a lean-mean sewing machine for all of November and December. I sewed a whole bunch of super hero capes, pirate pants, purses, dress-up clothes, pretty "real-life" dresses and even matching Christmas outfits for the girls and I. To top it all off, I threw in some sewing of throw pillows and curtains to spruce up the downstairs of our house a bit. Phew!

Here are a few pics of stuff I worked on:

We had Christmas Eve festivities at our house with lots of family and, as always, a competitive Yankee Swap. The kids had their own little swap and were very eager to help all the grown ups select and unwrap their gifts as well. Poor Phil had to work the holidays this year so we had to get up extra early Christmas morning to see what Santa had brought before Phil had to scoot off to work. The girls were thrilled with their gift and their cinnamon rolls for breakfast!

Nana and her Yankee Swap "Helpers":

Claire wiped out snuggling with Grandma:

Girls enjoying all their new toys from Santa:

We headed out to Jason and Olga's house for lunch and the girls had a blast playing with their cousins. Later on Christmas Day we went to Mom and Jay's house for a great traditional ham dinner (which Avery proclaimed as "great" - her highest honor) and lots more playing with her cousins.

Getting in the Christmas Spirit

2010-12-01T17:25:00.000-08:00

This past weekend, we setup our Christmas tree, hung the stockings and made our second annual voyage out to Lights on the Neuse for a Christmas Lights Hayride. Avery was really into decorating the tree this year and made some very colorful and unusual choices in ornament arranging :) Claire seemed to be a bit grumpy for most of the process (I think she didn't like me trying to take her picture) but she finally decided to help towards the end - perched dangerously atop a kiddie chair (it's more fun for her when there is danger involved).

End of Year Progress

2010-12-01T17:24:00.000-08:00

I'm just over a third of the way through with my 101 goals in 1001 days. I have just under 500 days to complete the remaining tasks. I'm feeling up to the challenge....chicken and waffles, here I come (task #101).

http://kelliebigtodolist.blogspot.com/

Hot Air Balloon Festival

2010-11-26T20:11:00.000-08:00

The Bates family made its second annual voyage out to western North Carolina to a hot air balloon festival. Last year it wasn't too crowded and there wasn't any traffic. This year it took us 2 hours to drive out there and 2 hours to go the last mile into the festival. We almost missed the mass ascension of all the hot air balloons but thankfully it was delayed and we got there just in time to catch it.

Gobble, Gobble

2010-11-24T20:20:00.000-08:00

Avery had her Thanksgiving Feast at preschool on Monday. The kids sang some cute songs and were all decked out in their finest Indian garb. Avery's Indian name was "Dancing Rain" and she came home with all sorts of great crafts, like a painted and stuffed turkey, a pilgrim costume, etc. The feast had all the Thanksgiving favorites and it is always such a nice experience because the kids are so proud of everything that they have worked on.

Pecan Picking

2010-11-24T19:55:00.000-08:00

I took Claire pecan picking about a week and a half ago with her cousin Liam at a neat historic park that was an old cotton plantation. Claire was mildly interested in picking the pecans but totally interested in her Aunt Rachel and a friendly goat that lives there.

Happy Belated Halloween

2010-11-04T06:02:00.000-07:00

Silly Faces...Just Because

2010-10-22T12:00:00.000-07:00

How can you not help but love these girls....

Budding Farmers

2010-10-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

The kids and I took a piece of foam we had and turned it into a farm for them. We gave it a quick coat of green paint, made some farmers and apple trees out of construction paper and popsicle sticks, and used some pom pom balls and pipe cleaners to make corn and pumpkins. Just using random things we had around the house, those kids managed to keep themselves entertained for days on end playing with the farm. And then they eventually poked a ton of holes all over the foam, all the green paint started chipping off and Claire began standing on the farm and jumping off of it. It was nice while it lasted :)

Fancy Nancy

2010-10-18T18:10:00.000-07:00

The illustrator for the Fancy Nancy books came to a local book store this week to read the newest Fancy Nancy story. Avery, Claire and their buddies got all fancied up (although surprisingly, Avery's outfit was a lot more reserved than I expected it to be) and got to listen to the story, practice their posture by balancing bananas on their heads and get their new books signed. They were so excited and cute as can be and we all had a great time.

The Birthday Vacuum

2010-10-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

For my birthday this year, Phil decided to be romantic and buy me a light weight vacuum to make cleaning up our hardwood floors a bit easier. While it has been really useful (and utterly romantic), I don't feel like I have gotten a lot of time with it. There are other members of the household that come charging towards me every time I open the closet door to pull it out.

Button Dress

2010-09-24T08:14:00.000-07:00

Made a dress with buttons on it for Avery last week - think it turned out pretty cute. Now just need to persevere and finish up a dress I started for Claire that has embroidery on it - taking longer than I thought it would-yuck!

Disney World

2010-09-24T08:12:00.000-07:00

Avery is walking around the house today saying she is going to Disney World. She got herself a whole pile of fake cash and keeps asking us if we want to go to Disney World with her to waste some money. Then she walks off singing about how she is going to go waste some money at Disney World. Not sure where she has come up with this from but it is pretty funny.

Scarecrows

2010-09-23T11:04:00.000-07:00

We decided it would be way more fun this year to make our own scarecrows versus buying a new one from the store (our old one kept losing his pants and had to be retired). So we bought some lumber, burlap and pinestraw from Home Depot and then just scrounged up clothes and accessories from around the house. The girls got to help paint their scarecrows' faces and select outfits. Avery made her scarecrow a necklace as well. Pretty cute - even if they are not really in proportion (small heads, big bodies, etc).

Yard Sale

2010-09-15T16:08:00.001-07:00

Avery: "Mommy, my dolls are having a yard sale."
Me: "Oh how nice."
Avery: "Do you know why it is a yard sale."
Me: "Why honey?"
Avery: "Cause it is."

(and she looks at me like I'm a big old idiot - lol)

More Stuff from the Beach....

2010-09-14T20:23:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pics I came across from the beach trip this year....

Grandma and the girls hanging on the beach:

Phil and Claire playing in the water:

Avery checking out a fish that Uncle Billy caught:

Jumping over the waves:

Going Underground

2010-09-10T18:56:00.000-07:00

I noticed on my "Big To Do List" blog that there is at least 1 person following my blog that I don't know and it kind of creeped me out. So I've decided to make my blogs private. If you want to continue to follow my blogs, just send me an email or Facebook comment and I'll go ahead and grant your email address permissions to the blogs. I'll keep the blog "open" for the next week or two before switching over the settings.

Back from the Beach

2010-09-10T18:05:00.000-07:00

We made our annual pilgrimage to Emerald Isle for a relaxing week at the beach in August. The kids all had a blast and it was a fun time for the adults too.

Beach House:

We celebrated Uncle Brendan and Uncle Danny's birthdays:

Took family pictures:

Went on a boat ride:

And of course, went to the beach and had LOTS of fun:

Phil doing his best impression of a dolphin breaking thru the waves:

A Really Good Night (thru the eyes of a 4 year old)

2010-08-31T06:57:00.000-07:00

As I was putting Avery to bed.....

"Mommy, I love you very much. I hope you have a really fun night and get to do lots of chores."

Makin a Mess

2010-08-11T19:17:00.000-07:00

Cause I don't already have enough to clean on an everyday basis, why not add shaving cream to the mix. The kids "painted" with shaving cream on a mirror and then also on the windows. With excited little faces like this, how could I say no:

Playgroup - The 2nd Generation

2010-08-10T10:03:00.000-07:00

When Avery was younger, she did a playgroup once a week with her little buddies. I've been feeling guilty that Claire hasn't gotten to socialize too much so far with kids her own age. So us mommies got together and started a new playgroup for the little ones. We kicked it off a few weeks ago at our house and my theme for the day was "hands-on".

The kids played in goop (cornstarch and water):

They squished jello between their fingers:

They fingerpainted themselves, their friends, the house siding, the gutters, etc, etc:

And they had a blast!

Pop Loves His Girls

2010-08-09T12:00:00.000-07:00

Loving this picture..so sweet!

Trip Up North (Part 2)

2010-08-07T18:50:00.000-07:00

I had grand visions of all the outdoor things we'd do up in CT, where the weather should have been a bit cooler than down in NC. But we happened to schedule our trip at the exact time that CT decided to have a blistering heat wave. I was determined to still take the girls blueberry and peach picking though, so we headed out to Lyman Orchard first thing in the morning and sweated our way through the fruit trees. The kids had a lot of fun doing it though and we had lots of blueberries and peaches to snack on and bake with.

We also couldn't take a trip up to CT without checking out the Super Duper Wienie. Yum!

Annual Trek Up (Part 1)

2010-08-06T18:21:00.001-07:00

We drove up to CT at the beginning of July to visit the Ahern-side of the family. Thankfully the kids slept the majority of the overnight trip, although Avery still found the whole drive very exhausting...too exhausting to stay awake for pizza:

On the fourth of July, we spent a quiet day playing at my Dad's house and recuperating from traveling. We did venture out for some ice cream and to check out the moo cows and roasted marshmallows and lit sparklers to cap off the evening:

My stepsister also had a big picnic while we were up and the kids had a great time playing in the pool, swinging on the swingset and running around like crazy with their cousins:

Lean Mean Dress Making Machine

2010-08-06T17:41:00.000-07:00

I came across a tutorial on making dresses using basic t-shirts for the kids. Here are my first 2 creations - Claire "chose" a cute ruffle design and Avery decided she wanted to make her's tie-dyed. Also, how cute of a picture is this of the girls with their cousins Ayden and Brandon.

Boom Boom Pow

2010-07-31T08:24:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvVYikdHJdU

Money Well Spent

2010-07-28T16:51:00.000-07:00

Claire got her new teeth installed this morning at 9am. She knocked one of them out by 6pm tonight. I'm so mad I could spit.

Beach Season has Begun

2010-06-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Memorial Day weekend, we finally got ourselves down to the beach to start the season. The Hardings came with us and the kids had a lot of fun playing on the beach with each other and exploring the Pine Knolls aquarium.

My girls even decided to be brave this year and go in the water.

Claire and Tyler were mesmerized by all the colorful fish they saw at the aquarium:

Tyler also was pretty mesmerized by Claire as well - notice the moves he is putting on her:

Avery and Macy were just content to kiss the frog and see if he turned into a prince:

Daddy Makes the Best Forts

2010-06-23T20:17:00.000-07:00

The CT Contingency Came for a Visit

2010-06-22T19:50:00.000-07:00

My dad, Joan and Cullen came down for a visit about a month back. The kids were thrilled to see them and so was I. Joan made the girls the cutest tutus (even though they refused to wear them the whole time she was down-they secretly love them and get quite excited to wear them):

We had lots of fun hanging out, playing in the yard, going to a baseball game and having a picnic at Duke Garden. Time always seems to fly by when we have them down for a visit so we are really looking forward to our trip up north for the 4th of July.

Pics from Duke Gardens:

Did I mention we made a stop by LocoPops after our garden picnic...can't beat a good popsicle, especially when you have a buddy to share with.

Why Paint Your Paper Blue....

2010-06-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

....when you can paint your head blue instead!

Playing Catchup...Avery's 4th Birthday

2010-06-21T19:29:00.000-07:00

Avery turned 4 exactly a month ago. To her, being 4 is a WHOLE NEW WORLD. She makes comments on a daily basis about being able to do and eat certain things now that she is 4 that she couldn't when she was 3.5. Who knew turning 4 opened so many doors for a gal.

Avery had so much fun at her farm birthday party last year that she wanted to do it again this year. So I checked with the small farm down the road from us and we were able to setup a pick-your-own strawberry party, complete with hayrides and a hay maze for the kids. Everyone seemed to have a good time, even in the blistering heat, and we picked lots and lots of strawberries.

On Avery's actual birthday, we had a family party for her with a make-your-own taco themed dinner (which is one of the things she knows how to do now that she is 4), a Disney Princesses on Ice birthday cake (her cake requests are getting more complex with each birthday) and lots of playing outside for the kids and cornhole for the grownups.

How Sweet are My Little Girls

2010-06-21T19:14:00.001-07:00

ENT Doctor Appointment

2010-06-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

Good news - the ENT doctor checked out Claire this morning and her nose looks okay. Phew!

(this is a pre-accident smile...her new one currently looks like she has spider fangs..although she is still just as cute!)

Status Update : 101 Goals in 1001 Days

2010-06-07T09:30:00.000-07:00

I'm almost a year into my 101 Goals challenge and I think I'm doing pretty well so far. I'm about a quarter of the way through my list and moving along pretty steadily. I'm finding that there are some goals I just threw on there at the beginning that I no longer really want to work on completing...so right now my current project is to come up with some new goals to replace those out with. Once I do that, I'll let you all know what my new brilliant ideas are :)

To see what goals I've been working on, check out my other blog:

http://kelliebigtodolist.blogspot.com/

Ouch Baby Claire

2010-06-06T19:41:00.000-07:00

Claire tripped and fell this week....face first...full force onto the kitchen floor. She broke her top 2 front teeth very close to the nerves, tore her frenulum, has contusions in her nose which she is going to see an ENT MD about tomorrow, etc, etc. Poor little thing is on a soft foods-only diet at the moment until they can put porcelin restorations on her teeth and we have to keep her mouth super-duper clean in order to protect the nerves in her broken teeth. I'm in complete mourning over those 2 little teeth...I really miss her old smile and I hate that she had to go through all that pain. Praying the ENT appointment goes well tomorrow and that we get her teeth fixed back up as soon as possible.

Naughty Naughty Miss Macy Harding

2010-05-16T19:01:00.000-07:00

Enjoying the Sunshine

2010-05-16T18:08:00.001-07:00

We've been trying to cram in as much outdoor activity as we can this spring before it starts getting super hot and spidery outside.

Some of the kids favorite activities include......

Playing in the sandbox

Going to the Duke Gardens on scavenger hunts

Making Popsicles...chocolate ones, pineapple ones, coconut cream ones...the list is never ending

Anything water-related...it can be swimming or just playing with buckets of water..they love it all

Easter Egg Hunt #1

2010-03-28T19:24:00.000-07:00

The church where Avery attends preschool held an Easter Egg Hunt for the community last weekend. They had a number of cute crafts for the kids to work on. Here is a picture of Avery,with her friends Kayla and Sophia, diligently working on an Easter craft:

Claire and Mommy strategizing on the egg hunt:

The church also put on a simple skit for the kids...not sure if it was somehow specifically related to Easter but it was about Jesus and sharing so it had a nice-enough message for the kids. All the children were invited at the end of the skit to march around the fellowship hall with palm leaves...now some kids might decide to behave in an orderly fashion at a church event...my child decides it is better to race your buddy around the fellowship hall with your cool leaf:

Then, finally, the big event - the Easter Egg Hunt. They divided the children out by age group and each age group hunted in their own designated zone. The kids were pleased to have some cool plastic eggs:

And then Claire had enough of that pesky Mommy taking her picture:

Princess Pancakes

2010-03-28T19:19:00.000-07:00

It is no longer acceptable in this household to just make a simple, plain pancake. We have requests for different colors, different shapes, different sizes...and now, our pancakes must also resemble royalty.

Behold, the now-mandatory Princess pancake:

Runway Models

2010-03-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Avery's friend Kayla has a fashion show set that she was itching to break out. So she invited Avery over to put on a fashion show. It took them forever to get themselves ready and then they did a quick walk down the runway and then ran off to play other things. What a bunch of divas ;)

Spring is Here

2010-03-28T19:01:00.001-07:00

Now that it is starting to warm up in NC, we've been getting the girls outside as much as possible. We went with friends to the Zoo a few weeks back and did the North American side of the zoo. The kids really liked visiting the polar bears and sea lions and had a blast playing on the plant-themed playground. We're looking forward to going back soon to see the African side of the zoo so the girls can check out the giraffes, elephants, etc

Avery and Claire have spent a ton of time in the sandbox these past few weeks as well - consequently my deck, my kids, their clothes, and most of the floors in the house are covered in sand. But they have so much fun playing in it, I'm just getting used to the piles of sand I find EVERYWHERE :) The girls have also been coloring lots with chalk and painting the sidewalk and driveway with water. This is especially a favorite activity for Claire - and she's not constricted by just paint brushes..she likes to dip her chalk in too:

And then her pants look like this:

Then she gets fed up with me constantly taking her picture and does this:

Art Appreciation

2010-03-28T18:49:00.000-07:00

I decided to start teaching Avery about the different types of art, famous artists and their techniques, etc. We started off learning about abstract art and I used Kandinsky as an example of an artist who was famous for abstract paintings. She seemed to grasp the concept of abstract art pretty well and liked picking out one of Kandinsky's pieces to replicate.

Here is the original version of the picture:
http://www.allposters.com/-sp/Studie-fur-Murnau-Posters_i3247200_.htm

Here is Avery's rendition:

Any subsequent attempts to teach Avery about art have all but failed. She's currently in a phase of her artistic process where she wants to do whatever she wants and doesn't want to have to listen to boring Mommy rattle on about some random art jargon :)

Valentine's Day (A Month and a Half Late)

2010-03-28T18:35:00.000-07:00

Continuing my trend of being a blogging slacker lately...here is my post for V-Day (at the end of March). The kids had a lot of fun preparing for Valentine's Day this year. They picked out a special box that they got to decorate for Daddy and Avery helped make some heart-shaped chocolate fudge for Phil.

The kids also decorated some cups with stickers to make special "vases" and we filled them with carnations that the girls had dyed using food coloring. They thought it was really neat to turn the water different colors and watch the flowers "drink" the magic colors they made.

For Valentine's dinner, Avery and Claire enjoyed heart-shaped pizzas while Mommy and Daddy had some nice steaks :)

And Mommy SLAVED AWAY the week before the 14th making the kids a customized car mat to drive their little cars on. It has a zoo, their favorite burger joint, the beach, a hot air balloon festival, ice cream shop, preschool, a castle, Claire's toy shop and Avery's dress shop. I think I was more excited to give it to them than they were to receive it but they do use it on occasion so it is not a total loss.

Silly Ladies

2010-03-15T09:57:00.000-07:00

Here's an update on the girls for the past few weeks....I have a bunch of pics to post but I'm slacking so for now just some text:

A new Avery-ism: Wabo (bravo)

A new Avery discussion: I asked Avery this morning if she'd like to move into a new house some day. She told me yes so I asked her what kind of a new house she'd like. She's decided on a house with a kitty cause they are cute and a house that has her bed attached to our's so we can keep each other company and she can have a whole extra room to devote to tea parties and Christmas.

What's new with Claire: She has really gained confidence as a walker now and is all over the place. She likes to get into the pantry, take food and then "sneak" over to a specific spot in the living room where she thinks we can't see her and try to eat it (she also tries to bring all sorts of other random contraband over there too-glue, etc). Claire is also really getting into imitating us and loves to take napkins and wipe her kitchen chair and floor and she LOVES to blow her nose with a tissue. She's also decided that her sister is SUPER cool and follows her all around, wanting to touch all her stuff and constantly is trying to play in Avery's room - Avery is not pleased.

Feeling Hopeful

2010-03-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Avery just told me:

"Mommy, I'll do what you say...hopefully"

Biker Gang

2010-02-26T11:36:00.000-08:00

Avery got a bike for her 2nd birthday and for the better part of a year or so, it was kept outside. So Avery wasn't really getting to ride it as often as she would like. We ended up bringing it inside a few months back and she circles and circles and circles the house all day long. If you need her to get something that is 5 feet away on the kitchen table, she'll run all the way into the other room, hop on her bike and then circle the whole downstairs before finally arriving at the kitchen table to get the requested object :)

Claire has taken quite a liking to the bike too and the girls play a chasing game with it and one another. Claire thinks she is so 'big girl' when she rides the bike and she gets so excited that her little feet just kick all over the place while she rides around.

The "Blizzard" of 2010

2010-02-26T11:19:00.000-08:00

Even though I've lived down in the South for over 5 years now, I continue to be amazed/amused by how freaked out people get when we get a couple of inches of slow. The snow started on a Friday night and the following Thursday, Avery's preschool was still running on a delayed schedule.

Phil had to work the weekend when we got the bulk of the 5 or so inches we ended up getting so Avery, Claire and I were left to fend for ourselves. The kids were really, really excited to see the snow outside and we made snowman pancakes to celebrate:

I got the girls all bundled up (which took a good 45 minutes or so) and then we ventured outside....where we barely lasted 5 minutes:

(Tried to edit Claire's runny nose but it didn't work - so hope you enjoy the picture, boogies and all!)
Avery said the snow makes her hands too cold and Claire got mad when she fell down in the snow. So we spent the remainder of the snowstorm inside, doing this:

The kids seriously sat in front of the dining room window for hours on end watching the adults and older kids sled down the middle of the road (yes, down the middle of the road when cars were still out and driving about).

Fairy Garden

2010-02-26T11:15:00.000-08:00

Avery and I had an old shoebox and an hour to spend together while Claire took a nap. We went outside and collected some small rocks and leaves and built a beautiful fairy garden for Avery's Thumbelina dolls. I think it came out pretty cute - even if Avery refuses to let me play with it!

Not So Glamorous

2010-02-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

Avery got a spa kit for Christmas from Macy and she's been really excited to try it out. She had a peppermint fizzy bath (peppermint oil and citric acid) which she LOVED. Then I thought it'd be fun to take it a step further and do face masks with oatmeal and honey that are supposed to exfoliate, etc.

This is what I got for a facial expression when I put it on Avery:

Avery's clearly not ready for a trip to the spa with mommy :)

Too Funny

2010-02-25T19:30:00.001-08:00

Cullen's friend Matt created a Jib Jab disco video of Cullen and Phil...it's too hilarious for words!

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Avery-isms

2010-02-17T11:59:00.001-08:00

I've noticed lately that Avery says a lot of funny things...and says a lot of things funny. For example, here are some words she is currently mispronouncing:

FASHABLE (fashionable)
AMINALS (animals)
BEGOT (forgot)
SIPPER SLOCKS (slipper socks)
SNANK YOU (thank you)

Today she also told me all about this game the little girls play on the playground at preschool. The girls call themselves World Girls (or it may be Word Girls-still trying to translate Avery-speak) and they fly around putting out fireworks and scaring boys. Apparently if they catch the boys, they eat them. Eek!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2010-02-16T17:58:00.000-08:00

Over a Month Late..but..Happy Birthday Claire!

2010-02-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

My sweet little baby has turned one year old. She has started walking..although she still prefers crawling or walking while holding one of our hands. Claire is also giving out high fives and has become very attached to this little bunny blanket that she has. We have been trying to give her milk for the past month or so but she doesn't really seem to like it and pretty much refuses to drink it. She's definitely starting to define her likes and dislikes...it's pretty fascinating to watch.

We had a small family party on Claire's actual birthday and then a week later, we did a joint party with her buddy Tyler at Gymboree. All the kids seemed to have a great time! Below are some pics from all the festivities....

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

2010-01-26T10:21:00.000-08:00

Avery has started "stretching the truth" recently. Most of it is pretty easy to see right through although sometimes it can be hard to tell if she is telling the truth or not.

This morning, it was pretty easy......

Mommy: Avery, dirty tissues aren't supposed to be on the kitchen table. Go throw them in the garbage.

Avery: Mommy, I didn't put them there.

Mommy: Well how'd they get there then?

Avery: They walked there by themselves. They have hidden legs.

Oops!

2010-01-16T11:36:00.001-08:00

The weather is so nice outside today so Phil and I thought it'd be a good morning to take the kids to a nearby playground. As soon as we got there, I brought Claire over to one of the big kid slides and put her on my lap to go down. Well part way down, she managed to stick her foot off the slide of my leg and catch it on the slide. Her foot bent at all sorts of awful angles and her shoe got ripped off her foot! Of course there was some crying and then we noticed she was having a hard time walking on the injured foot. We took her to an orthopedic urgent care center and they x-rayed her foot. Thankfully nothing appears broken or fractured but they do want us to keep her off her foot as much as possible, ice it and give her motrin till she feels better. Claire is now napping with a belly full of motrin and I'm considering downing a bottle of wine. Stupid slide.

Visit with Pop and Gram

2010-01-15T11:35:00.000-08:00

Pop and Gram came down for New Years to spend some time with the kids and us. We all went out to The Pit for some yummy bbq on New Years Eve. Then Pop and Gram, being the old people they are, were in bed by 9pm so Phil and I rang in the new year (half asleep) by ourselves. We all spent the next couple of days just playing and enjoying time together and the girls loved, loved, loved every minute of it.

Gram and I got into a fierce fashion competition while she was down....it turned into a Project Runway competition (for Barbie dolls), complete with a runway show and panel of judges. I'm disgruntled to say that Gram beat me out with her designs but on the bright side, Avery has asked me to design her a dress for her birthday party so not all was lost :)

Edible Jewelry

2010-01-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

It's been pretty chilly down here in NC the past few weeks so we've been trying to come up with fun and creative things to do indoors (besides playing with our new Christmas toys). I got a cookbook for my birthday that has all sorts of fun recipes for kids and it suggested using cookies to make necklaces, bracelets, etc. So Avery, Claire and I made some heart and star-shaped sugar cookies and iced them in pink, blue and orange.

Claire found the whole exercise very delicious and chose to just get straight to the point and eat her cookies vs. making anything with them. Avery showed a bit more restraint and strung up some of her cookies onto some purple ribbon and then delicately nibbled them off. It was a fun and tasty way to kill some time during the afternoon!

Christmas Day

2010-01-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

The girls were thrilled to rush downstairs Christmas morning and find out if Santa came. Avery did great this year actually getting through all her presents and opening everything up before she started playing (this has been a struggle in years past). Claire is still trying to understand the whole present concept - she doesn't have much interest in trying to unwrap everything but she definitely has interest in all the fun things underneath the wrapping! Claire did really well with her stocking though and taking everything out of it.

Avery's big prize this year was a new "big girl" dollhouse. It has all sorts of furniture inside it and a whole family of dolls. Claire's big prize was a car garage - she loves playing with it although she finds her greatest joy dropping cars down the elevator shaft vs. driving them down the car ramp :)

Here's a picture of Claire helping Phil put her garage together:

And here's a picture of Avery and her new Tinkerbell dressup box - Thanks Ayden and Brandon!:

Christmas Eve

2010-01-13T18:08:00.000-08:00

We hosted Christmas Eve festivities this year at our house and had the house full of good friends and family. My mom and Jay, Brendan, all the Bates, the Hardings, and Celeste's mom, stepdad and stepsister joined us for dinner, dessert and of course, the yankee swap (as a side note, I'm still trying to get at least 1 person to agree to start up a Christmas talent competition but so far, no takers).

Avery and Claire got dressed up in their Christmas finery:

Uncle B got put in timeout for some reason:

There was lots of stealing and bartering with the Yankee Swap:

Avery and Macy got dressed up as Frosty the Snowman and prepared to do their dance performance:

But as the music came on, they decided it was way more fun to just tackle Uncle B instead:

Just before bedtime, Avery and Uncle B checked out the fireplace and tried to see if Santa was at our house yet:

The Annual Hardings Christmas Bash

2010-01-13T17:59:00.001-08:00

The Hardings threw their annual Christmas party the weekend before Christmas and as usual, it was lots of fun. There was lots of food and booze, which made the adults happy and all the kids had a blast playing with one another and getting to see Santa. Here are some pictures from the party:

Claire and Avery scoping out Santa:

Some of the kids participating in some sort of noisy, musical jam session:

They deny it, but I have my suspicions that Brendan and Phil coordinated their party outfits in advance:

Avery partied it up so much that towards the end of her night, she had to take her shoes off and put her feet up for awhile:

Me vs. 11 3 Year Olds

2009-12-16T19:41:00.000-08:00

I volunteered to host Avery's preschool Christmas party with another classmate's mommy. We read the kids Christmas stories, did a craft, made Christmas wreath snacks (mini-bagels, green cream cheese, dried cranberries) and let them have some freeplay in a gingerbread house that I painstakingly put together over many long and late nights. The kids were very excited that there were mommies in the classroom and had a lot of fun creating their bagel wreaths and using their handprints to make a Santa to take home. I was afraid the gingerbread house might not survive all the kids climbing in and out of it, but surprisingly it made it back home in almost one piece. Here are some pictures from the party:

Gingerbread house:

Constructing their snacks:

Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer:

If you look closely at this picture, you'll notice this little boy wearing pink feathery slippers and a glittery pink glove-Avery's teacher mentioned he puts these on every day-lol:

Trying to Keep Warm

2009-12-16T19:39:00.000-08:00

Our house is awful in the winter in regards to evenly distributing heat. The downstairs is always freezing and upstairs is pretty toasty. Grandma was nice enough to make her 2 girls some soft, snuggly bathrobes to help ward off the chill when they come downstairs in the morning. Both girls LOVE to wear them and enjoy admiring themselves in the mirror with them on as well :)

Claire is 11 Months Old!

2009-12-16T19:32:00.001-08:00

My sweet little baby is one month away from her 1st birthday - I can't believe how big she is getting. She's still very much into pointing at everything this month and waving to everyone. She's starting to use Mama and Dada much more in context and has started saying Hi and Grandma as well. No big breakthroughs in walking yet although Claire has taken a few random steps over the past week and has developed a great passion for climbing up the stairs.

Avery introduced Claire to her collection of purses and Claire has glommed on to a pink ruffly purse that she takes everywhere with her now (Avery is mad and wants it back). Claire is also very interested in holding on to stuff and pushing it around - the latest item is Avery's shopping cart.

Local Christmas Festivities

2009-12-16T19:17:00.000-08:00

About 45 minutes from our house, there is a farm that hosts a hayride through a 1.5 mile long Christmas light show (www.lightsontheneuse.com). Phil and I took the girls and it was so much fun - the lights were set to Christmas music and the displays were amazing. The farm had a "Santa's Sweet Shop" where they had a ton of homemade candies, hot cocoa, apple cider, etc. We got some chocolate covered peanuts and hot chocolate and Avery was definitely in a chocolate nirvana (okay, and so was I). Santa was also available for little kids to visit with but our kids just aren't that brave :) We brought our camera so we could take lots of pictures on the hayride, but someone (I'm not naming names, but it wasn't me, Avery or Claire) left the camera in the car. That unnamed person did run back to the car afterwards so we could take a quick picture near some little light displays of flowers on the path towards the hayride.

Our neighborhood also had a family Christmas fair this past weekend. Claire napped through the whole event so Phil took Avery over to it. They had a giant inflatable slide, hot chocolate, crafts, snacks, a meet and greet with Santa and a horse-drawn sleigh ride. Avery had a blast on the slide and then grabbed some hot cocoa before hopping on the sleigh ride with her Daddy for a ride around the neighorhood. It was a pretty fun event for being free and right across the street from our house!

My mom and I rounded out last weekend by taking Avery and Macy to Avery's dance studio's production of Twas the Night Before Christmas. The girls got dressed up and brought along some princess dolls (and we noticed that half the other little girls there did the same thing - must be in some preschooler handbook for attending dance performances). The kids did really well for sitting through 2 hours of dance routines and even busted out some moves of their own. At one point in the performance, Santa came into the audience and through candy around to all the kids. Avery and Macy ate their bodyweight in chocolates and lollipops for the rest of the performance - at one point they appeard to be getting kind of sleepy but then the sugar kicked in and Macy did a headstand in her seat! When asked what their favorite part of the whole show was, they both decided it was definitely when Santa gave them candy.

All Things Red and Green

2009-12-16T19:06:00.000-08:00

We started a sensory bucket for Avery and Claire this month so that they can learn about different seasons, holidays, etc and do some hands-on, creative play. The bucket for December is chock-full of Christmas items and lots of things that are red and green. The girls are having a blast playing with the jingle bells and stuffing things in the mini-stocking and it keeps them entertained for quite awhile.

I picked up a gingerbread cookie decorating kit at Target a few weeks ago as well and one rainy afternoon, the kids went to town decorating all the cookies in preparation for Sunday night dinner with Daddy and Uncle B. Avery loved spreading the frosting on them all and carefully decorating them with the provided candies. Claire just wanted to eat her cookie and quickly gummed through half of it before I realized what she was doing. At the end of decorating the cookies, I realized we had a lof of decorating candies left...and then I also realized that this was all by Avery's design as she wanted to eat all the extras.

And if we hadn't already made a big enough mess around our kitchen this month, we let the girls do some fingerpainting with watered-down jello (in red and green of course). Avery thought it was great to get her hands messy in it and Claire, well Claire just found the whole activity rather delicious.

Christmas Decorations

2009-12-16T19:04:00.000-08:00

Phil and I had a lot of fun this year getting the girls involved in decorating the house for Christmas. Both girls loved helping out with the tree and we have to go and explore all the ornaments and play games around the tree at least 3 times a day, every day. Every morning, Claire waves hello to the tree and then waves goodnight to it before she goes to bed. Avery is responsible for turning on the tree lights each day as well, which she considers a very important honor.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

2009-12-16T18:54:00.000-08:00

This year we decided to do 2 different Advents leading up to Christmas. Of course we took out mini-xmas tree with ornaments that we've been doing since Avery was born. Avery and Claire both take turns taking the ornaments out of the compartments each day and placing them on the tree. Claire really wants to do things just like her big sister and tries so hard to get the ornaments on the tree - although her technique is basically to just shove the ornament into the tree and hope for the best :)

We also started a new Advent this year with lots of little paper Christmas trees that Avery created. I spread a bunch of batting on top of a table to look like snow and then Avery helped me setup the Christmas trees to make a snowy forest. Under each tree, there is either a piece of candy, some coins or an IOU for things like TV time, a special treat, etc.

To complete our snowy Christmas tree forest, Avery and Macy constructed some gingerbread houses. They started off by helping to assemble the walls of the houses but then they began to lose interest in the whole project and wanted to just eat the candy we had for the houses instead. So Celeste and I stepped in and finished up the decorating (I think we were both secretly hoping this would happen cause it was a lot of fun to glue candy all over the houses).

Thanksgiving

2009-12-16T18:46:00.001-08:00

Avery's preschool held a Thanksgiving Feast the day before Thanksgiving and all family and extended family were invited. The kids all sang some songs (in Pilgrim and Indian costumes) and decorated the tables with placemats and centerpieces that they made. They also a project that they worked on where they had to draw what they were thankful for....Avery drew a picture of me!!! Eat that Phil! We were then treated to a traditional turkey dinner and all the parents brought a dessert. It was a great event and I look forward to it again next year.

On Thanksgiving morning, we hung out at home and let Avery watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade -- she enjoyed this thoroughly and was pretty much glued to the TV the entire time it was on. Once we finally pried Avery away from the TV, we headed over to Phil's parents house where we PIGGED out. Phil's mom had more side dishes than there were people!! The food was delicious and Claire really enjoyed her first Thanksgiving meal. The kids all had fun playing with each other as well and ran amuck all throughout poor Nana's house - no toy was left untouched!