More of Avery's handiwork...

Well... I knew it as soon as I wrote it, but trying to do a craft project EVERY Monday, Wednesday and Friday was a little ambitious. We haven't quite hit each day, but here are a few of the other art projects we've done and had fun with...

The Egg Carton Caterpillar...




Underwater creatures...




Day & Night: (We talked about Genesis 1:3-5 "...He separated the light from the darkness. God called the light 'day,' and the darkness he called 'night.' ...") **By the way, the gift basket in the pictures was a gift from one of Collin's co-workers for a job well done! Way to go, Collin!**

Blog Makeover

I hope you enjoy the new "Summer-y" look of the blog! Just trying something out... but I think I might keep it! :)

The Alphabooks

Some people have been asking where we got those letter books in the video of Avery's favorite books at bedtime. They were a gift from Collin's work friends. (Thanks, Ellen!) We think they're wonderful and Avery really loves them. They're Baby Einstein "Alphabooks." Grab some next time you're at Target. (...I should call Target and ask for a commission...) :)

Just for fun

A fun video of some of Avery's favorite bedtime books at 22 months... (Collin is such a cute Daddy... Always teaching.) :) A few things to listen for that you might not catch if you don't speak "Avery"... On the "C" book when the page is turned to "cat" Avery meows instead of saying cat, but then even after saying "cat" she gives another big "reeaoow..." Cracks us up. She also calls the snowman a "man-man," on a regular basis. Anyway, we just thought this was cute and wanted to share. :)

Happy 3 months, Jules!!

Unbelievable... I know I say this every month, but time is FLYING! Julia is absolutely precious these days and quickly winning over hearts with her infectious smile! She loves to play in her Baby Einstein play gym and laughs when she kicks the arches to make the star play music. She's doing really well with "tummy time" and her head control is getting stronger by the day! Sleeping through the nights is our latest victory!! (...and challenge, depending on the night...) She usually goes down for the night around 10pm, and has slept on through until 6 am some nights! (Other nights, she wakes up for a 3am feeding and then goes back down.) She's a happy baby as long as she's where the action is! Move her away from where everyone else in the house is congregating and she's sad. (Sound like anyone we know?? **cough**Collin**)

We love our Jules and are having so much fun watching her grow! Happy 3 months, sweet baby!

Life's most precious moments...

Ok, this particular post is probably a story that would be better suited for the baby book, but since my girls are children of the millennium the only real "baby book" they have is this blog! So even though I hope to one day actually record these little anecdotes with actual pen ink and paper, this electronic version will have to do for now...

The cutest thing happened this morning. Now, I have to preface this by saying that I don't do this all the time, but have been meaning to become more regular about taking time in my morning to sit down and spend a few minutes reading and studying my bible, thinking that if I do I might become a better wife to Collin and a better Mom to the girls. So this morning I was sitting curled up in the recliner with a cup of coffee and my bible. Julia was napping in her Ocean-Wonders bouncy seat and Avery was playing with her alligator xylophone toy in her play room. So with the exception of the "music" Avery was making, the house was still and quiet. I said a quick prayer that the kids would remain occupied so that I could have a little "me time" to spiritually re-hydrate... Something I'm really in need of these days...

I was looking up some verses given to me about parenting when Avery toddled up to me and began to try and climb into my lap. (She loves to read books, so seeing me reading a book must have perked her interest.) I have to admit I was a tad-bit bothered at the time, but I set down my coffee and patted the book and said, "Bible... bible... this is Mommy's Bible." She repeated, "Bobble, Bobble!!" and then took off down the hallway to her room. She quickly came back with HER children's bible in her hands and laid it in my lap saying, "Bobble!" and continued trying to climb up in my lap, this time with more enthusiasm.

My heart melted. Tears quickly filled my eyes as I said, "YES, baby! Bible!... That's right!" (I don't know why I'm always so surprised to see that she completely understands! ...she got it... she understood.)

I pulled my sweet girl into my lap and read her bible to her. It's a FANTASTIC memory. I am so thankful for little everyday moments like these... Memories that my heart will carry forever.

Stuck on You

Avery's all about stickers these days. I won't call it an obsession, but it's somewhere close! :) I tried uploading the video that describes this next picture, but I'm having trouble getting it to work for some reason... so I'll explain. Julia was on her playmat and I was on the floor focusing on her at the moment. I noticed Avery being awfully quiet, but didn't think much of it. When I turned around, she had gotten her hands onto a whole sheet of stickers (usually something she only gets to play with under supervision) and she was going to town!! ...Another hint that she might be left handed: All the stickers were piled onto her right arm. It was cute!... I'll try and upload the video again another day.

Avery getting crafty...

Lately, I've been encouraging Avery to do at least one craft project each day of the week. It really turns out to only be on Monday, Wednesday and Friday since she's at Mother's Day Out on Tuesdays and Thursdays and comes home with her own crafts those days... but it's been fun so far!

I'm no expert, but from what I've observed so far it seems that the trick to projects for 22-month-olds is SIMPLICITY! Last Friday we made a "treasure chest" out of stickers and an empty kleenex box that I turned inside-out because the lining was silver. Yesterday's project was a "macaroni maraca" shaker made from an empty crystal light cylinder and macaroni, of course. I had her use finger paints to decorate paper that I had initially planned to use to wrap around the cylinder, but the pictures she made turned out so cute that I might just keep them the way they are and frame them gallery-style in the breakfast nook or something.

...So, with as much fun as I'M having, crafty MWF may be more for me than Avery! :) But it sure breaks up our afternoon nicely and provides us with lots of laughs and new "toys."

As long as Julia's afternoon naps hold out, Avery and I will keep up our craft projects! :) Here are a few pictures and some videos...

4th Fun!! :)

What a FUN time we had in Sherman!

Jen, Andrew & Drew were perfect hosts... We played at the house for a while until Andrew got home from work, and then they took us to the local pool/waterpark where we splashed the afternoon away. Avery wasn't so sure she wanted to get wet at first, but by the end of the day she was totally waterlogged and loving it. It was also Julia's very first swim!! She must have been thinking, "What's up with this gigantic bathtub?!" but she seemed to like it just fine.

Yummy food and family fun made the time there so memorable and special. We can't wait to go back... Sherman is really cool! Thanks for having us, Bossens! We love y'all!

Bubbles & Baseball

One of the most fun things about this phase is discovery.

Our sweet little left-handed girl has discovered a love of anything outdoors, and most recently added baseball to her list of favorite activities. ...Sure, she has no clue how to actually play baseball, but she did discover a soft little toy baseball in the yard and spent a good 30 minutes tossing it all over the place.

I had to laugh to myself as I watched. With two girls, we've wondered from time to time if we'll ever get to participate in the "sporty" things of life... Guess we better not sign up for ballet lessons too soon! Avery might rather do softball.





And of course, bubbles are always a hit. We had to play with those a bit before heading back inside. If it had just been 20 degrees cooler and free of mosquitos, we might have stayed outside all day... I was having too much fun just watching her play.