Penrod Fishermen

Last Saturday, Tim, Rich, Mike and Kevin headed out to Arkansas to go striper fishing at Lake Ouachita. The striper there are plentiful and enormous and it's something that Rich has been wanting to do and what better way to spend some time with his 3 boys.   What a great opportunity for them to have some bonding time together!! I was so excited for them that they were able to throw it together so quickly and actually get out there.  I must say, I didn't envy them waking up so early on a Sunday though :)

Sunday morning sunrise:

They don't look sleepy at all!

Check out the giant fish they caught!!  We haven't tried it yet, but I'm hoping it's good.  And, thanks Kevin for taking it home to finish cleaning it.  I will have an easier time eating it now!

Seriously...they are as big as their whole upper bodies! I just can't get over how big these suckers are!

Way to go boys!!

Anniversary Date with the Hubs

Saturday night, Tim and I went out for our 9th anniversary...it's amazing that we've been married for 9 years! I still vividly remember him proposing to me!

We watched our wedding video with Avery on our actual Anniversary because she always gets so upset that she's not in any of our wedding photos though we repeatedly tell her that we had to get married first so we could have her :) She was so excited to watch it with us! I loved reliving that day with Tim and all our family and friends watching us as we became a married couple. I also loved seeing the slideshow that Cassie put together for us. And, seeing everyone that gave us toasts, dancing on the dance floor and enjoying themselves.

We had so much fun the other night bowling that instead of going to a long, fancy dinner, we decided to head back up to Splitsville. Our 1st plan was to go to La Duni in the shops there, but we've really been enjoying our wine room when the girls are gone so before we left we spent some time drinking a bottle of yummy white wine and by the time we were ready to eat it was getting pretty late and we were pretty hungry.  Tim had said that someone he worked with said they had really good sliders at the bowling alley so it didn't take much persuasion to change my mind especially since we knew we'd have at least an hour wait there.  I know, bowling alley food??? Gross!!  But, they had a fantastic menu and I was really impressed with the food we had!

pic of us at home before we left for the night

my "split" wine glass

going for yet another strike :)

i'm in trouble!

really proud of myself in our 1st game beating him by 1 point especially at the 100 mark!!

not too shabby on the 2nd, good job babe!

not so proud on my 3rd but way to go tim...schooled me!

woohoo for me on the 4th

and 5th!  i almost redeemed myself for the total score but tim beat me by 8 points.   boo!! I don't even think it should be allowed since he didn't even break 100!    we're not competitive at all :)

thanks for a fantastic past 9 years baby!!  love you!

Fun Week

We are getting good at playing inside right now since it's over 100 everyday outside.  But, we still get out when we are going stir-crazy and there's always swimming somewhere :)

Avery going on a safari with her camo vest and binoculars...Papa, I think she's almost ready to go hunting!!

Sticky hair makes for great girlie mohawks!

Avery loves her "One Hot Moms" - edamames :)  I keep telling her they are called edamames but she insists they are "one hot moms"...have no idea where she came up with this name.

The collection is complete!  All 6 strawberry shortcake figures, now we're on to the Smurfs.  McDonald's really knows how to market to these little ones :)

Drinking from a straw...her new trick.  Don't mind the nap hair :)  She drank 1/2 of Avery's smoothie at the grocery yesterday.  She was loving it!

Check out this house that got wrapped.  Saw it on a morning run and just had to take a pic.  They did a pretty good job...how did they get it all the way up in the tree??

Hanging out with girlies and their hubbies that we haven't seen in forever!  It was so much fun!!

The 2 princesses having lunch with Nana

Avery walking Ella all around the house.  We are really close to walking on our own!  Watch out!

And, here's a quick video of the munchkin. Don't mind my high-pitched voice in the background...hate it!  I swear she says her name back to me one time but totally on accident, obviously!

Happy 9th Anniversary

Happy 9th Anniversary to the boy who stole my heart in 10th grade who is now the man I married 9 years ago today.  I Love the life I live with you Tim and I couldn't imagine going on this journey with anyone else by my side.  Thank you for making me a Mom to 2 beautiful girls and being the amazing Father that I knew you would always be.  I Love seeing you when I wake up in the morning, seeing you walk through the door when you come home from work and falling asleep next to you every night.  I'm so happy that I get to live this life that you and I have together.  I Love YOU!!!  jules

Just Get Off Your Phone for a Few Minutes!

At Avery's camp, there are 2 ways you can pick up your child...carpool line or go to the front door and pick them up.  Today, I was waiting in the carpool line to pick her up and I saw a Mom get out of her car while on her cell phone and wait by the front door until her kid was brought out by the teacher. 

Now, to myself, I'm thinking, surely she'll finish her call before her kid comes out because by the way her body posture is and how relaxed she looks, it doesn't appear she is on a call that is an emergency.  Obviously, I don't know who she was talking to or what the topic was, but I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that this was not a phone call that she couldn't stop for a few minutes while picking her kid up. 

So, the teacher brings the kid out to her and she grabs his hand with a quick smile, no hello, no hug and walks them to their car while her cell phone is glued to her ear...seriously!!  I'll be honest, I talk on the phone at the house, in the car, when we're out, when the kids are with me but when I'm picking up Avery from school, dance, someones house, etc, I make it a point to be sure I'm off the phone so I can actually greet her.  Another limb here, but I'm pretty sure from seeing the way the other kids look at their moms or dads with giant smiles on their faces, so excited to see them as Avery is me, though they've been having a great time at school or wherever she's been, they get to see the most important person in their lives (right now at least :))  and this mom is talking away on her phone!!  It made me so mad!! 

We expect our kids to be polite and have manners and we should be giving them the respect they deserve when it's their turn.  I am soooooooooo not perfect, but there are just some things that really make me mad and all I really wanted to do was get out of my car and rip the phone out of her hand and tell her to say hello to her kid!  Whew, I don't know where that came from, but I just had to get that off my chest!  Happy Monday :)

Sticker Sleep Chart

The past few weeks, Avery has been waking up in the middle of the night once, twice, several times for no real apparent reason :( Whether it be to have us turn up her noisemaker, ask us how much longer to sleep, or just "nothing", it has gotten seriously annoying and plus, I don't like it when my sleep is messed with for "nothing!"!

So, we moved her noisemaker to her nightstand so she could control the noise and change the sound if she wants but...that didn't work.

After several nights of anxiety-ridden sleep waiting for her to wake me up :),  I decided to try a 5-day sleep sticker chart.  She would get a sticker every morning that she went through the night without calling us up to her room and once she got 5 stickers, we could go pick out a toy.  Stickers, toys...she was totally on board! 

It only took her 6 nights to finish filling all the boxes up on the chart. The 5th night we had a minor setback, but she pulled through on her own last night.  So, since it only took her 6 days, I'm thinking that it's not a sleep problem after all, just a way to make sure that we are still in the house and I don't want it to turn into a crutch.  We'll do another longer sticker chart if we have to!

Here's her chart she heavily decorated!

When I picked her up from camp this afternoon I asked her where she wanted to go to pick out her toy and she asked to go to the Disney store at Stonebriar.  So, off we went and here she is sitting proudly with her new princess figurines!!  It was the 1st thing she saw when we went into the store and even after looking at everything the store had to offer she still wanted it.  Good job baby girl!!! Keep up the good sleeping...PLEASE!

Avery

Avery, Aves, Averson, Avery Jordan, Kiddo, Love...just a few of the names I have for my girl!  I've been thinking how for the past 10 months I religiously write about Ella every when she hits a new month but I haven't really given updates about Avery, so it's my new blog mission to keep you in the loop on what's going on with our "Big Girl!".

She has become so much more independent!  It's what you always want for your kids, and truthfully most of it I'm excited she can do on her own. Brush her teeth, get her own napkins, fork, spoons, fill her water cup, get dressed, put on her own shoes, bring her plate to the counter, entertain herself are just a few.

She loves to bring ALL her toys, and I'm talking ALL her toys out from her playroom and play with them in the living room.  She's really into her kitchen right now and when it's out especially during the time I am making dinner, she will play with it the whole time and the kitchen table will be covered with place settings, food and drinks.  So, we will have not just our meal but "her meal" too. 

She is constantly ready to go somewhere and talks about "where are we going" or "who's coming over" from the moment we wake up to the moment she goes to bed.  And speaking of bed...she now has total control of her noisemaker and sleeps with a lovey just like Ella :)  She listens to the craziest sounds and soooo loud!  Tim and I are a little concerned about her hearing :)

She says some of the funniest things and has the biggest belly laugh that it's hard to not just laugh along with her when she laughs.  A few of her funny comments:

*In the car while listening to the radio...I don't want to listen to the "numbers", I want to listen to the iPod

*Asking Nana a question:  Where did you get that Kitty?? instead of saying Nana

*We only have a girl, but she looks like a boy!

*If something is expensive, she asks if it's expensible

*She's loving edamame right now and for some reason she calls them Hot Mama...Mommy, can I have some more Hot Mama they are so delicious!

Her favorite shows she likes to watch right now are America's Got Talent, Mickey Mouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates, Strawberry Shortcake movies

Still a picky eater but becoming much better.  She's tried and liked, blackberries, raspberries, edamame, spaghetti, lemonade, raspberry lemonade, hummus, kiwis, turkey, veggie burgers, corn, peas, no carrots!, green beans.  And, wants to go to McDonald's everyday.  Not because of the food, but because she is on a mission to get every Strawberry Shortcake doll they have.  She's just one away.  Whatever happened to Chick-fil-A???  I miss it which I can't believe I'm saying!!!  I just can't eat at Mickey D's!

Lately, we've been going by ourselves to the grocery store on Sunday's just the 2 of us or running errands together and though she constantly asks "can i have this or that"  I have a blast just being with her by herself.

She's having a blast at her "camp school" and has made some new friends there.

She is now swimming on her own without any floaties and is able to pick up her head and take a breath and then put it back down.  This is HUGE!!!  And, she's jumping off the diving board on her own without floaties!!  Awesome!  I'm so proud of her.  She is such a little fish.

She LOVES music and has told Tim and I that she wants to play the piano and look at the book while playing.  The other day Tim and I were doing stuff in the kitchen and we looked up at her and she was sitting on the ottoman with the Guitar Hero guitar singing her own song and "playing the guitar".  It was so cute!!  And, she loves to dance for us and with us whenever she can.  She knows how to work the iTouch better than us and she can't even read yet.  She does the iTouch by album cover and song number.  And, she knows how to fully work the receiver and CD player in the living room.

And, though I love her so much, we have our moments several times a day and I can't imgaine what it will be like soon in our future.  I keep telling Tim that maybe she likes me better right now, but just wait...the tides will turn once she becomes a teenager.  I'm crossing my fingers that it's not too bad ;)

Love you Ms. Aves!!