It was a good day

Last night I slept good. Better than I have in several nights. Avery is teething, so she has been waking up several times (like 5-7 times!) at night. She just cries and cries and tosses and turns. She starts off in the crib, but I always end up bringing her to bed with me. Anyway, last night she slept until 3am! Glory be, I slept four hours straight! I haven't done that in months. After that, she woke at 5 and then at 7. So she only woke three times! It was great.

So we were all in a pretty good mood today. Emily and Avery played together. It was so fun to watch them. Especially since I thought Emily would hate Avery forever. Emily was playing on her slide and Avery was underneath it and Emily would peek over the edge or through the steps and say, "Boo!" and Avery would scream with glee! So fun. And Emily was so happy that she was making Avery happy.

While I was on the floor changing Avery's diaper, Emily exclaimed, "Momma! There's a booger on your computer!" I asked her, "How'd it get there?" and she said, "I put it there." At least she's honest.

My Little Gymnast

We signed Emily up for a gymnastics class. We basically wanted her to go and socialize and learn to listen to instructions. She came away from the class having done just that! She enjoyed each class, learned to listen better (a little), AND she can jump off the balance beam, which is something she couldn't do when she first started. Needless to say, we're signing her up for the next semester in hopes that she'll learn to listen EVEN BETTER and that she'll make more friends!

(Plus, it gets me out of the house at least once a week)

The first part of class is, of course, the warm up. They run around and gallop and have a good time.
I think she really likes this little boy. His name is Landry. She talks about him during the week.

She can hang on that bar longer than I can...

Look how her toes are gripping that beam!

Ta-dah!!! She just finished her floor routine, which was a jumping forward roll onto a wedge (which basically helps her roll forward. It's shaped like a cheese wedge.), then a donkey kick that will eventually turn into a hand stand when she gets stronger, a monkey kick that will morph into a cartwheel, a crab walk, and it ended with an assisted backward roll. She told the instructor that she wanted to do it by herself, which she did until the backward roll. Big stuff!

The kids were awarded a medal at the end of the "show". She wore it all day that day. We actually need to sew the medal back on to the ribbon.

So, what do you think? Is she proud???

The Mouths of Babes

I absolutely love watching my girls' mouths when they're concentrating. Their lips pucker and move and smirk. I could watch their mouths all day long.

I bought Emily a puzzle that helps with spelling. You put the picture together and the letters on each piece spell out what the picture is. Emily LOVES puzzles, so I thought this would be a fun way for her to learn about spelling. She's even learning about lower-case letters, that they're different than upper-case letters, something I hadn't talked to her about yet. Anyway, she'll put the picture together and then spell the word out, "C-A-R! That spells car!" She had the fox picture put together and she spelled it out: "F-O-X! That spells coyote!" I guess the fox looked like a coyote...

Great Family Day

The other day we went to ride the train at Trinity Park. So much fun!

Emily kept saying how "awesome" it was!

At the halfway point, we stopped at a depot and got some popcorn.

Emily ate half of her popcorn and decided she wanted to feed the turtles. We had seen some turtles in the river during the train ride. We stopped over at the Botanical Gardens and fed the rest of the popcorn to the turtles and fish. I have to say that was The Best dollar we've ever spent! It was so much fun!

There was a turtle there that had to have been a hundred years old at least. He was digging the popcorn.

Emily gladly shared her popcorn with some kids.

That's the last of it!

So cool! He posed like that for a minute or two. I think he thought I had food. "Duuude, gimme some food!"

It was a grand day out.

...right, Avery?

Emily's Garden

There are many things I love about Target, but I think my very favorite part is the dollar section. It's the first place we come to as we walk in the door, and sometimes it's the only place I visit in the store. We found these cute little flower pots in the dollar section. It's a mini garden kit that includes the flower pot, soil, and seeds. All you do is add love. And water.

We had so much fun getting dirty and planting our little garden.

Emily did a lot of the work (and the mess).

We planted daisies (my favorite!), sunflowers, clovers (for St. Patty's), and lavender.

We lined them up in the kitchen window so we can watch them grow!

And look! It's already starting to grow! This is after four days!

And this is six days later!

We are also working on our vegetable garden on our patio. We found some mushrooms growing in our tomatoes...

Oh My Stars

She's testing me. And I'm failing. Anyone have some Cliff's Notes I could borrow? I really stink at this parenting thing. And I need help.
She has this stubborn streak. And she's not afraid to use it. In public.

Pictures

Wow, a lot has happened since I last posted photos!

Avery turned three months old! She's a cutie! She smiles so much now. She is improving on tummy time and is even grabbing at her toys.

Emily got her hair cut! Her ends (where all the curl was) were dry and splitting.

My friend, Pea, cut her hair. She did a great job and Emily's hair is healthier looking now. I was sad to see the curls go. I saved a lock!

Awww, I love these daddy/daughter moments...

There is a bird in our neighbor's window that I think is a momma. There is a nest and I'm hoping there are egg babies! Emily named the bird "Flowette." Sweet. I hope we can keep an eye on them and watch the family grow! This is a picture of the happy couple.

Avery loves the Bumbo! She loves the vantage point.

Look at her cute socks!

Oh, and big news over at the Big Steps blog. This is a private blog, so if you'd like to read about our potty training efforts, leave me your email in the comments section. (If you don't want it published, leave it in a separate comment and I won't publish it!)

Sisters

I had a really good little photo session with the girls the other day. I was trying to get Emily playing the guitar for a photo idea I had. Avery had a good time watching...
She absolutely LOVES to watch Emily, whatever she may be doing.

And even though Emily avoids Avery as much as she can, she has moments like this where she'll give her a kiss or a hug, but only if someone else comes up with the idea.

Kite Flying in January!

We've had some nice weather these past couple of days. And some not-so-nice weather, as a matter of fact. But we'll just talk about the nice days. We took a trip to the park to fly a kite. And we wore shorts! Don't you want to live here? Come on!

Tent

Emily made a tent out of a couple of blankets and the coffee table the other day. In a rare moment of generosity, she invited Avery into her tent to play, too! Daddy and I were SHOCKED!!! I mean, Emily barely acknowledges Avery, much less goes near her. So when she invited her to play with her, it was a great moment!
And then Avery touched Emily hair. Heaven forbid!

"She's pulling my hair!"

Christmas with the Crankies

Well, not all were cranky. Just some. Just one. Just Avery.

Emily came out of the bedroom and seemed very overwhelmed by what she saw under the tree. She just kind of stood there...
I don't think she was quite awake. And I'm sure she was wondering what was with all the cameras.

But she recovered quickly and tore into her gifts! Avery lay there like a slug. It was her only defense.

Grandpa Hill spent some time telling Emily some stories. Rob was able to capture some really sweet moments of them together.

In this photo, he was telling her the story about the Three Little Pigs and he was at the part where the Big Bad Wolf blows their house down.