Griffin, 9 months

Wow, I can't believe that Griffin is 9 months old! Actually, he's almost 10 months! He's a busy little bee...cruising and crawling and getting into everything. He's even started to let go and stand on his own for a couple of seconds at a time -- until he realizes that he's let go and squats down. He also learned to clap this week, which is too cute. He claps for himself all the time. He's quite the adventurous little guy -- actually Danger Boy may be a more appropriate name for him. His goal in life is to unplug things, lick the plug, then stick it back in the outlet. :-/ Oh, and he had an incident a few months ago where he ate a piece of glass. Soooo...needless to say, we have to keep a very close eye on him. Dangerous antics aside, he's such a sweet boy. He's very cuddly and he adores his sister and brother.

Gymnastics update

At the beginning of January, Avery moved up to the Show Team at gymnastics. It's the group that performs for parades, store openings, nursing homes, etc. She's still learning the routine so I'm not sure when her first performance will be, but I'll be sure to post about it. So far, she loves it. We love it a little less. We like how much she enjoys it, but we hate the fact that we practically live at the gym. She's there three evenings a week, for three hours each session. You'd think she'd be sick of it. But no! Every time she gets in the car and I ask how it was, she says enthusiastically, "GREAT!"

We also switched Rhys's gymnastics to a different day, so that we could consolidate our trips to the gym. Now he's goes on one of the days that Avery is there. He loves gymnastics, but he hesitated to change. He really liked being in his old class with his friend Trevor. The only way I could get him to switch was to to put him in Miss Sharon's class. He looooooves Miss Sharon. She was his very first gymnastics teacher, and he thinks she hung the moon. He started her class last week and did great -- until the last 15 minutes. He started sobbing totally out of the blue! Miss Sharon asked what was wrong, and he sobbed, "I'm the only boy!!!!!" Some hugs from Daddy (who was in the lobby) made it all better, but I was so surprised that he cared at all about being the only boy! Miss Sharon was very nice about it, and she told Rhys she'd work on recruiting some more boys for his class. This week he made it through the gymnastics class with no incident, despite the fact that he's still the only boy.

Shiny, happy living room

Last night, after we cleaned up the living room, I asked Rhys to go check and see if it was all clean. He ran in there, and yelled to me, "Yeah, mom! The floor is all shiny now!" I guess carpet shines right up without a truckload of toys spread on it!

Waco Zoo

Last week we went to the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco. We just decided to go in the middle of the day on a whim, which is our favorite way to travel. :-) It's really a pretty good zoo. It was practically empty; I think we only saw a handful of people the whole time we were there. The best part was this slide they have that goes through the river otter habitat. It's clear, so you feel like you're going through the water (yes, both Bill and I did it too!). It was so cool!

Only in Texas...

...can you wear your bathing suit to fish from a playscape in January.

Spelling Bee

Inspired by the National Spelling Bee marathon that we watched on ESPN, the kids have been putting on their own spelling bees all week. They made numbers for the front of their shirts that state their names and ages. Avery is doing pretty well now with spelling, and Rhys is trying hard. Most of Rhys's words seem to include "R2D2". For example, "Rhys, spell cat." Rhys will say, "Cat. KLMDR2D2. Cat." In fact told his sister, "Avery, you need to use more numbers!"

December

December just went by in a blur! We took the entire month off from schoolwork to focus on the festivities surrounding Christmas, and of course, Avery's birthday. We had a great month, and now we're slowly but surely getting back to work.

New Year's Eve

We went to Austin's first First Night celebration. The highlight of the night was the parade at dusk. It was a really fun, but really bizarre parade -- perfect for weirdo Austin.

Christmas morning

We had a wonderful Christmas. Avery got a new American Girl doll (Felicity), which she absolutely adores, and Rhys got a new red lightsaber that he was dying for. They, of course got a bunch of other stuff too, but it all paled in comparison to those two gifts. Griffin got a bunch of stuff too, but it all paled in comparison to the boxes and wrapping paper. :-)

New playscape!

For Christmas, Papa and Ronnie got us a new wooden playscape for our backyard! It's amazing -- and enormous! :-) It took about a week and a half of near constant work for Papa with help from Ronnie and Bill. The kids absolutely love it. They play out there all day long and use the fort to pretend all sorts of things!

Tea Party

For Avery's 7th birthday, Avery requested a traditional English tea party. We served tea, scones, cookies, and finger sandwiches. Instead of cake, we had a chocolate tart. We borrowed real China from various family members, and the kids had a great time at their elegant little party.

Fall Leaves

27-27

Rhys uses his walkie talkies and pretends to be various rescue workers. He always starts his call with, "27-27!" Today he was annoyed with Avery and I heard him yell into his walkie talkie, "27-27! Avery is rude!" Then 30 seconds later, "27-27! Avery is angry!"

Hide & Seek

Today Rhys and Avery were playing hide and seek. Avery hid, and Rhys looked and looked and couldn't find her. He said, "Mom! I have a plan! How 'bout we have no sister! We could just have me and you and Griffin and Daddy!" Although that plan may be tempting on some days ;-), I said, "Hmmm...I don't know about that plan....Do you think that's a good or bad plan?" And Rhys said, "It's a bad plan. We would cry."

Happy 2006!

Wow, 2006 already. This past year has flown by in a flurry of laughter, cries, shouts, new baby smells, lost teeth, temper tantrums, excitement, worry, and joy. We're looking forward to this new year and whatever it may bring. One thing is for sure - things won't be dull! They never are....

To start out our new year, the kids and I each wrote a list of things we'd like to do, learn, try, or see in 2006.

Here's mine:
1. I would like to visit New Mexico this year.
2. I would like to learn how to quilt this year.
3. I would like to visit the ocean this year.
4. I would like to make time to read more books this year.
5. I would like to grow a vegetable garden this year.
6. I would like to practice and learn more French this year.

Avery's list:
1. I would like to try to make a castle this year.
2. I would like to collect leaves in New Mexico this year.
3. I would like to make a clay volcano again this year.
4. I would like to learn how to make a pumpkin pie this year.
5. I would like to learn how to make soap this year.
6. I would like to make a boxcar this year.
7. I would like to sew a dress for my American Girl this year.
8. I'd like to learn how to grow broccoli or sweet potatoes this year.
9. I'd like to go to Galveston this year.

Rhys's list:
1. I'd like to visit Papa more this year.
2. I'd like to play soccer with my dad more this year.
3. I'd like to learn how to grow papayas in our garden this year.
4. I'd like to ton trips to New Mexico and China this year.

Happy New Year!