Colonial Williamsburg and Washington DC

I'm a little late with this post, but better late than never, right?!

At the beginning of March, we went on vacation to Colonial Williamsburg and Washington DC. We had a fabulous time! The flights went much better than we expected, and Griffin was truly on his best behavior for the whole trip.

We all loved Williamsburg, but Avery found it particularly fascinating. We bought her a colonial dress right off the bat, complete with a sash and bonnet, so she could really feel like a colonial girl. We all loved seeing all the sights, but Griffin's favorite part was seeing some horses pulling a wagon (ruff, ruff!!). We were so lucky to have such beautiful weather in Williamsburg. It was in the low 70s and sunny -- perfect for us cold weather wimps!

We were less lucky with the weather in DC. It was C-O-L-D! And it was a little longer walk from our hotel to the metro than we expected. But, still, we had a great time. (I think the highlight of the entire trip for Rhys was the many forms of public transportation -- planes, trains, cab, AND bus!) We took the Tourmobile to see all the major sites, and we spent a lot of time at the Smithsonian museums. We went to the American History Museum, Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Hirshorn Art Museum, and the National Gallery. We were lucky enough to be at the National Gallery during a Cezanne exhibit! That was great.

Griffin, 11 months

Griffin has been a busy boy! He got 4 teeth in the past week and learned two new words! In addition to Mama, ruff ruff, and meow, Griffin has started saying, "Biiiii" for Bill (so much for Dada!), and today he pointed at my eye and said, "eye". I was so suprised! As if that wasn't enough, he took a couple of steps! I'm not sure that he really meant to do it, because he seemed surprised when we made a fuss over him. But he'll definitely be walking soon! Why must babies grow so fast?!!

We all live in a....

Girl submarine, a girl submarine, a girl submarine!

--Yellow Submarine song lyrics, according to Rhys

Jim Weiss

On Tuesday this week, we had the great priviledge of attending a performance by the storyteller Jim Weiss. He was absolutely fabulous. Despite his amazing storytelling abilities, Rhys was less than impressed. He spent the entire 2 1/2 hours with his hands over his ears and whining at me. It was too loud for him. Avery and I loved it though, and she spent the entire time finger knitting with a group of girls while they listened. She has a 15 foot knit chain to show for it!

Sick, sick, and more sickness

Will winter ever end?!! I'm so tired of sickness. The kids have had one illness after another for the past couple of months. Last weekend we got to make our third trip to Urgent Care in a month. Avery had a fever and what turned out to be a UTI. (Thank goodness -- an illness that isn't contageous!) Unfortunately, Rhys followed her UTI with a nasty stomach bug. Blech. Poor little guy, he's been just miserable! He seemed to have perked up a little tonight, and managed to hold down a couple of crackers, so hopefully things are improving....They need to, since we're leaving for our vacation on Wednesday morning!

Haircut

At her request (ok, demand), Avery got her hair cut on Thursday. She had a lot cut off, but it turned out very cute! The stylist blow dried her hair straight, so now she wants me to do that every day. Yeah, sure, I'll get right on that! ;-P I can barely get my own hair dried! She'll have to live with her adorable ringlets!

Happy birthday to meeeee!!

Today I turned 29! I had a great day. This morning, I took Avery to get her hair cut (so cute!! I'll take some pictures tomorrow), then we all went to the mall. We spent the afternoon shopping, took Avery to gymnastics, then had lasagna for dinner. Yummmmmm!!!

Loverboy!

On Thursday, we took Rhys to the first meeting of a 3-5 year old group. The kids played at the park, listed to some stories, and made some Valentines crafts. (Rhys *actually* did some art!!) Anyway, he and his little friend Mia were so cute playing together! He kept trying to hold her hand and hug her, and he even stood at the bottom of the slide and waited for her to slide so he could help her down. What a gentleman! ;-)

Ack!

It seems that Avery thinks she 17 -- not 7! She has been talking recently about getting her hair cut short, and I've been dragging my feet. Yesterday I was telling her that I don't really want her to cut her hair because I love her long curls, and she looked at me, and said, "MOM! It's MY hair and MY life!" Unfortunately, she's right! So I made an appointment for her to get her hair cut next week. Pictures to come....

Valentine's Party

On Friday, we had our co-op Valentine's party. The kids exchanged Valentines, and lots of yummy snacks, and did some fun crafts. The highlight for Avery was playing musical chairs, which she had been bugging me about playing for the past week. It was her first time to play, and she was thrilled to win!

RUFF! RUFF!

We dog-sat for Annie, Dad's Cocker Spaniel, this weekend while they went skiing. While she was here, Griffin learned his second "word"! He now barks, "Ruff! Ruff!" whenever we see a 4-legged creature! He's been barking his head off at Jasper and the cats, and he was just beside himself when we saw a pair of Italian Greyhounds at the park.

Curious George

On Monday we went to a friend's house for a Curious George party in anticipation of the movie. The kids had a great time playing and eating lots of goodies, like banana smoothies, banana bread, banana popsicles, and homemade pizza. We're all so excited to go see the movie, but after my experience with taking Griffin with us to see Nanny McPhee, I think I'll wait until Bill stay home with the little troublemaker.

Sweet sister

Last weekend, Griffin was feeling a little sick. He was really crabby, so Avery picked him up and walked him around the living room until he feel asleep! I was so impressed! She now has a new job. ;-)

Week in review

A little update....

After the excitement of Rhys's fall and ER trip, the rest of the week seemed relatively tame. Avery did her normal gymnastics classes, but Rhys had to miss his because of his head. We went to French day with our World Explorers group. Avery gave a short speech about Monet and showed a few of his paintings. We all ate lots of yummy French food - croissants, bread, cheese, crepes, quiche, etc. On Friday we went to a homeschool park day which was fun for all of us. Homeschooling is going well. Avery has been studying about Ben Franklin, who I find incredibly fascinating. We're immersing ourselves as much as possible in colonial history to prepare us for our trip to Virginia and Washington DC next month!

Definitely worth noting: I managed to escape kid-free twice this week! On Wednesday, Mamar watched the kids while Bill and I went to dinner, and on Tuesday, I got to go to a Stitch 'n' Bitch knitting session on Tuesday at a friend's house. My knitting is coming along well. It's not only addicting, but very calming. I find it a great way to wind down after the day. I'm almost finished with a purse that I knitted for Avery, and I've started on a tote bag that will be knitted and felted. I have so many projects I want to do...just too little time to do them! Maybe I can get a nanny to keep the kids so I can craft? ;-)

Our ER trip

Last Sunday, we got to make our first trip to the ER since we've been parents. Rhys fell off the picnic table in our backyard, and hit his head on a concrete block. It was absolutely terrifying, but after a few hours and some Durabond (glue), he's as good as new. Although he tells me he has to sleep on his ear, so the glue doesn't hurt him on his pillow.

Avery was quite traumatized by the whole thing. She was so worried about her brother. She wrote this in her journal while we were at the hospital:

To: Myself
1.One

Tears tears and more. i am so woried. My brother had to prablably get stichies! ther is noooo qwistseon. he has to have got some. it must hert. he was wailing sooooo loud.

I cry soooo tearfuly.

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!

Dress-up

Rhys's favorite activity is dressing up as different characters. He has a great imagination and can make a costume out of anything! I got some new dish towels, and I still haven't been able to use them - Rhys has been hogging them to make capes, hankerchiefs, hats, and more!

Family picture

Update

Once again, I'm way behind! This year, the holidays seem to be kicking my behind. There are just so many details!

We've been busy with our normal stuff. We've also been to a million birthday parties this month. Avery started a bookclub, and we read Goose Girl for our first selection. Rhys watched Star Wars for the first time, and he's hooked. He's spent the last month dressing up in various costumes pretending to be Luke, Yoda, or Darth Vader. Griffin is a busy little bee - crawling and cruising all over the place.

Happy 7th birthday, Avery!!

I can't believe my baby is 7! How did that happen?! It seems like I was just holding her in my arms for the first time....

I think Avery had a nice birthday. I made cupcakes to take to her bookclub meeting. She picked white cake with strawberry icing and blue sprinkles. Yummy. Bill spent the day helping Papa work on putting together our new playscape. In the evening, I took Avery to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We liked it, but we left with about 30 minutes left in the movie. It was starting to get a little too scary, although Avery said, "It's not that I was scared, I just knew what was going to happen so I didn't need to see that part." Uh, huh. Sure. ;-)

Pioneer kids

Last week we volunteered for the first time at Pioneer Farm. We spent the morning at the farm, and we pretty much just wandered around, learning all we could. It was so nice being there. So quiet and peaceful. We all really enjoyed it. Avery and Rhys decided that they'd like to volunteer as much as possible in the house that has the big kitchen. The homemade pumpkin pies they were making while we were there were hard to resist.

We plan to volunteer once a month (me and the kids - Bill will stay home with Griff). They gave us our pioneer costumes, although mine is too small and has to be exchanged. Avery and Rhys love theirs, and I have a hard time getting them to wear anything else! Avery feels like Laura from The Little House on the Prairie, and Rhys keeps saying he's a farmer.

Tooth fairy

This is the note Avery left for the tooth fairy tonight (she lost her 6th tooth):

Dehr tooth fary,
Ar you a boy or a grl? Wat is yor naym? Ar thr lots of fary's? Do you knew Santa-Clos? Do you liv with him? If you liv with him I stil love you. If you answr my cwstoins I thnk you.

P.S. Wil you lhev my tooht? Tnk you.


Translation:

Dear tooth fairy,
Are you a boy or a girl? What is your name? Are there lots of fairies? Do you know Santa Claus? Do you live with him? If you live with him I still love you. If you answer my questions I thank you.

P.S. Will you leave my tooth? Thank you.

I'm in love

Today, I got a new camera. I'm in love. It's so wonderful. It is an early present for Christmas, birthday, Valentine's Day, Easter, Mother's Day, 4th of July, Labor Day...actually, I think it's the last present I'll ever get. But that's ok. I love it just that much. Except, I wouldn't mind a new lens for it. Oh, and another flash. And.... ;-)

Here are some pictures I took today while trying to learn how to use it.