Rhysisms

Rhys to me: Mom, can you hold me? Because you're my mama.



At the park...
Me: Why don't you go play, Rhys?
Rhys: Because that boy over there is freaking me out.
Me: Which boy?
Rhys: I don't know. I can't choose.

On Saturday...

We went to the Italian Art Chalk Festival that was held at Central Market. It was really cool! Artists were doing chalk drawings right on the asphalt. Some were reproductions of Italian Renaissance art and some were original. There was a little area set up for the kids to do their own chalk art. The only downside to the festival was that while we were there, there were two religious fanatics that were screaming at everyone about sin. I'm sure they get lots of converts that way...ha!





After the Chalk Festival, we went to the Powwow. Avery was very into the dancers. It was so cool! Unfortunately it didn't hold Rhys's interest very well, and it was sooooo crowded that we didn't get to stay that long.

Griffy the dog

Halloween

This year, we decided to have a Halloween party here. I was feeling nostalgic for the Halloweens I spent as a kid trick-or-treating with a huge group of family. So we recreated it! It was just as fun as I remembered. Not everyone could come this year, but we still had a nice time. I didn't get my act together to get a costume, but I plan to next year. It was so fun seeing the adults that dressed up.

The kids had a great time trick-or-treating too. Avery was Hermione from Harry Potter, Rhys was a construction foreman, and Griffin was a puppy dog.

Happy Halloween!

Co-op Halloween party

On the Friday before Halloween, we had a celebration for the kids. Everyone wore their costumes and we read Halloween stories, did Halloween crafts, and took a walk through the church's labyrinth. It was great! Unfortunately Griff started to fall apart towards the end, so we had to miss the yummy food. It was still fun!

Latest update

Let's see...Avery just finished up the African drumming class she was taking. She really enjoyed it, but I'm glad that it's over! The class itself was great, but it was very hard to keep Griffin entertained for the hour that she was in the class. I would wait with the boys and the other moms and little siblings at Kerbey Lane, and it somehow always worked out to be right at Griffin's naptime! A cranky baby at a restaurant is not my favorite thing.

Homeschooling has taken a different turn, but it's going very well. We decided to go in more of a child-led direction, because I was feeling too much responsibility and a big reason for our homeschooling is that we want the kids to take charge of their own educations! So, inspired by the American Girl books, we're taking a break from medieval world history to delve into early American history. So far, it's going wonderfully! Avery is very excited to learn about it. She's been reading lots of historical fiction on the time period, then I follow up with some facts and history texts. She is very self-motivated, so I'm not sure why I ever thought I needed to play cruise-director! She's speeding through her handwriting book because I told her that once she finishes it, I'll buy her the one for cursive writing. She can't wait!

She's still a reading machine. Besides the historical fiction, she's been reading Halloween-themed books this week (Harry Potter and The Witch Family) as well as the ever-present Laura books.

Rhys is getting ready to start his big boy gymnastics class without Daddy! He's been ready skill-wise to move out of the parent and tot class for a while now, but he hasn't been emotionally ready. We're still not sure if he's emotionally ready, but we're giving it a shot! I'm a bit nervous....Rhys has spent the majority of the past few weeks outside every waking moment. He lives in the sandbox outside with Jasper. Poor Jasper, Rhys spends a lot of time pouring sand over his poor little doggy head. He's a good sport though, and I think he just really enjoys Rhys's company.

Griffin is getting sooooo close to crawling! He gets up on all fours, pushes both knees forward, then throws himself down on his tummy, propelling himself forward. It gets him across the room surprisingly fast! He also pulled up the other day all by himself! I left the room for a second, and when I returned, he was standing up holding on to the bookcase. Time to babyproof!

"Tick friends"

Last week, we decided to go to a homeschool park day that we don't normally go to. I told Avery that we might not know anyone there, and I asked her if that was ok with her. She said, "Sure! I can just make some tick friends!" I said, "Tick friends? What are those?" She replied, "Those are friends that I meet, and we play and become friends, and then I never see them again."

So when we left the park, I asked her if she had a good time. She said, "Yeah! I made some half-tick friends!" She went on to explain that half-tick friends are friends that she meets and plays with, but only sees maybe once a year.

Fall Fling

This weekend we went to a fall fling at a friend's house. It was a great party - great food and great fun. They had scarecrow stuffing, pumpkin painting, and even a little hayride!

The finished product...

Tie-Dye

Today we tie-dyed! We got a t-shirt for each of us and a pack of onesies for Griff and we had a blast! Bill thought it was only appropriate that we listen to a Jimi Hendrix CD while we tie-dyed. The shirts came out pretty well - especially for our first try. I'll have to try to get some pictures of the finished product tomorrow....

Almost on the move!

Griffin is so close to crawling! He's been getting up on all fours and has even made a few good attempts at motion. He just always ends up collapsing onto his little tummy. Poor little guy - this is a frustrating stage!
But as much as we'd like for him to succeed, we're very skeered! I'm thinking our life will get much tougher once the boy can move!

Halloween preparations

The kids are soooooo excited about Halloween coming, so I felt like we should do something this week to gear up. So I put out some fall decorations, and today we made Halloween cookies.

I discovered the most wonderful lazy Mom product at the grocery store. They now sell ready to bake sugar cookies in sheets, so all you have to do is cut them with cookie cutters and bake them! It even came with icing. Perfect! They made all the Halloween standards: witches, bats, pumpkins, etc, plus some footballs, lions, and dinosaurs. (Those cutters were just too irresistable when we were looking through our cookie cutters. :-))

Get well soon, Nonnie!

Nonnie has been in the hospital this weekend due to some heart problems, and we're all thinking of her. We hope she feels better and gets to come home very soon. We love you, Nonnie!

Griffin, 6 months

This baby is growing too fast! :( He's such a doll, although I might be just a *bit* biased. He's growing like a weed and changing every day. He is sitting very solidly now, and seems to be getting close to crawling. He sure wants to be mobile! He gets very frustrated that he can't quite do it yet. He's interested in everything, and he thinks our cats are just hilarious. He's such a busybody and won't sleep or nurse if there's anything else going on. He feels that he must be involved in the action!

My favorite new thing that he does is give big, wet kisses! He grabs my hair, pulls me to him and gives me a huge, slobbery, French kiss. Baby kisses are the best.

Happy 80th birthday, Meme!

Bill's grandmother Meme turned 80 this month! We went to Lampasas to go to her birthday party, and we had a great time. We hadn't seen the family in a few years, and it was so nice to visit with everyone again. It's such a great family...we definitely need to make more of an effort to get there more regularly. Avery and Rhys got to play with their cousin McKenzie, who is 4. They played and played and played, and were so sorry to leave!

Thomas and his frrrrrrrrrriends...

That's the song Rhys has been singing since we saw Thomas the train on Thursday morning. It was quite the experience for Rhys. Just he and Bill went on the ride, while Avery, Griffin, and I waited. It was really fun for him, and he's been obsessing ever since. They had the train set up outside the convention center, and inside, it was set up as a mecca for Thomas fans. It was actually sort of surreal...every kid there was wearing Thomas shirts and shoes and carrying Thomas backpacks, there was the Thomas music blaring on the PA, a HUGE store with every possible Thomas product, kids screaming and throwing fits about trains they wanted, trains to play with, Thomas Legos, and on and on. We didn't stay long, because I started muttering things under my breath about consumerism and materialism and this being what's wrong with America, so Bill thought it was wise to get me out of there. ;-) (I just recently read a book called "Born to Shop" about marketing and advertising aimed at kids, and, boy, did I get to see that book brought to life!)

Anyway, the train ride itself was definitely worth it, and I'm sure we'll do it again when Griffin is 3. (We also rode the train when Avery was 3.) Rhys has been telling everyone that will listen about it. Oh, and when we were leaving, we saw Thomas depart again, but we didn't see him come back. Rhys is now convinced that he's lost. He keeps saying, "I hope Thomas will be ok...." LOL!

Averyism

I haven't had many Averyisms to record recently. Another sad aspect of kids growing up is that they stop saying such hilarious things. But, Avery supplied me with a good one today.

Avery was doing some work in her handwriting workbook, and I noticed that she made a punctuation mistake. She had written a semi-colon where she was supposed to have copied a comma. I pointed it out, and she said, "Ooooh. It's just supposed to be a comma. I thought it was supposed to be a spastic colon!"

Behind again!

Once again, I find myself weeks behind. I know, I always say it, but we are so incredibly busy! Here's a brief summary of the past couple of weeks: Avery's World Explorer group met to discuss China, and Avery showed two clay figures she made of ancient Chinese people. Avery started an African drumming class every Friday. We've had an open gym at gymnastics and our Friday co-op. Griffin had his 6 month checkup. We went to a birthday party that had a really great magician. We went to Meme's (Bill's grandmother) 80th birthday party. And Rhys and Daddy rode Thomas the train.

I really need to do better about staying on top of my posting, but real life tends to get in the way from time to time....

Baby's first food

Now that Griffin is 6 months, we've been planning to give him some tastes of baby food soon. Unfortunately, he took matters into his own hands, and ate a big wad of Playdoh today! YUCK! So much for being gentle with his little tummy! I can only imagine the salt content...blech!