Halloween 2011

The blog has been a little neglected as of late. This is corresponding with Ava and her peaking curiousity and inability to sit still. She is a live wire! She is a combo of our other three kids...curious (and mischivious) like Brooklyn was as a child, I had to call Poison Control practically every month for a year..., the happy, playful nature of Tyler, she is ALWAYS smiling, clapping, or laughing, and the energy of Lily, she does not every stop... Full of energy, motivation and now the capability to walk. She is a triple threat to any plans I may have. So here is an attempt to post a few pictures from our Ward Halloween Party, while Ava wriggles out of her booster seat...

Now that the pictures have downloaded I realize they are not as great as I thought they might be while I was shooting them. :) So, here they are, the cheschire cat was obviously very tired by this time of night, and Harry looked a little uninterested. There was another family that pulled off the whole family in Alice and it was DARLING! Tyler was supposed to be the Mad Hatter, but apparently Party City doesn't have all the costumes in the store that are advertised online. So, last Sat., in a big mess of people, I went off to see what accessories I could use to make a Mad Hatter costume out of. I returned and found that he and Dad had already fixed things, he begged to be Harry Potter and Dad said ok. I relented and abolished my vision of having all the kids be a part of Alice. Oh well... I should've planned better. And I should've remembered to draw on the lighting scar. Come on, MOM! At least this was a trial run and we still have the real Halloween! As if we all need candy from multiple trunk or treats and the real deal...

Ava's 1st Birthday!

Ava is a light and joy to our family!!! We adore her smile with dimples and giant teeth. We want to eat up her squishy arms and legs. We long to hear her 'woody the woodpecker laugh'... She is too curious for her own good. Still doesn't say anything, except mamamamamam, dadadada, and like her Great, great, aunt Sally, she says, "mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm" whenever she sees food! :) Is very mischievious...likes to play itsy bitsy spider.... Stood up without holding onto anything for the very first time today, while opening presents. She got VERY excited about the clothes! (of course, she is my daughter...and a Virgo :) She is pure DELIGHT! We love you Ava, it is a treat to have you in our family!

First Day of School

First day of 1st grade...3rd grade... and last first day of Elementary School for Brooklyn. Once again, we were in a hotel to begin school. All in all, it was a good day, the kids liked their teachers and were happy to get back some of their own personal space! :)

BOOM%^$#!!!!!!!

WOW! We celebrated this Fourth of July in a BIG FUN WAY!!! That was after Jeff had to work all day and I cleaned the house. In the evening, some friends invited us over to BBQ and play. The kids were eagerly anticipating it because they have chickens! :) The birds proved to be very entertaining, the food was delicious, the company was fun and relaxing, and the fireworks were AWESOME. Usually if someone gives me the choice between a big fireworks show and a homemade one in the driveway, I'll choose the big one. However, these were the big ones. I'd never been where we lit off ones as big as a show. The Dad's LOVED every second of it, the big boys (Tyler) loved it even more, and the girls and mama's ooohed and aaahed! The favorite by far was the BIG, BAD, MOTHA. She lived up to her name. It went on and on and on. There were a few injuries with the sparklers, so we will continue those tonight with less kids to navigate around. Ava totally chilled during the show, even with the big bangs, she even fell asleep in the middle of it.

Happy birthday AMERICA. I didn't hear my customary Lee Greenwood tribute, but I am Proud to be an American. I love our Country. And most of all I love the freedoms of this beautiful land.

June 2011- Kankles and more...

To sum it up, we have kept busy so far this summer. We have been traveling to Grandma and Papa's house: Had a picnic and kayaked at Zilker Park. Spent day with Lisa and her adorable kids. Hit up all the shopping (well, not all, I could've kept on going, let's just say all the kids could handle) Austin had to offer. Went to a fun IMAX about baby animals...

The kids joined a swim team, I don't know which is better, them getting the exercise, or me getting to visit with other mom friends. :)

A trip to Oak Alley. Since we moved here Jeff and I caught the Plantation bug and have been to several. This was the biggest and most impressive to look upon. The 28 or so Oaks that were planted in a row 300 years ago, YEP! 300 years ago, were a fantastic sight! They were planted by a French man 100 years before the plantation even existed. Of course, that would make it a natural choice, seeing the beauty. We have been fascinated by the culture here and learned a lot about the history in this part of the country. It is rich in traditional, culture and the amazing spirit of the people here.

Father's Day was fun, it was full of Jeff's favorite food, including his standard berry pie, which I must admit, I have gotten pretty good at making! :)

Last of all, Ava keeps on growing. Gasp! I know, how dare she. It's depressing because she is so precious we want to eat her. I guess I don't always want to be chasing after her to make sure she doesn't eat stuff off the floor. She stands up with help from the furniture now, even with her tree stump kankles. I think she gets more comments on those than anything!

9 months.

She has now been out as long as long as she was in. It seems like 9 months is a major milestone. Especially in terms of food. She can pretty much eat anything now, excluding a very few things. Of course, texture permitting with onlly 3 1/2 teeth.

She loves to be thrown up in the air- dare devil!
She loves to eat and hardly dislikes anything...we hope to keep it that way.
Her hair is out of control and always has a nap in the back.
Her tricks are: clapping and shaking her head- not at the same time.
She loves to stick her pointer finger in my mouth.
Her thighs are thicker than Lily's.
Says mama and dada and a host of other sounds.
She is positively perfect in every way.

NOLA summer 2011

ok, so we went to New Orleans again. We love the place. Amazing architecture, good eats, fun places, a river almost heaving its bounds, what could be better? About the Mississippi river, yes, it was historically high. Almost to the top. Overflowing the Atchafalaya Basin, at least 25 feet higher than normal. Kind of cool to see that. The good thing was, we have had a major drought as of late, which caused the ground to absorb a lot of the water, making it not as high and dangerous as it could have been.

This visit we skipped the French Market, Jackson Square and typical French Quarter walking to do some of the more natural attractions.

Audubon Zoo, which was surprisingly a very beautiful zoo with lots of European like fountains. It was a scorcher though, so after about 2 hours we just steadily walked towards to gate, barely glancing at some animals.

The Insectarium, the largest in the country (impressive) was VERY COOL! Not that we aren't familiar with large and disgusting bugs, living here in the south...but it offered a lot for the kids. Very interactive, a 4D movie, very clever writers for the info. (that always gets a big plus-come on, if it's going to have a "museum type feel" make it fun and interesting. and wow, they did!!! It was hilarious. We also ate bugs. YEP! ate bugs. Tyler, Jeff and I had white chocolate covered crickets, baby ones. Jeff tried the cinnamon sugar wax bugs. I couldn't go that far. They tasted great until I kept feeling like there were legs or parts stuck in between my teeth. I think this was mostly me being paranoid. I needed H2o after that.

The Deep Sea IMAX was entertaining and a great escape from the heat. Learning about cuddle fish was fun too.(the kids favorite--they are hilarious with their love triangle type of behavior) Lots of underwater creatures I had never seen before. Never boring with Jim Carrey narrating. :)

Last of all, the Aquarium. It was great, like any aquarium. Fun to look at the exquisite creatures. This part was unanimously the kids fave. Maybe because they got to pet and feed sting ray... LILY DIED over this. She couldn't get enough. Or the parakeet meet and feed. They each had feed stick and had many, many bird sit on them. That part was cute until one of the ferries honked its massive horn and the bird went haywire!!! They kept flying in low circles all around us. All in all, it was fun.

Also, a drive down the famous St. Charles street in the Garden district kept Jeff and I fascinated. Those homes really are an incredible sight! We just can't get enough of that city.

Bubbles and ruffles.

I don't know what it is about vacation that makes us want to get all the 'cute outfits' ready? Knowing you'll be in pictures? just wanna be cute on vacay? Whatever it is, the sewing machine always comes out. I can't help making fun, ruffly, summery outfits for the girls. Here is a preview of Lily's. Can't wait to take more when we're in New Orleans. :)

SUMMERTIME!--2011

2 more day until that glorious day when school is out. As a mom, this is mixed emotion day. Completely ready to sleep in and relax a little bit with the car pooling, driving, dance lessons...etc. Ready to have my kids back to myself... But, a tiny bit nervous and anxious about having the kids together that long, every day, for 11 weeks. And having the house get messy. And having to referee fights. So, every year, I make a summer list for us to remind us of our summer goals and all the fun things we've been waiting to do.---this doesn't include camps either. These are mostly just things for at home.

GOALS:
1. Teach my kids to work (I envision this every summer and I need to stick to the plan better, last year, living in a hotel did not lend itself to this.)
2. Keep learning- be ready for next year
3. HAVE FUN!

I copied my list from last year and am going to edit the parts the no longer apply and add thoughts I've been collecting the last few months.

1. make popsicles--- include links and recipes later
2. summer movies at mall
3. make fruit juice sno cones
4. grow salt and sugar crystals
5.permanent sand castles-family fun magazine recipe
6. miniature tree houses-family fun magazine
7. water play in back yard-possibly with PVC pipe contraption
8. library--many times!
9. water balloon fights
10. water painting
11. Play dates
12. make magnet ball run---family fun, I think?
13. wii party
14. camp in back yard
15. make fun luggage tags for upcoming trip (s)
16. visit grandma-and leave Brookln for week :)
17. read a book--- many, many books, get use out of the new kindle! :)
18. make home made ice cream
19. make sorbet in blender
20. children's museum lafayette
21. visit Houston and make use of Science Museum pass
22. teach kids to sew their own pajama pants
23. Red's pool and splash pad---bi-weekly
24. Make ugly dolls with the kids, or lala loopsy, which ever they want, this has been a long time coming
25. Eat lunch with Dadda ----All the time, especially Tues. kids eat free at Sicily's
26. side walk art- think Mary Poppins sidewalk art
27. Make dollhouse and furniture out of card board and egg cartons---Family Fun
28. go to the park on a not so humid day
29. fly kite on windy day
30. rainy day- watch movie inside and have popcorn
31. make forts---they still haven't gotten tired of this one
32. Teach them a few easy dinners they can make for the family
33. make new cookie recipes together
34. day trip---pick blueberries?
35. invite cousins to stay for a week
more to come.

10 yrs.

Although I have been treating Brooklyn as if she were almost 10 for a while now, it is hard to believe she has finally reached the decade milestone. She is roughly one third my age. weird. She is so wonderful though. Kind. Helpful. Loving. Smart. Good sister. Eager learner. Hard worker--wait, only if she wants to. Beautiful. so Sweet. I wanted to quickly upload pics from her 10 year old celebration with her girl friends. She has easily made good friends here! At her party we munched on yummy finger foods, petit fours, and had and ice craem sundae instead of cake. We did all natural foot scrubs made of brown sugar and lemon juice, and facials from avocado and yogurt. It was so funny how the girls got all grossed out and squealed, but I know they all LOVED it. We did fancy pedicures with little flowers I glue on, then they each got real pedi flip-flops, which made them feel so grown up. :) At 10, you're practically a teenager. :) Then they all got their sleeping bags out in our living room and watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2. Well, that only held their interest for so long, they started playing board games... so cute. They finally went to bed with another movie and I think dozed off around 12. Such precious little girls, so polite and sweet.

At 10---Brooklyn is into drawing, mostly cartoons, or animals. I actually gave her a Japanese animation learn how to book and she was so thrilled and has already started on something from it. She still takes piano, along with art and dance. She probably loves dance the most. Especially the ballet. She's playing Alice in the Wonderland number. She is an AMAZING helper with Ava, and loves to hold her right when she gets home from school. She has opinions about how she wants her hair cut now. sidenote---At 11 years old I wanted bangts SOOOOO BADDDLY, I can still remember how deperate I was. I had been begging for months, and I had really long hair, finally while we were on vacation in Greece, my mom let me get my bangs cut at the hotel. Well, like mother----like daughter. She has been begging incessantly, which is not really her style. Well, to statisfy her, I just cut a few bangs. She wanted "swoopy" ones. You know, like moms... :) She's so cute.

She is sensitive to others' feelings. Is always up for a good challenge and does sudoku. Math is her favorite subject. We love her so much. I appreciate her quietness! I have realized she is not so "shy" as I used to say, more just a listener, a quiet observer, even though she does hold back, I am glad. It's a wonderful quality to be able to think first. I love her!!!