Monday, November 17, 2014

Fall pics

Here are some pictures from the last couple of months...
 


It's the little things in life (like using a small shopping cart) that bring so much joy!




Gracie is getting old and this picture proves it :(.  She drives me crazy with her neediness but I love her.

She doesn't quite comprehend the function of a bowl.



Avery LOVES to get random books from the nonfiction section of the library.  The more facts the better.  Her latest selection was a book about the human body that had facts about DNA, WBC's, etc.  Bill about dies from boredom while reading these books to her at bedtime.  I sent him this picture when Ave selected it at the library.  It got vetoed right away. :)





This girl works up a sweat while playing!

Avery loves doing science experiments and asks me to do them with her all of the time.
 


Mischevious girl


Just a normal night at our house.




 

Elsa ballet class


 

This is what happens when Chloe tries to feed herself yogurt.  It didn't end well!
 
Last but not least, our Chlo girl is a walker now!  She has been taking steps for over a month now but has really started walking more than crawling lately.  I don't have any great shots of her in sequence but here are a couple I've gotten recently.
 
 

Sea World

At the beginning of October, we went to San Antonio with my family.  Our main goal was to go to Sea World again.  We went when Avery was two, and a lot has changed since then!
 
There ended up being a half marathon going on Saturday, the day we planned to go to Sea World.  Big crowds with small children did not sound fun so we changed our plans to go Friday afternoon.
 
There were some room issues so we hung out in the lobby for a while after arriving. 
 
Avery and Sophia found a little library area where they "read" many books.
 
 
After getting it sorted out, we headed to Sea World!  Avery LOVED riding in the shuddle that took us to the park.
 

Checking out the dolphins!
 
We had to check out the aquarium.  The girls really wanted to get a good view.
 




Ave's favorite- the flamingos!



 
We saw three shows and Chloe was such a champ during them all! 
 
I knew that Sea World was having some Halloween thing going on in the evening, but I had no clue it would a) start so early and b) be SO creepy.  We were walking around at 6:30 and started seeing people dressed up in the scariest costumes moaning and making awful noises.
 
Exhibit A

Exhibit B

Exhibit C
Avery is at the prime age for nightmares so Bill was holding her and trying to distract her away from the people.  I had no idea they would be coming out so early.  We were going as fast as we could to get out of that area of the park.  One guy thought it was a good idea to come right behind Bill (holding our FOUR YEAR OLD) and start moaning and following us.  I may or may not have yelled loudly, "What are you doing?!? Do you not see we have small kids with us?!?  GO AWAY!!!"
 
We finally returned to the more kid friendly part of the park to ride the carousel before heading to the hotel.  Well, wouldn't you know that as soon as we got on the ride after waiting in line for a while, the carousel wouldn't start.  Avery was not happy as evidenced by the following picture. 
 


Trying to talk her off the ledge.
 Then, we got off and it magically started running again.  How wonderful.  Wish that would have happened oh say one minute before!
 
 
We finally got back on, and Avery got to ride her beloved carousel.  After a quick funnel cake (which later resulted in a major blood sugar drop and vomiting in the corner of our hotel room so I didn't wake the kids) we went back and put the girls to sleep!  What a special day full of highs and lows!  We really did make a lot of fun memories and some interesting ones as well!
 
The next morning, we started the day with the College Game Day song.  I'm sure Bill is so proud that this is Avery's favorite way to start her Saturdays!
 
 
We relaxed during the day and then went to dinner.  After dinner, we put the girls to bed in the suite that my parents and Kelly and Andrew were sharing.  We played some games like we used to in our pre-kids days.
 
Chloe and Avery played with the dice before bedtime.  Chlo girl was a little too good at rolling them especially since it was her first time!
 On Sunday, we all met for breakfast, went to a park, and then left for home. 
 
Packing up with Grandpa
 
We made lots of memories on our trip!  If I'm being totally honest, I was wiped afterwards.  It is hard traveling with kids- especially one that doesn't walk yet but wants to be everywhere!  Mix that in with trying to coordinate our schedule with everyone else's, and I was ready for a long nap.  It was nice being with my family longer than just a couple of hours, though, and I know that as kids get older, it will be easier.  The kids definitely had a blast because Avery still talks about it!


Monday, November 3, 2014

Footed Pj's

 
During our awful month of sleep, I came across and ordered our miracle sleep sack, the Zipadee-zip.  It served us well, gave us many nights of wonderful rest, and brought the sanity back into our lives.  It even was a featured product on The Shark Tank this fall and has become really successful.  The website recommended keeping children in it until they transitioned to a bed but I didn't want to wait that long.  She was wearing a large one around her 1st birthday, and it was so loose that I figured it wouldn't be too hard to transition out of it. 
 
To be honest, the main reason why I wanted to get rid of it was to see my cutie pie in pj's.  There's not much I love more than a little one in footed pajamas.  SO PRECIOUS!  About a week after Chloe turned one, I took the plunge and never looked back.  It was not a big deal at all, and I adore seeing her look so comfy in her pj's.  I'm tempted to have her wear them all day every day but I know that is not socially acceptable :). 

 
When Chloe started wearing them, Avery decided that she needed to wear them too.  For so long she would only wear nightgowns to bed.  Not anymore!  She shoved her little body in size 3T old footed fleece pair.  They were snug as could be but she was happy!
 

 

 
Since Chloe needed some more pj's, I ordered the girls matching ones.  The first night that I put them on the girls after bath, this happened...



 



 
A blur of green and owls.  Chloe is no shy, dainty girl.  She loves to tackle and wrestle Ave and definitely holds her own.  I love watching them play together.  It warms my heart!
 
Another benefit of being out of the sleep sack is going into my girl's room to find things like this...
 
 
 
This just feels like one more step to having a big girl!