Avery

Avery had her 4-year old check up last week. When I told her, her first question was if she was going to have to get shots or not. I told her I didn’t know (I really didn’t) but that it would be okay either way. Well that didn’t do it for her and she just didn’t want to go. So I decided I would call and ask. I figured I had a 50-50 shot of her not getting shots and if she didn’t have to it would make the whole thing more pleasant. Well I didn’t get the answer I was wanting. Not only would she have to get shots but at age 4 it is a big round of shots. I told her she would have to get a shot but I didn’t say how many (5! one was her second H1N1). They only way I could get her to go without crying the whole time was to promise McDonalds afterwards. We found out though that she is 39 1/4th inches and 31.9lbs. She is still in the 50% for height!!!! After all that testing we did when she had dropped so much on the growth curve now she is holding strong at 50%! It was great news. The dr was very presently surprised at how well she was doing. He asked if she was starting to “read” 3 letter words and I said yes, “cat, dog, ect.” I also told him that she can read/recognize all of her classmates names. He was pleased! She is just amazing. He is the same dr that helped us through all the stuff with her when she was born. He has been pulling for us/her since her birth.


On a different note Av rode a new horse the other day. Wendy Lou. She was very excited. We had talked about it a lot and so she was excited to meet a new horse and to give him/her treats.

Pictures-Big success!

I decided to try again. I would love if twice a year I could get a great professional pic of the girls. If you remember I tried in Feb and it was a disaster. Av and I both left in tears because she refused to smile for the pics. This time it went great though!!!!!! I didn’t make it a big deal at all. The night before I showed her the cute outfit and told her what we were going to do. I also told her if she didn’t want her pic taken that was fine but we were going and Camille was going to get hers taken and everyone (G&PP, her friends, and Aunt Ann) were going to get a pic of just Camille. That did the trick. She wanted everyone to get a picture of her too. Av wore a black and white skirt that had a red flower on it and a red sweater with white and black ribbon on it. She also wore knee high socks with red bows on them. Camille had on a red sweater dress with big black dots on it, white tights and a white long sleeve shirt. They looked sooooooooooo cute. A couple mothers there asked me where I got their outfits. I also had another outfit for Camille. I wanted to get a funny 1-year-old pic of her. So we got there and we had to wait a bit but the girls were good and played. Finally it was our turn. Avery did so well. They smiled and sat together (kind of, Camille kept trying to run off). I got 2 poses of them together. One picture is a close up that shows off their cute/pretty smiles and one full body of them standing together. Their smiles are not as big on the full body but they are just standing in a way that is totally them. Av has her knees together kind of shyly and Camille is ready to take off. Av refused to smile and get her picture taken by herself. That’s fine. I got what I wanted. For Camille’s second pic I had a pink tutu and a headband with a big pink flower on it. She wore just her diaper and that get-up. Hehehehhe I wanted her little pudgy body to show in the pic. She looked so cute and we had quite the audience while she was posing for these pictures. Everyone was ohhhhhing and ahhhing. After she was done she took off through the store in her tutu and got more ohhhhhs and ahhhhs. She was quite the ham. I need to try and scan the pictures so I can put them on here.

decorating the Christmas tree

Christmas Tree

We had a super weekend! We stayed home on Friday and just played, played and played some more. Friday afternoon the girls and I got out the inside Christmas decorations. They thought that was a blast. There are Santas everywhere and so far Camille has been pretty good about leaving them alone. The girls loved looking at all the Christmas books and Avery was in heaven with her collection of Christmas purses. They think the stockings with their names on them are pretty cool. I asked Av if she was going to fill mine with presents. She said, “no mommy, that’s Santa’s job.” Heheheh she is too smart. On Saturday we got up and headed off to find the perfect Christmas tree. We always head down to the waterfront to where some Christmas tree vendors set up shop. It’s nothing all that special but it’s kind of a tradition for us and it’s always fun by the waterfront. I was determined to get a picture for our Christmas card so I talked to Av a little bit about it. I showed her all our picture cards from the past and she loved looking at her friend’s baby pictures as well as her own. I told her she needed to smile for me when I asked her too. She of course said, “no!” So I told her that was fine but I was going to mail out a picture with or without her and I thought Jackson and Caroline (her bff’s) would be very disappointed to get a picture of just her baby sister. That did the trick! I got better pics of her than I did of Camille. It was a beautiful day. Very cold but sunny and pretty. Avery picked out a great tree and then we headed home for lunch. The girls found it very silly to have a tree in the house. That night we went to the Mason’s house for a full-fledged dinner party. It was a blast and the kids were so good. We were there till 11pm. Camille partied the whole time. I partly felt like a bad mom but she is NEVER up past 8:30 so once in awhile is not going to hurt her. Yesterday we took the kids to the gym. It was Camille’s first time in the day care there. She did pretty well. It was a nice break for mom and dad. John had made chili that morning and after the gym we decided to invite the Shumans over for dinner. Not knowing if we had enough chili or not we decided to turn it into a chili cheese dog party. I decided last night that I don’t eat enough of those. Heheheh boy are they good. Our Christmas tree is still not decorated though. Hopefully tonight that gets done. I hope to get some more cute pictures of the girls.

monkeys climbing on daddy's suitcase

new things Camille is doing

Camille’s talking is all the sudden taken off. She says dog, ball, Jack, more, milk, eat, book, off, up, Avery and a bunch more I can’t think of right now. She knows what a dog and a horse say. She knows her belly, nose, ears feet and hair. She really can get her point across. Last night in the bath I was dumping water on their heads to wet their hair. I put the cup down and she picked it up and handed it back and said more. She has 2 favorite books. She will find them out of all the books, bring it to me and plop down on my lap for me to read it. One is called Little Quack and the other is an Ocean book my Aunt Rosie sent them. Little Quack is nothing special but the Ocean book is a pop up book and each page makes a different ocean sound. It is pretty neat. We read it over and over and over again and she just says more each time. There is a book at hbr that she loves too. She can pick it out just by its spine on the bookshelf. It is a pop up book too. When I put her down for her nap she usually has her socks on but by the time she gets up she has pulled them off. Well yesterday she was wearing tights so when she got up they were all pulled at but she could not get them off. She pointed right to them and said off. There is a yummy Mexican restaurant within walking distance to our house so we are there a lot. It is very kid friendly. We took G&PP this weekend and they were surprised that Camille gets her own dish of salsa and knows just what to do with it and the chips. Everything she knows is learned from watching big sis. What Avery is doing Camille has to be doing it too. My sis said this weekend, “thank goodness Camille has that booty, it balances out her belly.” Hehehehehhe

Graduates

Av will soon be graduating from Mickey to a bigger horse. Miss Becky thinks she is ready to move up and on! Apparently all horses have a different walk and each walk works different muscles for the rider. Av is stronger now and can handle a more aggressive walk. Avery told me that Mickey ran (trotted) while she was riding him the other day. She was very exited.

Camille is graduating from the infant classroom to the explorer (that sure is a nice name for the “I’m into everything!” stage) classroom! She has started to visit her new classroom this week to help get her adjusted. The first time Miss Megan took her to meet her new teachers and classmates she would not let Megan out of her sight. She warmed up though and soon was off playing and exploring her new classroom so much so that Megan was able to leave. Megan said she fit right in with the older kids (not too much older though the ages for that class are 14-20 months). Today Camille was going to head to her new classroom at 10:30 and stay till after lunch. Monday will be her first full day as an explorer. Camille is already doing most of the things in the explorer room i.e. walking, drinking from a sippy cup and napping from 1-3. It will just be getting used to sleeping on a cot and eating at a table on a chair. I wish I could be a fly on the wall sometimes.