big boy

Everett wants to be right in the action ALL THE TIME. He is right behind his sisters every step of the way. It is too cute to see him as one of the gang. The girls have all the sudden been playing downstairs by themselves a lot (thank you god!!!!) and E is right behind them. He loves being a big boy and loves being with them. So nice to cook dinner tonight and have them all downstairs having fun together!!!

no bugs

We have not had bug problems recently thankfully!! C is back to sleeping in and a much happier camper bc of it.

words

Everett all the sudden is using his words. He really is working really hard and wants to communicate with us. Last night the 3 of them were in the basement (that's a whole other post) and he all the sudden started screaming. Of course I yelled at Camille bc that is 98% of the time his issue. It wasn't so I asked Av. She said she didn't know but only bc she was too busy to really take the time to figure it out. Fine, when I went down there he was doing a great job of telling us why he was mad. He was screaming his version of the word ball bc his ball was on the futon and he could not reach it to get it. So cute. Poor boy he was mad. Today as I was getting dressed I heard, "mommy" (his new fav word). I had to stop to figure out which one of them it was. E has never ever ever called out from his bed. He sleeps and waits and plays with his pacis until I come get him. ALWAYS so this was different. Took me a minute to believe it was him. Sooooo cute. Went in there and he was standing and calling for me. Melted my heart. Hope he does not realize how effective his calling for me was or we will be in trouble in the middle of the night.

amazing avery

Avery has been learning about presidents in school. Today she saw a pic of George Washington and she said, "that's George Washington he was the first president of Kentucky." hehehe I was super impressed she remembered, recognized, recalled and was able to voice what she learned in school days ago. She is super smart. She got another report card. It was the same as usual, mostly satisfactory. The first part of the year she got an NI (needs improvement) in math, last time it was in reading, this time it was in writing. She brought up her reading (this grading period) and math grade (last grading period) so thats super good. Hopefully we can bring up writing wo anything else falling. She's truly an amazing little girl. So thankful she is in my life. She makes me smile everyday. She is strong, stronger than I ever was and I hope she stays that way. No matter anything else that will take her far in life.

day off

Av had a day off of school on Friday so we all took it off. As a family day. We had a blast. We got up on Friday and headed to the Newport aquarium. We had never been. Av really had never even been to an aquarium. Crazy. We had a little lunch at Skyline (when in Rome) and then off we went. We spent a few hours there and all loved it. All Av wanted to see were the sharks. She asked many times when we were going to get to them and then when we did she was scared. hehehe they were scary. They were in a tank all around you and above you. The skimmed the bottom of the tunnel above you and you could reach up and touch the glass. They were close. There were also some sharks called raysharks and they were even scarier. Ugly big things. Sharks have 3 or 4 rows of teeth. I never knew that. After that we headed to the gift shop. J and I usually do not partake in the gift shop but PP&G had sent the kids a little money so they were beyond excited. Av picked out a penguin, C a turtle and E got a little shark. Then it was off to get ice cream. E was running around with his cone and next thing you knew the ice cream was in a puddle on the ground. He could not understand what happened and kept trying to lick where his ice cream used to be. There one minute and gone the next poor thing. He finally gave up and bit into the cone. Something C would never do but he seemed to enjoy that just as much. After ice cream we headed to the hotel to swim before dinner. Swimming in the winter is the best treat. We went to the Hofbrauhaus for dinner. This part was more for mom and dad. We spent a lot of time in the real Hofbrahaus years ago and missed it so much. I LOVE that place. We had to have a stein of course (when in Rome). Then back to the room for the night. After playing for awhile the kids settled in and slept well. The next morning we had a yummy hotel breakfast (we love eating as a fam at hotels for some reason. hehhe) and then went swimming again. It was sooo fun and we are so lucky to be able to do things like that. I love those memories with my crazy bunch!!! I will post pics soon.

little shit

C has been a real terror lately. Bad bad bad (as in hitting and biting her bro and sis and even hitting a kid at school-not good stuff). A lot of it is due to lack of sleep and that is bc of these silly bug dreams she is having. After pulling apart her bed again and giving her a plain blanket so nothing on it can be seen as bugs in the middle of the night she still refused to get in her bed last night. Fine. J got out the pack and play and put it in the basement. Yes her bed is a big girl bed and not a crib and yes she can get out of a pack and play. We told her if she did not go to bed and stay quiet she would have to sleep in the basement in the pack and play by herself. We wanted the alternative to her bed to be as unattractive as possible. She called our bluff and said fine and took off for the basement. We told Av that C was going to sleep in the basement and Av said "ok" in a good riddance type of way. heheh We put her in the pack and play gave her her fav stuffed dog and left. Came upstairs and closed the door. We proceeded to take bets on how long she would stay down there. We both lost. The little shit fell asleep and was fully prepared to sleep down there all night. Ugh. We did carry her upstairs when we went to bed and placed her in her own little bed. She snuggled right in and slept all night. She is trouble though, she is for sure going to be my child that gives me a run for my money. Thank goodness she is as cute as she is and so good other times. The other day she went outside during E's nap and was playing on our swing set/fort all by herself. I was in the kitchen and could see her and thought to myself several times how good she was. heheheh But she is good like that. Loves to be home and loves to be off playing by herself. Such an imagination. I guess you take the good with the bad or should I say the good with the bugs.

Avery

Avery's such a big girl. She loves loves loves school. She comes home so happy and tells me all about her day. She seems to be doing well too. I hope. I now talk weekly to her teacher. So that is helping I think. Told her teacher to be a little tougher on her and hold her to the same standards as the rest of the class. Not sure if that's fully been happening but I hope so. Her report card comes home next week. Hope it's all good. She has been learning about the world and what's on maps and globes and what it all means. It's very cute and she is super smart. Her reading is really coming along too. She has many many many sight words and is doing better at putting her sounds together when sounding out. She has come a long way and I am so proud of her. I can't believe her first year of school is almost over!!!