Growing Up!

Avelyn just recently turned 4!  Can't believe how much she is growing up.  Why or WHY does time have to go by so quickly?  I know every parent says that, but it really is hard to fathom how fast time goes once you have kids.  All you want to do is just cherish every moment you have with them.  You never know how much time is left.

My crazy creative daughter decided that for her birthday this year, she wanted a yellow, purple, puppy party.  Yup!  They don't make that one readily available.  Thank the Lord for Pinterest!  I got several ideas just from that.  It actually turned out really cute! Here's some of the things that we did:

 The cupcakes I made myself.  Couldn't find anyone to make it that wasn't going to cost me $75+!  They turned out pretty cute!

 Each kid got to adopt a puppy.  We had dog tags for each of them as well as an adoption paper!  The kids LOVED it!









Along with their puppies, kids got a supply bag with Avelyn's Puppy Chow ( Coco Puffs), puppy vitamins (gummy bears), a nap mat (just felt),  & a ball.

Here, kiddos got a makeover themselves!  They got puppy ears, & then face paint to turn them into a dog. We also had puppy tattoos as well.

The kids then took their puppies to the animal hospital where they could check & groom their puppies to make sure they were healthy.

Needless to say, Avelyn was a happy camper!

Puppy Avelyn!











As always, Roan had to show off his groovin' dance moves!  I love this boy!

We also set up a photo prop for their kids to take pictures.  Jeff just made this from a very large box.  Good job hon!

And of course the games!  This was the Pooper Scooper Race.  We divided the kids into two teams.  Each team had a spatula with a chocolate on it.  They had to run through the tunnel, to the wall, & back to give it to the next team member.  This was definitely a hit!

Our version of Duck, Duck, Goose....  Cat, Cat, Dog!

Sweet!

And of course, the men in my life!



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Along with Avelyn's birthday, we decided that it was time to transition her room from her nursery, to her big girl room.  That was exceptionally hard on me.  I cried the last night the rocker was in her room.  How many of you have done that? There's something about being able to rock your little one and have them fall asleep in your arms that just brings peace to the world, even if it just for a moment.  Avelyn was excited though to change her room and of course, what colors did she want?  Yellow & purple!  Here's her room:

 It's hard to tell, but her walls are actually a very pale gray & then everything else is different shades of yellow & purple of course!

The End of Preschool. :(

Avelyn had her last day of preschool last week. It makes me sad she's growing so fast yet I love how she's turning out. Now, I'll admit, she hasn't had the easiest year. Let's just say that Avelyn has a mind of her own. She started off the school year just great and then...well, the diva came out. Avelyn was the very FIRST child to ever look directly into the director of the preschool's eyes and tell her, "NO!". She also REFUSED to make friends because they didn't know how to play how she did. If she did have friends, they were always in the older classes so she wouldn't play with anyone until she was outside for recess and even then, she spent most of the time on the tricycle. I began to really worry about her. Myself as a child was always the perfectionist and cooperative, yes-ma'am, mind the teacher, child so this was completely foreign to me. Well, Avelyn finally started turning around slightly after the beginning of the year. She started warming up to at least the boys in her class. Gage was always her best friend even though she hardly played with him. Then Price was, then Matthew, and so on...Hey I'm not going to complain that they were all boys. They were FRIENDS! Avelyn finally came around to allowing the girls play with her at the end of the year. Progress!!! Even her teacher Ms. Carrie was excited and Avelyn was even willing to do what they all were doing in class. One thing Avelyn is not, is artistic. Does that mean my child is not creative? No way! That girl can create the most beautiful, hilarious, angry stories I've ever heard from any 3 year old. She's quite brilliant at it. She just doesn't like drawing, writing, painting, etc. If she does do something it's fast, sloppy, & thrown together because she just wanted to get it over with. I got very few projects from her throughout the year. I can probably use just my 10 fingers to count the amount of work I got to see. She would only do them if she was in the mood and that only lasted a few minutes. Avelyn always has more important things to do. Again, foreign to me because I love being crafty! I'm learning that my child isn't me and that's OK. Roan might be my little artist. ;)



Here's Avelyn's EOY party! Her picture with her teachers is the best that I could get from her. She was upset that I made her get off the tricycle and no matter what we would try to do to make her smile, this is the best we got. Oh well! Memories!

 

It's The Return of a Slacker Updater!

Well hey there! Been a long time I think. Don't know how I came across my own blog, but I realized that I once did it for a short period of time and thought maybe I should do it again. Soon my family will be moving to a whole other state and it might be an easier way for our family/friends to catch up on us. :) So here's the skinny...we have another child! Yes! Our son Roan. And guess what...he's already over a year old. Yup. And Avelyn, we'll she's nearly 4! That's how bad I am about keeping this thing up. But these kids of mine are absolutely fabulous! Avelyn is one of the smartest, funniest, most challenging 3 year olds I've ever known. She's freakin' brilliant though. Roan is a natural mama's boy, sweetheart, & the calmest kid you meet until he does get upset. Then that Irish temper of his is in full force. Right now, Jeff is up for a promotion through his company and that means we'll be moving to Michigan as soon as they find something for him. This week he flies up there for 7 interviews with 8 people. Does that make any sense? This is supposively all for 1 position. Crazy! The thing is, Jeff is INCREDIBLY smart and he gets angry with me when I tell people that he will be an executive one day for this company. But I KNOW that this will happen because I believe in him that much. Now me, currently I'm technically a "stay at home mommy" but I tutor part time back in Irving with 5th grade math 3 days a week & sub 2 days a week at my daughter's preschool when they need me. I'm pretty much working full time with a few "stay at home mommy" benefits/jobs. I love it though. I love being able to drop everything to be there for my kids, to be room mom for my daughter's class, to snuggle with my kids during rainy days in the middle of the week, but yet still get out and help those students who need me. Things are really good! So, I'm going to keep this short and hopefully try to get back on track. Lord knows I have tons of things going on through my brain anymore and mayble blogging might help get it out there and organized for a change!

Clap! Clap! Clap!

For the last couple of months, Avelyn has been fascinated with watching us clap. At first she just watched us and would laugh. Then last month, she HAD to put her hands on ours while we were clapping. Today...she tried doing it all by herself! Jeff and I were so excited. We got a little bit of it on video to the best of our ability. She's trying so hard. Her little arms just go everywhere. I'm sure it won't take long until she has it down. Enjoy!

Updating EVERYTHING

So here's why I haven't posted in a while: I lost my cord to my camera right after Christmas. I finally found it last week and was so excited, ran downstairs to get my camera and well...lost the camera. On Friday, I was searching under the passenger seat in my car looking for my glasses when what did I find? My camera. I was afraid to blog because I didn't have any pictures to go with the story. Stupid. I know, but that's just how I am.
Since Christmas, there's been a lot going on. Avelyn has been sitting up on her own way before Christmas and now she's "working" on crawling even though she'll be nearly 8 months. I say "working" in quotation marks because she just doesn't want to do it. There's not even trying involved. I can put her down on the floor and PUT her on all fours. She'll wobble for a while, grunt, look at me and then fall and roll over. She HATES being on her tummy. She'd much rather be walking.
She's also go 2 bottom teeth and hopefully soon will have the uppers. I say "soon" because she's not handling this round of teething at all. We were very fortunate with the last two because she had no fever, didn't drool, and hardly complained. She still isn't drooling, thank God (Because Mom can't handle that), but she's had a fever and boy does she complain. She's not acting her normal self. PLEASE pray they come in soon!
Work life has been very hectic. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy teaching. Even teaching 9 kindergarten & 9 1st grade students, I still love teaching. I just don't enjoy the school any more. It definitely makes things harder when you work 45-60 minutes away from where you live and all you want to do is be home with your child. Jeff and I have talked about saving as much as we can so that hopefully in a few years I can stay home. That would be fabulous but definitely going to be hard to do.
Jeff's job is going well but has been very demanding. If you didn't know, he travels to west Texas every week. He use to only be gone 1 night a week, but lately with his schedule it's been 2-3 nights. Let's just say that's been very rough on Mommy (specially while Avelyn's been teething). On a good note, many of Jeff's superiors believe that Jeff will be up in Detroit within the next couple of years. I say that's good because it would me a BIG advancement for him. I'm very proud of my husband and know that he is destined for great things. He thinks that I'm kidding that he'll one day be CEO of Ford, but I'm not. He's too smart not to be. If we do move, we've agreed that I'll stay home at that point (here's to hoping!).
Anyways, there's a ton more, but I hope to be better. Can't make promises though.

My new favorite sound

Like I have said before...I'm the WORST blogger! I know that I do have time to do this, but I always find excuses. Can't tell you why, but I'm constantly finding other things that need to be done. So, I'll try to make this as good as I can.

My little Avelyn has grown up so much! She is now 5 months old and really developing quite a little personality. Today, Jeff and I took my car in to get an oil change. Avelyn waited very patiently for 1 hour 1/2. During that time, she decided to change up her sounds a little bit. Before her thing was to just scream at the top of her lungs like a little bird squaking. Today her new sound was to pierce her lips together and blow. Spit flying every where. I honestly believe it is my favorite sound right now. I know it certainly is hers. She has also enjoyed putting her mouth up to my cheeks and talking into it. I love it! It tickled my cheeks and she was cracking up.
Here's a little clip of what she did...


Avelyn has also turned into quite the little diva (probably Mom made, but...). A couple of weeks ago, we tried taking her to our local department store to get some photos done. We were 3 minutes late for our appointment and the cancelled it. Then they informed us that they only do 10 minute sessions. Who does a 10 minute photo session? I was really irrate with them. Anyways, to get back to the story, Jeff and I decided to do things at home. I set up white sheets as a back drop for her. I made her this adorable (at least I think) tutu and matching headbow. Avelyn absolutely loved it! She was having such a time and loved every minute of it. When we tried to take it off and put her in something else, she threw a fit! Here are the photos to prove it...
Avelyn with her tutu.

Avelyn without her tutu!

Just a little gas!

Ok...so Jeff and I had just finished giving Avelyn her bath and had put on her towel, when Jeff picked her up and Avelyn gave a squishy little fart. It cracked both of us up (yes, we're 12) and when Avelyn saw us laughing she decided to give a little squeak herself. She tried to laugh at the best of her little ability and thought it was hilarious. Then as we're putting on her diaper, she gave another little poot, this time with diaper powder and created a little cloud in the air. Again...laughter errupted. Early this morning though, I could have sworn she tooted and I heard, "squiiirrrreelll" come from her tush. Great birthday present Avelyn! :)