Our new baby

The title was just to get your attention. We don't have a REAL new baby, but Audrey has been pretending for the last few days that we have a "little tiny baby." And his or her name (it's a girl or boy, depending on the hour) is "Twinkle twinkle little star how I wonder what you are." =)

Happy Father's Day

Iain, we love you! Thank you for being an awesome dad for Audrey & Avery.

Tonight, Audrey said she wanted to "make a concert" and walked down to the bottom of the stairs and sang "I've Been Working on the Railroad" (she needed some help to get started) and then sang the ABC song and Twinkle Twinkle at her loudest volume and without help (well, Avery was her back-up dancer). This is extremely rare for Audrey and it was beautiful (I honestly had no idea she even knew the ABC song and then she belted it out solo, perfectly, from start to finish).

And earlier this afternoon, the girls counted loudly and in unison from one to thirty in Spanish with Iain (they were motivated becase he was putting Dora and Diego tattoos on their arms and they can't pick up the wet napkin until they get to thirty, but that's beside the point).

Anyway, even though they didn't really get that today was Father's Day, I'm just gonna' go ahead and say that these were about the best 2 presents they could have given Iain.

Audrey and Avery, you are a blessing to us. We love you both sooooooo much!

Some Uncle Brantley tendencies

So our girls are 3 and 1 and it looks like they have their Uncle Brantley's arguing genes, since I know they didn't come from me. =)

This started on our trip across the country and now happens about once a day, but it goes something like this:

[We're walking on a sidewalk and we all see a squirrel running.]

Mommy: Avery, was that a squirrel running?
Avery: No.
Audrey: Yes it was.
Avery: No.
Audrey: Yes it was.
Avery: No.
Audrey: Yes it was.

Really? They're going to argue about this? Yep. They are 3 and 1 and they will go back and forth about the most random things and will continue until one of us intervenes. It's hilarious and scary at the same time.

We're East-Coasties Again

We're back! We arrived in the DC metro area last Sunday for a week of househunting. Mim has been here to watch the girls while Iain and I looked at a zillion houses from Vienna to Arlington to Alexandria and back. We found the most perfect house on Thursday and are set to move in the first of August. We also spent a small fortune yesterday on new furniture (for those of you who know us well, you know this has been a long time in coming ... no more Bronco-chewed couch cushions or chairs that are in danger of severely injuring someone). =) Here are some recent pix & video (we spent a couple of days with our cousins Jill, Jeff and Addyson last weekend and had an AWESOME time with them ... thanks guys). Other random pix are the girls dancing in a hotel room in Memphis or Knoxville (can't remember anymore), Aves eating pistachios (that girl is CRAZY for pistachios, and she'll crack her OWN, thank you very much), and the 4 of us in a cave in eastern Tennessee. The video of Avery and Addyson with the chalk was unfortunately cut off just before the most hysterical moment when Avery stood up, yelled "OUT" and then had a little stare-down with Addy. I'm so sad that I missed the moment).

Seminole, OK

I love this place. On a recommendation from one of Iain's fellow pilots in SD, we took a slight detour through Seminole, OK to visit what we heard was "the best children's museum in the country." I was thinking that was probably an overstatement. Nope. The museum is FANTASTIC (though I am a little biased by the fact that it has a working cash register in a little grocery store inside the museum, and I was able to convince Avery to let me take her turn on the register)! The town has a super playground, water park, a Western Sizzlin (which I haven't seen since I was about 10) and some baby geese that swam by us on our museum train ride.

Also, one highlight I forgot to mention in the last post. On Saturday night while in Phoenix, we were putting Avery to bed and I asked her whether she wanted mommy or daddy to tuck her in. She said "Reys", which is what she calls Audrey. Audrey was all over that, though she did say "I can't reach into the crib," so I promised to help her. With some coaching on the exact tucking in procedures, Audrey kissed her and hugged her, told her "Good night, Sweet Dreams, I love you," and I put Avery in the crib and Avery laid right down (which that, by itself, is a miracle). I told Audrey she needed to sing her a song, but Audrey wanted some help. So I started singing Twinkle, Twinkle, but Audrey said "no, not that song. We should sing Jesus loves me." So I started and Audrey started with me in a whisper and by the time we got to the end, she was singing full volume. Then Audrey and I walked away. It was beautiful. Stop reading there if you just want the feel-good version. The next part is that when Avery realized we were gone, she started screaming and I had to go back in and help her finish getting to sleep. But the next night, she asked for Reys to tuck her in again (though the next night, Audrey was kind of over that (she said she'd rather go play), but I convinced her to at least hug and kiss Avery first).

Anyway, here are FINALLY some pix from our trip. Among the pix: Audrey & Avery standing on furniture during the move, Avery at Audrey's dance class the morning we left SD, the fam in front of the meteor crater, playing in a random side yard of a plumbing company in Amarillo, TX where first Audrey used her potty and Avery taught Elmo how to play tag, Audrey & Iain shooting ducks at Bass Pro Shop in OK City, the girls on a 4-wheeler at Bass Pro Shop (we were able to fit an entire vacation into just that one store), the girls about to jump off a ledge together at the OK City Federal Building Memorial Site, some fun at the park, and the cash register/grocery store in action.

Seminole, Oklahoma

Sorry for not getting my act together to get pix up yet. It just seems to be very late by the time we get online each night.

We're currently in Seminole, OK with big plans to see a children's museum and water park tomorrow (we had planned to stay in Oklahoma City tonight but the hotels were full ... who knew OKC was such a hot spot???).

Some highlights so far:

We were in Phoenix on Saturday night at a hotel with a great pool and playground. Really, what else can you ask for?

On Sunday, we drove to Albuquerque, NM. En route, we stopped to see a crater from a meteor that hit a long, long time ago. As we were getting close, we explained to the girls that we were going to see a hole in the ground where a giant rock fell out of the sky a long, long time ago. After we got there and looked at the crater, Audrey said "I guess the rock landed while we were still driving. But I wanted to see the rock land." How to explain a few million years to a 3-year old ........

Today, we saw some amazing beauty of God's creation. I told Iain that I could move to Oklahoma. =)

Avery is learning the Alphabet song. The only letters she really knows are C, S and X, but she sings with gusto through the whole song anyway. It is adorable. I'll try to get some footage.

In case you didn't know (Iain and I only know because Audrey tells us about once an hour), 4 of the Disney princesses have been travelling us this entire trip (well, really following behind us in their pink van). They are Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and Belle. If your kids are looking for them, tell them to check with us. Audrey is keeping close tabs on them.

Both girls are addicted to the in-car DVD players. I don't know if I should say this is a highlight, because it might make us seem like some of "those" parents, but I'm actually patting myself on the back for my forethought in buying them last week! =)

Hopefully pix are coming tomorrow .......

Adios San Diego

We're on our way! The movers came, they packed, they loaded, they left. The condo is clean, the keys are turned in. Iain has had a bucket of water dumped over his head to commemorate his last flight (pix to come) and Audrey finished her last dance class. We drove out of SD at 10:06 this morning and are now in Phoenix. We're homeless for awhile, but we're having a great time so far ... the day was made much better by the presence of a pool and a playground at the hotel. =)

Here's a pic of Iain and Martin just before the flight yesterday. Some pix of our vacation to come tomorrow.