Fun in New Orleans

We went to New Orleans to visit Ava, Emma & Sophie at the end of February (we also saw their parents). =) I was woefully terrible at using my camera while we were there, but here's a shot of all the kids, and also a pic of our girls and Mim on the way back home (a random stop off the interstate to use the little pink potty, which turned out to be a beautiful place)!

Snow Day

This winter was a bust. Snow on only 3 days and there was never any snow on the ground by the next morning. But on President's Day, there was some snow about an hour southwest of us so we drove to find it. Mim was visiting and we had a great time! We stopped at the perfect sledding spot ... a little church with a playground. So by the inevitable time that our children were done sledding, there was a playground to use!

Audrey's 5th birthday

Yes, a little late, but I'm going to try to get my act together (again)! She had a gymnastics party with a few friends from school. Very fun! For her actual birthday at home, she requested donuts and that we sing Twinkle, twinkle instead of Happy Birthday. =)

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Avery, the Announcer

We are in New London, CT this week while Iain attends a conference. Yesterday, we were walking around an empty auditorium at the Academy and Avery went up onstage and did a little tap dance for us. This is not abnormal. I asked Audrey if she wanted to go dance. She told me no, so I tried to think of something else she might like to do on the stage. I told her she should pretend to be hosting a conference and she could take questions from the audience. She went up there and asked for questions. Iain asked a question and she answered. Then she asked if anyone else had a question. Avery walked to the microphone on the floor and said, "Yes, thank you very much for that question. Next we will be having a dance and then we would like to invite everyone to a birthday party tomorrow. Have a GREAT day!" It was hysterical. We can only guess that she's been to lectures before and knows how to transition from one subject to another well. =)

My little clone

A few weeks ago, I was asking my mom if I liked to play with dolls when I was small, since both my girls do. She said, "no, you liked to make lists." Sounds really fun, right? =) Well, last week, Audrey found a small piece of cardboard. She came to me and said she needed to use it to make a board for writing. "Like a clipboard?", I asked? She said yes. So I got her a chip clip. She put it on the top, got some paper, clipped it on, and then told me she needed to sign in. And diligently, for 3 days in a row until we left on vacation, she put the date and signed in each day. Hilarious. The following day, she was sitting at the top of the stairs with a pad of paper, and asked me what our problems were for the day. "Problems?" "Yes," she said, "I'm making a list of our problems." So I think I might have another little list-maker on my hands. =)

A busy 2 1/2 weeks for Kai

I can't believe I let time keep getting away from me, but I do, so here's a recap of Kai's busy last couple of weeks ... On Wednesday, he turned 9 months old. He is now 19 lbs, 9 oz and 28.5 inches long (the girls and I liked the repetitive 9's and thought he should have stretched to reach 29 inches ...). =) He started crawling a week and a half ago on Wednesday. Although sometimes he still prefers to stay put, if he's interested in something, he goes. His favorite things are all things electrical. If it's plugged into a wall, he wants to touch it. Seriously. Yesterday, on two separate occasions, he almost pulled a radio on his head and a laptop on his head by pulling on their cords. And he tries to unplug anything and everything. The girls never did this and I obviously need to get my act together to make our house a bit safer for this little adventurer. It has been so warm here this week and we ate dinner outside in the front yard a few nights. The first time, I put our plates on the ground for the picnic. After Kai had beef and noodles and sour cream everywhere in about 10 seconds, Audrey went in and brought him back a jar of baby food, a spoon and a bib. =) And the next night, I got smarter and we ate our dinner on the little table outside while Kai looked on from the grass. =) Kai also now has 4 little teeth poking through and he is quickly becoming a big eater! And yesterday, he learned to clap, and today it seemed that he was just randomly clapping all the time. Very cute (& smart) he is! And for recording other cute things, Audrey's new word is "attackle" ... as in, "Mom, Avery just attackled my baby but my baby just came out of my tummy and she's too little for Avery to be rough." Anyway, Iain and I think the word makes perfect sense so instead of correcting her, we may just submit it to Webster's for inclusion in the next edition. Pictures will be forthcoming ....... =)

2 random things

Kai is so close to crawling. SO close. He routinely moves from sitting to the crawling position, reaches to grab toys (much to Avery's sadness), and then stays there until he eventually either sits back up (in which case he usually scoots himself around on his bottom) or falls flat on his tummy. Anyway, it's tons of fun to watch him and the girls have started getting in front of him, either with a toy or smiling, saying, "come on, Kai. Come on. You can do it." So cute. Yesterday morning, out of the blue and for the first time ever, Audrey called me "mom". Mom. Not Mommy. Not Mamma. Mom. And she has called me that every single time she has addressed me since. I think I am now officially Mom to her. And so I know that kids grow up. But she's not even 5 (yes, it is less than a week away, but still...). Can't I keep Mommy until she's at least 6? Life is good! Tomorrow is Audrey's last day of preschool (both girls were mid-year dropouts). But she is excited! And I am excited! I can't wait to have all 3 of them home with me every day. That's the truth!