Summer Camp

Parker's last day of speech class was last Tuesday and is officially on Summer vacation...only he doesn't get a "real" summer vacation b/c I'm back to working full time. So he is going to his pre-school full time (during the school year he only goes full time for 1 day and half day the rest of the week). They have a summer camp program, where it's a little more chill and relaxed and there will be lots of fun activities.

Avery started going to the same preschool yesterday. She's still too little to really understand, but I have been "prepping" her for the last month since we've decided to switch her from her home daycare. I've been telling her she's going to start going to a big kid school, she's going to Bubba's school, telling her her teacher's name, practicing her new teacher's name (Ms. Robinson is kinda hard and we've got Ms. Robins down...just gotta get that "son"), and I've been taking her on Monday's when I drop Parker's lunch box and nap bag off and on Wednesdays when Parker doesn't have speech class so that she can get used to the place. Last week she actually started to wonder around Parker's classroom. The great thing too is that we saw Ms. Robinson at my niece's bday party last weekend so Avery got to see and talk to her for a little bit and I reminded Avery who she was. I don't think she fully understood it b/c after our "prepping" sessions she'd start saying "Debbie" (her old nanny) and naming all of her friends from her daycare.

my sweet baby girl is growing up! Parker and I went to Target last week and we bought Avery her lunch box (I've been banned from ordering anything from PBK w/ specific instructions not to buy a lunch box...what's wrong with a $15 lunchbox?!?). Parker was so excited to give it to her and she was so happy to have her own lunch box finally!

Parker was very excited about Avery going to his pre-school and wanted to walk her to class so we dropped her off first. Ms. Robinson showed her her cubby and where to put her lunchbox and she wandered around while I talked to Ms. Robinson. I'm sure Ms. Robinson probably thought I was nuts, but I was really nervous about Avery's first day. This was a big change for her. She went from staying home full time to a home daycare with 4-5 other kids to now going to a pre-school with up to 10 kids. She's going to be napping in a cot with a bunch of kids around her...she has only ever slept in a crib or a pack & play. She only gets about 30 min to eat cher lunch and she eats slower than I do (unless she's starving then she stuffs the whole plate in her mouth). Plus there are 3 year olds in her class (young 3 - Parker was an old 3 and got moved to a different class) and I wondered if she'd get picked on.

this looks a bit like a line up pic the way she's holding that chalkboard. lol

Parker has been waiting for this day for 1 month. I told him that Avery will be a "big girl" soon and go to his preschool so at least 3x per week he'd ask me if Avery was a big girl yet.

Parker's class was still in the "purple door", which is the before care classroom, but Ms. Robinson had already picked her kids up so we dropped Avery off first so Parker could do his "big brother duty" and say "bye" to Ms. Robinson. He cried Thursday night when I told him that he was moving to a different classroom and Ms. Robinson was going to be Avery's teacher. I think he thought they would be in the same class and he whimpered "I just love Ms. Robinson so much!"

Avery leading the way...Ms. Robinson moved from the blue door to the yellow door this summer.

I talked to Ms. Robinson...voiced my concerns about napping. I was really mainly worried that we'd get kicked out after the first day if Avery cried like a maniac, refused to nap, and kept the other kids up. Avery did well until I left to drop Parker off in the orange door. I saw that little chin quiver and I dashed off before it became a full out screaming kinda cry. While helping Parker get settled, I asked one of the aides if she knew where Parker's nap blanket and burpy (plain ol' white burp cloth that we used as a burp cloth when he was a baby and he new uses as a "lovey") was b/c it wasn't sent home last Friday. She looked for it and came back 20 seconds later and told me to hang around in Parker's classroom for a bit b/c Avery was crying and they didn't want her to see me walk by.

Less than 1 min later I was given the ok to leave and I peeked in the yellow door and saw this...and no crying was heard!  

bummed that this is the only pic I took of Parker in his classroom b/c I was pre-occupied with Avery crying, not letting her see me, and finding Parker's blanket and burpy, which we found in the purple classroom and I accidentally changed the setting w/o knowing it. Parker was fine and did well in Ms. Powers' classroom. His friends, Catherine and Jason, from the blue door got moved up with him and his friend, Luke, from speech class was also in his class.

I called to see how Avery was doing, but got the school's voicemail. But Kevin said according to Ms. Brown (the after care teacher), Avery had a pretty good day without a lot of crying, she played, and napped. They also said that Avery saw Parker walking down the hallway with his class and she flew out of her classroom to give him a hug and say hi. I'm sure she was relieved to see him! When I got home, I saw a note that Ms. Robinson wrote (bless her sweet heart, she probably knew I was going nuts at work): "Avery had a wonderful day! A little crying at first, but then played well with the other children." I'm relieved! I hope Avery has a smooth transition into "summer camp" and Parker does well in his new classroom! 

Today, Parker went with me to drop Avery off. She already knew what was going to happen b/c she was practically attached to my leg. She just had a quivering chin and wasn't crying until I bent over to say a quick goodbye and give her a kiss and handed her over to Ms. Robinson. I stayed in Parker's classroom for about 5 min and could hear Avery crying a little bit next door. By the time I walked out she was only letting out a little cry and she was being held by Ms. Robinson's aide and facing away the door. I tiptoed away...and left a little broken piece of my heart behind. I hate how she's crying, but I know she'll be fine soon and will love it at the preschool!

Look Whoo's Two!!!

Avery had an owl themed birthday party last Sunday. One of my sorority's symbols is the owl and Avery's godmother who belongs to a different sorority also has an owl for her sorority's symbol. So Avery was pretty much destined to have owls around her. Her nursery is done in owls, although, I had nothing to do with that. Kevin actually picked out her crib bedding set from Pottery Barn Kids. Avery's godmother also gave her an owl lovey for my baby shower gift and is obsessed with it and NEEDS to hold and cuddle it at night. I was hesitant about doing an owl theme for her party since my sister in law threw me such a fabulous owl themed baby shower already. I know a bit much? I wasn't even going to do an owl theme. I had 2 other ideas, but then I ran across the cutest owl stuff. I did ask Avery to pick her favorite out of the 3 ideas and she kept pointing to the owl picture. I won't say what the other options are since I may use those ideas.

So here's Avery's 2nd birthday told in photos (and captions):

i pinned lots of stuff and pretty much this was the only thing i did...kevin warned me not to take too much on since we would be busy with family coming down and staying with us. i think my version of the pineapple owl turned out pretty cute...best thing is I didn't even have to buy any fruit b/c my mom just happened to bring down 3 whole pineapples and I stole a couple of her grapefruit wedges from her breakfast. I browsed my fridge and found an almost wrinkled lime and the strawberries for the eyes and nose.

i nabbed the birthday girl before she could run off...she wasn't too happy about it!

it was a crazy time and i totally forgot to bring balls, games, and sidewalk chalk for the kiddos so they played red light/green light.

Avery decided she wanted to play too, but was a bit slow

not the best family picture, but at least we got one!

we had pizza, grape jelly meatballs (sounds gross, but oh so yummy!), honeydew, pineapples, veggie straws, chips and queso (it was Cinco de Mayo after all).

i had big plans of making a cute little display of "owl houses" that i painted (see portion of it on the left of this pic), but like i said it was a chaotic morning and i didn't have time so someone just stuck a bird house on each table. the kids had fun stringing them around the bushes in hopes that a bird would hop in. no luck though. i'm going to add the owl houses as decoration for avery's room and i've already promised my nephew that we would paint bird houses soon. poor DD wanted the navy and lime "barn" that i painted, but that was parker's barn that he wants to hang up in the tree outside our kitchen window.

poor Beckett was not feeling good...still so cute though!

mason and avery playing cornhole...

what could be causing the kids to run?!? it's CAKE TIME!!!

Avery got a lift from Daddy since her little legs were going to slow

my aunt is fabulous and makes awesome cookie cakes. she did this owl cookie cake without a mold! i squealed when i saw it! isn't she the cutest thing ever???

she also made these white chocolate cookie pops. they were so soft and so delicious!.

one of Avery's favorite songs is Happy Birthday and she loves to pretend anything and everything is a cake. she often holds books, toy bowls, or just her hands out in front of her and sing Happy Birthday and have you blow out pretend candles. She gets an even bigger kick out of it if you pretend it's her bday. So I was really excited to see what her reaction would be when we all sang to her. Here she is with a shy little smile...I have pics with bigger smiles, but the pics include my other niece and nephew on them so I can't post it. Let's just say she was a very happy girl!

she looks a little bewildered here as if she can't believe she really has a birthday cake (ok cookie cake) in front of her complete with lit candles and we are singing to her.

we sang 2 rounds of happy birthday...not b/c Avery loved it so much, but b/c Owen blew out Avery's candle before Avery got the chance to. Parker's reaction: hand smacked to his forehead and exclaimed "Oh, not again!". lol Parker will never forget that Owen blew out his birthday candles last September...twice. he still mentions it once in a while when we play pretend birthday and laughs about it.

avery got tired of trying to blow out the candles and figured she'd try to snuff it out with her finger. i have a similar photo of her doing this from her 1st bday too!

good job blowing out your candles, baby girl!

i also got a cake from Costco, which aside from my wedding cake (and also from Parker's baby shower and christening) has to be the best cake ever. it's chocolate with chocolate mouse filling. the cake was so moist and the filling is sweet without being too sweet. i don't eat the icing so i can't comment on it. i wanted something simple for avery's cake since the owl was pretty spectacular. i was originally going to do cupcakes, but it would have cost more at Publix for 2 dozen than this ginormous cake that feeds 48. plus part of me didn't want to do cupcakes b/c parker only eats the icing on a cupcake, but will eat sliced cake. avery also pitches a fit if i wipe off some of the icing (i know i'm nuts, but my kids don't need all that icing that's piled high and it just makes a ginormous mess).

time for cookies and cake

big girl eating her birthday cake

owen...all done eating his cake

caleigh savoring every bite of her cake...poor thing wasn't feeling well either

emma and maxwell playing cornhole

what's that the kids are looking at you ask? why it's a dragonfly. before you go all PETA on me, I didn't harm it. i reconnected with my inner child and caught the dragonfly, which i used to do all the time as a child. i showed it to the kids and we let it loose.

emma and owen wanted to chase the dragonfly and catch it again

avery kept going by these bushes and if you go too far in there's some poison ivy so i resulted to "scaring" her and telling her there's big doggies in the bushes...here she is running away from the doggies. it's actually pretty funny, she turns around to look, sees there's no dogs, but runs away anyway while saying "doggie, woof woof" and she usually starts laughing.

play time with Daddy...it starts out all fun and innocent...she loves walking between Daddy's leggs and when he runs towards her and throws his leg over her head. Not sure why, but Parker and Avery laugh so hard when Kevin does this!

then it moves on to Avery wanting to be picked up...

upside down i mean...and she wants Kevin to swing her around like a rag doll

then they bust a move that makes my mommy heart stop and drop to the ground. i swear this little girl is made to be a flyer, but at the rate she's growing there's no way a cheerleading coach will let her fly

kevin's laughing b/c he gets a kick out of seeing me freaked out and avery's laughing b/c she loves this "game" and also b/c she thinks it's hilarious that i'm freaking out

running after Kevin and was literally yelling: "again, Daddy, again!"

they both ignored my threats...Avery loves flying through the air!

...but as you can tell from the expression on her face...she absolutely hates it when you throw her straight up in the air! Parker loves it when you do this to him, but Avery has never liked it except for this one time a couple of months ago at my sister in law's house.

no tears were shed, but she wanted Daddy to cuddle and comfort her. I should mention that I tried to comfort her...me, her mother, who gave birth to her, who was NOT the one who threw her in the air and freaked her out. she let me cuddle her for about 2.5 seconds before reaching for her Daddy. She's def a Daddy's girl and has him wrapped around her little finger!

i decided to take a pic w/ the bday girl b/c the one earlier wasn't so cute...Avery wanted to be silly and not smile and give the camera her "mad face".

then she decided she wanted to close her eyes...no her eyes weren't closed b/c she blinked. she kept her eyes closed for a while...

she finally opened her eyes when Daddy yelled out "a balloon!" and even graced us with a smile...although it would have been great if she was looking at the camera. lol

holding hands as we leave the park...yes Parker walked barefoot (until we got to the end of the sidewalk) b/c his brand new out of the box Sperry's gave him a blister on his heel. i tried to tell him it would hurt his feet and to wear his Crocs or his tennis shoes, but he refused and wanted to wear his new shoes. he is def getting a lot more opinionated on the shoes he wears.

Avery fell asleep 3 min into our 5 min drive home. lol

Avery's reaction when she opened her first gift: "Oh my gah!". Really...she said that! Parker and I say "oh my gosh" way too much!

how did Tita Rachel know that I have been eyeing this owl piggy bank forever??? Thanks for the bills and coins in there!

 Avery loves her new purse and brush from Auntie Sara and Uncle Dan...she can't wait to get into her makeup either!

Avery loves her Tito Ryan and laughed so hard when he kept pretending to fall asleep and snore on her shouldler

avery and maxwell watching Alving and the Chipmunks, which is Avery's new obsession!

in LOVE with Avery's new stool from GG...

Uncle Matt and Linda gave bath themed gifts including a big bottle of Mr. Bubbles. these kiddos LOVE bubble baths...unfortunately for them we usually just have plain bath water or just a little bit of bubbles. But a bottle of Mr. Bubbles means LOTS of bubbles!

Avery did not know what to do with all the bubbles so she figured she might as well try to eat them!

handsome boy!

wearing her very first nightgown...such a big girl thing to do! she was in a silly mood after all the crazy day we had...

last night being a 1 year old!

hugs and kisses from Lola

We ended the night reading Goodnight Moon and you bet I gave her the biggest snuggles and just couldn't stop staring at at my ONE year old as she laid in my arms (a new thing...ever since that crazy sleeping episode I've gotten her to lay across my lap and put her head on my arms as if I was feeding her a bottle). I love that she's letting me cuddle her for a longer time. In the back of my head I think that we are "regressing" b/c I should be thankful that she is fairly easy to put down to sleep and doesn't require any cuddling or rocking. Both kids stopped being rocked at 12-13 months when they were weaned from the bottle. They just didn't want to do it anymore, but now that Avery is willing to cuddle more I am absolutely enjoying every single moment and treasuring each second b/c I know tomorrow night she may decide she doesn't want to cuddle anymore. She does still tell me "bed" and reaches for her crib when she's done cuddling and will fall asleep on her own. The cuddling only lasts a few minutes and I just want to hold on to a little bit of babyhood for just a little while longer. So yes I cuddle her, rain kisses all of her face, pat her little bum as we sing Twinkle Twinkle and hum the made up lullaby that I've hummed to both kids since they were born and we stare at each other's eyes in the semi-darkness of her room and I wonder how lucky I am to be this sweet (and sassy) girl's Mommy...and slightly baffled that the next time I see her she will be TWO!