JOY

I dare you to try not to smile when looking at these.

Oh to be so light that you can sit on a balloon and it not pop!

She was so delighted with her discovery.

Favorite Spot

Our house was built in the 60s. We do not have long, ceiling to floor windows in our house for little ones to look out. We do, however have 2 big bay windows. Avery has discovered this is the next best thing to being outdoors. Perfect timing considering the temperatures are dropping quickly. Unfortunately, I still need to be nearby as I am not convinced she won't fall off the seat part. She is getting better at sitting, so hopefully soon ;) She can also watch her brothers play football if I am not willing or available to be outside too. Ryan is never far away.

My Creative One

Mason has done so well with the addition of one more to our family. He is eager to introduce Avery to anyone we meet. He is a passionate kid (I wrote this when he was 2) and when he is not happy we know it, but for the most part he usually goes with the flow. I am thankful! He is quick to give a smile and a hug (which isn't so cuddly now that he is so big). He is eager to please (most of the time) and compassionate towards others.

Mason is doing so well in school. The academic part does not come as naturally as it did Owen, but socially and emotionally he is loving it. Thankfully he is getting by fine without a whole lot of effort on my part. I need that right now.
He easily gets lost in his own little world, whether it's Legos, battling knights, or his newest love, loom bands. As an artist myself, I can relate. He is SO proud of himself because he just created his "own" bracelet pattern. He is wondering if he should do a youtube video. If you are not familiar with the craze... tons of kid's make video tutorials on how to make different style bracelets. Mason wants to be famous ;) This morning at breakfast I found him counting how many bands it took and drawing this diagram.

Season Change

I am well aware of the fact that Avery has been getting lots of blog space :) Partly because we are connected at the hip, so she is always there. I also don't have to hide behind a big oak tree to take her picture.

This one is fighting the weather change. Whoever said boys don't argue about what to wear to school has never met my son. He is wearing pants in this picture only because it's his punishment for arguing about wearing pants to school the day before.
We are very very lax about what the boys wear to school. Most days they do not match and they look like they just rolled out of bed. We do have a collar shirt rule for Sundays, so there is no arguing about which t-shirt is nice enough for church.
SO when cold weather comes, Owen HATES wearing pants and the arguing begins. Last year, we set a temperature range and we are sticking to it again, but it's killing him and US as he adjusts. The morning temp has to be above 35 and a high of 55 in order to wear pants. This still brings tears. Personally, I think he is crazy, you never have to tell me when to put more clothes on, I HATE being cold.
His natural body temp is so much higher than mine and I am jealous that he stays so warm (even to the touch). I realize it's also the trend and style for boys to wear shorts ALL THE TIME. Today, he is on an outdoor field trip and I have worried about him all day. He is wearing pants and a light jacket. It's only 41 degrees but feels like 35 and we just had snow flurries. UGH!
He can not run as fast in pants. They easily slows him by down 5 mph! Because the school day is only about recess ;)

Queen for a Morning

Remember this post? Well, today Amy gave Avery the royal treatment :) I mentioned to Amy last week that I was struggling to find breakfast foods that Avery would eat. This morning after we both dropped of our boys at preschool (Ryan and her son are in the same class) she had us over for another cooking lesson/taste test. We even went home with a "doggy bag."

We wound up staying all morning. I enjoyed learning more about my (relatively) new friend and she enjoyed being with Avery. Back in Jan. she helped us with some translation questions. It's one thing to see a child on paper, it's another to be in their presence. I could sense Amy was touched by God's goodness. Avery has that effect on a lot of people.