I'm Baack!

Back online, that is! We are forever grateful to those who have made it possible for us to have the internet for the remainder of the school year. I'm sure I could have survived without it, but I'm glad we don't have to test that theory :)

So, we live in a giant old house that has 43 windows (thanks for counting, Dad. I never would have gotten around to it). We love the space but we're now realizing that we have to HEAT all
that space! And since our bedrooms and bathroom are upstairs and the laundry is in the basement, I get a pretty decent workout everyday, especially if Ava is strapped to me. It takes a lot of calculating, balance, and strength to get a baby and an overflowing basket of laundry from the upstairs to the basement without any injuries. That being said, we really need to find a good chiropractor here.

So Nick is pretty much gone all day. He leaves before we get up (about 7am) and gets home in time for dinner (about 6pm). [I have no idea what he does all day. :D I've heard he goes to classes for a few hours, eats his packed lunch, more classes, studies, plays a little soccer a couple times a week, goes to chapel a few times a day, meetings, co-op shopping.] After dinner he usually has school work, then he and Cade have their nightly routine of reading and praying and singing. Usually I'm putting Ava to sleep so I miss out on it, but sometime soon I'll sneak in and get some pictures. After Cade is in bed, Nick typically sits in Cade's room reading until Cade is asleep. Once Cade's asleep, Nick ventures downstairs to, yup, read some more. Though we don't get to spend much time together, I'm really proud of his focus and scheduling. We just got the timeline and paperwork to start going through to prepare for call this spring. I'm trying not to think about it..it's too nerve-racking!

THE KIDS

They have changed so much in the past month. Here they are passed out on the couch together on move-in day. Cade actually fell asleep eating dinner before we laid him on the couch. Ava passed out shortly after.
Notice he still has a cracker in his hand!

Cade had his 3rd birthday the week after we moved in. We had a great day. It was a Sunday so after church, lunch, and nap the festivities began. He awoke to balloons and streamers in the dining room. You would have thought it was decorated with gold and diamonds the way he went on and on about how beautiful it looked. Then we went and played putt putt golf with surprise visitors Grandma H and Aunt Hannah.

He usually had a good first putt and then on his next turn, he'd place the ball right next to the hole and tap it in. :D

After golfing we headed home for dinner of Annie's mac n cheese with tomatoes (his favorite) and cake! It was my first attempt at decorating a cake and it turned out well! He was so excited to sing happy birthday..to himself :) After dinner he opened presents and we all had a great time!

He's getting so big!

There have been so many new things going on since we moved just one month ago. Not only did he turn 3, but he's been learning and doing many new things. We have a library that is pretty close and we've been getting books on tape for him to listen to. Plugging headphones into the stereo turn it into a great opportunity for quiet time :)
Most days, Ava takes a nap in the morning and Cade and I are usually able to do something together. He had a lot of fun playing with pretend food at Grandma V's so I got the idea to make some out of cardboard. I'm not sure who was having more fun. Actually, I KNOW it was me! I cut pieces of bread, lettuce, cheese, eggs, avocado, veggies, etc. out of empty cardboard boxed. Also plates, a tray, silverware, and lots more. We even made an oven out of a box with knobs that turn. Fruits and popcorn were made out of 'magic nuudles' (basically packing peanuts). We keep adding to his 'kitchen' with empty single serving juice bottles, little cups, and whatever else we find and can recycle. He loves making people meals. I'll set up everything we made and post pictures sometime. Free, easy, fun, educational!! Painting his playfood (wearing a Minnie Mouse bib!)

Cade has suddenly started figuring out how to spell words. It started with him saying words and asking what it started with. Then we would help him sound out the first letter. Eventually he was just doing it on his own. I don't think we've ever even really worked on what the letters sound like other than using Starfall.com in the past. It seems to be working well that he is interested in this so young because at this age, they just accept things as fact and move on. There are so many tricky words that sound like they start with 's' but really start with 'c' or sound like 'k' but start with 'c'. He just askes what it starts with and doesn't seem to mind that it's confusing! Then one day he started hearing other letter sounds in words, usually the last letter. "Cccc, cccc, cat, cat, tttt, tttt...T!!" So then he was trying to figure out the other sounds and very quickly after that he was looking at a word and making each sound. The first word I remember him sounding out and then saying all by himself was 'milk'. I was so excited for him! He was (and still is) basically figuring it out all by himself. He's just using the nearest grownup as a resource :) Again, being young and just accepting things as they are, the silent 'e' isn't even causing a problem. When he sees a word he'll just ask "Is that 'e' quiet or does it make a sound?" IT'S SO CUTE!! He's even started asking if other letters are 'silent or quiet' (usually the letters he's asking about aren't silent, but it sure will make it easier when he finds words that do have other letters that are silent). A week ago he started asking me to spell words to him. He would look around and say "How do you spell book? How do you spell floor? How do you spell baby?". That caused me to remember something I had read in a book about teaching kids to read. We spent the rest of the morning labeling things in his bedroom! He was so excited and jumping around. I would write the word and sound it out as I wrote it or I would just hand the word to him and he would sound it out. A few he figured out all on his own. If it was tricky or he wasn't pronouncing it right, I would just sound it out and say the word without making a big deal. Then he would run to the right object and put the label on it. It was so much fun! Now he will go to a word and either just say it (because the he remembers that the label we put on his tractor says 'tractor') or he will sound out the letters to figure out the word. It's great because he has the added help of seeing them everyday and memorizing what the words look like. It was so much fun that the next day we put labels in the bathroom. And Nick used it as a 'learning opportunity' when he and Cade discovered that I had spelled 'toilet' wrong. Twice.















I hear him in his room running around to each label reading it or sometimes just sounding out the letters. It's so much fun and the labeling was free, easy, fun, and educational! Just like the playfood! And I didn't even plan it. He basically tells me what he is interested in and we find a way to make it work.



So another awesome thing that he has taught himself is coloring inside the lines. I have always struggled with watching him color! I would try to hide my frustration, but he would just scribble on the page or when we went to Toddler Time at the library, he was more concerned with making a few marks with EVERY crayon. Even at home he would ask me to color with him and he just wanted to scribble on several pages even though I wanted to work on a picture until it was complete! I don't think it was a matter of dexterity because he has been able to draw a few shapes and letters for a while. This was just one of those examples that every kid learns at his own pace and in his own way. And in Cade's case, he just kind of does it on his own! Today I wandered into his room where he was sitting very quietly at his table with a math book and crayon. He asked me what he was supposed to do on the page he had open in the book. "Color the object in each row that is the smallest." I stood there watching him carefully color a small butterfly. He completely filled in each tiny section of the wings with his crayon. At first I thought maybe it was just a one time thing, but then he moved onto the next row and again, carefully filled in the picture. I was shocked!! I couldn't get over it. I kept complimenting him and telling him how amazing he was doing. He really didn't seem to think it was a big deal, but I certainly did! So I did what any proud mama would do and I ran to get the camera!





Miss Ava. She always has a smile on her face. Even when she's fussing and cranky I can get her to give a big grin. She celebrated her 1/2 birthday last week. A few weeks ago she decided she could sit up all by herself! She still tips over sometimes, but she doesn't seem to mind because she rolls right onto her belly and starts swimming. I'm excited for her to start crawling. I know I'll probably regret saying that because that means we might have to learn how to baby proof! Cade was much older when he started moving around and he was able to understand 'no'. Plus we have 2 staircases here!














It's really fun having a little girl. I HATED wearing tights when I was little (heck, I still hate it) and vowed I would never do that to MY child. Yeah, every Sunday she wears them with a DRESS! Look at her, though. Clearly she doesn't mind. And they are nice and soft, not like the scratchy horrid things I had to wear :)



She loves chewing on EVERYTHING and seems to have exceptionally long arms. I call her my little clepto because she will swipe things off the table or counter and have it in her mouth before I even realize she can reach it.

A couple weeks ago we hung up what we call the jumper seat. She loves the freedom! And, as you can see, she's gotten pretty good at it. It's so hilarious to see such a tiny person hopping up and down.




Ava's spitting up problem has gotten MUCH better since I stopped eating dairy. She still spits up, but it's a normal amount and not so often now. So, hopefully she outgrows it because I really miss my chocolate and cheese.

As you can see in the picture waaay up at the top of the post, Ava loves her mei tai baby carrier. I got it for Cade 3 years ago on Ebay and it's been worth MORE than the $20 I paid for it. 85% of Ava's naps and bedtimes start in the mei tai. Maybe it's a bad habit that has started since she struggles to fall asleep if she's not in it, but it's also quite handy when I have things to do and can't spend much time trying to 'convince' her to go to sleep. It's fantastic; it takes the weight off my arms and spreads it across my back and hips so I can carry her much easier and for much longer!

No teeth yet, though I'm pretty sure she's been working on them for about 4 months now! Always chewing and slobbering.

Cade and Ava absolutely love each other. Cade loves 'watching her' for me and hugging her and making her laugh. Ava thinks he's the coolest thing. She always smiles at him and gets so excited when we see him after she's been sleeping.


So, I'm aware that this should have been like 5 separate posts, but I figured I'd take the whole day and update on the past few months! And if you really made it this far, geesh, you must actually be interested in my family, so I'll throw in a little about me! I'm really enjoying the scheduled life that Nick has, though I know it will soon be over and I'll never know when he's coming or going. I've started having somewhat of a schedule, too (gasp!) and I usually have dinner ready and waiting, or at least started by the time Nick gets home (double gasp!!!). I really used to just fly by the seat of my pants :) before. Typically it would be 7 pm and we'd all be hungry so then I'd start to come up with an idea for dinner. Not smart. Maybe someday I'll even start getting up before the kids so I can get things done. And then maaaaaybe even have a bedtime! Naawww.. I'm taking a seminary wives' class on Tuesday nights for 2 hours. It's been interesting and also a challenge because I bring Ava with me. We live about 25 minutes from the seminary, so it's a huge event, especially because it's dark when we come back and she doesn't appreciate riding in the dark. In my free time (read: time I should be doing housework or sleeping) I've jumped back into making polymer clay animals for my Etsy site. It's really enjoyable and I'll have to blog just about that sometime! Here's my newest group.
And here's a photo of my office. The picture really doesn't do it justice. It feels very open and when the blinds are up on a sunny day, fabulous. It's on the second story of our house so I like to sit and look out over the houses and people on our street. It's really a work in progress that may get finished right about the time we are ready to move out! My actual art desk is still in pieces and there is only one outlet in the room that has to be shared by my toaster oven, 2 lamps, and computer. I love it and hope I can have one just like it when we move again.

Well, thanks for reading all the way to the bottom, because I am SURE you did :) I'll be posting again soon and more often from now on. Promise.