Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Tea Party

Most mornings after breakfast, this is what I find my two babies doing...

Avery and Spencer love having tea parties together. I love having the memories of watching them together (and snapping the photos for proof later!), I hope they are always this close.

Speaking of being close...the kids had their 3 year and 18 month check ups this week. Spencer is only 4 inches shorter than Avery now and only 2.5 lbs lighter! The doctor said he will be passing her soon!

Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Blue Skies Smilin' At Me

Well, smilin' at anyone lucky enough to be in this unseasonably warm weather!

The kids can sense the rarity that this weather is.

So I'm constantly bugged to go outside.

I don't mind, it's great weather to bring out the sidewalk chalk.

Look mom, it's warm enough not to wear a coat!

Getting to play with a new bubble wand in November...

Priceless!

Priceless, times 2!

In unrelated weather updates: Avery is officially potty trained!! She has started ballet and tennis lessons and Spencer has started swim lessons (pics of all to come). We're busy around here, and hopefully it will keep my mind off the impending winter still to come!

Monday, November 1, 2010

There once was a witch and a robot...

ZOO HALLOWEEN
We started our Halloween by meeting my mom and stepdad at the zoo for their Halloween celebration.

A quick family pic before we head in for the fun!

I think Avery was a pretty darn cute witch:) She insisted on carrying this treat bag at all times-it's almost as big as she is!

Our very adorable little robot. Spencer spent the majority of the 2 hours we were there walking, not riding in the stroller-he's getting so big!

The zoo always does the coolest things with pumpkins/gourds/squash. This is just one of many examples.

The kids playing in the maze.

Meeting Broomhilda, the friendly witch:)

Taking a popcorn break-with my kids, there must always be popcorn!

A picture with grandma and pop pop.

Grandma escorted Avery on her pony ride.

Avery and Spencer on the giant pumpkin:)

Avery was excited about the Dora decorated pumpkins!

At the end, Avery got to pick out her own little pumpkin.

NEIGHBORHOOD TRICK-OR-TREATING
We initially weren't going to do the neighborhood trick-or-treating thing because, well, mommy is paranoid about strangers. But we know most of the people around us and our neighborhood is really safe, so we headed out to take a spin around our block.

They're off. Spencer did a whole lot more walking during this trick-or-treat session too (we were out for an hour!). I like to measure my kids on how big they're getting based on how much they can walk around by themselves without having to ride in the stroller:)

Spencer had to be carried a bit by daddy though because he got a little slow and wanted to wander!

A quick picture with mommy:)

We had a very nice Halloween day with the kids. It was a lovely family day. The weather was sort of chilly, but it was a beautiful sunny day the entire day so we were lucky!

Hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween weekend celebrations!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Avery's Candy Shoppe

Saturday we had Avery's 3rd birthday party. I'm glad I was distracted by the party and missed out on watching the poor showing the Irish made against Navy. The party was a lot of fun and guests got to take home goody bags of candy-which everyone, even adults, seemed pretty happy about:)

Some candy centerpieces.

More candy:)

The birthday banner and decorative candy pieces.

Natalie and Matt talking to Jake on skype! We were so glad Jake's girlfriend and best friend were able to come celebrate with us. Technology is awesome! Jake stayed up very late (say, 2 o'clock in the morning) to skype in for the whole party! Everyone got to talk to him and he stayed through presents and cake:)

The kids watching some Dora.

Avery loved the #3 sparkler on her cake. It was pretty cool, but I had to keep her from getting too close trying to blow it out!

Spencer got some books (from mommy and daddy) and a little toy drum (from great grandma) as "unbirthday" presents.

Opening her Leapster 2 from grandma and grandpa wetmore.

Showing Uncle Jake her pillow pet. After she'd open a gift, she'd run over to Jake to show him and tell him all about it:)!

Very interested in one of her cards.

Getting Uno Moo from Aunt Cimmy and Brian!

Looking at pictures of herself with Great Aunt Beverly, Great Uncle Ron, Great Aunt Bonnie and 3rd cousin, Lauren.

Giving cousin Garrett hugs good-bye!

The birthday girl and mommy after one very long day! We had a great time with everyone and so thankful to have family and friends who wanted to celebrate our princess turning 3!


Thursday, October 21, 2010

3 Year Pictures

Just a sampling of the pictures we had taken of Avery for her 3 year pics. Avery was really working the camera-hands on the hips was her favorite pose, she's got sass! They even snapped a few of Spencer because he was so cute:)












Monday, October 18, 2010

A Very Special 3rd Birthday!


Since Avery's party isn't until next weekend, but her actual birthday was yesterday, we decided on a quick trip to Indy to celebrate her day just the four of us. We're all pretty tired today from jamming in all of the fun, but it was worth it!

Monkey Joe's...
First we hit up an indoor bounce house play area in Casleton called Monkey Joe's. It was an awesome place and I highly recommend it. It was clean and decently priced-and it's unlimited play! Plus they have a nice snack bar and sitting area for parents with TVs and computers and free WiFi. Of course since our children aren't old enough to just go off on their own we couldn't utilize these nice parent perks...yet!

She is fearless when it comes to this stuff!

Being silly:)

Spencer was even in on the action!

They had two very fun play areas specifically for toddlers so Spencer didn't feel left out. This little boy kept following him around:)

See Avery holding her own with all those big kids!!

The reward for climbing that tough wall on the other side! The kids were so worn out from playing, non-stop for an hour and a half, it was fantastic!

Children's Museum...
This was only our second visit ever to the best Children's Museum in the world and we can't wait to go back again! It's impossible to do everything in just one trip so this time we tried to hit up most of the things we didn't do last time we were there (earlier this year).

Showing off her dino digging skills! The dino area was Artie and I's favorite part of the whole museum. We got to see and touch real bones and learned all we could about dinosaur discovery in the U.S. In fact, I got information to attend an actual dino dig with the museum in South Dakota and am already planning my trip for next year!

Very carefully making a bracelet in Egypt.

Having a tea party with a little stranger. Avery tried to give her a cup of tea and "cheers" her, but the girl didn't know what she was doing!

In the Barbie section, Avery was scratchin' as a DJ and walking the runway in this lovely neon green tutu!

Water table fun!!

Learning to slide on ice like a penguin!!

Spencer giving it a try, in his own way!!

Spencer loved the play area because he actually got to run around. Bye, bye mommy!

This very cushioned under-2-area gave Spencer tons of confidence to test out some skills-climbing being one of them!

You could almost always find Avery wanting to "make a snack" in the kitchen play area.

The finale...
With everyone working up an appetite after so many fun activities, we got some grub and headed on our way home.

Avery had to have a birthday meal of spaghetti with butter and cheese since that's her favorite thing to eat!

Once we got home she modeled her new fancy shoes:)

And fed her new friend and current obsession, Baby All Gone.

Spencer was mad because he wanted to "share" Avery's birthday present. By share I mean take BAG's sippy cup and hide it.

I got a great recommendation for a cupcake bakery in Indy called Gigi's (thanks, Trish!). They were very delicious! And all of that practicing blowing out her three candles paid off!

She literally dove right in!

That's better:)

I can't believe my baby girl is three years old already. I'm so lucky to get to be her mommy! We had a great time celebrating your birthday with you:)!