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:)

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:)!

Stuff

Things have been a bit hairy around here. Artie and I are starting to crumble from the stress of STILL not having our house sold. The kids are getting bigger and we have a new addition (see below) and we really need to be settled. We also just found out that my brother's unit in Korea will be deploying to Afghanistan sometime next fall. It will be close to the time he is scheduled to come back to the states, but the Army may still deploy him. I don't know, it's all overwhelming to me. I don't know how the Army could keep him abroad for 2 years when he already has orders to be in New Jersey next year, but I guess they do what they want. Of course we'll be on pins and needles for the next 8-10 months or so until he gets official orders of whether or not he will be deploying with his unit. A less important thorn in my side as of late has been the road construction on our road in our addition. Talk about not having the house sold for sure in the next month they will be working on our road. Plus, they start construction very early and wake the kids up. Also, we are having Avery's party at our house in two weeks and no one will be able to get to our house! Though my mood lately has been on the down side...

There are some sweet things, thanks to the kids:) Avery has now started going #2 on the potty! A few days ago she told me she wanted to try it after she went potty. I couldn't believe it! I was screaming and jumping and giving her high fives! It was awesome:) My mom gave her a bit of money for going and she was so excited to take it to Target that day to treat herself to a popcorn combo! In Spencer news he has really started saying words we can understand! Some of them being shoes, ball, choo choo, drink, eat and even good night:)! He's growing so darn fast I can't believe it!

And some pics...

A budding Julia Child...Avery loves to help in the kitchen and I love her helping-though sometimes it takes a little longer and a little more patience!

She helped me make halloween sugar cookies for our family dinner this week (extended family I should say). Avery put all of the ingredients in the bowl, helped mix the dough and put the ghost-shaped sprinkles on top!

Avery pushed Spencer off the kitchen table this week, directly on the back of his head on the tile floor (he was getting in the way of her painting, was the reason she gave me). I freaked out, of course, because his head swelled immediately. So when I put him down for a nap, I kept checking on him about every 20 minutes just to make sure he was okay and I snapped this on one of my visits to his room because he looked so cute and cuddly:)

This is Ace (I got to name him and chose to name him after my beloved sport of tennis!). He is the new addition to our family. We weren't really in the market for a new dog, but this one needed a home and my heart has a hard time passing up a puppy that needs a place to stay. He's a full bred westie and only about 16 wks old. Domer is doing a great job as big brother and teaching him how to go to the bathroom outside!

We've only had him for a few days and these two are already very comfortable with each other!

And Domer's teaching him about stalking squirrels!

And I'm just going to end this post with this recent picture of Jake in his class A's. He had a social party last night (Thursday night, his time) at a castle off base, hence why he had to be dressed up. He said he ate food he had no idea what it was because all of the names were in Korean, but at least he's experiencing the culture:)!

Have a great weekend!

Scooter Time

It has gotten a lot cooler here in Indiana the past few days. I wanted to get rid of the 90+ degree weather we've been having, but man, I would really like some 70 degree weather before going straight to the rainy 50-60 degree temps...

The kids are both still really fighting colds, but we were in need of some fresh air so we headed outside to try out Avery's new scooter. On a trip to Toys R Us this past weekend to kind of scope out possible gifts for our soon-to-be 3-yr-old (19 days away now!) Avery fell in love with a scooter. Since it was majorly on sale and we had rewards and a birthday coupon, we couldn't pass it up right on the spot (we're talking 13 bucks, dirt cheap!). Avery couldn't wait to help daddy put it together and then begged me the moment she got up this morning to go outside to ride her scooter:)

Such a happy girl to be outside on her scooter!

I think her favorite thing about this scooter is that it's pink, second favorite thing, it has a bag on the front! She was putting all kinds of things in that little bag!!

My big, handsome man! We got Spencer some new gym shoes over the weekend and had to get him a size 7!! Avery's in a size 8, so they're only one shoe size apart now. I cannot believe how much he's growing. We also got him a very short haircut this weekend, which I think makes him look so much older!

The kiddos trying to ride together...Spencer just doesn't quite get pedals (neither does Avery, really). We're really looking into those balance bikes for next spring when Spencer is 2 (Nickey, your girls make them look so fun and after doing lots of research on them, I think they would be really good for my kids!).

Resting a bit. We were running around playing "soccer"-one of Avery's absolute favorite things and I guess she got a little tired:) Spencer was sitting but as soon as I break out the camera, he runs towards it shouting "cheese"!!

Hope everyone's enjoying the cooler weather (in most places!).

The Apple 'Festi-bowl'

...or the Johnny Appleseed Festival as it is more commonly known!

This is a festival held in Fort Wayne every September and I hadn't been since I was too small to remember (I know, shame on me since this is a huge thing in my hometown) so we decided to take the kids yesterday-it's only a one weekend deal-and Avery was thrilled beyond the moon! She sweetly referred to it as the "apple festi-bowl" and was so excited:)

A Little History

Johnny Appleseed (i.e. John Chapman) died in Fort Wayne sometime between 1845-1847 and was buried here. There is an iron fence, erected in 1900, around his supposed grave site in Johnny Appleseed Park, where the festival is held. There is some discrepancy where he was buried because he died in a cabin where the Canterbury Green Apartments (for those of you familiar with Ft. Wayne) now stand and there is supposedly a grave marker there for him. However, it has been confirmed that there are Chapman family members buried on the hill where Appleseed's grave site is and other documented information stating it is more likely that he is located where his site is today. The festival is done in the tradition of the 1800s and pioneer days. Vendors must dress in clothing representing the time period and cannot use any modern conveniences to cook food or make any of the crafts. Food and crafts must represent things that could have been found in that time period (though after a visit to the Ye Old Candy Shoppe, I'm guessing they didn't have starbursts or milk duds, but everything else is pretty correct). If you'd like anymore information you can check out www.johnnyappleseedfest.com!

Now on to some pictures...

A picture of the flag and some of the tents.

One very excited girl for her first festival experience!

A mini parade. Avery loved all of the music on the old fashioned instruments.

Of course there is a little playground area in the park this is held and Avery runs to join the boys climbing!

Spencer ran through the crowd on the playground to find the one open swing and stood there waiting for Artie to put him in! To say this kid loves swinging is an understatement!!

Making a candle. Look at the intensity!

Concentrating very hard on getting the candle just right. Note: I'm not sure they had tennis shoes like this in the 1800s...I'm questioning your authenticity, miss candlemaker!

Finished product! Notice anything about this girl? She has turned into a pink fanatic, Aunt Cindy you would be proud! When asked what color she would like anything it is always pink!

Playing an old time version of 'basket' ball (with a little assistance from daddy).

Trying to find her way out of the maze...there was candy at the end, so she found her way!

Getting her feather (pink!) and her face painted.

So cute:)

This is why there are no pictures of Spencer. The kid slept through guns and cannons going off!

Avery ended her first festival experience with a giant pickle on a stick. It was quite a sight to see!

We had a great time at this year's festival and thank my sister and her boyfriend for joining us and making it a fun day!!