Avi - 5/31/2018

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and two servings of peaches for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of sausage and hamburger pizza, on whole wheat pizza crust with tomato sauce, mushrooms, olives, pineapple, and peppers.  She also ate a serving of pineapple on the side.

Here's an activity and similar picture to what Avi and Hudson were down yesterday.  Except these two below did not end up in a big tug-of-war!!  Ha!!  Atley and Avi were each holding an end to a dress-up apron and leading each other around.  Both of them were saying, "come on puppy, come on puppy, come on puppy."  I'm not sure who was the real puppy and they didn't seem to care!!  :)

Here's the story behind the next picture of Avi with a legos flower in her mouth.  We'd been reading at Story Time and Hudson was doing LOTS of coughing (covering pretty well) and getting lots of reminders from Gary to cover his coughs.  So Avi, of course, was being silly and doing some fake coughs.  After Story Time she stuck the legos in her mouth and said, "This will keep me from coughing on you Gary!"  :)  You're a silly goof Avi, but pretty witty!

I have to include a picture of Hudson with Svea every day this week!!  It's a good thing she's here or Hudson would be having withdrawal pains with Linnea gone all week!!  He loves the babies.  I like how Svea is hanging on to the ribbon as she rolls to her side.  In the last picture Atley, Hudson, and Avi were all spinning while wearing tutus.  Hudson said, "I'm getting kind of dizzy!"  So Avi intentionally crashed to the ground.  :)  Silly goof!  Oh, I already said that!!

Avi - 5/30/2018

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pork chop, whole grain tortilla, ate carrots, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and fruit salad.  At the lunch table Hudson scooted over by Atley, put his arm around her, and said to Avi (who sits across the table), "Take a picture." It was so cute and funny.

Avi looked at what Nora is wearing today and asked her if she was wearing her "pajamas!?"  Haha!  I guess Nora wasn't too offended because later Nora happily called them her "jammies."

First picture; that happens to be an apron that Hudson and Avilene have stretched out between them! Hudson kept saying, "Come on puppy, come on puppy!!"  Sometimes the puppy followed, sometimes the puppy resisted!!

I should probably start labeling this Avi & Svea's Blog!!  :)  Hudson asked if he could talk to the Baby and he said, "She's happy that I'm by her side."  So sweet.  Svea does respond very positively to him!  I told him he'd have one of these at his house by the end of the year.  He said, "My baby is not a good player."  Ha!  In the next picture Svea had completely swapped ends!!  Her head was pointing North and now she's pointing South.  :)  I've not seen her do that before!!

Here are a couple more pictures from this morning.  Hudson and Avi found the tightest cubby hole to play in.  And they played there for at least 10 - 15 minutes.  They love stuffing those bags completely full of random toys.  In the last picture you can see one of the ways they like to sit in the swivel/rocker and propel the chair around and around.  Bet you can't guess what Avi is yelling at Bubba?!  "I wanna drive Bubba, I wanna drive!!"  :)  Then Hudson had some news to share with Avilene;  "Hey Avi! There's a volcano erupting UP in Hawaii!"  She said, "oh."  He continued, "They were talking about it on TV."  :)

Avi - 5/29/2018

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat english muffin and ate her dried plums for breakfast.
For lunch she ate half of chicken, half of brown rice, half of stir fry vegetables, and a bite of oranges.  At the lunch table Hudson looked around at everyone and asked; "Hey Gary! When are these guys gonna go to kindergarten??" Ha!  So I asked him when he was gonna go?  He said, "When I grow up."  :)

Well we have to start with a selfie of the Nelson girls!!  Little cuties.  Then in the 2nd picture Hudson asked if he could talk to Svea.  He loves the babies and is in training for being a big brother.  While he was watching Svea he asked me; "Did you hear the cute little noises she was making?"  So sweet.

Here's a picture of Avi resting on a pillow in a dangerous work zone.  She didn't think she was in any danger whatsoever, but I told her those towers could fall on her so she'd better move.  Except I want to get a picture first!!!!  :)

Here's a picture of an activity that all four of the "older" kids were involved in.  Avilene is at the bottom of this pile of stuffed animals, pillows, and blankets.  (You can see her feet and a few inches of her legs coming out the far end of the pile.)  It's pretty amazing she'd let them pile all this stuff on her while she lay perfectly still!  It makes me slightly nervous and I keep a VERY close eye on this kind of activity.  (It wasn't packed tightly and no one got on top of the pile!)  Hudson kept saying, "Don't move Avi, don't move!"  Well she really wasn't moving!!  Then Hudson said he wanted a turn and the first thing he yelled  - "Don't cover my face!!"  Ha!

Avi - 5/25/2018

Avilene ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate salmon, whole wheat dinner roll, green beans, and two servings of mangoes.  (She ate a big lunch!!)  Lauralea said, "bye kids" at breakfast like she does just about every day.  They (Nora, Atley, Avilene, and Hudson) were all laughing and giggling, waving bye and mimicking her by chanting, "bye kids" as she was leaving. :)

During Story Time Atley was saying something that sounded like; "playo, playo, playo."  I asked, "What'd you say?"  Avi knew and immediately responded!  (She was my interpreter!!)  "She said play piano."  Haha!  You're totally right!  The kids always ask if I can play that song/story on the piano!  Thank you Avilene!!  :)

In this first picture Hudson and Avilene were pushing each other in the swivel/rocker and Hudson must have gotten a love surge because he laid his head in Avi's lap.  For a very brief moment!  That's about all she could handle!  haha!  Look at her hands; "ok, that's enough!"  She's ready to push him away!  Next picture;  Atley and Nora were using the legos flowers for pacifiers, so Hudson and Ave were like; "why not us too?!?"  :)

Atley and Avilene are closely examining Nora's scratched knee from a sidewalk fall yesterday afternoon!  Their close proximity to Nora's owie was making her nervous!!  In the last picture the kids are waiting for me to take a picture after they finished gluing some animals at Art Time.  They enjoy the gluing as it's something we don't regularly do!  It's fun as long as I have a damp cloth ready for them to use to wipe their hands clean from any glue!!  :)

Avi - 5/24/2018

Avilene ate two servings of whole wheat english muffin and ate oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, large serving of elbow noodles covered with a large serving of applesauce and ate all of her peas.  I know the kids are usually just about done eating if they start messing around at meal time.  At lunch today Atley was close to being done and she started closing her eyes saying, "nap time!" Avi and Hudson did the same.  Then Avi opens her eyes and said, "Morning time!!"  Repeat over and over.  (As you can obviously see this wasn't the first time for this game!!)  Ok kids that's hilarious, but lets go into the play room to play!!  :)

Lauralea was leaving for work and just like every morning all the kids were giving her hugs and telling her "bye."  Except this morning Avi said, "Watch for cars!"  Haha!  Hudson followed up with; "And don't ever trip!"  Haha!

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon when the kids were playing in the two tunnels we have hooked together.  I think there were two or maybe three kids inside the tunnel when I took the picture. They were having fun rolling the big balls along in front of them.  I like how Linnea is just waiting for someone to appear at this end.

Avi was playing with one of the little play houses and little people.  There is table, chairs, a potty, and other assorted "stuff" that goes with them.  She yelled for Hudson and asked, "Do you wanna go potty in here!?!"  He came over to have a look and said, "No."  She said, "Why not!?!  It's really nice!!"  Haha!  That made me laugh.  However, I always get a little nervous when children this age start playing and talking like that when they are no longer wearing diapers!!  (Please don't go potty here!  You're not wearing a diaper!!)

I love this picture, but here's the funny part!!  I was totally focused on getting Svea to grin and laugh and I wasn't even aware that Linnea was in the picture until I saw it on the camera.  So I took several more like this and picked the one I liked best!  This is a classic example of what frequently happens with this age group and how I can keep two babies entertained at the same time if necessary!!  Linnea was sure I was doing it just for her!!

Avi - 5/23/2018

Avilene ate french toast and two servings of strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate most of paleo stew with chicken and turkey, carrots, broccoli, sweet potatoes, green beans, and cauliflower.  She also ate crackers and tropical fruit.  At breakfast Atley ate a bite or two of strawberries and loudly exclaimed;  "I like it Avi! I like it!"  Haha!

Here's a picture of Atley and Avi doing some puzzles first thing this morning.  They set up camp at the entrance to the kitchen so they could watch Lauralea fixing some food and they were having fun talking to her and asking lots of questions.  Then Lauralea put on an apron and Atley said, "BIB!!"  Haha!

I love doing selfies with Svea and it's an easy way to get some nice pictures of her!  She is so stinking cute!  Have I mentioned lately that I think she's the sweetest baby!?!  :)  And of course Avilene wanted to stick her head in front of the camera and watch herself too.  These are two very cute and precious girls.  Just now as I'm doing their Blog Avilene got up on her hands and knees and crawled in a circle on her nap mat and then laid her head back on her pillow!  Haha!  Definitely not awake!  I covered her back up and she's snoozing away!!

Here are a couple more pictures from this morning's activities.  The kids had been running back-n-forth between the mirror and the gate - their favorite "running trail" in the play room.  :)  Nora's looking at Hudson and Avi like "come on, let's keep going!"  Look at Avi's face - There's your answer Nora! And the last picture is some more dot painting at Art Time.

Avi - 5/22/2018

Avilene ate waffle and two servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate two servings of baked chicken, ate whole grain tortilla, a large serving of corn, and ate baked cinnamon apples.  Lately Avi has been frequently asking (probably 3 times this morning) "Are we gonna have food Gary?!?"  Ha! That covers all the meals in one question!

Svea wasn't interested in a bottle before her morning nap and when she awoke at 12:00 I said, "You gotta be hungry."  Avi immediately echoed what I said, but with a twist.  "You gotta be kidding me Linnea!"  (Linnea was just an innocent bystander!)  Haha!  What a goof.  That made me laugh!

This first picture was taken yesterday afternoon when Avi and Atley were playing at the sand table. Riley is on the left with them.  You can see the sand pouring from Atley's cup into the spin wheel. Avilene and Riley had their's so full and packed around he wheel that the wheel would no longer turn.

Nora is back today, but Hudson is still gone and will be back tomorrow.  Avi asked, "Where's Hudson at?"  I had a hard time understanding what she was saying and when I finally got it I realized she rarely calls him Hudson - it's always "Bubba."  :)

Isn't this next picture adorable!?  Sisters.  Too precious.  In the middle picture Avi was trying to get Linnea to push down all the pop-up lids.  Linnea did all but one and lost interest and took off crawling.  She made it several feet away and Avi was trying to drag her back.  Linnea's so mild she didn't care too much.  I told Avi, "Uhh, it's easier to take the toy to the baby rather than the baby to the toy!"  Ha!  Last picture; we did some golf ball painting at Art Time and it's much easier for the kids to stand up so they have more room to tip the pan all over the place!

Avi - 5/21/2018

Avilene ate kix cereal and two servings of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey burger half of whole wheat hamburger bun, bites of lettuce, no tomato, ate avocado, and ate cherries.  Hudson and Nora are not here today so at breakfast I asked, "Who's not here today?"  Always a tricky question for this age group!  Avilene immediately said, "Bubba."  Yes, good answer.  Next she said, "Linnea."  She's here, but that was actually a good answer because Linnea was already taking a nap when Avi arrived so she'd not seen her.  Atley said, "Atley!!"  Nope.  You're here!  Haha!  About a minute later Avi suddenly asked, "Where's Nora?"  Alright we got it!!  :)  Atley started saying, "Nor Nor, Nor Nor."  Yup, she's gone too.

We were in the middle of Story Time and reading Dr Seuss' "Foot Book."  Avilene randomly says; "I went to Easter Hunt."  Haha!  I don't know why I thought that was so funny, but it definitely hit my funny bone!!  I love Avi!!  (I even went back in the book to see if I could see anything that triggered the "Easter Hunt."  Nothing apparent to me.)  Then she noticed our neighbor and asked, "What's Big Willy doing?"  However, Avi was mostly excited when she saw "his shirt like mine!!"  Both red - I think.  :)  Actually, I verified that with Avi.  She's my go-to color girl!

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend so the girls were super busy this morning.  I've mentioned recently how many puzzles they do and how much they enjoy the puzzles.  Today it was 11:00 before they even asked to do puzzles so you know they were busy and occupied.  In this first picture Avi was playing with the little people and the house.  She asked, "Where's a blanket?"  (For the baby that you can't see under the blanket.)  This is a doll blanket and if you unfolded it, you could cover the entire house.  :)  You'll notice the tutus Avi is wearing in all the pictures.  Actually she has on two of them and she kept them on all morning!  (For you overly observant ones, if the igloo placement looks different to you in the last picture - you're right.  It got moved a little bit.)  :)

Avi - 5/17/2018

Avilene had a bite of french toast and ate dried plums for breakfast.  For lunch she ate pulled pork, whole wheat toast, bite of peas, and ate watermelon.

This first picture is from yesterday afternoon.  There is nothing like a Roly Poly Bug to get everyone's attention.  Riley had it in the back of a dump truck and the kids gathered around.  They love watching them roll up into a ball.  Starting at left it's Hudson, Avilene, Atley (under the sun hat), and Riley.

In the next picture of Svea - we made a simple thing for the babies that hangs on the bar in front of the mirror and tied some ribbons to it.  This is a fun place for babies to hang out - in front of the mirror that goes to the floor.  Svea looked over and was grinning at the cutie in the mirror.  :)  

Someone called on the phone today and asked if we'd do pictures of appreciation for the police and volunteers that are helping with the high water in the Missoula Valley.  (The person is going to come by and pick up the pictures.)  Anyhow, I told the kids about the phone call - they also listened to it on speaker phone - and after we were done with our pictures Hudson asked; "Are the police gonna come and get us?"  Hm..no.  Just the pictures.  Haha!

Avi - 5/16/2018

Avilene ate whole wheat toast and two servings of mangoes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate a large serving of ground beef with marinara sauce, a large serving of whole wheat spaghetti noodles, ate squash, and most of fruit salad.

I took this picture of Svea like 1 minute ago!  So how am I supposed to do Blogs when this little Cutie is sitting there grinning at me!?!  :)  What a sweetie.  Everyone else is sleeping except for her and me!!  And I'd much rather take pictures of her and play with her than do Blogs!!

The 4 "older" (ha) kids (Avilene, Hudson, Atley, Nora) were playing with the stuffed animals and pretending the animals were their babies.  And everyone was making LOTS of "baby sounds!"  It must have been pretty realistic because I invariably kept looking at the monitor to see which baby was awake!!  Haha!  Svea and Linnea were both sleeping at the same time.

We had a pretty normal morning and the kids played and explored well with minimal conflict!  Hey, sometimes that alone is reason to celebrate!  We read books, did some sign language, watched the neighbors and people walking their animals, the kids dove off the balance beam head-first, and also built with the big blocks.  (And here are the pictures!)

Here's a picture taken of Svea shortly before breakfast this morning.  This look says;  "Ok Gary, can we pleeeeeease stop doing selfies now and just put me to bed.  I'm tired!"  :)  I don't know if I'll ever get these Blogs done today; she just grinned at me again!!

Avi - 5/15/2018

Avilene ate whole wheat bagel and three servings of grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate shrimp, bite of brown rice, ate stir fry vegetables, and ate raspberries.  I flossed my teeth at Lunch time and of course Atley said, "Frost - teeth" and Avilene said, "Frosty the Snowman."  Even Nora got in on the action;  "Frosty the Snowman, Frosty the Snowman, Frosty the Snowman."  :)

Also at the breakfast table Nora was done first and playing in the big room and started yelling, "Oh oh! Oh oh! Oh oh!"  Avilene, who was still sitting at the table eating yelled, "What Nor Nor!?"  I just thought it was cute and sweet how Avi the Fixer was ready to help.  Thank you Avilene!!

Hudson was giving Nora a random hug and it was so cute. I told him how sweet that was and Avi immediately started hugging Nora as she walked onto the mattress.  "You're being very sweet too Avilene!"  Look at Nora's face.  I think it's safe to say that Nora was enjoying the friendship hugs!  So sweet.  Then in the 2nd picture Atley (top bunk) and Avilene (Bottom bunk) were pretending to sleep.  The bottom section of the changing table is perfect for that!!

 

Next two pictures: Avi moved over and said "hi" to her sister after Svea's nap and I grabbed the camera for a picture.  I asked Avi if she'd do it again and this was the result.  She said, "Can I get up now!?!"  Haha!  Thank you Avi!  Next picture - Hudson was more than happy to say hi to Svea and that's Atley's arm on the other side of the picture.

In this last picture you can see Linnea is on the mattress with the "Big" kids.  Yes, Nora is one of the "big" kids!  Haha!  I judge according to capability, not size!!  As I've mentioned many times I love how all the kids can play on the mattress at the same time and rarely have conflict!  Part of the reason - NO toys allowed on mattress - nothing to fight over except space and that's a rarity!!

Avi - 5/14/2018

Avilene ate bites of bran cereal and ate raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate chicken, ate whole wheat pita bread, ate tomatoes, bites of cucumber, no peppers, ate olives, and ate pears.

We have these little nicknames like "Ri Ri" for Riley.  "Nor Nor" for Nora.  "Lor Lor" for Lauralea.  Well Riley just recently started calling me "Gair Gair"  (Rhyming with hair hair.)  I'll bet Avilene called me "Gair Gair" 5 or 6 times this morning.  So stinking cute.  I'd never heard her do that before.

One of the first things Avi did was ask, "Can I do puzzles?"  Sure, but you can wave bye to your Dad first.  Ha!  Anyhow, she was headed out to do puzzles and Atley was following her.  Avi stopped at the gate and reminded Atley, "Ask Gary."  Thank you Avi!  Well done and it's nice for Atley to hear that from someone besides me several times a day!  Ha!  (That's the puzzle rule; ask first because you're leaving the room.  Atley does remember sometimes, and sometimes not.)

It was a pretty normal Monday with a couple exceptions.  First, Linnea is home feeling kinda low from having a cold and secondly the kids were fairly tame for a Monday!  :)  In the first picture Avi was standing and reading for several minutes.  Then Avilene was asking, "Can we do some of those blue things Gary?"  So in the 2nd picture the kids are doing some of those "blue things!"  3rd Picture: You may have seen these, but just in case you haven't they are called water painting doodle mats and you can get lots of different mats with different pictures.  You put water in the applicator, color with it, and a picture starts to appear.  In this case it was simply 4 different colors, alphabet, and numbers.  Then after sitting for 10 minutes or so the mats are completely dry and bare (no picture).  Hudson just stared with "open mouth" when I showed the children their pictures at Lunch time which were now just blank!  :)  The nice part about Doodle mats is the NO mess, no cleanup factor.  I love it.  4th picture is "fun on the mattress."  All the kids were jumping with doll blankets over their head and Avilene is on the left.  (Nora was doing it too, but I never caught all 4 on the blue balance beam at the same time.  Almost and then one would jump!  Ha!)

Someone found their tongue and was having fun with it this morning!  :)  Here's a picture of Little Miss Cutie McFutie doing silly things with her tongue!  Have I mentioned that she's a Doll!?!  :)