Avi - 3/6/2018

Avilene ate two servings of toasted english muffin and ate half of dried plums for breakfast.  "I want more english muffin Gary."  :)  For lunch she ate a large serving of chicken with stir fry vegetables, ate brown rice, and no oranges.

Here are a couple pictures from yesterday afternoon.  I think this first picture is so cute.  I like how her ear is folded down!  Ha!  And the cute little profile!  Adorable!!  She asked me yesterday; "Do you like my shirt?"  Yes Avi, It's beautiful!  (Made me laugh.)  I'm not sure what she's focused on, but Nora (on the couch in the background) is focused on the same thing.  Probably the Cline girls doing a performance!  The older kids like having this little "captive" audience!  Ha!  Last week the Big girls were going to perform a "play," but it consisted of Kenzie doing a long monologue and the little ones quickly wandered off.  Note to Kenzie; To keep their attention you may need more action and less talk in your productions!  In the 2nd picture the kids were having fun playing with these Toys - whatever they're called.  (Some kind of magnetic drawing boards.

This morning Avi said, "I'm sitting up here Gary, I'm sitting up here."  As you know she's been a little nervous getting too far off the floor, but she got up here by herself again.  It's been awhile!  A few weeks ago I turned around and here was Atley perched on the top of the igloo just looking around.  Nora is taking it all in so we know what that means!!  Some day I'll here Nora say, "I'm sitting up here Gary!"  Ha!  That's just how it works.  :)

This morning we had fun with play dough during art time.  I love their enthusiasm for a project - especially if we haven't done it for awhile.  They were using the plastic utensils, little rolling pins, pizza cutters, and cookie cutters.  Atley must have been extra excited as she easily snapped two of the plastic utensils in half!  Haha!

Avi - 3/5/2018

Avilene ate two servings of cheerios and ate banana for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, bite of whole wheat pita bread, bites of lettuce, tomato, and olives.  She ate avocado and watermelon.

In the middle of Story Time today Avilene just randomly said, "My Mommy and Daddy are not scared."  Haha!  Well that's good and thank you for the update Avilene!  :)  Obviously, something that we read stimulated that thought, but it made me laugh.

I took this first picture of Avi playing with the dress-up clothes.  She kind of had it stuck on her head and that was the end of dress-up clothes for awhile.  Also, I wanted to mention again that anytime Baby Linnea cries Avilene immediately lets me know.  It's time for you to do something Gary!!  :)

Next picture; Hudson and Avilene had worked very hard to lay out all these toys and worked there for a long time.  Actually, Avi had started with the stacking toys and was putting the little egg shakers in the cups.  Then Hudson joined her and it expanded from there.  As soon as they left Atley and Nora moved in!  Ha!  They were looking at the toys and at each other as if to say; "Wow!  Look what we found!"  :)

This last picture - I was actually taking a picture of Atley, but then I saw that Avi was in the picture too!!  :)  Silly Avi.  They were all playing and then laying in the block shelf together and Hudson said they were "hiding."  It looked cute with all of them in there together, but I wasn't quick enough to get that picture.

Avi - 3/2/2018

Avilene ate brown rice and raisins for breakfast.  For lunch she ate baked salmon, dinner roll, green beans, and two servings of mangoes.

So here is one of the "conversations" between Avi and Hudson this morning;  "I am 2!"  "No you're not!"  "Yes I am!"  "No you're not!"  "Yes I am!"  "You are 6!"  "No you're not!"  "Yes I am."  "You are 4!"  "Yes I am."  "No you're not!"  And on and on!  They quickly forgot what they were saying "yes" and "no" about and the "conversation" took a hilarious turn.  Soon they were arguing "for" what they'd moments before been arguing "against!"  Siblings!!  :)

Right-hand side of this first picture; Avi crawling through.  She said, "Hey Gary!  I'm stuck!"  Haha! Right.  So after Avi said, that they all began crawling through going around and around chanting, "stuck, stuck, stuck."  :)  The 2nd picture is kinda silly, but Avi was peeking through at me.

Sometimes you read the books, sometimes you stack the books.  Oh, I think I said that yesterday.  Ha! I showed Lauralea the picture yesterday and she's going to use it in one of her classes.  So I took another one today and she likes this one better.  The point is this: sometimes she hears providers say; "They don't play with toys the right way!"  Uhhh....they learn through experimentation and exploration.  I let them decide what's the "right" way.  As long as it's safe.

Avi - 3/1/2018

Avilene ate toasted whole wheat english muffin and bites of oranges for breakfast.  For lunch she ate ground beef, two servings of whole wheat elbow noodles, ate peas, and applesauce.

I'm putting this first picture in all the Blogs because I think it's hilarious and I like how I caught the moment when she threw the dress-up shirt in the air.  This is picture-proof of who the enthusiastic, energetic, wild child, noisy girl, life of the party is!  Although I think that fact is already pretty clear to all who've had the privilege of meeting Atley.  :)  I love what Daddy Ryan said yesterday when Atley met Nora at the door.  "I wish someone would welcome me like that!"  Haha!  Hey Ryan, you could hire someone for that position to be the greeter at the office.  :)  Like a Walmart greeter on steroids!

Yesterday Hudson was using these headbands for blindfolds.  This morning Avilene joined him!  You can probably guess the caption for this picture as they are "looking" out to the kitchen!  Here it is:  Avi was saying; "Hi Lauralea, hi Lauralea, hi Lauralea, hi Lauralea."  :)

Sometimes you read the books, sometimes you stack the books.  :)  I love love love how much these kids read books.  (And how much they like for me to read to them!)  I could Blog about that everyday!  Well maybe I already do!  Haha!  Atley and Avi were also building their "sidewalk" again today.  (See picture from yesterday!  Same thing!)

Avi - 2/28/2018

Avilene ate half of her french toast and ate strawberries for breakfast.  For lunch she ate paleo stew with ground beef, carrots, green beans, cauliflower, and broccoli.  She also ate several saltines and ate her tropical fruit.

I took this first picture yesterday afternoon when Avi was lining up these stuffed animals.  I liked how hard she was working to get them all organized and lined up just how she wanted them!  Lauralea would be so proud of you Avi!!  Haha!

This first picture from this morning is Avilene working at building a "sidewalk."  Atley helped her some and those two did it all.  Then later Avi was "bunny hopping" across the "sidewalk" and Atley was following her lead.  Avi could make it across there in about three hops!  She continues to impress me with her coordination; just like she has since she started walking and then basically running in the same week!  Haha!

Next picture: Avi crawled up here and sat at the sink with her butt in the bowl and then announced, "I'm going potty."  And I thought the book was a nice accessory too!  Well done Avi!  :)  Actually she did end up just sitting there for several minutes and when she got down she told me she was poopy!

This last picture - Atley and Avi having more fun times.  Usually it's Atley pushing the chair around and around for Nora, but this time it's obviously Avi pushing.  They were laughing and having a good time.  I really enjoy how these two girls play together!  They have lots of fun and rarely have conflict.

Avi - 2/27/2018

Avilene ate waffle and grapes for breakfast.  For lunch she ate three servings of baked chicken, ate whole grain tortillas, corn, and baked cinnamon apples.  Every morning about breakfast time Avi asks if "Kenzie and RiRi coming after school Gary?"  Yes they are.  Also at breakfast she found a grape I hadn't cut in half (it was a very small one) and said, "Hey Gary!  You didn't cut this one!"  Ha!  Then I caught a piece of news from the 2 year old rumor mill at the meal table as well!!  "Kimmy and Grandpa John are gonna get married!"  :)

Well I managed to post three pictures with Avilene and you can't see her face in any of the three! Ha! That was not by design, but just how it turned out!  In this first picture she had joined Atley and Nora playing in the igloo.  They were taking turns with one or two of them staying in the igloo and the other one running around and peeking in.  I love the laughter!

This next picture cracks me up!  Probably 30 minutes after breakfast Hudson decided it was time to clean up the toys.  Why are you picking up all the toys?  He said they needed to clean up because they had to go to soccer.  Ha!  So he and Avi worked real hard to get it all cleaned up.  I was monitoring this pretty closely because the agenda of a two year old is frequently not the same agenda of the next two year old!!  Haha!  (We might have to go do art if this causes conflict.)

I took this last picture when Hudson and Avi were playing in the chair and that was their car going to soccer.  I must bring attention to the fact that you can see Avi's foot in the picture; just in case you think Avi may not actually be in the chair!  :)

Avi - 2/26/2018

Avilene ate kix cereal and two servings of mixed fruit for breakfast.  For lunch she ate turkey burger, whole wheat hamburger bun, bite or two of salad with lettuce, tomato, and ranch dressing; she also ate avocado, and cherries.

We did a toy, book, and puzzle exchange this weekend and the kids were very busy all morning.  Avi experimented with lots of things and I took this first picture when she was playing with the pop-up toys that play different songs.  She was also thrilled to have some new puzzles to work on and she picked the hardest one to do first!  (2nd picture.)  But she worked hard and got all 26 pieces of the alphabet in the right spots.  Nice job Avi.

We were getting ready for Story Time and Hudson spotted our neighbor shoveling snow off his sidewalk; "There's big Willy!"  (You can see him across the street at the top of the picture.)  Nora, Atley, and Avi (left to right) ran to the window to wave at him.  Like I've mentioned several times He loves it when the kids wave at him!  :)  As long as they keep banging on the window he'll stand there and wave.  Ha!

I love how much Avi talks and when she was putting on the dress-up clothes (picture below) she said, "I'm gonna wear this to the carousel!!"  Haha!!  I asked about Svea and Avilene said, "She's good.  She wake up; Momma feed her.  We go on walk; in stroller."  :)