It's official - He's crawling

Blake finally figured it out! He is mobile now, God help us all! And, just in time for our camping trip! Yay!!! A baby, crawling all over the beach.... in the sand.... near water. Yup, it's gonna be a relaxing weekend.... :o)

Spoiled Girl

Avery had quite the day yesterday! Some friends of ours are moving to Nashville and have been in total purge mode. We have been the lucky recipients of their purging! We now have a trampoline in the back yard and Avery LOVES to jump! The picture is blurry, but really, how can you get a good one if she is bouncing all over the place!

Before Daddy set up the new trampoline, he took her for a ride on the new bike we got - again courtesy of the Swope family! She enjoyed it so much that when I heard screaming a little while later I assumed she had fallen off. No, she was mad that they had to stop riding and come in!

It is so great to have things for her to do outside. Our back yard is beautiful, but not very kid friendly, so outdoor activities are hard to come by... Now she has a pool (thank you grammie!) a swing (that is really meant for Blake) and a trampoline! Fun, Fun!

Blake is still trying very hard to crawl. He just can't quite figure out how to get past the rocking motion. He has given up on babyfood. He will just shake his head at you if you try to offer him anything that comes on a spoon. If it's on a fork, it's OK. If he can pick it up and feed himself, even better!

We have decided that Dada is his first word. He says it when he looks at Jeff, and didn't say it much when Jeff was gone. So, it's Daddy 2, Mommy 0 when it comes to first words. Maybe we will have to have more children afterall, just so one of them can say Momma first!

Summer Fun

We have been spending quite a bit of time at the pool lately. Avery had swimming lessons a few weeks ago, and has been enjoying the water much more! She stays in a "floatie" (aka; an innertube) but will swim all over the pool chasing her beloved rubber duckie family that her swim teacher gave her as a reward for blowing bubbles in the water. Avery has informed me that she will swim with her floatie until she is 4. When you are 4, you are old enough to swim without one. Ahhh the logic of a 3 year old - 4 seems so far away! She tried to swim without it on Monday, and sunk straight to the bottom. She didn't think that was very fun!

Blake LOVES the pool. He tries to swim, always wants to be horizontal in the water, and has no problem going under. He gets bored in his floatie and wants to be on his own so badly! He is a little dangerous!

This picture is today, right after both kids woke up from their naps. It is so hot, we have been letting them sleep in very little clothing!

Busy, Busy!

Things have been pretty nuts lately. It seems we are catching ourselves coming and going, and I fall into bed exhausted each night. More than once, I have fallen asleep with a book in my hand and my light on, never even realizing when Jeff comes to bed and takes my book away and turns off my light! This week was a challenge as I was parenting solo. Jeff was in Wisconsin for his annual fishing trip with the guys, so it was just me and the kiddos, hangin out! I must say, I have so much respect for single parents. It is a TON of work to do it all - get up, get the kids out the door and off to school, work all day, go to after school activities (this week was swimming lessons!), come home, do dinner, baths and bed. And I thought I was tired before!!!!! I have decided that I am taking a vacation to see my sister, and I will leave the kids behind with Jeff! I need a break! (of course I will only be gone 3 days, and it won't be until after Blake's first birthday... but still!)

The kids have been great. Blake got his first tooth (bottom left) at 7 months and his second one came in just a few weeks later. He had been biting everything, but took a break for a week or so, and now he is back at it. Don't hold him wearing a tank-top, or he will bite your shoulder! I don't think it will be long before the top 2 are in as well. He doesn't care for baby food anymore. He would prefer anything that he can feed himself, and if it must come from a spoon, then it needs to be something that has texture and needs to be chewed. He can tell you no. It is so cute! When he no longer wants the thing he is being fed, he will shake his head side to side and grin at you. When he smiles, he smiles with his whole face. I LOVE IT! I expect that he will be crawling at any moment. He gets up on all 4's and rocks back and forth. He is so close!

Avery is in a very fun phase. For the most part, she really wants to please you. When you praise her for good behavior, she will run up and hug you so tight. But, every few days, she has a horrible day!!! But I love the days when she just wants to please and is happy all day long! She has her first "best friend" at school, Ava. Fortunately, Ava's parents went to school at OU, and her dad was on the gymnastics team. So we are thrilled! Actually, Steve and Whitney are great people and we are very happy that the girls have found one another. It is fun to watch them together and see how kind they are to eachother. They always hug hello and goodbye, and I always get a hug and a kiss from Ava when I pick Avery up from school. Whitney and I were brave enough to take the girls out to dinner one night after gymnastics class, and, as you can see by the blurriness of the picture, there was not a lot of sitting still! But, it was fun!

For the most part, we have just been busy with the usual stuff. Here are a few pictures from our weekends: