my (temporary) neighbor.

Good news/bad news!

Mer is babysitting for a week just down the street.  Bad news?  A week.

So far, we've done a great job taking advantage of this closeness; not even letting the rain stop up from stroller rides, bike rides or even electric scooter rides! (Mer!)

Avery found a quick friendship in Kate and finds it hard to leave her side!  We must have heard, "Come here Kake" (as she pronounces it!) a hundred times.  It was too sweet.

I could get used to this and sadly, already have.

Drinking wine with Mer, watching the kids and chatting.  Yup.  Sign me up permanently!

happy boy!

love this!

Avery enjoying the news toys at Kate's house!

         Warner so badly wanting to play with the "big kids"!

Aves staying close to "Kake"

even mid-diaper change!

Avery admiring Kate's work the next morning!

As you can see, Kate is quite the artist.  Apparently she knows me well already!

day two of preschool.

We are in the groove and loving preschool more each visit!

Another successful morning of dress-up, coloring, play-doh, snacks and songs!

Avery really, really didn't want to leave this time!

Seriously?  More pictures Mom?

I'm coming guys!

Her favorite green hat!

Here Mom.  I think this construction hat is just your style!

"fire truck!"

Other than mommy, "fire truck" is one of the words I hear most often these days! 

Good thing my Dad is a firefighter!  I have the hook up for some good quality fire station fun!  With much anticipation and obvious excitement in Avery, we headed to the station.  Avery quickly grabbed Grandad's hand and led him right to the garage to see the truck. 

What a brave girl we thought!  Although it turns out, actually driving the truck is much scarier!  Which means the "fire truck" portion of the fire station visit was about less than 3 minutes.

Don't worry.  There were reinforcements:  a white board!  Cool!

 

Nonetheless, it was great to see my Dad two days in a row!

I have a feeling we will be back soon!

nanny & grandad spend the night!

Chris was out of town most of last week so I strategically planned for Dad and Ann to stay for an overnight.  You're probably thinking I needed some help but nope.  I just love them and wanted them around :)  And okay, they definitely did help too!

Not to mention, Avery & Warner adore them so it was a win win for all of us!

Avery was taking advantage of this visit any way she could!  She fully expected Nanny & Grandad to join in her toddler activities no matter how tight the squeeze!  Since I am usually the one cramming into small contraptions, I found this pretty entertaining!

uh - mom.  you're in the way.

easy does it grandad!

am I ever wearing pants??

After the backyard obstacle course, we stopped by the Train Park: a guaranteed hit!  As we lined up for the train, Avery belts out with sincere concern:

"NO TICKETS!!".  Imagine our laughter.  The good news?  We had tickets!  What a great time.

 

My new favorite picture.  Hard to explain but that look of my Dad's.  So how I think of him.  This handsome, wise man.  The definition of a father.  And holding my son.  God is good.

We spent the rest of the evening playing, watching American Idol and eating some great Mexican food.  A huge surprise to the night?  A visit from wonderful Mer!    Having her join in all these festivities only made it that much better!

It was a big night for Aves.  Mom let her stay up till 10pm!  I couldn't resist though.  Grandad was making her belly laugh.  That can't possibly be my fault.  ;)

Avery helping Nanny with dinner :)

The next morning, Avery pulled Ann's heartstrings with some great cuddle time and subtle begs for her to stay.  Hard to resist that face.  So Ann came along to Music Class for one extra hour of grand-kid time!

perfect weather.

After an unexpected cold wave, we are back to the gorgeous Arizona weather we are spoiled with 6 months out of the year.

Doors open, windows cracked...outside we go!

A new found perk to the move?  Being 1/4 mile from the PF Chang's marathon route!  The kids and I headed out there for about 45 minutes cheering on all the brave participants! (hmmm...do I sound like quite the nervous parent in the video?)  :)...

And naturally, some good ol' fashioned back-yard play.  This time it involved shaving cream and food coloring.

preschool beginnings.

 

 

Just as I had anticipated, preschool was a hit!  For 90 minutes, Avery was in her own fairytale land with no obvious intention to ever leave!  She appeared comfortable from our first step out of the car, running excitedly to the preschool doors.  The moment we walked in, she was elated! 

Her eyes did the talking for her:  "What?!  Do I get to play with all of this!?!"

For the next hour she played and played!  She held less than usual concern for my "whereabouts" and found contentment playing by herself or with the nearest toddler.  She adored the dress up area, finding the prettiest green hat to model.  I casually let her know another little girl liked her hat so she headed to the coat rack immediately, bringing a pretty yellow one for her new friend.

When the teacher joined us while playing with play-doh, she was offered a very yummy pretend play-doh pancake.  To which she replied, "thank you!"; then left the table and pushed in her chair.  What??  Obviously that makes me parent of the year!  ;)

Her eyes lit up even more for the announcement of "snack time"!  That is definitely one thing Music Class does not have ;)  As the teacher went around to each child, singing them a welcome song, I watched her in a new found amazement.  So proud.  So curious as to her next move.

I know Algebra and U.S. History are just a couple blinks away but for now, I happily & presently watch her first steps into her school years.  Words I can't believe I am typing.

 

 

 

Wow.  Preschool sure works up the appetite!

Welcome Avery!

Time for stamps!

It's Time!

The unthinkable has happened:  I have finally, finally taken pictures of our house!

And after all of this anticipation, I sure hope it was worth the wait!

Keep in mind, my photography skills still have much room for improvement so there are some serious cases of over-exposure.  Regardless, I think they will give the overall feel.

With that said, I'm going to make you work for it a little and redirect you to another blog.

I decided to post all my house-related, organizing projects on the website below!  I have many more entries in the works for this site (including MORE house pictures to come) but this should hold you over for today!  ;)

http://organizedbykelley.blogspot.com/

Enjoy and thanks for your patience! 

9 Months!

Warner turned 9 months a few days ago and I think it's safe to say...he is crawling!

He can easily get from Point A to Point B with his very own "Army Style" crawl.  The first stop?  Daisy and Wall Ball.  Soo.  I guess that's where he's wanted to visit all these months ;)

 

Perhaps his crawl will evolve into a more conventional crawl but in the meantime, this low-profile-sneaky-crawl is getting the job done!

Since Chris is recovering from food poisoning, my mom came along to help with Aves at Warner's 9 Month Well Visit this morning.  Avery was so well-behaved (yay!) and kept saying "Doctor"!  Warner put on a brave face for 3 separate shots since they were out of the 3-in-1 version.  Yikes.  Poor little guy.  Needing a nap didn't help his cause but as usual, he took it like a champ and cried very little.

The STATS?

Weight - 23.05 lbs!  (90-95th Percentile)
Height - 29 inches  (75th Percentile)

Are any of us surprised?

What a cuddly & happy boy we have on our hands!

  

Are we about done here?

Okay, one more smile!

Uh - hey guys, where's my sticker?

Seriously.  I'm gonna need a 23.5 month sticker over here people!

I'm so out-a here!

Birthday Season beginnings!

We had an interesting start to "birthday" season this year.

Saturday morning?  Great!

Saturday afternoon/evening?  Not. So. Great.

We headed to Brooks' 2nd birthday party (just down the street!) Saturday morning ready for thg mini music class Jordan planned!  Instruments, ribbons and Teacher Layla?  All present!  Perhaps the best party idea yet (next to Nora's fireman party which I fully intend to copy one of these years!).  I have more pictures to add but here's a sneak peak!

I'm pretty sure Aves and Warner never wanted to leave!

Mini music class!

2 years later, they FINALLY looked at the camera at the same time!  Me taking a picture of Jordan capturing the unthinkable!

 

These boys!

Fortunately, nap time was an easy transition!  Before we knew it, it was time to head to Surprise for our second, 2nd Birthday party of the day!  Lexi's :)

With an hour drive, the kids did pretty well and stayed entertained.  Five minutes from their house, I glanced back at Avery and...PUKE!  PUKE!  Annnnnd more PUKE!  We quickly pulled over and got her out of the car while she tried to fight the tears.  I had to strip her down in the bitter cold and do my best to clean...well, everything!!  Oh I felt so bad for my sweet girl.  She's never puked before so I think it scared her in addition to the horrible feeling of throwing up.  The good news?  She was perfectly happy and okay the minute it was over.  And fortunately, the rest of the night!

Food poisoning?  Nope.  We all ate the same thing that day.  Bad milk?  Don't think so.  I had some at the same time she did.

Definitely an unexpected bummer.

We managed to have a fun time at Lexi's party watching for any sign Aves might hurl again.  But it wasn't before long until Warner started getting pretty fussy.  Assuming he was overstimulated and a bit tired, I eventually decided he needed a ride in the car to hopefully get him fast asleep.  Little did I know, that was the start of 1 hour and 15 minutes of straight crying.  Most of you know, Warner is not a crier.  I have never heard him cry so much in his 9 month lifetime.

Geez.  So here we are again playing the guessing game.  Crap.  Is this a flu bug and he got it too?  We stopped at Walgreens for Tylenol.  Talk about a long ride home.  I just wanted to be out of the car, sitting at home and cuddling him!

It turns out home was the cure.  The instant he was able to play around on the floor and move, he was happy as a clam.  Hmmmm.  Thinking back, I'm not sure he was even able to burn energy at the party.  So many people wanted to hold him and after two long car rides, he was desperate to MOVE!

Sometimes I forget that Warner is already 9 months old!  Although he can't fully crawl, he's no longer an infant content with the carseat or being held.

Note to self.

I will say, it sure was a sigh of relief to rule out flu bug!  Fewwwwwww.

Avery catching a ride on Lexi's new Schwinn trike!

We ended the night with some quality play time, a long warm bath, story-time filled with laughter and a good night sleep.  I may have snuck Warner into our bed for the night.  After all that crying, I could tell Chris even wanted him there too!

Avery happy that her baby brother was feeling better!

Things are pickin' up!

After a month break from Music Class, we are back and Aves is ecstatic!  She was full of the happy wiggles while declaring "excited!" over and over!  Even Warner couldn't hide his excitement and introduced his best bopping dance moves!

Tomorrow is the start of a new chapter:  Parent/Toddler Preschool!  Well, just the orientation but a clear reminder that my little girl is growing up.  She is definitely ready.  I love the idea of a transition class before the real deal.  I'm not convinced the "transition" part isn't designed more for the parents because I know I will need it.  Nonetheless, it will be a world of fun watching her grow!

With the great weather this week, we've spent a lot of time outside.  We set up tent, gathered our toys and chowed down on some yummy lunch!

My little Rainbow Bright!

Kickin' back.

Snuggles for Mommy!

And snuggles for Daddy!

Come on Warner!  Watch me!