saturday silly billies

saturdays are family days at our house...a traditional saturday starts with allen taking avery to breakfast at mcdonalds. that's been going on for almost two years now and she loves it. it's their special time each week when it's just them, and when addison gets a little bigger she can go too! we normally meet up after that and spend the day as a family, doing whatever...which we've appropriately named ourselves the saturday silly billies. today was no exception. we broke out the sprinkler and the slip-n-slide and all took a turn....even addison....even mommy. we were so wet and having so much fun that we didn't even notice it was raining! bear was the only one who didn't join us and he was super sad about it.....maybe next time.

seeing double?

okay friends, funny story for you. i've now been stopped not once but twice by random strangers who have asked if my girls were twins. no, you don't have to re-read that sentence. you read it correctly the first time. hard to believe, i know. the first time was at church, the second time was in the grocery store. both times i've probably had a look on my face that answered their question (and maybe questioned their sanity) but always smiled and said "no, they are just sisters," without stating their obvious age difference. there are days when i think my girls look a lot alike in a lot of their features, especially when i pull out avery's old pictures, but there is a distinct difference in them too...they each have their own look. now, maybe i see the difference in the two and 1/2 years between them....clearly that's a given. maybe i'm the mom and i just see two different girls.




you tell me, looks aside, would you mistake an almost four year old and a 17 month old for twins? come on.................

a little perspective on their size difference....i'm just sayin'

olympics 2020

avery started gymnastics last week and she LOVED it! seeing her in the little leotard made my day and part of me wanted her to stay that little for a really long time. this has been such a fun age and her confidence has grown so much. i think if we would have tried this a year ago she would have struggled ... but she was so excited to go in her class. the class was a little more technical than i thought...they actually taught gymnastics techniques, so i'm not really sure what i expected. we love gymnastics!

airplane arms on the balance beam

rollllll overthat, my friend, is what we call jumping

the balance beams got progressively higher off the ground and she had to do knee lifts as she walked across this one and kicks across the one to her left. she did great with a perfect 'toothpick' dismount

and....ACTION

today was avery's first trip to the movie theater. some of you may know that the RAVE theaters are offering free childrens movies on tuesday and wednesday throughout the summer....and, what's better than a free movie? so i planned a 'day of fun' as avery called it, for just the two of us....addison stayed with aunt fun. we met lindsey and hadyn and the girls had a blast. the movie was cute ~ alvin and the chipmunks ~ but a little over her head. i can't wait to take her back and let her see something that holds her attention...or gives a full storyline that she can follow. she did, however, love the flashing bulb of my camera in a room that was super dark...she kept asking me to take her picture as she posed....maybe she thought she was the STAR of the movie!

wow, that intro was loud

she thought it was hysterical every time the chipmunks sang

the pitter patter of little feet

addison finally took her first steps! last thursday she decided to let go and take off on the adventure of walking! she's been steady enough for quite a while but unwilling to let go of hands, furniture, walls, whatever....but last week she went for it. she's so proud of herself and we make sure we give her lots of encouragement, especially avery, who has held her hand walking across the playroom for weeks now. we're so excited!

one step at a time

she's making sure avery can see her.... concentrate...all that looking made her fall
and, we're up again avery the encourager

it's time for a haircut!

many of you have asked when we would cut addison's hair. it seems to bother everyone that it's in her eyes, so i know it's driving her crazy. we just love how whispy it is (was) and that it had a little style to it, all by itself. i'm not celine dion or kate hudson....i planned on having her hair cut before she got married (i know their kids are boys...that's not the point).....but we took both girls last week.

let me take you back a few years to avery's first experience...she loved it. loved the boat, loved the girl, loved the sucker, loved that they sprayed her head with water. surely, we thought, surely addison's easy going self would be just as happy-go-lucky. not a chance, friends. she freaked. hated the boat, hated the girl, hated the sucker, hated the water, hated that we tried to make her stop hating it. the experience, as you'll see, could not end fast enough. the easy part was avery, who hopped in like a pro and had more hair cut ~ dad ~ than ever before. granted, i am a friend of the bob....but allen kept saying "a little more."

both cuts turned out super cute and we had a fun family day...despite the meltdown.

this was pre-everything...maybe we introducted the sucker too early

summer fun

the girls and i went to "the condo" (as avery likes to call it) for a girls week! many long days at the pool and the beach and the indoor pool, which quickly became avery's favorite because it was so warm. she also learned to jump off the side of the pool with her swimming ring. don't think that repition didn't go on for a good hour. addison learned lots of new words ~ water, bubbles, out. aside from a minor check card incident and a relapse for addison's ear infection...the week went off without a hitch. our friends jennifer and ellie stayed with us and avery LOVED having someone to play with....and i enjoyed having one of my favorite friends there too! we also met our friends kaitlin and her little girl maggie for dinner, which was super fun...and the food was amazing.

avery and her bug ring

just hanging out...

peek-a-boo

mmm...dippin dots

the ferris wheel ~ they love it

catching hermit crabs

dinner with all the girls