Avery's 5th Birthday

This was such a fun birthday! Avery had been anticipating it for at least the past 6 months. After changing her mind several times, she finally settled on the theme "Pinkalicious" after one of her favorite books (and her very favorite color, of course!) She also knew she for sure wanted to have her party at "the gymnastics place", so that's what we did!

It was a ton of fun, and she had a ball being the center of attention.

(That's her, being thrown way up high into the foam pit.)

Ella had lots of fun, too!

Happy birthday to you!



We had 17 kids there! The coaches were busy!

On the day of her actual birthday (the following Tuesday) we had an all-about-Avery day. Boy, did she know it and milk it! She would say, "Since it's my special day today, can I ______?" Of course, how could I say no to anything she asked for?

She spent the morning at our church's incredible VBS, then went to Studio Movie Grill to eat lunch and watch Charlotte's Web. That night, the four of us went bowling, followed by dinner at Chick-fil-A (her choice of course). I'm not sure why Ben and I even paid for shoes, because Avery bowled for all of us.

I LOVE these pictures we got! They totally capture the mood of the evening.

It's really hard for me to believe my baby is FIVE already!

Dancing Queens

Avery loves to sing, dance, and be silly, and Ella loves to do whatever Avery does.

Last night, Avery was getting her groove on, singing, "Shake your booty, shake your booty!"

Ella, wanting to be like Avery, got her own little groove on, singing, "Shake your boobie, shake your boobie!"

My Heart Melted Tonight

I have to write this while it's fresh on my mind:

After putting Ella down for the night and setting Avery up on the couch with a movie (Ben is out with friends), I jumped in the shower.

I was completely uninterrupted, which is a miracle. It wasn't until I got out that Avery came up to me and said:

"Mom, Ella was crying and crying. So I went into her room and she said, 'I want Mommy.' I told her that you were in the shower and she kept crying. So I asked her if she wanted me to lay down with her and she said, 'Uh huh.' She was so, so sad. So I got into her crib and rubbed her back and sang her You Are My Sunshine. I just kept rubbing her back and she stopped crying."

Oh, I wish you could have seen the look on her face! It was so incredibly sweet. It's a good thing you couldn't see the look on mine, because by this point I was all teary-eyed and emotional. Of course I gave her a huge hug and kiss, told her how proud I was, how proud God was of her, and what an incredibly wonderful big sister she is.

Avery has given us our fair share of challenges, but one thing we've never doubted is her childlike sweetness and loving heart. I LOVE it when that shines through!

Ella Turns Two!

Wow! April has been so busy, and I am very behind on blogging!

The highlight of this month was Ella's birthday on April 10th. Despite having grand plans for an outdoor party at a park, the weather didn't cooperate, so we moved everything at the last minute to our house. Ella seemed a bit overwhelmed with all of the activity at first, but eventually settled in and really enjoyed herself. I'll let the pictures tell the story.

sampling the cake

See the blue lips?

eating lunch with all of her friends

getting some love from Mimi

swinging with Pawpaw

rockin' her Kai Lan outfit

opening presents with an attentive audience

blowing out her candle all by herself

checking out the gifts

with a very proud Mommy and Daddy

It's so hard to believe our precious angel is two already! We have been so incredibly blessed with her in our lives, and she is just an amazing, wonderful little person.

Easter Weekend at Mimi and Pawpaw's

While Ben was in Georgia, the girls and I headed down to spend a fun couple of days in Lake Jackson.


The kids dyed Easter Eggs,







cooked hot dogs and s'mores in the backyard,



got visited by the Easter Bunny,






hunted for eggs (which was really fun this year with Ella knowing what to do ...







and Avery being so excited about the Easter Bunny),





jumped a ton on the trampoline,



spent time with Jeff and his girlfriend, Kristen,



and tried (and failed!) MANY times to get a good picture together.


Oh yeah, I was there, too, but the existence of mommy is never recorded!

My Sweet Girls!

I finally got the girls to let me get some pictures of them ... together!

Thanks, Mom, for the cute matching outfits!


(Oh, and if you're on FB, you've already seen these. Sorry!)

Ben's in the background making them laugh.

Ella is trying to pose like Avery. I love this one!

Big, long sisterly smooch

Sort-Of Birthday

Happy 100 weeks of life, Ella!! You bring incredible joy and love to our lives and are a true blessing to us all. We love you with all our hearts!!





(No I haven't been tracking the weeks, but apparently Circle of Moms is, so I thought that was pretty cool to know.)

Love and Logic?

I was trained in Love and Logic as a teacher before I had kids, then took a bible study on it several years later when Avery was little. In theory, it's a great principle: The child takes ownership of her actions, faces a consequence that is logical to the offense, and learns to make responsible decisions on her own without seeing the parent as the bad guy.

I really do try to use this idea when it seems appropriate and makes sense (oh yeah ... and when I can remember to keep my cool!)

This morning at MOPS, we had a wonderful speaker talk to us about Love and Logic. With it fresh on my mind, I realized I had the perfect opportunity to test it out just 5 minutes after we got home.

Ella had gone into the pantry in search of "treats" as she and Avery like to do. She spotted the bag of flour right in front of her and, pulling it down, immediately started asking for "gookie". My first instinct was to say, "No! Put that back." But then I realized that the front of the bag had pictures of cupcakes on it, so that's why she thought there were cookies in there.

So...Love and Logic.

Why not let her look in, even try it if she wanted? Then she would figure out on her own that some things are not treats and don't taste good. The beauty of it would be that I wouldn't have to be the bad guy, telling her no, listening to her whine, making her cry.

Of course Avery wanted in on it, too. Perfect, I thought.





Uh, nope! TOTALLY backfired on me. They loved it.



At one point, Avery even asked me for a spoon.



Great, so now I have one more thing that they like and are going to try to sneak out of the pantry at any given opportunity.

Bath Time

Giving baths is something that Ben and I take turns doing. I am so thankful to have a husband who is willing to do this, especially since it's not my favorite activity. In fact, neither one of us particularly enjoys it. Usually our conversation sounds something like this:

"It's bath night, isn't it?"
"Really? Already?"
"Yep."
"So it's your turn, right?"
"No, I thought it was your turn."
"Nope, I did it last time. Remember?"
"You sure?"
"Yep."
Big sigh. "OK ... let's go, girls."

I'm not really sure why neither one of us loves doing this. Maybe it's the way we have to sit on our knees and awkwardly reach over the tub. Or maybe it's the way Ella cries when you wash her hair, or Avery fights to be in the front. I don't know.

But we forget there's a fun part, too. The part where the the kids play, splash, and use their imaginations. This is the good stuff.

Randoms

Request for pics have been noted, so here you go, Lynn! Random stuff I had on my computer of my favorite people!

Our trip to the zoo for John and Reese's birthday party. It was a lot of fun for the girls, but I think Ben was the one who was the most into seeing all the animals.

Nap time for Daddy and Avery.

Nap time for Daddy and Ella.

Apparently Daddy likes to nap a lot!

If These Walls Could Talk ...

I've decided to start a new "segment" to my blog!

To me, my life feels very ordinary and unexciting, which is why I have such a hard time coming up with things to post. But I'm going to challenge myself to take pictures of the everyday, normal things that happen around our house, and share them.

Please note: Most of these photos will NOT be photographically perfect! In fact, they may be downright awful (GASP!) in terms of composition, exposure, etc. etc. But you know what? They're snapshots ... they're memories ... they're LIFE!! :) And I love my life!


If these walls could talk ...

they would tell you about the mess Ella makes at every single mealtime, and how Ben and I try to outsmart each other on who gets stuck cleaning her up.



If these walls could talk ...

they would have you take a seat to watch one of the 10 or so "shows" that Avery puts on for us each day. She is better than Cher ... more acts, more costume changes, lots of stage presence!



If these walls could talk ...

they'd tell you how Ella really got into listening to my (or I guess I should say Avery's) ipod and loved jamming to the kid-friendly music ... in one ear only.



If these walls could talk ...

you would learn about Avery's awesome imagination, and how she has turned her cozy coupe car into a space shuttle!



If these walls could talk ...

they would ask you why in the world is it that when little toddlers find clean underwear, they always put it on their heads??

Filling My Tank

On Christmas morning Ben said, "Your present is that I'm taking the girls to Grapevine at the end of January to give you a break." Like a crazy woman, my first reaction was not ecstasy. I guess it was because my whole life revolves around those three people, and I wasn't sure what do do without them.

Fast-forward several weeks. I cried ... hard ... as they left. Like I said, I'm a crazy woman, I guess. It took all my willpower to let them go.

And then ... presto! I heard they arrived safely and all was well in the world! I had three amazing days of rest, uninterrupted work, beautiful weather, girl time. (Seriously, "Christina Conklin" hasn't laughed that hard in forever. And just so we won't forget it, girls: "To ancient times and distant music!" "Yodelay...he...hoo!" Wasn't that just soooo healing for the soul?)

Aside from the quiet time, the best part was that Ben hired a cleaning crew to come over the first day they were gone. So not only did I get a spotless house that I didn't have to clean, but it stayed that way for three whole days!!!!

It's so funny how something that I really thought I was dreading could turn into such a gift. (Oh, and just so you know, I could turn this statement into an analogy for some of life's circumstances ... but I won't this time!)

As I type now, they are on their way home. But thanks to my wonderful, generous husband, my tank is refilled and I am ready to take on life again. (Now, poor Nemaw's tank right now is probably another story!)