Pictures for Daddy

Scottie asked me to put some more pictures up of the girls. He really misses them. Only ten days left until he comes home!!! :) This picture is of Avery eating mac-n-cheese for the first time. The doctor said she could start having table food more, so I hope this was okay. Personally I will give her just about anything she wants, as long as I can eat for five minutes in peace. The evening time is when things start to breakdown in the Scott household. Grace is hungry, Avery wants to be held, and I have to fix dinner. It usually goes smoothly when Scottie is home to pay attention to them, but when I"m by myself it can get a little crazy before dinnertime. So I gave her some of our food and she loved it!

I just can't get enough of her cute little face. How could you deny her anything???

Avery has learned how to pull up on things, and she thinks it's the best thing ever! Well, until she hits her head on the chair, and then it's not as much fun. But she just picks back up and tries it again.

What a doll baby!

This kid finds the tiniest pieces of paper and dirt on the floor. The one good thing about this is that she is making me a better housekeeper. I'm more aware of the floors and I've been keeping up with them better. Thanks Avery!

Umm.... good thing I've been keeping up with the cleaning. Otherwise it would be dangerous for her to eat crackers off the floor. I didn't have room in my cabinets for the crackers so I just set the box on the floor. (one day when we can afford a bigger house, I am going to make sure I have enough cabinet space!!! I don't care about a lot of other details, but that is a big one for me!!! It drives me crazy) Anyway, I was in the living room for a minute and I heard Avery getting into something. When I walked into the kitchen I saw that she had already eaten half of a cracker. She is going to be Miss Self-Sufficient, just like Grace.

She was pretty happy with her discovery, and I found out that she likes to eat crackers. :)

Sisters playing in the bathroom.

Grace is playing "pool" with her toys in the sink (something she has loved to do since she was three) and Avery is eating Snow White. I should probably check to see where that toy was made. I hope it doesn't have any lead paint from China! This post is really making me look bad. Avery has picked up dirt, eaten crackers off the floor, and chewed on a toy that could have questionable paint on it. Bad mommy! ;)

I hope to get some video on here soon. Maybe Avery can talk to daddy on it, we'll see. (Sorry about all the fuzzy pictures. I need to figure out the flash and lighting on this camera. Now if I could just find the manual....

Successful Sunday

We made it through our first Sunday alone. I am proud to say that I got all three of us ready and to church on time. Technically we made it to the parking lot on time, but we made it!! It's not the same without Scottie, but we only have three more Sunday's without him. (maybe two, I'm not sure what day he gets back.) After church we went out to lunch at the Mexican restaurant. It was nice to have a little girl time with Gracie. I think we needed that. We came home and did a craft and then just hung out for the rest of the day. I'm starting to get the hang of this single parent stuff, but I am so grateful that it isn't permanent. I don't know how single mom's do it. It makes me even more appreciative of my husband and our marriage. Being married isn't always easy, but it's always worth it! We are counting down the days until he comes home!!!!

Poor Baby

Avery has learned how to stand up in her crib. She wasn't too happy about taking a nap this afternoon and she was letting me know it! I knew she was tired because she kept rubbing her eyes. So I just let her cry it out, which works almost every time. I laid her back down and left the room. After a few minutes I noticed that it was really quiet, so I went to check on her. This is what I found....

Her poor little face was leaning on the railing and she was completely out.

I couldn't believe that the camera flash didn't wake her up. A sure sign that she was tired. Of course I couldn't leave her like that, and she woke up when I moved her. But I just had to get a picture of this before she woke up. It was funny and sad at the same time. Poor baby!

First Day of Kindergarten

The little baby birds waiting for breakfast. Avery wasn't quite awake yet, but she heard us getting ready so she wanted up too.

Waiting for the bus! It was cold and rainy this morning so we had to put on jackets to wait at the bus stop. It's suppose to warm up later today, so I hope she is okay in her shorts. We could have switched outfits, but this was her first day of school outfit and she didn't want to change it! I think she'll be fine. The only problem we ran into this morning was her hair. Oh, that hair! She has been blessed with an abundance of thick curly hair. Some women pay hundreds of dollars on products to get the body and volume that she has naturally. But does Grace appreciate that? No way! She won't let me do anything to her hair. She ran around screaming this morning when I plugged in the curling iron. It was too early to fight with her, so the ribbon is the most I could do without her having a fit. I don't think she will ever let me do cute things to her hair with pretty bows. She's a free spirit, what can I say?

Avery got to wear her new jacket that her her Uncle Joe bought her. She is so patient in the morning while we wait for the bus.

Sisters playing while we wait.

Grace was becoming impatient. I asked her what that face was for and she said she was ready for the bus to come now!! I'm so glad that she is excited about school and not hanging on to me and crying. Although it would be nice if she was a little sad to be away from me. Again, she's a free spirit!!

This was the only picture I could get because she was running so fast to get on the bus.

I drove over to the school to get a picture of her on her first day. I thought I would have to fight to get a parking spot, and elbow my way in the hallway to get a picture. But I was the only parent in the entire school. It was a little strange. I couldn't believe that no one else came to take pictures. It worked out for me, but it was still weird. Grace seemed so comfortable to be there, and she was ready to start her day. I will try and post some of her thoughts tonight after she gets home. But for now I'm going to try and figure out what to do without her all day. Luckily I have Avery, or I would really be a mess! (FYI, that is not her teacher in the background, she is their assistant. I wanted a picture of Grace and Mrs. Roop, but they were all so busy I didn't want to ask)

Twas the night before Kindergarten....

We celebrated the last day of summer with some of Gracie's favorites. After the open house at her school, which I am kicking myself for not taking any pictures of her at her seat, we went to McDonald's for lunch. I think everyone else in town had the same idea, because the play land was packed!!! Then we just chilled out at home for a while until dinner time. I made her favorite meal - tacos! Which I think are disgusting, but it's not my last night before kindergarten so I ate them with a smile for her.

Okay, I pictured this to be a lot cooler in my mind. I wanted to make something special, so I tried to make a cake into the letter K for kindergarten. I thought it would be fun to do each year before school starts, so next year would be the number 1, then the next #2 etc..... But since I am home alone now and doing everything by myself, I didn't have a lot of time or energy to make it look right. I made it to Grace's specific instructions, I just had to do it quickly since Avery was at my feet screaming. She added the sprinkles and the animals around the cake. She said they wanted to eat some of her cake too. I was too tired to argue with her and let her know that my original cake vision did not contain plastic animals. She was thrilled with it, and we got to eat cake at the end of a long day. Everything worked out just fine! :)

Grace with her pre-kindergarten pedicure and manicure. She and I went on Monday while Mom watched Avery. She loves to have the flowers drawn on her nails, and I like having my feet look nice and pretty. I think this should be a yearly tradition. Especially with the price of a pedicure being $26.00, who can afford to do it more than once or twice a year?! (Grace only costs $5.00 since they only paint them without all the scrubs and lotions.)

Her clothes are all laid out and her backpack is ready to go. The question is: am I ready to let her go???

We have been perfecting our bedtime routine, and tonight was great. I actually had her bathed, jammies on, teeth brushed, stories read, and in her bed by 8:20. So why did I find her in my bed, jammies off, and sleeping on my pillow by the time I got out of the shower? I didn't care since tomorrow is going to be such a big day. I hope I can hold it together when she leaves in the morning. I've been having that heavy heart feeling all day. I'll just have to spend the day praying for her.

Oh, and this is how Avery decided to spend the last day of summer. Licking the dishwasher. The good news is that she is learning how to pull herself up into a sitting position. She needs to hold onto something to get all the way up, but she is doing it herself. You could tell she was proud of herself. The only thing that would have made this day better would have been to have Scottie here. I know he is sad to miss Gracie's first day of kindergarten, but we'll do a video chat so she can tell him all about it. I'll try and post pictures tomorrow night!

First Bus Ride

Today Gracie started her Early Start program at school. It's only a couple of hours long in the morning. She has it every day this week, and then starts full day kindergarten next Thursday. The purpose of the program is to help the kids ease into school a little better. I think it's a great idea. It will certainly help her get use to waking up early and getting ready for the bus. Our bus stop is at the very end of our road. I was hoping it would be a little closer, but we'll manage. Grace was so excited this morning. I didn't have any trouble getting her up, which is not the norm with this one. She's too much like Scottie and I with our love for sleeping in the morning. But today she was bursting with excitement to get on the bus for the first time.

Here she is getting on the bus. It's hard to watch your little baby get on that big ole' bus! For the record, I did not cry. I wanted to, but there were people around so I held it in. I'm proud of myself!

Doesn't she look tiny? That was my first thought, "she looks too little in that big bus!" But I knew this day would come, and I'm glad that she is excited about school instead of dreading it. I'm sure in a couple of years we will hear, "why can't you just drive me to school? Only nerds ride the bus!" Hopefully she won't feel that way, and too bad if she does. ;) I can't wait to see her face when she gets off today, and hear all about the fun she had at her new school!

Holiday World

Back in July we went to Holiday World with Dad, and Carol. My step-sister Jill and her family went too. We weren't able to go last summer due to Jill having Wyatt in May and I was pregnant with Avery. I don't think it would have been a very pleasant trip. But this year every one was older and ready to play. This picture was taken at my Dad's house. I just love the look on Avery's face, like she is really into the book. Grace's smile is super sweet too!

I love this picture. I am crazy about babies in onesies!!!

Judging from Gracie's soaking wet hair and clothes, you would think this picture was taken at the water park. Nope, it was a kid's area that had giant water spouts in the middle. There is no stopping this kid when it comes to water. It's like a siren's call; she just can't stay away! :)

We had only been there for about an hour before Avery passed out. I was nervous that she wouldn't nap at all, but it obviously wasn't a problem.

Here's our little sweetie eating her first cookie. One bite and she was hooked. She must get it from me. :)

Here's our other sweetie. She was having such a good time.

Grace and Stuart with Grandpa. Stuart was one of the main reasons she was having a good time. They get along really well. You can't see it, but the man behind Dad had a full white beard. It was like we had our own Santa Claus in Holiday World.

Avery liked standing in the water, but she wasn't a big fan of sitting in it with her little swimmers. She's fine if she can float in the water, but she must not like the feel of them when she's sitting. I personally wouldn't want to sit in a big soggy diaper either. But I may not have a choice when I get older.... Wait, I don't like where I'm going with this post. (ps. If you enlarge the picture, you can see my dad in the background climbing the ropes after Grace and Stuart. How do I know it's my dad? By the awesome farmers tan on his arms and his blindingly white legs. Sorry Dad, I just had to say it. :)

Mommy hiding behind Avery. Although, I actually like my new swimsuit this year. But I'm not going to post a full body picture of it on here. I'm crazy, but not that crazy!

We still had another hour before the park closed when it started pouring down rain. We had to walk all the back to the van. That wasn't much fun, as you can tell by the look on Grace's face. The rain really became a pain when I slipped out side of a restaurant and landed on my right arm. I heard it pop, and I thought I had broken it. But my hunk of medical school husband checked it out and said it was fine. It didn't feel fine for a few days, plus I felt like an idiot for falling down in front of people. Oh well. it wasn't the first time and I'm sure it won't be the last.

Avery having her first drink of Mountain Dew. We like to start good eating habits early. Cookies and Mountain Dew are part of the food pyramid, right? (Just so you know, she didn't really get any Mountain Dew out of the cup. I don't want child services to show up at my door. If you remember the police showed up in January to question me about stealing people's wallets. I can't afford any more trouble. I need to keep my nose clean for awhile.)

The end of long day. We heard them talking for quite a while, but then it got really quiet. When we got home this is what we found when we turned on the lights. This is just evidence of a hard day's worth of play and fun. Can't wait for Holiday World 2010!!

New Tricks

Avery has learned how to clap her hands when you say patty-cake. I was impressed since Grace couldn't clap until she was around 10 months old. It's fun to see how each baby is different. Grace talked a lot more at 8 months. It doesn't matter when they do things, they always look cute doing it!

*(yes, I did the parent thing - talking loud into the camera because I forgot that others would be able to hear me. Sorry! :)