Shell hunting

I can't remember if it was an airplane or a helicopter, but again the only reason they are all looking in the same general direction and not moving is because there was something very interesting to see.  Thank goodness, so we could get one more good picture of all.  

My sister had a great idea to have them collect shells and then make little jars filled with their own shells.  They enjoyed collecting shells.  Avery loves that kind of thing.  There are so many pretty little shells in the Gulf to pick from.


To see the finished product, click here.  Sweet babies.  We miss them so much.

Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo

All of the days but one, we either went to the beach or sat on the local bayou beach.  The other day we took all the kids to the local zoo.  At the front door you can pick up a cup full of feed, aka zoo puffs, to feed the animals as you travel through the zoo.  The first zoo puff sign I saw was at the pen of a small deer or some such animal and I thought, oh that's what a zoo puff looks like.  Little did I know there would be 40 of those signs throughout the zoo telling you that you can feed that animal the zoo puffs in your cup, not that they had 40 very different looking breeds of zoo puffs.  The kids loved seeing and feeding the animals.  We got to see deer, sheep, turtles, birds and tigers among other things.  The wagons were a nice touch too.  The kids had fun getting in and out at most stops.  

Auntie B helping Avery feed zoo puffs to the sweet 'deer'.

Oh those greedy goats.  They got a lot of zoo puffs from all the kids.

Pirate's Cove

On the last day at the beach where we had extra help, K and H, Jon and I went for a fun outing.  We rented jet skis in the rain and took a ride over to Pirate's Cove, which is a total dive bar that can be reached by boat, jetski or by land.  There are lots of dogs who live there or just hang out there during the day.  There is writing all over the walls and tables from many visitors who have been there.  They have good burgers and beer, if you are into that kind of thing :).  Jon and I had a bushwhacker, yummy yummy.  We ended up sitting at 3 different tables before settling on the best one that was overlooking the water but out of the range of the rain that was coming down.  And after sitting there for a brief time, I looked down at the table and saw "Avery!" written on out table.  Then I knew, that was why we had searched for the perfect table.  PS Jon is a crazy fast jetskier and we beat K and H in a couple of races then upon return we found out their jetski was set on the slow mode.  Tee hee.

One Good Picture

I mean, really, you have no idea how hard it is to capture a good picture of the four kids.  Here is everyone smiling and looking in the right direction.  I will take it.  My sister mentioned in her blog the fact that we did not properly capture all visitors who we saw while we were at the beach.  GG, Poppy, Grancy, Nana Lin, Grandpa and Nana Penny.  I will try to be better next time.

New Things

The first day after we arrived at the beach, Avery was so fortunate to share in one of her cousins' favorite activities.  That is watching and greeting the garbage truck.  Where we live we can hear the garbage truck or we might pass one in the alley as we drive to work/school on Tuesdays or we might see one on the beach emptying out the beach trashcans.  But at the beach with her cousins, they all got to watch the garbage truck drive on down the road and back.  You can tell they are entranced because they are all facing the same direction and no one is moving out of the frame. It was exciting. Then we were ready to get to the beach. 

 

Another time they all sat still was for a yummy snack of popcorn (Avery's first experience with this treat).  Katie gave me lots of ideas about things to feed Avery. I always thought she might choke on popcorn, but instead she just enjoyed it, imagine that.  Avery ate exponentially better watching her cousins eat.  My sister just plops down plates of well-balanced meals and expects my nieces and nephew to eat the food, and they do!  Avery did pretty well with this, although she still wouldn't try the cottage cheese that her cousins love so much.

Avery did take a few days to really come out of her shell with Lucia, Elliott and Mazie.  She had fun but wasn't quite herself until later in the trip.  They all shared special moments.  Lucia and Avery loved to banter back and forth and make each other laugh.  Elliott and Avery enjoyed time playing and running around together.  Mazie and Avery share a deep love for their babies. One day they went missing and I went searching for them.  I found them rubbing their babies' backs where they had tucked them both into one of the beds in a bedroom of the house.  It was so sweet, I went running for my camera and scared my sister into thinking something was wrong. Nothing was wrong at all.

Jamberry

Avery enjoyed reading new books that her cousins willingly shared with her.  Her favorite was this little one, "Jamberry".  Katie allows her kids to take books into their cribs at naptime to read to their dolls/stuffed animals.  Since Avery isn't napping anyway, I have started letting her take a book to read for naptime.  Avery also shared one of her favorites that we brought along for the plane ride, "Pinkalicious".  Katie is very good about making reading books a priority and it has already made all three of hers very interested in books.  Thanks Auntie Kate for reading lots of stories. 

Airplane Ride

It is October 24th today, although I will backdate this post.  That means I am over 1 month behind, so here I go catching up!  I have found starting to post about our wonderful trip to Alabama to see my sister and her family, my mom, my dad and stepmom and Jon's mom and stepdad to be overwhelming.  It was such a great trip and I am tempted to just put a link to my sister's blog since she did a great job of detailing our trip.  So here that is, but I too will tell our stories.  It all started with the plane trip.  We brought lots of activities (note sticker-covered shirt) and snacks and Avery was quite enjoyable.  I loved that she had her own seat, both so that I didn't have to hold her the whole time and so I don't have to sit in the middle seat anymore.  Yay!

Our Little Non-Napper

So for several months now, Avery has chosen to hang out in her crib for a couple of hours a day rather than take a nap.  She averages 2-3 naps per week, usually at daycare.  She naps more for Daddy than for me.  I think she does it to make me crazy.  She is pretty cranky on days she doesn't nap but goes down easily for an early bedtime at 7.  How do I know she isn't ready to give up her naps entirely?  Well for one she naps for 2.5 hr at daycare.  I mean, really?!  And she does this to me (see picture above).  She's not fooling anyone when she passes out in the car at 4 pm on the way to a barbecue with friends!

sweet friends

Avery's group of furry friends continues to grow and they really like to travel together.  Interestingly her favorites, Abby and Baby, are not to be found in this picture.  But all the rest stand together in a close 3rd place to those 2.  I try to remember to move them off the stairs before bedtime so I don't trip in the dark!

Veggie Bliss

I came to a shocking realization on Avery's second birthday that she had essentially gone for a year of her life without eating vegetables.  What?!?!  I am so ashamed!!  After all that homemade babyfood of yesteryear, when she turned one she started vetoing purees and vegetables in their natural form.  Rather than persevering against the negativity, I gave up.  And then she turned 2. Really?  Wow.

So I decided something had to change.  I had received a cookbook from my mom last Christmas from my wish list, called Deceptively Delicious.  I pulled it out and started reading.  I went on a vegetable-puree-making rampage; spinach, carrot, broccoli, yams and cauliflower.  

I am happy to report that both in crudite form and hidden purees, Avery has started trying vegetables on a regular basis.  Notice I don't say "eating", just "trying" but I will take it.  It is a vast improvement.  

There's spinach hiding under that pizza sauce and cheese, see it between her 2 front teeth?

One of my favorite recommendations from the book is to offer crudite as a pre-dinner snack when your little one starts complaining of hunger before dinner is finished cooking.  Dip it in a little plain yogurt and it's kind of a fun little activity.

That lasagna has sweet potato and cauliflower purees in it and it's super tasty.

One of my favorite things I have made from this cookbook is the homemade ketchup.  Doesn't it look yummy?  Okay, maybe the picture doesn't capture the yumminess.  It really is delicious. Jon is a freak for ketchup, drowns his food in it and he loved it.  It is low sugar and has carrot puree aplenty. Bring on the fall vegetables and wish me luck.  Mmm, mmm.

Oskar's Home!!

Avery's beloved neighbor and friend has returned from a summer abroad in Germany and we are so excited to have our neighbors back.  We enjoyed a summer Sunday with them this past weekend, including swimming at the Santa Monica College pool (one of our favorite weekend pasttimes), lunch at Amandine Patisserie on Wilshire, then a dinner of surf and turf on the grill. Avery has greatly enjoyed having Oskar back in town.  Here they are looking out the lawn of the pool onto the driveway/parking lot outside, then below running back to the edge of the lawn.  All this after swimming in the 83 degree pool that was exceptionally chilly this day. Lucky for us Oskar has decided to stay in town for another few months to keep Avery company before his big move to Chicago.  

Welcome home, sweet friend.

Oskar and his daddy, Matthias, even teach Avery some German.  Tschüs, Oskar!

Or as I picture it in my head when I say it "choos" (goodbye), for now.

Summer concert at the Getty

On stage is Recess Monkey. Three elementary school teachers from Seattle compose the band.  The concert was a lot of fun on the lawn of the Getty.

Avery really loved watching the older kids run around and dance.

We were so lucky to share this fun event with our friends Kelly and Maddie.  Thanks Kelly for making the plans.

This is Avery and Daddy in front of Irises by Van Gogh (obviously).  We were last here on Avery's 1 year birthday.

Avery was so proud after walking down this long flight of stairs by herself, with Baby.

We walked back to the car rather than taking the tram.  Might not do that again anytime soon. But at the end of the walk was a sculpture garden including this big beautiful horse that Avery wanted to ride.  But the sign said "do not touch".  Now when she sees pictures of this horse, she says 'horsie on merry-go-round' and I try to explain that the horse lives in the garden at the Getty, not headed for a merry-go-round at the pier.

First Haircut

Please note the luscious curly-cue in the middle of her head and how it is quite lengthy compared to the other curls.

This is Avery prior to her first haircut.  She was really excited all week when we talked about it, but once we got in the car to go she got very quiet and concerned.  When we got to the salon a little girl was getting her hair braided and Avery kept saying "no haircut, no haircut".  

We talked her off the ledge by pointing out that she could sit in an airplane and watch TV while she got her haircut and we noted how brave the other little girls were as they got their hair done.

Enno was her stylist and he was very sweet to her and tried to engage her and he coped well with every turn of the head, evening up all the different lengths and keeping her curls and her bangs.

She did not shed a single tear.  She held her water and for a while held her lovey, but ended up dropping it before the end and forgetting about it entirely as I shoved it back in the diaper bag.

Here is Avery watching herself in the mirror getting her hair cut.  Note the TV that they have perfectly placed for distraction.

Happy, happy as the adventure nears it's end.

I nearly jumped for joy to see that curly-cue gone and the little curls in the back curl into place.
One last touch, Enno actually got a bobby pin to stay in her hair and threaded 2 little flowers into it.  She was very proud and happy to have survived her first haircut.  She kept the flowers in for quite some time although she was tempted on many occasions to remove them.  So one last note, they saved her hair for us in a little envelope and gave us a little certificate and we totally forgot it and left it at the salon.  Oh well, she will have to take our word for it that on August 15, 2009 just one day shy of 25 months she got her first haircut at First Cut on Montana in Santa Monica.  Then we went to brunch at Blue Plate and saw Alison Hannigan.  We never see famous people.  She was very pretty and was out to breakfast with her baby daughter and husband.  I digress, first haircuts are super fun.  We love the new 'do, Avery Mae.

Summer Fun

As Avery would say "Yum-city!"

Is there anything better than outdoor enjoyment of popsicles during summer with friends?  What a special day! 

Sweet Quincy

Avery loves to lie down next to Quincy and look him in the face and start laughing, talking to him, trying to kiss him, sometimes hitting him on the head (which is strongly discouraged), sometimes petting him sweetly. Quincy is almost always happy to oblige her in whatever she is up to.  He will lie there as pictured letting her throw dishtowels over him and balance toys on his head.  He is also happy to steal Mr. Snuffleupagus and watch her squeal!  He really is a good boy and we are lucky to have him in our lives.