Soccer

Alex's first soccer practice. He was so excited. He got a soccer ball and goal from Santa for Christmas and has been ready to play soccer ever since. His team is made up of 3 and 4 yr olds-here they are stretching.
He kept coming over and asking John for water. After the 3rd time we had to tell him no more water. He needed to practice.
This is his first game. He has only had one...the 2nd one got rained out. That night in the car he asked us all individually, "Avery, did you have a good time tonight?" It was so funny! And when John was putting him in the car he asked if he could wear his jersey to bed. He loves wearing jerseys! This past Monday his game was rained out and I had already gotten him dressed. He, of course, still wore his jersey to dinner and to bed. Lining up for the game to start. They won! The Yellow jackets beat the Bumble bees! I know we are not really supposed to keep score but with me as a mom and John as a dad what do you expect? We made a tunnel for them afterwards to run through and Alex is still talking about it. Everyday he asks, "Mama, you made that tunnel because I played so good? Will you make another tunnel?"
It was sooo cold! We had Avery bundled up as best we could and I knew it was warmer for her if she stayed in the car seat so she didn't really see him play but she was there to support him.
This video is of him scoring a goal in practice. They practice for 30 minutes before they play a game. Listen to what he says after he scores. Hope there's no celebration penalty in soccer:)

His first game. At one point, all the kids were running one way and Alex was running the other way. John asked him what he was doing and he said, "they got the ball." Guess he was going to get another one?

Swim Lessons alone

Alex has been taking swim lessons off and on since we moved here a little over a year and a half ago. This session is the first where I didn't get in the water with him. At first, he was not a big fan of this at all. But now he is doing great and really liking his teacher, Ms. Becky.

Looking for a red toy-his favorite color! We hear him say that about 50 times a day:)
If you listen closely you can hear him say, "hey, mama!"

Baby Bangs

Baby bangs-sounds cute right? Well, it's not. It is well documented that pregnancy is not good to me. I'm nauseous 24/7, I gain weight (and lots of it), my face breaks out, and I lose my hair. I just really want it to be well documented for my children to one day see what I went through to bring them into this world and how much they should always love me:) My hair falls out all through out pregnancy and then starts coming back in probably when the baby is 3-4 months old. Avery is 8 months old and this is what I'm dealing with. If you look back at any pictures of me recently you can see this. It's horrible! I mean, what in the world?? It's good birth control though isn't it? But the funny thing is, I would do it all over again for those two sweet babies God blessed us with.

Avery and Alex playing and a "first"

Avery trying a banana for the first time. She liked it OK but didn't seem to want anymore. But today I gave her some of mine and she was loving it!

My friend, Ally, let us borrow her jumparoo. Avery liked it but she didn't really jump. I guess she didn't "get" it.:)

I was fixing dinner one night and heard them in the living room laughing. I, of course, had to go check on them and this is what I found. He is so sweet to her! But it's funny because he calls her "Avery Kate" like that is her name...so we are making more of an effort to just call her Avery so he will too.

The Circus!

So I guess it is going to be a tradition for us to go to the circus for Alex's birthday. It comes the end of January and we always get tickets as our present to Alex. He seems to enjoy it! Hopefully, he won't outgrow it too soon because I love the circus!
Gotta have some popcorn!

He kept making this face and turning to me so I finally took a picture.

Alex loved the elephants at the circus and that is putting it lightly. During the long walk back to the car he acted like an elephant the entire time. It was about 10 or 10:30 at night and he was wild and crazy walking like an elephant on all fours and making the elephant noise as loud as he could.
So I shouldn't have been surprised when the next day he pulled out the stool and started doing these "circus" moves like elephants. He told me I was the ringmaster (sometimes I was a clown) and I had to announce the elephants and he did his "routine." He laid down and got up, he rotated on the stool, he stood on his hind legs and he walked with his trunk linked to another (pretend)elephant's tail. It amazes me what he comes up with and remembers! In case you are not sure, this is Alex, the elphant, on his hind legs holding his front legs up. :)

A visit from Uncle Russell

Russell and Alex at Melina's. It was a fancier restaurant than I expected and I was just a little nervous about being in there with it being so quiet and seeing all of the white linen tablecloths everywhere. But Alex and Russell stayed entertained with the sticker book.
And Avery stayed entertained with Russell's wallet and finally, his check card. I loved it!

Sweet baby girl.

More on Alex later but this is what he does and wants to be dressed like morning, noon, and night.

Dancing Alex

A friend of Alex's, Brenner, had his birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese the week after Alex. Alex is loving him some Chuck E. these days and anytime he comes out to say hi Alex has to see him and just be near him. It was announced over the loudspeaker that Chuck E. was having a dance party at the front of the store and next thing I know people are telling me to go check out Alex.
And this is what I see. I'm sorry it is so short because it actually lasted a long time, but my camera was full and I couldn't delete fast enough. The boy has no fear! He loves to dance! I love it! Notice he is the only little kid up there!:)

Papa's Birthday!

Papa's birthday was January 17th. We celebrated that Sunday at their house with Mimi's fried chicken and then again with dinner at Outback that Friday night. Hope you had a good birthday Jimmy! Thanks for being a great father-in-law and Papa!

Papa and Avery at Outback.
Alex is always near the birthday cake.

Avery with Aunt Nan.

Avery with Uncle David-I think she likes his beard!

Great-Grandaddy's Photo shoot

Alex has swim lessons on Thursdays and to get there on time and not rush too much I would usually have to wake Avery up just a few minutes early from her nap and I HATE doing that. So Great-Grandaddy and Nanny have been coming over to keep Avery for me. It has worked out great! They get to spend extra time with their great-granddaughter and I get some one on one time with Alex. Richard (great-grandaddy) is a great photographer and so Avery got a free photo shoot one day. He took a ton of pictures! Here are just a few.

With Nanny.

"Oh, do you want my serious face? OK, here it is."

"Now, here is my happy face, is this good?"



With Great-Grandaddy.

We went to lunch at McDonald's-look how intensely she is staring at that cup! She couldn't get enough of it.

Snow Day!

We got snow yesterday! We have been here a little over a year and a half and it finally came!:) We were so excited, especially Alex! We really don't have "cold" weather gear so they both wore their rain coats and rain boots. Avery seemed to really enjoy it, too. John was off-so it was nice to have a snow day where he could play with the kids. It if stuck from the time it started snowing we think we would have had 6-8 inches, but it was nice the short while it lasted.



Alex said the penguin lived in snow so he needed to come outside too.

Making a snow angel.

The final product.







John tried to find twigs and stuff from outside to make the snowman face but Alex was having none of that. He told John that Frosty needed, "two eyes made out of coal and a button nose." Alex is a big fan of Frosty and knows the song very well. So I got two rocks from our gas fireplace and a button and then a carrot for the mouth:) Alex loved his snowman!
John is about to drop a snowball on Alex. Alex loved throwing snowballs at us.

When I was helping with the snowman I saw Avery's hand just sitting in the snow and it was blood red. So I decided she needed to go in and get warm. I put her in our room for a few minutes while I went back out. When I came in she was checking herself out and playing with herself in the mirror.