Arrrrgggghhhh - Emmett's 4!!!!

I can hardly believe that my baby boy turned 4 today!  While he still plays daily with his trains and cars, pirates are a new love for him.  In that spirit, we had a really fun pirate themed party with pirate pizza, arrrrrrhugala salad (a pirate's favorite vegetable you know) and a pirate birthday cake.  His gifts were (you guessed it) of the pirate variety :)  We had to pry the ship out of his hands with promises that he could play with it just as soon as he woke up tomorrow.

The kids had fun choosing gifts for him.  Kate was really excited to buy him the pirate spyglass and was even more excited to see how much he loved it!

Jackson loves his little brother so much.  He is a great example for Emmett, most of the time.... :)  Jackson is a very giving young man.  He went out on Black Friday with a full wallet and carefully picked out this birthday gift for Emmett and Christmas gifts for his family.

New Family Pictures

We couldn't get Emmett to smile for the life of us.  He is usually such a happy guy!

All of the cousins...

Looking so grown up!

Big middle schooler

Ava wanted her own personal photo shoot I think.

Finally got some REALLY cute candids of this little guy!

Christmas Advent 2012

Well, it's here...the Christmas countdown has begun.  This is one of our favorite traditions each year (closely followed by the turkey shoot).  Here's what we have in store...

1. Go to Patti's Cajun Christmas Party
2. Decorate the tree
3. Donate canned goods to the school
4. Make hot cocoa and watch a movie
5. Send Christmas cards
6. Make popcorn and cranberry garland
7. Sing Christmas carols
8. Go to see Rudolph Puppet Show
9. Make candy cane pizzas
10. Make paper snowflakes
11. Go to Jackson's orchestra concert
12. Have Emmett's birthday party
13. Start the 12 Days of Christmas giving for a friend
14. Make gingerbread houses
15. Go Christmas caroling
16. Read Christmas books by the fire
17. Go to the Fox Theater and see How the Grinch Stole Christmas
18. Go to the Temple and see the lights
19. Drive around the neighborhood and see the lights
20. Deliver neighbor gifts
21. Go see A Christmas Carol at the Alliance Theater
22. Go on a carriage ride through Piedmont park
23. Make and decorate sugar cookies
24. Read the nativity story
25. Take family picture and watch old family Christmas DVDs

2011-2012 New School Year!

Well, another summer has flown by and our family has officially entered the world of middle school! Here are a few pics of the kids flashing their digits (representing their grades and Jackson with an "m" for middle school) and their smiles. :) Time really does go by too quickly!

Ava's teacher is Mrs. Spencer and we are so excited about it! Although her BFF, Bailey, is in another class this year her other closest friends, Coco and Alima will be joining her. I will have the pleasure of being her room parent again and am really pretty excited about it.

Kate's teacher this year is Mrs. Rich. She is known as a creative and fun teacher who I know will make this a very special year for her. She too, has several great friends in her class including Lucy, Maddie, Kelsey, and a super cool "boy" friend who shall remain nameless. :)

We put Jackson on a bus for the first time as he set off for middle school. There were nerves, jitters and tears (ok most of those were from me) but he made it there and back in one piece. I really didn't enjoy those junior high years so I am dreading guiding my pre-teen through the drama that accompanies that time of life. Gratefully, Jason only has good memories of Jr. High so perhaps Jackson will follow suit.

They come in 3's, or so I'm told...

And I'm really hoping that it is true because...

#1) Last Monday our basement flooded (This isn't a picture of our basement but it helps you get the idea)

#2) Then on Tuesday I broke my ankle while running to the car- this is the best that it looked!

#3) Finally, on Wednesday I drove through my garage (trying to drive with my left leg).  I know, I know, I'm never living that one down!  Unfortunately, this IS a picture of my house!

Seriously.  It can only get better.  Right?

Digging in the Dirt

Jason and I learned many things from building our first home and would actually enjoy doing it again, now that we have that experience under our belt. One thing that we learned is to be present when the landscapers are putting in the sod and planting! Our sub-par, contracted, landscaping team, simply covered up large plots of dirt, concrete, old bottle caps and garbage with pinestraw (that's the southern equivalent to mulch) but not a plant in sight around the side and back of the house. Side note -we did really like how the front yard turned out though.

We've had good intentions of tackling the left over landscaping project for the past 2 years but haven't ever managed to get to it. It's like we've been busy or something! Well, spring break found us with a spare moment so I headed to Pike's Nurseries for some guidance. The heaven's apparently took pity on my serious lack of gardening skills and put a landscape architect in my direct path. Moments after I walked into the store, an employee approached me asking how he could help and yeah, he had no idea what he was getting into. I immediately confessed that I was a novice in the gardening world and then showed him the barren pictures of the outside of our home and told him that I need landscaping that was easy to care for. That angel then sat down with me and literally mapped out a landscaping plan, (including dimensions and directions) for our planting endeavor!

The side of the garage - Phase 1 before

The side of the garage - Phase 1 after

For those gardeners out there - We planted a Tea Olive at the front corner of the garage and the shrubs are Cleyeras. Truth be told, it wasn't nearly as complicated as I'd expected (once somebody told me what to buy, where to put them and how to plant them - hee-hee). But then again we started with the easiest part of the plan. The kids loved mixing the dirt and running through the sprinklers all day long. Not a bad way to spend the day together in my opinion (Jason and his back have another one I think). I'll post phase 2 this weekend. This is what we are starting with ...

Ava Update and Funny

That Mavala stuff is a MIRACLE! Ava did in fact cry herself to sleep that night (in my bed) and woke up the next morning with a very bad taste in her mouth but NEVER sucked her thumb again! Two days later we were driving home from the airport when Ava says to me, "Mom, I didn't suck my thumb the entire day - not when I was at home, not when I was driving in the car, not when I was watching TV..." (you get the idea). We stopped applying the Mavala to Ava's nails after the 2nd day and she hasn't even once put that little thumb back into her mouth. Yea!!!!

Now for the funny. An hour ago Ava was sitting on the counter while I was making dinner. We had a discussion that went something pretty close to this...

Ava - "Mom, Kate told me that I can only be one thing when I grow up".
Me - "You can be as many things as you want to be. You could decide to be one thing and then change your mind and do something else".
Ava - "I want to be three things"
Me - "Oh really? What are those three things?"
Ava - "1) A doctor 2) A dolpin rider and....(long pause) 3) I want to clean toilets with that brush thingy".
Me - Laughing hysterically. Can't respond for 30 seconds and then can only hug my funny little girl.

It's No Joke

Despite a very teary protest, we applied a little Mavala to Ava's right thumb this evening. Over the past 2 years she has blossomed into a full blown serial-thumb-sucker. We have tried all kind of motivational tricks of the trade but she was not buying into any of our schemes. When we once asked her why she wouldn't stop sucking her thumb her reply was, "Because I don't want to and it tastes like 'nilla (vanilla)". So there you have it.

The industrial strength, nail sucking deterent arrived by UPS today. We figured that April 1st was as good of a time as any to begin the intervention but I didn't count on how truly upset she would be. I tucked in a tearful little girl moments ago and said a silent prayer that she wouldn't cry herself to sleep tonight.