Mailing a letter to Daddy

A&E were so excited to mail a letter to Daddy. They love getting letters from him and help me check the mail every day now. The last letter he sent, I read to them and Evan said "that was an awesome story". lol

Such imaginations

Avery LOVES to pretend she is a puppy. It comes in handy when I need for her to "sit" or "stay". lol

Today they put on their capes that Kristi gave them for their birthday (yup they still love them). Avery said baby Jaguar was in trouble so she and Evan put on their capes and were off to their pretend rescue. They were calling themselves "Super Ev" and "Super Av". Love their big imaginations.

Rainy Day Fun

Sorry for the unexpected break. I was a bit under the weather (which is a bit of a pun with this post lol).

A&E were so excited when it rained the other day and they could finally use their new rainboots. They had been wearing them on sunny days and it just wasn't the same. A day to use rainboots AND their umbrella? The best time ever for these 2!

Martial Artists

A&E tried their first martial arts class tonight. I think it was a hit! They were struggling at first but by the end, they were picking up on it. As a reward, they played duck, duck, goose at the end. Totally clueless! lol

I didn't have my camera so I snapped a few pics with my phone. They aren't the best quality but you get the idea.





Now we have to order the uniforms.

Little Gamers

Evan has been in Wii Rehab since before Andy left. This kid loves video games. He is now enjoying my Nintendo DS.

Picnic

A&E love furniture their size so of course they love their picnic table that came with their new swingset. They had a picnic snack the other day.

Murphy stood guard in case clean up was needed


You can see Joey was covering the other side...just in case

Ponies!

A couple weeks ago, our neighbor had a birthday party for his granddaughter. They rented some ponies for a couple hours. A&E weren't sure what to think at first. They are used to normal size horses like at Papaw's house. Evan was a little afraid until he realized they are like horses. Just much, much smaller. :) I think one was actually a miniature horse because it was tiny. I could have stood over it with both feet on the ground. It was the perfect size for A&E! His name was PeeWee but Evan kept calling him Kiwi. lol

Feeding PeeWee some carrots


A riding (she would say "Yee haw!")





E riding





Afterwards they officated a jump rope contest. :)


A was cheering them on

Sneaky girl

Avery has some star stickers that she thought would look great on her sticker chart and get her that much closer to the prize for having 20 stickers. Like I wouldn't notice? (Hint: her stickers are red and purple)

Some Thursday funnies

We went to storytime at the library this morning. Avery had to potty so we went to the bathroom. We walked in and Evan said "Oooh it smells like cereal in here" It actually did smell like a fruity cereal so I agreed. He told me "It smells delicious". I'm pretty sure that is the first time I've ever heard a bathroom smells delicious.

Getting A&E to sit and eat a meal at the table is a struggle. They are just too busy to sit still and eat. Today they sat for dinner. When I finished eating, I got up to clean the kitchen and told them how proud I was that they were sitting so nicely and eating. Avery responded "but you aren't sitting nicely, mommy". I couldn't agree with that logic so I stopped and sat while they finished. :p

Talking to daddy

We are so lucky that we get to talk to Andy on the computer. A&E love to use the headphones so they can have a private conversation with daddy. They last a couple minutes before they need to go play. :)

Who is awesome?

Oh yes, Andy. Revenge is sweet. Thanks sooo much for teaching Evan to say "Redskins are awesome!". You should have known better. These are especially for you! ;)

September 11th

“Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of the children. “ - George W. Bush

So today as you are tailgating, watching football, spending time with your family, or maybe still fighting the war. Remember..... Never forget.

We Are...

Penn State!

A&E are in their Penn State gear and we "tailgated" in the backyard a bit. Andy would be so proud. :)

Freedom!!!!

That is what my teeth are yelling right now. I finally got my braces off today...only 2 years and 8 months after getting them put on, but who was counting? I'm not going to lie. It was uncomfortable. The whole scraping off the cement part gives me cold chills right now to think about. The ceramic brackets on top? OUCH! I had tears in my eyes on those. Thankfully A&E behaved for my 1 1/2 hour appointment. I didn't expect it to last that long.

I would be more excited about it but they just feel weird and slimy and I'm pretty tired today (my 4:15 am wake up call with Evan was the culprit of that!).

So here are my new and improved straight teeth!


Andy sent me some goodies to congratulate me since he isn't here!




A&E were so excited about the "smiley face popcorn from daddy"




Chewy candy, apples, and corn on the cob look out!!!

Wise beyond their years

On the way home from school today, I told A&E that we would get to talk to daddy on the computer when we got home. Evan told me "Daddy is far, far away" and I said yes he is far, far away. Then he said "Mommy, Avery, & Evan need to go far, far away too". I have to admit, this made me a bit teary that he thought we could go and see Andy. I told him we had to stay here while daddy does his job then he'll come back home. He said to me very seriously, "Yeah, Daddy is in Iraq".

Just like us

Sometimes these kids do things and I think wow! "that is just like Andy" or "that is just like me".

A few mornings ago, Avery was reading and Evan was doing push-ups. Can you guess which parent I thought of for those situations? :)

Overheard in our house

I woke Avery up for MDO on Wednesday morning and the first thing she said when she opened her eyes was "Where's Andrew?". I told her DADDY is still at work in Iraq. She must have been dreaming about him.

Today Evan was playing Super Mario Bros on the DS and when he lost a life, he said "Oh, snap!".

Avery finally talked to Andy on Skype yesterday (I think the super dorky headset made it seem more fun) and she told him that Mommy & Avery are pretty and Daddy & Evan are smart. :)

An added bonus of things I never thought I'd say:
"Don't lick each other"
"Who left a booger on my phone?"
"Yes that is mommy's bootie, please stop touching it, I'm on the phone"
"No, the song says get your bootie on the floor, not on the foot"
"Mommy cannot bump the other cars"
(when they wouldn't believe monsters don't exist) "Murphy eats big monsters and Joey eats little monsters so they can't get in the house"

Armed & Dangerous

A&E loved the squirt gun at their friend's house so when I found these on clearance at Target, I knew they'd love them.

The only issue is Evan doesn't want his very full so it isn't heavy and then he is asking me to refill it every few minutes. We are working on them refilling it themselves with a pitcher of water.

Watch out, bugs!!

Sticking with good behavior

Corny title, I know. I used to teach preschool, remember? ;)

We started a sticker chart with A&E before Andy left to try to get a handle on this 3 year old behavior. Seriously, why didn't anyone warn me that age 3 is worse than 2?

They can earn a sticker for being a good listener, brushing their teeth, getting dressed on their own, cleaning up, and being good eaters. Once they earn 20 stickers, they can choose a prize from the treasure box.

I found the adorable sticker charts at the Target $1 spot


Since they can't read yet, I printed off pictures of the activities they can do to earn stickers


The treasure box is full of all kinds of goodies


The first time they earned 20 stickers (and it happened to be at the same time)


Choosing a prize


Evan chose Astro Boy


Avery chose a lollipop