Five pounds of chocolate!

This is what happens when you go to Cracker Barrel with grandparents. You end up with a five pound Hershey bar. Avery tried to convince me to get it, but of course that wasn't happening. I wasn't aware that my parents got it for him after we left. They delivered it to him last night, and as you can see, he was pretty happy. I still can't believe that we have this in our house. Thankfully for Avery (and for myself) I can pretty easily resist a Hershey's. Otherwise it would disappear slowly while he was at school!! :)
Mom, if you couldn't resist Avery looking so pitiful, please don't ever take Chloe ANYWHERE! Seriously! Well, you can take her places, but not anywhere that sells anything!! :)

Avery lost a tooth!

I know this seems like a post about a 5 or 6 year old, but it's really about an 11 year old. He lost a molar last week, and it's only the third tooth he's lost on his own. He's had all the others pulled. Apparently none of his other teeth were ready to come out when they needed to, because when they were pulled the roots were huge! They were nowhere near ready to fall out. I was really excited about this tooth coming out on it's own! Avery's had a lot of work done on his mouth already, and there's more to come when all of his teeth come in. We've had a nice break from the orthodontist. It's fun to just enjoy the simple things, like teeth falling out like they're supposed to!!
I thought about trying to add a picture, but since it's towards the back, it's kind of hard to see.

After picture

Here's the after picture. Keith doesn't like this one because Avery looks tired, but really it's just to show his hair, so I chose it anyway. I think it looks much better. Now we just need to get it cut every month so we don't have the same issues all over again.

Before pictures

I'm still trying to get an after picture, but I wanted to go ahead and put these on here. The hair has become a major issue around here. Avery wants it long and shaggy, Keith wants it short and clean cut, and I want it somewhere in the middle. It's been a problem. I really think it looks better with a little length. Avery's hair is so thick, it just doesn't lay down well when it's short. Keith just wants him to brush it on a regular basis. So, I took him to get it cut this week. He was pretty good about it even though he wasn't especially happy....until I asked to have just a little more cut in the front. I really liked how his hair looked except for the fact that I still couldn't see his eyes. Anyway, now that it's been a few days, I think we're all fairly happy with the results. He even asks Keith to brush it every morning! Ahh...finally some peace!
I'll try to get the after picture on here tonight or tomorrow. I know you're all holding your breath!! :)

Addison and Chloe

This past weekend Thad, Steph and Addison came for a visit. Lacey came over as well. We had a great time hanging out. Chloe absolutely loved having Addison around. She just can't get enough! I always plan on taking more pictures, but then I get busy and forget. Oh well...at least we got a few.

Coming soon...The Haircut!

Dress up

Chloe loves to play dress up with just about anything. I saw her and thought that she did this all on her own, but then I found out that Uncle Thad helped her. I have more pictures of our weekend, but I haven't downloaded all of them yet. I'll get more on here tomorrow.

Budding artist

*Warning* I'm about to do some bragging! :)
Avery has always been really good at drawing. He's been getting comments about it since kindergarten. This is a bulldog that he drew for his class at school. Any time they need something drawn, they ask him. When he brought this home, I just had to ask him if he traced this at all, but really I already knew that he had not. He just looked at a picture and drew it. I could look at a picture all day long, and still not be able to draw it!
If you click on the picture you can see it a little better.

This is Brady

This is what Brady does for fun...he comes up with plays. He was so proud showing it to me, and I didn't have the heart to tell him that it made absolutely no sense to me. Of course it made sense to Keith. I just don't speak that language. He's such a funny guy. He's already got another one on there now. He wasn't sure if he wanted to erase this one, but Avery reminded him that we have a picture of it, so he was ok. This kid lives and breathes sports, especially football.

Pleasant doctor's visit

We have had the crud around our house for a while. It's seems like we just get rid of it when it starts back up. Well, this time it brings with it an ear infection. I think it's pretty good that it's Chloe's first ever since she's almost four. We've been pretty lucky with ear infections, and thankfully she's not hurting much. We went to the doctor this morning and got medicine, so she should be feeling better in a day or two. The most amazing thing happened at the doctor's office. Chloe wasn't terrified! She stood on the scale by herself,(I was getting tired of having to get weighed every time!) let them take her temperature, and...she opened her mouth! That is a HUGE deal for her! We normally have to pry it open, and it's very tramatic for all involved. I don't wish for her to grow up too quickly, but there are advantages to her being a little older. I guess she gave up holding onto her shirt (see previous post), but she can handle going to the doctor. It was a nice experience for a change!

Can someone please tell me when she got so big?

I have been looking through old pictures lately, and having a blast. I can't believe how much all the kids have changed, but this one picture really got me. I don't remember exactly when it was taken, but probably about two years ago. Chloe was still in her crib and still had a pacifier, but what really gets me is her hand. She used to always hold onto her shirt, or whatever she was wearing, at the neck. That was her comfort, and she would do it whenever she was sleepy, or shy, or sometimes just because. She did it from the time she was little bitty, and I can't for the life of me remember when it stopped! It's funny, and sad, how that happens. It's not something that I was waiting for her to outgrow, actually I kinda liked it. Which explains why it makes me sad that I didn't notice when she outgrew it. *sigh* Sometimes I really wish that I had a pause button, just to have a little extra time every now and then.

Dodgeball league

Brady came home with a paper about a dodgeball league. Of course he wants to join! I just couldn't believe that they have organized dodgeball for kids. It really cracks me up! I kind of want to let him play, just so I can go watch. All I can picture is that Ben Stiller movie. :)

We're excited about some warm weather!

We enjoyed a little bit of time outside today, and we're really looking forward to tomorrow. We're all ready for some sunshine! I didn't get many pictures today, but at least you can tell the sun is shining! Hope you all have a great weekend!

So much for secrets...

I bought some candy today, for Keith's birthday tomorrow. (if you know Keith, then you know about his addiction to, I mean love of candy!) Chloe saw it before I could hide it, but I told her not to tell. I thought she would forget about it, and we'd be okay. Well, tonight while I was making supper, she took Keith upstairs to show him something. I wasn't thinking that it was the candy until they came back down, and Keith had a funny look on his face. He told me that Chloe just went and pulled a bag out from under the bed. He tried to put it back without noticing what it was, but that didn't really work. Here's the conversation with Chloe about it...

me: Chloe, why did you tell Daddy about the candy?
Chloe: I didn't tell him. I just showed him.

I guess next time I'll have to specify not to tell him or show him!

Survivorman

Chloe has watched too much Survivorman and Man vs. Wild. Today at lunch she pretended that her chicken nuggets were caterpillars, and proceeded to tell me about killing them. Gross.

Nosy Nelly

I know that Nelly is really a girls' name, but I've been calling Avery that since...well as long as I can remember. He'll just have to deal with it. I had to take a day off yesterday from blogging about the kids. I didn't need to blog about ways they frustrate me because it was too close to home. Today is going better (of course they're all in school, but still) so I'm ready.
Avery is one of the nosiest kids I know. I think they're all nosy really, but he is more than others. If he doesn't have someone to play with, he would rather stay in the room with adults so he can listen. It's amazing how he doesn't hear me calling him, but I can whisper something to Keith and he's asking me a question about it. I think that's what bothers me the most, when I'm having a conversation with someone, and he assumes that he's in it too. He'll just ask me a question as if it's fine that he's interrupting me. I'm pretty sure he lacks a filter in his brain that makes him think before he speaks! He's too smart for his own good sometimes.
He's also a bit dramatic, especially lately with his hair! He spends way too much time looking in the mirror at his hair, trying to fix it. Then he comes downstairs ready to go, and it looks like he hasn't even brushed it! Oh my, the teenage years are coming!! I guess caring about his appearance is better than not caring!

Joy

Our preacher recently had a sermon about joy. It wasn't just about that, but about not letting anything rob us of our joy. It really hit home for me. I don't know if I've never heard a sermon about that or I've just never understood it, but it touched me. Every day I let something rob me of my joy, and usually it's little things. I just like thinking that no matter what happens in my life, I can be joyful because of God's promise to us. Nothing can take that away. Just reminding myself of that throughout my day puts a smile on my face, even when I'm upset or frustrated.