We'll just call this picture extravaganza...

Instead of "wow I really am bad at this" I am obviously just not getting it together here in blog-land. So this is a little of everything from school starting until now....

Harrison working hard on a haunted gingerbread house..he even cut tiles out of fondant...Avery working hard to eat as much black icing as possible

(so gross)

Avery being me:)

Harrison's first sleepover at our house...we traded the other way the next weekend but had a middle of the night pick-up (late night boy talk of robbers meant there was no way he was staying somewhere else) This is a random picture but it was one of those moments. I am so used to Harrison looking older but still get shocked on occasion how grown-up she has gotten. (she was dancing)

Park day - it was the first (and brief) cool down
She has no idea how to slow down
Super swinger
Every single day she leaves this house with her hair brushed and every single day she comes home looking like she has rubbed her head on the floor all day.
Grandma and Grandpa came to visit!


Pumpkin Patch


Here we are at the City Hall Halloween Party

This is the door for candy

Robo-Boy

Harrison won the costume contest

Waiting in the cotton candy line with Uncle Tom and Aunt Ashley

Pay attention to me Uncle Tom!

Sunny day pumpkin carving

She was so determined to do hers on her own... and oh so mad when it didn't quite work out like she wanted.

Second year of Harrison carving his all alone - he did great!

Finished pumpkins (Will, Harrison, Ashley, Tom, Avery's with no candle and me)

Halloween night with Caitlyn

Ready to go with Friends

Unfortunately this picture sums up the rest of the night - it was hot and Harrison was in a mini sauna. I ended up literally cracking his head off when I thought he was going to overheat. I'm sure that looked pretty crazy on the side of the road! If we ever do something like this circulation will be more thought through, he was melting.

Add a caption

School starts!

So it has begun. New school, new kids, new teachers even new uniforms. So how has it gone so far? Well not great. It has been a very rough start and I think I am more exhausted mentally than I have ever been. Harrison is holding it together pretty well. He is slow to embrace change and this has been hard on him but I am so proud of how well he is managing. Avery had a rough first morning which I didn't expect so it really blindsided me. She was ok the second though. We are dealing with some issues I didn't foresee with her and her teacher but I am trying to think positively and hopefully handling it in the most appropriate manner. Did I say I was exhausted? Here are their first day pictures, I'm biased I know, but they are pretty darn cute.

Really? Will I ever catch up?

Doesn't the title explain it? I'm trying to figure out how I missed this entire summer on here. As we go into the last week before school starts I feel like I did miss this summer, it just flew by. We did some fun things, we went to Michigan... but posting pictures seemed to be beyond my ability. In one week both of my kids will be in school, at the same school, all day with the same drop off and pick-up times. Oh the plans I have:) But in the middle of scouring this house, purging things, repainting, getting a new stable exercise schedule going, and trying to find time for drawing I am GOING to get this caught up as well. I have done all those things with two kids here I should be able to be much more productive with child-free time. Right? So I will be back - first day of school pictures are coming....


One quick catch-up story.

One thing that has changed this summer is the number of teeth in Avery's mouth. As many of you know she has had some major, some minor issues with her teeth. She has already logged more than her share of dentist time. Well I guess she has decided to just be rid of them:) The first tooth to go was right before our trip to Michigan. She did a face plant right on the wood floor and dislodged one of the more fragile of her teeth. After going back and forth we decided to just let them pull it out, the adult tooth is coming down already so it would have been soon anyway. And the second was last night. I had just brushed her teeth before bed, we even checked the "wiggly-ness" of her teeth. Yes they are wiggly but not coming out quite yet. Fast forward 15 minutes and there was a Harrison/Avery collision and the victim was the next front tooth. It was mostly out and bleeding in a horror film type way. I looked at her and said, why don't you just yank it... and Avery being Avery reached in and pulled it right out. So she is toothless going into kindergarten. (Harrison was naturally toothless going into kindergarten too) Hopefully we can loose the next ones without any drama.

Avery graduates from Pre-K (and birthday stuff too)

First a little than and now... she has grown up so much this year. She still loves school just as much as she did that first day. But she had so much nervous excitement that first day, now it is more of a calm confidence. Well sometimes calm.
(I don't know why that is showing up as a link but I'm too tired to fix it)



This is her class (she is the one in the top row on the right..talking)
Avery and Grandma Neenie
Avery and her good friend Hailey
Avery and Alec - the boy she says she is going to marryAvery and Grandma
Avery and me
Glam Avery
And one more birthday picture

Stories by Avery

First let me explain what we were doing when these were taped. Harrison had a planned a whole surprise party for Avery at Grandma Neenie's house. We were supposed to change and go swimming so he could do the balloons and make a cake with Grandma. But he was mid cake creation when we finished changing so I got stuck trying to keep Avery in the bathroom. I asked her to make up some stories and she wanted to be taped... they're short, she is more into seeing herself than the actual taping part but they made me laugh.

She's 5!

Well technically not until Monday but we started today. We had pizza and cupcakes in the park with friends... and I think I might have developed a mild ulcer while watching the weather radar willing the ugly orange blobs away. And it worked! Despite forecasts of ugly storms we had light rain for a while then none... no lightning and rain doesn't bother kids who are playing the water. Avery was thrilled.

Inventor's Program

The second grade has a huge end of the year project. Each kid is responsible for a different inventor and they need to research, write a report, create a tri-fold display, create props, learn lines for a program and have a costume. Really it is a lot for the end of the year. Harrison was Jacques Montgolfier, one of the brothers who invented the hot air balloon. Let me tell you this may have been one of the most frustrating projects I have encountered. First of all since Jacques has a brother there were two kids working on pretty much identical projects. Originally Harrison wanted to make a prop balloon that looked like the original. I can do that, we hauled out the plaster casting stuff and got to work. But then the other kid says his balloon is going to fly, so yes now Harrison wanted his prop hot air balloon to fly. Plaster does not fly. But it still sounds simple right? How hard could it be to make a balloon float? It is really really hard. Especially when you have a kid who really wants it to fly AND look like it is supposed to look. I suppose I was giving helium way too much credit. One layer of tissue paper? Too heavy. I would add something to the balloon and wait for it to dry, paint, glue etc all weigh more when they are wet. And we needed to last at least 24 hours. It became a little ridiculous. I have never willed something to float so hard in my life. We ended up with a floating painted balloon (fortified with hi-float for extra time) after very slowly and carefully adding painted details one by one to see how much paint it could handle and still float(not much is the answer) and trimming centimeter by centimeter of ribbon until it lifted. And while this was going on he wrote a really nice research paper and learned his lines. He also was front and center for the "Robot Dance" which he was really proud of, he is a good robot. Here are some pictures, a video of his lines and a video of the dance. Pardon the shaking, I am not great with video yet.

And just for added fun I forgot to have him try on his black pants that he got in December until a few hours before the show. I don't exactly know why I thought they would fit but they were about 2 inches too short. So in the midst of the balloon insanity I was tearing out the hem of his pants hoping they would reach his shoes. It's a wonder we ever have it together!

Avery and the Hawaiian Dress

My mom and dad just got back from a trip to Hawaii and sent Avery this dress... many other fantastic thing - don't even get me started on my amazing shampoo - but this dress has been worn three days in a row.  And yes I had to paint her face to match.

Tom and Dan came to play

Tom and Dan made an extra long weekend trip - the kids are always thrilled to see their uncles.

We did the beach!

And ice-cream - and yes this was the closest to them smiling I have

 

And they were just in time to see the new sign out front (which the kids loved - me not quite as much because now I feel like I HAVE to pick up leaves and mow on time)

 

A lot of this went on

 

And I finally got around to getting the pool up