Hello, Spring!

We got the garden planted a couple of weeks ago!  I'm excited to see what comes of it this year.

Avery so badly wanted to pose by the garden with the rake and the wheelbarrow and Ben was begrudgingly going along.

We're doing cucumbers, zucchini, green onions, tomatoes, peppers (a couple varieties), basil, strawberries, and lettuce.

The same weekend just us girls went to lunch for Mimi's birthday.

Ben absolutely loves going to see the construction equipment in the neighborhood.

Spring is definitely underway and we're enjoying it!!

Goodbye Training Wheels!

The whether is warming up and we're spending more time out walking and riding bikes.

Ben BLAZES on his balance bike.  It was time for the training wheels to come off for Avery, though! Ben was so happy to help his dad take off the training wheels.

She picked up on it pretty quickly.  We told that she would get better every night that she practiced.  She said "well, I can't wait until the 9th night!" Even though if she finds herself losing balance she can put her feet on the ground, she is still a bit intimidated.  She's working on it, though!

Ben likes to race up close to her and throw her off.  Ok...I don't know if that is his intention but it sure seems like it.

Lots of short little videos of the kids showing off their bike skills!

Easter 2015

We had a nice little Easter weekend, kicked off by egg decorating.  Ben was immediately intrigued but lost interest pretty quickly.  A few eggs were cracked in the interim.

Avery was my devoted egg-dyer until the end, long after her brother ran off.

Saturday was beautiful.  The kids love dining al fresco (aka, paper plates on the porch).  Less mess inside=secret win!

We joined our friends for an afternoon at the zoo.

I don't even know what was happening here.  I know there was an ice cream truck at the zoo exit.  And that Avery had relentlessly bugged us since she saw it on the way in.  And that we gave in.  Hence the sticky mouth, empty stick, and pink droplets on the harness.

The Easter Bunny was extremely stingy with the candy this year.  As in NO CANDY.  Then s/he (allegedly) felt a bit bad about not even bringing one chocolate bunny.  But then Mimi came through with chocolate bunnies and the bunny didn't feel so bad.

Super excited about princess bandages

Sally and Lightening: he didn't miss a chocolate bunny

These two clean up pretty well.

We had a nice day visiting all the family!  The kids filled up on chocolate.  We all filled up on good food.  There was egg hunting.  Another great weekend in the books!

Closing out March

March was a blur for us.  Rob went to Las Vegas, Memaw passed, then I went to south Texas to visit our friends and love on their adorable kids.  The last week or two of the month was a return to normalcy more or less.

Avery continues to take gymnastics.  I can definitely see improvement and skill development.  She's  been working on her bridge, handstand, and cartwheel.  

It's nice to be outside again.  The temps are up and down but we've definitely had some warm days.  The kids LOVE playing outside.  

Avery turned in her first book report.  Lewis Carroll-none of that Disney stuff (which of course we love too).  Avery has really been into chapter books.  Ever since we read the first one, she became hooked.  So far we've read most of The Never Girls series, Ramona the Pest, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, most of the original Peter Pan, Frozen (junior novel), and probably another that I'm forgetting at the moment.

Avery got to go on her first field trip.  They went to the Jenks Aquarium and I was able to attend as a chaperone.  The kids had a blast.  They got to touch stingrays and starfish, feed turtles, and watch sharks in the shark tunnel.

These two continue to be partners in crime. They are always being silly or conspiring against the parental units (when they're not arguing over which movie to watch).