According to Rock

At night around 8:30pm, Rock becomes the sweetest smartest thing! Suddenly he is full of more hugs and more interesting facts than any other time of day.  We put him to bed but then he comes out of his room about 1 minute later saying "I gotta tell you someping, Mom!" 
Sometimes he asks me to "'Nuggle" by him for a "mee-ut" then he tells me about his day which often includes a fictional account of our adventures at the zoo that day.
He also knows some great animals facts -- which actually impress me.

One night he says in the dark:
"Mom, Chipmunks have pockets in their cheeks to keep nuts.  Mom?  What's this?" 
He is pointing in the direction of his eyebrows so I guess "Umm, your eyebrow?"
"Yes!  That's Right! You have one Mom?"
 "Yes, I do."
"Ooohh.  Mom?  What's this?"
 He is pointing in the direction of his forehead so I say "Umm, your forehead?"
"Yes!!! That's Right!! Do you know what they are for mom?" 
"Well..." 
"For sunburns!"

Another occasion, I am tucking him into bed and I went to kiss him on the cheek but he turned at that time and I kissed his ear. 
"Mom!  You kissed my ear! -- I think my cheek would be better."  Then he held out that yummy soft cheek for me.

The other day we were looking at his toes.  I had painted his big toes because he felt left out when I was painting the girls toes.  He said "Mom, my toes are red.  I have finger pank on my toes!"  Then we talked about who paints their toes "Batman?"  No!!!  "Daddy?"  No!!!  Then he said "It not finger pank ... (a pause while he thinks)...it girl polish!"

Sometimes he tells me "Mom, I happy today... see my 'mile?  I have a nice 'mile."
One of my favorite things about Rock right now is that he is my "pal".  If you try to call him "friend" or "buddy" or "little man", he will tell you:  "No!  I mama's pal!"  I am so lucky!

And if you try to call him "superman" "batman" "mr. man"   "No! I Rock.  R-O-C-K. Rock."
He is serious about it. 

Oh, and did I mention that he wore his Octopus costume to the Christmas party?  I didn't have the heart to make him change.  The last time we went to a party at the church was at Halloween. So when he heard it was time to go to the Ward Christmas party he was so excited.  He tore off the outfit I had given him.  I thought he just didn't want to wear clothes, so I just went to get dressed myself thinking I would deal with it after that.  When I came out of my room there he was in his costume:  "I ready!"
The funny thing is, they had a photographer in our ward take really nice family pictures of the kids sitting on Santa's lap.   I don't have it back yet, but it will be a true keepsake.  my girls in darling Christmas dresses --- with their brother Rocktopus :)  At least he was 'miling. 

1 on 11-11-11

Happy Birthday India!!!

October "Octivities"

Happy!  halloween.

Yummy little pumpkin fairy

 

Her first carmel apple! (that she can remember)

Ava's pumpkin -- carved all by herself!

Rock and his "best friend" Diego! 

Harry Holloween!

 

Snake Sandwich

Ghost Mud Pie

My Rock-topus

Just trying to get a leg up...

I'm sorry -- but I just had to post my baby's super gumby strength!

 She wanted to get in that bath!

OUR house

Here it is.  OUR very own house.

  There is something so fun and comfortable

 about having our own place.

Something about Elle

(I started this post a long time ago -- finally publishing it!)

Ava was enrolled in a little swim camp.  I thought it was just a little boot camp for rookies.  But apparently it was actually a trial to see if they qualified for swim team.  Ava wasn't ready to do swim team, so this was not our goal.  But on the 3rd day of the camp they practiced for the time trial.  Meaning they had to swim the entire length of the pool by themselves.  Ava wasn't ready to do such a thing.  But did she whine and refuse to do it? Did she swim right next to the rope so she could hang on to it every 2 seconds? No.  She just did it!  I about croaked watching her -- barely barely keeping her nose out of the water...never taking a deep enough breath... eeking along with her doggy paddle.  I was about to jump in and save her!  Just thinking about it makes my heart sick.  But she made it. 

We were talking about it on the way home and I said "Wow.  You must feel so great!  You were really brave."  To which she answered, lip trembling, "Yeah (gulp) and we have to do it again tomorrow!"

That night I was trying to devise a way to get her out of having to do it again.  I didn't want to give her the "OK" to be a quitter.  But it was obvious that this was a severe stretch to abilities -- maybe it was even a dangerous undertaking.  So I was torn.

The next day Ava was nervous about it in the morning.  So I told her, she could go to the class but then if she didn't want to do the time trial she didn't need to -- since she wasn't really trying out for swim team anyway.  That gave her some comfort but I could see she was conflicted as well thinking maybe she should try it again since she had been able to do it once already.

After pre-school and school, Elle was there.  She heard me talk to Ava again and say that if she didn't feel like it -- she didn't have to do it.  Elle jumped in "But Ava!  You can do it.  If  you do it again today -- I'll have a surprise for you.  I'll make you a trophy!  and a treat!"  Ava's eyes sparkled and although she didn't totally commit, Elle went right to work on something for Ava's reward.

Well -- all that to say... Ava did it!  She swam the length of the pool again. 

With her own determination and Elle's motivation... she did it.  And this is what she got:

It's 10 o'clock...

It just started out of the blue.  Rock started saying: "Mom, Mom... It's 10 o'clock.  Time a-go-a zoo!"  Funny thing was, I had just decided that I was going to take him sometime in the next week.  So, it worked out well.  We went one sunny morning to the Houston zoo.  It was really a chance to be with Rock on his own terms and we had a great time.  Ever since then, he has been praying like this:  "...bless Dad-a-come home, and we can go a-zoo."  Every night.
 My zoo pass expires Friday.  I think I can answer his prayers one more time if I hurry.

Another day:  driving in the car to dance class.  Elle and I are talking about how Rock really wants to take a dance class too.  She says "Well, it's ok if Rock takes a dance class -- he is going to be a 'girly-boy' anyway... with all his sisters and everything." 
From his car seat Rock yells -- totally incensed: "I NOT GIRLY-BOY!  I ROCK!"  I don't think he has any idea what "girly-boy" means.  But it struck an intuitive chord with him.  He is not that!

Sometimes we talk about nicknames in our family.  Elle likes to list them.  Elle can be "Els" or "Elle-McMonkey-McBean" or "Jumprope" or lately we just say "Harry Potter" so we can get her attention! 
Ava --- is "Ava-lou"  or "A-V-A" (Elle just spells it) or "Sweet-tooth".   We never call Ava "Sweet-tooth" but it truly defines one of her major motivations in life.  She is always thinking to the next treat, or sweet!  So, we are driving to dance (a great place for conversation apparently), Elle is asking me questions from a stack of cards with trivia about different prophets.  (She loves it because she can stump me 90% of the time and she gets great pleasure from that.)  Along comes the question: "How many wives did Brigham Young have and how many children?"  Elle laughs.  "What?  That's silly..."  Then she reads the answer.  "2 wives and 25 children!!!!"  Now it is my great 'opportunity' to tell them some sort of explanation about polygamy.  Elle says something about how she is glad she doesn't have to be married like that.  To which Ava responds in all seriousness, "When I get married, I'm going to have 2 husbands!"  Elle chuckles.  Then Ava says "Actually, I'm just going to buy gum."  You have to appreciate the magnitude of that idea :)

And now about Elle.  Bless her sweet heart.  She loves her teacher, thank goodness, but hasn't found a kindred-spirit friend yet.  She had a hard day where the girls she was trying to be friends with formed a club and told her she had to answer 10 questions to see if she could make it into the club.  So they all stood around her firing questions at her.  The kind of questions you can't ever get right because they can change their minds.  "What is our favorite color?" on and on... until the last question.  #10 "What is our favorite dog? We will give you a hint.  It starts with 'p'." 
Elle cried when she told me.  "I should have known!  But I was just so flustered... I said 'poodle'!  but it was pug!"   What did the girls do then?  They said "Sorry, you can't be in our club." and they left Elle standing there.
Yes, here is where you cry!
But Elle is plucky.  The next day she started her own club.  "The dolphin club"  She got a few members for a day or two.  Then on Thursday some of the girls quit to go play with other friends. So Elle said that she decided that now her club has a holiday on Thursdays.  It is called "Quitting day."  Everyone can quit on Thursdays and play something else and come back on Friday. 
I thought that was a pretty good lemonade she made from those lemons.  She'll be ok.  Nice girls have the hardest time of it.  It won't ever be easy for her because she is nice and sweet.  But she is smart, and plucky... and she will be fine.

A Good Laugh

Happy Easter!

It's my party.

 Here's a look at my birthday --

 My family gave me a bike with a bike trailer and we went to the ward campout.

  It was a happy day.

Laundry day...

 

Little Miss Rolly.  She is almost impossible to hold.  She twists and dives in my arms and wants to get down... or reach something.  

 Fine... but she is 5 months old!  She can't sit, she can't crawl, she can't even work her hands that well. 

But she just wants to be somewhere... else.  She loved this pile of laudry
 because she could lay in it and roll and smile. 

This girl LOVES to smile.  She just waits until someone looks her direction and
 then she about busts in half with her sunshine face.  

 I really just love my job.

"A Boy's Mama"

So, this is Rock. 

Yes, he is on top of the kitchen counter. 

 Sucking on a balloon, wearing a very very worn out jersy and soccer shorts that are getting too small.

  He has a long yellowing bruise on his forehead, where I believe he also now has a permanent dent (running into a window sill while trying to escape putting a diaper on!).  I got this picture because I decided to just keep the camera in my hand until the next time I went looking for Rock. 

These days I find him on top of something.  Or falling off of something.

One of his favorite places is in the girls room on top of their drawers.  He climbs up and throws everything off one by one.  (we used to keep a whole bowl of shells up there)  All of their treasures, dolls, knick knacks... then he gets off (I pull him off) and goes over to the bed and tears off all the sheets blankets pillows, then he jumps on top.  I guess this is what comes of having a boy.  When I ask him to get down or whatever, he will say "I sorry mama.  I didn't mean to!" At which point my heart melts and I just want to kiss his chubby cheeks and ruffle his curly hair even if he's been a little stinker! 

Today he picked a flower and ran to me.  He said "Mama I picked this flower for you!  Put it in your hair!"  So I did and then he kissed my lips and told me I was beautiful!  What is a girl to do!

Oh, and did I mention that he wore his Batman jammies to church last Sunday?  Oh yes.  He would not, I repeat: would not put on his Sunday clothes.  I wrestled them on and buttoned up the shirt to his throat so he couldn't get it off. But then he screamed until he was hoarse and struggled for an hour trying to yank it back over his head and he ripped off his pants... so Ava suggested his new Batman jammies.

  I was trying to shush her so he wouldn't hear, but it was too late. 

It was either naked or Batman... so there you go.  No shoes.  Batman jammies.   Big bruise face.  At church.

 

Grandma Bonnie sent him a new Soccer outfit so that his other one can have a rest sometimes!  And a cape.  He put it on and went zooming around the room saying "To the rescue!" 

 But then his shoulders slumped over and he came to me and said "I can't do it!  I can't fly, Mama!"  I told him he could just imagine it but he was pretty sad.  I guess he was pretty sure the power was in the cape!  Cute boy.

I am totally whooped.  I've heard of  "Mama's Boys" but it turns out I'm a "Boy's Mama".  He's got me wrapped around his finger.

Ava is full of them

Here is another one from Ava.
We had just read the scriptures before bed.  We read about Satan tempting Christ. 
Elle says:  "Well that's silly!  Didn't Satan know that Jesus already has everything?  That He already has the whole world?"
Ava: "Yeah.  And it's in His hands."

You get it, right?  He's got the whole world in His hands?
Love it.

Here's a tip:

Ava is coloring. 

She  has been humming while she works. 

Out of the blue she says, to no one in particular:

"It's not good to call people 'crybabies.'  It makes them cry. (pause) Like a baby."

Back to coloring and humming.

March 9

March 9th is SUCH a good day!  We celebrate Nathan and Ava!

I always tell Ava the story:  The night before she was born was the night before her daddy's birthday. As we were going to bed, I asked him what he wanted to for dinner the next day and he said "Hospital Food."  Neither of us really guessed that his wish would come true -- but I woke up the next morning in labor! 

Here is a look at March 9th over the years:

2006 (Laguna Beach)

2007 (Austin)

2008 (Pflugerville)

2009 (Spain)

2010 (San Diego)

2011 (Houston)

We put 39 candles on the cake!  34 for Nathan and 5 for Ava.  She was so thrilled to be the birthday girl -- as you can tell from the ear-to-ear smile!  It was a fun day:  waffles and ice cream for breakfast, lunch in downtown Houston with Dad, and chocolate cake for dessert!  She woke up the next day and announced "Mom!  I'm still 5!"  She is lovin' it!  Rock is lovin' it too. 

 His most distinctly clear phrase that he says now goes like this: "It's my birthday tomorrow. I'm going to be 5!"