What to do with two sick kids

So we began Christmas break with Adam being sick, and then Ava. What do you do with two sick kids? With one, I held her while we would sit on the couch or lay on the bed watching movies, and it was all very quiet and somewhat relaxing. With two, I feel like a pinball. One is up crying, possibly screaming, while the other is demanding something (food, water, tv, potty, toys, attention). So we have had quite the time in the past few days. Fortunately Adam is on the upswing and I'm hoping Ava isn't far behind. We are totally and completely drained and sooooo tired of being stuck in the house.

We did try something new and fun. Since the kids have been sick, we haven't done as much baking as we usually do, but we did make a gingerbread house. Well, we decorated one. It was a lot of fun. Ava loved it, and it didn't matter that she was sick because no one is going to eat it. With all the candy and icing, I can't even imagine trying to eat that thing!

Not too shabby! I think we'll make this a tradition.

Ava and I also planted Christmas tree seeds. She got it as a gift in her stocking at school. Supposedly you plant the seeds and then transplant them when they get bigger. We'll see. We did have a great discussion on patience, time, and caring for something. I wonder if she'll remember this tomorrow?

December has been busy!

I'm so far behind and there has been so much going on this month.
Most importantly, I'm off for Christmas vacation and so is Ava! Yes, Ava started the preschool class at my school. It's so wonderful for her, but wasn't so easy for her to get used to it. She started on December 1st. The first day was a breeze when we dropped her off. She didn't cry, but I don't think she actually understood she would be there all day long, so day 2 was a totally different story. She was throwing herself around and screaming "Don't leave me. I don't wanna stay. Daddy, Mommy, please!" Yes, it was totally and completely heartbreaking. Rolando was ready to take her home and be done with this class, but I convinced him that she would be okay and would enjoy it eventually. Since then she has had a blast. She loves her two teachers, and they adore her. She is the only girl out of 10--still the princess and she loves it. The boys just do everything for her. Hopefully she'll remember how much she enjoys her class when our two weeks is up, but I wouldn't bet on it. Here are some pictures from her first day of school.

The trial run the day before with her backpack. Although she would have loved to wear this outfit on the first day, we opted against this look.

Ready to go to school.

And she's off (sniff, sniff, sob)!

Daddy bought cupcakes to celebrate her first day at school.

We also painted her room. She has been wanting her room painted for over a year now, and we finally did it. She wanted pink first, then decided on purple. We found a color that is really pretty, but it sure is lavender. She loves it, and now I have painting fever. I want to paint every room. We're doing the kids' bathroom next and then Adam's room. Here are some pictures of our little painter. I'm not sure what happened to the pictures of the finished room, but lavender is lavender.

Testing the color.

She's ready to paint.

Her first reaction to seeing her room completely done. She was so excited.

We also had family pictures taken at the beginning of the month. What a joke! Ava wasn't feeling well, and neither one of the kids wanted to cooperate. We got a couple good pictures, but nothing great. I guess that's what happens when your family gets bigger--apparently the quality of the pictures you take reduces by the number of kids you have. Here's our best one, which happens to be our Christmas card this year.

The kids saw santa, which went about the way that our family pictures went. There were many to choose from: Adam staring and Ava pouting, Adam looking at Santa and Ava looking at Adam, Adam looking at the floor and Ava with her eyes closed, Adam smiling and Ava moving. We finally decided to buy the one of Ava smiling and Adam squirming around. What a mess they are!

Ava was way more excited about riding the train than seeing Santa.

recent pics and oops...flashback to halloween

One of many sweet moments together!

Adam's very serious face.

Ava catching bubbles at Nunny's house.

Ava hangin' out at Nunny's park.

Ava and Adam playing at the park.

OOPS...I thought that I had posted some halloween pictures of the kids, but apparently that is one of the many things I forgot to do. I really wish I had a better memory!

Here is Ava as Dorothy, and Adam as a monkey.

Ava and Adam with Nonna as Lady somebody--i can't remember her name. Ava loved Nonna's new do, and especially loved her jewels.

Ava loves her Dorothy costume. She still wears it as dress up almost daily.

Ava's not too sure about Nonno's new look as a rodeo clown. Adam doesn't care either way. He just wanted to be out of the monkey suit.

baby laughs and pumpkin carving

Before carving pumpkins the kids were playing outside with Rolando. Adam thinks loud noises are super funny, especially big dogs that bark. Recently we walked down to the mailbox and there was a big dog that was barking. Adam was scared at first, but then the dog got louder and he was laughing so hard. So now when anyone barks or makes a loud noise he thinks it's super funny. I love baby laughs.

Here are some pictures of the kids and us cutting the pumpkin.

pumpkin patch

A couple weeks ago we took the kids to the pumpkin patch at the Elgin Christmas Tree Farm. We had some yummy food, got some nice pumpkins, and enjoyed the cool weather. Ava had fun running around and seeing the animals, and Adam had a great time watching her and the other people. The hayride was just too much for him and finally put him to sleep.

Adam--5 months and food

So, Adam is 5 months old now and has changed so much. He is not as fussy now, even though he has his moments daily, and loves to smile and play with his favorite new toys, his toes. He went to the doctor last month and was 15 lbs. 11 oz. and 23 1/8 in. He's a chunker! The doctor asked how much he eats, and carefully tried to tell me to take it easy on the every two to three hour feedings. But how do you calm down a hungry, crying/screaming child? Well, you feed him of course. So she suggested that we start him on cereal in the mornings to see if that helps. It brought back a lot of memories when Ava first had cereal. I swear they make the same faces. Here are some pictures of our big boy.

"You're makin' me nervous!"

On Sunday we had dinner over at my mom's house. Ava loves spending time at Nunny's because she gets to eat and play with her jewelry. After dinner Ava was standing on my mom's jewelry box and singing and dancing. She is such an entertainer. She had some ugly toy that belonged to my brother when he was younger. It looked like a cross between a woman superhero and a scorpion. Kind of weird and ugly, but she carried it around earlier, so I thought it was no big deal. I took it and told her I was going to get her with it, just teasing her a little. She said, "No, get it away. That's so ugly." So I did it again and she repeated it, but just a little louder, and then followed with a brief pause and "ugh...you're makin' me nervous!" We were laughing so hard, I thought I was going to pee my pants. My mom says that all the time, and I actually didn't realize how often that saying comes out of my mouth as well, but she picks up everything. The funny thing to me is how she uses certain phrases correctly and with such emotion.

Later she decided to drink from the sprinkler at Nunny's house, which turned into about 15 minutes of sprinkler fun.

Moody Gardens

We decided to take a mini vacation with the kids and my mom to Moody Gardens in Galveston. After much packing and many suitcases later we were on our way. We spent 2 nights there, but I packed at least a weeks worth of clothes for the kids. The ride down there and back was okay, but I really forgot how hard it was to travel with an infant. Adam didn't really care for the 4 1/2 hour drive, but Ava did okay. Here are some pictures from our trip.

Ava loved Cha Cha the frog, at the Rainforest Cafe.

Ava and Rolies having fun in the pool.

He was trying to teach her how to float on her back .

She decided jumping in was more fun. She got really brave.

This jump took them both under.

We got up early the next morning to go to the Aquarium, Rainforest, Children's Discovery Museum, Dinosaurs Alive, and their man made beach. Yes, we're crazy! It was way too much for one day. That evening did not include the most precious moments of our trip.

Ava loved the aquarium and was looking for Dori and Nemo. I don't think Adam really cared where we were as long as we were out of the heat and humidity. I was right there with him!

Ava was not so fond of the dinosaur exhibit. They were animated, and some were pretty loud.
She had her hands over her ears almost the entire time.

After our day of insane fun, we were walking back to the hotel to get ready to go to dinner, and Ava fell asleep as Daddy carried her. That hasn't happened since she was super young. She is definitely one who still needs a nap every day. (Notice the flower in her hand...even though she was out, she held onto that thing for quite a while. Before she fell asleep she was pretending that it was the flower that held the speck from Horton Hears a Who).

On our way out of Galveston we stopped to spend a few minutes at the beach. Ava didn't really want to get wet, even after we put her swimsuit on, and Adam wasn't sure what to think about his first trip to the beach.