Pumpkin Carving

Tonight we were able to carve pumpkins as a family. Avery really got into it this year so that made it fun.

Here are the girls before we started carving.

Emmabelle enjoying the happenings.Avery digging in.Playing in the seeds. I always have to bake the seeds.Emmabelle joining in on the fun.She decides to give it a taste.Avery doing her part in the carving process. She colored all over the pumpkin.The family with the finished products. Dave's is on the left and mine on the right.

Emmabelle's Favorite Face

So I don't really know what to say about this one. I think I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.
Emmabelle likes to make this face alot, especially after she talks. She just sucks in that bottom lip, and her top lip sticks out like a little bird beak. It is so cute.

Kids pick up on the craziest things.

It has once again been affirmed that Avery is a little sponge. I really hate telemarketers and so I am a very big caller ID fan, and yes I screen my calls. Anyways the other afternoon the phone rang and I knew it was a telemarketer so I just hung up on them. I went back to talk to Dave in his office and as I headed back there I heard Avery's voice coming from her room where she was just waking up from her nap. I walk in and the first thing she says to me is "Mom that a telemarketer?" I had to think about what she was saying for a minute and then it clicked and I just started cracking up. No hey mom or how are you mom, just a is that a telemarketer on the phone mom. It was really cute though. After I told her yes it was a telemarketer she then said, "Mommy you don't like telemarketers?" So I took the opportunity to explain that I like the people, I just don't like what they do. You have to find every way possible to teach your children right? So you can see, Avery picks up on everything.

Emmabelle Gets Her Ears Pierced

I apologize now for all the posts. I am a little bit behind in the journaling area so just humor me. I have been meaning to get Emmabelle's ears pierced for quite some time now, but I just couldn't talk myself into taking her to Wal-Mart to get it done, so I just kept putting it off. Well I finally found a salon here in town that pierces ears. It went pretty well. She was pretty leary of the place when we got there. A lot of new people and the smell was probably unnerving, she seemed a little nervous. She was very curious when the lady went to mark her ears. It took a few minutes to get that done. Then came the gun. It was probably one of the saddest cries I have ever heard from her. It didn't last two long though just a few minutes and now she is a happy baby again. Until I have to clean and turn the earings. But that will be over in a few days and she just looks so cute.
It is hard to get a head on shot and get the earings also, but she really does look super cute with her earings. They are just a pair of silver studs.

First Fight with Cactus

So on Tuesday mornings I take the girls to the library for story time. It is just something that we do to get out of the house, and Avery really enjoys playing with the other kids. So a couple Tuesday's ago we had to share the car with Dave, we only have one car at the moment so sometimes we have to get creative. I decided that just in case he wasn't done looking at the house before we were done with story time that I would take the stroller and we would just walk home. So we were about a block away from the house and there is a house on the corner that has cactus. I new what the likely-hood of Avery getting into it would be so I made her walk on the other side of me so she wouldn't be tempted to touch it. We started turning the corner and I headed to cross the street and she was a little bit behind me and I wasn't paying attention very well because she went up and brushed her hand on one of the cactuses. I am not sure the type of cactus it was, but it almost lookes like a prickly pear cactus, but it has little fuzzy needles instead of the big long ones so of course she has all of these tiny little needles in her hand. She doesn't even realize what happend, I don't think it really hurt her, but by the time I had made a big deal of it she was in tears and whining. Luckily Dave pulled up right after it happened so he drove her home while I finished walking with Emmabelle in the stroller. This is how I found them when I got home.
The picture doesn't show it, but Avery is standing on the table. She was a good sport about it all and luckily it really didn't hurt her.

Friend Vs. Parent

So the age old question was brought up in my house today, can you be both parent and friend. If you ask Avery you can't. Avery is constantly talking about her friends. Which in her case any child that she sees is her friend. When we see them in the store or randomly on the street she says look there's my friend. Anyways, this morning at breakfast she was once again talking about her friends and asked me "Mommy are you my friend?" Of course I answered "Yes, Avery I am your friend." She quickly came back, "No you not friend you Mommy." So there you have it. You can't be both friend and Mommy. It kind of made me a little sad, but then again I guess they need to know that there is a difference to some point. Hopefully when she is a little older we will be able to revisit the issue.

Onions are the New Apple, for Avery Anyway.

Confused, well I thought I would share one of my daughters food quirks. Avery has always been pretty fond of veggies, she will eat pretty much any veggie. Tonight she reiterated her love of onions. We know that she likes onions, that is nothing new but tonight she didn't want to eat her dinner. We were having onion soup chicken, and she just refused to eat any of it. So I finally resorted to telling her "Avery there are onions on the chicken." She got so excited and said, "Where?" So we proceeded to show her the onions and we were able to get her to eat her dinner, all because it had onions. She will eat them anyway they are prepared. When we go to Burger King for dinner I will remove the onions from my burger and put them on the tray, they usually put to much and they are to strong for me. Avery will then pick them up and eat them. She chooses the onions over the fries and the chicken she already has in front of her. If Dave sautes onions he has to prepare extra just so Avery can have some. What can I say I have a strange daughter.

My Little Finger Sucker!!

Ever since Avery was born she has sucked her fingers, who knows she probably sucked them in the womb. Not only does she suck them to sleep, but she likes to suck them when she is eating, especially candy. Her newest trick is to suck them while she is sucking a sucker. I don't really understand the concept, but here is the proof.You can see the sucker stick out the side of her mouth and the shinny spots on her hands, yep that is her drool. It drives me absolutely mad. I get after her about it constantly, but that just makes her cry so what can you do?

I also wanted to post a couple more pictures that I just took a day or so ago of Avery and Emmabelle. I had just gotten finished feeding Emmabelle some rice, and I was cleaning up and when I turned around there was Avery in the chair taking her turn at feeding Emmabelle.I am not sure if the picture is big enough for you to tell, but if you can see Emmabelle's mouth it is opened about as big as it can go. Let me tell you this girl loves food. She gets so excited when I put her in the high chair, and when I move the spoon towards her mouth it just opens so big it is the cutest thing I have ever seen. Here is one more picture of the event.As you can see Avery has her own spoon and bowl, she was so proud of herself.

Avery's Blessing

The other day we asked Avery if she wanted to say the blessing on the food, something we have been working on with her. Of course she said yes and this is how it proceeded.

Dave: "Avery would you like to say the blessing?"
Avery: "Yeah sure, sure." One of her favorite responses.
Avery: In a barely audible whisper (the only time she ever whispers I might add) "Thank you for the food."
Stacie: "You need to say it loud so we can all hear"
Avery: Once again in a whisper. "Thank you..."
Dave: "Wait you need to say it louder so we can hear you."
Avery: Finally loud enough we can hear, "Thank you for the food, please bless it, Amen."
Stacie: "That was good Avery, but you forgot the most important parts. Let's try again. Can you say Heavenly Father?"
Avery: "Thank you for the food,"
Dave: "Wait, can you say Heavenly Father?"
Avery: "Heavenly Father, Thank you for the food, please bless it, Amen."
Stacie: "Say Jesus Christ."
Avery: "Amen"
Dave: "Say Jesus Christ"
Avery: "Jesus Christ, Amen"

It was so cute. It took us so long to get her to repeat Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, I think it took us a couple minutes at least. She finally did though and we are still working on it. We still have to remind her to talk where we can hear her and not forget the most important parts, but it is such a rewarding feeling to hear your child pray. We are very proud of her.

Emmabelle's Teeth

Well once again I have an early teether, and since it is hard to get a picture of them this post is not as prompt as it should have been. Emmabelle cut her first tooth at 4 months and she now has her second one at 4 1/2 months. At least this time I have a bottle baby and I don't have to worry about being a human teething ring. You kind of have to look closely, but I promise they are there.
She is not quite as fast as her sister, who started at 3 1/2 months, but it is still pretty early. She was a rather grouchy teether, mostly just the day before the tooth actually broke through.