Things the kids say...

February 2014 - Archie:  I didn't have any pants or shirts in my 2 so I looked in my 3 (and found this) and my 4 (and found this).  (The numbers are referring to his drawers in his dresser starting from the bottom up).

Winter 2014
Archer:  "Elodie & Archer  are 4.  Elodie is 4 but Archer is not.  Archer is 4 because I taller than I was before."
Archer "When Pete & Melissa see me I'm going to go different ways.  I don't wan the to see me.

May 9, 2014 -
Mommy:  "Is this your left arm or your right arm?"  (pointing at his left arm).
 Archie:  "Left arm, left face, right face, straight nose, straight eyes, straight mouth, left ear, right ear."

May 19, 2014
Archie:  "This is a different room (dining room) than this (kitchen) because this is the eating room and this is the making room."

July 23, 2014
Archer :  "That little guy is turning 1 because it has a 1 on it."  (he is looking at a little sheet of paper in Daddy's ISBA conference name tag/wallet).

August 15, 2014
Jarad and I went on a trip to Boston without the kids and we sent them a few postcards.  The one we sent to Archer was of a little boy in a raincoat with an umbrella standing next to the "Make Way for Ducklings Statue."  Jarad had written a note to Archie on the back that said "Archie, is that you with the umbrella looking at the ducks?"
When Archie received the card in the mail before we read it to him, he said "that's me standing in the rain!" 

The following morning, Avalon said "Mommy, is this really Archie in this picture?"
Mommy "What do you think?"
Avalon  "I think it is."

Flashback...Archie starts Gymnastics

Archie and I took a Mommy and me gymnastics class last winter.  Here are some of the things he had learned by the end of the class.  These videos were taken in April 2013 when Archie was just about to turn 3 years old.




These next two are from the blooper reel:

Flashback...Archie

Random video of Archie identifying what is on the table in front of him taken on March 1, 2013 when Archie was almost 3.  Love how he goes from saying the words to singing them in an upward scale!

Flashback..Tap dancing

Avalon showing her tap dancing skills as she teaches Archie what she learned in dance class.  This video was taken on February 12, 2013 when Avalon was 4.5 years and Archie was 2.5 years.  Super cute!

Archie loves board games!

Archie loves playing board games!  In fact, for the last month or two, he has been constantly asking Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa to play a games with him all day long.  His current favorites include: Enchanted Forest, Busytown Card Game, Bugs in the Kitchen, and Candyland.

This is a video of Archie playing a Pattern Game with animals taken on October 22, 2013 when Archie was 3.5 years old.  Enjoy!

Water slide...Flashback

Avalon's first time down the water slide at the Water Park on June 26, 2013 just before she turned 5 years old.  After this trip down, she went down this slide over and over again for the next several trips to the water park.  She loves it!





Not long after Avalon conquered the water slide, Archie did too!  He went down the slide for the first time on August 11, 2013 when he was just over 3 years old and just barely tall enough at 36 inches to make the cut off.  Of course, he had Daddy to catch him at the bottom.  He also continued to go down the slide over and over for the rest of the summer.



 As of July 8th, 2014, he has yet to do down the water slide this summer.  Avalon still goes down it, but not nearly as much as she did last year when it was new.

Flashback...Avalon's story

Avalon loves to tell stories.  Here is one of the stories that she made up on February 28, 2013 when she was 4.5 years old.

Archie's new bike

Archie got a new big boy bike for his 4th birthday!

Avalon lost her first tooth!!

On June 15th, Father's Day, Avalon bit into a carrot and her bottom tooth became very loose!  We thought for sure it would fall out in a couple of days.  Finally, one week later, on Sunday, June 22nd, her first tooth fell out.  She was so excited!!  She was dancing around and singing and showing us her tooth.  It was so much fun to see!  I'm so thankful that it happened on a Sunday so that we could all share in her excitement!  She left her tooth under her pillow and sure enough, the tooth fairy came and left her a $2 bill.  She was thrilled!

Avalon plays basketball!

Avalon started playing basketball for the first time this fall through the Ames Park and Rec!  She had a great time!  Her favorite part was the scrimmage at the end of the practice because she liked running around and guarding her player.  Although she is small, she even managed to make 3 baskets and she was so excited about it!  I was so excited when I captured her making a basket on video.  Good job Avie!





During the season, she told me that she doesn't like basketball as much as soccer.  And when I asked her why, she said "in soccer, I get to run around and in basketball, I just have to stand still."  Too funny!  She did get to do some more running once they started scrimmaging at the end of practice, which was her favorite part!

Dancing at the volleyball game!

We had season volleyball tickets again this year!  Archie actually watched some of the games while sitting in our lap, but he mostly likes looking around the stadium for Cy ( the mascot) and then telling us where he is.  "Look Mommy, it's Cy."  Another one of his favorite things this year was dancing in the aisles to the music during breaks in the game!  I love it!  Enjoy!

Things the kids say...

Nov. 24 in Duluth, MN at Bentlyville (crazy awesome Christmas light display):
Archie walked around the entire place slowly mesmerized by the lights and he said "I like this place!"

Nov. 25 in Duluth,MN - Daddy moved his stoplight clock to a different spot in the room.
Archie: "You little stinker," while pointing to his clock.  I wonder where he heard that before.  ;)

Nov. 28 in Moorhead Minnesota -
Archie picks up Grandma's hand mirror and looks in it and says "oh my gosh, I have a cut on my face."
Mommy:  "What are you looking at?"
Archie: "I'm looking at my face."
Mommy: "How does it look?"
Archie: "Perfect."
Then he says "I'm going to check my hair," while putting the hand mirror to the back of his head.
Too cute!

 December 12 in Ames, IA
Avie:  "Chris is like Christmas.  Chris is going to love what I say."

Jan. 1 in Moorhead MN - Archie's first time on cross country skis:
"This is not fun."  It was freezing cold and really windy that day!  Unfortunately, he has not been back out on the skiis since.  Maybe next year!  :)

100th day of school

Today was Avalon's 100th day of Kindergarten.  At school they had a 100th day of school party where they went to each of the different Kindergarten rooms for a special activity.  In one room, they put together a 100 piece puzzle, another room they searched for 100 pieces of candy, and in her class room they read the book "100th day of school" and she made a hat for herself and her mom!  Aren't they cute?!

Did you notice anything different about the picture?  Yep, that's right, Avalon has glasses! 

Art at Grandma and Grandpa's house

Avalon and Archie have been busy making art work while we've been here at Grandma and Grandpa's house.  This is a fun and easy project for young kids.  Very cool!  

Archie:  "This is the gate so the dragons can't get out and these are the people walking by."  Followed by Archie jumping up and down. 

Avalon:  "It has a gate around it and one yellow person standing by and watching it.  It's a playground, but it's not supposed to be touched.  It's a statue playground.  So the yellow guy came to watch.  It's still being built, it's a building playground."

Santa...Merry Christmas!

The kids and I went to visit Santa at the Center Grove Orchard.  It was so much fun!  Avalon sat right in Santa's lap and showed him her list that she wrote out all by herself.  Well, I told her how to spell everything, but she wrote the letters/words by herself.  Then she went on to tell Santa what was on her list and dropped it in his mail box when she was done.  It was really cute!  Avalon also brought Santa a present containing some ornaments that she had made for him.  She was so excited to see Santa and give him his gift! :)

Archie was not ready to sit on Santa's lap right away, but after we ate pancakes for breakfast and Avalon started eating her candy cane that she received from Santa, he decided it was worth sitting on Santa's lap for a picture if it meant that he received a candy cane afterwards too!  :)

Here's a picture of Avalon's list for Santa.  Actually, there were two lists: a toy list and a book list.  You can see why he needed a little help reading them!

There were also lots of other fun things to do there.  The kids decorated and ate sugar cookies, colored a picture for the coloring contest, sat in Santa's sleigh pulled by Rudolf, and went on an outdoor sleigh/hay ride pulled by horses.  But the best part was that Santa kept coming over to the kids to chat with them.  It was so fun!  He came over while the kids were decorating cookies and asked them if the cookies were for him.  Avalon was ready to give up a cookie too, but Archie said "no, you have to make it by himself."  :)



Then he came over again while they were playing in the sleigh and was telling the kids how this was just his small sleigh and that he has a much bigger one that he uses on Christmas Eve.  Then Avalon went on to say "I really like your belt."  It was so cute!  And then Santa came to greet us after the sleigh ride and took the kids to say hi to the horses.  Avalon even got to pet the horses while Santa held her, but Archie decided to keep his distance.  The kids were having so much fun chatting with Santa, it was a really wonderful time!