Sporks and Bwannas

Avery

All about entrepreneurship.  He often tries to invent things in hopes that they might be an idea to sell one day.  Whether it is mixing "new flavors" with his food and drink (making messes), or coming up with new toys.  Of course, the main reason is to make profit to purchase more video games.

"Dewy's Chewies" - Avery would like to invent gum that is based off of the Dewy Decimal System at the library

Avery raves about Taco Bell's sporks.  He just can't understand why they are not included in standard silverware.

In music, he has been learning about pitch and form.  While in the van listening to a song on the radio, he mentioned, "The pitch of this song sounds sad."

He is a champ at backhanded compliments.  Although, in his mind, he really thinks he is giving a true compliment.  Being a very picky eater still, he has said the following about his mom's cooking:  "They actually taste better than normal!"  Or, "These are better than what I expected!".

During his dentist appointment, he requested sunglasses for the overhead light, specifically requested the "bubblegum" flavored toothpaste, laughed at how the instrument tickled his mouth, tried to blow spit back into the spit sucker (testing who was more powerful), tried to grab the dental instruments from the tray out of curiosity, playfully acted like he was going to bite the hygienist's finger, and tried to make the hygienist laugh while she tried to keep him still to clean his teeth.  At the end, she asked Avery if he would like to pick out a sticker.  Making the most of this golden opportunity (there were Avenger stickers after all), he asked if he could see them.  They came in rolls, so the hygienist just lowered the box.  Then, he proceeded to categorize them by character, narrow them down to his top three Avenger picks, and finally picked one (after mom threatened to pick one out for him if he didn't choose soon since we were taking up so much of the hygienist's time).


Aileen

"bwanna" = banana

"floppers" = seal flippers

Enjoys dressing herself in the mornings to surprise us.  She often pulls her toy shopping cart to her closet door, climbs on it like a stepstool, and reaches her hanging clothes in the closet.

A disapproving look or mildly stern voice sends her wailing.  When she perceives that we are frustrated with her when she misbehaves, she can hardly take it.

Still needs to pass out the spoons and cereal bowls in the mornings.  She likes to give the "girls" the
"flower spoons".

She and Avery insist on a piece of gum to chew in the mornings after brushing their teeth.

Fills up her sticker charts at school for good behavior.

Unloads her backpack and spreads her papers on the floor to show me immediately after arriving home from preschool.  She is proud of her work.

Colors inside the lines fairly well for her age.

Loves putting together puzzles and reading.  Also loves to get out board games to play with the pieces, but not very good at putting them away.  She can get a little huffy when we tell her to pick up her mess.

Likes to dress up.  Also loves it when we put the "black kitty" and "dragon" hand puppets to play with her.  She usually is the "mommy".

Avery has taught her many Pokemon facts.

Behaved and cooperated very well for her second trip to the dentist.

Really likes her Sunday school class.

Behaved so well while in the exam room, giving Avery company during his dentist appointment.  She was so happy and thankful that the hygienist offered her a sticker too, even though it wasn't her appointment.

Birthday Blessing

We just celebrated Avery’s birthday who just turned eight years old.  Here are some recent things we wrote down about this great guy:

Avery is very festive!  He loves to participate in hanging up holiday and birthday decorations.  On the contrast, he gets disappointed when it is time to take the festivities down.  We try to make a point to clean up the décor when he isn’t around.

For Avery’s birthday, we created a scavenger hunt for him to find his gift.  This made him so happy.  He loves surprises and eagerly jumps in to go along with a party or joke.

He still has not outgrown his charm.  Avery will work hard to somehow get you to smile.

Full of life!  Avery does everything he enjoys with an intense, playful energy.

This boy is very affectionate.  He craves attention, hugs, back scratches and wrestling with his Dad.  But beware, if you give him a small hug, be ready for an intense bear hug back.  He might even ask you to “post it on Facebook”.

Lately, our family has been enjoying some of the Disney classic movies from the library.  Avery’s current favorite character from this genre is “Herbie” from “The Love Bug”.  Although this is a VERY tame movie, Avery pleaded with us to skip parts because he couldn’t bear to see Herbie get his feelings hurt.  This is a kid (Aileen too) who gets very emotionally involved in the main characters and has so much empathy that he almost cannot stand anything bad to happen to them.  We encourage him to keep watching to see how they solve the problem.  Thankfully, we heard Avery sigh with relief later on when the conflict was resolved.

We're proud of you, big guy!

The Crafter and the Actor

Crafting

Amazing how he can relate everything back to Pokemon

From Avery to Daddy

Sometimes the neighborhood cat sneaks inside

Found in the midst of papers brought home from school

Aileen told Santa that she wanted a babydoll.  Avery kept the conversation going for quite some time with his long list.

marble painting

squishy bag oil and paint mixing

Preschool Fall Party

glue, salt and watercolor painting

ritual of pulling up a chair and eating lunch on the countertop

A beautiful smile for the evening Christmas program

We lost the tree topper Avery made last year, so he made us a new one.

refrigerator creations

Somebody looks up to their Daddy

Christmas Eve service

I think there must be a picture of his Daddy wearing that wig at his age and posing somewhere...

Great Grandma is pretty cool

Coloring with mom.  It was worth letting the laundry wait.

Avery picked out red velvet cake mix, orange icing and printouts of his favorite Wii U and Pikachu characters for his birthday cake.

Christmas Break Ramblings

Avery

Does a hilarious impression of “teeth fish”.

Quadruple knots his shoes, but needs us to unknot them daily.  I keep my fingernails a little longer for this purpose.

Doesn’t want to read Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree” because he thinks it is way too sad because the tree seems to be taken advantage of.

Interested in hierarchies, and likes to imagine how things “evolve”.  For example, we have different sizes of kitchen spoons, and he was trying to decide which one is “best” and “most powerful”.

Like a puppy, Avery is extremely playful and affectionate.  He absolutely eats it up when I’m playful back or laugh at his silliness.  If I laugh, he gets encouraged to amp it up more.

He is a masking tape king.  There is almost always something marked out on the floor, taped up in his room, or some creation he is using masking tape to build.  We buy rolls just for him to keep in his room.

Avery enjoys reading, especially humor books.  Lately, you can occasionally hear him laughing out loud from his room now that he is reading a Garfield comic book.

He is so much fun to watch a comedy movie with, even though he talks through most of it and you basically can’t hear the dialogue.  We watched “Elf” as a family and laughed at Avery laughing so hard that there was a rare moment of silence.  It’s probably that we will be hearing Avery insert quotes from the movie throughout Christmas break.

Aileen

Considerate for her age.  She will try to help me pick up or hand me things without me having to ask her.  She also offers compliments often and freely.

She has a gentle touch.  I noticed how she will set down objects carefully with good control.

Except for throwing away her empty candy wrappers, she is neat when she eats and will wipe up spills on her own initiative.

When we have playdates with other kids, Aileen will sometimes need to be by herself for bit due to her introverted personality.

When talking about her eye crusty one morning, she commented, “A big crystal wants to come out.”

Says sweet prayers in a soft-spoken, whispery voice.

Prefers her socks inside out because of the seams.

Walks on her tip toes

Likes going to the bank so that the teller offers her a sucker.

Enjoys being pampered at the hair salon when she gets a trim.  We give her a sucker and she sits fairly still watching everyone’s move listening in to their conversations.  The stylist will sometimes even curl her hair.

Knows basic shapes

Can draw lines and rough circles

Identifies colors well.  She can even express if something is a light or dark shade of a color.

Afraid that daddy is going to hurt Avery when play wresting, she will shout out, “Daddy!!  Not too tight!!!”  Even though so small, she is still protective of her big brother.

Throws a tantrum if we do not let her set the bowls and spoons out for breakfast cereal in the mornings.  She finds two fancy “flower spoons” and gives them to the girls in the house.

Colors well for her age and attempts to stay in the lines.

Shows empathy well.  When she sees someone upset, it’s almost like she feels what she thinks they upset person is feeling.

She also has a budding sense of humor, teasing and laughing, doing silly things playfully to get a laugh.

Can visually identify numbers and count to 20

Visually identifies upper and lowercase alphabet letters, can match them together and verbally make the phonetic sounds most of the time.

2 months before her birthday, she can complete a 45 piece puzzle without help.

Can zip zippers and button buttons mostly on her own.

Can be a tease, flirty and coy

Enjoys the classic claymation Ruldolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, but was terrified by the abominable snow monster.

Fun Family Time at the School

Prince Elsa and Aileen

"Proud To Be An American" 2nd grade performance

Decorating cookies at Family Reading Night.  We caught Avery just scooping and eating the icing and M & M's.

Being with friends at Family Reading Night.

Slapping words with his buddy Ethan at Family Reading Night.

Catching Up: October

Catching Up: A Quick Snapshot of our October

Obstacle course in the hallway.

Breakfast is the most silliest meal of the day.

Reading buddies.

Haircuts at home

Playing on the "Treasure Island" set.

Pumpkin carving

Aileen thought the pumpkin insides were gross.

Apparently students are allowed to write each other notes at school.  Avery likes to write notes to himself sometimes.

Avery's invention.  He wants to be able to turn off the lights while lying in bed.

Here are the plans on how to construct the invention to turn off the lights while still in bed.

Catching Up: September

Catching Up: A Quick Snapshot of our September

Avery's 2nd grade class had a fall party.  After the festivities were finished, he noticed the room mom carrying a box of leftover cupcakes.  He asked what she was going to do with the leftover cupcakes.  She joked, "I'm going to go home and eat them all tonight.  What do you think about that?"  Avery replied "That would be paradise!"

Aileen performing for Grandparent's Day

Hugging my Averybear at Grandparent's Day

Bolivar Future Administrators

Guess who can climb the walls at our house?!

Marshmallow and spaghetti sticks sculptures.

Playdoh creation station

Daring one another to touch the woolly worm

Little Miss Chef

We are hoping that the Tooth Fairy understands.