January

Avery (1 year, 5 months) - Avery is becoming more communicative and opinionated.  She has mastered several signs and regularly uses "Please" to request additional snacks.  On the teeth front, she now has a solid 10 teeth with a few more ready to pop through.  She isn't the best teether and seems to have developed a reliance on her bottle to get herself through.  She insists on only drinking her water through a bottle now - should be a fun habit to break!  Avery is wearing some 2T clothes now and moving into size 6 diapers!  She continues to love books and music and has shown a growing interest in art/coloring.  She has developed a strong attachment to mom's old baby quilt and insists on dragging it around the house until she grows annoyed with tripping over it.

Brother Parker accessorized her for the show

"Cooking" with dad

First piggie tails

First pony tail

Parker (4 years, 2 months) - Parker had a great month!  He has really taken to being a big brother and loves to look out for Avery and take care of her.  He has also started showing similar actions towards Madie.  He continues to love art and spends most of his free time at school coloring.

Parker gave this art creation 2 thumbs up

Parker and his new best friend, Madie - "He has to take really good care of her"

Playing hockey with Noel the horse as the stick

Carter (5 years, 8 months) - Carter isn't excited about having his picture taken or he's just too busy!  He is playing basketball this Winter and he signed up for keyboarding and speed & agility lessons after school this semester.  He is really enjoying school and we went to our first Lovett basketball game this month, an OT thriller between two top 10 teams with Lovett prevailing!

Mom's handsome Sushi date

Sibling Pictures

Boys movie night

Art time

Superhero siblings

Carter and Parker's snowmen

Fun in a box

Avery was memorized by the cheerleaders and their pink pom-poms during the Lovett - Pace basketball game.  Go Lions!

This Week at School

Avery had a great week at school.  Highlights were playing with the parachute, art, story time, music class and lots of snacks!

Play hard = sleep hard

Music Class

Parker enjoyed space transportation week.  He was excited to wear his NASA shirt and bring in a rocket book to share with his friends.  And he got to make lots of Space themed art!

Carter had a busy week with a field trip to see the play "Elephant and Piggie".  In class, he started a social studies section on community helpers and wrote a teaching book in writing workshop.

We are AVID Readers

Birthday Party at the Aquarium

The whole family was invited to a behind the scenes birthday at the Aquarium.  The kids enjoyed the educational loop and seeing all the big fish.  Avery was mesmerized by all the moving colors in the tanks.

Parker coloring his pirate gear

Carter and the birthday boy Alex

Addison and Avery checking out the big tank from above

Avery waving Bye-Bye to the huge spotted Whale Shark

Snow Day

We got the tail end of Winter Storm Jonas which brought some snow that stuck around for a few hours.  It was of course a massive snow storm in the Southern world so school closed early, office shut down and there were lines for miles to get into the super market parking lot.  The kids were really excited to go sledding and have a snow ball fight.  So we bundled them all up and gave it a try.  Thankfully the boys had fun because 1/4" snow and a layer of ice weren't quite enough to get the sleds moving.  And Avery, in her layers of clothing, wasn't moving anywhere.

She never took a step