Lifesong

This and That

I have a few goals (I like that better than resolutions. I never keep resolutions. But goals? I can do goals.) in the new year. I am trying to blog more, that's one. And my second one is to become more organized. I have some specific things to tackle around each of these, but those are the very general goals.

2012 is shaping up to be an exciting one for us because my Mom's house has sold (again, remember the first one fell through) and she has purchased one here! That is right down the street. We are so excited to have Mimi in the same town. She will be moving in TWO WEEKS. I can't even imagine what it will be like to have her here, but we are very excited about all the possibilities. I know my Mom will love being so close to her grandkids and having regular interaction with them. The kids are very excited, too!

Onto some fun things that Avery is discovering. No, she hasn't discovered the beauty of naps. I sure wish she would! But, she is at such an adorable and fun stage, and I find it so hard to believe that she is almost one!

This is Avery's sign for "all done!" I don't know if it's the actual sign for it, but it's what we've taught all of our babies, and it works. It's SO cute. This girl is an eater, and seems to be hungry most of her life. I never really did snacks at all (except for a bedtime one) with my other two, but this girl gets a mid-morning snack and an afternoon snack. The girl loves her food.

This cracks me up. My little monkey girl, with her foot on the table. Normally feet aren't allowed on the table, but when you are almost eleven months and your feet don't often touch the ground, it's allowed.

She is really getting the hang of her sippy cup. She loves it, and pretty much wants to carry it around with her all day. It's funny! Well, I'm sure it's funny now, when it has milk in it and starts souring, then it's not as funny. We are just over a month away from being a full blown big girl and no longer nursing. (sniff, sniff)

A pretty typical day around here. We've kinda abandoned the school room temporarily. We get school done wherever, whenever we can. Ansley worked on her vocabulary work, Christian playing with Legos (you just can't see them) and Avery playing with Christian. You can see her sippy cup is never far from reach.

I have started Project 365 again (for 2012) - you can follow along on the sidebar link called Kalamazoo. Not really, it's called Project 365: 2012. I really love doing the photo-a-day, and I REALLY love looking back at all the memories one year holds. This is my fifth year doing this, and it has been such a blessing for me!

I think that's all for now. Playroom pictures still to come! So far, so good! We have a clean, organized playroom at the end of every day.

One goal for 2012: check!

Instagram Thursday

I seem to have lost track of sticking with any type of theme or consistent idea. Sometimes I can't even.

Finish a sentence.

Without getting distracted a dozen times.

But nevertheless, I'm here now, trying to squeeze in some time before school starts (yes, it's later these days. We've all come to terms with it) and the baby wakes up and the day really gets cranked up.

I found some cute instagram pictures on my iPhone, so I thought this would be as good a time as any to post them here. Mostly because, well, they are cute, and there is no editing on my part, which makes it really easy.

Carpooling coming home from school one day. This was sometime in December, I'm sure. Ansley's had a Christmas break but she's excited to start back next week!

This is how shopping got done at Target on this day. I thought it was really cute.

Why is she so happy?

Ah, yes. Because she's the third child so she gets ice cream at ten months. That's why! (It's crazy, really, because I can recall very clearly that Ansley never had chocolate milk until she was two, and never had cake or ice cream until her first birthday. And it's not that I don't want to be more concerned with my baby's eating, it's that when you have two other kids and go get ice cream, SHE KNOWS. And she starts kicking her legs and getting all excited. You wouldn't be able to refuse, either.)

My rule is, however she will actually nap, that's how we'll let her sleep.

The kids painting pottery at a field trip in December. I got a babysitter for Avery so it was just the three of us. They really enjoyed it. Ansley painted a dog and Christian painted a little box for Mimi (all on his own).

Sometimes the baby plays with the trash can. Naked.

I'm excited to share with you our playroom reorg/purge, but I'm still getting it all together. Just little details are left, but I want to wait and take the pictures when it's completely done. So far (I know, it's just been five days) it has stayed neat and clean and like an actual room in our house instead of the room we never look at because it's so horrible. It can be difficult to stay on top of three children who LOVE to make messes at every turn, but I'm learning. And I THINK I've got this one conquered. I'm so excited! So stay tuned, that's coming next.

Now, on to our day! I hope you all have a great one!