Family Pictures

Here's a preview of my 2 favs! Unfortunately the best group shot was washed out (top), but I did what I could to salvage the lighting. Thanks Kristy & Mark for helping us! 

We like Fall Time

 Aspen's first day of Preschool with Miss Julia!

 Avery on picture day

Picking Apples for Applesauce (my first attempt!) 

 I cut Aspen's hair. Cute curls

 Super cute selfie

Science Fest ... Love Los Alamos!

Halloween 2014: Trick or treat the hospital & main street

Halloween Night: Trick or treat the neighborhood. Aspen was sick and stayed home with Dad and Tristan watching a movie. Avery and I perused the neighborhood with Paul and daughter Keira, our neighbors.

Tristan 18 & 19 months

Tristan will be 19 months in 3 days.

His 19-month stats are:
weight: 27.5 lbs (83%tile)
length: 33.25" (65%tile)
head: 19" (70%tile)

He still has that learning-to-walk monster gait which is adorable. He is stable walking around though.

If I haven't mentioned before, Tristan loves to examine things. He likes to help put toys away (especially blocks). He can execute basic commands, so it is clear that he understand us.

He still loves his binki and milk in a bottle/sippy. He has about 9 or 10 teeth. He eats fine. Recently he was sick and coming out of the sickness, he's decided to refuse eating most things unless we let him self-feed (with hands or spoon). Good skill building for him... mess for us. :) He's getting the knack of it, though.

He is gradually expanding his vocabulary. Not a whole lot of words he regularly uses, but will mimic (with relative success) more words now. He is very clear at shaking his head no (though sometimes he overuses the 'no' head shake even when he may actually want something). Tristan is always a joy and a sweetie.

(above) What I want to do to him 24-7

 You should see the other guy! (Tristan's first black eye. coffee table corner.)

Remember the self-feeding? He ate a whole jar on his own (when he wouldn't touch it if I tried to feed him)

Pool Pics

This was our first season at Barranca Mesa pool (after switching from East Park Pool). We enjoyed 

it very much and did two 2-week sessions of swim lessons for Avery and Aspen. Needless to say, they both love the swimming! Avery is close to independent. She will go off the diving board multiple times and swim to the side, she can also swim unassisted across a length of 15 feet or so with quite a lot of effort. Aspen is a crazy lady in the water and loves to dunk around and swim underwater mostly. She's not independent. This year Avery did Level 2 and 3. Aspen did level 1, I think. 

Tristan was a maniac in the water. He wasn't quite walking yet, so I crawled his way around the baby pool like this, with his head barely above water. I had to be a hawk on him. He quickly learned to close his mouth and not swallow water. He loved the pool!

Tristan 17 months

Last month, at 16 months, Tristan became a toddler - yes, he began walking on his own! He is now walking more than crawling. It's so dang cute to see him walk around with his arms in the air as he learns to steady himself. 

This month, we gave Tristan the goal of learning some words. Most of them are flukes (will repeat what we dictate if he's in the mood), but they are steps! 

His very first & favorite babble has always been:

• Dada... (eventually he picked up that this refers to dad, but will still babble this even when not referring to dad)

A little later, he mimicked the sounds/words (on a fluke, really, but quite hilarious):

• Wow!
• Yeah! "yah!"

Eventually he learned to say (sparingly):

• Muh-muh (yet, I still wonder if he's trying to refer to me or not)

Recently he mimicked: 

• Bye "buh" (once) &
• Uh-oh (immediately after Aspen said it!)

It's super fun to get him to say Uh-oh! He will also still mimic the surprise face but can't hold it for long without immediately beginning to smile/laugh! 

He's become quite the solid kid (heavier and gaining height). He's easily wearing 18month - 2T clothes. He's a handsome young fella too. :) Very cuddly. Loves to pull things out of the kitchen cupboards, throw things (mostly balls which he is VERY good at), put blocks away, and make a cute motor growly sound when playing with cars. Love this boy.

Adorable. At 17 months, Tristan went to time-out for the first time (for trying to hit his sister for not giving up a toy), and he knew very well that he had done wrong. Sweet little guy!

What a day!

I guess you could say today was Avery's actual first day of school since I got to leave her there by herself and they experienced a half-day. (Yesterday was just for an hour and the parents stayed for orientation.) Monday will finally be a full day.

Avery asked to ride the bus today and I almost let her, but didn't feel comfortable with it since she is so unfamiliar with where to go to class. Plus I already told the teacher I would pick her up today (though she will normally be a bus rider, beginning Monday).

As I dropped her off this morning, I was explaining the procedures to her as if she had ridden the bus and arrived at school. She seemed to pick up on everything and was quite comfortable with it all.

When picking her up at noon, I arrived/parked just as the bell rang. The busses were being loaded as I drug Aspen & Tristan out of the car to retrieve Avery. I searched up and down, checking the teacher's room a couple times (no teacher or students) and all lawn areas, then finally to the office in a hurried calm. I suspected they must have put her on the bus! It was true (poor teacher got the instructions mixed up). The principal assured me they would never let a kindergartener off the bus without someone to greet them. Well, that wasn't true. I started driving home, not knowing what to expect and as I pulled in the driveway, there was Avery on the front deck with a big smile on her face!

Phew. Avery said her teacher "let" her ride the bus so she just did and got off at the right spot and walked right home. She discovered the back sliding door unlocked (which is not typical, but lucky for today), took off her backpack and shoes and went to the front deck to wait until mom showed up. She didn't seem too concerned that I wasn't there at the bus stop or home, just empowered by this sudden grand opportunity for independence! And independent she is! Poor Aspen was likely the most worried of all of us- she kept saying "Oh no- Avery is lost!" I must admit-- though I kept a calm and was sure she'd be okay, it did make me worrisome!

FYI, Avery enjoyed showing me her "monkey face" that the teacher taught. Wish I could have been there fore that! I think she's got an excellent new teacher--very kind, organized, excited and respectable. Also, Avery told me she did the monkey bars all by herself- that's new!

First Day of School :)

This was a truly momentous day - Avery's first day of school EVER. She has officially begun the 17-some-odd years of education... Let the fun begin!! Happy days of Kindergarten, cutie girl!

School: Barranca Mesa Elementary, Los Alamos, NM
Teacher: Ms. Larson
Date: 8-14-14

Summer Lovin'

Oh, it's been a lovely summer! Had some great afternoon rains, kept the weather moderate. Spent almost every day at the pool! Took 2 sessions of swim lessons for the girls (4 wks total). Planted some grass and it's looking FABULOUS! (Spent lots of time pulling weeds). Tristan took his first steps a week ago (8/8/14 at 16 months)! We've been very blessed. 

The New Smith's Marketplace

IT'S HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! A bunch of fellow friends and I were rallying for this store to come and even went to county council meetings to cry about it. :) Now it's here!! The grand opening was today and we couldn't miss it. I'm impressed with how quickly they got this massive structure up and running. This new Smith's Marketplace is basically like a Super Target HERE in LOS ALAMOS!!! Life could not get any better! I'm in heaven. Space! Products! Convenience! Nice Prices! Bulk Foods! Space!! Beauty! Ahhhhhhhh.

 high fives

 princess underwear

very first sucker

 cupcakes, cookies, and suckers, oh my!

 face painting

 gorgeous view of the canyon on the south side where there is outdoor eating

 full parking lot

 taking the elevator to the employee's break room

 mariachi band!

Couldn't get the whole place on the camera ;-)

Despite this expansive store, I didn't feel like I was walking for miles inside; it felt good.

Tristan 15 months

Tristan is 25 lbs (80%) and 31.5" (60%). At birth his weight was in the 50% then dropped to .09% at 4 months so we added formula to his diet, and now he's at 80%. Heh. You can tell he's grown a lot in these last couple of months. For the last few months he's had fluid in his ears which he hasn't been able to shake. Next month when I get it checked again, I might ask that they put in tubes in to get it over with. Thankfully, he hasn't had infection from it. It just bothers me that he isn't able to hear well because of it and it will delay his speech.

He is interested in walking but not there yet; he should be soon. He doesn't exactly say words; I mean, I think he finally understands that "da-da" is actually dad and he will rarely say "muh-muh" though I don't know if he's referring to me or not. He is very conversational, though, with his babbles and it is hilarious when he spouts out things that sound like words: "oh!" "wow!" "yeah." He does plenty of grunting and pointing.

He LOVES to throw balls/things and is quite good at it! Often he'll let out an "uhn" as he does it. He can crawl both up and down the stairs. He's never been bad about putting things in his mouth. He's still very cuddly, giving strong squeezes (hugs). He now has 6 teeth and is working on 2 more. Gradually he's started eating more table food (and is glad), but I'll still feed him baby food some and he'll take it. He'll eat a whole corn dog by himself when we go to the pool!

He's always been fascinated with unrolling toilet paper or putting his hand in the toilet, so I have to keep him out of there. He loves to play with his big sisters or at least be where they are (that can be tricky when block towers or train tracks are involved). Avery loves to be a big sister to him and is great helper but also likes to carry him around, which he is becoming less fond of. Tristan has always been able to go to other people, but now he will only do so if mom is still there. If I drop him off, he is upset and will demand to be held the whole time. He takes good afternoon naps, and usually does well with quiet time in his crib in the morning when possible.

Tristan is a joy to have! Here are his 15-month photos:

Golly he's adorable

Can't wait to rough-house with him

 Recently he's picked up this face from us (Brian does it the best), but when Tristan does it, it is the BIGGEST crack-up!! Especially when he gets the really puckered rounded lips. I can't stop laughing!

The Zoo

Brian has been in Albuquerque working on a project for work quite a bit, so the kids and I joined him for Friday night at the hotel and Saturday at the zoo. On Friday, we finished the girls' last swim lesson day for this session and headed to ABQ. We stopped for a while at the mall then met up with Brian at Fuddruckers for dinner (YUM). I then went to the temple that evening. Saturday morning, I got some food storage items at the LDS cannery place and we spent the morning at the zoo as a family. On the way home we did some shopping in Santa Fe. My favorite part of the zoo is still the Apes and Monkeys; we saw lots of babies among the animals (chimp, spider monkey, elephant). Avery's favorites are the "giraffes and zebras," Aspen's favorite was the "talking man & the food" (talking man on the train & dip-n-dots for food). It was a first time for all of us on the dip-n-dots! The train ride was great. I can't believe it's been almost 2 years since we were here last!

 Got to pet some llamas.

 Tristan loved the whole visit; he squealed whenever he noticed an animal!

 Getting tired.

Train ride. :)