A Little Backtracking…Avery’s 7th Birthday Party (8.27.2011)

Avery has been on this “Hawaiian” kick lately.  All summer long it has been her thing.  It may have something to do with the HUGE hibiscus flowers we have growing in the backyard.  Pretty aren’t they?!  Anyhow, she of course decided that she wanted to have a Hawaiian birthday party with her friends.  Here are a few picture highlights…

Some of her favorite friends joined us:  Kennedy, Ellie, Ella, Chloe W., Emily, Lauren, Adalynn, Misuzu and Avery Jane the birthday girl.

They had a great time playing volleyball, swimming and running through the sprinklers, water gun fights, hula hoop and limbo contests, cupcakes & tropical sherbet with slushies for a treat.

A Home

So we went on vacation in July and came home to this on our front porch…

Mama Hummingbird had set up house and home on the extension cord for our Christmas lights.  I guess we won’t be taking those down anytime soon!  She was a very protective Mama.  She was not afraid to get up close and personal if she thought we were too close to her nest.  My brother Aaron came over one day and Mama Hummingbird tried to peck him in the ear!

A couple of weeks later there was this…

3 baby hummingbird in that tiny little nest!  I don’t know if you can tell from the picture, but they are sitting head to tail in the nest…2 tails with a beak in between.

We watched them flap their wings and climb on each other for a couple days.  We even endured their dropping on the front porch (not pretty!)  Then one morning we went to see them and they were all gone!  We have had a lot of fun seeing hummingbirds all over the neighborhood, pretending that they are “our” hummingbirds!

School Days

Avery was so excited to start 2nd grade.  Her teacher this year is Miss Isaacs.  Avery struggled a bit last year with wanting to go to school.  Somewhere along the way she lost her love for school.  Everyday for the first week of school she got off the bus saying things like:  “School was sooo fun!” & “best school day ever…even from first grade!”  So things are good so far!

Chloe also got to start school this year.  Yeah for preschool!  She is going to Amber’s Academy (Amber Taylor, 1 block down the street)  So far she is loving it!  She has already talked about the letter A and the letter C and made a paper doll that looks like herself.  She has a favorite stuffed animal –Mousey…she has stowed away in her pack back everyday and been use for show and tell as an ANIMAL (FOR “A” DAY) & CUTE CRITTER (FOR “C” DAY)

(this was green beans for breakfast with Mousey…)
(Hey!  don’t judge, you feed ‘em what they’ll eat when they’ll eat it, right?!)

So you are probably wondering what I am doing with all my free time with Avery back in school all day and Chloe at pre-school for 4 hours a week…

A trip to Costco never went so smoothly!  The dishes are getting done on a more regular basis.  The “mountain-o-laundry” finally got folded (we haven’t seen some of those clothes since Jackson Hole!) Oh and let’s not forget the uninterrupted showers! 

I love my kids, don’t get me wrong…but I am also enjoying some time to my self!