It's Over?

November that is.  Holy cow.  Seriously. Please--someone SLOW down time. I remember hearing when I was little that "the older you get, the faster time goes by." At this rate, when I'm 50 a year will seem like just a day.  Sheesh.

At least we have done a few things to occupy ourselves in the past few weeks.

We've played.

We've Baptized.

 And had lots of wonderful family celebrate with us afterwards.

Three generations of Roberts (missing only one in Iceland).

Jason's side of the family--all the kiddos together!

We've also been Thankful.  Especially for our little turkeys.

The claw.

And the love of the claw.

And we've played some more.

At least we were all smiles at halftime.

Hope you have all had wonderful weeks of thanks and are enjoying the Advent season.  Speaking of--it's Annunciation (aka Angel) week at our house.  More on our angel crafts, lesson on Gabriel and Mary's obedience to carry baby Jesus later.  What an exciting season!

Week 4

One month into a traveling husband and daddy, and we're sort of getting the hang of it. Sadly, even though it's easier at times now, I don't want it to get easier.  Got that? And again, hats off to all you wives and mommas that have done this far longer and much more often than us! 

To recap.  J returned home early Friday evening. We were excited.  And we waited.

And waited.

 Robert napped.  And we were silly (out of focus apparently) while we waited.

And then:

So started a good weekend.  J and Emma had a date at the office (J for work, Emma to color with cool pens), and then Railroad Park.  Robert and I relaxed at home and enjoyed morning naps.  Sunday we were thrilled to get a visit from my friend Ashley Wolf.  She got married in September, (which was beautiful btw. awesome pictures here) and I hadn't seen her since the wedding.  It was so great to catch up--and we were thankful her husband didn't mind her being gone!

All good things come to an end, and J left early Monday morning, which meant I needed some new activities to keep us occupied!  So we started a new Bible verse.  And Picasso was quickly back at work on a new masterpiece.

Blue hair and all to prove it.

 The proud artist.  (And sitting so lady-like, don't cha think? :))

Following our painting session, Emma practiced cutting with her scissors.  She's definitely perfecting her skills.  Guess I should tell her what paper is ok to cut.  Shhh.  I'm pretty sure defacing government property is very illegal.

This guy has been hanging out too. He's getting in on more of the eating action.  And giving lots of smiles!  He's also feeling lots better after his visit to Dr. Mestra for reflux.  But 3 reflux medicines for a 5 month old seems a bit overkill to me (not to mention expensive).  But, we'll do whatever it takes to keep this guy happy (and eating well!!!)

I mean, I could just eat those cheeks up!

Other ways we're passing the time?  Learning days of the week! We're crossing off each day until Daddy comes home! (and keeping food in the forefront of our minds--another part of the Avery Family Process, "AVP")

And, I don't think I've blogged about it before, but we recently put up a chalk board wall in our kitchen, which I love!  Emma draws on it and we have a great time leaving messages for each other and creating random drawings.  Installing it was so easy--and it has made such a FUN difference in our house.  Because we don't much like power tools with blades (or rather, they don't like us), I asked our handy man to cut and nail up picture frame molding on the wall.  Then I painted the inside of the square with chalkboard paint.  Less than $30 for the whole thing--and the art work is constantly changing (kinda like the dry erase board on Chandler and Joey's apartment door.  Anyone?)

I also love it because it brings back those few months I spent student teaching at Hoover High.  Hmmm, homeschooling anyone?

AND when it gets really dirty, I can wash it with a damp cloth using meticulous left to right strokes, just like Ms. Cary did when I was in elementary school.  All you MA'ers out there know what I mean.  Ms. Cary made washing chalk boards look like the most fantastic and fun job around.

Ok. Time for bed.  Breakfast doesn't make itself in the mornings!

Finally

I'm reading it.  I'm probably the last mom out there who hasn't devoured her inspiration yet, but I can't wait!  The first few pages are so amazing. I'm already savoring it all.  I'll refer to it more later, I'm sure!

And, I've promised Jason I'll read this next.  I'm catching up on some recent oldies, right?

Halloweekend Review

What a whirlwind!!  To catch up those 2 readers out there,  this guy (the big one):

has been spending lots of time here:

which meant we needed these:

to show Emma where he's been going every week.

We were SO excited when he came home Saturday night.  We loaded up and headed to the airport to surprise him.  (I might also add that this is an EXCELLENT outing.  For $1/hour parking fee, it was a great place for Emma to hang out and watch the planes!).

She made a sign and everything.

She waited so patiently (in 2 year old ways) at the end of the terminal, that a TSA employee made her a "junior officer." Complete with sticker badge.  Too bad I forgot to take a picture of that.


And then, the best part.

She saw daddy.
And she sprinted.
As fast as a two year old can run.
To his arms.

And she was happy.

So, there it was. A little bit of the Gospel lived out before me.  Thank you Lord for the earthly reminders to sprint to you, our heavenly father.

We celebrated with Aunt Cece and Aunt Elizabeth over cheap Mexican, margaritas and cheese dip.  And luckily, J stayed home long enough to chaperon Princess Belle for Halloween.

They even found the Beast.  Please notice that Emma Belle, would NOT go near the Beast without Jason.  Funny!

Hope you all had a joyous weekend too!

5 1/2 Months

These are late. Sorry! But gosh, are we blessed with this angel.

I think he's about 18 lbs. No clue how tall he is, but don't the beginnings of that mohawk look great! :)

Pretty fantastic that he's already started daydreaming, huh?

Incidentally, I made the outfit Robert's wearing, which I'm ashamed to say, is the first thing I've made the poor child.  I followed these directions which told me where to place the front pocket.  Um, kinda low, don't you think?  I'll move it up next time.

Also, look who started rice cereal...

Mmm. Mmm. Good. I love the taste of paste. 

Emma thought the same thing the first time she had it. Just a bit more expressively.  But that's a female for you.  Always a flare for the dramatic.

Be back soon with our trip to the Airport!

Watch This

This stunningly realistic depiction of the practice of law is for all the non-lawyers out there who haven't seen it yet (and maybe the 2 lawyers who've been holed up in their office covered in mountains of discovery documents, or exiled to a warehouse in Topeka without internet).  Hysterical.

Catching Up

(Sunday, 10/17): I started this post over a week ago.  It is so sad it has taken me this long to complete.  But, this afternoon there is finally some peace for me to publish it.  We've returned from church and I've fed everyone and finished sewing my first outfit for Robert, while listening to this.  The laundry is mostly done, and now everyone else is asleep.  It is peaceful.  I can be still, remember the Lord, be thankful, and take a few minutes to myself.

Whew. I knew it was going to be a busy fall.  Blogging has definitely taken a back seat.  I sincerely apologize to those 4.5 readers out there! :) It has been a good kind of busy though.  Lots of football and some cooler weather.   

Memory Verses:

We're not moving quite as quickly through our memory verses as I originally hoped, but that is entirely my fault, and no reflection on Emma.  It never ceases to amaze me how I am sometimes "too busy" to find even 5 minutes to work on a memory verse.   I am beginning to recognize the difficulty of "manufactured business." The VAST majority of what I spend my time doing doesn't have any eternal significance.  And man, oh man, how I am short changing my children (not to mention myself too) when my priorities become skewed.  They are learning so much by what they see.  Not what I say.  So, I think in this season of " earthly business" my prayer is quickly becoming that we would be "busy with the Lord," doing whatever work HE has for us. Whatever work advances and brings glory to His kingdom.  Praise God for his redemptive grace and mercy that allows us to "start again"--as many times as I need.  He surely is Mighty to Save. 

So, where was I? Oh, yes, the memory verse.  No doubt, Emma isn't quite as proficient with this one (Philipians 2:14) as the others.  But then again, just because I have it memorized, doesn't mean my heart has locked it up entirely either.  Despite these stumbles, the Spirit is moving in our family through this verse as our house is quickly becoming a place of repeated "whining."  Maybe it's being 2 1/2, or maybe it's being 30, but it is SO convicting to realize how often we complain during the day. (I'm giving Robert a pass on this one since the poor child can't even sit up yet...but I'm sure some doctrinal junkies out there would include him, given original sin and all...)

The Avery Family Process

With football season (absent last week's performance) and the increasing need for discipline around our house, we're developing (Saban style) a family process.  It's actually fun to think about listing all the important qualities and priorities we hope to cultivate in our family.  So, what better place to start than with physical toughness. Ok, I can think of LOTS better places to start...(e.g. memory verses), but it was fun to show Emma some of J's cultish-obsession with Tony Horton and all things P90X.

[IMAGINE VIDEO OF EMMA ATTEMPTING A PULL UP HERE. 

BLOGGER IS NOT COOPERATING].

Fall Fun

We made a trip to a local pumpkin patch (with half of the metro birmingham area).  Emma picked out her very own pumpkin (well sort of...). 

Robert really enjoyed the whole trip.  He told me so. He didn't mind one bit that I woke him up early from his nap to ride 40 minutes in the car (through Auburn game traffic) while Emma screamed sang the itsy bitsy spider.  He also didn't mind riding "off road" in the Maclaren stroller because I forgot the Baby Bjorn, OR taking his bottle on a bumpy hay ride.  He was also ok that I forgot his sunhat (which meant he spent a majority of our trip wrapped with a blanket  (or hat) around his head. Don't worry, he could breathe).  Despite all of these "hiccups,"  he told me it was the best trip to a pumpkin patch he'd EVER had! Can you believe it??? 

That's about it around here for now.  Kids are waking up and I'm going to try to run because I've been doing this.  The next question is should I do this? Be back soon!