Happy Birthday, Marley!

Marley is Kayla's friend, almost from birth.  They are a little less than a month apart.  Here are some pics from an afternoon of playing in the backyard, as well as pics from Marley's first birthday party, which was so stinkin' cute!!!

A HodgePodge of March Photos

Once again, I am behind on posting pictures.  Here is an assortment from March:

Kayla will not eat bananas cut up anymore.  What a big girl.

 Avery eating his birthday icecream.  He is not really a big sweets eater, but he sure does love his icecream!  I should have put his candle in it...

 Kayla and her BFF, Haley.  Finally, someone loves this dog.

 Kayla has outsmarted Avery.  Avery tries to play with his toys in the middle of the table, where Kayla is too short to reach from the edges.  Kayla quickly figured out how to get to those toys...

 Note Haley in the upper right hand corner.  Not sure who is copying who.

 Avery and Kayla hanging out in the corner, fixing one of our kitchen chairs.  This kept them occupied for quite a long time.  I look forward to more activities like this in the future so I can cook dinners in peace.

 Kayla's first trip to Chuck E Cheese.

 Kayla's new thing is to lift her shirt and show off her belly.  I couldn't help but think of spring break when I took this picture....

Assault with a deadly weapon.  After being attacked with the golf club several times, Avery was genuinely afraid of Kayla.  Don't worry, all golf clubs (and other assorted items that can be used to bludgeon) have been put away.

Harvard, Here We Come

A Look Back on Flowertown Fun

Avery and I have gone to the Flowertown Festival every single year since we have lived down here, with the exception of 2009, as Avery would have been born right around then.  Priorities.  Here is a look of Avery growing over the past couple of years.

2010, 11 months old

2011, 2 years old

2012, 3 years old

Flowertown Festival 2012

This year, I took both of the kids to the Flowertown Festival in Summerville.  We have gone almost every year since we have moved down here.  Avery was finally big and brave enough to enjoy some of the rides....I was very proud of him for riding them by himself!  Kayla was stuck in the stroller this time around, but by next year, I am sure my monster child will be big enough to ride with her older brother.  And then I will have to worry about how to negotiate with two kids when it's time to get off of the rides!

My Mom's a Physical Therapist

I'm not sure why my kids exercise on the orange mat by the back door.  Perhaps I should join them once in a while.

Kayla perfecting her plank at 13 months.

 Avery working on his pushups (girl-style) at 11 months.

It is important to keep the hamstrings limber, especially when you are 12 months old.

Kentucky Rocks

Avery and Kayla enjoyed cheering on their future alma mater this past week (hours before tip-off, of course!!).

I love this child!

Avery was watching Phil surf the internet on his phone one day and when Phil came across this picture (don't ask me why Phil was googling pics of Jennifer Love Hewitt), Avery said, "That looks like Mommy!".  God bless you, Avery.  And we are going to get your eyes checked very soon.  :)

Random March Photos

Kayla goes crazy for the lizards in our back yard.  This one was using the kids' shopping cart as his personal sauna following a big rain.

Avery and Daddy made pancakes one morning.  They were delicious!

Kayla was a bit skeptical of her first taste of pancakes...

...but in the end, I think she was sold!!

Tackling Daddy.  I really prefer this activity to occur on carpet.

It's funny how things change with your second kid.  I had Avery "practice" diligently using utensils once he hit about 9 months or so (thinking that this was an important skill to have at this young age...like he was going to go out for a business dinner with his boss and would need to prove he is way past the finger food stage).  But with my poor second child, I realized, "Oh yeah, shouldn't you be using a spoon by now?".  Lesson learned: in the end, all kids learn how to use spoons.

Go Tribe!

Avery was upset after being put in TimeOut one day (most likely for not sharing with his little sister...what a hard lesson to learn at the mere age of three!).  Kayla decided to infiltrate the toddler joint and comfort her big brother.

After being ignored by everyone in the family for the past year, Haley has suddenly appeared on Kayla's radar.  Right now, Kayla lives to feed this dog, "pet her", and pull on anything that hangs off of her body.  I love this picture, because not only has Kayla persuaded Avery to give some TLC to our poor neglected puppy, but Haley is going for Kayla's huge tongue that always seems to be sticking out of her mouth.  Sometimes these photos do not catch my parenting at it's best.

Beach Time!

It's that time of year again...beach time!!  The Jean family's unofficial beach season is March through June, before it gets too stifling hot to play (and breathe) outside for long periods of time!  Kayla made two beach trips last year, when she was about one and three months old (compare that to Avery's two beach trips before he was a week old...not sure what I was thinking there!!).  Now that she is old enough to enjoy herself, Kayla LOVED playing in the sand with her big brother.  Avery (reluctantly) shared some of his bulldozers and buckets with her.  I was surprised that we didn't have to chase either kid around the beach but I have a feeling that part will come when we reintroduce them to the joys of the ocean when the water warms up a bit!

I like to think of our BOB stroller as a clown car....the amount of crap we can pack on this thing for a couple of hours on the beach is just unbelieveable.

 Avery with the infamous pink bucket that we bought when he was a couple of months old (Target was out of the manly colors at the time)...I guess we don't need to be too embarassed playing with it now that there is a little girl in the family!

 Kayla soaking up some sun rays and showing off the first bathing suit she received as a new baby...thanks Aunt Martina!

 The wind was a bit nippy, so I layered her back up.

Confusing a rake with a fork...

 Family fun!

 I think Avery needs a bigger bulldozer...

 Sharing his beloved dumptruck with his little sister.