SummerTime

It's officially summertime.  We have replaced our "winter" activities of going to the Aquarium, Children's Museum, Bouncy House, Tumble Gym, and playing at playgrounds with water-based activities...and TV.  Man, it gets too stinkin' hot down here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Memorial Day

We had half of David's family at our house for a quick visit over Memorial Day Weekend.  The kids had fun playing with one another, the grownups enjoyed dinner and a ghost tour in downtown Charleston, and everyone enjoyed the nice weather and outdoor time.

 

*Sidenote: My niece, Athena, was diagnosed with autism several years ago.  In that time, she has not allowed diagnoses or labels to slow her down.  Here is a video of her reading a random book to us from the kids' bookshelf.  I might add that she is 6 years old and is reading on a 2nd grade level.  You rock, Theenie!!

 

Kandid Kayla

Kayla....where do I even begin.  I believe this child was sent to me to keep me on my toes and to prevent me from getting too smug about being a good mom (as I probably was when I was the mom of ONE very well-behaved baby boy, Avery).  Kayla is a trip: she is confident (when she wants to be), shy (when she wants to be), hilarious (just about all the time), and pretty smart.  The best way I can put it (that is very much a cliche, but whatever), Kayla marches to the beat of her own drum.  Here are some pics of Kayla over the past couple of months:

 

Kayla is pretty competitive and does a decent job at keeping up with her older brother.  At the bouncy house, Kayla not only followed Avery into a more advanced inflatable obstacle course, she was determined to do it in the same manner that he did.  While it would have been much easier for her to go under and through these large cylinders (which she had done many times before), she made sure she climbed OVER them, even though it was much more difficult for her.

I can tell Kayla is growing up, as she can entertain herself a lot better than before.  One morning, Kayla just chilled on the back porch by herself, amusing herself with some books and a cooler.

This book is the first "pink" thing that Kayla has picked out herself.  It is a series of books titled "Pinkalicious".  After reading her one of these books one evening, I decided to donate them to someone else.  The main character is a bit too whiny in my taste (I have enough of that at home, thank you very much), and I didn't really enjoy reading aloud words such as "purpalicious" and "pinktastic".  PASS.

Kayla's first Oreo cookie.

I'm not sure whether she takes after her Uncle David or not, but Kayla seems to have a little "Ranger" in her at times.  She enjoys toy guns (the water gun below made it past my scrutiny following a birthday party...it has now gone "missing") and wrestling with her big brother.  This chick is pretty tough.

But as rough and tough as she is, she still enjoys being the "teacher" (see below, where she is helping Woody and a stuffed cat with their coloring)....

...and playing with the kids' little kitchen set.  I don't necessarily consider either one of these things "girly", as Avery enjoys these activities himself.  It's just nice to see a softer and gentler side to Kayla.

"See Mommy?  Lots of junk.  Garbage goes in the garbage truck."  Yes, her pink stroller is serving the role of a garbage trunk while she was playing on garbage day.

One day, Kayla made this noise the ENTIRE ride home from school.  Talk about perseverance.

The Many Looks of Kayla

(BlogSpot sucks and has been difficult to use lately.  So enjoy a two-for-one deal.)

Kayla continually cracks me up with what she parades around in on a daily basis.  Here are some of her funnier looks....

You can take the girl out of Cleveland but you can't take the Cleveland out of the girl.  Here, Kayla is thuggin' out her nap.

Kayla is always grabbing a pair of shades to wear...

...even when she is inside the house.

With a train track around her neck and a large orange scoop as an accessory, one would think she is channeling Flavor Flav.

Kayla wears Avery's cowboy boots on an almost daily basis.

Kayla masquerading as Optimus Prime...

...or Spiderman going to school (note the backpack...and no pants).

 Kayla likes to pick out her own clothes sometimes....

 ...and can be pretty good at coordinating colors.

Because EVERY little girl needs a winter glove and oven mitt in order to color.

Kayla gave us "two thumbs up" with her raspberries.

I think Kayla looks like her Daddy in this picture....he was always sportin' a backwards ballcap in his younger days.

Bracelet?  Check.  String of beads? Check.  Backwards train conductor's hat??  Check and check.

 Kayla was walking around one day wearing Mr. Potato Head's glasses.

Play hard, sleep hard.