how to... wash a car

This post is inspired by THIS ONE of Avery getting ready for baby sis back in March 2010.

How to wash a car. Step by step ... by Avery

 

Step 1: Take off your shoes and get out bucket, soap, and any and all sponges you see (3 is way better than 1). Fill up bucket with sudsy water. Sponge your feet off. Must have clean feet to wash a car.

 Step 2: Examine the soapy sponge

Step 3: Smile because washing cars is so much fun!

Step 4: Examine the suds on your finger, too

Step 5: Walk on the sponge to make soapy footprints on driveway

Step 6: Step into the bucket to maximize the amount of soap you can get on your feet

Step 7: Smile because you forgot you are actually supposed to be washing a car and not playing with soapy water ;)

Step 8: Step on the sponge yet again... they are very squishy and soap squirts out when you jump on them

Step 9: must.run.in.puddles

Step 10: Show mommy your soapy hands. You are hard at work

Step 11: Empty bucket because it's way more fun to play in water than to use it for washing cars

Step 12: Go swimming in the bathtub. Washing cars is dirty work!

words

Riley, 1 year old (June 15, 2011)

Avery, 1 year old (June 17th, 2009)

 I always hoped I could use this dress again after Avery wore it for her 1st birthday. And lo and behold, we were able to! And of course we busted out the lovely pink blanket, compliments of Aunt Krista. Seriously.. Riley's one now? Crazy.
She's picking up a few more words. She can say "up" and "cracker" and she babbles mama and dada (but not using them as our names yet). She makes the "ma" sound for more and "wa" when she wants water. Oh, and she has the head shake down for "no." Haha. She's cruising all around. Just today she walked across the floor holding on to the shopping cart. First time for that. And a few days ago she took one step while standing up not holding on to anything. She is NOT into having her arms held so she can walk, or anything of the sort. She does it when she wants to. Hmmm... sounds like someone else around here...

Avery's THREE! ~June 17th

As you can see Avery and I had lots of fun outside in the morning. We played with water and bubbles (her personal favorite). Went to the play area at MacArthur later. Had lunch at the mall! Then went to the pool later in the afternoon. All topped off with froyo at Skinny Dip! What a great day =) Happy Birthday, Avery!

june 15th ... 1st birthday

I cannot believe Riley is ONE! What a big year this has been. A lot of the first few months are quite a blur. It's been fun to watch Riley grow and develop (especially from months 10 and up ;) You spent quite a big chunk of your first year awake... can't blame you though.. we're super exciting people! Ha ha! You really began crawling a day before you turned 10 months old, and wow.. that milestone really just did wonders for you. You started napping longer than 30 minutes at a time and you started sleeping all night about a month ago. And you've been SO much happier in general. We always said you just didn't like that "baby stuff." You wanted to move around and have fun. So with that, I'll start the recap of the last month!

12 months old!

• you're still in the same size clothes and diapers (23 pounds 7 oz~80%ile and 27.75" tall~50%ile)
• you take two naps a day (anywhere from 30 minutes to over an hour)
• you sleep all night (woo hoo!) You go to bed around 730 and usually crawl around your crib for 30 minutes or so.. and wake up anywhere from 645am on. I'll take it! I remember the days quite well where anytime I would set you in your crib you'd just cry and cry and cry and only sleep for 30 minutes.. and then wake up crying again. And wake up 3-5 times a night until month 9. Phew! Makes me tired just thinking about it. 
• you can wave when you hear the words "hi" and "bye bye"
• you can clap
• you LOVE LOVE LOVE dancing to music.. you get the biggest grin on your face and your eyes get all squinty and you start bouncing up and down. Avery has even joined in the fun when she sees you "dancing"
• you love the stairs. you know that when mommy's in the kitchen, a good way to get her attention is to crawl up the stairs!
• you've taken notes from Avery about water.  you love it. drinking it, playing in it, it doesn't matter.
• you're getting more adventurous with food.. especially when you aren't sitting in your highchair. 
• you're starting to recognize the words "water" and "cracker" ..  in that when you hear me say them you go over and grab your sippy of water, or grab your crackers. It's so fun to watch you learn things.
• you know your first word: "ball" .. you say it when you see a ball, so you definitely know what it is.
• you know to shake your head "no".. you do it a lot.. especially when Avery's trying to pretend feed you things =)
• you don't immediately cry when strangers look at you! We're making progress in that area. You're getting more adventurous with other kids around. You like to crawl around and play, too.
• you're starting to stand up without holding on. you always get a huge grin on your face. and you're cruising furniture
• i'll add more when I think of it. We've just really enjoyed watching Riley grow up the past year.. can't wait for the next year! By 2 you'll be talking away with your sis. I think you two are going to be trouble. We can already sense it. You two already can crack each other up and act goofy together. Oh boy oh boy!

Here's a few pictures from all the fun we had on Riley's birthday:

good morning, birthday girl!

ready to rock and roll

early morning bike ride

happy girl

playing with water

happy girl #2

watering the grass, avery-style

trying to get riley to sit still for her picture

loving the photo op ;)

riley didn't want birthday cake, just leaves

ready to ride

Avery's cousin Addy lent us her old bike. I think we have one VERY satisfied customer. Avery loves it! Each day she makes progress with pedaling and steering. Brent's even trying to teach her "left" and "right" ... they come in contact with the curb quite a bit ;) Avery does take numerous riding breaks to check out the tassels and horn. It's quite a sight. "Avery! Look forward! Watch where you're going!" In her defense, the pink and purple iridescent tassels look mighty pretty when blowing in the wind. I'd probably stop and check them out too.

And Riley is taking major strides in the "standing" department. She was letting go for more than a second or two today. She had a few instances where she would stand on her own for like 10 seconds! She always has a huge grin on her face when she does it. I think she knows she's hot stuff. Haha.

whatcha doin' mommy??

birthday fun

We had a little family birthday party for Avery and Riley yesterday. It was lots of fun! These are about all the pictures I was able to take. Riley turns 1 on Wednesday and Avery turns 3 on Friday. It's going to be a fun-filled week of birthdays!

sometimes you just gotta relax while opening gifts =)

sisterly love

peek a boo!

don't be fooled by the smiles... Avery was scooting Riley back to her side of the tub

avery gives riley the royal treatment now that they share the big tub ;)

operation zoysia PT 2

I first posted about Operation Zoysia in April. Now it's June and here's the growth! It's so exciting to see our (mostly Brent's) hard work pay off! Obviously there is some fescue grass that has grown back in, so what you're seeing isn't 100% zoysia. But hey, it makes it look even fuller! Without further ado, here are the pictures:

one more of the front yard