New Things

Avery is discovering new things daily now. Its so fun to watch her change and grow. She just turned 4 months this past weekend. She weighs 10 pounds 13 ounces and is 23 inches long. Looks like another petite little Skains girl. Here are some of her discoveries.

She found her feet. She loves hanging on to her toes!


She loves to be on her tummy and she holds her head up so good. And right after I took this picture she rolled over for the first time. Now every time I put her on her tummy, she instantly rolls over.


She loves her rainforest mat. She very rarely fusses when we lay her there. And now that she can grab all the toys she loves it even more.



This is nothing new, she is still as cute as can be...


And she still loves her sisters dearly!

Our House

I'm finally ready to post some pictures of our house. It's obviously no where close to being done yet, and who knows if it ever will. But I love it!

The front of our house. Here is a before and after picture. When we moved in it had been vacant for at least a year if not longer, so one of the first things we had to do was tackle the front yard. Yikes it was bad!






Walking in: To the left is the office, and on the right is our empty dining room.


Then on to the family room.




The kitchen. I love this kitchen. It's huge and has tons of room. I really really hope to do granite and new appliances before too long and then I will LOVE my kitchen.



Now upstairs to the master bedroom and bathroom. We did replace the floor in the bathroom since it was carpet, but the rest of the bathroom will have to wait for another time.





The girls bathroom. Can you tell I'm into black, white and purple!


Aubrey and Adalyn's bedroom



Avery's room


The playroom. The upstairs has an interesting layout. It's a big circle and all the kids that come over run around and around.



And look, we have a guest room!!!

The Funny Things They Say

And they say so many of them! I love looking back and remembering the sweet and hilarious things that come out of those cute mouths.

Adalyn:
I asked her the other day why she has to be so cute. Her response: "Because I'm wearing this green dress".

At lunch the other day I was reminding both girls that we need to only say nice words to each other after Aubrey said something kind of rude but sarcastic. Aubrey immediately said "You're pretty mommy and I love you". Very sweet. Then Adalyn said "I like your mole mommy". Oh my!

This one Adalyn gets in trouble for but Jeff and I secretly think it's hilarious. When she is being mean to Aubrey (which has been quite often lately) she calls her icky gross. Or she will call Aubrey's things icky gross. I often hear Adalyn yelling this from their room when they are playing together "You icky gross Aubrey." Or "Your blankie is icky gross Aubrey". And then this follows from Aubrey "I'm not icky gross Adalyn. You're icky gross." We are working on this one and really working on saying only nice words to each other. Maybe one day they will get this right?

Adalyn is always reminding us of this: "When I three I going to go to dance class. And I want a black one of those like Aubrey's". She means Aubrey's leotard!

I over heard Adalyn "reading" a book to Avery. This is what she said "God and Jesus never leave". Wow, that one got to me! I got this Devotions for Pre-schoolers a few weeks ago and we try to read one every day. Last nights devotion was about Jesus always being with you. I never know if they are actually listening but apparently Adalyn is!

Anytime Adalyn is sad and I ask her whats wrong she says "I just really miss my cousins".


Aubrey:
The other day we were about to have a thunder storm and I had asked the girls if they were excited to watch it rain. Aubrey kind of looked a little nervous and said "but last time it rained it made me throw up". I thought it was hilarious that she said this because the last time we had a big storm it was in the middle of the night and that night she happened to be up throwing up all night. But I don't think it was the rain that made her sick!

When putting Aubrey down for a nap she hugged my neck and said "I love you so much mommy, with all my heart forever and ever". That ones still makes my eyes water.

Jeff was doing tummy time with Avery but it was bedtime and she was hungry and tired, so she was fussing. I told him it probably wasn't a good time for tummy time. Aubrey then reminded Daddy "tummy time is not a good idea right now Daddy." Such a little mommy.

Speaking of being a mommy... Avery was fussing the other day after I layed her down on the floor. I walked back over to her and said "do you just need Mommy right now?". Aubrey responded for her (she likes to do that), "no Avery wants her big sister". I still have to constantly remind this girl that I am Avery's mommy, not her!

Aubrey is really into pretending right now. She makes up all sorts of things to play. She is always telling me "I'm going to Target", or "We're going to the post office". It's so cute. She also is always wanting to play jewelery store or grocery store. She sets up the store and then Adalyn and I have to go shopping. She is definitely our make believe girl!

Often at dinner (okay every night) we have to keep reminding the girls to eat. They will sit there forever and talk and talk and forget to eat. Tonight was no exception. Aubrey was counting the balloons on her cup over and over. At first we encouraged it, and then Jeff finally said "that's enough counting, you need to eat". She tried to argue as always does and then she finally said "but counting is good Daddy." We had to contain our laughter on that one.
I know there are a bunch I am forgetting so as I remember I may come back and add some more!

Dirt Soup

Does it get any better than digging in the dirt in the backyard? The girls and I got a little creative and decided we should make dirt soup. Actually Aubrey called her soup pepperoni soup, Adalyn called hers Macaroni and Cheese soup, and then we named mine chicken and tomato soup. This took me back to my childhood. My sister and I used to do this in my grandma's backyard and I always had so much fun! Now everyday when Aubrey goes outside she tells me "I'm going to make soup okay?". So what do you need for dirt soup?
Dirt of course


And anything else you can find outside. Pine cones, flowers, grass and rocks make it especially yummy. Then add some water from the hose...



Mommy's seasonings make it really special.



Then stir stir stir to your hearts content!



Oh and the dirtier you get the better!

Nail Polish

Who knew nail polish would so quickly cure my two sick girls! These two have been sick for a week now which has been no fun. But monday morning while they were laying on the couch watching a movie I asked if they wanted me to paint their finger nail and toe nails. THey popped up ran to the kitchen and sat as still as they could while I painted. They were all smiles and happy as could be. I was so glad we were able to get their little minds of their misery for awhile!

Mothers Day 2011

This was my first Mothers Day as a mommy to three and I had a great day celebrating my job! It wasn't my typical Mothers Day since two of the three were sick, but we made the most of it and all in all I got to be with my family which is seriously all that I care about. We obviously had to skip church since they were sick, and then around 11:00 I thought they seemed to be doing better. Nobody had run a fever since the previous night and Adalyn wasn't coughing as much and hardly whining (which she had done nothing but whine and cry for mommy for the previous 3 days). So using my not so good judgement we loaded up and headed to lunch. As I'm buckling Adalyn up she starts crying that she doesn't feel good, but being the great mommy that I am I still thought lunch out would be just fine. 5 minutes into arriving Aubrey began running a fever again, and Adalyn coughed LOUD the entire time. Needless to say we scarfed our food down and headed home for naps. Jeff stayed home during naps while I went and got a pedicure and then he made us a very yummy grilled chicken salad for dinner! The best part really will be on Thursday which is when Jeff scheduled a house cleaner to come clean my house for me. Yippee! I'm blessed, I'm thankful and those three sweet faces make every moment of exhaustion worth it. They truly bring me so much joy. And what a gift to have a hubby who truly appreciates all that my job entails!

Jeff and the girls made me some beautiful cards that morning while I (sort of) slept in.


Helping me open my presents. They each got me a new pair of flip flops. Jeff also got me a white gold necklace chain because my other one is always in knots.



My girls! Poor Avery hadn't been changed out of her pj's yet!


Trying so hard to make it through lunch as quick as we could.



I had to get some pictures of my super cute girl.

God is Good!

If someone had told me 5 months ago, when we moved back to Houston, that my sister and her family would be moving to San Antonio, I wouldn't have hesitated for a moment to get back to Texas! In all honesty this transition of moving back from San Diego has been rough. It's really been the hardest tranistion I have ever faced in my whole life. It has been full of emotional ups and downs. One moment I'm so excited for my family to see what God has in store, and the next moment I'm an emotional mess over leaving my parents and all that we loved so dearly about San Diego. Trying to find friends, a church and not having that great luxury of grandparent babysitters, all of it has been really tough on me. But here we are, 5 months later, and I can already see why God has brought us back to Texas. My sister is moving to Texas! Really!!! My sister is moving to TEXAS!!! Can you tell how beyond ecstatic I am. Between this great news, and an amazing kickoff to Jeff's realestate career I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has incredible things in store for us here. I haven't lived close to my sister since I was in college so this is really a long time coming. Now the two of us are full of ideas of getting the cousins together, having girl getaways, homeschool field trips together, and even watching each others kids for a weekend with the hubby. God is good and I know this was in His plan all along. I have been praying for SO long for Him to bring our family all together again, and here He is answering it.

So anyways, on their way back to Atlanta from San Antonio, after a house hunting trip, they were able to come spend the night with us in Kingwood. The cousins were in heaven and Lisa finally got to meet her newest neice. Although the time was short, and they had to head out in the morning, there were no tears this time (at least not from the adults) because I know she will be back so soon! But my sweet girls did have a REALLY hard time saying goodbye to their cousins. Aubrey cried and cried and kept telling me over and over that she just wanted to play with Zoe some more. Adalyn has been cracking me up because every time she gets in trouble since they left she starts crying, sticks her little lip out and says "I just really miss my cousins. I just really need a hug from Zoe". We are all excited and just so thankful that God is slowy putting our family back together again. Now we just need to convince the parents :)!

Kyla holding Avery for the first time. Can you tell how proud she was?


And then it was Zoe's turn.


Alana was begging and begging to get a turn too. She even sang her the Ariel song. Now that was adorable and I wish I had it on camera.


One day Korben is not going to be happy with this picture of him riding a pink tricycle, but for now it's super cute!


Aubrey and Adalyn absolutely love Zoe! And so do I of course. She is so good with them. I can't believe she is about to be 10!




Some seriously cute kids!