Feel the Love

Although my job can be frustrating at times, there are always moments that make it worth it. Today one of my 3rd graders stopped by my room. I wasn't able to see her group on Monday because of Memorial day. She wondered if I could see her on Friday to make up for it. Unfortunately I don't work on Friday, and explained to her that she only has speech one more time before school is out for the summer. Then I proceeded to tell her that on her 4th quarter progress report, I wrote how well she is saying her "r" sound and that she will be done with speech soon. Her response was, "I'm gonna try to make bad "r's." I'm gonna try to use a "w" for them." She used to substitute "w" for "r" such as "wun" for "run." She really wants to keep coming to speech!

Another GRRIN update...

Here's the latest on our golden retriever adoption:
We are now at the top of the adoption list!! The coordinator is on vacation until next Tuesday and will call us next week with information about the available dogs!! She said they have about 6 dogs available right now. They have "several wonderful 5-year old females," she said. We can't wait to hear more and start meeting dogs!!

What Kind of Animal Are You?

Anyone that knows Garrett knows that he loves animals and pretending to be a cat is a favorite pastime of his. He also loves gymnastics. Sometimes he has such a good time at gymnastics that he gets a little too carried away, acting silly and pretending to be a cat. We've had to have a few "talks" about when it is okay or not okay to pretend to be an animal. So tonight before gymnastics, Greg prepped him that gymnastics is not a good time to be a cat. Then during gymnastics, the instructor wanted all of the kids to pretend to be spiders or other bugs. When it was Garrett's turn she asked, "What kind of animal are you?" Garrett grinned and said, "A big scary bear" with a growl. He proceeded to walk to the next instructor and bite her shirt. Then he headed to the next instructor and licked her! Yikes. We may need to have a few more talks...

Maaa!

I have to add one more cute thing about my Avery...when I pick her up each day at daycare and she sees me for the first time she holds her hands up high in the air and walks to me as fast as her little legs will carry her. As she heads toward me she says, "Maaaaa!" for "Mom!" I melt every time.

Miss Avery

Miss Avery turned 14 months old last week. She is such a charmer. Her latest milestones are shaking her head and saying "huh uh" for "no." On Mother's day I would ask her, "Avery did you get Mommy a Mother's Day present?" and she would shake her head and say "huh uh." Very cute. Starting this past weekend, she now nods her head for "yes." It's a lot of fun to see her answering yes and no questions.

Before and after her bathtime, she likes to break away from us while she is naked and she walks around the house as fast as she can, rolling in giggles and trying to get away. It's so cute that we can't help but play along!

Avery also likes to take her favorite pink snuggle blankie with her everywhere. Recently we gave her a little blue snuggly bear/blankie that was Garrett's to use as a substitute at naptime when her blankie was in the wash. Well she latched right onto that one and it goes everywhere with her too! It says "Thank heaven for little boys!" Then this past weekend, I bought her a little crib for her baby dolls and found another little blue snuggly blankie that was also Garrett's when he was little to use as a blanket for her doll bed. Well, she loves this one too! So now she carries her little pink blankie plus two little blue blankies everywhere she goes! I will try to snap a picture of this!

Babies, Babies, Babies

Our extended family continues to grow:

Annie & Mike welcomed a new baby BOY on Sunday, May 17th around 9:30 in the morning. His name is Finn Charles Martinez, weighing in at 7 lb 10 oz and 20 inches long. They said he has a lot of dark wavy hair and large hands and feet. Both baby and mom are doing great! I am waiting for email pictures and will try to post one when I get them. We are headed down to meet the new babe over the last weekend of May. I can hardly wait to see my new nephew!

More exciting baby news:

Kimberly (Greg's sis) and Tucker found out on Monday that they are having a baby GIRL! Avery will be thrilled to have a little girl cousin! Congrats Kim & Tucker!

I'm falling a little behind with blogging. The flu bug hit our house over Mother's Day weekend and then I battled a terrible cold this past weekend. My house looks like a disaster zone. And our next two weekends will be spent on the road. So we will see what I can squeeze in during the next 2 weeks!

T-O-P-S

Kids never fail to surprise us! We've been gradually teaching Garrett his letters when the opportunity arises during our everyday activities. His wonderful daycare teacher, Lynette, also works on letters during natural learning opportunities such as storytime. For the longest time, he wasn't very interested, but lately he is a little sponge.
We stopped at ShopKo to pick up some flowers for my pots this weekend. We parked next to a stop sign. As I parked, Garrett said aloud, "T-O-P-S, Stop." I was amazed that he knew all 4 letters! I can't quite give him credit for reading yet, because he knows what a stop sign is! He is always asking me, "What that sign says?" He is an inquisitive little boy. I'm so proud!

Update from GRRIN

I got home from work late yesterday with the kiddos and we picked Greg up at home to head off to the Olive Garden for supper. Greg told me that GRRIN - Golden Retriever Rescue - had left us a message today. I grilled him for details on the way. He told me I'm so excited that I'm "like a little kid!"
Here's the scoop: the 2 families ahead of us on the adoption list are currently looking at dogs. Three new dogs have also just joined the rescue! I'm guessing that the families in front of us will have to make their choice before we start meeting dogs. Hopefully it won't be long!

Avery's Animal Sounds

I wish I had this on videotape. Maybe I can catch it soon. We've been working on teaching Avery animal sounds. She can do "baa" pretty consistently when we ask, "What does a sheep say?" and sometimes "moo." These aren't quite consistent enough to 'perform' them yet! However, yesterday I showed her a picture of a train and said, "What does a train say?" Immediately she rounded her little lips and said, "whoo, whoo, whoo!" Big Brother is a better teacher than Mommy...

The Power of Siblings

Avery loves to do everything her big brother Garrett does. She even watches what he eats. If he is picky, so is she! She is like a little mirror image. It's pretty cute to watch (most of the time!!) Tonight we had Lucky Charms for snack before bedtime. Garrett loves to eat the little marshmallow pieces and then often refuses to eat the cereal pieces. Of course, Little Sis observed this and decided to do the same. She was signing "more," looking at the picture of marshmallows on the box, and repeatedly saying "ma, ma, ma, ma, ma." Every now and then she would cry a little! She often says "more" when she signs, and this was different. I'm guessing she was trying to say "marshmallow?"
Finally I told Garrett that he had to eat his cereal so that Avery would eat hers. I needed his help! He was happy to help me. Avery however, wouldn't eat any of her cereal. She needed some of Garrett's. He would give her little pieces and she would eat them. She wouldn't take any cereal from Greg or myself, only from her beloved big brother!

*$&%*(#

Awhile back Greg and I observed that Garrett was saying a few choice words. He dropped something and immediately said "D$(# it." We questioned him about where he learned these words. I said, "Who says that?" Garrett replied, "Daddy does!" Well I won't point any fingers, because I can recall one time that I said them myself. We chose the path of ignorance and didn't comment on this again in hope that it would fade. It did.
Fast forward a few months and those words are back. Garrett and I have been reading the Little Critter book, "Just a Toy," which is a book about a little porcupine that picks out a new toy and then it breaks. Every night when we read the page where the toy breaks, Garrett chimes in, "D(#* it!" I've continued to ignore this, but then tonight at the grocery store, out of the blue, he said it again! This time I did speak up and explained that those are not nice words and if Mommy or Daddy said them, then we are sorry and we will try really hard not to say those words again. Luckily, Garrett didn't choose the Little Critter book tonight!

Garrett's 1st Prayer

Every night we say bedtime prayers with Garrett and Avery. Tonight Garrett chimed in with a request of his own. "Dear Jesus, please bring us a present tomorrow."

We had our first "family movie night" tonight. Even Avery got in on the action and enjoyed some popcorn and sat in her rocking chair. We watched Toy Story 2. I think this will become a regular event at our house!

Our Dog

On Friday I got an update on our status with our golden retriever adoption. We are still the 3rd on the list. The first family is waiting for a female. The second family wants a puppy or an adult male and we have requested either an adult male or female. The rescue group has several (3 or 4) goldens that are becoming available this next week or so and at least 2 of them are females. The first family on the list will get to meet the females and then we will be next! The adoption coordinator will call me toward the end of this week with another update. She thought that they may have a dog for us to meet at that time! So hopefully we are only 1-2 weeks away from meeting our dog!!

Fat and Flaky

Here is an update on Willie's vet appointment:
Luckily they didn't have to sedate him ($). He doesn't have a medical condition. In Greg's words, we paid $37 for the vet to tell us that Willie is "fat and flaky." We know he is a little overweight. We've been measuring he and Molly's food for several years now, but they continue to be a little chubby. Willie actually weighs 18 pounds but in his defense, he is big-boned. According to the vet, Willie was born with a certain number of oil glands in his skin and when he exceeds his intended size then the oil glands can't keep up, resulting in dry flaky skin and dry fur. So we are cutting their food even more. We have to feed the cats separately twice a day and when they walk away from their bowls, we put them away until the next feeding.

A weekend at Grandma's?

Garrett and I have been reading, "The Berenstein Bears and the Week at Grandma's" lately. He picked it out at the library. I thought this would be a good book because I know Grandma and Grandpa Stohs are really looking forward to keeping Garrett sometime. When we read the book the first time and Garrett realized that Mama Bear and Papa Bear left the cubs at Grandma's house, he asked (in his sad little voice), "Why would they leave them there? Why?" So I explained that in the story Mama and Papa Bear were taking a second honeymoon and the cubs would have a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa. I said, "Your Grandma and Grandpa would really like you to stay with them sometime. Would you like to do that this summer?" Garrett thought about this for a minute and then said, "No I want to take a second honeymoon with you!"
Don't worry Grandma, we'll keep working on this!

Dining Solo

I attempted something new on Friday. I went out to eat with the kiddos...by myself! Eating out with the kids these days is a lot like the quote from Forrest Gump, "it's like a box of chocolates...you never know what you're gonna get!" They can either be really crabby or really happy. But Garrett was begging to go out to eat on Friday and Greg had plans to eat with his coworkers to we couldn't meet up with him like we sometimes do. So we hit Jimmy Johns and ate some delicious subs for lunch. For some reason they do not have highchairs at our Jimmy Johns so Avery had to sit on my lap! We had a great time, minus the small meltdown that Garrett had when his Sprite was gone and I told him that he couldn't have a refill. Otherwise, I'm pleased to say that it was a success!