Lip Balm and Step Stools

Avery has learned to be resourceful. If she wants something, even if Momma and Daddy tell her no, she’s bound and determined to figure out a way to get what she wants on her own. One of her latest accomplishments is figuring out that the step stool we keep for her in the bathroom can get her to drawers that she would otherwise be too short for. Note to all those Mommies out there, think about other applications for an item when you purchase it. My thoughts at the time were, “oh cool a step stool, this will come in really handy when we start potty training.” I really didn’t think at the time that it would also give my child a full six inches to work with. The step stool has been in our bathroom for about three months and really hasn’t caused any problems thus far. That is until Avery decided that the drawers on the top of the vanity must hold treasures beyond her wildest dreams and she had to get into them. Yesterday she was opening my makeup drawer and reaching on her tippy toes to get her hand in there where she could then rummage it around until she chanced upon something to pick up. I quickly put an end to this by standing in front of the door and cursing myself out for not thinking that someday she would grow and it would make sense to put locks on all the drawers, not just the ones she could reach. Man did that piss her off. So this morning, while I was showering, the little runt figured out that she could move her step stool close enough to the drawer to actually look inside of it. Again I cursed myself from the shower for not putting a lock on the drawer last night after realizing that it needed one. When I got out of the shower I let her dig through the drawer and just watched to make sure she didn’t get into anything messy. My mascara was the first item I took away. The lip gloss seemed innocent enough so I left those in the drawer. Everything was going along smoothly until I decided to turn away for a couple of minutes to blow dry my hair. When I looked again at Avery she had managed to get open a tub of my Satsuma Body Shop lip balm and had smeared half of it in her hair and on her face. This whole process must have taken her .2 seconds to complete. Since it was like 20 minutes before I needed to leave for work I quickly threw her in the tub and started to scrub. Note to Mommies, lip balm does not come out with shampoo, soap or water. I managed to wipe a bunch of it off but really didn’t have time to figure out other ways to get the crap out of her hair. So I put a fine toothed comb threw her hair a few times and said, screw it I need to go. When I dropped her off at daycare I had to explain why my child looked like she wanted to be a 50s greaser and why she had sparklies all over her face. Geez – just when you think you’ve got everything under control they throw a curve ball at you. Being a Mommy is never boring!

PS - this is her new kitty hat, she likes to wear it around the house!

A Few Random Pics

The other day we had a storm rolling in and Jeff took this picture from our back window.
Avery hanging out on Sat in her pool.  Note the blue popsicle stain on her chin.
The garage door.  Jeff and his Dad spent most of the day Sat putting this in, only to find out that we were missing some of the pieces.  So it doesn't function yet but it's pretty close.  Thanks Larry for helping and thanks Lara for helping with Avery!

Late Pictures.

Here area few pictures from Marc's reception weekend a couple of weeks ago.

Daddy and Avery,   with cousin Chris is in the background.

Avery and cousin Jade.  Avery really likes Jade.  
The boys playing horseshoes.  Here are the Kline boys,  Shayden, Grandpa Larry, Uncle Marc and Jeff.  Jeff won all of his games, he's still bragging about it.  
Shayden and Marc's new wife Karyn.  
Avery and Shayden playing in the pool that Sunday morning.  Shayden kept diving into it.  Shortly after he decided he was a dinosaur and started roaring - too cute.  The cousins were so cute together.  They are only six months apart in age.  

So I've been kind of a pill lately about posting. I was supposed to get more pics up for my last post, what two weeks ago. I'm still planning on doing that - some day. So here's a couple pics my Mom emailed me that I don't have to download. These were taken at my parent's house, Avery really likes my Mom's curtains.
Avery's doing great and she just keeps getting spicier. She has discovered how to throw tantrums. They don't last very long but man does she make it known when she's pissed off. Last weekend we hiked back to Coolidge Ghost town. It's only 1/2 mile in and flat the whole way with a well kept trail so we could bring the stroller. On the way out Avery decided she wanted to help push the stroller which meant it took us way longer to get out than to get in. A thunderstorm was coming so Daddy tried to race ahead a little ways while Avery was checking out a rock or something. Man did that tick her off. She plopped herself down and started screaming. I walked up to Jeff who was like 15 feed ahead, thinking she'd follow me which she did not, so we just watched her. She'd walk like three steps than plopped herself down and screamed, get up and do it all over agin. This went on for like five minutes before she caught up to us, where she started to push the stroller again and thus became a happy camper. I swear the kid's bi-polar. Apparently the terrible twos are starting early for Avery!

Weekend in the Funk!

We had a pretty exciting weekend in Great Falls. Jeff’s brother and his family were in town and Jeff’s cousin Chris and his family showed up as well. Jeff’s stepbrother Mike happened to be on leave so we even got to visit with him. We ended up buying a new car, going to Marc and Karyn’s wedding reception party and hitting the Alice Cooper concert all in one day. Then on Sunday we made it to a bar-b-que at Jeff’s Dad’s house. It was a ton of fun. We even managed to fit in some time with my parents.

I loved watching Avery play with her cousins; Shayden, Rhiannon and Ronnie. Shayden, our nephew who’s almost two, is getting huge and he’s such a funny little guy. He was cracking me up looking for the “buggies,” his code word for bugs, and diving into the swimming pool. It was also great to hang out with Marc and Karyn, whom we don’t get to see often enough. Then going to the concert with Chris and Tonya was a blast. Alice Cooper can still rock and he put on a heck of a show. We haven’t been to the State Fair in years. Walking down the midway and eating greasy philly cheese steaks and nachos with beer made my night. Oh yeah and the new car. Jeff finally caved and decided that the 1990 Blazer just didn’t cut it anymore. We tracked down a 2006 Ford Fusion at Lithia in Great Falls and ended up getting it. It’s a pretty sweet ride if I do say so myself. I haven’t transferred any pics from my camera yet so I’ll try to get those posted tonight. But I do have this one from the concert, it’s a little blurry but you get the jist. He's the blur in the middle.