5

Happy 5th birthday, Avery!  We have had a wonderful day celebrating you, so much so that I'm afraid you will wake up tomorrow sad that it's all over.  We started with breakfast from Bojangles, then after rest time, we went to Richmond.  Short Pump was the perfect place for a train ride and your first Build-a-Bear experience.  You requested Chick-Fil-A for dinner and had pretzel bites for a treat.  You have been waiting for your birthday a long time and were so pleased when I told you that you would still be five tomorrow.

You are still tiny, but you are growing right along.  You weighed 34 pounds at the ENT a few weeks ago.  I can't remember your height, but we will get that at your check-up soon.  You are wearing size 4 and 5, but I will be buying 5s for fall.  You wear a size 10 shoe.  Your tiny size is not due to lack of eating.  You have not lost any teeth and do not appear to have any that are loose.  That may be good, because after reading the Berenstain Bears book where Sister loses a tooth, you seemed very unsure about the tooth fairy.  I feel certain she won't be allowed in your room.

You finished your first year of school in June, but you have gone to several camps at the Y this summer.  You love school even if you would always choose to stay home if that was possible.  You have learned and grown so much this year, and preK was a great experience for you.  You also took swimming lessons this summer and were so brave in the pool, even going under a few times.  It's hard to believe Kindergarten will start in just a few weeks.  We got the exciting news last week that Mommy will be going to Kindergarten with you!  You are so excited about being in Mrs. Everett's room with me across the hall.

You continue to be such a loving child.  You want to cuddle, hug, and kiss all day.  You still love to be carried.  You are quick to tell your family that you love them and you are very free with your affection to Mommy, Daddy, and Sam.  We love you too!  You and Sam have such a special relationship.  You try to mother him and love on him, and he wants to do what you're doing.  In the mornings he will start calling for "Abey" when he gives up on Mommy and Daddy.  You are even {mostly} patient with Sam when he wants whatever you have at the moment.

There is still no shortage of imagination in your head, and there is never any way to know what you will think up next.  You still love Pioneer Woman and cooking up a storm.  You also enjoy puzzles and games, coloring, Bitty, dancing and singing, and the many fun things you play with Sam.  You have become a bit of a reality TV junkie, loving old Jon and Kate Plus Eight and Table for Twelve episodes, in addition to Pioneer Woman.  Playing outside is still fun with riding your bike, playing soccer, baseball, and golf, and playing on the swing.  I finally pulled out my huge Berenstain Bears collection, and now that's all you want to read.

You are quite a thinker and a rememberer.  You ask lots of questions about new things or things that make you nervous.  I'm afraid you may be much like your mama, wanting to know exactly how things are going to go and wanting a picture in your mind.  Daddy spent the day at a big church fire last Saturday, and I made the mistake of telling you which caused lots of worried questions.  People who think you are shy would be amazed at how much you talk.  I love to listen to what you have to say, but sometimes your talking jumbles my brain.  I find myself "mmhmming" through some conversations and then have to ask you to repeat yourself to make sure I have not agreed to something bad.  You also are always having conversations in your brain, and sometimes your verbal conversations start in the middle of a brain conversation.  You have picked up so many funny words and descriptive adjectives at school {all good, thankfully}.  Things are "easy lemon squeezy" and you eat juicy fruits and vegetables.  I need to write down more of the things you say.

Avery, you have filled our lives with such love and light over the last 5 years.  Everyone who knows you loves you for your sweet personality and kind heart.  I pray that those will be the things that you continue to be recognized for and that you will value most in yourself.  It's no need to be sad about you growing up, because each stage is more fun than the last.  We look forward to what this next year has to hold and can't wait to experience it with you.  We love you to bits and pieces!

Love,
Mommy and Daddy

Three Cheers for the Red, White, and Blue

We have had a fun few days celebrating the 4th of July!  We started our festivities on Thursday with Avery's camp at the Y.  The kids had a bike parade at a nearby nursing home then sang some patriotic songs for the residents and were treated to Popsicles.  We then had a picnic lunch back at the Y.  This is Avery's 2nd year doing this camp, and I think it's one of her favorites.

Our fun continued on Independence Day with a community picnic at the home of one of our church families, complete with rides on the fire truck.  Sam decided to pass this year, so I know Ned will soon be working hard to acclimate him with the trucks.  Avery, however, went twice.

 

After the fire truck rides was a short program {that my two had no patience for} and then a hot dog lunch.  Lunch is much later than our usual time so we had some happy and grumpy faces in the mix.

 

 

We rested after lunch then packed up lots of yummy food for our trip to Newsoms.  We enjoyed the annual parade, one of only a few that you get to see twice.  Avery collected candy and Sam tried to eat it.

We then had a cookout at Yaya and Poppa's and let the kids play for a bit.

The 4th of July is one of my most-favorite holidays and has been for a long time.  My earliest ones were  spent in Newsoms at my best friend's house, where there was a community cook-out, games, and a fireworks show on the railroad tracks put on by Carrie's dad.  I pray that Avery and Sam will always remember our family 4th of July traditions and remember all the fun we had.

Big Events

Memorial Day was a LONG time ago.  That's how long I've been trying to blog.  I started this post on June 6th and have had to change the title so that I'm not just blogging about one event from a month ago.  Life has been rolling right along!  The end of school was just extremely busy with testing, end-of-school events, planning Kindergarten celebration, and 18 lively Kindergartners to teach.  At the end of the day, I was exhausted.  As of tomorrow, I will have been out of school 2 weeks, and I don't feel like I have slowed down too much.  I couldn't just pick up the blog again without documenting a few big events we had in the last month.

We had a fantastic Memorial Day weekend.  That Saturday, we were supposed to have Alden's party, but the poor thing was sick, so we made some purchases for the house and had lunch out.  That night Ned and I went to Richmond for my bridesmaid's dress fitting.  The weather  was perfect, and we had dinner outside at P.F. Chang's.  We picked up a Ninja Turtle for Avery that night…don't even ask.

On Sunday we had three families over for a seafood boil.  It was such a wonderful night.  We had seven kids age 4 and under, even though we were missing two families.  Everyone played well and ate well, and all the kids left filthy.  We vowed to get together more often.

I had school on Monday for a make-up day.  That afternoon we went to Alden's first birthday party.  Both kids had fun playing with the outdoor toys at the Grizzards' house.  Sam's fun entailed getting really wet and sandy, so he came home without his pants.

Our next big event was Avery's preschool program on June 6th.  Pictured are the 3- and 4-year-old classes.  It's a small but great group.  They sang songs like Jesus Loves Me and The B-I-B-L-E and got certificates.  Avery has had a wonderful year in this program and is more than ready for Kindergarten, even if I am not.  She certainly did some growing between the first and last days of school.

We celebrated Father's Day and honored the special dads in our lives.

Aside from these big events, we've had a lot of little events that make life so good.  Summer fun is in full effect, and we've been busy playing outside, visiting the pool, and relaxing at home.

Our first pool trip of the season was a bit rocky, and this was the happiest these two faces were that day.  Sam did not care for the big pool one bit and took awhile warming up in the little pool.  Avery did some crying in her Puddle Jumper while her feet touched the bottom after forgetting how comfortable she had been in the water last summer.

We took Daddy on the next trip, and more hands helped everyone.  Sam still prefers the steps in the big pool, but at least he sits there for the length of our trip.

And finally, the highly anticipated wedding weekend was this past weekend.  My childhood best friend, Carrie, got married.  While I was honored to be a part of the day, I was also a nervous wreck.  I have a fear of passing out when standing still in one place for a long period of time.  I think it's a blood sugar issue, and I've had several close calls.  It was a busy wedding weekend, and the ceremony was pretty long, but I made it.  All of the bridesmaids were nervous about one thing or another, and we grumbled under our breath about the heat in the sanctuary, so it was good to know we were all in the same boat.  I felt like a new woman as I walked out of the church.

I know more big and small events lay ahead for the Lankfords this summer, and my intent is to do my best to keep up.