The Simpson Family: May 2015

Friday, May 22, 2015

Clapping!

As I mentioned in previous posts, Claire loves her hands. And, this week was a big milestone for her and her hands!

FPT

This is Papa and Claire. This is Papa and Claire about to go down a slide. This is Claire's first slide. Look at their faces. That says it all!

Avery was Friend of the Week in her class at the end of March. Like last year, we made a poster "all about Avery" and spent time in her classroom as her special guests. Avery asked that Jeff and I bring Claire in for Show and Tell (cute, right?!) and that we read "The Book with No Pictures." Both were a huge hit with the kiddos and teacher. Miss Brittney even asked if she could keep the book for a few days to share with other classes. (If you haven't read this book with your kids, do so!)

It's funny when daddies sit in the kid chairs!

I love Ethan in this picture (yellow shirt)!

GramCin and Grandpa Wayne also joined in the fun during Avery's week. GramCin is teacher by trade and loves spending time with the kids...and, the kids love spending time with her. She is amazing with them and always does fun activities and brings special treats!

Making bunny cars with peeps, marshmallows and twinkies!

Here are Avery's school pics from this year (her last year in preschool)!

Preschool is tough - she has to read all of those books by the end of the year.

Love her.

Avery has blossomed so much this year and one of the biggest changes has been her relationships with friends. She craves that kid relationship and I'm thrilled she found some great kids to grow and play with. It makes me so happy to see Avery being a happy, silly kid with other happy, silly kids.

Avery and one of her favorite guys, Peyton!

Looking out the window and waiting for her other favorite guy to arrive -- Ethan!

Play date at Ethan's house with his sister, too!

Avery's two best girlfriends are Gemma and Paige. Gemma and her family moved earlier this week to Oregon, and Avery was very sad that one of her best friends was leaving. Thankfully, we made sure to get in a lot of Gemma time the past month!

This was taken by Gemma's dad a month or so ago. The girls were holding hands at drop off and they had no idea he took it.

This is my sneak attack of those two holding hands.

Paige, Avery and Gemma

Play date at our house. The girls loved water/chalk painting!

One night we met Paige's family at Casa di Bandini for dinner. Paige and Avery both wore purple to match!

Avery with her neighborhood friend, Kylie.

Avery with two other neighborhood friends, Reese and Parker.

Gemma was so proud when she told me, "I can pick Avery up!"

We are going to miss Gemma and her family. Thinking about their move makes me realize this is a time of many changes for Avery. Helen moved, Gemma moved, her last day of preschool where she sees many of her friends on a regular basis is in just a few weeks and then she starts Transitional Kindergarten at the end of August at a new school with a new teacher and all new kids. Many of Avery's friends are going to kindergarten next year or will be going to a different school for TK. However, I have no doubt that within a few weeks at her new school, she will make new friends, but we'll definitely be sure to keep in touch with her old ones!

FPT

I was trying to get her to smile by telling silly jokes. Apparently, they were not funny.

Friday, May 15, 2015

Life Lately

Easter!
We hosted Easter at our house again this year. 28 people, including 10 kiddos from 6 months (Claire and Rose) to 8 years old. It was a fun holiday spent with friends and family. As I was busy with hosting duties, there were only a few pictures taken (many of them are day before prep pics)...

Homemade jelly bean tree!

Bunny napkins...

Half bunny napkins, half rose napkins.

Every year we do littles bunnies of all the kiddos!

And it's becoming tradition to dress our front door up for each holiday!

One pic during Easter morning...

One picture at the end of the day...bellies full, hearts full.

Dance.
Avery continues to love dance. Once a month the parents are allowed to sit in the studio and watch the kiddos. Claire and I love this day - getting up close to the dancers is so fun!

Goodbye...
Brennan, Michel, Helen and Rose moved to North Carolina last month. Bren was offered a great job in Raleigh and they couldn't pass up the opportunity of moving across country and starting a new adventure. While we are very sad that they left, we are extremely happy for them and look forward to many visits! (Avery loves Helen to the moon and back and has brought up their move almost every day since they left. We pull out the US map often to look at NC and she always says, "they moved to the other side of the country!" Yes, baby, they did!) Below are some pics from our last few visits with them.

I scream, you scream - we all scream for ice cream!

Danda and her littles...

Bye, guys! We love you!

FPT

We like our babies curvy.

6 Months (...and now 7 Months)!

With all that went on last month, I didn't get a chance to write Claire's 6 month post. And as things go with me, I am so late with that now I thought to combine her 6 and 7 month post, because as of yesterday, Claire Bear is...well, yes, 7 months!

Claire's stats from her 6 month checkup:

17lbs 6.8 oz
26.5 inches

I got the courage to ask Claire's non-percentile-giving doctor what her percentiles were for these stats and he said, "about the 75th for both." That's good enough for me, Mr. Doctor - thank you.

Claire started baby foods and some solids food last month and hasn't had anything she didn't like. I'm not getting overly excited about that, because Avery was the same way, but from about 15 months until recently, all Avery ate was cottage cheese and hot dogs. (Avery is getting better at eating, and enjoying, a variety of food...she's not asking for sushi or seasoned broccoli just yet, but we've definitely made progress with her palate.)