Magic Moments

Mommy says that there are moments in life that she wants desperately to remember. She also has a few that she'd be happy to forget. Digging a june bug out of Katie's mouth recently is one of them.

Another moment to forget happened last Thursday night. Mommy and I bought movie passes to watch movies all summer long on Thursdays. We'd buy popcorn, candy, and monkey juice and cuddle as the movie played. I did fine in the theater for Flushed Away and talked about it all week. The next week, we went to see Spongebob. I watched it, talked about it, was excited and happy about it, and then went to bed last Thursday night. After 30 minutes in the dark room, I was reduced to shaking, sobbing, and crying out, "I never want to see Spongebob again! I never want to see Flushed Away again! I never want to go to that movie place again!" Lights on and lots of cuddling finally got me to sleep, but Mommy sadly learned that I am not ready for dark, loud movies just yet.

Before the fear...

But back to the happy moments. Mommy says she loves watching Kate's "personality" unfold. I think "personality" means "things that would get me in trouble but somehow Kate is allowed to do", but I can't be quite sure. She's crawling and climbing all over the place, eating my toys, gulping bath water, and otherwise coming to life in full form.

Pulling up on things: Stairs, toy boxes, even in the bath!

Learning to pull down the shade on her carseat instead of sleeping...

Tearing apart the tupperware cabinet...

And as for me, Mommy says she loves watching me dance like the girls on So You Think You Can Dance. I wave my arms and spin about and sometimes involve Ariel or Daddy or Sister in the fun. I tell Mommy often that I want to dance like that, "when I get a yittle owder."

Today I enjoyed friend time at the pool, as well. I sure do love summer!

Tomorrow we're getting on an airplane to go to the beach and play. More magic moments in the waiting!

Love,

Avery

Happy Father's Day!

Mommy says:

When I fell in love with Jordan, I was, like 12 years old (give or take 4 years). Being a good dad wasn't really something I thought much about. Granted, I did tell him on our first date that I wanted to be a stay at home mom and he better get out now if that wasn't going to work for him, but actual qualities that would make him a good dad, not on my mind back in 1996.

As it turns out, being a good dad goes hand in hand with being a good man. It just seems to come naturally to him.

And so today, I appreciate my husband, and more importantly, my daughters' father, for so many things.

I appreciate how commited he is to God. He is such a servant leader, and I know I can trust large decisions to him because he first seeks God.

I appreciate the way he puts our little family of 4 first. Everything he does shows me that we matter to him and are always in his heart and on his mind.

I appreciate that he sacrifices gadgets, vacations, nice cars, and fancy things because he has fully embraced my desire to stay at home as his own.

I appreciate the way Avery knows "Daddy can fix it" because "he have big muscles". That girl looks up to her daddy in so many ways and as she grows up and learns more and more about him, she will find out how very justified she is in looking up to him.

I appreciate the way Kate lights up when he walks in a room. I love watching her flap her arms and squeal when he first gets home. Love, I tell you.

I appreciate the way he is always growing as a man and as a dad. He looks to examples in his life of how he wants to be for our little ladies and blesses us all as he mimics them.

What a dad! My girls have no idea how very, very blessed they are.

(It was a HUGE week in other ways, also. Kate started crawling (mostly) and we had nonstop activity all weekend, including our annual blueberry picking and Kate's baby dedication at church. Don't miss the pictures!)

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

The Relatives Came

"Talk about hugging! ...You'd have to go through at least four different hugs to get from the kitchen to the front room. Those relatives!" -The Relatives Came, Cynthia Rylant

I had a weekend a lot like Cynthia Rylant tells about this weekend. We went to Lockhart for my Great-Gran's 90th birthday. It was also Chisolm Trail Round-Up and the Schneider Family Reunion... I didn't know what those things meant, but as it turns out, a Round Up means parades and lots of barbeque and a "reunion" means lots and lots of relatives. Nana read to me about the relatives in that book, and it turns out, relatives are lots of fun! They hug and swim and watch parades with you and tell you how pretty you are. A girl could get used to lots of relatives!

It was such a fun weekend. I'm so proud of my Great-Gran, one of the youngest 90 year olds you'd ever see. And it was so neat to meet cousins my age, cousins my mom's age, and cousins my Nana's age. So many, many cousins!

As a special treat, too, I got to sleep at my Nanny's house and some cousins on Nana's side of the family were in town, too. What a special time with family!

Click here for pictures of the week

Love,

Avery "Relatives!" McClinton

Welcome, Summer!

We had a wet first week of summer. We splashed in splash pads, swam in pools, and threw water balloons at each other. I had a really good time celebrating my friends' birthdays (pool and splash pad parties - what could be better?) and Mommy and Kate went to celebrate Amanda's new baby at a Baby Shower.

This week, I also have been watching a new Leap Frog video from Miss Auburn, and it tells me all about making words out of letters. Daddy and I worked with our letters on the fridge one night to spell CAT, and the next morning I was so proud to show Mommy what I knew! I walked over, selected the letters, and placed them in a row, just like Leap, Lilly, Tad and Daddy taught me.

Kate's been revealing more and more of her personality for us. She sort of reminds Mommy of a puppy or a silly little monkey - always into things but too cute to take seriously when correcting. She's learned to lean forward enough to get out of her bouncy chair, where the dog door is and how to reach out of it, how to truck it across the floor for shoes, cords, bits of fuzz, and anything I don't want her chewing on, and has even taken her first two crawls forward. This week, she ate one of the pieces to my memory game, Ariel's hair from my doll, several bits of scrapbooking tape, and a flip flop. She reminds Mommy of Chewy Louie.

I have big plans to keep enjoying the water, Kate has big plans to learn to crawl, and Mommy and Daddy have big plans of chasing the monkeys and laughing at every precious thing we say and do. What a summer it will be!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THE WEEK

Love,

Avery "I can spell CTA" McClinton

Camping!

Oh, the wonderful things my Daddy can do...

He can write a computer program like nobody's business.
He can make a mean pancake.
He can add a powerful drumline to our church band every week.
And, this weekend, I got to see firsthand what else my Daddy can do.

He can camp!

A while back, on a whim, Mommy signed us all up to go camping with our playgroup friends. Then she remembered that she's not very good at camping. (Daddy says I have to tell you now that "camping" is a loose term when the cabin is AC'ed and there are working toilets down the road a bit...)

So, Daddy, being the Super Camper that he is, got us all packed up and we headed to Lake Bastrop for the weekend.
Man, was it fun! We had so much more fun than any of us imagined. We got to ride in Jackson's boat, go on a nature walk, play with my friends in the "front yard", wade in the lake, tube on the boat and bike ride. We also all had a big dinner together on Saturday night and I found a porch and some music and danced the night away. There really isn't a situation where dancing is out of place.

Daddy also got to do a bunch of cooking outdoors and skiing. Mommy got to appreciate the expertise of Daddy, and Kate got to be outdoors all weekend. Kate loves being outside, so even though she was just along for the trip, she still had a great time. Except on the boat. When she had to scream. Both times.

All in all, though, the trip was a huge success and everyone (even Mommy) agreed we should do it again next year!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THE WEEK

Love,
Avery "Super Camper Jr." McClinton