Happy Birthday to Me!

I love celebrating my birthday! It started on Friday when I had my date with Mommy and Daddy. I got to choose, and I picked Chuck E. Cheese (I told Mommy, "I don't like Chuck E. Cheese, but I like his place.")

Today, I got breakfast in bed before church and then we had a party at Nana and DD's house! Mommy asked several times before planning my party what I wanted my theme to be, and over and over again, I told her I wanted princesses. Well, as soon as she committed to that theme, she overheard me telling Nana one day that I wanted a Yo Gabba Gabba birthday party. Thankfully, Nana thought fast and said she'd plan a Yo Gabba Gabba party for her house. It was perfect! Toodee, Foofa, Brobee, and Plex were all there (if you don't know who I'm talking about, you're luckier than Mommy and Daddy!) We ate lunch, opened presents, each of us got a goody bag, and blew out candles on the cake (I told Mommy, "It's about to get intense!").

My playgroup friends had birthday celebrations this week too; I enjoyed a Spiderman Pool Party with Hunter and a Super Hero party with Jackson too!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

Love,
Birthday Girl Avery

Practically Perfect in Every Way

I'm learning new things as I celebrate 10 months of life. I'm sort of over my first words ("Wow, Wow, Wow!"). I've moved on to a guttural growling noise when I'm frustrated or, my current favorite, "Bah", meaning Baby or Bye Bye. Very versatile.

My most reliable trick, and easily the trick that gets me most attention, is that anytime I hear the word "kiss", I pucker up and kiss! The whole family goes crazy for it. I eat it up. I "kissy face" anytime I see Mom's face cloud with frustration. It works like a charm!

And we've been spending a lot of time at the doctor this week.

Sister went in for her 3 year check up. Dr. Clarke told her everything looks great, and she measured in the 50% for height and weight. She didn't even have to get any shots, but Dr. Clarke has it out for me, because he looked over at me and offered to give me my flu shot. Mom obliged! We went in for an appointment for Sister and I somehow got the shot?!? An outrage.

I also visited a Pediatric Orthopedist, got an x-ray, and was thoroughly examined since I drag my right leg when I crawl. The diagnosis? Nothing is wrong. The doctor went so far as to say it was silly that we were referred to him. Thanks for the validation, sir.

So essentially, we spent a lot of time at the doctors' offices this week to find out we are Practically Perfect in Every Way.
Just call us the Poppins Sisters.

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES FROM THE WEEK

CLICK HERE FOR THE ENTIRE SET OF PROFESSIONAL PICTURES FROM MY 9 MONTH PHOTO SHOOT

Love, Katie Poppins

9 Month Pictures (And Precious Family Pics, Too)

Well, she did it again.

Our close friend and AMAZING photographer took what felt like a frenzied session with our girls and turned it into eye candy.

Kate and Avery had a photo session with Kristin in honor of Katie's 9 month birthday. Avery was in, ahem, a special mood and Katie, while precious, never stopped moving. And yet, Kristin once again took beautiful photos that we'll cherish forever.

(We also had the pleasure of doing a photo shoot with my extended family while everyone was together last weekend. Scroll down one post to see those as well.)

We love you, Kristin! Thank you!

Click here to visit Kristin's Photography blog to see the pics!

Crash! Boom! Bang!

After almost 3 years of relatively uneventful life (as far as injuries go, anyway), I decided to give my family a three-for-one deal this week.

A week ago Wednesday, I was eating lunch at Nana and DD's, did a twirl in my chair, offset its balance, and went down with it. I was ok (I ended up facing the chair back on the way down, so only my fingers got smooshed), but Nana and DD's window was shattered. The chair hit the window on the way down, and the force was enough to shatter the window pane into many, many tiny pieces. Mommy thought she'd had her scare for the week...

On Saturday, at Schlitterbahn, I fell and hit my head (my head caught my fall). It took a full 30 minutes to stop the crying (very rare!) and then another half day before I felt good enough to act like myself. Mommy stood corrected - that must have been the scare of the week...

Well, this last Tuesday, I was so angry with Mommy for trying to fix my Dress Chica game that I began a monumental fit. It lasted the car ride home, through unloading, and while Mommy took Kate up to put her in bed. I was so mad at being ignored (while Mommy was focusing on Kate) that I kicked the wall...repeatedly. Later, Mommy was able to piece together that a picture frame fell off of our decorator shelves and hit me below the eye, but all Mommy saw when she got back downstairs was her little Fire Cracker, covered in blood and screaming in pain. After a frantic call to Daddy and a wet washcloth to stop the bleeding, it was decided that a trip to the "special doctor" for a "fancy bandaid" was in order. I sat at the ER for 5 hours, waiting like a champ, and even though the lady said she numbed my eye, the way they held me down and the way they messed with my face was nothing short of traumatic. I survived, and Mommy, gladly, can say that 3 near-head-traumas in one week was the scare of the week.

I didn't let a little head injury stop me from having a great week, though. I splashed in the splash pad (yes, that's sort of against the rules for headwounds...), I played with Aunt Erin ("Erin is always fun!"), I helped with Nana and DD's fancy Mother's and Father's Day celebration dinner, I saw baby Amelia...

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF THE WEEK

Love,

Massive Head Wound Harry Avery

Schlitterbahn!

This weekend, we went to Schlitterbahn with our special family friends, the Laich family and the King family. It was a fun time! (Except when the Galveston water plant had a fire and we couldn't check into our hotel for 2 hours, when sister fell and bumped her head HARD and Mommy and Daddy worried about a concussion for half the day, and when someone pooped in the pool and closed down a section of Schlitterbahn.) Except for those things, of course.

We spent 2 days at the park, and Sister and Daddy rode big slides. Mommy and I bonded in the lazy river, the splash pad, and over a nap in the stroller. We also got to go to Rainforest Cafe, where Sister learned the hula (well, she learned 3 steps before getting intimidated and quitting) and became awestruck by the volcano on top of the restaurant.

Mommy and Daddy adore their friends and are so thankful for Year 2 of our newest McClinton family tradition: travel with friends. We kiddies all played so well together (yes, even me!), and Miss Shannon said yesterday when they got home, Alyssa looked up and asked, "Where's the rest of our family?" We may not be related, but those are some special friends!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES

Love,

Kate Water Bug McClinton

Happy Anniversary!

7 Years...

4 Foreign Countries...

Honeymoon in Jamaica 8-02

Wales family trip 7-03
Amsterdam














Paris

and England

2 "New" Houses...

Park Lane 03-07

Home, Sweet, Home
April 07

2 Dogs...

Oscar Mayer 3-03 (He used to be so cute, didn't he?)

Dottie Mae 10-03

10 States (besides home)...

Nashville, TN 2-04

Keystone, CO 3-03

Hawaii 6 & 7-04

Seattle, Washington 5-05

Alaska 5-05

Utah 12-05

North Carolina 7-07

US Virgin Islands 9-07

California 7-08















Florida 7-09

3 Graduations...

A&M December 2002

University of Houston-Downtown August 2006

Sam Houston State University August 2007

2 Kids...

Avery Leigh 8-31-06



















Kate Elizabeth 10-08







More than I could have ever hoped for or dreamed of! Thank you, Mr. McClinton, for the very best 7 years of my life!

My New Light!

This week, a special package came in the mail for me. I love it! It's a special night light that glows like the moon when it's night time and I'm supposed to be in bed and then shines like the sun when I can get up! Mommy and Daddy set it before nap and bedtime, and I lay in bed, staring at the light, waiting for it to turn. Sometimes, I fall asleep while I'm waiting and sometimes, like yesterday at Nana and DD's house, I just sing to myself until it turns yellow. When the light turns, though, I always yell, "The sun is yellow!" with great enthusiasm! I love my new light, and I think I caught Mommy and Daddy high-fiving each other about it.

I got to celebrate my friend David's birthday this weekend and I also got to play some more with Baby Amelia when Great Mimi and Great Gran came in town to meet her. I love Gran and tell him all kinds of stories, and my Mimi plays with me and reads to me and watches me dance. If Baby Amelia was the focus of the trip, I certainly didn't know it!

CLICK HERE FOR PICTURES OF THE WEEK (There are no pictures of the light because I refuse to pose no matter how exciting it is...)

Love,
Avery "The sun is yellow!" McClinton