birthday parties

avery went to a lot of birthday parties in august.

first, annabelle turned 1! we had dinner at chris and karon's house. it was mostly family. the follwing weekend they had a big party with lots of friends. aj and uncle jer were there, too. avery went with grandma and grandpa since we were out of town.

next, kurtis had his 3rd birthday at chuck e cheese.
avery is hanging out with the boys...kurtis, jake, and riley.

cruisin' with wyatt

she got to see the old gang and had fun hanging out with wyatt, kurtis, juliana and jake again.

finally, quade's first birthday!

quade is katie and eddie's little boy. katie and i have been friends since 6th grade. a lot of friends were there that i had not seen in a long time! many of them with kids. it was a lot of fun to catch up!

katie and quade (1 yr)
christina and isabella (20 mo)

bella and avery were getting to know each other better.

avery, bella, quade, and annabelle

happy birthday, friends!

summer photos

here are some recent pictures of avery...things are busy around here...

swimming at grandpa and grandma's house

avery was really in to the olympics and would watch gymnastics and diving and then try to do what she saw. she always clapped no matter what country they were from. so encouraging.

she got very good at sticking her landing and then would throw her arms up for the big finish.

and my favorite...she is standing on the ottoman preparing for her dive. seconds later she rolled (fell) to the floor. that did not stop her from trying again and again. (p.s. grandmas...she wasn't hurt)

she seriously loves books.

what a cool chica

i love this little zen bebe.

costa rica part 1

well, i am working backwards here because i am starting with our last night in costa rica. since we lost the pics from the beginning of the trip we are working on turning some of the video into still pictures. we'll see.



so the last night we went to a little beach town, playa del coco. it is in guanacaste, about a 20 minute drive from the airport in liberia. we didn't have reservations anywhere and we ended up at this great little hotel, the pato loco inn. each room was uniquely decorated and we had our choice of the western room or the beach room. we took the beach room. for $52/night we couldn't beat it.


it was about a 10 minute walk to the beach and we got there right at sunset. the water is crystal clear and the sand is almost black. it was not at all like the beach in montezuma. it is a cool little town with a very active night life. we only had dinner and coffee. we were pretty beat after driving all day.

there was a storm close by, but it never made it out to the beach.

the next morning we got up early and went to a different beach, playa ocotal. we hung out there before packing up to head home.
it was a great way to end the trip! very relaxing...very beautiful. more to come...

~pura vida

zen wednesday - back to school

i love being a mom, i love being a teacher, and i love both

i cringe when hear people say, oh, you have to go back to work. i want to say, no, i WANT to go back to work, and i am still a good mom! i love teaching. i am excited about the first day of school. i love my students and when i am there i'm going to give them everything i’ve got.

the next question is always “what are you going to do with avery?” well, i am going to love her, play with her, read to her, teach her new things…oh you mean when i abandon her to go make money (the fortune that comes with public school teaching)?

she will be in a place where she learns more than we can teach her on our own. she will be where she is loved and cared for and challenged and told “no” and “good job” and “share.” she is going to figure out that there are lots of people that love her, not just mommy and daddy, and there are safe places besides our house. as the youngest, and smallest of the group, there are a lot of things that she will learn from the other kids, and i think there are things that she can show them as well (not just climbing skills).

i have mixed emotion this time of year. i miss avery and i want to be with her, but i also love teaching and i am excited to go back. i think many parents have to face this choice and it is not easy. what is right for someone my not be right for someone else. my favorite blogger-friend, katie has a different perspective and as a former classroom teacher and mother of four, i am convinced that just because she is not in a classroom with someone else’s kids, that does not mean she is not a teacher. she is the most important teacher those 4 kids have and how lucky they are that she is their mom too!

going back to work is hard. i don’t want to leave avery. but i know that she is leaving one loving home and going to another. she is safe and loved and i think those are the best lessons we can teach her. her family is more than just the people in this house.

we're home!

i have plans, big plans. i promise i will post costa rica pictures but, oh my gosh, summer is over and it just hit me today! i have to go to work on monday. avery starts daycare on monday. seriously where has the time gone!

on a side note: it will take me a little longer to post pics of costa rica because, well there are not very many. the first 5 days of pictures magically disappered from our camera. luckily there are plenty of pictures of montezuma on the internet that i can borrow and matt, sarah and erin took great pictures in monteverde and they will be home in a few days. the trip was great! losing the pictures was sad, i am over it. stay tuned...

gone to costa rica

...no phones...no email...no computer...

austin

last week avery, maverick and i went to austin to visit jenny and jeremy & taylor and gary. i had to go to training during the day so avery stayed with her fabulous aj and uncle jer & aunt tay tay and uncle gary.
she went on dog walks, swimming, shopping and did lots and lots of playing.
we went out to dinner with kellie and dave & ethan. avery and ethan are 6 weeks apart and they had a lot of fun playing together.
for some reason i did not take pictures at taylor's house, so we will have to get those from her. instead here is a pic of ethan and dave.
it was a good trip and on the way home we had dinner at the fire station with daddy. (again, no pictures, i will get better i promise).

cable guy

in the last 4 weeks, we have made 9 customer service calls and have had 2 different cable companies out at our house. here are some things i heard from the professionals:

on the phone…

“are you sure there is not a storm or anything going on right now.”

“try changing to a different channel.”

“is it plugged in”

“is the power on”

“please hold while we run some tests.”

(on a wednesday morning) “i can send someone out to check the connection as soon as tuesday”

at the house…

“i can’t hook up the box without a remote to the VCR”

“do you have a video for this VCR?”

(pointing to the modem) “is that the modem for your internet?”

(after the 2^nd guy hung out in our attic for about 90 minutes in august) “the cable just went out.” and then…wait for it…“call time warner and they will send someone out next week”