Happy Hallogiving!

Well, do I have an excuse for not doing a blog post since September? Not really. Unless you take in to account that I've kept 2 kids, a dog, and a husband fed and happy, and I've nurtured the young minds of 26 third graders every day. Not to mention that I've organized the neighborhood watch, built an addition on to our house, and have taken up knitting. Okay, that last sentence was a lie. These days if I have a free minute, I must spend it sleeping, or I risk walking into walls and forgetting where I am. Anyhoo...when trying to cover several months of life in one blog post, it makes sense to combine holidays in the title. 2 birds, 1 stone, you know? So here's what the Lazutas have been up to, because my Facebook posts are definitely not enough (insert good-natured sarcastic wink here). 

Immediately after this photo was taken, Caroline flipped off both Chris and the camera.

Here Caroline tries to coerce her cousin Emmy to sneak out after the parents have gone to bed. 

 We consider this to be our best angle. 

A little brown-nosing never hurt anyone. 

Thumb-wrestling. 

We let Avery babysit for a few hours one morning. Seemed reasonable.

Chris and I escaped to Lexington in late October for 2 nights. Basically we slept for 36 hours, but we did manage to leave the hotel to get some dinner and take a ghost tour of Lexington (the essentials).

Here I am making contact with the spirit world. 

I really enjoy the 80's sweat-band look on Caroline. 

Caroline's favorite foods are carrots, pears, apples, and green beans. Her least favorite food is prunes, which I make her eat all the time, because the little stinker is constantly constipated (no pun intended because she doesn't stink because she doesn't POOP!). Seriously, my every happiness revolves around this child's poop. 

I mean, I could go on and on. :)

Our friend Miss Tracy said Cara looks like the Hamburglar in this picture- love it! 

In this shot, Avery demonstrates that you can be both a princess and a jock, and you can do it safely.

Hahahahaha

Halloween costume night at Menchies. Avery finally conquered her paralyzing fear of "Menchie Girl." Seriously, for about 6 months, none of us got yogurt because Avery was afraid of a giant ice cream cone. She's also recently conquered a fear of yard inflatables. 

 It was a soggy but fun Halloween!

Caroline MIGHT have the most kissable cheeks ever. 

She's very resourceful. 

Here, Avery scales a giant inflatable (see earlier picture regarding fear of inflatables and you'll realize what feat this was! Practically Everest for our sweet Avery). 

I'm so glad we do not have a prissy pants. Avery is all about touching bearded dragons, snakes, worms, roly-poly bugs, etc. etc. etc. She might be more brave than her dad, even (tiny fear of garter snakes). 

I gave Avery a cup of black coffee, since she doesn't ever seem to have any energy. (Kidding, it's hot chocolate). 

Parky's Farm for Sydney Oliver's birthday :). 

Oh that smile. :)

Caroline tries to do a Three Stooges move in this pic...

Caroline and Cousin Emerson

Loves her Nana.

Feels the same way about a long day of picture taking as I do. :)

We had a bunch of Avery's friends over for a Sofia the First: The Floating Palace viewing party. We had pink popcorn, pink lemonade, and pink cupcakes.  And the moms had Pink Moscato. No seriously, we had pink wine. 

Avery went to a dance class recently at The Little Gym where she takes gymnastics. Epic fail on my part, I wasn't aware that tap and ballet shoes were required. Avery attended in snow boots. The teacher let her borrow some shoes. I didn't know I was going to become THAT MOM this soon in Avery's life. 

Thanksgiving at Aunt Nancy's- 4 little girls (poor Papa, he's up to his eyeballs in princess stuff).

What a lucky, lucky gal I am....:)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween and Thanksgiving! Happy Hallogiving! My next post will probably be titled: "Merry Valentine's Easter!"

Happy 4th Birthday Little Miss Avery!

Avery's 4th Birthday- Mermaid Party at Cottell Park!

We rented this blimp for Avery's 4th Birthday- See it at the top just under the roof?  :):):)

Hard to see, but the girls had matching mermaid outfits on- super cute! 

Poor Miss Caroline has a nasty cold, so she was a snotty mess, but still smiling through it all! :)

Ave's birthday lunch:

-"Shells" and cheese (homemade "Panera" mac and cheese- Ave's fave!)

-"Clam" sandwiches ("Uncrustables" PB and J's-yum!)

-"Fruit of the Sea" salad

-"Ocean" blue jello with fruit snack fish sunken in it

-Deli sandwiches for the grown-ups :) 

Ave makes an outfit change into her mermaid costume for cake time! 

Sweet mermaid!

 Love this cake that Sweet Sinsations did! We just gave them one of her plates and they made this beauty!

Annnd then the wind picked up- poor wittle Cara!!

Present time!

 Avery was so lucky- lots of amazing presents!  She got this light-up vanity from Nana and Papa!

After having a "sea creature hunt" (aka sea creature bath toys hidden in various bushes), it was crafting time (these were a mix of both hard and soft crafts, Diana!:).  Sandpaper starfish!

 

Addy, Rylee, Arlynn, and Sydney crafting away!

Avery and Arlynn- love these cuties:)

Avery with her amazing presents- such a fortunate, blessed girl!  She will help write every thank-you note!

Ave's 4 year pictures

These were actually Caroline's 3 month pictures- 2 months later!! Bad Mommy!

This one is recent- Avery 4 years, Caroline 4 1/2 months...but poor Caroline was sick for this picture, and totally looks like she has a cold- look at our pale little princess (and we thought Avery was fair skinned- ha!!!)

Well, I knew it would happen at some point! I let our blog go by the wayside as the busy days of summer flew by! After her triple airway surgeries in May, Miss Caroline was diagnosed with kidney disease (duplicated kidneys and a ureteroseal in the bladder)- between her first surgery for that, doctor's appointments, and going back to teaching, I was totally lax on the blog (I know, the old "my child had surgery excuse"...).  Thankfully, Sweet Caroline is stable and all is well at the moment!

Avery girl turned 4 on Sunday, and we mermaid-style partied at Cottell Park- a great option with no fee, minimal clean-up, and lots of space to spread out and play!! We had a lot of fun:).  I can't believe Avery is 4...these days she amazes me with her sassiness (seriously, the girl can even be sarcastic- now that's talent) and her intelligence (her vocabulary rivals that of my third graders!). Sometimes she combines her vocabulary and sassiness when she gets mad- and hilariousness ensues. Like if we tell her that she can't watch a show, she will glare at us and say something incoherent to the effect of "this is not my opportunity, you need to pay my attention, and take your chance, or I'm moving to Nana's!" She thinks she sounds so grown up- it's super funny, but we can't laugh in the moment, or it makes her more angry.  These days Miss Avery is into gymnastics, reading (a forever book lover), playing "baseball" in the backyard with Daddy, terrorizing her little sister (and giving us heart attacks as we shriek "You CAN'T pick her up!" from across the room), coloring/doing crafts, riding her bike, and watching Doc McStuffins, Sofia the First, or pretty much any Disney creation. She also LOVES scary stuff- that's right, scary stuff- she asks for a "scary" princess story every night before bed. Usually they involve some sort of red-eyed animal in the forest, and usually she tells me my stories aren't scary enough- so sometimes she adds parts- super funny. Totally my daughter though- I love scary stuff too. :) 

Oh the irony of parenthood- when they are so small, life is hard, and messy, and busy... and you wish they were older. But then they are...in a blink. Just like that. And you wish it wasn't so. It's that way with my Avery, a spunky little thing with a whole lot of heart- I wish I could freeze her, just like she is now.  Well, without the sass and such, of course. But then, there's the irony again:). Happy birthday to my little punky- I love you Avery!