Violet's Six Month Stats

Weight - 14 lbs 10 oz (25th percentile)
Length - 26.5 in (75th percentile)
Head Circumference - 43 cm (70th percentile)

Sledding

Violet missed her nap for this. I think she was mad.

You were right!

The Robinson's get first place in the Paxton baby photo identification contest. The Norton's came in a close second.

Congratulations Daddy!

It's official.
Too much excitement.
Trying to keep everyone together.
There he is!

Tyler graduated from Oakland University on Saturday. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Management Information Systems. Mom had the flu all day so she kept the pictures to a minimum. Good thing Tyler got the flu on Sunday instead. Many thanks to all our family who was able to attend. It was a wonderful, cold day.

Paint!

I tried to get a good picture of Ava's hands with little luck. Last night after Violet was asleep I found her in a puddle of dark purple nail polish painting her hands and her toes. It came out of the carpet with little success. The next day she wanted to "paint" some more. My suggestion to any parent is to never let their child paint because they will never want to stop. At our Monday playgroup Ava gets to paint and loves it. She made two ornaments for the tree out of home made puffy paint. The recipe is as follows: Equal parts of flour, water, salt, and then add a little tempra paint for color. She now enjoys trying to eat the dry paint. Ava also knows where the stamp pads are. I thought a stamp pad would be better than using actual paint, so I let her play while I folded laundry. I came back and her hands and lips were covered in black and purple paint. Her poor baby dolls suffered a similar fate of purple and black faces.

I'm glad Violet doesn't do much yet. She isn't eating solids yet probably for this precise reason - less mess!!

Red Hot C-Mas

Forget the cookie, Ava likes to eat red hots and frosting straight.

Ava and Violet

Can you pick which baby is Ava and which is Violet?

A Trip to Fort Wayne, IN

This week Tyler had another business trip to Columbia City, IN. The nearest big city is Fort Wayne, IN, so the whole family tagged along. This is about three and a half hours away. I thought even though it would be a lot of work to bring Ava, she still would have a good time in a different setting. Our room had a jacuzzi tub in it which provided minimal entertainment, and other than that the kids and I colored, stacked dice, threw dice, watched cable, went to Wal Mart, dressed baby dolls, didn't take naps, and best of all, discovered an amazing library.

Our local library is very nice, but the Allen County Library is amazing for small children. You could tell that whoever designed it knew exactly what they were doing. They had a huge separate room for children to play in and even had an area for non-walkers. They had tons of dress up clothes, a puppet stage, a play house, a train set, cardboard books, a store area, coloring stations, a play tent, a huge magnetic wall for letters, a walk-thru fishtank area, a playscape for kids and a larger one for ages 7-12 where the kids can climb up the playscape and sit in a nice chair to read. On the wall in the kids area were some of my favorite quotes, "An involved parent is the best toy a child can have," and, "Play is a child's work."

There were a lot of kids there and a librarian even invited the kids for a story time in the next room over. This never happens at our local library because pre-registration is required weeks prior and each child needs a library card in order to register. (Don't get me started on this one) I tried to get some good pics online of what it was like, but I could only find the above pictures. Our camera was out of batteries!

The paper stage

Violet is fully in a stage I love to call, "the paper stage." It basically means that your baby loves anything having to do with paper. All toys are ditched for a chance to play with paper. Ava's peak was when she attacked a phone book. It is so cute!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving morning we were welcomed by southeast Michigan's first snowfall of the year. Ava was really excited and stayed outside for a half hour just playing by herself. Mom doesn't like the cold too much. Ava liked eating the snow and pushing it around. Violet was sleeping.

Hope you think of a few extra things to be thankful for. We are especially thankful this year that Violet is happy and healthy. We are also thankful for all our family and friends that bring joy to us each day.

How well do you know Sarah and Tyler?

Can you guess which websites are Tyler's and which are Sarah's from the list on the right?

Our Trip to Windsor, Ontario

Tyler had a business trip to Ontario this week and Violet and I decided it would be a nice break to tag along. Ava stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Paxton where she could run around and play with her aunt and uncles. Windsor is just across the river from Detroit, so it only took us 40 minutes to get there. The hotel was nice and was just across from a "custom knife show" taking place across the street. See picture below.

Each morning we had another 40 minute drive to drop Tyler off at the airbag manufacturing facility in Tilbury. Tilbury is a very small town with only one B&B that had two rooms. This would have been too weird for Sarah. The drive was especially tiring because Violet wanted to party every two hours at night. The first day we got to Tilbury we needed to get gas, or, petro, as they call it. When we pulled up to the full-service gas station a guy came out and said, "No hydro here." We assumed hydro was gas, so when we asked if they had any across the overpass, he didn't know. So we drove across the bridge. Another gas station attendant came out and said, "No hydro here, No hydro till Sunnydale." We had no idea what he was talking about. Sarah thought maybe the small town pooled their gas in the ground somewhere. As Tyler began the training, he asked about "hydro." Turns out the town calls electricity hydro after the electric plants. The locals had a good laugh.

Other highlights included going to a local restaurant called, "Spooters," driving along the Lake St. Clair Shoreline, and trying to go to an underground railroad museum. The museum was a total bust - but at least Sarah got to see where the underground railroad ended.

The GM HQ and partial skyline of Detroit Sarah and Violet freezing in the cold wind.

Family Picture

We needed a family picture over the weekend for some friends who are moving. I looked everywhere and sadly, since Violet's birth we have not had a picture with the four of us in it! We hastily took the above pic and went to Walgreen's to get it printed. Since so much work went into this picture, I figured I had better post it. Ava looks so cute!

P.S. Never put a pyrex dish on a hot burner. They EXPLODE.

Feeding "Vilet"

Although "Vilet" (this is how Ava says Violet) has not started eating solid foods, Ava thinks it's about time. While helping mom put away dishes she got a big colander and spoon and pretended to feed Violet. I think it's almost time to begin the rice cereal. Violet is eating every two or three hours and is waking up at night again. She is also grabbing everything in her sight and shoving it into her mouth. Her sitting is also coming along very well. She has not had any food allergy issues like Ava did so we'll probably start within the next week or so. Happy eating everyone!

Four Month Photo Shoot

What do you get when you combine two hours, a diaper change, one feeding, one trashed onesie and a bag full of animal crackers? A four month photo shoot of course. All turned out well despite the horrendous wait (all moms were there because it's voting day taking c-mas pics). Ava was so good she got a happy meal on the way home. She likes the chicken nuggets with apple dippers and a juice.

If you want to view the pictures go to www.mykkstudio.com and enter sitting code # 546034700 and code # 73WA4FA.

I love Rock and Roll!

Well, not really. Violet doesn't really respond to music like Ava does, but you'd never guess it by her favorite pose! Note two fingers, not one, does the trick to pacify this little girl.

Happy Halloween!

Halloween 2007 featured a monkey and a banana. Ava loved getting anything chocolate. She tried to say treat, but it came out more like "eee." Maybe next year. Ava and Dad had a talk about Halloween in the morning. She wanted to wear her costume all day. It was adorable! Violet had no idea what was going on except that she was stuffed into a banana suit twice that day. She made the perfect banana. I think she would have loved to eat one.

Violet Growling

In case you haven't seen this yet, here's our latest home video.