Vincent Family Journal

Charlie's turns two

2012-01-24T18:55:00.000-08:00

I can hardly believe that my sweet baby girl is two! Happy birthday Charlotte. What a sweet girl you are. You are very independent and strong-willed but also the most charming, hilarious, fun little thing. You crack us up on a daily basis. You talk nonstop. You are a very tidy little girl and love to clean up your dinner plate and you like things to be put back exactly where they go. You adore your daddy and are always dragging him around the house by one finger to show him something. You love your sister Ava and copy her nonstop. Some fun things that you say: "Mmmmmm Dats nummy" when something tastes good. "Ahwan bass" (I want a bath), "ahwah-ee" (I don't want it when you are finished with something and want me to take it) "Ta-da!" (Several times a day when you have done something you are proud of) "Ava go?" (Where did Ava go?) "Ahwan hode zoo" (I wanna hold you a.k.a. pick me up) You have started saying the prayers over dinner with help. You love to do things yourself and love any kind of chasing, tickling, or peek-a-boo game. Our life hasn't been the same since you came along and we love you little bug. Happy day to you.

Dog pound

2012-01-05T18:42:00.000-08:00

Just a couple cute pics of Charlotte chillin in a box with her stuffed puppy dogs.

The Holidays

2011-12-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

We were able to spend Thanksgiving at Rob's parents house. It was a special treat because we got to meet our new nephew Samuel for the first time. What a little cutie pie. Ava was in heaven and was constantly asking Aunt Lauri if she could hold him. The girls got in a lot of play time with their other Tag & Lucy too which they always love.

Christmas was spent in Texas this year though we were able to make a quick pre-Christmas trip to Oklahoma to celebrate there. This was the first year that Charlotte really understood the concept of ripping paper and having a surprise inside. She was apparently satisfied after two presents because we couldn't even get her to open her third one because she was too busy playing with the first two. The girls loved all their gifts and, per Roberts family tradition, we had tacos for Christmas dinner. A couple weeks before Christmas I told Ava that when I was growing up, a couple times on Christmas morning (maybe always, I'm not sure) my dad made us fresh squeezed orange juice before we opened presents. So a couple days before Christmas, Ava spotted a little manual juicer in the produce section of the grocery store and begged to get it "so you can make juice like Poppy did mom." And she loved it.

Ava with her gingerbread house

Maya - our elf with the ornament she colored and the ones she left for the girls

Maya

Ava singing at her Christmas concert (middle in green)

Cousins Tag & Lucy with Charlie and Ava singing to Grandma Vincent

Papa (Raymond), Rob, Charlotte & Ava with Grandma Vincent

And the stockings were laying on the fireplace with care (because I don't have hangers)

The tents I made for the girls on Christmas Eve.

Charlotte holding up one of her gifts

Ava very excited about her M&M's

Ava likes the tent

Charlotte with the froggy Grandma Kathee sent.

Rob and I had to laugh this year because his gift from me was a new quilt and my gift from him was a miter saw. We were both thrilled. I have long lists in my head of all the projects I can do now that I have my saw and Rob no longer has to snuggle up with a girly blanket every night just because its the softest, warmest one in the house. :) By far my favorite gift this year was from my parents. In lieu of gifts for my brothers and sisters and I, they donated enough money to Smile Train to give 6 children operations. They sent a sweet letter explaining their decision which mostly had to do with the fact that we are so blessed and none of us are really in need of anything. It was nice to open the letter on Christmas day and have it bring back what the season is really all about.

What we've been up to..............

2011-12-15T18:16:00.000-08:00

Having daddy pull us in the wagon

Deciding we're big enough to pull the wagon ourselves

Catching little sister on the slide

Making funny faces

Striking funny poses

Feigning terror

Swinging in the baby swing when we aren't a baby

Hitching a ride to bed

Creating masterpieces

and messes

And masterpieces

Taking a picture with the gourd that Ava's music teacher Ms. Alice gave her (before it completely rotted).

Gettin in on the gourd photo shoot.

Trip to the ER

2011-11-23T12:49:00.001-08:00

So today while I was in another room, I heard a door slam and Charlotte scream. Then Ava came running in to me saying "mom! Charlotte and I have red all over us!" Red? Yeah, she meant blood. Charlie must have gotten her finger slammed in the hinge side of the door because she ended up with a big gash in the tip of her pinky and we were off to the ER.

X-rays showed that she cracked the tip of the bone but the Dr. said that would heal itself. 4 stitches (and a whole lot of tears) later, we were on our way to get ice cream. Frozen dairy makes everything better.

Charlotte was a trooper and is so sweet. She even said thank you and waved bye bye to the guy who held her arm down and wrapped her finger in gauze while she loudly protested. A little motrin for the pain and she's back to her sweet, silly self.

FHE History

2011-11-21T16:46:00.001-08:00

Conducting: Mom
Prayer: Ava
Song: Dad - he let Ava choose. She chose a song she made up on the spot called "spin like a fan" which consisted of spinning around in a circle with your hands out like airplane wings while singing "I'm spinning spinning spinning like a fan spinning spinning spinning like a fan, spinning spinning spinning like a fan I spin just like a fan.
Lesson: Mom - we talked about Thanksgiving coming up and all the things we should be grateful for and why we should show gratitude to Heavenly Father for all we've been given. Then mom taught the story of the first Thanksgiving using the following poem and helping us make bracelets (which counted as the activity by Charlotte):

Thanksgiving Story Bracelet

With this bracelet you will know (Start with a pipe cleaner.)
The first Thanksgiving that was long, long ago.
The Pilgrims set sail from far away
On the Mayflower with tall white sails. (Insert a white bead.)
They sailed many days across the ocean blue. (Add a blue bead.)
The seas were rough, but the ship came through.
At last they spotted land so green. (String on a green bead.)
They were so happy they cheered and screamed.
The first year was so hard and black. (Now a black bead.)
Many died and wished that they could go back.
But the Native Americans gave them a hand
And helped them survive in the strange new land.
They decided to celebrate in a special way
And that became the first Thanksgiving day.
They prepared a feast with turkeys brown (Add a brown bead.)
And red cranberries that they had found. (Time for a red bead.)
Yellow corn that they had learned to grow (Insert a yellow bead.)
And orange pumpkin pies, don’t you know! (Last an orange bead.)
But before they ate the turkey and dressing,
They all held hands for a thankful blessing.
(Twist the ends of the pipe cleaner to make a bracelet.)

Treats: Dad had treats and he chose to let everyone have a piece of cinnamon roll cake that mom made last night. Charlotte chose to have gogurt which made Ava choose to have gogurt after she had finished her cake.

Say a little prayer for you

2011-11-10T17:41:00.001-08:00

Things have been unbelievably crazy this week at our house. A friend of mine and I are putting on the annual craft night for our ward (church) tomorrow night so I have been up to my eyeballs in that. Today I was driving with the girls running some last minute errands, Charlotte was crying in the backseat and I was lost because my phone gave me wonky directions to where I was going. Ava pipes up from the backseat and says "Mom I'm having kind of a rough day." I told her me too. A few seconds later, very quietly from the backseat I hear ...."and we are both having rough days Heavenly Father so please bless that our days won't be rough anymore. In the name of Jesus Christ Amen. "

And you know what? Things immediately felt a little smoother.

Obviously.....

2011-11-05T13:41:00.001-07:00

the "we don't color on our bodies" rule is a work in progress.

The one about makeup

2011-11-03T20:58:00.001-07:00

Ava is at that age where she loves to draw and paint and sometimes she just can't resist making her body the canvas. The other day as she was twirling about in the living room, I glanced A-N-D-E written on her leg just above her knee where it would be mostly hidden by her skirt. Ande is the name of her best girlfriend. When I asked why she had written Ande's name on her leg, she replied in a singsong voice "because I love her so much." We've told her several times that we don't want her drawing on her body, mostly because I don't want to be on our way to church or family pictures and look back to realize Avas arm is covered in pink polka dots. So tonight she was in for a surprise when she walked into my bathroom as I was getting ready. "Mom!" she screamed. "Why are you drawing on yourself?! On your eyes? With that pencil?!!!" After Rob and I did our best to suppress our laughter, I explained to her about eyeliner.

Spooky Eats

2011-10-31T17:40:00.000-07:00

I decided the girls were old enough this year to have fun with them for Halloween dinner. So this was our spread: mummy pizzas, carrot fingers with dip, and jack-o-lantern oranges. Yum yum!

Darling I recall Central Park in fall

2011-10-25T09:02:00.000-07:00

We took our annual trip to New York City at the beginning of August. As usual we had a blast and got to see some of our good friends. The girls loved it, especially Ava now that she can remember being there before and get excited to see things again.

We met our sweet friends the Jones' for dinner. They are serving a mission in NYC.

View from our hotel. We stayed in Jersey this year because I waited too long to book our hotel.

Spent some time at the Central Park Zoo

Spent lots of time with our favorite NYC girls

My girls commanded our friend Matt around the playground as if he was their own dad.

Racing sailboats in central park

We had just read Ava the story of the Ugly Duckling so she was excited about this statue.

Rob rowing our boat across the lake in Central Park

Visiting the alma mater

Mom is there too.

We always have so much fun when we go to NYC and this year was no different. We love getting to see our friends that are still there and I never get tired of that place. We try to do different things every year and this year we braved our way out to Queens for the Chinese Dragon Boat Festival. It was a crazy adventure.

On or In

2011-10-24T12:20:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were at a baptism for our little friend Sam. The opening song was about Jesus being baptized and has a line in it that says "When Jesus Christ was baptized, down in the river Jordan...." Even though she's sung that song before, Ava turns to me with a look of confusion on her face and says "Mom, how could Jesus go IN the river if he could walk ON water?" Too cute.

Spooky little models

2011-10-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

I made the girls some Halloween shirts and then attempted to get a picture of them both smiling while wearing them which is kinda like trying to snuggle a porcupine and not get poked. Good thing they're so cute even when they are being their crazy, wiggly selves.

No balloons=No fun

2011-10-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

We went with some friends the annual hot air balloon festival here but due to some bad weather, we never even got to see the balloons launch. Boo! So this is all we got.

34 is big around here

2011-10-09T20:02:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Rob's 34th birthday on August 18th. Ava was super excited about the hat she bought him to wear and the gifts she bought him at the dollar store which included a whoopee cushion.

The 4th

2011-09-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

(Pretend you are reading this on July 6th and you are amazed at how on top of things I am that I already have my Independence Day post up. Okay, begin.) One of my very favorite holidays? The 4th of July! I love it, it's great. I always dream of spending the morning hanging out on the sidewalk as I watch a fancy parade, followed by a few hours meandering through some type of festival (because I honestly ADORE festivals - all of them - ask Rob), going home to grill something delicious for lunch, (after waiting the mandatory half hour) going swimming, and then of course, topping off the evening with some incredible fireworks. In all 30 years of 4th of July's (can I write it like that?) I've experienced, it has never ever actually happened that way. But a girl can dream right? One thing I absolutely do not believe in skipping are the fireworks. I'm kind of ridiculous about it. (Again, ask Rob) I. want. to. see. fireworks. And not the dumb kind that you light off your self. Because they are dumb.

The girls in their cutie pie outfits (you would not believe all the crying and tantrums I went through to get ONE good picture of this. )

I'm tired and the fireworks still haven't started.

Aaaaaaaaammmmmaaaaazzzziiiinnnggg!

And then they got a little loud

Family Home Evening by Ava

2011-08-22T18:32:00.000-07:00

My sister and her family keep a history of all their family home evenings which I think is such a good/fun idea so we decided to start it in our family. So here is tonights:

Opening Song: I love to see the temple (chosen by daddy)
Opening Prayer: Mommy
Lesson: The Tower of Babel by Ava (It went something like this): The tower of Babel was at a time when "people were very curious about heaven" (she's just recently learned the word curious) so they built a tower to get there. Heavenly Father didn't want them to do it so he changed their language so they couldn't understand each other. This way they couldn't build the tower because if someone said please give me that piece of wood then the other person wouldn't understand him. The Brother of Jared did good things so he asked Heavenly Father to unchange (not change) his language so he could talk to his family. (Directed at Dad): Is building a tower the way to get to heaven? (Dad answers no) What is the way to get to heaven? (Dad says its by following Heavenly Fathers commandments.) That's right. Now we are going to do an activity. The good things go in the bag with the Brother of Jared on it and the bad things go in the bag with the tower of Babel on it.
Activity: We then played a game where we read little strips of paper i.e. you shared your toy with a friend.... and decided which bag to put the paper in.
NOTE: Ava planned this activity herself after playing a similar game with our goats and sheep lesson and after hearing the story of the tower of Babel several nights for her scripture story. She chose the pictures to put on the bags and cut them out, glued them on and cut the word strips out as well. She did a great job giving the lesson with very little help from mom.
Closing Song: Families can be together forever (chosen by dad)
Prayer: Dad
Treats: Charlotte handed out cookies that her, mom and Ava had made earlier.

Some stuff we've been doing

2011-08-22T06:17:00.000-07:00

Hanging out with the girls

Making volcanoes (and silly faces) with friends

Waiting to wave to daddy as he drives away to work

Getting Married

2011-08-19T17:39:00.000-07:00

Just heard Ava say to her 3 year old cousin: "Lucy, do you like weddings?" (Lucy says yes) "You do? Because I'm getting married soon. Do you want to come to my wedding?" (Lucy nods) "Well I'm going to send out invitations soon aren't we mommy? Mommy? Mommy aren't we going to send out invitations soon to my wedding?" (Looks at me) So I say "okay, who are you going to marry?" To which Ava says "I don't know mom but it will have to be somebody I"m in love with."

So apparently she is operating on the "if you build it, they will come" principle. Plan the wedding and the groom shows up.

Fashionably Late (and a little princess birthday party)

2011-08-19T17:34:00.000-07:00

Remember in college when you were going to a party that started at 7 but you didn't want to show up right at 7 or (heaven forbid) 6:58 because then you'd seem like you never got out and were waaaaaaay too eager for the party? So instead you showed up at 7:20 which was considered "fashionably late" which meant you didn't miss anything exciting but appeared to have such a busy/hectic/glamour-filled life that there was just no way you could have been there any earlier. I wanted to put that image out there so that anyone who reads this post and realizes that I'm posting June pictures in August might just think of all kinds of chic, cool, totally-hip things that my life must be filled with in order for my posts to be so "fashionably late." Scrubbing hard peanut butter off the back of your dining chairs is so totally the in thing right now. :)

But I digress...... Back in June we threw a birthday party for Ava. The theme was rainbow/princess/unicorn (translation: indecisive kiddo) party. We had several stations at the party: a wand-making station, a crown making station, a pedicure station, a photo-booth station and a pin the horn on the unicorn station. We had 14 little girls there and they all had a blast.

Ava opening presents and testing some of them out

The party decor - or the part I got pictures of at least

The big birthday gift - her very first bike

Pedicure station and pedicure drying station

Some cute ones from the photo booth my friend LE did

Dancing with the ribbon wands they made

Pin the horn on the unicorn

My friend Dee painted Ava and friends' faces when the party was over

Even Charlotte got in on the action

Ava's birthday dinner choice (corn dogs, corn on the cob and salad)

Blowing out the cupcake

My little schemer

2011-07-01T10:51:00.000-07:00

So the last couple of times we've been to Walmart, Ava has asked if we could buy chocolate goldfish. We typically buy the regular ones and the graham cracker ones. I told her that I don't wanna buy them because she is the only one that likes them and nobody else will eat them so they go stale before they are gone. The other thing she has been doing lately is having us raise our hands for things. Like everyone who is wearing shoes raise your hand. So yesterday we were driving somewhere in the car and Ava pipes up from the back seat and says "everybody who likes chocolate raise your hands." Rob and I both put our hands in the air. Ava follows with "everybody who likes chocolate goldfish raise your hands." I started laughing. Here was her attempt to convince me that she was not the ONLY one in the family that would eat them. Interesting how she started out asking about chocolate so the goldfish question could be a little more subtle. Can't wait to see what this translates into at our next shopping trip. She's such a clever little thing!

Happy Birthday Sweet Baby Girl

2011-06-30T08:00:00.000-07:00

Today Ava turns 4. 4 years ago today we became parents, 4 years ago today I cried when the nurse handed her to me, 4 years ago today I had no idea what I was in for. What an amazing, crazy, silly, fabulous ride it has been everyday since. We love you big girl.

We love what a great big sister you are

We love that you love to do anything in the kitchen

We love your silly personality

We love your drama

We love your sweetness

We love how you take care of others

We love your spunk (and your fashion sense)

We love how your personality always shines through

We love how you throw caution (and sand) to the wind.

New Tricks

2011-06-29T08:49:00.000-07:00

We have some new tricks in our house. You better sit down because they're gonna amaze you. The first is that Charlotte can now (and frequently does) remove her own diaper! Yay Charlotte! Wanna know how we learned this? I put her dress on for church a few minutes before it was time to leave. We got to church, the girls sat on the floor in front of our chairs and played for 5 minutes or so. Charlotte asked to eat so I grabbed her hand and took her to the mothers room (our ward doesn't allow food in the chapel). We were in the mothers room for about 15 minutes while she walked around eating her snacks and crawled after another baby in there. As she crawled away my friend LE says to me "Um, I think I just saw butt cheek under C's dress." Me: Huh? I walked over and picked C up, lifted her dress, and sure enough the kid was going commando. Um, how in the world did she not pee on something? I have no idea because as we did some further investigating, we discovered that she had taken her diaper off AT HOME before we even put her in the car. Nice, kid. Nice.

Ava's new trick is also pretty amazing. The girl can make her own peanut butter sandwich (which is a staple in her diet) "all by myself, with no help to even spread." I know, I know I'm such a good mom for letting her be so independent and not worrying about the mess she might make. Or I might have been on the computer trying to finish a very important email while she kept asking if I would make her a peanut butter sandwich. Apparently she'd heard too many 'just a minutes' because she finally asked in exasperation "can I just make it myself?" And wah-lah! We've now created a 3 (almost 4) year old peanut butter sandwich making monster! What's that they say, necessity is the mother of invention?

Summer Schedule

2011-06-28T09:00:00.000-07:00

It's summer! Have you noticed? We have as the heat has been high 90's and even over 100 degrees already. It makes you want to go swimming all day everyday........or stay in the house and never leave the air conditioning. I decided that we needed a schedule for the summer so that we did at least one fun thing a day and didn't get caught up in too much errand running and laundry folding etc. So here is our schedule at work:

Monday: Make something monday. How about a golf ball painting?

Finished painting. Pretty cool!

Wednesday: What's cooking Wednesday. This Wednesday it was brownies "with M&M's on top mom? " Okay!

The rest of our schedule is Time to read Tuesday, Thoughtful Thursday (do something nice for someone else), & Go Somewhere Fun Friday. So far it has been a big hit, let's hope it keeps up. Some days we do more than one fun activity. We might do a craft and also go swimming with friends but the schedule insures that even on the crazy busy days we make sure to make time for something fun!

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Yeah yeah this post is almost a month overdue. Oh well. As I mentioned in a previous post, Ava had her ballet recital over memorial day weekend and Rob's parents came down to watch. His sister Lauri and her husband and two kids also came down to join the party. It was a fun weekend. Ava had a ball with her cousins Lucy and Tag. There was lots of playing outside, Kinect, and eating. Larui and I even made two runs to the snow cone stand and two batches of my mom's fabulous apple pie bars. (The real kind Tara :) We are so lucky to have such good family so close. It was a great weekend.

Outside fun!

Ava and Lucy were bosom buddies and Tag couldn't get enough of Charlie. So sweet. The girls all took a turn tickling their MeeMaw.

Remember I mentioned the food? Charlotte tried chocolate pudding for the first time. She loved it and says it does wonders for exfoliating!

Ballerina Baby

2011-06-24T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ava has been taking ballet since January. She absolutely loves it and tries to show/teach everyone everything she learns. Memorial day weekend was her studio's yearly recital. She did such a great job. I can't imagine being on stage in front of a couple hundred people at that age but she remembered all the moves and even smiled. Her MeeMaw and Papa came down (we didn't get pictures of them...grrrrr) and our friends the Jones', the Yanelli's, and the Bauer's. We have such great family and friends!

So excited to dance on stage!

Ava with the sweet girls in her class

Ava and her adoring fans

The one about the serpent

2011-06-23T16:52:00.000-07:00

Some of you saw on my facebook status the other day that we had a visitor to our back porch. Ava noticed a large snake on the back porch as she was opening the door to go outside. As mentioned in the previous posts, she is a fan of things that creep and crawl so lucky for me she came to get me instead of opening the door and beckoning the snake to come inside. Rob and I spent the next 30 minutes attempting to catch the snake so we could identify it and get it out of our yard.

Cowboy boots, work gloves and a golf club. The snake capturing kit

The snake only tried to bite twice. I was out here too, mostly just annoying the snake and causing it to lunge at Rob.

Creepies and Crawlies

2011-06-20T08:42:00.000-07:00

Ava loves to be outside and especially loves all the bugs, butterflies, and sometimes even the beetles. She considers them all "friends" and would love to be able to make homes for all of them.

A stick bug Ava and Rob found in the front yard.

Ava had to bring it in to show me

And even more thrilled that it wanted to crawl on her hand. (A true sign of friendship apparently)

Ava was digging a hole in the mud and out jumped this little frog

We apparently scared it so much it peed itself. (You can see the puddles behind it)

Happy Fathers Day

2011-06-19T13:54:00.000-07:00

To the best dad my girls could ask for.

Stuff we've made

2011-06-18T16:38:00.000-07:00

A colorful crown and paper heart

Sometimes we make stuff. Especially now that the summer has started and there is no more preschool to fill Ava's craft fix. So here are some things we've made recently.

End of the year teachers gifts so they could kick off their summer in style.

Some "get well soon" flowers for Grandma Kathee after her knee surgery

Some 4th of July skirts for the girls

I spy a butterfly

2011-06-13T21:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago a friend and I took the kids to a butterfly exhibit at the mall. It was very cool. It looked like a big greenhouse and there were hundreds of butterflies. The kids were given Q-tips with Gatorade on them to attract the butterflies and it worked. The girls had a ball.

Look Mom

I wanna touch it

Charlotte was giddy about them at the beginning

Clueless to her visitor

Don't get too close to me with that thing

Just chillin

Ahhhhhhhh get it off me

I was there too. No, I'm not flexing my wimpy muscles. See the tiny spot on my arm? Butterfly.

Giggling with delight

She's surrounded

G.G. might be angry

2011-06-11T21:26:00.000-07:00

Have you seen Harry Potter? You know the 'Howlers' that parents send their kids at school - the letter that flies into the room, turns into a screaming face and scolds them for some naughty behavior? One of those might be headed my way......from Grams. She told me 'you better not put those on your blog.' But Grams, they are so cute number one and number two, they may be the only pics I have of you without your hand in front of your face, and three, this blog is my family record keeping. Its my family journal so I have to document all family happenings - like having your picture taken with G.G. Sorry. Do you still love me?

Charlotte with Grandpa G.G.

C telling G.G. whats up.

Ava really had to go potty in this one and was begging for a break. Fine, go to the bathroom!

The girls

Ava was not falling asleep here despite appearances

Stuff we do when we're bored

2011-06-10T20:50:00.000-07:00

Make airplanes out of shoeboxes and other cardboard

Pose with the airplane we just made

Create messes

Babble excitedly while we create messes

Mothers Day

2011-06-09T20:50:00.000-07:00

Yeah I know, Mother's Day was awhile ago. Cut me some slack because I've been really busy.............................being a mother. Anyway, Ava's school did some really cute stuff for Mother's Day. They had a mom's day where we came early with the kids and there were massage chairs, parafin wax treatment for hands, breakfast for us and the kids. It was the cutest thing ever. They also made these cute gifts.

My Mom's name is Abby
My Mom is maybe 103 years old.
Her favorite thing to do is color with me.
Her favorite food is broccoli
My Mom's favorite TV show is Dora the Explorer
The thing I love about my Mom the most is that she colors with me.

This was us at the Mom's day. I'm wearing the crown that Ava made me.

Craters of the Moon

2011-05-25T11:36:00.000-07:00

While we were in Idaho for Christmas, my sister Tara suggested we take our kids to Craters of the Moon. One of her sons had a project coming up that the trip would work for and we both thought it would be fun to take our kids to a place we visited as kids. We grew up only about 30 miles from this place so it was a frequent end-of-the-year field trip in elementary school. I don't remember there being snow on the ground when we went though. My mom watched Charlotte for us which was great since it was a lot of walking/climbing but we had fun.

The kiddos reading about one of the volcanoes

Ava and her cousin Blake helping each other up the hill

Apparently Blake wasn't helpful enough because here she is with Aunt Tara.

Ava posing on one of the craters

Looking down into one of the craters

Becoming Junior Rangers

"I promise not to take rocks from National Parks."

The whole crew that went.

Teacher Appreciation

2011-05-25T11:20:00.000-07:00

We love love love the preschool that Ava attends this year. The director is a gem and the teachers are fabulous. So we took advantage of teacher appreciation week this year to show them the love. Here is one of their gifts.

The gift is a carafe and rolled up inside is a list of what Ava appreciates about that particular teacher.

The note says "Thanks for pouring your heart into teaching Ava this year."

Easter Mail

2011-05-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

We got home from Easter in Idaho to find Easter cards for the girls in the mailbox from MeeMaw and Papa. They love to get mail so they were thrilled.

Easter 2011

2011-05-18T19:38:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Idaho for Easter this year. It's always a special treat since its a BIG DEAL at my house. We have the annual (it's probably like the 35th annual) easter egg hunt at my grandparents house that usually involves some pushing and shoving, running around like crazy people, begging grandpa for clues to where the 'golden' egg is, and anger at whomever happens to find the egg if its not you. (This fist shaking is for you Tara...lol) Ava and Charlotte were thrilled to be able to spend time with cousins and aunts and uncles. We had a blast!

The super cute Peeps wreath my mom made

Cookies that were waiting for us upon arrival to Shoshone

Ava thrilled to be holding Baby Elizabeth. Baby Elizabeth not so sure.

Tara forcing Charlotte to snuggle with her. *S*

Ava and Ty co-authoring a book. Ty wrote the words, Ava told him what to write. Ava drew the pictures.

Waiting in line for feast in Grandma and Grandpa's garage.

Feasting

C being cute

Blake during the hunt

Ava getting a running start

Sydnee scoping out the sagebrush for some eggs

C showing off her bag o' eggs

THE MASTER HUNTER

Cool by association - that's me with the "Golden Egg Finder"

Here we are again

Ava (who is obsessed with worms lately) asks Gramps to show her how he gets nightcrawlers for fishing

Charlie's new best friend. My brothers girlfriend watched her almost the whole time. It was awesome!

Jackson was there too.

The Easter bunny visited, leaving chocolate bunnies for all

Me like chocolate bunny

Chocolate bunnies make me crazy!

Trying to get these two to smile at the same time is ridiculous. Good thing they're cute anyway.

Dad untangling the egg Tara and I strung up the flagpole for his Easter egg hunt.

The littles heading out for Poppy's easter egg hunt

Sprint for Cancer

2011-05-13T19:34:00.000-07:00

Some friends and I spent the last five months training for a half-marathon. But to get ourselves ready, we ran a 10k to raise money for cancer. It was fun to run with all my girls. Here we are just before the race.

Half Marathon

2011-05-09T20:39:00.000-07:00

I ran a half-marathon. Rob did too. Here's proof.

For the History Books

2011-05-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I remember where I was on 9/11 and I'll remember where I was on 5/1/11

It has come to this people

2011-04-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

I recently had to add this piece of art to my bathroom decor. Isn't it lovely? Because apparently somewhere between the excitement of getting the bum wiped and washing the hands WITH soap, a very crucial step #3 was getting missed. Again and again and again. And while I love a good poo aroma wafting through the house as much as the next guy, it was time to take some action. The culprit appears excited about the step by step. In fact, after it was shown to her she invented her own little musical ditty to go along with it. But as we all know, actions speak louder than words....or songs. So we shall see.

Say a little prayer

2011-04-20T06:46:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago when we were saying the dinner prayer, we noticed Charlotte doing something that looked strangely like folding her arms. So then we started paying attention to the little smarty pants. And sure enough, whenever she hears the word prayer, she immediately does this:

We'll work on bowing her head and closing her eyes later.

These girls love their daddy

2011-04-19T06:34:00.000-07:00

I love how much my girls love their dad. And he is such a good dad to them. Here are a few recent snapshots of them playing together.

And here we have Idaho, winning her way to fame

2011-04-18T06:23:00.000-07:00

For show and tell a couple weeks ago, Ava had to bring something that started with the letter "I" and she was super excited to bring Idaho and show off all her family that live there.

The poster we made

Uncle Bub

G.G. and Grandpa G.G.

Grandma Kathe, Poppy and Aunt Nonny

Magic

2011-04-15T06:13:00.000-07:00

So if you want your 3 year old to be SUPER excited about staying home for the day and cleaning bathrooms, you just have to make her a "cleaning bathrooms" utility apron. Oh, and let her wear it over her pinafore.

So helpful

2011-04-14T05:31:00.000-07:00

So, remember this post? Ava and I planted some flowers. Here's how Charlotte helped.

Boy she looks mischevious in this one.

We all scream...........

2011-04-13T06:04:00.000-07:00

.........for ice cream! Charlotte had her first ice cream cone the other day. I think she enjoyed it.

This is all that was left. Pretty sure she ate some paper.

Strength in Numbers

2011-04-12T06:04:00.000-07:00

Last night for Family Home Evening, Rob gave a lesson based on this talk and how a family functions better when everyone is trying to work together and do what's right. And as we do whenever we can, we found a way to turn the lesson into throwing things off our second floor balcony. We tied one string around a weight, threw it off and pointed out that only one string can't handle it and broke. Then we put three strings together and did the same thing. Ava thought it was incredibly fun and seemed to understand the concept as she mentioned it later in her prayers. Charlotte, on the other hand was only somewhat in on the action. Apparently being able to see the ground below through the slats in the deck was unnerving to her and she kept herself right smack dab up against the door. She really wanted to be out in all the action but would take one step forward and then immediately pull back up agains the door. Good thing mama can hold her.

Throwing the weight with one string

Broken String

Throwing the group of strings

Whoa! It didn't break

"This doesn't look stable to me."

There's a tiger in there somewhere

2011-04-06T08:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight during bedtime routine, Ava says "I want to choose which book." Then she completes the choosing process:

"eenuh minah moe, possa tynah toe, you are not it."

One day

2011-04-05T08:34:00.000-07:00

I bet I'm gonna miss these.........................................

Planting Partners

2011-04-04T08:27:00.000-07:00

A few months ago we got Ava a playhouse to put in the yard. It has been well-worth money spent as she plays in it everyday as long as weather permits (which means there isn't a tornado about to pick it up or grapefruit-sized hail coming down). It came with these two little pots and Ava has been dying every since to "put some super special flowers in them." So today during the break between sessions of conference, we were planting partners!

Choosing which flower to plant

Perfect placement in the pot

The finished product all tucked in place. (Now if I can remember to have her water them)

How cute is that!

These days................

2011-04-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

this is how Rob plays basketball.

Spring has sprung (in Texas at least)

2011-03-31T06:24:00.000-07:00

While I haven't seen any daffodils yet which is usually when I know spring is really here, the weather has been so great that I feel comfortable declaring that spring is here! The girls and I have taken advantage of it by spending more time outside which has been wonderful.

Sometimes I eat food, sometimes I eat.....................

2011-03-30T06:46:00.000-07:00

chalk.

The pink was delicious. I wonder how the green will taste.

Green gives me crazy eyes.

Yummmmmmy

Mom I need a washcloth

Luckily an episode of "Strange Addictions" taught me that chalk really won't hurt her. So I felt okay about letting her continue to chew on it while I snapped a few photos. She's kind of addicted to it. Anytime Ava leaves a loose piece around Charlotte seems to find it and try to hurry and eat it before I can take it away. Ava was the same way with dryer sheets. Do you think there's something missing from their diet? :)

I like bread and butter, I like toast and jam......er I mean chocolate pudding.

2011-03-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

FHE and Miracles

2011-03-28T19:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight for FHE we talked about missionaries and how important they are and what they do and why its important for us to be missionaries and to pray for the full-time missionaries. And I had the perfect thing to go along with my lesson..................................a letter from my nephew!!!!! He's not the most frequent letter writer (I'm sure because he's too busy finding souls to save) so I consider this a huge treat. And if I'm being honest here, he's only heard from me a handful of times. Shame on me! Ava was tickled pink to hear from this missionary that she hardly remembers but prays for every night. In fact, when I read his letter and got to the part where he is baptizing I said to Ava "don't we pray that Bryson will find people to teach? Is it working?" All the sudden it dawned on her and she began running around the room yelling "It's working, it's working, my prayers are working!!!!" We followed the lesson up with a few rounds of "Hide and seek" where Ava did a very good job of pretending not to know where I was hiding so she could draw the game out longer. Very smart that one is. Anyway since the letter is such an epic event, I'm gonna post it here for posterity's sake - my comments are in italics:

"To my Sweet Abbs (I laugh everytime I see that on the blog) (making fun of my blog name here)

Thanks so much for the Sonic gift cards! How'd you know I love happy hour so much? :) Sorry you didn't get my first card. I'm sure it was witty and just filled with awesome missionary experiences, which would have been nice, cause I can't think of any now.

So I see your Grandma-in-law (Rob's grandma) every week, Sister Scroggins but I don't think she remembers who I am and/or doesn't like me cause she kinda looks at me funny when I say hi to her at church. (He cracks me up. This just makes me laugh. Maybe she's looking funny at his tie. See below.)

I'm doing good out here. We're working with a Spanish branch thats been withering away for years, but we're just starting to baptize here again! The Lord has blessed us a lot. Because of the bad economy, there's not a lot of hispanics here but he makes it so the ones that we find are the ones who are preparing to receive the gospel.

Tell Ava and Charlotte hi for me!
Love y'all
Elder Bryson Wilding

P.S. Thats a picture of my lucky tracting tie. :)"

Our little inventor

2011-03-28T09:56:00.000-07:00

The problem: the basketball had bounced over the neighbors fence into their yard and they were not home to retrieve it. Rob had managed to climb halway up the fence but couldn't figure out how to reach the ball.

Ava heard the discussions and was throwing out ideas as usual. Typically her suggestions would involve something like climbing up a rainbow and then having a fairy fly you over the fence and you could use your magic wand to pick up the ball. But today she had what turned out to be a brilliant idea. Below is her invention.

The solution:

A pole put through a box and taped in place that Rob lowered and used to scoop up the ball

Proof that it works. I love Ava's model pose in this one! LOL.

Family Fun Night

2011-03-25T09:00:00.000-07:00

A couple weekends ago we decided that instead of going out to dinner and a movie with the girls, we would stay home, order in and play a game together. We got creative and made an obstacle course. Everyone took their turn, Ava had the fastest time (with a little help from her mom "accidentally" stopping the timer a few times) and even Charlotte got in on the action with some help from her dad.

The Twirling Station: Twirl 3 times

Pony Ride: Ride the horse through the plates

Ball Toss: Get 3 out of 5 balls in the basket

Broom Bounce: Bounce over the broom onto the air mattress

Letter Practice: Write your name

Baby Names

2011-03-24T14:42:00.000-07:00

Ah I'm laughing right now thinking about all of you clicking on this expecting a pregnancy announcement. Ha ha not happening, not pregnant. However a friend of mine recently told me she is expecting her second. When she asked the big sister what to name the baby, the response was "Poopy." Its apparently one of those gender neutral names because she picked it for boy or girl. It made me curious what Ava would say these days. Charlotte spent months as "polka-dot" thanks to a two year old Ava. But she's now in preschool and has been exposed to lots more little kids with different names so I wondered what she'd come up with.

Girl: Twirl Around

Boy: Soap

Hmmmmmmmmmmm..................................

Speaking French

2011-03-23T17:08:00.000-07:00

Ava: Charlotte can you say Keebernex? Come on. Just say keeeeeber then nex. Keebernex.

Me: Ava what are you saying?

Ava: Keebernex

Me: Keebermets?

Ava: Keeber nex. Neeeeex. nex nex. Keebernex.

Me: Keebernex?

Ava: Yes

Me: What is that?

Ava: Its a word.

Me: Oh yeah? What does it mean?

Ava: (slightly irritated at my lack of understanding) Moooom it means cabuwog in French.

Me: Cabuwog? Keebernex means cabuwog in French?

Ava: (Happy that I finally get it) Yep!

Me: What's cabuwog?

Ava: Its...........ya know..........cabuwog.

(And she skips away)

My Clever Hubs and Happy Birthday to Me

2011-03-15T14:15:00.000-07:00

Rob has given me some pretty thoughtful and clever gifts over the years. I'm always amazed at how well thought out they are and how smart he is to think of them. This year it was the card that had me smiling. Here is it:

Can you read it? It says: Did you know that the earthquake in Japan changed the distribution of the earth's mass, shifted its axis, causing it to rotate faster, thereby shortening the length of a day by 1.8 microseconds? That's funny, because when I looked at you this morning I said to myself "Thirty? No way. She doesn't look any older than 29 years, 364 days, 23 hours, 59 minutes and 59.9999982 seconds." Hoping for many more happy microseconds together. ~Rob

FHE by Ava

2011-03-07T16:51:00.000-08:00

Tonight as we were getting ready for Family Home Evening, Ava informed us that she would be doing the lesson. I told her that I could help her talk about what she learned in church this week and she let me know that she didn't need any help. Here is the lesson she gave us totally unassisted. Pretty good for a 3 year old. (All the regular writing is Ava speaking, the bold is someone responding to one of her questions.)

Today I’m going to tell you a lesson about flowers. Flowers are…..well each person is going to say something you do with flowers. Mommy you go first.

Mommy: I put flowers on my table to look beautiful.

Thank you mommy. Daddy your turn.

Daddy: I give them to people to make them happy.

Good daddy. Charlotte your turn.

(Ava pretending to talk for Charlotte in a baby voice) “I give them to you Ava”

Oooh that’s so nice Charlotte.

Well I give them always to Ande (her best friend) and she gives them always to me.

Now I’m going to tell you about flowers. Flowers grow. They need water to grow. And they need sunshine to grow. They grow on a green stem and they are all colors. Even a rainbow colored flower there can be. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Mommy: Ava that was a great lesson about flowers. Who gave us flowers.

God did. And God is super important so we only use his name when we are talking super importantly. In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

My baby girls

2011-02-25T18:24:00.000-08:00

Oh how I love these two. And even more than that? I love when they love each other. Charlotte gets such a kick out of Ava these days and Ava gets thrilled herself when she can get any giggles out of her baby sis.

Little Miss Fancy

2011-02-23T18:12:00.000-08:00

I can't believe what a big girl Ava has grown into. My friend LE (who took these pictures) had to laugh at how much fun Ava was having with this photo shoot. It was even funnier when we compared it to the first time LE shot her as a 9 month old at an Easter shoot. Ava cried through the whole thing and was terrified of everything. We've come a long way from then. Just look at her fancy moves!

I just love this girl! How can you not?

Ava-isms:

2011-02-22T17:52:00.000-08:00

I should be writing down everything Ava says because it's a laugh a minute at our house these days. Some of the ones I remember from today:

(While driving in the car)
Ava: Mom who's the first that got married?
Me: What?
Ava: The first who got married?
Me: In our family? You mean who got married before daddy and I?
Ava: Yeah
Me: Well, Uncle Brad and Aunt Tara, Aunt Mellonee and Uncle Daren, Aunt Lauri and Uncle Will.....
Ava: No, the first that got married.
Me: You mean the first people ever?
Ava: (a little annoyed) Yes!
Me: Adam and Eve
Ava: Oh yeah, them. (smiles) They're coming to my birthday party.
Me: Um I don't think they'll be able to make it honey.
Ava: Yes mom, Adam and Eve are real.
Me: That's true. They are real people that really lived but they aren't gonna be at your party.
Ava: (incredulously) Why?!
Me: Because they're dead.
Ava: Oh no! They are? How did they die?
Me: Well sweetie, they got old and died. Remember, everybody dies eventually.
Ava: Oh yeah, they ate poison fruit and thats why they died.
Me: No they did eat some fruit they weren't supposed to but that got them kicked out of the garden but didn't kill them. They died because they were old.
Ava: Oooooooh man. Why did they go and die? They knew they were invited?
Me: What?
Ava: They knew they were invited to my party, why did they have to die?
Me: Well sweetie, they died a very long time ago. They probably didn't even know about your party.
Ava: (quietly to herself) Oh man, I really wanted them at my party.

Tonight after being put to bed, Ava came into my room (she's always trying to find reasons to stay up):
Ava: Mom, when I close my eyes my legs don't hurt but when I open my eyes and unrest (the opposite of sleep apparently) then they start to hurt.
Me: Good. Just keep your eyes closed and go to sleep and your legs will be fine.
Ava: (dejectedly) Okay mom.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

2011-01-24T16:01:00.000-08:00

To my sweet baby girl Charlotte. What a charming, loveable joy you are. You have such a precious disposition, so quick to laugh and get excited. We have so enjoyed this last year getting to know you and thank the Lord everyday for sending you to us. You are starting to take a few steps and it will be any day now before you just take off. You are a mess maker and absolutely love to open drawers and empty them out. You are a very picky eater and have no problem shaking your head furiously at me when you do not want to try something. You are a terrible sleeper and I am often a zombie in the mornings because of you but you're too cute for me to care too much. You love to snuggle and would prefer mom or dad to carry you around all day long. You have started to pick up on the sign language we are teaching you and can, on your own, do the signs for thank you, more, and finished. You absolutely adore your sister Ava and are constantly trying to join her in her play which usually results in some form of complaint from her for something you "took, knocked over, messed up, etc." But she also gets quite a thrill over making you shriek with laughter. I love spending my days with you and hope the coming years are as enjoyable as this past one. Happy Birthday Charlie girl!

Christmas

2010-12-30T20:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas came with a whole lot of craziness this year. We closed on our new house just four days before Christmas and only found out that we were for sure closing a couple days before that. So it was filled with moving boxes, moving boxes and more moving boxes. We got the big stuff into our new house the day before Christmas Eve and Rob went over the night before and set up a Christmas tree. Ava was thrilled because I had calmed her previous concerns about Santa not finding us by telling her that Santa can find anyone that puts up a Christmas tree. So amidst half unpacked boxes and completely bare bedrooms we had our first Christmas in what hopes to be our home for the long haul.

Ava spent much of the moving days playing in this "secret closet" under the stairs.

Ava's first gingerbread house

Ornaments: shiny AND tasty!

Sewing on Christmas Eve. Procrastinator!

Rob was on wrapping duty

I realized I have no pictures of Charlotte unwrapping presents because she was not very interested in the whole process. We did take video but no pictures. Guess that's what happens with number two, poor thing.

Santa Claus

2010-12-20T20:14:00.000-08:00

Ava's preschool had Santa come in one morning before school started so I took the girls for a visit. Charlotte got plopped in Santa's lap and Ava stood as close as I could get her. Both acted a little like I was putting them near the boogeyman but I got pictures anyway.

I'm not sure what Santa said but apparently it didn't please Ava

Ava's Letter to Santa

2010-12-01T14:45:00.000-08:00

(Dictated by Ava. Written by Mom.)

Dear Santa-
I want a real doggy. And a pillow pet. I've been a good girl. I love crayons. I love pink, yellow & purple. You have to be reverent. I've been loud a little bit. I want two stuffed animals. I want Charlotte to have a real new baby that makes noise and jumps.
From
Ava

Dear Santa-
Ava wants a dog and I want a maid. I fear we are both going to be disappointed. Ava would like a pilow pet of the lady bug variety. I would like a pillow of the magic variety that allows me to wake refreshed and energized every morning despite the fact that my sleep was interrupted 12 times between 10 pm and 7 am. Ava loves crayons. Can you get her the kind that scrubs easily off grout. And walls. And clothing. And do they make stuffed animals that sing children to sleep? If so, I'll take two of those. And how about a machine that folds and puts away laundry. With all the advances made in toys over the years you'd think your elves could figure that one out. All the best. I'll put out extra cookies for the reindeer.
From
Abby

Mary who?

2010-11-23T11:18:00.000-08:00

Some friends of ours sent us this Christmas card this week:

When Ava picked it up off the counter she said "Mom look at this picture. Soooooo cute." I said "That's Mary." To which she replied "But mom, Mary had a little lamb." Hmmmmmm different Mary.

These guys love each other...............................

2010-11-03T07:45:00.000-07:00

And I love that!

We did stuff this summer: Happy Birthday to Rob!

2010-11-01T07:37:00.000-07:00

Rob turned 33 this year! We celebrated. Ava picked out a huge card for him and a few presents. In her own words "I got him a jump rope because he likes to exercise, a shark because he likes to watch sharks on t.v. and a football because he likes football and watching football on t.v."

The giant card Ava gave Daddy

Ava's presents

Twins?

2010-10-30T12:36:00.000-07:00

No way! They look completely different to me.

We did stuff this summer: The Big Apple (ridiculous amount of pics)

2010-10-29T12:29:00.000-07:00

Every year in August, Rob gets asked by the firm to go out and recruit at Columbia. We decided to make it a tradition to go with him and make sure that we get at least one trip a year to NYC because we love NYC. Lucky for us, this time when we went, our friends The Harrisons had just moved there for work so we were able to spend time with them and their cutie pie daughter. We also watched an outdoor movie with the Hudson river as the backdrop and my friend Monica watched the girls one morning so I could spend some time alone in Chinatown and trek down to Rice to Riches, my favorite treat place ever!

At Riverflicks

Waiting for the movie to start

Ava admiring the view from our hotel window

Ava admiring the morning view from our window

Street Fair!!! One of my favorite things about NYC

Brooklyn Bridge

B. Bridge

Ava at the new imagination playground.

Building away

Don't mess with me, I'm busy

Her creation

Ava and Elle at the Museum of Natural History

The water park above the museum

C enjoying the water park too

Poop discovery as we tried to get family pics where Rob and I took our engagement photos

Take one

Take two (the couple on the left does not belong to us)

Bathtime after playing in the mud at Central Park

Elle loves Rob

Staten Island Ferry (see the Statue in the background)

Ava loved the subway

Children's museum of Manhattan

Dad and Charlie at the museum

Ava with Alfie the Dragon

Ava dancing with the alien at Mars 2112

The alien flirting with Rob

Charlie and the alien

Times Square

Both girls pooped out after a long, fabulous trip

Sleep

2010-10-28T07:49:00.000-07:00

For the last 9 months I haven't gotten much of it. And since Charlie sleeps in our room, neither has Rob. And up until a week or so ago, this is the only way Charlotte would sleep much:

In my arms............

Or lying right next to me (the binky on her face is optional)

But we've been given a Christmas miracle. Rob decided it was time to put Charlie in a pack n play in the closet. (We have a big walk-in closet so nobody call CPS) The first couple nights all that meant was that I had to actually get out of bed three times a night to feed her instead of just feeding her lying next to me in bed. But on the third night something magical happened. She only woke up once! And I got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep. Folks, it was incredible. I was practically a new woman. And you know what the best part is? It has continued. She now will go to sleep around 7:30, wake up to eat around 10 and then only once more at night. AND she is taking real naps! Some of you may think I am being way to excited about this but literally before this the girl would take 20 minute naps and would wake up 3 to 4 times between 7:30 and 11 pm and at least 3 times after until morning. It's only been a week and a half but let's all cross our fingers that this is not just a phase............or that the phase lasts for a very long time.

We did stuff this summer: hop scotch, swimming, waffles & VBS

2010-10-27T19:36:00.000-07:00

Ava somehow came up with the idea that she needed to make a "hopscotch chart." I think she saw it on tv somewhere. So one day this summer when the weather was bearable we made a hopscotch chart and she was thrilled. There was also a lot of swimming this summer though not as much as we would have liked in our own pool. Another big thing for Ava this summer was Vacation Bible School. She loved it! We sent her to VBS at her future preschool but have since ended up changing preschools but nonetheless she thought it was fantastic and everyday got up talking about 'cation Bible school.'

Ava and my hop scotch

Hopscotching

You think she likes the pool?

A.J. with her water barbie

The girls

I like to eat eat eat waffles for breakfast (actually I just chew on them frozen for teething)

Ava on her way to "Hero Headquarters" vacation Bible school

We did stuff this summer: Idaho Cabin

2010-10-14T18:27:00.000-07:00

Every year it is tradition to go with all my brothers and sisters and parents (and a family thats thats only related to my older sister but we claim them nonetheless) to our cabin in the beautiful Sawtooth mountains in Idaho. This year was no exception and Ava was thrilled everyday to be surrounded by her cousins. It has also become tradition for Rob to go on a man-trip with some old law school buddies during the first few days of the cabin. This year they went to Vancouver and then he flew to Boise to enjoy the rest of the cabin. The final tradition that we took part in was Ava leaving the beach with her face looking like a dirt clod sneezed on her. I don't have a picture because those are on my sisters camera and she hasn't uploaded her pictures to our Picasa site yet. Yeah, it's October and yes the cabin was in July. Tara, get on it already! But then again maybe if I had remembered my own camera at the beach I wouldn't have this problem. Sheesh! Anyway, this year the girls and I were there a couple days early so we were able to see my grandparents. They usually come to the cabin for a day but weren't able to this year because my gramps had just had a really bad fall. The girls were thrilled to get to see them.

Ava plays Barbies with Alexis

Ava plays Barbies with GG

Charlotte plays with Grandpa GG

Add caption

Classic GG pose although usually its her hand hiding her face!

I used to always get these donuts from Arts in the park so my mom bought them from AITP the weekend before I came and froze them for me. How cute is that?

Ava playing peek-a-boo with her cousins

Playing ghostez (ghosts)

More ghostez

There were only 3 kids books at the cabin, my sister found them in her camper and Ava had everyone read them to her several times. Here's poppy taking his turn.

Daren looking for a place to hike

Charlie being Charlie

My funny nephew Jackson

My cute sister Breea who told us while we were there that she's expecting! Yay!

Something in the boat needed sewed. It was too heavy to come in the cabin. So the sewing machine went to it.

Peek - a - boo

More peek-a-boo

Ava being so annoyed at Uncle Brian for sitting in Charlottes pool

Charlie enjoying the beach with Aunt Tara

Da beach

One of the many breathtaking views up there

Mellonee, Jace and "Aunt" Tammy

Ava chillin on the tube with kyle and jackson

Brad with his funky mustache

My cute sisters and my cute niece

Jace trying to avoid the camera

Ava on the tube with Aunt Tara and aunt Tammy

Rob

Ava loves the sand

More playing in the sand

"Mom what's with all the pictures?"

Throwing sand in the water

My Dad is a counterfeiter! Everyone got poppy bucks at the beginning of the cabin to spend later in the week at an auction. You could earn poppy bucks for doing good things and pay them to people who did stuff for you.

Moon Sand. Ava paid 37 poppy bucks for it!

Daddy and C hangin on the couch

Daddy's turn to read the books

Charlie hangin out with Grandma Kathee

Get a room!

Charlie playing with Daddy

Blakers trying to hide from me

We did stuff this summer: Ava turns 3!

2010-10-03T13:08:00.000-07:00

Ava opening her presents birthday morning

So since it's been about 5 years since the last time I posted I realize that many of you probably think that we have done nothing worthy of posting. Oh not true my friends, we have done plenty. In fact, I could claim that we've been so busy doing so much blog-worthy stuff that I haven't had time to post. But that would be a lie. The real reason is that I'm too lazy, or I start and then blogger does something stupid to make me really mad and I slam the computer shut, or both. Anyway, so I'm starting a series of posts to let you know that yes, we did indeed do stuff this summer. Part one is Ava's birthday. It happened. We celebrated. The celebration included Dora. I may or may not have spent an obscene amount of time planning and getting ready for a party that was over in 30 minutes and I may or may not have sworn off all future celebrations of birth (except my own of course. I'm writing up a wish list as we speak.) Anyway, back to the Dora party. It was a hit; the girls and Ava loved it and that's what matters.

Ava opening her dress-up box. She loved and continues to love it.

The Dora backpacks I made for all the girls complete with map.

The map. Candy Cave, Bubble Forest, Rainbow Bridge, Fishing Pond and that's where you'll find Swiper with the cake.

Ava helping me paint the planks for the rainbow bridge

Ava very excited to get her backpack and head to the Candy Cave.

The other girls equally as excited

Entering Candy Cave

A look inside the cave. Use your flashlight to find the candy.

Off to the bubble forest. Pop a bubble to find a prize inside. (white balloons=bubbles too)

Found out the troll was hiding under the bridge and would only let us across if we put the bridge back together.

Ava finishing the bridge

Ava crossing the bridge

Ava gets her special wand for crossing the bridge

Ava's cute friend Emma being cute

The Fishing Pond. Is this the best game ever when you're a kid? Yes!

Ava sporting a prize from the fishing pond

Her cute friend sporting equally cool shades

The Cake: Ava got to choose the saying so it said "Ava's special Day"

Make a wish!

Cutie patooties!

Somebody likes frosting

What keeps me up at night

2010-09-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

THIS:

AND THIS:

I fell in love with this table the last time I was at World Market and I seriously can't get over it. The picture doesn't do it justice. It is beautiful! And it comes with a bench which gives me nostalgia for the table of my childhood. If only I could get it out of my dreams and into my house. One day...............

The Holy Ghost has a sense of humor

2010-09-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

I am not sure who taught the nursery lesson yesterday but I just have to say job well done. Ava could not stop talking about the Holy Ghost yesterday and even today. We had to sing the "Holy Ghost song" several times throughout the day. And then she says "mom if you're really quiet, then you listen and the Holy Ghost will tell you something." Then randomly throughout the day she would stop me and say "Shhhh mom I'm trying to hear the Holy Ghost. We have to turn the lights down." Last night I was sitting on the floor and she passed by me carrying a chair and accidentally hit me with it. I asked her to please be careful because she hit me and it hurt and she says "hold on mom, the Holy Ghost is telling me something. Oh okay. Mom the Holy Ghost says I shouldn't hit you. I'm sorry." She also told me the Holy Ghost told her she should be nice to her sister. (Maybe she'll listen to him because I tell her that everyday.) Then this morning we were in the garage and she kept making this sound with her mouth like "huh-ee huh-ee huh-ee" and then she'd laugh. When I looked over at her she said "Mom, when I make that noise, the Holy Ghost thinks its funny and laughs." She has been cracking me up and also making me smile at the same time with her sweet innocence. Her, the Holy Ghost, Heavenly Father and Jesus are buddies. She even told me tonight that she was so glad Heavenly Father put that special stool in her bathroom so kids could get up and see. And its not unusual for her to tell me when we're out and about "Mom I'm gonna tell Jesus to make the sun go away because I'm so hot." And with the faith of a child, it would probably happen.

Lost my funny

2010-07-27T21:13:00.001-07:00

We just got back from the week we spend every year at my parents cabin (pictures to come) and while we were there my sister Tara was checking blogs of our cousins and she said "I'd check my sisters blog except she doesn't ever post. (I would be the sister to which she was referring)" Then she turned to me and said "you used to be funny....." Me: Used to be? But I'm not anymore? Her: but then you stopped blogging. So here is my public declaration that I'm on the hunt to find my funny and get my butt back on here to blog................................I think I'll start tomorrow.

Ava spells

2010-06-24T15:59:00.000-07:00

The other day Ava and I were playing with her alphabet letters. She is always putting random letters together and then asking me what it says. She'll put 'q', 'p', and 'r' side by side and say "mommy what does that say?" So I was helping her spell things and I said "Let's spell Oklahoma for dad" So we did and we showed it to Rob when he came in the room. While Rob went to get breakfast, Ava added her own letters below Oklahoma and excitedly ran to Rob "Daddy, look what else I spelled!" Hmmmm, not sure what we should think.

Her first dip/dunk

2010-06-19T09:46:00.000-07:00

First, of course is the fashion show to model for you her new swim duds. (Thanks Amanda)

Ava practiced her kicks while.............

Charlotte chilled and relaxed....................until

Someone blew in her face and dunked her under water...........................

She liked it....................I think.

Priceless moments for a mom

2010-06-18T09:41:00.000-07:00

when dad unsuspectingly picks up crying baby from the swing only to find out the hard way why baby is crying. And like any good mom would, before helping dad out of this "messy" situation, she grabs the camera to document priceless moment.

It rained

2010-06-17T09:17:00.000-07:00

and Ava wanted to play in it. She's had this raincoat since before she was born (thanks Grandma Kathee) and its about time to retire it. The boots and umbrella had yet to be used to sing in the rain and so this was the day. As you can see, she enjoyed herself...........

And then the rain had stopped so she decided to spend some time in the sandbox sans umbrella. And, as happens often here in Texas, the rain began again suddenly with no warning

Some things we've been up to

2010-06-15T19:09:00.000-07:00

Hanging out in tupperwares while mom gives Ava a bath................................

Going to a concert in the park with dad's work

Learning to blow bubbles with our mouth when we get angry..............

Getting a bath (she really likes it more than it looks in this picture)

Swimming in the pool with panda

Modeling our fancy new princess bathing suit..................................

Playing with the wedding bear that Ava so generously shared......................

Fussing because we can't get the bow off our face (but what a cute bow)

Hanging out with the Roberts clan in St. George

Drinking out of the sprinkler that we're supposed to be playing in

Memorial Day

2010-06-14T18:48:00.000-07:00

We had a great Memorial Day. My cousinshusband is stationed in San Angelo for a little while so they drove up to see us over the long weekend. We got to meet their son Griffith which we have been looking forward to for awhile now. We just relaxed. The boys went golfing, the girls went shopping. We took the kiddos swimming and we all ate some good food. Ava was excited about a baby that actually played with her and she was obsessed with wanting to feed him.

Group pic of the cousins. Obviously Charlotte was thrilled!

Ava with her "Aunt" Dacia

Dacia and Griff enjoying the pool

Can you tell he liked the water?

Griff swimming with his daddy.

I need to be more obedient

2010-06-03T21:42:00.001-07:00

Tonight I was reading Ava a scripture story before bed. It was the story of Naaman and Elisha. You know, the one where Elisha tells Naaman to wash in the river Jordan seven times and his leprosy will be cured and Naaman doubts that it will work so almost doesn't do it but in the end follows the Prophets' advice and is healed. I ended the story by saying "And Namman listened to the Prophet and was blessed." To which Ava responded "He did." I said "Yep. And he was healed. Isn't that great?" Ava then got a concerned look on her face, pointed to some freckles on my arm and said "But Mom, you still have a little leprosy."

What's been going on

2010-05-13T20:05:00.000-07:00

As usual it has been awhile since I have posted so here's a picture post of things we've been doing.

Snuggling with our sister.................who can help it when she's this cute?

Trying to wear our favorite rainboots to church

Sporting our cute hair to church.......courtesy of sponge rollers.

Falling asleep in our church clothes

Being artistic with friends

Some more sleeping while raising the roof

Trying to get mom to let us have a sleepover............looks like there wouldn't be much sleep!

Planting our version of a garden including cherry tomatoes that we germinated inside and then promptly killed by moving them outside too soon

Enjoying some snuggle time with dad

A phone call to Heaven

2010-04-20T22:57:00.000-07:00

Today Ava walked past me with her little toy phone and we had the following conversation:

Ava: Mom I'm about to make an important phone call so you need to be quiet. (I wonder where she's heard that before.....lol)
Me: Okay I'll be quiet
Ava: You have to be quiet while I call Jesus.
Me: But Ava you know how we really talk to Jesus right? Do we call him on the phone?
Ava: Yep. Now mom, shhhhhhhh. Hello? Jesus? How are you? Are you doing great?! What?
(Ava now holds her hand over the phone and turns to me)
Ava: Mom! Jesus has an elephant, it's a baby one! He telled me that.
(Holds the phone up to her ear again)
Ava: Mom! He has a giraffe too!
Me: Yep Ava, Jesus has lots of animals.
Ava: (turning back to the phone) Jesus? Hello? Mom, Jesus hanged up on me. I'm gonna have to call him back.
(Ava pushes buttons on the phone (apparently she has His direct number)
Ava: Hello Jesus. What? What? Uh-huh. Oh. Okay I'll talk to you later.
(turns to me)
Ava: Mom, Jesus had to go. Cuz he has to take care of a baby.

Lately.............

2010-04-07T19:29:00.000-07:00

we've had a lot of these in our house. Maybe it's the new baby. Either way it's not pretty. Although when she saw me snapping pictures Ava momentarily stopped crying and said "Can I see?"

Spring has sprung

2010-04-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

Ava got some gardening tools for Easter and a little snap dragon from Lowe's about a week ago and we finally got around to planting it today despite the 75 mph wind! She was thrilled. She got the watering can a couple months ago and has been obsessed with watering things ever since. A few days ago I told her she could water the plant next to the fireplace and she either didn't listen or was being mischevious and I caught her watering the rocks in our gas fireplace. They'll dry right?

Some "friend"ly advice

2010-04-04T14:27:00.000-07:00

When choosing friends, you should try to look for people with amazing talents, befriend them and then use their talents to your advantage as much as possible in the name of friendship. Case in point: our third year of the most adorable Easter pics with live ducks and bunnies. It's fun to think about the progression Ava has had. Year 1: cried whenever any part of her body touched the astro-turf and wasn't sure what she thought about the animals. Year 2: Tolerated/liked the animals and willingly gave smiles. Year 3: Well, see for yourself.

Even Charlotte got in on the action.

Puppies and Crocodiles

2010-03-30T17:20:00.000-07:00

Ava: Mom theres crocodiles in your closet.
Me: There r?
Ava: Yes. But the crocodiles r retend (pretend).
(Ava comes out of my bedroom dragging two of my belts)
Me: Ava put those belts back in my closet.
Ava: They're not belts they're my puppies.
Me: K put the puppies back in my closet.
Ava: But the puppies are scared of the crocodiles.
Me: But u said the crocodiles are pretend.
Ava: No they're real.

A new mommy

2010-03-04T18:00:00.001-08:00

Me: Ava you have a good daddy. Do you like him or should we trade him in for a new one?
Ava: New one.
Me: Why do you want a new one?
Ava: No lets keep him and get a new mommy.
Me: You want a new mommy?
Ava: Uh-huh
Me: Why do you want a new mommy? Tell me what I should do to be a better mommy.
Ava (emphatically): Clean up this house!!!!!!!!

I'll admit it, my housekeeping has suffered with the addition of a new baby but its gotta be pretty bad if my toddler, the queen of messes, has noticed.

Sisters

2010-02-15T19:04:00.000-08:00

No words needed...........okay, one word: CUTE!!!