Picture Perfect?

Take One

Ava: I'm watching Scooby Doo. I don't won't to take a picture.

Aubrey: Cheese?

Take Two

Ava: Okay, I will look at the camera, but I won't take my fingers out of my mouth.

Aubrey: What is Sissy doing?

Take Three

Ava: What is Scooby Doo doing?

Aubrey: What is momma doing?

Take Four

Ava: Cheese, and this is the most I'm going to remove my fingers out of my mouth for you.

Aubrey: Cheese!

Last Take

Ava: Not pictured.....she is officially done with pictures at the moment.

Aubrey: I LOVE the camera!

Who let the dogs out?

Again, the things that Ava says crack us up!
Today we went "exploring" around our land which is one of favorite things to do. We walked to the front of the road and the neighbors 4 dogs came running up to their fence line barking. Ava asked to go pet them. Anthony and I saw this to be a teachable moment. We explained that not all dogs are nice and that she should ask an adult before petting dogs she doesn't know.

Ava's reply (yelling and pointing at the dogs) "leave my mommy and daddy alone" she than began to growl at the dogs. Seriously, where does she come up with this stuff?

Potty Party!

Last weekend I decided to try the dreaded potty training again while Anthony was out of town hunting. Instead of doing the rigid routine that I tried before, I decided to keep it simple this time. I put Ava in panties and let her have a couple of accidents. I explained to her that when she needs to go pee-pee she needs to go to the potty. We purchased a "froggy potty" at her request as she saw that this is what her friend Alex used. After a few accidents the first day, and a couple on day two, by george she got it! NO pee-pee accidents by the end of day two!!!!! I did bribe her with little animals from Target that she loves to play with. I put them in the "surprise" bag and let her close her eyes and pick out one each time she went into the potty. She has an entire zoo now! I am a firm believer to just wait until they are ready.....and its really no big deal!

To cap off her success, we celebrated with a "potty party" at Chuck-E-Cheese! She had never been there before and she LOVED it! The merry-go-round was her favorite. She rode it atleast 20 times. We told her that Chuck-E-Cheese made her  a special cheese pizza and she ate 2 1/2 pieces! This may not seem like a lot, but Ava is not a big eater......not even pizza! We also got her a chocolate cake that Chuck-E-Cheese delivered himself! GiGi came out to celebrate the big event and Aubrey had a blast watching all of the kids!

What a great day!

On our way to Chuck-E-Cheese.......cheesin!

On of the numerous times riding the merry go round!

Aubrey wanted to ride, too!

Riding with Chuck-E-Cheese!

Waiting on our chocolate cake.....

Sweetness.......she was so excited! The cake was hand delivered by Chuck-E-Cheese himself!

High five for a job well done! GiGi in the background celebrating!

Little Miss Sunshine

Aubrey Madeline is 5 months old! I call her my little miss sunshine because her face lights up everytime she smiles. Ava has become quite the baby sitter these days. She keeps Aubrey entertained with funny faces, noises and dances. This allows me to cook dinner or get some sort of chore done! Aubrey loves to watch her sister and laugh at her! It is so precious!  I can already tell that she will be imitating everything that her big sister does. Aubrey is playing in her exasaucer and jumper. She is more into toys and textures everyday. She can hold her bottle and sit up for a couple of seconds independently in a frog position. We started rice cereal and she is still trying to figure out how to manage it! She is a slobber baby......ususally using 2 bibs or so a day. She puts her fist in her mouth as well as anything else she can manage. She makes lots of noises and her most frequent sound in "guh". She plays on her tummy, but typically rolls over quickly. She is sitting in the upright stroller for strolls and loves to be outdoors.

Drool monster!

See what I mean? Pure SUNSHINE!

He Has Risen!

For Easter, I prepared our third annual Easter lunch. We had our parent's over for lunch to celebrate the holiday. The menu has basically been the same as it is my attempt to have an Easter tradition. Honey baked ham, deviled Eggs, Ma's red beans, cornbread muffins, mashed potatoes, strawberry salad and chocolate cake. I wish I would have taken a picture of the lunch table and the centerpiece that Ava created with her dyed Easter eggs. It was very pretty!
Instead of an Easter basket, we got Ava a butterfly kite! She was so excited to see her butterfly kite. The neighbor's horses were not so excited to see the kite. It spooked them everytime it took flight.

Ava is such a "big girl" these days......she wants to do everything by herself. Here is a conversation of what took place........
Ava: I want to fly the kite all by myself.

Mommy: Let daddy get the kite up in the air and then you can hold it.

Ava: It's my turn.

Mommy: Ava, isn't the kite so pretty? (trying to distract her)...what do you want to name your butterfly?

Ava: I want to name it "IT'S MY TURN!"

This made us all laugh! She is such a funny girl and I am always amazed at the things she says!

Getting ready to fly the kite!

Daddy and Papa getting the kite ready.....look at the excitement on her face!

Kite taking flight

It's the little things in life that bring the most joy!

I love this picture.....it captures the innocence of her.

Someone is crazy about her GiGi!

Easter nap...look at that cleft chin. And yes, daddy has this too!

 

I did not get any pictures of Harmony and Pepaw because Ava went upstairs to play after these were taken and Aubrey was a sleep. I wish I would have. At the end of afternoon, I asked Ava if she enjoyed celebrating Easter and the fact that Jesus rose from the grave. Ava held her hands up towards the heavens and sang the following "Thank you Lord...........for my kite and Easter baskeeetttt......" Yeah, I think she "gets" it!!!! Again, the things she says just crack me up!

Happy Easter!!! He has Risen!

Easter Festivities!

The day before Easter Ava and I spent the morning dying Easter eggs! Ava loves any art project! We used the eggs to create a centerpiece for our Easter lunch table.

After nap, we went with Ben, Nikki and Ethan to their neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt! Ava made out like a champ while Ethan and Aubrey watched all of the festivities! We tried to get some pics in the flowers, but Ava was not so much feeling it.......ditto for the family photo! Anthony captured some adorable pictures of baby Aubrey that I just LOVE!

Ava eating popcorn!

Aubrey trying to get popcorn!

Afterwards we went to church and met up with Jill & Cam. The kids were doing so well that we all went to Taco Cabana for dinner. It was a fun day with great friends!

Ava dancing and looking so pretty in her Easter dress!

School Easter Egg Hunt

Today Ava had her Mother's Day Out Easter egg hunt! She was so excited about this event. She is so much better at easter egg hunting this year. Gigi came out to watch the fun with our little bunny rabbit Aubrey!

Very excited to go Easter egg hunting!

I think Aubrey wants a bite!

Aubrey had her pictures taken today in her sweet baby legs! She looked so cute and I can't wait to see them!

The day ended with daddy, Ava and Aubrey swinging on our playground while I prepared dinner that we ate on the back patio! It was a beautiful day!

Ava is always looking at her daddy......the first man she's ever loved (and according to Anthony, the only man!)

Could they look more alike?