Boat Baby on Memorial Day weekend

Daddy and Aubrey

The boys and Aubrey

Liz and her mini me Clara

Jill and Nathan

Andrew's face cracked me up.....just not sure about the water!

Becky

Aubrey had her first boat experience. Besides not initially liking the life jacket, she is quite the water baby. She even got in the water for a swim with daddy! I was nervous, but she seemed to love it! We went with some friends and had a great time! Ava spent the night with Harmony and Pepaw getting lots of one-on-one time.

Giants of the Savannah!

We took our first family zoo trip this year with the Bowden Family. The Dallas Zoo had their grand opening of the Giants of the Savannah. It was filled with a 4 acre elephant exhibit and giraffes that you can feed! We had a great time, but it was HOT.

Daddy and Ava on the Merry Go Round!

Aubrey's first time to the zoo!

Ava and Madison

Sweet friends holding hands....they walked most of the zoo this way! So sweet! Lillian, Madison & Ava!

Alligator ride!

Mommy and Ava; Kimberly and Madison. Showing the girls the Ostriches.

Friends!

The girls playing in the creek!

Ava "listening" to the sea from a shell.

Aubrey getting a better view of the animals

Daddy's Girl

Ava is quite the daddy's girl. If we are having a normal husband/wife discussion she will often say to me "mommy, you have to be quiet; you can't talk to daddy like that." What in the world? Where does she get this stuff? She has never said this same statement to daddy to defend mommy. Which brings me to today.
Anthony and I were working out on the stability balls. We have two of them. One is larger, which is the one I was working on, and one is smaller. I got up to do something and when I turned around, daddy had got my ball. I asked him "What are you doing?" with a smile (the bigger ball fits our height better, so we both prefer it). Ava replied "You have to share your ball with daddy. You can have the white ball, mommy (the smaller one). We all have to share our toys."

What do you say to that? I grinned at daddy and said to Ava, "you are absolutely right!" Who needs boys to balance out the house? I have a feeling I am in for it! I better work on Aubrey now to craft her to be a mommy's girl. But if not, that's okay. The fact that shes a daddy's girl actually makes my heart smile. After all, I was the first "girl" who fell for him, so I understand why she feels this way!

First swim of the summer!

Today we went "swimming" in Ava's new pool that she got from Harmony and Pepaw for her birthday. Baby sis tried it out, too! They had a great time playing together! They had their matching bathing suits on which is so cute......gotta love sisterhood!

Sometimes You Just Need a Nap.......

Anywhere you can get one!

The Sunshine State

I recently took a small trip to Florida for a 3 day conference for work with my girl Cindy. This is the very first time I have ever left the kiddos while Anthony took care of them. Can you say weird? It was so odd going to bed without giving baths, feeding little ones, and bedtime stories. I got up in the morning, did not have to prepare any meals, worked out, went to the pool and even had a massage. It was like a mini vacation even though we were at conference learning about the best practices of patient safety across the nation. Dr. Sutker, Cindy and I took a trip to downtown Disney to get goodies for our kiddos and grandkids. I was so excited because I have never been! Disney was for rich people in my eyes, and growing up, we were not rich!  I couldn't help but think how I could not wait to take our sweet girls there with Anthony. Every turn, I was thinking how much Ava would love this and that. This is the only picture that I took the entire trip. It is me and Cin in downtown Disney. Funny how when it comes to your kids you take a million pictures, but when it is something for you, you take ONE!

When I got home, I told Ava that I went to Mickey's house and he asked me to give her this toy......several Disney characters that she could play with! She was so excited and kept asking me if one day we could go to Mickey's house! Aubrey got a cute Minnie Mouse onesie with a tutu on it that says "Twinkle Toes".  It was fun getting away, but I LOVE coming home to my family.

Mommy Panic Moment

Everyone dreads that moment, you know the one where you panic because you feel like you don't have control of a situation. Well, God granted me my first mommy panic moment. Aubrey was playing in her exesaucer while Ava was playing with her "snake" she made in school. I thought this would be a perfect opportunity to clean the back porch while I talked with my mom on the phone. Wow, I thought, I get to get a chore done and have a conversation! As I finished hosing down the patio, Aubrey started the early cry. This is the pre-cry if you will. As long as I tend to her, she will be fine. If not, the full fledged for real cry would happen. I opened the door to head in to get her only the door wouldn't open. So I pushed a little harder. Um nothing happened. I kicked the door. Nothing happened. Yes, I was officially locked out of my house. I flashed back to 10 minutes earlier when Ava came to the french doors and gleefully waved at me while I was hosing down the patio. That sweet little grin was accompanied by a turn of the lock. I didn't panic. I have handled medical emergencies, surely I could handle a locked door. My mom was starting to panic. I said, "let me open the garage and see if I locked the door to the house." I opened the garage door and attempted to open the door to the house. Ummm locked. Okay, I officially started to panic. I walked to the back patio to hear Aubrey's pre-cry turn into a full fledged wail. Ava is no where to be found. I started thinking the worse.....what if she fell down the stairs, or got into the water? OMG. I walked to the front door and rang the doorbell. Ava appeared at the top of the stairs and I motioned for her to come down. She arrived at the front door. I told her to go to the living room to open the back door and she headed that way. As I arrived to the back door, I heard cries from Aubrey and saw big ole crocodile tears streaming down her face. Ava was not there. Suddenly, I saw Ava walk the hallway to the bathroom. I yelled, "Ava, come unlock the door." She ran to the living room and yelled "No, I have to go poo-poo".  GREAT! 5 minutes passed. I went outside the bathroom window imagining Ava playing in the toilet or the sink. "Ava", I yelled. She replied "I'm in here." I asked her to go to the back door. She replied "No, I'm in here." Somewhere in the process I called my husband to come home. He was on his way. Meanwhile, Aubrey is wailing away. I called the house and left messages on the answering machine about how Ava needs to come to the back door as I have a special treat for her. I was hoping the machine would act as a megaphone and she would come running to the door. Nothing. After about 10 minutes of running back and forth to the bathroom window to check if Ava was okay to the back door, Ava arrives in the living room. She has dressed herself with both of her legs in one pant hole of her shorts. It looks more like a mini skirt than shorts. I also see some poo-poo on the back of her shorts. Oh no, I thought. She begins to dance. I ask her to open the door. She replies "No, I don't want to" with a toddler attitude. Ummm, I can really do with the tude right now. "Ava, Gigi is on the phone, do you want to talk to her." Ava replies "no", again with a toddler tude. Ummmm, no she didn't. "Ava, Momma wants to show you this pretty bird." "NO, I don't want to." I feel my blood pressure rising.
"Ava open this door right now or you will be in trouble!" "I don't want to get in trouble, NO!" Finally I kneeled down to her level and said "Ava, Mommy is stuck. I need your help. Can you help me open the door?" Ava began to turn the handle and finally "click" the door unlocked. As I opened the door she stepped back. I'm pretty sure she thought she was going to get in trouble. I gave her a big hug and told her how proud I was of her that she is Mommy's big helper! After rescuing Aubrey from her trauma, I decided it was time to check the bathroom. A soiled pull-up 3 times its normal size is in the toilet, luckily with no attempt to flush it. Poo-poo is on the floor, luckily in a small amount. Ava is commando under her soiled shorts/mini skirt, but very proud of her independence! I felt like I needed a stiff drink as my stress level was reaching capacity, but staring at her soiled mini skirt and soiled bathroom, I had to giggle at the moment. I could do that since I was finally in my house. Thank you Jesus for letting her open the door!

I have some pictures of her mini skirt and a reenactment of unlocking the door! Lessons Learned: put a spare key somewhere and never underestimate the skill of a three year old!

Her shorts are now a mini skirt!

My hero!

Aubrey happy again after some mommy love!

A photographic Journal...............Happy 3rd Birthday, Ava!

Ava Leigh......3 years ago, God brought you into our lives and as the saying goes, we will never be the same. You are everything good that this world can bring. You have brought an entire new dimension of joy and love into our lives! I feel so privileged and honored to be your momma! Thank you Lord for my greatest task at hand!

Since I did not blog earlier, I want to share some moments that I will always cherish with our Ava Leigh over the last year. One of my favorite things she said until a couple of months ago was say "hold you" when she wanted us to hold her! I almost wish I didn't teach her proper english as it was so endearing when she said it. Warning: Lots of pictures....but like all proud mommas, I have so many favorites! I did manage to skip Christmas and her birthday as there were way too many to choose from!  Enjoy!
Boat Baby!

Fun at the spray park!First cake baking & tasting with mommy!First movie!First time at Fossil Rim!First train ride in East Texas!First pig tails!First night in her big girl bed!First day of "school" aka MDO!

Sitting pretty at church!

Pumpkin Patch 2009

Daddy's ballerina-school Halloween party!First pumpkin carving!First big sister kiss!

First time teaching sister the ropes!Lounging with momma!First Princess Party!

First sister bath!First performance-Rudolph the Rednose Reindeer!

First time baking cookies for Santa!First make-up application!First time playing dress up with Mr. Bay (notice the panties on her neck.....she LOVES to do this!)

I love all of the "firsts" and look forward to experiencing many more with our girls! Ava, my greatest hope for you is that you will fully know that you are a princess of the Highest King.......and that alone will always be enough! May you love Him with all your heart all your life! Happy Birthday Ava Leigh!