Beautiful Day

Today was an absolutely beautiful day, I believe it was supposed to be close to eighty degrees.  So I decided to take the kids to the zoo, and I'm so glad that we did.  I had fun hanging out with my kiddos, and I know I say this all the time, but do I have the best job ever or what?  I wasn't locked inside a building, stuck at a desk but out enjoying three of the four most important people in my life.  

But anyways, the zoo.....

The Lions were very active today, we saw them running, wrestling and roaring at each other.

We took a train ride, here are Carter and Ava on the caboose.

Carter took this picture of me holding Doc.  Dawson ADORES trains right now. He was scared to get on the train but had a great time and didn't want to get off.  

After we got off the train, we had to watch the train and wave to everyone on it for a long time.

At home this evening all the kids were excitedly trying to tell Mike what they saw at the zoo.  Dawson refused to let us talk about anything else but the train ride.  Ava would start talking about the flamingos or penguins but Dawson would start yelling "CHOO CHOO, WHEELS, PEOPLE, BABY JUICE, WAVE PEOPLE ALL ABOARD."  

Then Carter would start telling about the lions or tigers and Dawson would yell "CHOO CHOO, WAVE, WHEELS, ALL ABOARD!"  I took a video of our dinner time conversation, and I hope that I can figure out a way to upload it.  This is the first time our third child had commandeered the conversation away from big brother and big sister.  LOVES trains.

As soon as I asked Ava this morning what she wanted to wear, she immediately replied "My Flamingo outfit."

It was a fun, wonderful, busy day.

Thank you!

Thank you Uncle Jason and Aunt Tiffany {slinky and Andrew too!} for the Halloween goodies.  

{And yes, Ava has been wearing this spiderman costume for two days straight.  Thank you 50% off sale at the kids consignment shop!}

My Lunch Date and Heard around the House

My Lunch Date with Spiderman, Optimus Prime and Dawson

Heard around the House:

Carter in a singsong voice:  Ava, Ava you are my little love

Ava in a singsong voice:  I love you too, my love

Carter out of the blue while we are driving in the car:  I just want to be a soccer player so I can run as fast as a motorcycle or race car.

Fall Fun

During Andrew's baby shower we spent some time playing in the leaves.

Mike said he felt like an Eddie Bauer model.

Princess dresses play in the leaves as well.

Happy Dirty Birthday!

Today my very best friend turns 30!

Happy Birthday Aunt Margie!

I'm so proud of all the hard work you are doing in school and in raising two great kids.  

We love you guys so much, and only wished that you lived closer.

I know that you were studying today, but hopefully you'll have some fun too.

Andrew's Baby Shower

This weekend we went to Uncle Jason and Aunt Tiffany's baby shower.  It was a family baby shower, so everyone was invited.  We had a wonderful time playing games, jumping in leaves and celebrating.  Here are some pictures from the shower:  

Are you surprised that Ava chose to wear a big fancy dress to the shower?

Dawson drank a lot of WATER at the shower.  He was very thirsty.

Baby Andrew received many gifts, but his favorite was the beautiful shirt from Uncle Mike.  {This is Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Jason laughing when they opened it up.}

Here is the onesie with Mike's picture on it:

The Most Interesting Uncle in the World

On the back:

When he was born, the doctors called the publishers at Guinness World Records

.......sleeping like a baby was his idea.

........babies request his smooth adult skin.

......the oldest child is always first.

.......babies use their grown-up voice for him.

I don't always play with babies,

but when I do, they love me.

That Mike, always the jokester. 

Of course there was plenty of balloon throwing to go around.  

Carter was so proud that he won the game "Feed the Baby."

He was on the porch for quite some time using a spoon to fling tiny wiffle golf balls at a cornhole board.

Congratulations Aunt Tiffany and Uncle Jason!

We can't wait to meet baby Andrew!

3 and a Half!

Our Little Miss Avaroo,

 You are now three and a half!  I can't believe what a wonderful little girl you are growing up to be.  You are smart, goofy, kind, cuddly and it goes without saying beautiful.  I thank God for having you in my life! 

You LOVE to dress up and play with your barbies or dolls but you also love to play batman with Carter.  You love to have your hair done, wear big poufy dresses and paint your fingernails with sparkly nail polish but digging in the dirt with your big brother can happily occupy you for a long time.

You have learned so many new things since you turned three.  You are able to write your name Ava, although you will occasionally reverse the lower and upper case A's.  You are counting into the thirties, and recognize your letters and most letter sounds.  The last time I checked there were just a few letter sounds that you still had difficulty with including h/f/l.  For some reason the difference between circles and ovals can confuse you, but we are working on it. 

Instead of preschool you are involved in different activities including Sunday School at Church, weekly story times at the library, tiny tracks {a literacy program at the YMCA} and ballet class.  The library also had a month long session of kindermusik which you really enjoyed.

See what I mean about goofy?

I gave you both some monster eye stickers to play with and I went to make dinner.  You were the first to decide that multiple eyeballs were in order.

You have been talking non stop about cutting your hair short {shoulder length} like Riley's.  Today I took you to get it cut and you changed your mind and said "just cut a little."

We love you so much Avaroo.  You are our dream come true.  

Hey I rhymed!

But I really do mean it with all my heart.

Mommy and Daddy