Pool Day!

The biggest perk of our new neighborhood?  The pool, of course!  We have been visiting the pool quite frequently this summer.  It has been fun to watch the kids blossoming in the water, Carter in particular has gotten much more brave.  Ava loves to kick and splash around, and with her floaties on she will swim to the deep end of the pool and back.  Dawson does not particularly enjoy the pool.  He will go in the baby pool, but it is not heated and I'm a wimp.  I usually encourage him to play near the big pool.  He sits and scoops water, sprinkles the pool with the watering can, and tries to use the squirt guns.

Walking down to the pool with our stroller loaded with towels, toys and lunch!

Dawson is wearing my sunglasses upside down.

Carter's latest pool trick:  He puts the ring into the water, then runs and jumps into it.  He dosen't need to wear his floaties because he is in the shallow end, so he goes all the way under.  Believe me, even a month ago this kid would not put his head into the water for anything, so this was a big deal.

Splash!

Big smile!  Proud of his accomplishment, as he should be!

Sleepless

This week Mike and I were heading up to bed while chatting, and all of a sudden Mike goes "Whoa."

I look up and realize that Miss Ava has fallen asleep in the middle of the hallway.

Silly girl.  What are we going to do with you?

Browns Training Camp

Carter boy visited Browns Training Camp this weekend with his Daddy and Grandbo.  Here are the pictures:

From my understanding, everyone had a good time.  The poor boy was so exhausted though, he wanted to go to bed as soon as he got home.  Which happened to be 6:30 in the evening.  I asked him "Hey Carter, how did it go?"  

His response was "fine, can I go to bed now?"

My Ava love

This week we were walking to the pool with Dawson in the stroller and the two big kids trailing behind me.  I was listening to their conversations with each other and Ava said the sweetest thing: "Carter, I like you.  You are my brother and you play with me.  That makes me happy."  Seriously melt my heart.

Ava is a walking, breathing depiction of the saying "kids grow up so fast."  Recently she has asked me when can she drive, have a cell phone that works, keys, and a bikini.  You are only three!  Slow down!  She is also such a quintessential girl, which I'm so glad to have in my life, but I must admit there are times that I praise God for only having one girl.  I really don't think that I could handle another!  This week we were walking out the door to go to a soccer game and she began bawling.  I scrambled to help her, but it turns out she was just upset because she didn't like her hair.  Another example: we were sitting at the breakfast table and I was reading a first words book to Dawson.  There was a picture of rain boots and she looked at it and started bawling.  What in the world could be wrong?  She was upset because she thought she lost her rainbow rain boots.  How could she go on without rainbow rain boots, oh the drama.  I had to explain that the rainbow rain boots do not fit her anymore, and I passed them on to her new baby cousin.  Thankfully, she was happy with this explanation as long as I promised to get her new rain boots. 

Today we went to the library and afterwards visited a park for a picnic lunch and to run off some energy.  At the library Ava had been waiting on the sequel to one of the chapter books we recently read her called The Sugar Plum Fairies.  Today the sequel arrived and she began looking at the pictures on the cover and told Carter "These are the Sugar Plum Fairies, they are best friends and they live in Harlem.  This is Brenda and Al."  Her memory shocks me at times.  I really didn't know how much she was absorbing and remembering, but I guess it was more than I thought! 

  

Our Week in Pictures {and stories too, of course}

My littlest helper.  Lately Dawson will get the broom out of the close and move the dirt around for me.  Thanks baby boy!  The necklace really sets off your pajama ensemble as well.

Ava has been a wonderful helper.  On this particular day I opened the dishwasher to begin unloading it and became distracted and walked away.  When I returned Ava had unloaded at least half of the dishwasher onto the island and was wiping all the water off the dishes.  Thank you so much!

This morning she also came to me and let me know that she had cleaned up her room without any help.  Sure enough, when I went to check her bedroom she had "made" her bed and put all her night time books away on the shelf.

Ava has also been very interested in cooking lately.  She loves to be kept busy stirring, measuring, dumping and cutting.   

This week Carter's soccer league has began at the YMCA.  He always looks forward to soccer nights.  On Monday I took the three kids to the field by myself because Mike was still suffering from the plague.  Carter was on the field and I was busy playing memory with Ava, scribbling with Dawson and reading books to both of them. I felt HORRIBLE when Carter came over and said "MOM, did you see me score a goal?"

No, I had not.  I wasn't paying a bit of attention, and Carter scored his first goal in a game.  I told him how great it was and how proud of him I was, and he really didn't care. 

On Wednesday Carter had soccer again, but this time Mike was feeling better and able to join us.  On the way to soccer we brought Carter's friend Danny because his sister was sick, and his Dad wasn't home from work yet.  Anyways, it was hilarious to hear Carter and Danny in the backseat having conversations with each other.  It began with Carter bragging about how he had learned to blow his nose, continued with both of the boys practicing blowing their nose and ended with a rhyme-off.  Hilarious.

After soccer on Wednesday we took the kids out for ice cream after soccer.  While Dawson loves ice cream at home, he will not eat it at the store.  We've tried it in a cone, in a bowl but either way, nope.  Finally we ate all the ice cream out of his cone and gave it to him, and then he decided to eat the cone.  What a little weirdo!

Christmas in July

It was Christmas in July.

Family joke, but luckily it was not as bad as the worst Christmas ever.

Heard Around the House

Carter:  Mom, when I'm not eating cheese, I'm dreaming about eating cheese.
Me:  Yes son, I know.

Carter:  Sometimes when I eat junk food my burps burn like a meteorite in outer space.  
Ava:  Yup, my bless-yous burn too.
Me:  Ava, I think you mean sneezes.
Ava:  NO Mommy, they are bless-yous.


While watching the Opening Ceremony for the Olympics and seeing David Beckham in a speed boat:
Ava:  Daddy, I ordered that boy right there!


Sometimes the memory on my girl shocks me. 
Ava:  Remember our old pine cone tree that we had to take out.  Our pine cone trees here are alive because they get a lot of water.
She is referring to the pine tree in Cincinnati that we had to remove because it died.  We can't remember when we removed it but it was before spring 2011 when the fence was installed.  So, she was at most 2 years old?  Crazy.


Thanks to Riley, Ava is also walking around singing 
All the other boys
try to chase me
here's my number 
call me baby
I realize these lyrics are not 100% but that is what she sings!