Grandma Nini Visit

Grandma Nini made a last minute decision to come out and visit us  the past couple of days.  She drove out here with Nancy, Mike's sister.

The kids always love to hang out with their grandparents. Unfortunately the kids started getting sick on Sunday, when she came, but they were troopers for her visit here.

Grandma Nini brought Ava some barretts and of course Noah wanted in on the action.



Of course Buddy and Bobo wanted in on the action too!

Our Little Garden Grows

Here are some updated pictures of our garden. It grows more and more each weekend and it now looks like this:

Ava was telling me that there are too many mushrooms growing!!

Box #2

Sweet Poatoes




The kids love to go outside at night with their daddy and check out the garden.  They have eaten some green beans off the plant already!!

Life Lately

Here is our life in bullet points:

• My little sister gave birth to her first baby on March 12th (which also happens to be Mike's birthday!) After many, many hours in labor, Samuel David Walters was born weighing in at 6 lbs 11 oz and 20" long. I don't have any good pictures yet! Hopefully we can get a nice family shot on Easter!!
• Ava is on Spring Break this week. We have been crafting up a storm. 
• Noah loves music. Any toy that has music on it, he will turn on and play over and over again. He loves to try sing the songs, but loves to dance.
• Ava and Noah have a typical love hate relationship. Sometimes they play so well together and the other times they are at each others throats.  The other day, they were pretending that they were on a ship and had to watch out for the sharks. They played and played.
• Most times, when one kid has a toy, the other wants it, claims that it was theirs and/or grabs as fast as they can and runs with it. This is always followed by tears.
• Noah likes to copy everything Ava does. If she says something funny, Noah tries to do the same. If Ava does a funny move, Noah copies.
• Noah still won't really eat meals. He is a snacker on the go. We do get him to sit down for dinner, but lunch and breakfast, for-get-about-it.
• Ava has been waking up again in the middle of the night. It is always around midnight. She has been pulling lots of shenanigans at bedtime again. When this started over a year ago, we decided that we would sit in her room for 5 minutes after Noah went to bed. Lately, as soon as Mike leaves her room, she either a)starts crying and/or b)gets out of bed and opens and closes her bedroom door and/or c)reads for a little bit and then proceeds to do a) and b). I finally took away one of her animals that she took to bed and it has worked for 2 nights now. I know this won't be forever, but it is hard to have your sleep interrupted and to go in and out of her room for an hour at bedtime. We have told her that she can read or play with some animals in bed, just don't call for mommy and daddy.
• Noah wakes up at 5:30 EVERY SINGLE morning. The only nice part about it is that he is a snuggler and will usually come in our bed and snuggle.
• Last weekend, both kids slept in past 6 am on Saturday. It was such a nice present!

Looking forward to Easter. I am going to make it my goal to take family pictures. 

Grandpa's 93rd Birthday

This weekend we went to Prescott to celebrate my grandpa's 93rd birthday.

It was so nice to visit and be able to celebrate. The kids just love being the center of attention. Through out dinner, Ava would try to get everybody's attention and tell some story.




of course Ava wanted to help blow out the candles too!



Noah coloring a picture for his great grandpa. (Ava is in there too!)

Ava with Grammy and Great Grandma!

It was a nice weekend. The kids don't really like to nap there. Both took short naps, but I guess I can't blame them. Both slept well that night though. When we travel, they also don't really sit down and eat any meals. I guess that isn't much different from being at home. They are snackers.  Mike and I got in a nice walk. I love being able to take walks there because there are lots of hills. I have sore shins from it today!!!
I am looking forward to the time when the kids are a bit bigger and we can travel up to Prescott for a couple of days and the kids can share a room and sleep on the floor.

The Cat in the Hat, Trains and Silly Fun

Last week at Ava's school she celebrated Dr. Suess. They had a Cat in the Hat day and put on a little parade. All the kids made hats and marched and sang around the school grounds.




Of course Ava didn't sing. She walked around with her finger in her mouth. Someday I am hoping that she will sing!! It was super cute to watch them. Of course as soon as she got home, she wouldn't stop singing and of course Noah wanted in on the action too.

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Last week, Mike took off on Friday. Along with getting some things done, we made a quick stop at Hendel's Air condition repair shop. The owner collects trains and things and they have a unique garden in the front. The kids loved it. We just stopped in to look. (No air conditioner needs here).





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Lately, Noah is in LOVE with anything that plays music. He can sit by himself for a long while and just play songs over and over. Sometimes, he will get up and dance too. If Ava is around and in the mood, they will dance and be silly together with whatever music toy they have. It is too cute.

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Noah just chillax' at Grammy's house this past weekend.

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The kids were enjoying some time outside and trying to stay in the shade. They are always bringing pillows outside. Silly kids!