Dress Up

Aunt Susan and Uncle Troy are getting married in a couple of weeks and Ava is going to be a flower girl and Noah is going to be a ring bearer. Well, at least we are going to try to get them to do it!!

Susan came over the other weekend to have Noah try on his suit for the wedding and it was the CUTEST thing ever.

Isn't he so handsome! I can't believe it.

Here he is with the jacket!

We also got dressed up with homemade hats the other day. Out of boredom, we made some crowns.


They played with for a day or two and now they are done with them. But that is how we roll!

High Five

Nana and Papa Ron bought Ava a subscription to High Five a while ago. It is her FAVORITE thing. She gets so excited when we get it in the mail. We all sit down and read it cover to cover. Then, she reads it by herself again and again. Noah is really starting to get into it too! It was the best gift she ever got and it just keeps giving.

Weekend in Prescott

It is nice to escape the heat for the weekend and Prescott is the perfect place. This past weekend, we went up to Prescott because they were having a Blue Grass Festival and Mike really wanted to go. So Friday afternoon, we headed up there.

The kids love to go and visit with their Grammy and Papa Dee. We love to visit with Great Grandma and Great Grandpa too. Aunt Judy is always a fun playmate for Ava as well.

My favorite part when we go to Prescott is the walks Mike and I take in the mornings. My mom lives in a neighborhood that has lots of hills. In fact, when we leave the driveway, it is up a hill to kick it off! We usually do about 3 1/2 miles in an hour or less. We did a little running both days. The first day because we felt good, the second day because our shins were killing us and it was easier to run down the hills than it was to walk down them. Ha!

Here are some of the views:


We went over to my grandparents house on Saturday morning and then off to the Blue Grass Festival.
Unfortunately, we did not last long downtown because the kiddos were tired from being up late the night before and waking up early that morning.

They WOULD not look at the camera. I think next year we will plan it out better and the kids will be older and I think they will enjoy it more.

We had a BBQ with the family on Saturday night and Ava had a blast playing with Aunt Judy!!!

The one part I don't really like about traveling is the kids sleeping. Noah doesn't like to go to sleep in the crib and Ava is usually so excited she is up so late. Oh well. I tried talking her into sleeping in the same room as Noah, but she wasn't having it. Maybe next year.

The best part is traveling up to Prescott at nap time.

Pure Bliss!!!

Ava's New Sleeping Quarters

The other day my mom told Ava that if she got rid of her side rail on her bed she would buy her a horsey purse that we saw at Barnes and Noble the other day. Ava was so excited, so we took it off. I have been wanting to do it for a while, but she would always say no. We need it for Noah soon, so now was as good as a time as any.



It is so weird to go in there. She did fine. She didn't fall off! Ha!

Speaking of sleeping, we are going through yet another sleeping phase with Ava. It is always something with her. About 2 weeks ago, when we would put her down to bed, she would come out a couple of times before finally falling asleep. There were so many reasons why, my eyes are dry, I can't sleep, I had a bad dream (before she even fell asleep) and the most common one lately, my tummy hurt (because she knows she will get the most attention with that one). THEN, she was waking up for about 2 hours in the middle of the night and coming into our room several times with the same excuses. I had had enough. I implemented a ticket system for her. She gets 2 tickets every night. Every time she comes out of her room, she has to bring us a ticket. It is going well, with the exception of last night (more on that in a minute). She usually uses one right away and some days she has one left over and some days she comes out again before she falls asleep. If she has one ticket left in the morning, she gets some stickers. If she has two tickets (which she has not done yet), she gets to pick a toy/craft from a bin of things that I have bought. If she calls for us and we have to go in, we take a ticket. If we get to #3, she looses something along with the next nights ticket and so on.

Last night, she lost her 2 tickets for tonight and her new horse. I was fed up. She is pretty much staying up 1 hour past the time we put her to bed. No matter what time it is. She always makes up for it at nap time, but that is the problem. She will take a 3 hour nap if I let her. She usually gets 2 hours before I have to wake her. I have been shortening them to 1 1/2 hours, but waking her up is a 30 minute drama fest. You name it, crying, fake puking noises, kicking and yelling. It is brutal. I am sorta at a loss on this girl. Last night we let her stay up until 7:45 to hang with Grammy and she didn't go to bed until 9pm. Then she was up at 5:45 am and cranky and is dying to take a nap today!!! I know this is a short lived problem, but it is tiring nonetheless! This too shall pass!

The Terrible Two's

Yup, we are skin deep in the terrible two's with Noah. I don't remember Ava being this bad and I do remember people saying that boys are much harder at the younger ages. Well, Noah is a terrible two.  I am only documenting this so that I can remind Noah when he has kids (20+ years from now) that payback my not be so much fun for him.

On a daily basis, Noah spends a good amount of the day in timeout. He bites, hits, yells and tells Ava that he doesn't like her any more. Time out really doesn't do anything, because many times he will come out and repeat the same bad behavior.

On the flip side, he can be very apologetic and caring. When he does come out of timeout, he will say he is sorry and give hugs and kisses.

On a daily basis, he won't eat and will constantly ask for food and once you give it to him, he will put his head down and pout and walk away from "said" food that he asked for. He just doesn't eat!

On the flip side, when he is hungry, he will eat his food and almost always says "thank you".

On a daily basis, he won't nap longer than an hour or sleep past 5:10 am and then throw a fit by kicking his legs and whining because he is SO DAMN TIRED!!

On the flip side, when he does wake up at 5 am, he gives the best snuggles. I love my snuggle time with Noah in the morning before Ava gets up. We sing a snuggle bunny song!

On a daily basis, if we take an outing in the car, Noah will fall asleep within 5 secs because he doesn't sleep.

On the flip side, the car rides can be a peaceful time for this mama because Noah is sleeping.

I know this has aged me, but I hope that he will make up for it in his teenage years when I will be blogging about our Drama Queen, Ava.

Cutting Hair

I remember as a kid loving to play hair dresser on my barbies. I don't remember ever cutting their hair, but I would definitely style it. I think every kid has some sort of fascination with cutting hair. My niece had her bangs cut by a neighbor right before my sister's wedding. Well, Ava has hit this stage. One night I went out after dinner and when I came back I saw "fur" everywhere. Not real fur, just stuffed animal fur. Mike informed me that Ava had given Peep, a little stuffed animal chick, a haircut. It was like a drug to her and after that, cutting her animals hair was all she wanted to do. So, like every good parent, we let her.





At least we told her that she had to ask first, but I think she is getting her animals ready for summer!