Guess Who Came?

We were so excited that Naggy and Pappy came to see us last wkd! Can't believe it had been two months since we had seen them last. They arrived Friday morning and got to stay until Sunday afternoon. They were absolutely awesome to send Keith and I away for the whole night and to handle both girls. The girls and grandparents did great and when Keith and I got home after sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG!! All had survived and were in good spirits!

Ava has had some problems sleeping at night and I was worried about her keeping them up and if she would take the bottle, but Friday we splurged and bought a Nap Nanny and it seems to be laced with Ambien b/c Ava slept! When she did wake to eat only once, it was her Pappy that fed her and got her back to sleep. Those two have a special bond for sure!

Carli on the other hand pretty much attached herself to Naggy and they pretty much wore each other out!

Ava is getting really good at tummy time these days!

Ava had only a few days left of her antibiotic for her ear infection. The first 5 days she took it with no issues, but the last five, pretty much went like this...

Seeing as to how Ava was sleeping at now, she was definitely a happier baby this wkd!

See, special bond!

Hmmm, wander who is the center of attention...

Completely wore each other out!

It was an awesome weekend, capped off with Crazy Aunt Sarah and Uncle Robert coming down on Sunday for a quick visit and to meet little Ava. Looking forward to seeing Naggy and Pappy again soon! Next time, we plan to go to Amarillo!

My Dad...

When Carli was born, Uncle Kevin gave her the sweetest little shirt! I was wandering where it was now that Ava is here so I could get a picture of her in it as well. I finally found it the other day and we combined two of our favorites: Uncle Kevin's shirt and Naggy's ball that is just perfect for little baby hands...


Don't ya just love it?

Splash Park Friday!

Before Logan went back home, we had to have him come up to visit us and go to the Splash Park! Logan and Carli had a blast playing on the little play ground that is just the right size for them and then they headed over to play in the water...

They kind of had a hard time saying good bye to the slide on the playground...

Logan was the first to warm up the splash park, he made it is mission to get Grammy wet! Good thing the containers we brought had little holes in the bottom, so by the time he threw the water, there wasn't much left in them!

Oh the love of one cousin to another!

It kind of hurt Carli's feelings for a little while!

Once Logan got warmed up, he was fearless!!

It took some sweet talking from Grammy & Logan to get Carli to go back in the water!

And they succeeded!!

And all that playing makes a girl thirsty...no worries, Momma had to give up DP for Ava, so Carli is drinking Lemonade.

Cousins' Day at Grammy's

Two weeks ago Cousin Logan got to come spend the whole week with Grammy and Pa as a last hurrah before starting big boy school and declaring good bye to summer! So that meant that Carli and Logan got to spend not two but three days together! By the end of the week they had almost come to terms with sharing some of the toys! ha!

Grammy bought a slip and slide for the kiddos to play on - not really for the slip and slide part, but mainly for the spraying water. They had a blast both Tuesday and Thursday. It is funny how different the two are. Carli loves this kind of water playing. She will go down the slide and just play and play and play. But when it comes to a swimming pool, she is not so sure. Logan on the other hand, it took him until Thursday to really warm up to this type of water play but give him swimming pool and he has no fear!

Waiting for Grammy and Uncle Tone to set things up

Logan was a good sport and tried the slip and slide for real -

He really liked that part but would have preferred to run - and that didn't work so well...you know the whole slip part kind of bruises a little boy's ego...

Ava wasn't too sure about things but enjoyed watching the others too get wet!

Fearless Carli down the slide!

BIG SPLASH!

Carli's preferred method of climbing up to the slide.

Finally caught a true smile from Logan.

This set up was awesome - after an hour playing outside in the water, and some yummy lunch at Grammy's house (you should see these two put away the spaghetti), we had some amazingly long naps!

Just Ava

Yes, it is true, Ava doesn't like for me to sleep at night. But what is kind of unique about the whole situation is that she isn't crying, upset or mad when we are awake at 3 am. Nope, she is usually grinning at me. If I weren't so stinkin' tired, it would be extremely cute!

Last week, Carli took an amazing nap (I was jealous) and Ava was wide awake. So she and I had some awesome one on one time in the middle of the day versus 3 am. She is a happy little character these days! She is getting really good at holding her head up...and tummy time isn't too bad - except for the part when I pick her up afterward and she promptly spits up all over me...sweet girl this one is!



In this picture, I can really see that from her nose up - it is all King but her little chin totally belongs to her Naggy!

Big Girl Potty

Yes, we did it...we bought Carli a big girl potty. I really don't think she is ready to potty train, but every now and then she requests to sit on the big potty and having to hold her there while she inspects the new surroundings and declaring all done without doing anything was getting difficult, especially when Ava protested from the other room.

Last week, Logan was at Grammy and Pa's and he is one potty trained little dude. And I really think that his achievement is what brought on this interest in the potty. So, last Friday after having spent most of the morning "tee teeing" on the big potty (which really means, we took off our diaper numerous times just to hang out on the potty), we met Keith for lunch and then went off to buy Carli her own potty. She picked it out herself and I thought she did an awesome job b/c it will sit on the floor and then on the big potty and then you can use it as a step stool when they don't need the little potty seat any longer...

We've been asked a lot if she has actually used the potty and the answer is no. She will sit on it, run go and get books to read on it...but no tee tee in the potty yet. She has, however, managed to stand up and tee tee beside the potty...I'm not really sure how that happened. Left unattended for less than a minute and there ya go!

So, here we go...entering yet another uncharted territory....

Sidewalk Chalk

What Carli and Momma draw...

What Daddy draws...

Light Up Your Day

A Smile like this will do that to you!

Our Daily Reading Time...

Every morning after the girls are dressed, Carli instructs me to put Ava on the poof chair so she can ready to her. Usually, she will sit next to her and they "read" while I pick up a little. Monday morning, Carli disappeared for a bit after I got Ava situated and came back with an armful of blankets and Big Headed Baby. It took awhile to get everyone situated just right, but finally I was able to appease Carli with who got what blanket and who sat where...

And after I finally got the right book for Carli to read - it was story time at last!

OH - and yes, they are dressed a like, because when Carli wears her "ball" shirt, Ava has to wear hers too. Carli still fits in hers but I don't think I can squeeze Ava's in her Thing 2 onesie any longer.

Rockin' Babies

With two girls, it usually takes two to do the whole bedtime routine. We do the baths together and then while I get Ava lotioned, diapered and fed, Keith and Carli go and get her dressed for bed. Then Carli will come in and report on what is on her PJ's (my favorite is when she tells me there are dinosaurs), she'll kiss Ava goodnight and sometimes I get one too and then she and Keith go off to do their bedtime routine while I rock Ava to sleep. But Monday night, Keith had a double header softball game and had to leave before it was time for Carli to go to bed. So, we did the baths a little early and then Keith was off to conquer to softball field and that left us ladies to fend for ourselves. When Keith left, Carli was helping me rock Ava to sleep while she drank her milk...

I am happy to report that with Carli's help, Ava did go to sleep and then she and I went and read her books, said our prayers and sang our songs and she went to bed as well. Thankfully, bedtime was much more successful than nap time was that day!

Smith Family Annual Get Together

Every August, my Mom's side of the family gets together and catches up with each other. We all belong to W.B. and Ruth Smith. That's my Grandfather and Grandmother. And yes, Ava Ruth was named after my Grandmother. There are 4 girls and 1 boy that belong to my grandparents and from them there came 14 grandchildren, and from them came 6 great grandchildren...it's a pretty good gathering of folks! This is the side of our family that can sing. My Grandfather taught all the boys how to lead singing at church and most of us can sing...I say most, because I am not one of those that can sing! :) But I try my best!

This year, everyone was there minus three cousins - so it was a pretty good gathering! For Ava this was the first time to meet most of this side of the family, so she got lots of attention. Not sure she liked being the center of attention. She screamed at me a lot - so we camped out in the back of the house and got to enjoy listening to the singing, which was okay with me since I am not one who can sing! :) I got to enjoy the singing of others.

Here's Ava telling her Uncle Andy all about it...

Pa with two of his grandkids...they sure do love him!

Aunt SuAnne (Great-Aunt SuAnne to the girls) with Ava

Aunt SuAnne with both girls who were wearing matching outfits she had made them. They were super cute!

All the cousins - minus three girl cousins...so us girls weren't really that outnumbered.

This is our whole crew - not a bad looking bunch of folks! :)

It was a fun day - and good to see family we hadn't seen in a while.