Zoom Zoom

Last Sunday, while my Bri was slaving away in the yard, the kids and I decided to take advantage of the nice weather and go outside, too. I'm telling you, nice weather is an understatement...especially after all the really HOT weather we've been having. It was a nice, cloudy Sunday afternoon...even a few sprinkles, but that did not slow the kids down. They had their scooters and were ready to go.

I sat outside with them and watched as they went up and down the street (by our house, of course...I'm not ready to let them go by themselves just yet.) Chance is getting really good at riding his scooter, and Ava isn't too bad on hers, either. She also has a little trike that someone gave her, so she went back and forth between the two. It was definitely a nice way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon. Brian may have a different opinion about that since he was working, but at least it wasn't too hot for him, either.

For those of you who like live action, here is a little video clip I shot with my camera...

Slip-N-Slides and Birthday Parties

This was a very busy weekend. On Friday, Brian took me out for date night. He's been great about taking me on consistent dates lately and I've had lots of fun with him...it was also great to meet Scott and Michelle for ice cream after our movie. (Thanks for suggesting that, guys!!)

On Saturday, Brian set up the slip-n-slide for the kids while I was running some errands with my sis. I have been warned by several people that slip-n-slides are not the way to go and will only end up in disaster, but so far my kids love it...and no injuries. ( I probably shouldn't have said that. Note to self, no more slip-n-slide for the rest of the summer...haha.) Anyway, luckily, I got home in time to take some really cute pics of the kids. They have seemed to master sliding all the way across, although, Ava refuses to slide on her stomach...she chooses her knees instead. This is very typical for Ava because she rarely does anything the "normal" way. :) She will, however, slide on her belly when she rides on Brian's back. I found this quite comical and even caught this on video because I think everyone needs to see my husband slide on this thing. He's very brave...I refuse to do this! And, I also must say, he is also quite agile on this considering he can't even sit on the floor with his legs crossed...he's not very flexible. They also talked Bri into putting the hose on the swing set slide, which may quite possibly be more dangerous than the slip-n-slide..they shot off that thing like little bullets! They had lots of fun, though, and I am very grateful that they have a daddy that always goes the extra mile for them...we're all very lucky. Here is the anxiously awaited video...it should be entertainment for all...

After all the water fun, we went to a suprise party for one of our friends. It was also outside...we spent a considerable amount of time outside on Saturday (which wasn't necessarily a good thing considering it was 105!!) However, we persevered...birthday parties are worth it, right? Ava had quite a few friends there, too, so she was happy to play with them. She always just jumps right in to whatever situation she is presented. We ate, played some bocce ball, and had some cake, and, of course, hung out with friends...it was a good day. Even though, after a couple hours, we were ready to go and sit in the air conditioning! Here are a couple of pics from the party...

Happy Birthday, Luke! We had fun at your party. :)

The Summer Continued

Well, after consulting with my wonderful aunt and a blogger friend (thanks Barrie and Jeana), I now have a few tips that will hopefully make my blogging experience somewhat easier. I'm still learning as I go. I feel confident that I can finish my summer post with minimal frustration. :)

One of our favorite activities this summer has been going to the library. I have been very impressed with all of the activities...they have something different to do almost every day. Some of the fun has included a princess story time, a man who told stories with string and sidewalk chalk drawing. Chance has turned into an amazing reader this past year and the library has definitley kept him supplied with an endless array of books. It is my absolute favorite thing when he wants to take his book with him when we go in the car. He's almost finished with the summer reading program, too. Of course, he still plays his fair share of video games as well...you gotta have that balance, you know!

In other exciting news, Chance can swim now!!! He just learned a couple weeks ago, and I am telling you, he made great strides very quickly. My kids have always loved the water, but summer is usually a busy time for us and in past years, I have not made it to the pool with them as much as I should. I have been trying to change that this year and every time we go the pool, Chance gets a little bit better. Recently, we went to a friend's apartment for a pool party and everything just finally clicked for Chance. When we got there, he would barely jump off the side in the shallow end with his life jacket on, and by the end of the night, he would jump off in the deep end and swim across the pool. We are so proud of him. You can also tell by the pic on the left, that Ava is quite the little fish as well. There is not much she won't try. Of course, with her, the life jacket still stays on.

Another fun thing we do in the summer is our church's annual 4th of July tailgating party. Our church is close to the nearby park where the fireworks are, so we all meet early to grill and hang out and then, of course, watch the fireworks. Unfortunately, this year we had rain on the 4th of July, so our fireworks didn't happen until the 5th of July. The important thing is that we still got to see them...Chance and Ava had lots of fun playing with their little cousin and watching the fireworks. (However, I am still quite troubled that I still seem to like fireworks more than my kids...how did this happen?!?)

We have tried to take the kids on a lot of fun outings that we have not experienced before (or rarely). We took them to the Sam Noble Museum. They have been there once before, but it was free entrance day with a library card, so we decided to take advantage. They had a good time there. They are always fasinated by all the dinosaur bones. Although, I must say that Ava's favorite part of the museum was climbing up and down the stairs....(I think we can please her kinda easily :) ). They did have someone there with some live spiders, lizards and snakes...the kids were both entranced with that. We made a trip to the Okahoma Aquarium as well. We would really like to go to Sea World, but are still trying to save up for that...so this is the next best thing, right?!? At least the next best thing that is close by. :) Chance is really fasinated with sea creatures (he currently wants to be an oceanographer when he "grows up"). The kids loved the stingray exibit. Chance spent the majority of time there...even over the sharks. By the time we left, his shirt was covered in water from leaning too far into the water to touch them.. You can only touch them every 20 minutes and he even wanted to stay an extra 40 minutes so he would be able to touch them one more time before he left. It was pretty funny.
We did manage to pull them away from the stingrays long enough to get this picture of them with the bull shark behind them. I was really impressed with the shark exhibit. They had quite a few sharks, and some of them were quite big!

You'll have to excuse the random pic of Ava at the bottom of the screen. It was the only

problem I had with this post...I accidentally added it and then I couldn't figure out how to make it go away. I guess if that was the worst problem I had this time, we can call it a success! Well thanks for listening to me ramble about the summer so far. I promise, no more 2 posts in one day...I'm just trying to catch up.

We've Got Some Catching Up to Do...

We've had a really busy summer and since I just decided to start my blog, I figured I should update you on some of the summer highlights. We started off the summer by celebrating Brian's birthday. We took him to play putt-putt which was lots of fun. I absolutley love this pic of him and Ava...they have the same expression and stance and it is very evident that they look a lot alike. They also act a lot alike, which makes Ava very entertaining! :) After the putt-putting, we let the kids play in the sprinkler...they love the water. This is one of my favorite pics of Chance...

This biggest trip of the summer was our annual trip to Mississippi for Brian's family reunion. The kids love this time to spend at the lake, and of course, get to see their grandparents. Festivities included swimming, fishing, playing with the cousins, and Chance and Ava even tried their hand at tubing...that was almost a little too much fun for mommy! Just kidding, Grandpa went really slow and they thought it was lots of fun...especially Ava. Here are some of my favorite pics of the reunion...

After the family reunion, we spent some more time at my in-laws house which is nearby. The kids spent lots of time in their backyard (which is beautiful)...and rode scooters...and played in the park...and went to the movies...well, you get the point. They had lots of fun and are already asking when they can go back and do it all again. The craziest thing that happened is when Ava busted her chin open when she fell on a chair and had to go to the emergency room...but even that worked out okay. They did a wonderful job of fixing her chin and she hardly has a scar now...which is a good thing!!

With all this said and done, I have now realized that this blogging thing is going to take me awhile to figure out. I am somewhat computer challenged and things I should be able to do in a short amount of time are taking me forever. So, this is my post for now and I will continue the rest of of our summer fun with a different post...who knows, maybe countless more posts...maybe in the same day?!? Watch out...this could get dangerous! :) Well, it can only get better from here, right? I can't stay this bad forever...

To Blog or Not to Blog?

I have intended to start a family blog for awhile, but have not made myself do it until now. I have been reading friends blogs for years and I think it is an excellent way to stay in contact with friends and family - especially when a great deal of them live out of town. With all that said, here it goes...I am now going to attempt it. The kids are going through big changes--Chance is starting second grade this year and Ava will be in Pre-K!! I can't believe how fast they are growing up. This is a good way to document all of the changes that are happening in our lives since I am slightly (underexaggeration) behind on my scrapbooking. I hope everyone enjoys it and I also hope that I will keep up with it...here goes nothing!