Eva/Ava Playdate

I think one of the curses of being the youngest child is that they always feel entitled to have the same privileges of the older child. This is definitely the case with Ava. She sees all the "fun" stuff Chance gets to do and wonders why she doesn't get to participate in ALL of his activities. This is especially the case when he goes to his friend's house to play. She thinks she should always be able to tag along with him and when I tell her "no", I am a BAD Mom. She doesn't remember Chance being four and doesn't realize that he wasn't going around the neighborhood by himself, either. In fact, I would say that Ava probably does a lot more at her age than he did. This, of course, doesn't change the fact that she feels wronged.
I say all of that to explain that she was quite happy when I watched one of her friends from church the other day. She was FINALLY the one who got to have a friend over (and Chance didn't!) They had such a good time playing together. They were actually pretty quiet and played in Ava's room the majority of the day. When they DID come out, I just had to take these pictures. I thought they were so cute. :) I'm glad Ava finally had some fun time of her own.

Horses!

We were supposed to go swimming with my sister the other day (we've been doing LOTS of swimming, can you tell?) However, when we got up that morning it was pretty chilly and looked like it could rain. I decided not to get everyone all geared up for swimming because I knew they would be sad if we got rained out. We decided to go to her house anyway and hang out for awhile. While we were there, Stef got the pony out for them to play with. They thought that was pretty cool. Ava even rode the pony for half a second. I think Chance even wanted to get in on the action, but we thinking he may be slightly too big. Sorry Chance!

Ponies weren't the only thing Ava rode that day...this hat cracks me up!

Chance really wanted to ride this horse...unfortunately, it wasn't ours to ride. :(

It's That Time Again...

The kids LOVE to go swimming at the Earlywine Pool. They have been begging to go all summer, but we have been sooo busy that it hasn't worked out til the other day. We finally had some free time (and no extra babies for me!), so I figured that we better take advantage. The kids had a great time at the pool, (although they were a little sad that we didn't invite anyone else to go along). I promised Chance that the next time we went we would make sure to take some friends with is. The kids still had a good time with each other, though. They went down the yellow slide at least a hundred times...which turned out to be a good thing because apparently there now some new slide regulations and Ava can't ride the slide anymore until she is a few inches taller. This trip to the pool was the farewell tour for the slide til next year....let's hope she grows fast. Enjoy the pics.

Ava is getting pretty good at swimming underwater. She showed me her new found skills.

I think the snack break is secretly their favorite part of going to the pool...haha.

Here is a little video of them swimming...it would have worked much better in deeper water, but this is where they wanted to be...

Water Slide!

The other day, after small group, instead of going to our usual hang out (Mazzio's), we went over to the Lanthripe's house for a cook-out. It was a great idea because they have an AWESOME water slide that the kids loved and the adults could talk without worrying about what the kids were doing. Everyone had a great time. The kids went down that slide for about two hours straight. They were pretty tired that night! Enjoy the pics...I also put a little video at the bottom.

My Little Cleaning Queen

Ava has been quite helpful lately. She has been on quite a bed making kick...think she is trying to tell me something? Just Kidding...I ALWAYS make the kids beds and have never suggested that they try to make their own (primarily because I'm somewhat of a control freak and like them to be just right). It has occurred to me that, perhaps, I should encourage them to do this themselves (after all, Chance will be in 3RD GRADE!) However, I haven't even talked to them about it yet, but Ava has beaten me to the punch. The other day (when I had been slow about getting around to making the beds), Ava ran into the living room and told me that she had a surprise. I came into her room to find that she had not only made her bed...

but mine as well!
I thought that was so sweet...I also thought that she did a pretty amazing job considering that she has never made a bed in her little life. What a big helper. Now, every time I make my bed, she wants to come in and help me with the pillows (she says that's HER job). She has also been really helpful about cleaning up all her toys. Here is another pic of her cleaning off her dresser. I guess we'll keep her around, huh? haha

Happy Birthday Times Two!

It was Uncle Chris AND Aunt Keli's birthday last week, so to celebrate, they invited the family to Red Robbin. We love that place and haven't been there in FOREVER. I took this pic of Ava and Haleigh...I thought it was cute. They have been loving each other lately. Ava is just dying to have some friends that can hang out with her, so it's good when they get together. Ironically, I don't have any pics of the birthday couple...but rest assured, they were there and having lots of fun on their birthday! :) I also threw in this one of me and Brian... :)

Fun Friday

Last Friday, we all went out to get frozen yogurt and then decided to stop by and play at the park on the way home. (What's funny is I think that Brian and the kids played at a different park before I came home, but you know my family...they can never have too much time at the park!) It was very pleasant by the time we got to the park, the sun was almost completely behind the houses...not too hot or chilly. I loved it! Ava has really been going through a posing phase lately...I don't know if you've noticed! ;)

I like this one I took of her playing on the monkey bars...she's getting really good at those!

Even Chance has been smiling for me lately! In-action monkey bars shot.
Brian and Ava were both very brown on Friday. lol
Ava took this one for us. :)
My little monkey...She hung there for awhile.

Another monkey.

Chance and Ava swung back and forth on this thing FOREVER. They did it so many times, it made MY arms sore. I was afraid that they were going to have blisters on their hands, but I think they're okay. I took a couple little videos of them doing this...(below). Take those videos times a MILLION... They loved it!