Little Mommy

Jenna watches, absorbs and repeats everything around her. She asks questions, sometimes annoyingly, about anything and everything...even dissecting the words to a random song on the radio. She wants to know every detail, who they are singing about, why the particular event is happening and so on. She amazes me with her thirst for knowledge and get a kick out of hearing what she has learned as she repeats it in such a natural way. Take for example today, Caden is over and we are enjoying the morning outside. Caden's birthday is tomorrow and he brought cup cakes from home so I decide to let the kids have one as a snack before lunch since it is Friday and Caden's birthday. After finishing Caden is wearing some of his chocolate cup cake around his mouth. Jenna stops Caden before he leaves the deck to join them in the bounce house. She grabs a towel and says "Come here buddy, let me clean you up".
She gets the towel a little damp and proceeds "this will just take a second sweetie and you can go play". She finishes, tosses the towel down and says "there ya go kiddo".
Then later after I had asked repeatedly not to pick up the cats Caden attempts to pick Alexandra up. Jenna promptly reminds him that they aren't supposed to pick them up. Caden responds with "well Ava did it" and Jenna doesn't miss a beat and says "Now Caden just because Ava does it doesn't mean you should and besides you are older and need to show her how to listen".
I was standing a few feet away from them and had to turn around to conceal the smile on my face as I broke into laughter. Why am I always alone when these cute things happen! I so wish I had a camera on them 24/7!

Summertime fun

If I didn't know any better I would swear it wasn't summer, with high temperatures in the 70s and cool breezes making it even chilly. I met up with a friend at a park last weekend to let the kids run around and let us moms catch up and with the breeze I even had Cole wrapped up in a blanket...in JULY! 6 years ago this weekend Eric and I got married. Guests were literally melting away in the heat and our high temperatures this weekend are in the 70s. Not that I am complaining, we have been enjoying the weather! The girls have been bouncing in the bounce house, splashing in the water table and running around the yard with out heat exhaustion. We have found a pool near Eric's restaurant that the girls love. We have made it a few times and even though the water slightly chilly from the lower than normal temperatures the girls played for hours.
We have been enjoying birthday parties, my baby girl is now 2! She repeated "Happy Day" to anyone and everyone. Now on to the 2's...are they over yet?

Happy Birthday, Ava!

My baby girl turned 2 years old on July 5! Every parent always says how fast time flies in regards to your children but really I can't believe she is 2! I recently ran into a former co-worker, it didn't seem that that much time had passed since I had seen her and then I realized I have since had 2 children since I have seen her...WOW! Having Cole this year we decided to keep Ava's 2nd birthday low key. Having 3 children now, we can't do them all big! Her birthday weekend/week has been quite eventful though and the girls have been busy. Saturday the 4th we BBQ'd and swam at my step-sister's and had a blast with her friends. Sunday (Ava's birthday) we had a 1st birthday party to attend of one of our most favorite little guys and finished our day with our neighborhood firework display!

This weekend we had a small family get together for Ava's birthday. Being in the evening Ava did pretty well for her. She had no nap and this week has been whiny and full of explosive tantrums...oh how I enjoy. The tantrums have led me to consider working part time outside of the home. I have talked to a couple restaurants about a server position. Great flexibility, extra cash and a break from the house sounds perfect as my new 2 year old is screaming, spitting and hitting her older sister as we speak. While fighting with her sister Ava continues to love her brother and want to be the one to help take care of him. Her new found independence and "I do it" attitude has her right in the middle of feedings and changing diapers. This has also gotten Ava the expected "spray" from her brother too. She wasn't quite sure what happened and stood stared with most perplexed look on her face while I couldn't help but laugh...I told her to back away from the changing table...of course she didn't listen.




Our little man is continuing to grow and surprisingly is doing quite well surrounded by high energy little girls. I tend to count everyday to confirm he has all limbs and digits as Ava will wildly grab his arms and legs. He has also already played catch, well if catching a beach ball with your face qualifies. He also plays peek-a-boo regularly, although Ava's version is VERY loud! As rough as she can be she also will run to be the first one to tell me he is crying and I need to hold him. It is entertaining to say the least watching them interact and some moments just warm the heart to watch them all care for each other, then they snap out of it and are back to a screaming match.


5 weeks old!