Oh my Ava! A year ago I was waiting and waiting and waiting to meet you and now you've been here, part of our family for one whole year. You're so busy crawling and walking, always on the move. You always have a smile on your face and I love those teeth, all those teeth! Your eyes are so big and full of happiness. I love how loud you are with your big big voice when you try to get a word in. I love how smart you are showing us peek-a-boo, clapping your hands, raising your arms up to the sky to show how big you are, blowing a big kiss to say I love you, waving hello and goodbye, turning the pages of your favorite book and making little noises like you're reading on your own after hearing a bedtime story. You're our little doll and we love you to pieces. I'm so lucky to have you for my daughter. Happy first birthday to my Ava tomorrow!

happy easter

A couple days before Easter we made it to the mall to see the Easter Bunny - Ava's first time. All three were perfect sitting together with him!

Easter morning was so cute how first Logan came into our room (Charlie was out of town) and told me how he thought the Easter Bunny had come because he thinks he saw an egg down in the foyer. He crawled into bed to wait for Carter who was in our room only a few minutes behind him. The two of them were so patient waiting for Ava to make a peep so we could go down and hunt for the plastic eggs and the eggs they had colored at Grandma's with their cousins.  After another few minutes we heard her and Carter stopped at the top of the stairs and realized the Easter Bunny doesn't just hide eggs! They were excited to find a couple goodies in their baskets and went on an egg hunt! Carter was so fair and would point out ones Logan might not see and let him pick them up since he has so many in his basket already. Ava even found a couple.

Later, the four of us went over to Grandma's to see all the Aunties, Uncle Matt, and all the cousins. It's amazing that I got myself and all three of the kids clean, looking sharp, and out the door! We had an egg hunt, ate a delicous dinner, and played outside in the backyard. It was a windy, but beautiful day.

ava, an egg, and her bunny from becca

logan & carter

outside in grandma's backyard

flying kites in grandma's backyard

logan's field trips

Last Thursday Logan had a preschool field trip to Home Depot and Red Robin! He had so much fun with his class touring Home Depot (a familar place!) and learning about all the different jobs people have in the store. He raised his hand and answered lots of questions on the tour. He got to bulid a butterfly house too.

getting aprons from woody

lining up for the big tour

logan and his buddy connor

one job in the store is cutting wood with this big saw

another job is finding doors and windows for people's houses

and one of the coolest jobs at home depot...the tractors and mowers!

ready to bulid a butterfly house

showing his butterfly house to mrs. dawn

Afterward the tour and building, we headed over to Red Robin before it was open to the public to learn about all the jobs at the restaurant. The kids learned about being the host at the front and blew up their own balloons, how to wash your hands again and again to keep everyone healthy, and how to place orders on the computer and get drinks for customers. We were able to stay for lunch - each kid was given a free meal and some goodies to take home. Everyone at both places did a great job with the kids and Logan's teachers were fantastic! He may even be lucky enough to have his picture in the paper or on the park district website next week!

meeting red at red robin

placing an order for chocolate milk and chicken fingers with melon on the computer

getting his chocolate milk with the waitress

showing mrs. delay he got his chocolate milk

colin james patrick

Welcome to the world! Ten days ago Jamie had another beautiful baby boy. Colin came on March 31st at 9:33 p.m. and was 8 pounds 9 ounces and 20 inches long. Jamie, Matt, Evan and Colin are doing well and spending lots of time together getting to know each other.

Dear Colin,

We are so happy you finally came...we waited nine extra days for you! Not only do your Mommy and Daddy and brother love you so much, but you've got Grandmas and Grandpas, Aunties and Uncles, and lots of cousins that love you to pieces! I can't wait to see if your eyes are as blue as your brother's, if you'll love nuggies, if you'll be crazy about cars and trains...Will those long fingers be throwing strikes at a baseball game? What curious thoughts are you thinking when your forehead wrinkles as you raise your eyebrows when you sleep? We're excited to see what you'll be like as you grow and show your own personality to the world.

Love,
Auntie Julie

ava at the park

She loves the swing.
She loves the grass.
She loves the wind.
She laughs and laughs as the kids run around playing tag-your-it.
Summer's going to be fun!

the bowlenators

Carter's bowling season ended a couple weeks ago. Bowling his last game, they had a chance for second place. Charlie and Carter usually walk in the door around 10:30, but it was almost 11:00 when my pokey boy came in the door with a sad look on his face. He said they got third and was later because after the game he just wanted to sit there since he was sad about not getting second. Poor kid thought there were only trophies for first and second place teams. His team came in third out of eight. We reminded him that he learned a lot his first season bowling - used the bumpers a lot less by the end of the season, learned bowling terms and equipment, went from bowling a 47 one game to a high game of 104 with an average of 74! He must have had a good coach! Any guesses who that could be? There was a little awards ceremony that the whole family got to go to to celebrate where we found out he did get a trophy and before it ended Carter told a teammate he'd like it if they played together again next season! Here we go!

trophies for first, second, and third place teams of all age groups

carter's first trophy!

kelsey, jacob, and carater: the bowlenators (carter made up the team name!)

so proud!

splish splash ava's taking a bath

Today I realized it's crazy that Ava's still been in her baby tub, but it's been a great way to contain her while I help Logan get washed up. These days we've got to double up on baths! She's wanted to climb out of that thing and get into the great open waters, so I put some water in the tub and gave her a bath on her own to see if she'd crawl around, swallow the water, stand up, bump her head on the faucet...Nope! She was on he own among the boys' bath toys and stayed in one spot splashing away as I washed her. Another phase complete. Our baby's taking big girl baths. Here are some shots of her in the blue tub in the big tub from back in January.

logan loves when we give her crazy soapy hair

she's got so much more to wash now even compared to this!

going waaaay back...christmas at grandma's

catching up

It's been an incredibly long time since I have posted and I'm sorry! I guess the cold cold winter was just not motivating, but now that spring is here I've been taking more pictures and feeling really guilty about the lack of posts for 2010! Really and truly it wasn't just a lack of motivation, I've had a rough time getting my photos uploaded and HOORAY! Tonight I finally figured out how to get my photos uploaded to blogger (sorry blogger for hating you for a couple months, but you made it impossible for me to figure out until I did a little research and got a hand from Charlie). So here come some updates and lots and lots of photos!

100

Back in February, Carter had his 100th day of Kindergarten. To celebrate, Mrs. Westerfield asked if they'd like to dress up like they were 100 years old! We got some stuff together the night before and practiced with Logan to convince Carter to dress up. Baby powder to make gray hair, old glasses, short sleeved button down shirt and khakis with suspenders. He started the day with a special breakfast to celebrate being 100 days smarter!

logan tried the look first since carter was a little embarressed to dress up

convinced it'd be fun, he got into character

my little old carter