Dirt

If you are ever at our house and can't find the big kids, just look for them outside in the dirt!

The boys recently got these new shovels from some extra special people and they are loving them!

Jake plowed up this area of the yard for pumpkins and they spend most of their time outside looking for treasure, making mud pies and just digging!

Aiden and Sally

The boys got puppies for Christmas in 2009. We love "the girls". Everyone told us we would not want beagles because they have so much energy. Apparently they have never met ours. The girls are so lazy! They are laid-back, never jump on the boys and are low maintenance. The perfect dogs for our busy family. They entertain themselves and use up a lot of energy by running rabbits in the thicket behind our house, and they enjoy following the kids around the yard.

Scout

Scout belongs to Austen, and all I can say is that they are made for each other. She is our wanderer and trouble maker. Sometimes Jake jokingly asks if we can just keep Sally! I am glad we got two puppies instead of one because I think they do well having each other. They do everything together, eat, bark, scratch, chase chickens, even use the bathroom simulataneously! Now we just need two more, one for Ava and one for Addy!

Addy @ 5-6 weeks

This post is late but I wanted to be able to remember these past few weeks.

On March 29th, I took Addy to the doctor again, because her face was still broke out. He thought it looked more like eczema than baby acne and suggested using lotion. I had been avoiding it because it made the other's skin worse. I started bathing her in Aveeno baby wash and using Eucerin after  and her skin is much better! (thanks Lisa!) She weighed 10 lbs 12 oz and was 23.5 inches at that appointment. She is getting so long! He reassured me I should be thankful she wants to sleep and stop worrying! Since then, Addy has been waking up to eat more at night. I guess she just wanted to make sure I knew she was okay!

Ava giving Addy a kiss.

Addy has been smiling a lot and is starting to become more vocal. I just love sweet baby noises. Even her cry is so sweet, and we have been hearing it more and more! She has decided she does NOT like her swing. The only place you can lay her down is in her bouncy seat and that is only for a short amount of time. She is not too fond of the wrap either. She just likes to be held. I don't know who could have made her so rotten...

 Addy just being precious!

I love this outfit, but it is almost too small. Addy is longer than Ava was so some onesies have a hard time snapping. I have the extenders, which are a great investment but they don't work on these cute little outfits.

I am afraid Addy is going to suck her thumb. She will take a pacifier (Ava calls it her paci-turn), but she is not crazy about it. She has no problem getting her thumb in her mouth. This is great because she self soothes, but it is not going to be fun breaking her from it !

Addy and Dr. Simmons

With all the excitement with Addy's delivery, when didn't get a picture of Dr. Simmons. So I made sure to take my camera with me on my appointment. My check-up went really well, and Dr. Simmons was so sweet. I had lost 30 pounds, which sounds great until you think about the fact that almost 10 pounds was baby!

Addy was in the middle of eating when he came in the room and was not happy about having to stop mid-meal!

I was upset when I knew I probably wouldn't deliver with my doctor, but I am so thankful we met Dr. Simmons. He was absolutely wonderful with our delivery and I am going to continue to use him. I am sure he will retire soon (for the 2nd time) and I want to use him while we can. When I got ready to check out at the office they asked if I wanted to see him for my yearly. Sure, just send me a card. No, if you want to see him next year, you have to make your appointment now. Really?!? I guess that is the sign of a great doctor!

Tiptoe Through the Tulips

When Aiden was a baby, Nana, Mimi and I made our first trip to Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. We went with a group of ladies from church and took a picnic lunch. Since then, some of the ladies we went with have passed and some are not in good health. It brings a smile to my face to remember those precious ladies, our time together and the impact they had on my life. Every spring I try to go back with the kids. It is a great place for pictures and that is what I was hoping to get last week. Well...

This is what we saw when we first arrived. Where are the tulips? We have had some very windy days and I am assuming they didn't make it through the wind just like at our house. We were able to find some tulips but nothing like I have seen in past years. Jake had never been in the daylight, sometimes we go at Christmas and see the lights, so needless to say he wasn't impressed!

Ava, Daddy, Austen, Aiden at the koi pond.

As we were coming in the entrance a nice lady gave us some fish food, the boys were excited to get to feed the fish instead of just looking. It was hard to keep Aus and Ava out of the water. They are such water bugs!

Ava modeling our new stroller.

Before we went to Hot Springs, we drove to Little Rock to pick up this stroller. I had been looking for a sit and stand stroller on craigslist for awhile and finally found one. It was so nice to have that day! Ava would not have made it with all of the walking. I can't wait to use it at the zoo! There is an attachment for Addy's carseat, but her carseat is red and the stroller is green.  We look a little like Christmas, but she won't be in the carseat forever.  Although it did color coordinate nicely with the red tulips ;-)

Aiden has always been so solemn.

Austen looking at the camera?!?

Ava is getting to the stage where pictures aren't as easy. How sad, she used to be the most photogenic!

Maybe there is still hope for Addy, so far she doesn't protest too much.

Aiden, Daddy, and Austen

How much do all of these guys look alike in this picture?

 Ava, Mommy, Addy

It is very difficult to balance a small baby and keep a toddler still for pictures!

 Daddy and Mommy

We don't have a lot of pictures of us together, but that is changing with Aiden being able to take pics. I think he does pretty good for a six year old. We had a good day, the weather was beautiful and we were able to make it back in time for church that night. We really enjoy Daddy's days off. I am glad he is such a good Daddy and husband and wants to spend time with his family. We love him so much and feel so blessed.

Happy Birthday Poppa Kenneth!

At the end of March, we celebrated Poppa Kenneth's birthday. Last year, I wanted us to go to Dorey's for his birthday. But with Poppa's rotating work schedule, upcoming turkey season, and the restaurant only being open three days a week, it never happened. But this year he's retired so he didn't have an excuse! We had planned to go out on a Thursday night, and then Daddy had to switch to 2nd shift. I knew Poppa and Papa would be heading to the lake soon, so we had to celebrate without Daddy.

Ava enjoying her ice cream!

She absolutely loves sweets! Chocolate is her favorite, but we really have to limit her. If she eats too much she will never sleep!

Nanny and Papa

Nanny Lee and Papa Bill got to go with us to celebrate their oldest son's birthday. The men in my family are not big on going out to eat. In fact, I have been out to eat with my Dad more in the past few years, than my entire life (still only a handful of times). The last time we went out to eat with Nanny and Papa was for their 50th anniversary. This year they celebrated their 52nd anniversary! We love them so much. The kids are lucky to have three great-grandparents. My Nanny and Papa, and Jake's Papaw are very special to us.

Austen feeding the goats.

After dinner the kids had to play with the goats. The adults go to Dorey's for the food, the kids go for the animals! They have goats, donkeys, miniature horses, rabbits, and deer.

Austen, Aiden, Poppa, Ava and Bailee. 

(This is the only picture I got of Poppa. He looked at me like he was going to break my camera if I tried again, I know my limits, so I quit!)

The kids were highly disappointed because Poppa Kenneth would not let them in to play with the animals. It is setup as a petting zoo for the kids to enjoy but my Dad is a worrier. He told the boys they absolutely could NOT go in the fence. "If you lose a finger in the gate, it is a looooong way back to the hospital." I have heard ridiculous statements like that my whole life, I just never realized how silly they were. I think he has gotten worse with age! I know when to keep my mouth shut, so I didn't argue. However, Aiden hasn't quite figured this out. Sometimes I wish he wasn't able to read (especially in places like the checkout line). Well, Aiden read the rules (explaining how to go inside the fenced area) and asked me, "doesn't that mean you can go in?" I told him yes, you can but Poppa doesn't know that and doesn't want you to. He whispered to me, "obviously Poppa doesn't know how to read!"

 Ava and Bailee

Bailee got to go with us also. Since her Mom passed away and Bryan is away at camp, she has been hanging out with us more and we are really enjoying it. Ava is her new buddy. She especially likes the fact that Bailee carries her everywhere and pretty much lets her get by with whatever she wants.

Aiden and one of the horses.

Aiden is a little leery of this guy. He bit his shirt a long time ago, but he has not forgot about it! Aus told us the horse needed a haircut, I have to agree.

 The MEAN Goat

They have had this billy for awhile and he is MEAN! When you are trying to feed the other goats, he will ram them or the fence to get the food. The first time we took Aiden to Dorey's, he was around Ava's age. This goat rammed the fence to get our attention and scared Aiden to death! For months all he talked about was how "that mean goat, scare me"!

We all came home telling Daddy about how much fun we had, so we had to go back again. So this week we went back with Daddy and we also invited Mimi and Poppa. We arrived much later and by the time I was able to take pictures the quality wasn't very good because it was dark. There was a baby gray goat that was so adorable! He would run and kick up his heels. I tried to get pictures of him but he was too quick. The boys have been begging for goats for over a year, and after seeing how cute they can be, they almost have me convinced! We just have to work on Daddy. ;-)

The Park

Last week, we found a new park to try out. Daddy only had one day off, (his schedule has been been pretty crazy) and we wanted to make the best of it. The weather was beautiful and we wanted to be outdoors. We knew with most kids being out for spring break, the big parks would be packed. We found out about this one and the kids had a blast. Plus, it is about the same distance from our house as the others. I love to take them out, but when I am by myself, I get nervous at the big parks. This park had new equipment, completely fenced and small enough I didn't feel like I had to constantly count kids!

Austen loved running back and forth across the bridge, it was hard to get him to be still!

The excitement was just too much for Addy, she needed a break!

Ava will not be out done by her brothers. There was a smaller area for her to play on, but she had no problem keeping up with Aiden and Austen.

Swinging is the best, especially when you have such a loving big brother!

We can't wait to go back soon!

Going Green

Just for fun on the 17th, we put on our green and had a surprise for breakfast. We had cinnamon rolls with green icing and green milk!

Ava was very excited, not so much about everything being green, but more about the fact that there were sprinkles!

It's pretty hard to impress this tough crowd. "Why are we doing this? & Won't this stain my clothes?" Oh well, they obviously didn't have a problem with the taste. Both boys had three cinnamon rolls a piece!

Out & About

A couple of weekends ago, we tried to go to Wye Mountain. Since it didn't work out, we spent the day in Scott. These are a few pics from that weekend. I had purchased clothes that matched for the girls and coordinating shirts for the guys, hoping to get some great pictures. Well, this is what we I ended up with, no pretty daffodils, just pretty cute kids!

Ava is always ready to strike a pose and say "CHEESE!"

The boys are a different story, I can never get them to give me a real smile, and by the time I am done coaching them, Ava has lost interest.

Daddy and his girls.

Ava is such a Daddy's girl. The are so fun to watch, you can just see her melting his heart!

She gets by with way too much, I am certain she has him right where she wants him, wrappped around her little finger!

After a long day, we were finally headed home, but Ava had time for just one more pose!