Rock Climbing and a Rodeo!

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged and my mom wanted to see more pics!! So, here is what we have been up to so far this summer. We had VBS for a week and I got to be the emcee of the "Floating Finale" each day (like last year) which was fun. Alec and Ava loved VBS...the theme was "High Seas Expedition"..lots of fun.



Alec and Ava also got to experience their first rodeo! We went with the Coleman's and tried to get in touch with our inner cowboy. The kids got free Frisbees and so Alec decided to start collecting bugs that he found around him and putting them in his Frisbee...well, of course Carson and Ava joined in too. That was much more interesting to them than the actual rodeo that was going on. Oh well...they had fun anyway, and they did say that they liked the bulls at the end.



Eriik had been wanting to take Alec rock climbing since the day he was born. He really got into rock climbing when he was in college and so this was something that he wanted to pass on to his son. I was a little unsure about the whole thing, but Eriik assured me that it would be safe and that he would bring our baby boy back in one piece. So, he and a couple other men with their sons took off for Lake Mineral Well State Park to do some climbing. Eriik said that Alec did pretty good for his first time climbing, and had fun camping too.

Ye Haw!

Checking out his bug collection.

Looking for more bugs to collect.

Best Buds!

Eriik and Christian

He's so cute :)

Matheus, Alec, and Nathan waiting for the big boys to give them a turn to climb.

A Very Fairy Princess Party!

Well, our little Ava turned 3 last week, and we celebrated "fairy princess style" on Saturday with 7 of her little girl friends. I have to say that I really enjoyed planning this party...I just love girly stuff. It was a lot of fun for the little girls too! We had games so that they could "earn" all of their fairy supplies. For instance to earn their wings they had to show me how high they could fly in the bounce house, and to earn their wands they had to dance in a game of freeze dance. They decorated their own crowns with "jewels". It was so cute to see them running around in their tutu's, and wings.



I can't believe my little girl is already 3! She is still a spunky little thing, although I have noticed in some crowds she can be quite reserved which is surprising to me. She is always a bundle of energy while at home though and can go from tears to sheer joy in the blink of an eye...quite the little drama queen! For the most part though she is very joyful. She loves anything artistic: dancing, singing, drawing, coloring, painting. She even taught herself how to write her name a couple months before turning 3. Granted, Ava is a pretty easy name to write, but still, I'm impressed! Her favorite thing other than painting is to play with is her babies, and she is really imaginative, and sweet with them too. She is just a joy to have around, we are blessed by God to have her in our family!



Here are tons of pics from the party. Meredith was our photographer...Thanks Mer!!!!

Ava after getting her wings!

The girls dancing in a game of "freeze dance"

Mary

Kate


Mary and Katie



Sophia

I'm so glad that Kelly and Syd could come...they were a huge help, and it was so good to have family at Ava's party!

The whole crew...aren't they adorable!

One last stubborn candle!!!

She just loves her cousin Sydney.

Alec had fun too...he got out his swords and went to battle with the fairys at one point. He also helped with the bubble game (he shot bubbles out of a gun while the little girls popped them with their wands).

Ava giving Ana Julia a thank you hug for her birthday gift!