Quiet as a mouse?

We had Alec's best bud Carson over to play yesterday, and they had a great time being goofy together. At one point they decided they were going to play mouse. I thought....wow that is a WONDERFUL idea! So, they started quietly squeeking and crawling on the ground but, as you'll see in the video at the bottom, four year old mice can't stay quiet for very long! These boys are soo funny together...Carson really brings out a whole other side in Alec. I added some pics from the past week as well. It's been a fun summer so far with VBS and playdates, and water baloon fights. All kinds of fun stuff. I also added a video of Ava sliding down our slide when she was all wet from the kiddie pool...she was shooting down like a bullet....before getting the video camera she went down once and flew really crazy far...it was hilarious...I wish I would have had the camera.

Pretty much every picture I've ever taken of these boys together they are making silly faces!

I just love these flowers on the side of our house, so I had to snap a pic...does anyone have any idea what kind of flowers they are? Ava's hair is wet in this pic because she got caught up in the water balloon fight.

Alec with his finished tool box...he wanted to paint it, so Eriik let him pick out the color, paint it and then put stickers on it.

Just hangin out.

We have been on a water balloon kick over the past week or so. I had them pause for a quick pic amidst the war.

Projects...

We all went to Alley Fest this past Saturday and had a great time checking out all old cars, music, art, fun kids booths, and eating festival food. One of the booths in the kids section was Home Depot. The kids could pic either a bird house or a tool box. Alec wanted the tool box and we got a bird house for Ava. It was too crowded and hot to work on it at the booth there, so we took it home for Alec and Eriik to work on later. While they were working on it, I couldn't help but think of my Dad who was a woodworker and was always working on some kind of project....you name it, my dad could make it (He made the bed in the picture below..which was mine as a child). It brings me joy to see Alec and Eriik working on little projects together. Anyway...you know me...I've got pics....they ended up being out of order, oh well. Oh and I had to throw in this picture of another one of Alec's little projects. We went to check on him the other night and evedently he he had stayed awake for a little while after we had "put him to bed". This is what we found:

If you can't tell, he had lined all his cars up to make a giant letter R...funny kid.

Watch those fingers Eriik!

This was at the Home Depot booth. This is Ava's signiture smile.

Sitting on the Police vehicle.

Guess who's TWO??

Well...our spunky little Ava is now a two year old as of today! I can't get over how fast the past two years have flown. We are praying that this year is not a year of the "Terrible Two's". We are counting on the fact that she has already been such a LOUD little handful that she has gotten most of it out of her system already...sounds good right????? Anyway...she really is a ton of fun to have around the house, and she makes us laugh about every five minutes with her silly faces and goofy way she plays "dress up". She is constantly moving, climbing, getting into EVERYTHING and sometimes destroying it! We have started to call her "The Avinator" because of the path of destruction that she sometimes leaves behind. Don't get me wrong though she can be very sweet and gentle at times... especially when it comes to playing with her dollies...she loves her babies! Out of the blue she'll look up and say"Oh no....baby crying!!" and she will run off to rescue her baby. She is quite the little chatter box too...constantly talking in 3-4 word sentences (more around the house than in public). Her favorite thing to say these days is "I don't want to!" and "I not like it!"...lovely. I am very grateful that she is good about saying please and thank you ("thankum") though. There is some give and take....with the fun spunky spirit comes a little bit of the crazy drama....and boy does this girl have drama! Any time she does anything that takes the slightest effort, she yells to the top of her lungs, "Yay...I did it!!!" She loves to sing now, and during prayer time likes to sing "Jesus loves me" with her eyes closed...so sweet! Anyway...we love her so much and are having fun with the two very different personalities that our kids have! Here are some pics from her birthday parties...one was at our church small group last night (at the Colemans) and one at home tonight (just the four of us) eating leftover cupcakes and opening her presents.

When she woke up this morning we carried balloons into her room and sang happy birthday to her...in complete Ava fasion she told me to stop singing...not in the mood I guess, at least she liked the balloons!

We were trying to get a picture, and she decided to give me a kiss...little love bug :)

So sweet!

Ava and Rachel last night with our small group.

AJ looking super cute as always!

Our neighbor Kelsey came along to help with the kids and join in the birthday fun!

She loves flowers!

Memorial Day fun...

We had a really great Memorial Day at the Myers house. Our small group from church all got together for some fun, food and splashing. Here are some pics from the evening:

Bathing Beauty's

You get em Ava!

Our little wild child!

Partners in crime: Alec and Carson

Sweet little Hudson.


Such goofy boys!

Sorry Faber...I just couldn't resist!

Ava loves her Rachel!

Florida Fun!

Well, we made it home...we got in around 9PM last night. We really had a great time in Destin, FL. This was our first family vacation that wasn't to visit the grandparents. We stayed in a condo on the beach. The beaches in Destin are sooo beautiful...I couldn't believe how white the sand was and how crystal blue the water was! One morning after eating breakfast I was looking out our balcony and saw four dolphins (not very far from shore) playing and jumping in the water...I waved everyone over to see and neither Eriik nor I wanted to take our eyes off of it long enough to get the video camera....we didn't want to miss a second! It was really a beautiful view. The weather was a little moody during our visit though, one day it was chilly, and for a couple days it was so windy that Ava would scream from the sand hitting her legs (our little Diva)....but there was enough nice weather mixed in to enjoy the beach and pool. One of Ava's favorite things to do on the beach was to chase the birds around. She really loves birds! She and Alec loved playing in the sand too. The water was really warm which was nice, although Ava didn't want to play in the ocean water too much...Alec loved catching the waves with Eriik though!

When we weren't on the beach or at the pool we got to hold an Alligator at Fudpuckers and on our way home visited the Gulfarium and saw dolphin and sea lion shows. Also on our way home we stopped in New Orleans, stayed the night and in the morning walked the French Quarter...staying away from Bourbon St. of course! We ate lunch on the French Quarter, walked the river walk and then we were ready to head home. While we were driving home Alec said in a very sad voice "But I want to live on the beach in Florida forever!!" All vacations must come to an end... and it's always good to be home....although it would be nice if "home" had an ocean in the back yard! I took TONS of pics....and here are a few..I wanted to put them all on here, but I won't subject you to that kind of torture!

Ava wasn't looking because the wind blew sand in her face and she was not happy about it!

I think we are going to crop this one and make it the"keeper" even though Alec's hair is going crazy!


It was so windy it was perfect for kite flying! The kite was too high to get in the pic.

Look Mom...no legs!

Ava playing in the sand... Eriik and Alec are in the water in the background.

Holding an alligator at Fudpuckers...notice Alec's hands are as far away as he can get them.

A little chilly weather on Monday didn't stop us from hittin the beach!

Body surfing!

And the neighbor of the year award goes to.....

My neighbor Melissa is so stinkin awsome! This morning she came over to watch the kids while I went in for my post op doctors visit. When I got home there was a sign on the door that said "Come find us mommy...we are hiding" I immedeatly heard the pitter patter of little feet scrambling and lots of whispering. So, I went on my "search" yelling out "I wonder where Alec and Ava are?...Where could they be?"...all the time hearing giggles and "shhh shhh". I eventually found all three of them in Alec's closet. Melissa then told them to show me my surprise. They led me to the kitchen table where two adorable homemade Mother's Day cards were on display. The cards even had the kids handprints on them! She is always doing little things like this...whether it be coming over while Ava is napping so that I can go get Alec at preschool, or leaving cute little surpises for the kids on the porch...I'm not kiddin you she is "Super Neighbor". Anyway...I just wanted to give her a little shout out! A while back I wrote a post about her daughter Kelsey who always comes over to play with the kids...like mother like daughter :) God has truly blessed us with great neighbors.

Let's hear it for the boys!

This would be Ava's theme song if she knew it! She already loves the boys! Yesterday...we were about to go to the gym (I hadn't been in weeks) and this is the conversation that happend between Ava and I:

Kristen:"Do you want to go play with the kids at the gym?"
Ava: "Boys...sure!"
Kristen:"Did you just say Boys?"
Ava: "Uh huh..boys!!"
Kristen:"What about the girls?"
Ava:"No....boys!"

Oh my word!!! How does a not even two year old get that in her head??? I have a feeling we are going to have our hands full when she is a teenager! I know I was pretty "boy crazy" myself in my teenage years....could this be payback? Anyway...there is one particular man that she has been obviously "flirting" with....Alec's Karate instructor. Every week she will hold out her arms to him and say "hold please!" or "hug...hug please!" She flahes him great big smiles and practically bats her eyelashes at him! What are we going to do with her! She is such a flirty, dramatic, expressive little thing...so funny.