Blog Buffet...

Ok....warning....this is very random! I just downloaded pics off of my camera from this past week and found some cute ones I had to share. I know I JUST posted a half second ago, but I had to let the Grandparents see these! The problem is that I don't have time to write something cute about them. We are leaving in the morning to go to my mom's house in MO to visit my brother, sister in law and their kids who have been in Africa for four years! They have never even met my two kids (although they have seen plenty of pics)! I am soooo excited to see them! I have tons to get done before then. Pray that the kids do good on the trip. This will be the first time we drive the whole way in one day! We might be crazy. Anyway...here are some pics from last Friday's playday, our visit with Vanessa and Shane, and other randomness!

Her eyes are closed in this next pic because that's what she does when we ask for her "very biggest smile"
This is my friend Vanessa, that I used to work with. She and her husband Shane came over for dinner last weekend. It was really fun visiting with them...I hate that they are moving. Don't leave us!!!

She's stinkin up my cave!

This morning after breakfast Alec was building a "cave" in the sofa cusions. This is a common occurance...I think he is trying to get away from Ava who is usually pulling his hair, pounding on him, or stealing one of his hot wheels cars. Anyway...Ava found him in his "cave" and let herself in without being invited. Alec quickly retreated saying "I had to get out...she's stinkin up my cave!" (apparently she needed a diaper change). After that I was in the kitchen doing the dishes, and I heard squeals of joy coming from both kids. I yelled "What's going on?" Alec said "Nothing...I'm just pulling Ava around the floor on the blanket". I replied, "OK...just be gentle"...after thinking for a second I thought... how is a three year old going to be "gently" pulling a toddler around? So, I ran in to check it out. I snapped a few pics and then I gave Alec a spin around the floor. Of course he had to grab the WHITE blanket to drag around on the dirty floor!



An alternative way of cleaning the floors maybe???

Eriik's Sourdough...

So....Eriik promised that when we moved into our new house with the new kitchen that he would start cooking every once in a while. This was kind of exciting news since the last time he had cooked for me was the night he proposed! He is a man of his word and he decided that he wanted to carry on a tradition from his childhood in Wyoming. His Grandma Hazel made Sourdough pancakes every single morning the summer that he was working out on their ranch (age 14). Sourdough pancakes are quite a complicated process (to me anyway). It invloves something called a "starter" (flour, yeast, and water) that you keep "growing" for years (this sounded gross to me...but it's how you get the sour in the sourdough). We were told some people even name their starter, and the longer a starter exsists, the better it gets. So anyway, since we have lived in our new home Eriik has gotten up early five or six times to make us these wonderful pancakes. Alec especially loves them...and he loves it when his Daddy lets him flip the pancakes. He makes them every Saturday, while we jam out to Christian music on the radio. I think it's great that my hubby wants to carry on this Wyoming tradition with our family.




Love the face Ava!

Cruisin!

Last night we let Alec drive Ava in his Jeep. Up until now she had been content just sitting in a stationary vehicle, so this was the first time we let Alec loose at the wheel with his baby sister. Anyway...there are no injuries to report, so all went well. At one point he put his arm around her and said "Ava, your my husband" then he thought for a minute...laughed and said "no..I'm the husband, girls are the wives....right?" Not sure what sparked that comment...maybe he associates driving a girl around as a "husbandly" thing to do. Eriik was playing police officer and putting up pretend stop lights..Alec broke "the law" a couple times. Eriik told Alec that he better start obeying the law or his car was going to have to be impounded! Alec said "Daddy...please don't pound on my car!"

A fresh new look!

So...I finally got a new look to my blog! I have been wanting to change the layout for a long time now...mainly so my brother and sister in law (Shawn and Steph)won't think I'm a "copy cat" for having the same layout as them! Yesterday when I was hanging out with our local blogging expert Meredith, she gave me a tutorial. Thanks Meredith!!!

She walks and talks...

So, Ava is walking and talking all the time now! She is at a really fun stage and we are enjoying it. She is now preferring to walk over crawling and getting around pretty fast. It's so cute to see such a tiny little girl walking all around the house...Alec was such a huge baby when he started walking.
I think even more than the walking I love the talking. She has over 35 words that she uses now...and even says a few two word phrases!!! I won't bore you with the whole list, but some of her words and phrases include: puppy, "What's that?", "all done", "cracker please", car, "my bear", baby, ball, up, ducky, juice, door, outside...the list goes on and on. She calls me Mom Mom, Eriik is Daddeeeee, and Alec is Aleee. Of coarse I've tried to capture her talking on video, with no luck...it's got to be on her terms...no talking on demand for her!

Lot's of hot air!!!

So, we went to the Balloon Glow last night, and had a great time. The last time we had gone was when I was still working and pregnant with Alec, and they put me to work at the Cessna airplane exhibit (they always made the young admissions workers do it). So, last night my old boss was at the Cessna...it was great to see him and catch up a little.
Anyway, Alec liked getting to sit in the airplane, but Ava didn't want to have anything to do with it.

Ava was being a little grumpy here....not too crazy about the heat I guess. It was about 95 degrees and pretty humid!

Sweet smiles with her daddy!

Doesn't he look like an angel here!


At first we sat on a blanket to watch the glow show, and then towards the end we gathered all our stuff up to walk amongst all the balloons, it was really beautiful! Alec reached out to grab one of the balloons as it was deflating, and he thought that was just the coolest thing ever!