Good Luck, Jeffrey!

So my "baby" cousin is suddenly all grown up and off to basic training for the Air Force. We are so incredibly proud of him and his new path in life. We had a really nice going away party for him on Saturday with our whole family. It was nice seeing everyone and giving him a good send off. I can't imagine not seeing him at holidays but we won't think of that for now! Good luck, Jeff! We love you and wish you all the best!

yummy cake

Jeff & Tyler

Ava classy as always

Ava, Steve, Jeff, Cole & me

the family plus moo
Ava and Cole both did really well---as long as there is food those two are happy! Ava got upset when we started passing Cole around because she thought we were giving him away. I'm sure in a few years that will change and she'll be trying to sell him in our front yard :)

me, Ava & my "little" cousin

Aunt Pat w. Cole

Happy Birthday, Beamy!

Happy 70th birthday, Beamy!! Hope you have a wonderful day!

We love you
xoxo

TWENTY EIGHT {monthly update}

Where has another month gone? Ava has really taken to her roll as big sister. She adores Cole and needs to know everything that is going on with him at all times. She's always {so far} been super gentle with him and talks to him in her own little version of motherese---it's really cute. Sometimes she gets a little too in his face but he's learned to retaliate by taking a few swipes at her to get her to back up {or spit up on her like he did once---that made her run!} Cole adores her too and is always watching her play around him and is starting to smile at her. Her dramatic play has changed so much too. She mimics everything we do with Cole on her babies---right down to them having their own "poop explosions" and pumping.

She is still cooking up meals in her kitchen and creating all kinds of parties. It's so great watching her use every aspect of the kitchen from washing her hands in the sink to making things in the microwave using pot holders to putting things in the fridge to cool off. Her imagination is growing so much! Before lunch I asked Ava to put away one of her food cans from her kitchen. "But that's my diet coke, mommy. I need that." she told me. Ava has also started serving diet coke at her tea parties---that's my girl :) Ava's been really into this magnetic "paper doll" that she got for her birthday. She loves putting together different outfits and putting her shoes on. She actually does really well matching the outfits and putting the shoes on the right feet.

Ava loves talking on the phone and shopping---we are in for it during the teen years! She loves calling Steven during the day and the grandparents at night. She also pretends to talk on the phone all day with updates about our day. She's always asking to go shopping and is always clipping "coupons" and buying stuff on sale. I told Steven I have no clue where she learns this stuff from :) She also loves doing laundry and always wants to load/unload the washer and dryer and push the buttons. As soon as she can reach the detergent dispenser I'll have one less chore to do! :)

One of Ava's favorite things to do is look at the pictures we have up around the house. She loves seeing herself as a baby and makes up stories to go along with the picture. Although, she can't quite figure out why we have wedding pictures without her. We tried explaining that she wasn't here yet but that didn't fly. Instead, Ava either tells us that she was "over there" while pointing off to the side of the picture or she was hiding or she didn't want to be in the picture. I love how her mind works.

She's growing up too fast! We took Ava to look at a preschool the other day. I can't even believe she will be going in the fall! She seemed to really like it and I really liked the program. We'll still do a lot of activities here but it will be nice for her to have some more socialization. She's so excited about getting a "pack-pack" for school already. Oh the little things!

Happy 28 months, Ava Lou! We love you!

go pats!

a rare nice day outside

a girl and her diet coke :)

28 months!

look---hair! finally :) granted it's still in mullet
form but at least we have something to work with
{she's not picking her nose---I know it looks like that}

goofy girl

stacking blocks

Ava & moo being fresh :)

Cole's one month check up

I brought Cole in for his one month check up yesterday. He's perfect! Mr. Chubs weighs 12 lbs 8 oz {93%} and is 22 1/2 inches long {70%}. They aren't concerned with his weight anymore---he's gaining like a champ. He did really well and loved flirting with the nurses. He had to get one shot which he was not a fan of---he has that lower lip pout down, poor baby! Everything looks great and we are so thankful he's doing so well!

happy birthday, papa!

A big happy birthday to papa!

{who's birthday was yesterday. I knew it was the 22nd---just didn't realize that the 22nd was yesterday.}

We hope you had a fantastic birthday!

little mommy

Ava has always been a little mama to her babies and younger friends in school. It's really cute to watch and it's so funny to hear her talk to her babies and watch her imitate things we do with Cole. We are always finding babies buckled in Cole's car seat or in his swing or bouncer. She can usually be found "warming" bottles and feeding them to her babies and she is always imitating things we say, how we do diapers and how we burp Cole.



So I should have known that this was coming:

{please excuse her outfit---that's what she picked to wear to bed}

Because Steven & I are very mature, we sometimes call nursing "hitting the booby bar" or "tapping the rockies" {told you we were mature :)} I was feeding Cole in the morning and catching up on the Olympic highlights when I heard Ava say "you wanna hit the booby bar, baby? yeah? ok, hold on, I'll get them out". {for the record, I DON'T say that at all---no clue where that comes from!} I turned to look at her and there she was complete with boppy and all nursing her baby. She is just too much sometimes :)

shopping buddies

Ava LOVES to shop. Loves it. Anytime she talks to anyone she asks them to take her shopping. We could spend hours shopping and she doesn't want to stop. If we even move our coats, she jumps up from what she is doing and asks "You going shopping? I wanna go shopping, too, please." She also always makes sure she has coupons when she goes play shopping too. Cole {and dada} do not share this love of shopping. Wednesday, Beamy & I took the kids to the outlets to take advantage of the sales. I did some birthday shopping for me at Gap and then we headed over to Carters & Baby Gap for the kids. Cole slept the whole time and woke up in Carters. I figured he'd need to eat, so we took a break for lunch and his feeding. Of course he he falls back asleep when we sit down to eat. I woke him up and fed him and we continued on to Baby Gap. What do you know he cries and fusses as soon as we are in there. I think Steven is trying to corrupt him already :) Thankfully, Cole didn't put up much of a fight and fell back asleep so we could finish. It's funny how they are so different in some ways already.

Ava showing dada all the deals

my shop-a-holic

more snow babies

This time we really got some snow! We spent Tuesday relaxing, playing and watching the snow fall. Steven got out early and came home to shovel with Ava's help. Ava has her own little shovel that she uses to move the snow all around---although I think she does more damage than actually help. If Steven stopped, she'd yell "dada! you need to shovel snow now!" She's quite the bossy one! I bundled Cole up and took him out for a little bit. He's not quite a fan of the snow---not that we blame him!

Ava getting to work

Cole & mama

his face says it all

yelling at dada

heading to a new spot to shovel

birthday fun!

Monday was the big 2-7 for me! Cole was super sweet and slept for five hours straight for me! Then he slept 6 hours straight the next night and TWO the following night---just enough to get my hopes up and then send me crashing back to reality. Ava, Cole, Beamy & I all went out to Chili's for lunch and did some shopping on Monday. The weather was pretty nice and it was so nice going out for a bit. After Steven got home I headed out by myself to do shopping for me. It was heavenly. Gap was having 45% off everything so I got a few cute things {and somehow ended up buying everyone else stuff too} at great prices. I loved not being rushed---I might have to sneak out to shop on my own more often :)

cuties

I figure I only have a limited amount of time to put them in matching shirts before they start to catch on and protest :)

Ava's kisses

and Cole's kisses

and Cole sporting my shades---this kept Ava & I entertained
for a good 10 minutes. Cole was not so amused :)

weekend happenings

We had a wonderful weekend & Valentine's day! Saturday we all went out to a yummy breakfast with nana, papa & uncle mike. It's so nice getting out of the house---I feel like a different person when we get out! After breakfast, Steven & I came home to clean while Ava went food shopping w. beamy. Steven planned a surprise date night for us that I had no idea about. It was very sweet and much needed! We headed over to the movies to see Valentine's Day, went to dinner and did some shopping---what a great night! It was our first time leaving Cole but both kids did great and we had a wonderful time.

Sunday, Steven & Ava went and got breakfast and then we all went for a nice walk around the neighborhood. Both kids loved being out & I can't wait for the warm weather to stay so we can get our daily walks in. Steven was great and let me take a nice long nap on the couch when we got back---thank you! It was much appreciated :) Steven & Ava headed to BJs for some shopping while Cole and I relaxed, watched some Olympics and ate. We had a nice little birthday celebration with our families for me complete with a delicious cake Ava picked out. Cole even "real" smiled for the first time today! It was so incredibly cute and totally made my day.

enjoying our walk!
{my mom & I found this brand new double stroller for super cheap @ target's baby clearance. this was our 1st time using it and it's great!}

Cole looking thrilled :)

Ava's valentine hearts
She now recognizes and can name the heart shape. I'd like to say it's from this art project but I'm pretty sure it's from the heart sprinkles on the cupcakes we had :)

yummy birthday cake!

Ava's favorite pastime. She is always helping "cleaning Cole's bum"

family photo

coloring---she's actually been trying to stay in the more in the lines {as shown in green}

my handsome boy who is clearly thrilled to have his picture taken

snuggle time!

an almost smile caught on camera. is there anything cuter?

Have a wonderful week!!