Claire "isms"

Claire is feeling much better now. Whatever she had, it didn't last long and she woke up yesterday good as new. I must say, she was pretty agreeable/compliant when she was not feeling well. It must be that she didn't have enough energy to exercise that strong will of hers! We've been home a lot the past few days, and I have gotten tickled several times by things she's said (some of them nicer than others!). Here's a sampling...

When we tried to give Ava cereal, she said, "Ava don't love it, mommy. It's yucky."

If she doesn't know how to do something, she now says, "I can't how to do it."

I asked her to get me a bottled water out of the refrigerator while I was doing something with Ava, and she obviously misunderstood. She goes to get her stool, and proceeds to fill one of Ava's bottles wth water. How cute is that?

As I tore a piece of paper from my notepad, she told me, "Mommy, you have to be quiet and stop scratching. That loud noise is not nice to me."

We have a few Starbursts in our candy jar and I ate the last pink one (my favorite). Claire noticed it was gone and looked in the trash can. She asked me if I ate the pink candy, and I told her I did. She said to me, "Mommy, the pink candy is for big girls, not big people."

I know, she could use some help with grammar, but it's not authentic if I edit and don't tell you exactly how she said it. And, you have to admit, that's what makes it so cute!

She does enjoy being the big girl in the house. She is our spit up patrol - she can spot a mile away if Ava is spitting up and quickly warns us. She is pretty good at finding missing pacifiers and likes to rinse them off and give them to Ava. For some reason, she likes to watch us change only the dirty diapers, perhaps b/c it's the perfect time to say, "ewwww, gross!" She loves to help cook, set/clear the table, put dishes away, make beds, put away clean clothes and follow me to pick up the clothes I drop on the way to the laundry room. No, she is not a maid-in-training, she just likes to help! She has also recently learned to recognize and spell her name and Ava's (of course, Ava's is pretty simple). What a special daughter and sister she is!

Poor thing

My poor little Claire got sick this morning just before we left church after my MOPS meeting. I feel so sorry for her, and she was so sad when I told her she had to miss school tomorrow. She has been fine this afternoon and evening, but I just don't feel good about taking her to school not knowing what's wrong. She fell asleep at like 6:30 tonight, so I am just hoping and praying we don't get a middle-of-the-night wake up call. Keep your fingers crossed that the rest of us don't get it. We just don't have much room for error this week!

Lots to catch up on....

As you can tell from my lack of posts, the past few days have been super busy! My father in law left this weekend to go back home after visiting with us for the week. The girls (and us) enjoyed it so much. Claire said the whole day after he left that she was sad he was gone. I'm sure Ava would've said the same if she could talk! We feel blessed that our kids have grandparents who are alive and well - I know that's not the case for everyone. I grew up knowing all of my grandparents and this is something I hope and pray my girls will experience as well.

We also spent a little time with my uncle and his kids, who were in town for a brief visit this weekend. Amidst all of that, we managed to find time to go to the flea market and a hayride/bonfire on Saturday, as well as church, a neighborhood Halloween parade and Harvest Party at my mom's church on Sunday. It makes me tired just to recap all of that! Here are a few pictures from our fun-filled weekend!

The girls with their grandpa...



This is at the hayride/bonfire. I thought the picture below with her friend was so stinkin cute. I tried to get pictures with some of the other kids as well, but getting all of them to sit and take a picture at once was a challenge!


On our way to the neighborhood Halloween parade with our cowgirl and Minnie Mouse. You don't see any more pictures from that event because mommy's camera battery died. :( Luckily, this won't be the last time they wear their costumes!


The girls with their Nana and cousin at Nana's church harvest party...

Claire riding yet another pony! Lucky for her, these have been everywhere we go lately!

Claire playing one of the many games at the party. As you can tell, she cheated a little at throwing the beanbag through the ark!

Fun week with Grandpa!

Chris's dad has been here the past few days, and we've really been enjoying spending time with him. I think he may need a vacation after leaving here, because Claire is wearing him out wanting to play all of the time!

Yesterday, we went to Opry Mills for the afternoon. I needed to get the girls some things before the weekend. I wish I would've thought to bring my camera! While we've passed by the stingray reef there many times, we've never been inside. Chris decided he wanted to take Claire in so they could feed the stingrays. I was of course apprehensive, but Claire was thankfully scared and didn't want any part of it. Chris fed them, and was startled many times himself when they jumped out of the water to get the food! I guess the bonus for Claire was that paying to get in to the stingray reef also got her unlimited rides on the carousel!

Last night, Ava had her first rice cereal. We had hoped to start after her four month doctor appointment, but she felt under the weather for several days and we didn't want to introduce anything new while her appetite was still off. As you can see from the pictures, she was not really a fan. Claire enjoyed trying to help, but Ava just didn't know what to do with that spoon and ended up spitting everything right back out! We tried again tonight with no real progress to report, but I'm sure she'll warm up to it eventually!

Smiley Hollow outing

Yesterday, my inlaws came in to visit from DC, so we spent a good part of the day hanging out with them. My mother in law had to leave town, but the rest of us headed over to a church outing at Smiley Hollow in Ridgetop for the evening. We had all been there before, but not for a church event. We had so much fun! There were inflatables, pony rides, lots of games, a hayride, a train, and lots of good food! As you can see in the following pictures, Claire had a ball. It was pretty chilly, so Ava spent most of the time bundled up in the stroller. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of her, but I'll do better over the next few days!

Claire trying her hand at miniature golf. She only made it through a few holes, but she wasn't bad!

Riding on the train with her grandpa.

enjoying her cotton candy....

Ok, this was the funniest thing! As you can see, Claire is very distraught. All the horses had to stop because hers had "done his business." She is showing us here what he had done. "Oh, no, mommy, look what he did."

Pumpkin Patch

I know it's been several days since I've posted anything. Ava has been a little under the weather and we've been busy the last few days preparing for my inlaws to arrive!

We had such a great day today. I am really loving that it's finally starting to feel like fall! We went to Honeysuckle Hill farm in Springfield and we all had a blast. They had several different play areas, including slides, a sand area, and a corn pit for the kids to play in! We were able to see lots of cute little animals too, like chickens, pigs, bunnies, donkeys, horses, etc. and walk through a corn maze. Of course, Claire also picked out a little pumpkin. Sweet little Ava went, she just slept most of the time! Here are some pictures from our fun fall day!

They grow too fast!

We've been experimenting here and there with putting Ava in the exersaucer, but she is just now seeming to be comfortable in it (without flopping around). Every new thing Ava does is exciting, but definitely a little bittersweet. I remember with Claire, I couldn't wait for the "next phase," but it's just so different with Ava. I want to keep her a baby as long as I can! Just look at those CHINS!

As we are doing our ritual before bed tonight, I am reminded of just how quickly Claire is growing up as well. We brush our teeth.....she has recently started brushing her teeth with the toothpaste you are supposed to spit out (and not swallow). I have no idea if we are doing this early or late for her age, I just decided one day a few months ago to get "big girl toothpaste" instead of the "safe to swallow" training toothpaste we had been using. We had major resistance when we first introduced it to her, I guess I just never imagined something like that would be such a difficult transition. Anyway, she finally now has the hang of it. She changes into her pajamas and picks out a book for me to read to her....tonight it was Go Dog Go (one of her favorites). We have read it so many times that she basically recites most of it, and I realize it won't be long before she will be reading to me. We say our prayers....of course she has me say one and then she says her own. Tonight, she thanked God for her family as usual, but also her hairbows, toys and for making her tongue feel better - how cute is that?!

Friday Fun

We took Ava to the doctor yesterday for her four month checkup. No matter how many times you've done it, shots are just plain horrible to watch your child go through! The doctor said she looked great and that he could tell just by looking at me that things were going better. The last time he saw us, we were in the middle of "colic," and I'm sure I had "desperate" written all over my face! I am so thankful I could report that the crying tapered off at around two and a half months and we had a content baby on our hands now. She really is so sweet! She weighed 14 pounds, 2 oz. at this visit, right around double what she weighed at birth.

It was going to be a lovely night, so we took a short trip to Franklin, KY, to the drive in theater to watch Beverly Hills Chiwahua (sp?). I haven't been to a drive-in in years, and we had been wanting to take Claire for a long time. We stopped by Zaxby's nearby to grab some dinner, and pulled out our lawn chairs to enjoy what was left of daylight before the movie started. We had a great time, and I definitely think it was a nice way to enjoy a movie with young kids. Unlike in a traditional theater, if Ava got a little fussy, we didn't really disturb anyone. The movie was really cute, and Claire enjoyed her first Dippin Dots - bubble gum flavor. I think I prefer just having regular ice cream. Those little "pellets" got everywhere!

Not much new to report this week

My whole family seems to either have the sniffles, a stuffy nose or a headache these days. Although the weather lately has been just beautiful, I think it does a number on us! We all kind of felt a little off today, so we stuck sort of close to the house. We did manage to make it out to have lunch together - a nice treat for us all since Chris just got back into town.

I have been busy trying to get my business stuff organized/updated for some fall shows. I am finding now with two children, it's difficult to find time to devote to it. I am looking forward to getting back in the swing of things, though!

Claire has been sort of a challenge this week. I have this theory that she waits until Chris leaves sometimes to turn on the attitude! You know, meltdowns about not getting her way and flat out refusal to do things she just doesn't want to do. Then today, with daddy back, it was a completely different story and such a great day. Funny, huh?

Ava is really a chatterbox now! I don't remember Claire babbling this much, but then again I don't remember much about anything these days! It's so cute and I just love that she wants so badly to be heard! She's a pretty happy baby lately, although I'm not sure we'll be able to tell it from the pictures that we had made on Tuesday. She would talk and talk and talk, but we couldn't get her to smile much at all - she was very serious about whatever she was telling us! She was also fascinated with her dress and kept wanting to pull it up and stick it in her mouth! I can't wait to see how they turn out. She is pretty close to rolling over, so we'll be keeping an eye out for that soon!

This weekend

I was so glad to be feeling better by mid-day on Saturday, and was eager to try and salvage some of the weekend. I was pretty bummed I had already been forced to cancel some fun plans. My sweet husband did EVERYTHING while I was out of commission, and I am so appreciative he was here to help. He came back early from his trip because of my grandfather's passing, and I keep wondering what it would've been like if he wasn't here on Thursday night (as originally planned) - I am so thankful that wasn't the case. I wanted to get out for a short while on Saturday, so we went to the park to a family event our church was hosting. They had pony rides, inflatables, food, games, etc. We only stayed about 30 minutes since I was still feeling pretty weak, but we had a good time.

Here is Claire ready to go to the park. She begs us every time she gets in the car to sit in the middle instead of her car seat! The answer is, of course, no, but we do have to factor in a few extra minutes for this ritual before we leave to go anywhere!

Claire enjoying a pony ride. This is the first time we let her ride alone, and she felt so big!


Later that evening, we went to see Veggie Tales LIVE at a local church. I still wasn't feeling 100%, but I was determined to go if I could. Claire absolutely loved it! I was completely wiped by the end of the show, I am sure because I tried to do too much that day after being so sick. The lighting was not so great for pics, but here are a few decent ones I got.

What a week

Yesterday, we gathered to say goodbye to my paternal grandfather, a sad day to say the least. While there, I find out my sweet niece had a febrile seizure, her second in a few months. I thought to myself, ths week has already had more than enough excitement for me. Well, I had no idea what was in store for me early this morning - a trip to the ER and an entire day spent in bed trying to get over whatever it is that I have. As I write, I am listening to my family playing downstairs and obviously enjoying their Friday night (without me). Oh well, on the bright side, I guess I can catch up on blogging and maybe read the entire paper for once! Hopefully, this is not the weekend I have in store for me. Cross your fingers that I can kick this quickly!

New picture of Ava

I can't believe my Ava will be four months old this Friday. She is doing well and is such a sweet little blessing. We really enjoy seeing Claire interact with her and love to imagine what it will be like for them to play together as they grow up. She sleeps really great at night (11 hours or so), but getting her to nap consistently during the day is a bit more of a challenge!