I have a lot of pictures so I'm going to do my best to break them up a bit. Also you may notice some poor quality pictures...those were taken with my phone. I make myself grab my camera for the stuff at home, but out on the run my phone is just so much easier right now.
Spring Fever...
Once spring break was over and we were back to our routine, it seemed like we were just counting down the days till summer. Ella did her best to past the time till her playmate (Ava) was out of school. She has tried a couple times to play with Gavin, but he is at that stage where he just wants whatever the other person has...not a fun playmate! Here she is painting...
Happy Mother's Day...
I had a very nice Mother's Day. Ella made one of the cutest books I've ever seen at school full of her hand prints and foot prints. I got beautiful flowers and funny cards. And Ava's class had a Mother's Day tea party complete with lemonade, cookies and homemade bouquets. This picture is a bit close, but it's only my second time trying to take a picture of ourselves.
Her class also put on a little show with a couple songs. This one was my favorite, Ava is in the front row over to the left. They also had to fill out a questionnaire about their Moms including our age....I am the youngest Mom in her class at the ripe old age of thirteen. She said she knows my age it's the "thir" part that got her mixed up! :)
Field Trip...
With only days left in school Ava's class took a field trip to Powder Valley Nature Reserve. I volunteered to help where I could, but with Ella and Gavin I wasn't much help. This picture is of her class, Ava is in the back row second from the right, I swear she isn't as small compared to the rest of her class as this picture makes her look.
They got to take a hike through the woods and hear all about different animals and plants. This is where Gavin totally lost interest in the field trip.
Ava is very into the posing now, as you will see more evidence of below, so this one was her idea. This was also the last picture I got since I took Gavin out of the stroller.
Ella too, only had a few days left of school and toward the end the days got wetter and wetter. I took this picture of Ella because I couldn't believe how big the umbrella was compared to her. It is a big umbrella, but I just loved those little legs sticking out.
School's Out...
On her last day Ella said goodbye to Mrs. Blum and Mrs. G. She had so much fun this year and has never enjoyed school more. In the fall she will start Pre-K!!
Ella's class put on an end of the year show, which was full of songs and even some dance moves. Unlike Ava's songs I recorded with my phone I recorded Ella's with my camera. I learned I REALLY need to practice recording with that thing. It was horrible, I moved my hand so much I made myself sick watching it. I plan to do much better at their dance recital!
On May 21st Ava was officially done with Kindergarten! I now have a first grader!! She must have said it 30 times that day "I'm a first grader now!".
Her school had a little ceremony for them to get their diplomas, which we followed up with a trip to the park. Here's our proud "first grader"!
Ella was so proud of her big sister.
Sleepover...
Now that the stresses of kindergarten were out of her way, Ava decided it was time to have a friend spend the night. She invited Karlee (from dance class) over and they had a ball. I was a little nervous since it was Karlee's first sleepover, but they did great. There was pizza making, coloring, sticker fun...
dressing up, performing and ice cream! Even Zoe tried to perform with them, yes that giant fur ball in front is our 7 month old puppy!!
They even listened when they were told lights out. I could hear a few snickers here and there but within a few minutes they were out cold! They asked if we could do a sleepover every Friday for the rest of the summer, I'm not so sure about that, but Ava is suppose to try out Karlee's house for a night next week!
As with everything else, the latest session of gymnastics also came to an end. The girls weren't too broken up since the next session starts next week. They were very excited to receive their medals! We got home and had quite the photo session with them...there was a lot of posing going on!
I had to take this picture and I'm so glad it kinda turned out. This is exactly what Gavin does all day long...whatever his sisters are doing!! He even found the beads and put them on himself since he didn't have a medal to wear!!
He is such a copy cat, but as soon as he knows I'm watching, especially with a
camera, he stops and just stares! This is the reason up till now you have seen no pictures of him. He is rarely still and he never smiles for the camera!!
Summer in STL...
As most of you are aware it doesn't take long for the summer heat to return in St. Louis. Two Sunday's ago it was back in the low 90's. While out at G-ma and G-pa F's house the kids decided to break out the sprinklers. The girls of course went crazy and were soaked and worn out in no time. Then it was Gavin's turn. He wasn't sure as first, he did not like the grass sticking to his feet.
"See Mom I'm a mess!"
Then he took Zoe's approach and started eating the grass.
Even had water right there to wash it down with.
Needless to say, it didn't take long before he too was having a blast. I stood pretty far away with the camera so I was able to get some good ones...
before he caught me!!
Back to Tennessee...
Every year about this time we try to take a road trip down to Tennessee to visit G-ma and G-pa C and this year was no exception. Last Thursday we made the 5 hour drive with no hiccups. Luckily, the weather was absolutely gorgeous the whole weekend! We played outside all day every day. There is now a grade school close to my parents house so we went over there one afternoon and borrowed the playground for a bit.
Ella got those stylish gloves from G-ma when we first arrived and she wore them A LOT! She would ask me "do you like my rock star gloves?"
I'm not sure what was Gavin's deal but he was CRABBY! He wasn't sleeping the greatest while we were there so he was a bit of a bear, with the exception of when we could just push him in the swing, he did a lot of swinging!
We also paid a visit to the local Marina, which has a nice park too. The girls climbed all over the place, but Gavin just hung out in this little house the entire time.
It may have been more for the adults, but we did enforce some down time one afternoon and had the kids watch Madagascar 3. Ava thought the Marty wig was hilarious!
Instead of constantly driving to different parks we also spent a lot of time in the backyard. Ava got out everything she could possibly find to play dress up with. Ella has a dress there like this for her too, but due to her height it is a little longer on her. She was furious, threw a huge fit and refused to play dress up at all since her dress didn't fit like she wanted it to! Ella can be "a bit" dramatic.
Ava is a little more easy going than Ella, but some of that is her age too. She is starting to question everything. She has asked questions for years but instead of the "why" question, we are now getting questions like, "where do I find the guy I'm going to marry? Do I have to go into the big city to find him?".
Ella on the other hand sticks mostly to the "why" question. But mostly she just tells you the way it is, "I'm not going to eat any meat today" and "I'm not going wear that". Like when she ran around the yard with this net instead of dressing up, which she would normally prefer, because we wouldn't cut the dress the way she wanted. STUBBORN! (definitely takes after Dan :) )
Another one of Ava's recent questions was "why did they use nails to stick Jesus to the cross? why not use clothes pins, they wouldn't have hurt him as bad?". I don't even think we own a single clothes pin, so I'm not sure where that came from, but still so sweet!
Along with her increased curiosity she's becoming more clever. Towards the end of the school year she started saying things like "my head hurts, I don't think I can go to school". Then after being told that means she can't see her friends or do dance and gymnastics she would be miraculously cured and say "I was just teasing". So I decided to tell her about the boy who cried wolf, but I made the mistake of leaving out the part about all the boy being eaten by the wolf. At first it worked and she said she wouldn't tease. But a few hours later she came to me and said "so did the wolf eat all the sheep?" "Yes", I said. "And the boy was sad? "Very sad", I replied. "Well it's kinda a good thing though because now that he doesn't have all those sheep to take care of he can sleep in in the morning, right?" All I could do is laugh, we then had to explain how the boy got hurt badly because of his teasing. Too clever for her own good!
Although she is still stubborn as all get out, Ella is also the first one to tell me thank you for the littlest thing, even making her bed, and the first one to volunteer to help me with the chores. She puts on a rough front, but she has a tender heart in there!
It's too early to tell with my little man. He is definitely a lover, but very moody. He is a helper with his favorite task being the dishwasher right now. I take out all the sharp objects then he "forcefully" throws all the rest of the silverware into the appropriate drawer and sets everything else up on the counter. I hope he stays a helper but the mood swings calm down a bit, wishful thinking!
(These are Ava's pink sunglasses. He wouldn't keep his on, but loves Ava's!)
Got a little sidetracked there...After four days in TN we headed back home. The trip home was a breeze, without one single stop. The girls are already asking when we go back!
A Visitor...
After almost an entire year of watching all her friends lose their teeth, Ava FINALLY lost her first tooth the night we got back from TN. That little bitty hole on the bottom is where it was and unfortunately the big tooth is already in. She has "shark teeth", which is when the big teeth come in behind the baby teeth. She is the ideal candidate for spacers and braces..Booo! So after what must have been hundreds of trips over our house the tooth fairy finally stopped in and left Ava a small monetary gift under her pillow. We weren't sure what teeth were going for these days, but it's a good thing that teeth fall out before they can fully comprehend the value of a dollar!
Wow, now that was a post. We are all caught up and as usual I hope to update soon!!
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