Where have we been?

We had a wonderful trip to the cities to visit Melissa and Jeff and Ronnie - he rolled for the first time while we were there. Ella really liked her little playmate! It was wonderful visiting such good friends!
Easter came and went. Ava found Easter eggs that Grandma hid in the front yard - fun, fun, fun! We went to the see the Easter bunny and Ava decided that she likes the Easter bunny from far away - not so much up close!
Ella is now crawling/scooting and rolling all over the place. She will soon have two more teeth for a total of 4! And she is insisting on feeding herself which makes mealtime that much more messy!!
We are excited to get the girls out for bike rides in another month or so when Ella can better support herself in the bike trailer. Kevin and I are really liking our new bikes too.

Ella

Ella is growing and growing and growing. I need to download a couple of recent pictures of Ella playing with Baby Ronnie, but in the meantime here are a couple pictures of Ella - she is eating in both and she eats often during the day! The top picture is her eating her first cracker. The bottom picture is her celebrating St. Patrick's Day - eating peas. She was finding it funny to blow raspberries so I was wearing green by the end of lunch that day!

Ella is as close to crawling without crawling - she has this tadpole move she does and gets around pretty quick without officially crawling. Trying to keep an eye on her and Ava is a nonstop adventure.

Another busy weekend - Kevin and I stood up as Godparents this weekend for baby Keira (she is a doll - I have to download a pic of her too).

Ava's First Day of School!!

Ava started school today at St. Mary's. She did an excellent job of using her manners and listening to her teacher (Mrs. Maria). I didn't exactly expect Ava to be at school so soon, but when she told me she wanted to go to school on Monday and wouldn't nap I knew we needed to reevaluate our timeline! I can't believe my little girl is already going to school!

I am pretty excited that Ava will be learning some Spanish too. Today they had to find little duckies - each student had a ducky with their name on it. After they discussed how to treat small animals.

Ava will be attending two days a week for now and she is staying for lunch - today was spaghetti! It is only $3/hr and lunch is $1. She was so excited when she got home today - she has been talking up a storm and I can't wait to see what she comes up with next!

I will be dedicating the next blog entry to Ella as the little girl gets left out of most blog notes!

Lark Toys

This past weekend we went to Lark Toys (about 25 miles up the road from Winona). It was great fun! Ava rode the carousel three times and immediately was asking for "more" before the ride came to a complete stop. The carousel only runs every half hour, so she had to wait a good twenty five minutes between rides. There was so much to see and do while we waited so there were no issues.

Everyone had a great time and we are looking forward to our next trip - by then the mini golf will be up and running outside! It's just a matter of finding the time in our schedule - we are booked through April and parts of May.

Big Smiles

The girls were really smiley at Breakfast the other day and I just had to get their pictures taken! Ava has this new thing she is doing where she squints her eyes and smiles really big. It reminds me of the "Chandler" smile from Friends - if anyone remembers what that was! It is making for interesting pictures as she thinks that she is smiling really nice when she looks really goofy!

Before I forget, big thank you to Aunt Angela for the clothes you sent this past week - super cute stuff that I will try to get pictures of on the blog. Ava continues to grow out of her clothes and we find ourselves having to remember that she just turned two. Ava has been having fantastic success with the potty - yesterday using it 4 times!!! She only went once in a diaper!!!!

Ella is 7 months old today and such a cutie. She is growing too - already wearing some 12 month clothing and attempting to crawl. She gets up and is moving her legs forward, but her arms haven't coordinated their movements for complete forward motion. I am in no hurry, but she is!! :)

We have had a big weekend so far and will be posting pictures from Lark Toys tomorrow. Uncle Anthony made a visit today - he hasn't seen the girls since Christmas! It is a really neat place and somewhere we will be going again soon.

The Sock Hop

Here are a couple of cute pictures from last weekend's SockHop. Ava had a great time dancing to the music. Lots of twirling, some falling down and a whole lot of smiles! Sounds like a good time!

Today was another flurry of activity - from the time we woke until tonight there hasn't really been any down time. We are hoping that we can have some quiet family time tomorrow before visiting with a brand new baby Keira (born March 3rd) tomorrow afternoon.

Such a BIG Day!

Big doesn't fully describe our day but it is a start. We went to the Y this morning and played with Aynsley and Preston. Ava got to play with the basketballs and run around the gym. Then she saw something that made her say one of my favorite phrases "Oh, neat!" as she saw a bunch of people playing volleyball in a gym nearby. Ava had never seen volleyball being played - she is a big fan!

Today Ava pooped in her potty - this is a first. A big first for Mommy because I have been very frustrated by this potty training process. She got a sticker and a Hershey kiss (yes, I am stooping lower than I had wanted to get her on that potty!) and lots of hugs and kisses from mommy. She was then supposed to go upstairs and take a nap, but the potty training really keyed her up and she couldn't sleep. In all of her excitement she lost her nuk - her beloved nuk - and mommy tossed her room looking for it but couldn't find it anywhere. After a really long afternoon of screaming for her lost nuk, mommy decided that the nuk would never be found - if you know what I mean. Tonight at bed she never even asked for it! Kevin and I were pretty shocked.

I also included a picture of Ava feeding Ella - that happened when I got up from feeding Ella to get a glass of water. I turned around and Ava had taken my place! I grabbed the camera and got this shot! :) She is such a good helper and Ella loves her big sister!!

Ella was a little cutie today. She is really wanting to crawl but is still working on the logistics. Regardless of her ability to crawl she is getting where she wants to be. I think she is having discomfort from her top teeth but so far Tylenol is working.

The weather is getting nicer and we are looking forward to getting out to enjoy it soon!