Happy Birthday Ethan! 4 Years Old!!!

I can't believe my little boy is 4! He was so excited for this birthday to come and has waited so patiently through almost everyone's birthday before him! He made his birthday wish list months ago, and he got everything he wanted. Hopefully he will actually play with them for more than a week. (He tends to get disinterested quickly).



Better Batter Baseball

Miniature golf course

Fish tank and fish

An alarm clock ( he now has to wait for a 7 am before he can get out of bed) p.s. I set the clock ahead :) I know I'm sneaky but that means I get to sleep in a little more, now to train Avery!

A little lava lamp

Miniature skateboards (the last two were thrown in, Jesse got them from work)

Still awaiting- Nana Conn's package



That's quite the haul for a 4 year old! Here are some pics. Happy Birthday Ethan, we love you. You are an amazing little boy, and so loving. And the best big brother any little sister could want!

New Hairdo and "Mommy I Stuck!"

I love it when I try a new hairdo on Avery and it turns out alright. I saw this hairdo on one of my friends girls and it was so cute, I had to try it on Avery as I am not very creative. Of course, I had to take pictures :)

Somehow Avery managed to get her foot stuck in this toy. Luckily not to much damage was done! With a little slippery help it slid right out.

Playing in the Rain

On the way home from work the other day Jesse got the itch to play in the rain. When he got home, he took the kids outside to play in the rain. It was so cute watching them having so much fun, while getting soaked. The kids can't wait for daddy to get home each day, and now that Jesse is done with his Masters, he doesn't have to end the fun early. As soon as he walks through the door, they run, and Ethan asks "Daddy can you play with me?" I am so glad he is such a good dad!

Avery does have a diaper on this time. Just no pants!

Mommy, I poopy again!

**Warning-naked bum pics***

This is a sentence I hear from Avery multiple times a day. Each time this is accompanied by handing me her diaper that she removed her self. Luckily only one out of ten actually has poop in it, and she is really good about not letting the poop fall out. It still drives me nuts. I am not ready to potty train her quite yet. So, I have resorted to putting onsies on her, that way she can't get her diaper off. The other day I turned on the hose and let them run wild, and jump on the tramp. I didn't put bathing suits of swim diapers on though. When they were finised I told them they needed to go jump on the tramp to dry off. The pics show what I found.

Ethan noticed me taking pics of Avery, and thought he had to drop his pants to get me to take pics of him too. A 4 yr old bum is just not as cute :)

Road Trip

My best friend Christine got married a few weeks ago. At first I had planned to just fly out to Utah by myself and attend, but Jesse didn't want to miss it, and thought we should make a family vacation out of it. We drove from AR to Colorado ( and rested for a day), then on to Utah. After the wedding weekend, we drove up to Idaho to spend 4 days with good friends from college. It was a long trip, but so great to see friends we hadn't seen in 6 years. Thanks Hartners for letting us stay with you, and thanks to you and the Ruppels for planning fun times!!! Here are some pics.

He was complaining about the sun being in his eyes!

She had to have her picture taken because brother did.

We went to the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house. It was amazing and beautiful, and the kids were so well behaved inside. Ethan kept asking when we would get to see Jesus, because this is where He lives.

There were cookies in the reception hall after the open house. THIS was the best part for the kids! In this picture Ethan said, "Mommy, Avery's face is too messy, she needs a wipe". He's a little OCD, he can't stand to be dirty, or to see anyone else dirty.

A Day At the Lake Palisades

Avery, Ethan, Xander, Hailey

Everytime the boat stopped the kids wanted to jump in and swim. The water was FREEZING, I don't know how they liked it so much. I think this was Ethan's favorite part.

Avery didn't like having to sit down so much she wanted to be climbing and wandering around the boat. My sunglasses kept her happy for a while.

Jesse and Ethan on the tube (before I figured out how to zoom all the way)

Jesse and Avery tubing (after the zooming lesson). Avery was laughing the whole time.

Ethan and Xander tubing together.

Thanks to our friends who put up with us, and for showing us a good time!

Avery Turns 2!!!!!

Avery turned 2 on July 11. We had a small party with just family here, and family on the web cam. She was totally into it. It was Tinkerbell themed, and very cute. Unfortunately I didn't think to take pics of the "obviously" homemade cake :) At her 2 year well check we learned that she is a whopping 21 lbs, I think that's 1 whole LB of weight gain in the past year. At least I hope she was 20 lbs when I moved her to a toddler car seat :) Anyway here are some pics.