New pool & watches

Last week I bought a kiddie pool at Target. The kids love it. It has a waterfall, slide & 2 inflatable dinosaurs(the perfect number!;)).

Drew & Ava have been fascinated by my sports watch for a while now. They often ask to wear it or will try to play w/ all the buttons while I'm wearing. So, I finally decided to get them their own watches. So, Saturday, while Jeremy took Drew to get a haircut, the girls & I went to Target to look for watches. I let Ava pick them out: Dora & Diego, of course. They are not wearing them as often as I expected, but do get very upset when we can't find them! :)

Mini-forts & new dresses

Since I've been a little remiss in my blogging lately, I'll be combining some posts as I try to update on how we're doing.

I don't even remember when this picture was taken. I know that after 200 "momma, cover me up"s followed by them uncovering to see the TV, I was thinking creatively to get them to stop! ;) Viola: mini-forts. They waited more than 2 minutes to tear them down, so that was progress!
Of course the feet touching in the middle led to a couple fights....guess we need a bigger couch.


Pres & Ava just got 2 new smocked dresses from my mom(she makes them!). They are SO adorable & the softest fabric. I asked her if she would make me one & I think she thought I was kidding... =).

Pres has pink sheep:


I could not get Ava to just let me take a picture of her. In every one she is holding her cars in front of the smocking...which is what I wanted to show off. This is the best I could do. If you can't tell, it's chocolate cupcakes w/ pink icing. Adorable!

Bouncy bouncy bouncy

Ava & Drew LOVE to jump, bounce & hop. They can often be found hopping like frogs & screaming RIBBIT through the house. They very seldom walk anywhere....they jump. They jump ON the couch, OFF the couch & have even attempted to jump from the floor TO the couch! We started talking a couple of months ago about getting them an indoor, small trampoline to try to channel this jumping energy into an appropriate outlet. I felt that most of these trampolines(at least within our price range) seemed a little dangerous for 2 toddlers to jump on together(because of course they will HAVE to jump together!). Then I was flipping through the One Step Ahead catalog & saw the Bounce A Round. PERFECT! It's a smallish inflatable...with inflated sides. Made for 2 kids. Just what we need. And not incredibly expensive...even better! :)

We got it about 2 weeks ago, but had to get a pump for it, which I got last week while Ava & Drew were in San Antonio. Jeremy got it blown up Saturday afternoon & the kids LOVE IT. I really thought they would...they love the big inflatables & now they have one of their own!

Though we've already had a few injuries(mostly bumping heads), they are having a blast in it. They seem to be catching on that no toys are allowed in it & we've only had to turn it around(so they can't enter) twice--I think that's pretty good! ;)

I can tell this will be a lifesaver on rainy days & scorching hot afternoons when we can't go outside. Very good purchase, I think! :)

San Antonio Zoo & Sea World

On Wednesday, my parents headed to San Antonio with Ava & Drew. (Pres & I were supposed to go, but I decided we should stay home since she had an ear infection.) Thursday morning, they headed to the zoo. Mom was kind enough to send me some pics from her phone, since I couldn't be there. Here's one at a fish tank:
And one with a crocodile(Drew's favorite animal right now!):

Drew LOVES animals! And always loves the zoo. Ava could take it or leave it, but anywhere Noni is, she's happy to be!

We also found out that they LOVE hotel rooms! We stayed in one last summer on the way to Gulf Shores, but I'm sure they don't remember it. Here, they are lazing in bed w/ milk watching TV!

While Ava may be ambivalent about the zoo.....she LOVED Sea World. They went there today & Ava fell in love with the sea animals.

At the Shamu show, she was so excited that the pic is blurry from her jumping up & down. Drew on the other hand, didn't seem to know what to make of it.

They also got to see & feed the dolphins while there:

After hearing about how much fun they had, Jeremy & I have already decided that we'll have to take a family trip to Sea World soon(well, not too soon...we'll wait till the temps drop down out of the 100s at least!).

Glad they had a great time. Thanks, Noni & Dandy, for taking them! Love you!

Pres is 7 mos!

I know I say it every month, but I can't believe Pres is already 7 mos old. It just seems like it can't have been 7 mos since we came home from the hospital. But, I guess I must believe it.....everyone says it's true!!
Pres is quite a big girl at 7 mos. Due to an ear infection, we found that she has gained TWO(yes, 2) pounds since her 6 mos check(21#10oz now)!!! She does like to eat. =) She has started solids, & likes them well enough. The only thing she has refused so far is avacado(& I can't blame her...I don't like it either!).

She is rolling both ways & all over the place. She's doing some scooting...I would imagine crawling will come before too long. Looks like she is going to be right down the middle of Ava & Drew as far as milestones go. Ava & Drew are still her favorite people, they can make her laugh just by being in the room. We're hoping that some day she will start sleeping better(at this point, I'm not even wishing for all night...just 5 consecutive hours would be nice!).

Overall she is still the happiest baby one could wish for. People even stop me when I'm out with the kids to tell me how happy/content/ good she is!! And if we're not counting the nights, it's all true! ;)