Random Shots...

Just because I have slacked lately, I will make up for it with a totally random post about nothing in particular... ;o)

Sweet shades, Ava! Or as Ava would say, "Cooool!"

Let's go for a ride, Mom! And by that I mean please push me in this car up and down the sidewalk 8000 times even though it's 94 degrees outside and we're dripping in humidity and sweat. ;o)

We call this outfit Ava's hoochie mama dress. It's a little "slim-fitting"...it's a night gown apparently, but it's really tight! And it's a size 2T! So we've dubbed it the hoochie mama dress...and what goes better with a hoochie mama dress than mommy's hoochie heels?? ;o)

Just an afternoon at the park with her buddy Eli and friends...

As soon as her eye caught a glimpse of this baby doll lying there with nobody around to claim it Ava ran over and snatched it up. She looks mighty possessive over this baby that doesn't belong to her...and Georgia (the baby's mommy) wasn't around to defend baby doll so her little brother was trying his darndest to protect it while sis played on the swings...

I'm learning that Ava can hold her own in many different situations. Isn't this picture hilarious? Look at those two disgruntled toddlers. Ha! Little Brother is disappointed he let her get away with baby and let Big Sis down...and Ava's just ticked that some boy with cooties would even try to take "her" babydoll from her...hmmpf.

Oooh this girl...will forever keep me on my tippiest of tippy toes...

Sad Face.

We miss daddy.

Gardening at Granny's

Ava and I headed to mom's today for some green bean harvesting and freezing. It was a fairly productive day. Aside from keeping little girls out from under our feet, we were able to pick, prep, blanch, french, and bag some 33 quarts of thick and juicy fresh green beans. I enjoy summertime most for days like these. :o) It was hotter than hades today, and we worked up a few beads of sweat, but I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it. Except I missed my sister & her family!!! All this gardening business never feels complete without them around! Darn busy lives...

Onto the pictures... Ava had lots of fun romping around granny's house with her step cousins! No pictures of our hard work today... hope you'll enjoy these instead!

Scoping out granny's garden... taking mental notes hopefully! She has the best gardens around!!

Ava and Abby...running around like real country girls do...with the grass between their toes! These two are only a couple weeks apart in age... completely opposite in personalities! Abby is sweet and quiet, just sits back and observes what her big sister and everyone else around her is doing. And Ava, well, she's boisterous...and dominating...and strong-willed. Very strong-willed.

Nothing beats little girls...Seriously. Love. 'Em.

Abby. So sweet.

Oh my...didn't I just mention something about this girl being boisterous?

Grandpa...taking the girls to let the chickens out of their coop. The smaller two are deathly afraid of the chickens. Hence, they are holding onto Grandpa with vice-like grips.

Running wild!

Peek-a-boo!!

Buckets of water keep little girls busy for hours. ;o)

New Bikes!

We've been looking into getting new bikes with infant seats, or at least buying a bike trailor, for a couple months now. While I was away in San Diego, Eric found a couple bargains on craigslist and surprised me with them when I got home! He's sneaky like that. :o) We love them! Ava wasn't sure at first, of course, but she has warmed up to both, the infant seat and the bike trailor! Oh, and the helmet...that was torture at first, but she puts it on herself now before we go for a ride.

Trying out the infant seat...

She loves this trailor!!

Yep--kid tested and approved!

Wait...you mean I have to leave this thing on my head the whole time? Not cool, Mom...not cool.

4th of July!! (a little late ;)

I know, I'm a little late on the July 4th post! We went to Red, White, & Boom in downtown Columbus for our July 4th celebration this year. To say the least...it was not worth it. Not that we didn't have fun just being with friends...and not that my daughter was feisty, she was actually a complete peach, even for the 2 hour drive to get downtown (aaand, my house is normally a 15-20 minute drive from downtown!)...but it just wasn't worth the hours of sitting in the car waiting to move a few inches. We were elbow-to-elbow with 18 million people and the lines to get food were UNBELIEVABLY long...which is not cool when a girl is hungry! Needless to say...we won't bother with this again...UNLESS (!) we plan to make an entire day of it...tailgate style...complete with cornhole. ;) On the upside, Ava LOVED the fireworks! She hung out with Kurtis through it all! Which is saying a lot...because she has turned into a fussy butt when it comes to men...she thinks they're smelly...and have cooties...and sometimes have weird hair growing on their faces.... ;o)

Look at that cutie pie...

Her unexpected buddy for the evening...she had him wrapped tightly around her little pinky. ;o)

Waiting patiently for some fireworks... :)

The girlies...

The dudes...I love this shot...they're so excited to run the camera! Can't you tell?!

So this is Katie. Ava and Katie have met about 3 times...on this night, at this particular moment, one would have thought they've been lifelong buddies. Ava practically jumped into Katie's arms when she bent down to say hello, and then she just snuggled right into Katie's hug. It was pretty sweet. :o) Ava must find Katie's body nice and snuggly!

See...still snuggling. :o)

Happy July 4th!!!