Gymnastics & Soccer

Bella recently started doing both. Gymnastics are on Friday mornings at the Y and then soccer is on Friday nights at a field near our house. She loves both and it makes us so happy to see her doing things like this (thanks to generous family/Christmas gifts!!) We didn't really plan on her doing two at once but it was the way the sessions fell and it worked.




Soccer was just hilarious to watch. Good but hilarious :) There were grumpy faces & times she just sat and watched but overall she did really well.


We practiced some more when we got home and of course Ava wanted to try!

"Ava Hope"

{That's what Bella called her for so long- by her first and middle name. It makes me giggle every time I go into her school and one of her teachers or one of her classmates says, "Hey Ava Hope!" like it is what she is supposed to be called.}

She is growing up so too fast.

These are her first piggies: (they make her look so old!)


trying to write like her big sister:


sleeping soundly (like a grown man):


making a mess:


and climbing:


She has recently added crawling up the steps to her list. It is one of those things I am proud of but was not looking forward to!

Happy Birthday Dr. Suess!

March 2nd was his birthday and Bella and I got the itch to bake. Long story short... we made these cookies to look like Oh the Places You Will Go. We packaged them up with a little poem and gave them out at school.

Randy's school also celebrates so he needed help with a character. I only had a few hours to work my magic so we went with super easy and accessible. I just made him a few little things to wear to make him look like the Lorax plus we wore all orange.

Fun times.

Park Days...

It wasn't long after we got snow, we were having sunshine and fun at the park! I remember taking Bella almost every weekend when she was Ava's age so it is fun to take Ava along now and show her around! And of course we met up with our friends, the Crowe's {Landyn, Lavery + parents Kelley & Kyle}

Snow Fun

So we finally got snow mid-February and we loved every flake! They said we may get some but they had recently gotten us all excited for nothing. I didn't have high hopes for this time around and had almost forgotten about it as we went about our plans. When I glanced outside and saw it, I freaked out and went screaming around the house telling everyone. Randy responded with a "Yeah, but it is not going to stick." The flakes got bigger and bigger and they started coming down faster and faster. And then... this happened:



Needless to say, it stuck!

{Ava's First Snow 2013}

the sweetest sound

Ava said, "Bella" yesterday at dinner. Twice. Clear as day. It was the cutest thing ever and she was so proud of herself! We all clapped with her and she just ate it all up.