A night in

Last night Nate brought home a fun dinner: rotisserie chicken, yummy cheeses, a couple different salads, gourmet crackers, strawberries and honey. It was a fun little treat! He set up a cute little picnic for the 4 of us and we ate and watched the Blazer game. It was so fun to do something different for dinner. Andrew loved the idea of the picnic, but wouldn't eat any of the food which is pretty typical for meals these days.

After dinner he wanted to go outside and play with his new bubbles. We told him that he had to go and get his shirt, pants, socks and shoes and this is what he came up with....too cute!

Easter

Easter was a fun and busy day. The kids opened their Easter baskets in the morning and Andrew was so excited to get Dunbar from Chuggintons (along with some other toys). He did ask us where his candy was, but we told him that the Easter bunny would come back during nap time and hide candy in the eggs.

We then went to Starbucks and on to church. On our way to church Andrew was telling us all about the meaning of Easter. As a parent, it was amazing to hear our 3 year old boy talk about Jesus. I've been reading to him a book about Easter and as I read it to him he interjects more details about the story. I think most of this is what they've been talking about at school. He told us how the people say hosanna and wave the leaves when Jesus is on the donkey, how Jesus eats dinner with his friends and how Judas betrays. I loved hearing my little boy explain Easter to us and beyond thrilled that he starting to understand the real meaning of Easter.

At church they had a carnival for all of the kids between services. We got there a little early so he could enjoy the carnival. We had a hard time convincing him to check it out, he kept saying it was for big kids. He finally went in and played a few games before he asked to go into his class.

Nate and I hosted dinner at our house this year, so about 3:30 my parents & in laws came over. Andrew did a Easter egg hunt and had tons of fun finding M&M's & coins in the eggs. Andrew had lots of fun playing with his Uncle Thomas, who he calls Thomas the train :) He really enjoys having family at his house so he can show them all of his toys.

It was Ava's 1st Easter and she was the cutest little thing!

Trying to get a picture of the two of them was not an easy task!

Ava loved all of her new books and the kids had fun playing with Ava's new pink cars.

Beach Day

Last Friday Nate surprised us and took the day off to spend with the family. He thought since it was a nice day we'd go to the beach. Andrew has been asking us if he could fly his kite and he's been talking about the beach a lot lately. It was supposed to be a sunny almost 60 degree day at the beach so we headed over and got to Cannon Beach around 11ish. We did not expect it to be so windy and it felt like it was about 40 degrees out. Poor Ava and myself did not like the wind much, but Andrew didn't seem to mind it and had tons of fun building a volcano out of sand. He even went down to the water and got buckets of water for his volcano. It was almost too windy for flying a kite, but they were able to do it for a little while. Ava tried to eat the sand a few times but seemed very frustrated that she couldn't crawl all over the place. We didn't last long on the beach before we headed back into the town for pizza and walking around. We hit up a new crepe place (delish!) and went to the toy store where Andrew wanted everything! We headed back early, but really enjoyed our short trip to the beach. It was so fun to have a whole day just the 4 of us!

Ava- 11 months

This is totally my daughter's personality!

Doing patty cake :)


It's hard to believe that in less than a month Ava will be a year old. She has really come alive in the last 2 months. Now that she's 11 months she crawls around like crazy and is into everything and pulls herself to a standing position all the time. I always find her standing in her crib and her pacifier is usually on the ground. She hasn't been taking naps very well lately because she'd rather play in her crib. She is getting into all of Andrew's toys and he is not too happy about that. She has tried eating the dog food and continues to try if I forget to put the dog dish away when she is up. If she knows it's out, she crawls straight to the dog food as soon as she can. She laughs a lot and we think she is going to be quite the little ham. She is a little flirt and really likes men. Daddy calls her ponki and Andrew calls her sweetheart, cutie or princess. She loves to clap, play patty cake, dance and listen to mommy sing to her. She still likes being with mommy, but is starting to go to other people more. She loves being outside and starts laughing and kicking as soon as we go outside. She is now only nursing 3 times a day, morning, after her afternoon nap and before bedtime (I'm starting to ween her). She is still taking 2 naps a day and sleeps great at night. Still no teeth and still spits up a lot. She LOVES to eat and if she had teeth I think she would eat the same foods we eat. For as much as she eats, she's still the tiniest little thing and fits into some 3-6 month clothes and some 6-12 is a little big...she's kind of in between sizes. She drinks from a sippy cup, but prefers me to hold it while she drinks :) She's our little princess!

Palm Springs- videos

4.11.2011- Andrew LOVED driving Buddy Papa's golf cart. This is the 1st time he drove he, but he got the chance to drive it a few other times during the week. They would go out at the end of the day when all of the golfers were gone & drive the cart. Andrew called it Papa's hot rod.

4.15.2011- Ava playing in the pool @ 11 months old

Palm Springs- the Living Desert

On Wednesday of last week we went to the Living Desert in Palm Springs. It was so much fun and amazing seeing the animals up close. We spent the morning there and left just before it got too hot.

Andrew really loved the trains. We had a hard time getting him to move past them to go and see the animals.

Andrew with his papas!

My sweet baby girl was so happy after she got a little nap in her stroller.

This giraffe was amazingly close to us, I just had to take a picture.

The kids loved the carrousel. Andrew got on a giraffe, too bad it didn't move up and down. Thankfully, I don't think he noticed.

Palm Springs-evening outings

While Nate & I went out with one of his clients and had a mini date on Monday night, the kids stayed at home with their grandparents. Ava was quite the pill and cried and fussed most of the night, but Andrew had a great time. He drove Buddy Papa's new golf cart, which Andrew calls his hot rod, around the golf course.

Andrew was being such a good brother trying to cuddle his sister and take care of her.

We went to The River area one night for dinner and ate at Babe's and then walked around and had ice cream. Gotta love warm evenings!

This is how I found Ava when I went to get her from her nap. She thought it was so funny!

We stayed at home for dinner and afterward Andrew took us on a ride around the golf course. He takes driving very seriously and he did a great job! After a little while he said, "papa, can I just park now?" It was too cute. He parked and then played a little golf before heading back to the house and then going to get ice cream.

On Thursday we went downtown Palm Springs for Mexican food & the local street fair. Andrew really enjoyed walking around. He saw a pet pig, which he didn't want to pet and a horse. He was pretty excited about the horse and even told us that he wanted to feed him a carrot. It was so cute!

Happy 11 month birthday Miss Ava!

I love his little face in this picture. The horse ate the carrot so fast that it kind of scared Andrew, but not too much because he wanted to feed him another carrot!

Our last evening we went to dinner at Tommy Bahama's at El Paseo. It's such a great atmosphere and has a wonderful outside patio area.

This is the view from my inlaws backyard...isn't it beautiful?!?

Palm Springs- pool time

We were lucky enough to get to go to Palm Springs again last week. The weather was absolutely perfect, mid 80's, and we had a wonderful time. Andrew & Ava were thrilled to have both of their grandparents (Bailey's & Ming's) there at the same time. We left mid day Saturday and arrived that evening. Andrew immediately wanted to go swimming, so he & Nate jumped in the pool before dinner.

We spent our mornings and early afternoons in the pool everyday. Somedays the guys would go golfing in the mornings while we would run to coffee bean and then come back to swim. It was a relaxing week with a lot of swimming and sun bathing! Andrew loved eating poolside everyday and swimming with his grandparents. He learned so much and became quite the little swimmer. He loved to put his head in the water, do bubbles, jump in the pool, collect coins in the water, and swim from person to person. He didn't want you to let go of him when he was swimming, but he was pretty much swimming on his own with a little assistance. For not having many swimming lessons, he was doing great in the pool! From so much swimming and sun, he got really chapped skin on his face. Poor guy, he didn't even want us to put lotion on it. Now that we are home, it is getting lots better.

Ava enjoyed the pool too. She didn't get as much swimming time, but loved it when she did. She loved to splash, kick, and do motor boat!

1st night and Andrew is already in the pool with Daddy!

Andrew loved watering all of the flowers with the spray bottle.

Buddy Papa teaching Andrew how to put his head in the water and blow bubbles.

We went to the pool store and let Andrew pick out a few toys. He picked out this huge turtle. Of course he didn't like it once we put it in the pool. This is the only time he actually got on it. He did name it skully though, funny boy!

Andrew and Daddy looking for his coins. It was a fun little game they played where they would put lots of coins on the steps and then go under water to get them. Andrew mainly made Nate go under water, but he put his head in a few times.

On on her 11 month birthday!

She really wanted to stand up on the steps while in the pool.

April 9-16, 2011