We're Back..

 Ella turned 6 months old (2 months ago... Whoops).  We had a half birthday for her with a half cookie cake. Yummy. She loved putting her hands in it but wasn't happy when we all ate it in front of her.

 Our little family

 Ella LOVES eating and pretty much wants to eat all day... I don't know how she is so small. She is such a fun little girl!

 Best Friends

 Dave is loving his rotations! What a handsome man!

  I took some 7 month pictures of Ella

 She is such a sweet and happy baby.  She started crawling on Sept. 24th and loves that she can get where she wants to go and so she gets into everything.

We are so glad that she is ours

 She has an awesome mohawk too that we love.  You can kinda see it in this shot. Her hair only grows down the center and sticks straight up.

This little girl is crazy as ever and growing up so much. Dave and I look at each other all the time wondering when she grew up.  We love her so much and her fun little personality.

Our beautiful little princesses

 We love them so much

And they love each other.

TIME OUT

I am trying to be better at documenting the cute and funny things our girls do so this is probably the most I have ever posted in a week :). So Ava is really big into time outs these days - probably because she goes there fairly regularly. This morning she asked me to sit down and eat breakfast with her. I was trying to clean up the kitchen a little bit and was kind of ignoring her. After a few minutes she asked me again to sit down. Then when I didn't do it again she got out of her chair and grabbed me by the hand and told me, "Time out Mommy for not listening!" as she walked me to her time out room and put me in there and shut the door. Oh I love her! I probably deserved the time out too.

Funny Story

So I was feeding Ella yesterday and watching Ava play with her toys and this is what I hear her say:
"Bad choice Zoey (the name of all her dolls)! Time out!"
And then she walked her "Zoey" to the laundry room, where Ava has her time outs, and put the "Zoey" in there and shut the door.
I was laughing so hard. I sometimes just wish those time outs were a little more effective... when I picked Ava up from nursery on Sunday one of her leaders told me she was hitting a few kids in there. Any advice on how to help a kid not be such a bully?!?
Sometimes that little girl kills me! I apologize to all the little ones that Ava was not very nice to on Sunday. We really are trying to help her be soft and nice but sometimes our efforts are in vain...

Long Overdue

I know I am WAY past due on a blog but it has been a crazy month and everytime I sit down to post something happens that prevents me from doing it. Like right now Ella is SCREAMING herself to sleep. I have been up there to give her her binky 50 times and I have held her but nothing seems to be soothing her right now so as much as I hate hearing her cry I don't really know what else to do for her... And it is 10:30pm - She should have been asleep long ago. I just put her binky back in so we will see how long that lasts... hmm not long apparently. Poor little girl she is making her momma crazy.

This month has been pretty crazy! We spent a good chunk of time in Texas with my family (we even went to the Houston zoo and saw the adorable baby elephants you can see above) and then came back to AZ to be with Dave right before he took his big board exams. SOOO glad to have those done.

When did this little girl grow up??!? Seriously I can't believe how big she is to me. She is talking nonstop (well she has always done that but now I can understand her :)). When we were in TX I had to take Ava to the ER for a little dislocated elbow incident and the person helping us there said she sounded like she just inhaled a bunch of helium... I wasn't sure if that was a very nice comment but she is definitely nonstop and talks to everybody. It is crazy how much she picks up too - she is just a little sponge right now.
Some of my favorite things about Ava are:

1. She is a great snuggler - It took 2 years but she really likes to be close and be held especially when she is watching her favorite movie Toy Story.
2. She is slightly obsessive compulsive. She kind of always has been. This is a little girl that on her first day of life SCREAMED because she wanted milk and would refuse to nurse until it came. That was a rough few days... It took 3 people to get her to eat. Ever since she has been able to hold things she has. You rarely ever see that girl without something in her hands. A few months ago she went through a phase where she would get SO upset that she couldn't fit more things in her hands when she already had them filled. She still carries around as much as she can hold. I think it is pretty funny.
3. She loves to play. Her favorite game is when she yells, "I'm gonna get you!" and then runs away for you to chase her.
4. She is sweet (When she wants to be :)) She worries about people and always asks if they are ok. Sometimes she asks if you are ok so that you will ask if she is ok. She loves her sister too and when she isn't sitting on her and poking her eyes she pats her head and gives her kisses and even puts her binky in when she is sad and gets her a blanket.
5. She loves "more" of everything. I think that is her favorite word. If you do something funny or give her kisses or anything really she always wants more. She also comes up and asks for "one more treat" with her little finger showing me one. Unfortunately that one is not really one it is pretty indefinite.
6. She loves stories. We read a book called "llama, llama red pajama" every night at bed and afterwards she will "read" it to me. It is pretty cute.
This little girl is such a sweetheart! She loves her daddy and she loves smiling at everyone. She is typically a very happy little girl - disregard what I wrote about at the beginning of this entry :) That is not her typical self. Some of my favorite things I love about Ella are:

1. Like I already said she is always happy and smiling. When she gets upset most of the time if she just has someone to smile at she is fine. She has the sweetest little laugh too.
2. She currently has a love/hate relationship with things she can put in her mouth (aka toys, wipes case, blankets, etc.) she wants to hold everything she sees and gets so mad if she can't reach it or if she can't fit the whole object in her mouth. Once she is mobile I am going to have to keep a close eye on her.
3. She loves holding hands. It is so sweet.
4. She is so curious. She likes to see what is going on and especially likes knowing where her sister is (probably for protection although she thinks Ava is pretty hilarious)
5. She loves having her head rubbed. She has to have a blanket or pillow at the top of her head to sleep and she smothers her face in it. It scared me the first time but she can breath :)
6. She loves spitting, sucking her fingers (or toes - whichever she finds first) and smacking her lips. She produces so much slobber that her little outfits get soaking wet... Maybe that is how she cools herself off in this AZ heat.
I love them both so much and I am so grateful to have them! Someday we will get rid of that binky!! Curse you binky for ruining this adorable picture! She is pretty much obsessed with it although she has gotten much better at just using it at naptime and bedtime (and I take it to the store and to church because sometimes I love that little thing too).

I took some pictures of the girls the other week. This is our typical Ella. Oh how I love that smile!!

Stinkin' binky. Maybe someday I will get a shot without it. She wouldn't let me take a picture without it. I even tried bribing her with treats :) it didn't work...

We went and swam at the aquatic center close to our home and had a fun time. We spent most of the time in the lazy river. Ava got a little nervous in the kid area - I think it was a little too old for her and the kids in there were pretty wild. It was a lot of fun though.

Ava didn't care too much for the life jacket though.

This is how Ella spent her time there. What a sweetie!

She really liked it when daddy took her out and played with her too. We had a great time!

For the 4th we headed to Texas and enjoyed the awesome parade my home town put on. As you can see Ava had to hold as much stuff as she possibly could.

She was really worried about all that candy on the ground and felt like somebody needed to clean it up so she took that duty upon herself while she sang, "Clean up, clean up, everbody clean up." It was pretty hilarious.

So patriotic - she loved that little flag and waving it.

And she loved pointing out all the fun floats.

And snuggling Grandma and Uncle Paul

What is more American than a BBQ and swim party?!

We took Ella swimming for the first time out there too. She enjoyed it. We didn't have a suit for her so we had to make do. She loves her bath time so this was like a giant tub to her.

Ava loved playing with grandpa and feeding him pretend food. It reminded me of a time when my sister and I were playing with my dad in the pool and we made "pizza" with mildewed rocks and gave it to my dad to pretend to eat it and he really put it in his mouth :) Crazy dad!

The main reason we went out to TX though was to celebrate my dad's retirement. He worked 33 years at ExxonMobil and I am so grateful for him and for all that he did to provide for me and bless my life through his great service. I love you dad! Congratulatons again!

My whole family except one brother and his family came out to the big (and I mean Texas big :)) retirement dinner at The Taste of Texas restaurant. With a name like that the food has to be big right?!

There was a great turnout to celebrate! Some great praises were given to such a wonderful man!

Ava did pretty good too. It was a 3 hour event! Sometimes I love that stinkin' binky!

Like I said... "Texas Big" Mmmm delicious. We had an amazing steak too and more food than any person should consume in one sitting but hey it was a celebration right!?! Thanks Exxon for letting us gorge ourselves on your dollar.

We took some family pictures while we were out there too. I miss those trees... not so much the humidity.

What cuties!

Too bad Ava never smiled for any of our family shots. Oh well what do you do...

Ella loves that camera though!

What a cute little family we are :)

When we got back in town we took Ava to a fun park about 20 minutes north of us. We had a yummy snow cone there which I don't see any snow cone stands ever in AZ -this was my first time. In Texas my dad took us around trying to find the best snow cone stand... We tried 3 in one day (the day we left or we would have tried more). I love snow cones (shaved ice NOT crunchy!)

Poor Ella spends too much time in that little carseat. Good thing she is such a happy little girl!

Ava loves swinging on the bars!

Her shirt is a little small...I finally went through her drawers the other day to get rid of the 18 month size and yes I know she is almost 2 1/2...

We have been so busy lately and have been having so much fun... Until rotations started for Dave and I became a single mom... Not as much fun! But Dave is loving it and we are excited for this next phase of life in this crazy adventure of becoming a doctor.

Cute little cousins!

Texas

We went to Texas about a week and a half ago to let Dave study without distraction for his Board exams he will take in a few weeks. We came to stay with my parents which has been fun. My parents love being able to spend time with Ava and Ella as you can tell from the above picture. You may wonder why that little crazy monkey isn't wearing any clothes... Well let me tell you how the first 5 hours of being at "Grangra" and "Grangra"'s (what Ava calls them) house went...

We hadn't even been there for 1 minute before this was broken on the ground. My mom and dad learned quick that anything of any sort of value or breaking ability needed to be out of Ava's reach....
I missed getting a picture of some other things she broke within the first few hours but there were a few other things. Then Ava decided at one point to go down the stairs... She is really good at sitting down and going down the stairs. Well apparently she had just gone to the bathroom and left a little something behind on every step all the way down.

Good thing my parents have a good sense of humor.

We have been doing a lot of this. Ava begs to "splash, splash" everyday.

No Ella didn't go in a bike trailor like this but I thought it was such a cute picture. You can see a few of the bikes in my parents' garage. This is their new found hobby they started a few years ago and have loved it. They own like 7 bikes. Which is fun when we all want to ride. I love how trusting Ella is just laying her head on her sister's shoulder.

I just love these two little ones!!

Caught in the act...

I wish I would have caught the picture a few seconds earlier before she sat down because the toilet paper was stuck to her foot while she was walking around and it was so funny. I swear she normally is dressed :)

Ella is such a sweet and patient little baby. She makes it so easy to chase around her older sister.

Last Sunday we went to the Houston Temple with my parents. My dad is a Sealer there and had a meeting he said would only last an hour. It lasted 2 1/2 which was fine because it is so beautiful to walk around but it was HOT. After an hour of chasing Ava around it I noticed her face was pretty red so we sat in the car in the air conditioning for the last hour and a half trying to keep my crazy child contained.

She is so crazy

Good thing her sister didn't mind doing a lot of this so I could try to keep her sister out of mischief.

Like this....

She is such a funny little girl. On Memorial Day my parents had some friends over for a BBQ and Ava saw some Brownies that were brought and she walked over to me and said, "Mommy,I need a treat!" She is so my daughter and I love her to pieces. Apparently I was pretty ADD like her as a child too. It has been quite the adventure out here, but we miss daddy like crazy and can't wait to see him in a few weeks.