Summer Fun!

Ava is enjoying her summer and some fun outdoors! Last week we finally had the chance to let her try out her pool. I found this a while back and we've just been waiting to get to use it. The water was a little cold but that didn't really seem to phase her.

Watching Daddy get the pool ready







(Please excuse me sounding stupid at the end when I talk)


Her other outdoor summer fun has consisted of swinging. My dad bought her a swing for our old swingset and we tried it out this weekend. The sun was bright but I got a few pictures. She really seemed to enjoy it!

She thought it was so funny that Uncle Stephen was being goofy and swinging with her

She tried it out again Sunday too

This little girl is definitely staying busy and enjoying summer break! We've done so much already and still have a lot to pack in. We hope you are having a great summer too!

It's not easy...

...being a mom. (Not that I was ever disillusioned into thinking it was!)

It seems that we are have some difficult days ahead of us. Now that Ava is mobile, she is always on the go. With that comes the ever constant desire to explore and get into all the cool things that are around the house! Unfortunately for her sweet little self, she doesn't always do things that are good for her or that we want her to do. She loves wires of any and all kinds and can seek them out like you wouldn't believe. She also loves to stand up to windows and pull the blinds away from them. Her newest fave is to stand up at our master bath tub and turn the (hot) water on. During bath time tonight, she was half in, half out of her tub and was trying to reach for the faucet and I just knew she was going to face plant into the tub. Thankfully she didn't..

Which leads me to the topic of disciplinig. Obviously some of what she wants to do just isn't going to fly. Either it's dangerous or no good for her or it's something we don't want her to do (i.e., pulling the blinds and ruining/breaking them). We are trying hard to limit our use of the word "no" because when we use it, I want her to know that we mean business. When Zach tells her no she sometimes gets a little whiny and shrieks a little, almost like throwing a tantrum (seriously? already?). However, when I get serious and tell her no, she looks at me, scrunches up her face and cries. And it breaks.my.heart. I have seriously almost started crying too. Ugh! I feel absolutely awful when I make her cry, but obviously I'm stern with her for her own good.

Is anyone else facing this same issue? What are your experiences with disciplining? How early did you start trying to teach your child right from wrong and what they can and cannot do? How did you discipline your young child? Any funny stories from your child's early days? I need some help here!!

Puppy love

Thank you so much for all of your sweet words congratulating Zach on his new job! We appreciate you sharing in our excitement!

It's been a pretty quiet but fun week at our house. Ava started Daddy's Day Out two days a week and was so happy to see her pals again! She played hard the two days and I think Daddy enjoyed the break some too! :) I must say even though I'm not staying home, I love summer break too! I get to see my family when I come home for lunch! There's nothing better than walking in the door and Ava seeing me and getting so excited she doesn't know what to do next. LOVE.IT!

Ava has become really animated lately. She laughs a ton and giggles and has started doing this really funny thing where she scrunches up her face when she laughs. I'm not sure where she learned this but it's so funny! I have seen pictures of me scrunching up my nose when I was little. It's funny to see bits and pieces of each of us in her!

Such a goofball!!

Today we went to NWA - I went to a baby shower and Zach met some buddies and watched the Hogs win in their first game in the College World Series! I had originally planned to take Ava to the shower, but some things changed and it worked better to not take her, so she spent some time with Uncle Stephen who lives up there! Stephen has a 2 year old German shepherd and Ava has seemed to be scared of him in the past, but she loved him today! She followed him around and pulled on him and laughed when he licked her. So cute!!

Ari doesn't look too amused

We have some more fun things on the agenda tomorrow for after church - hope your weekend is as great as ours!

Our big news!

I'm so excited to finally be able to blab about our good news! It might not be overly exciting to others, but we sure are happy! So here ya go:

Zach got a new job!!!

I've had to keep my mouth shut while he worked out contract issues and some other items, and it's all finally set and good to go! While we've always been very thankful that he has had a job, his job wasn't satisfying. It was tough and while it was somewhat related to what he wanted to do, it just wasn't it. He's been teaching elementary music the past two years and next year he will be moving on and teaching junior high students how to play instruments and make music! He is the new director at a local private junior high! We have prayed and prayed for a job like this for him and the road to here has had its ups and downs, but we've always believed everything would come in God's perfect timing. Right before getting this job, he went through a huge disappointment of another job he was to interview for hiring the position before he even got to interview! But that's because the Lord had something bigger and better in store for him!! He's already been hard at work getting things ready for next year. He has huge challenges in front of him, but he's extremely excited and will be doing what he loves to do, so for him, it will hardly feel like working!!

Congrats, honey! Ava and I are so proud of you and know you will do so well! We'll be right there cheering you on and supporting you any way you need us!

St. Louis Trip - Day 3 - Arch and Swimming

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready for the day.

Someone still looked a little sleepy

Our first adventure of the day was a trip to the Arch!

Waiting to go up

Riding up to the top! (we made sure she was sucking on her binky in case the pressure hurt her ears)

Our family at the top of the Arch

City views

Ava looking out the window at the city below

Ava sitting in her own seat on the way down

The trip up totally wore her out!

After a nap and some resting, we headed out for lunch with my family and met up with my brother before his big night. He took us to a yummy Mexican restaurant in one of the little districts. It was like a party down there. After lunch we headed back to the hotel and took Ava swimming! I wish pictures could accurately show just how much fun she had. I have never heard her laugh or giggle as much as she did while she was in the water!! She was like a fish! She kept putting her face in the water and then would laugh and giggle! I definitely am going to have to get this girl some swimming lessons! This is by far one of the most precious moments I've had as a mommy because it was so neat to witness Ava experiencing something that she loved SO much!

Checking herself out in the mirror before we headed down

I know she looks like she was crying here, but it was pure laughing!

She wanted her hands in the water while she was in her floaty! We were scared she was going to tip herself over so we just got her back out!

We will definitely be doing lots more swimming this summer!

St. Louis Trip - Days 1 and 2

Around noon on Thursday, Zach and Ava picked me up from work and we headed off to St. Louis. My brother got married there last night. The trip up was uneventful. Ava did sooooooooooooo good traveling! We were so proud of her. She slept about two of the six hours and played pretty well the rest of the time. She did get a little antsy so I crawled into the back to sit with her.

Is this not pure preciousness?

When we got to the hotel, we met up with my parents and my aunt and uncle from Viriginia. Another aunt and uncle and their family arrived a little later and we met my brother and his best friend at this local pizza place. It was AMAZING! It was late when we were finished so Zach headed back to the hotel and put Ava to bed while my cousin and I headed out for a little while. It was fun to go out and we had a good time!

Friday the boys were set to play golf. We had a bridesmaid luncheon and before that we fit in a little bit of shopping. Here's Miss Priss at her first shopping experience at Macy's!

(She looks thrilled doesn't she?)

We headed to our luncheon and then went back to the hotel for a much needed nap. We knew it would be another late night because of the rehearsal/dinner. Ava handled it all SO well. We got so many compliments all weekend about how well behaved she was. She loves going new places so it was no surprise she was excited to take it all in.

She had a good time at the rehearsal dinner:

She sat like a big girl at the table with us

She acted really tired so my dad held her and tried to put her to sleep. She was all but asleep when all of a sudden she popped up and was ready to go for some more!

Day 3 of the trip was incredibly busy so I'll cover that in another post! Here's a preview!

Summer Lovin'

Zach and Ava are in full Summer break mode. There is a lot of playing, relaxing and napping. There is also a flurry of excitement when Momma comes home for lunch and after work (oh, and Ava is happy to see me at those times too!)

I don't have much of anything new to report so here are a few new pictures:

I wonder when we'll see those two top teeth - they are in; we just can't see them yet!

This girl is always on the go - she's like the Energizer bunny!

And how's this for a sassy face? I have a feeling the sassiness will only increase as she grows!

Thanks for stopping by!