Town Crier

Oh I know this is going to come back and bite me one of these days.  But I crack up every time I watch this video.  It's a classic case of older sibling sniffing the guilty odor offender.  It starts out innocent but goes spiraling down hill in a matter of 40 seconds!

A lot of hot air

The other evening, after I got Ava her bath, we noticed a hot air balloon over our house.  It was flying low because it was making a landing in a field nearby.  The kids went out to the driveway to watch it.  Ava was like the little guy on Fantasy Island.  Instead of saying "Ze Plane, Ze Plane", she screamed "Ballloooon, Balloooon!"

Monkey Business

This is what happens when you are easily influenced by older siblings.  Sometimes I'll ask, "what's going on back there?"  I'll turn around and this is what I get.  The pictures speak for themselves!  

Endorsements

Last weekend, we visited our favorite breakfast place. We rarely eat out for breakfast since I'm usually making french toast, waffles or pancakes on the weekends. Sebastian was spending the night with Mom Mom so we decided to go out for breakfast and run some errands before picking him up. We use to go to the breakfast place on a regular basis before we had kids because someone had told us that they made pancakes the size of your plate. Well they weren't kidding. We have visited off and on over the years but not quite as much anymore.


After stopping at Trader Joe's for inventory restock, Ava got to leave the store with a balloon.  Well once Ava gets hold of a balloon, it might as well be a $100 because she will not let go of it!  
.......even when she's sleeping (note the double grip on the balloon)
All refreshed and smiling again.  I told Michael I should submit this picture to Trader Joe's as an "endorsement" since we are name dropping.  ;-)

Play it again Sam!

Mommy's car has been taken over by Elmo songs and other silly children's songs. Every morning Ava will ask for Elmo in any form of media (dvd first choice, cd second choice). Ava's latest Elmo infatuation has put Mommy over the edge. Not only does she insist Elmo on the way to work, I have to also endure it on the way home from work! Luckily, I have a whole CD library in my car of children's songs. So when ever I need a diversion, I will pop in a CD and put on one of her all time FAVORITE songs (well, second to "Row Row Your Boat"). The down side is, I've heard this song about a thousand times now. But when you see it on a video, it's all worth it......right?

A Phone Conversation

There's something adorable about a two year old holding a phone conversation with her Daddy. Ava's latest obsession is the phone. Whenever she sees or hears you having a conversation on the phone, she HAS to have the phone. Usually she will just sit there, hold the phone to her cheek, has the biggest cheesiest grin on her face but won't say a word. Leaving the recipient on the other end babbling to themselves. But on this particular evening, it was Daddy calling from the hotel. Michael was traveling for work and Ava was apparently missing her Daddy because she had a LOT to say over the phone.

Say goodbye to "Wah Wats"

Well it's official, we have seen the last of the "wah wats". Wah wats was Ava's endearing lingo for Waffles. Ava used to be obssessed with wah wats every morning when she came down the stairs for breakfast. Lord help us if we ran out of wah wats supply (both store bought or homemade). Just hope you weren't the person preparing breakfast that particular day ;-) Well that was six months ago and she has more or less outgrown her wah wat phase. Now it's pancake Mommy? Pancake Daddy? Pancake Broder? She will still defer back to her favorite breakfast food but now it's "Waaaaafullll". We have seen the death of the "wah wats". I had to ask Ava several times to repeat the word to me in hopes that she may revert back to her "wah wats". No dice. In fact, I think I asked her one too many times because at one point, she actually forgot what she had in her hands and answered "Pancake". You'll have to see the video for yourself :-)

Michael and I came up with two songs dedicating the end of the Wah Wat era:

"It's the end of the Wah Wa's as we know it" (song by REM, hum to the song "It's the end of the World as we know it")
"Say goodby to Wah Wat's" (song by Billy Joel, hum to the song "Say goodbye to Hollywood")

Redeeming Qualities

There's two things about my little man that I love. He can be so affectionate sometimes (when he wants to be) and he's very artistic. He loves to doodle. But lately his doodles have come to life and he's mastering the art of drawing. I'm quite impressed.

This how he spends down time at the daycare/summer camp. He was really proud to show me his drawings. I asked him to keep an album for me so I could keep a collection ;-)

Okay, I know what this one is all about. Yes...Mommy and Daddy spend way too much time on their iphones! Of course Sebastian loves to play the games on our iphones as well.

Happy Meal Box Heads, coming to a store near you

What happens when you take three kids under the age of nine, stuff them with chicken nuggets, french fries, soda and a sundae? Nothing except a lot of giggles....and they were creative with the Happy meal boxes afterwards.

Crazy Hair

The other day I pulled into the daycare parking lot, got out of the car and this is what Ava's ponytail looked like. I swear I didn't do anything to it! I even tried smoothing it out at home before we left. The ponytail was stuck in mid-air, even while she walked around in the parking lot. Sebastian said her hair looked like a scorpion tail. I thought it was appropriate.

*I couldn't enlarge the pictures so if you click over the photos, perhaps it will enlarge for you.

Video Conferencing (wave of the future is here)

What is iChat? Mac OS X includes an instant messaging application called iChat AV. The versatile iChat AV not only allows you to chat via text messages, but it also allows audio and video conferencing over the Internet. It's a great way to stay in touch with family and friends.

On Tuesday night we were able to video chat with one of the families we traveled with in Vietnam. We are having our second Vietnam Family Reunion in August. One of the cool features of the Mac notebook is you can record the video conversation or take a screenshot. As you can see, Max and Ava had their own way of communicating with each other. I thought it was soo adorable that they were both making silly faces at the same time (and silly too).

Potty Camp?

Okay, we've been procrastinating (majorly) in the potty training dept. this summer. Every time we try to make a plan to stay home for the weekend (because that's all it takes, really), we find ourselves never home! Wer'e running the kids to piano lessons, swimming pool, carnivals, errands, visiting grandparents, etc. The madness never ends. That's our excuses and I'm sticking with it! We have no one to blame but ourselves. It's not really fair to Ava but we just haven't found a 24 hour period where we can actually lock ourselves in the house. Truthfully, Ava doesn't show any interest in the potty either. It's apparent in the pictures below. She thinks the potty (compliments of Mom Mom) is a seat for watching Elmo on t.v.!! I do have a routine with her before bathtime. She will strip off all her clothes and diaper and makes a bee line to the big potty. She has an Elmo seat ring that sits on top of the big potty. She will sit there for all of two seconds and then gets the toilet paper. I think she is more interested in the toilet paper itself and I have to do the supply control management. Okay, enough with the potty stories. See for yourself!

Super Imposed

The picnic park had a lot of neat signs and bronze statues through out the property. Of course I saw photo opportunities. My kids are use to me taking snapshots where ever we happen to be.

More recreation fun...

Some action shots

The playground had giant size insects you could rock on (ladybug, grasshopper, etc). Ava was still a little light so big brother had to hop on to help make the grasshopper go.

Picnic Recreation

Here are some pics of our paddeboat ride on the pond. I was too busy to paddle because I was the family photographer. I actually sat backwards in front of the paddle boat to get these pictures. Of course I didn't know that Daddy and Sebastian were paddling near the fountain in the middle of the pond. They thought it was funny for the girls to get a little sprinkle ;-)

Wonder Boy and Robin?

Sebastian was being a typical eight year old...pretending his pool towel was a cape. We attended a company picnic and met some of Michael's coworker's and families. There was another little boy there that was wearing a black mask. At first we thought he was The Lone Ranger but we were informed that it was Batman's sidekick, Robin. I don't quite know what super hero Sebastian was.

Back up plans

Michael was suppose to take Sebastian and Elizabeth to their favorite amusement park on Friday. He had even taken off from work a little early to pick up the kids. The weather decided not to cooperate and the trip got rained out. So they decided to have a sleep over instead. We took the kids out to dinner since I hadn't planned on cooking (it was suppose to be Ava and I).

Kids will be kids!! Lifesaver "O's".
After I put Ava to bed, this is what I found down in our family room. They had constructed a fort out of my sheets and kitchen chairs.

Mommy intruded their fort for some pics.

They wanted to watch t.v. in the fort so I gave them something better....my laptop so they could watch Youtube.

This is what I found the next morning....three sets of eyes peering back at me.

We finally got some use out of our formal dining room chairs in the kitchen. My kitchen chairs were still being held hostage.
After we deconstructed the fort in the family room, it was relocated in the basement.
Ava brought her camping essential....
Elizabeth demonstrating how pink slippers are not camp gear friendly
Typical "boy" fort
If you can't beat them, join them!
Elizabeth doing the pose.
After the sleep over, we had to go to Michael's company picnic. I think Sebastian was a little bushed.