Daily Thought

Here is my one and only thought for the day... ;)

Having two kids really makes you think about time management! (I know all of you with more than two kids and husbands who travel, etc...will think I have it easy - yes, I know I have no idea). I've come up with a new slogan, "Seize the Moment" (somehow I think I've heard this before...;) Really, I've learned to take the opportunity to do something when it presents itself. This mostly refers to showering. You just never know when one of your kids will wake up or get into something or need you in general.

I also have two pet peeves about time. Keep in mind that I could start a perpetual time-wasters group any day of the week - although necessity has helped me improve greatly in this area. Onto the peeves:

1) "I didn't have time..." It bothers me when people use this excuse because 9 times out of 10, yes, you did have time, we all have the same amount of time, we just use it differently. Some people can legitimately use this excuse but most of us, not really if you think about it.

2.) "He/She must have a lot of time on their hands" - Think about what this is really saying...is it saying that whatever accomplishment or project someone completes is somehow not praiseworthy because they should've been doing something else...or because we think we're too busy doing more important stuff? Some people are definitley more busy than other people with various demands...but I think it's cool when someone accomplishes something. I think I appreciate it more now that I long for more time for myself...however, with my new time-management skill (wink, wink), I'm finding that little by little I can accomplish something! YAY!

Picture Updates

I thought I'd post some recent pics of the girls. Here's Ava the day after her birthday (you can tell by the mess in the background!), smiling for the camera - something I'd almost pay her to do these days! She likes to say cheese really fast maybe or maybe not looking at the camera.
Elise is a very sweet little baby! We love that she is gracing us with her big smile and dimples!

AVA THE BAKER
Ava got an apron & chef's ensemble for her birthday. (thanks, Rebecca & girls). We decided to try it out and let her help us make cookies. She had so much fun baking for the first time!
Here she is mixing in the chocolate chips.
Making and placing the dough balls. (My pampered chef stone is pretty seasoned as you can see - they say this is a good thing).
And of course, the best part - eating the cookies! After this it was a mandatory tooth brush, hand washing and then off to bed.

Bumbo Time!

Ava Elise

It's Bumbo time again at our house! We got Ava the bumbo when the only place you could get it was online and I had only heard of it from one person. Now, they are EVERYWHERE...and a must have baby item if you ask me...unless you're content to sit and prop your baby up all day long.
Anyway, for fun I thought I'd do some side-by-sides of my two girls using their bumbo around the same age.
Here are some pictures of them in the same dress...Resemblances? To each other? To mom or dad? hmmm...(Ava on top, Elise on bottom)

Ava Turns 2!!

On Saturday, Ava celebrated her 2nd birthday! To kick off the day we put a candle in a twinkie (leftover from cake - see below), and came in her room singing Happy Birthday. She didn't know quite what to think...but enjoyed eating the twinkie. (Talk about morning hair!)

The rest of the day was pretty much spent preparing for Ava's Birthday Party - We decided to do a puppy theme.

Our guests arrived and made little purses (girls) or a visor (boy). They turned out really cute and kept them busy for a few minutes while guests arrived.

Puppy Party Time! We talked about what puppies need: food, water, exercise, grooming, etc. and then started some puppy activities. We had an age range from 2-8, with most being closer to 2 so I tried to find games that would work okay for them. Each child got a puppy to take care of. We tied "leashes" around each puppy and went across the street to our big open field. We had a barking contest for warm-ups and then did puppy races. It was so cute watching the kids run with their puppies, making them bark the whole way.

We then played "Chase the Kitty". We passed a puppy and a kitty around the circle and tried to make the puppy catch the kitty.
We then went back inside and played "Feed the Puppy". Here's cousin William throwing the puppy some bones. My sister Gina and I painted the puppy.
Here's Ava with her huge puppy cake! My sister Kelly and I worked on this. It took much longer than expected but was fun. I'd never made a character or shape cake before.
Here are the guests waiting to eat puppy cake, ice cream, puppy chow and kibbels and bits (pretzel sticks, cheese cubes and carrot sticks).

Ava had lots of fun opening her presents. One funny thing I probably should've been prepared for was when at the beginning of the party, Ava opened a present as soon as her little friend gave it to her. Of course she doesn't understand party etiquette about waiting to open presents. Oh well. It was too late by the time I got there.

We gave each guest a bag with some puppy related contents: A doggy bowl with name and paw prints on it filled with Scooby snacks shaped like doggie bones, puppy stickers and a puppy coloring book that we made. Attached to the bowl and treats was their very own little puppy made from pom-poms. (My mom made all of these for us!) They turned out really cute.

Overall, I think Ava and her guests had a good time.

Refreshed

3 things have happened lately to help me feel a little more refreshed.
1. Chris and I got to go see a movie together, Spiderman, something we haven't done in a long time.
2. I got my hair cut and highlighted - also something that hadn't been done in a long time, adding to the frump factor.
3. I fell asleep at 9pm the other night and got over 10 hours of sleep - wow. (not quite in one stretch - but still great).

Thank you to my friend Rebecca and her girls, Erin and Megan for making #1 and #2 happen. They were so willing to help and I REALLY appreciate it! Thanks to Chris also for #3 and picking up all of the loose ends lately.

ZOO

A few weeks ago, on a super nice day, we took Ava to the Zoo for the very first time! She absolutely loved it! Her favorite animals were the elephants - her eyes were huge when she saw them...she asked to hold one of them. ;) She also liked the hippo named Sue, the tiger that she called Rajah (from Aladdin), and the monkey family we saw.

If you look closely, you'll see how Ava was going, "ROARRRR!", referring to the sound a lion makes.

My sister, Kelly went with us. We wouldn't have braved it without her.

We were fearful that Elise would have a bad day but she did great. We came prepared with a baby carrier and umbrella for shade.
Ava had fun at the petting zoo they had. One of the goats was a little too excited for the feed and kind of surprised Ava at first.

Across from the zoo they had this train you could ride arond Gage Park. I'm sure it has a name but I don't recall. Ava liked it so much she didn't want to get off. I think she was just tired. She almost fell asleep on me during the ride.

Overall, it was a great experience. I had never been to the Topeka Zoo but really liked it. It's smaller, cheaper, has more shade and is easier to get around with small chidren. Just right for us!

new favorite food

We recently discovered Ready Rice by Uncle Ben's. You just microwave them for 90 seconds and they're done. I like giving Ava rice with her lunch - who wants to get out pots and pans at lunchtime...not this girl! I also love that I'm giving her brown rice and it tastes good. (I'm ignoring the fact that it probably has lots of sodium) Our favorites so far are: Chicken Whole Grain Brown Rice and Rice Pilaf. I'm not a fan of the kind with cheese in it.