Video of the day

I don't have much to report on here--all is well for the most part! The rain has finally stopped and the sun is shining today, thank goodness. I forget how much my mood can change depending on the weather.

Here is a little video of Aiden and Ava. I was trying to get Ava "singing" the ABC's--she really does think she is singing them when she plays this song and will say, "A d d d e e deeeee, h h h h d d deeee!" But this time she thought I was trying to take her picture and just kept saying, "Cheese!" instead, lol. The end part is her getting very jealous that Aiden had come over to me--she won't even let him sit in my lap these days, she will literally claw his off my lap, lol.

A boy and his cars...

Chuck took this picture of Aiden yesterday with all of his cars from the movie Cars. He has quite the collection--and we are, of course, to blame! Lol. Yesterday Chuck discovered that Target had the Cars 2-packs on sale for $3.99, which is quite a steal, so lucky Aiden got 4 new cars! He was so ridiculously happy:)






I also want to say congrats to my dad, Bruce, who won a race this weekend! Aiden was so proud when I showed him his Grandad's picture, he kept telling me all day, "Mommy, my grandad won the Piston Cup! Yay!" Congratulations, Dad!

Fun day:)

Although the weather has been less than great, we had a really fun day yesterday in Atlanta! We went to the zoo, which the kids really loved. We planned on also going to the aquarium, but it was absolutely insane how busy it was! We've never seen it like that before. So we headed to the park across the street and the kids had a really fun time playing outside. Then on the way home we got Dairy Queen as a treat. Does it get any better than that? I really don't think so!

I also wanted to share some Aiden funnies from the past week. I really need to start writing down what he says, I forget so much of it but he cracks me up!
"My socks are brother and sister, just like me and Ava!"
"I think I hear myself needing to take a poop!"
"D...Q...spells...ICE CREAM!" (That was at Dairy Queen, smart kid! Lol)

Ava has also been quite talkative lately. She has several new words: Aiden, ball, car, and Oh No! which she uses all day long! She probably said "Oh no!" in the right context 25 times yesterday--too funny!

Here are some pics from the zoo and also a video of Aiden in the new parakeet exhibit. You can buy seed sticks and feed the birds right out of your hand--very cool!

More bird pics...

It's been raining...and raining...and raining, for days now it seems. So we haven't been up to all that much. But the baby birds are getting big! There are 4 of them--it seems the 5th egg never hatched (the egg in the other nest also appears to be a dud).

The kids are doing well. With Aiden out of school this week we've been doing a lot of art projects, which means Ava has been eating a lot of crayons, lol. She enjoys coloring though, when she's not munching!

PS--if you look closely at these pictures, you'll see how much poop is in the nest. Gross!!!

Baby birds!

We have baby birds! I don't think I ever updated the total, but Mama bird ended up laying FIVE eggs in her nest in my hanging plant. At least 3 of the babies have hatched now, but they are very very young still and not so strong yet. This first picture is the SECOND nest that the birds have made! I discovered it this afternoon when I saw Papa bird in the other hanging plant on the porch. They have made another nest and laid at least one egg that we can see--although it might be a dud, we're not sure. At any rate, more babies to come!

Photo shoot

It's been a really long time since I've done any sort of "photo shoot" with the kids, so I attempted it this morning while they were in good moods. Aiden's "cheese" face is so over-the-top, you just can't help but laugh! Looking through the pics, I can't get over how BIG Ava seems, she's definitely losing all of her baby traits. The kids look more alike to me now than ever--I get asked at least once a week if they are twins (even though Aiden is 6 inches taller than she is!).

School's out!

I can't believe today is Aiden's last day of 2K preschool! I remember last summer wishing that August would hurry up and get here so he could start school, and now it is the middle of May and it is already over. How fast it all went! He has grown up so much this past year--potty training, no more crib or binky, and he has gotten so smart! I have my trying moments with him, but really he is just the true joy of my life. Little boys really do love their Mommies:)

Here he is this morning on the last day of school:

And here he is back in August--I had him wear the same shirt!

Video overload!

Ok, you've been warned, here are a LOT of video clips! 6 to be exact. Most are, again, of Ava! I'm sorry--Aiden gets so camera shy lately, when I try to tape him he starts talking like a baby and won't just be himself. Some of these are from our trip to Atlanta yesterday and also a few from last week.

Happy Mother's Day!

I had a really wonderful Mother's Day: a yummy breakfast of bagels and cream cheese (delish!); a trip to the GA Aquarium, which was awesome!; a really healthy and delicious picnic lunch in the park; fun watching Aiden at the Olympic Fountain in the park in Atlanta; an exhausting afternoon run with Ava in the jogging stroller--I dropped 2 lbs just from sweating, gross!; an awesome carwash courtesy of my fantastic husband--my car looks so shiny!; an amazing homemade dinner of pulled pork enchiladas and mexican rice--soooo good!; and ice cream at McDonald's--the icing on the cake of my wonderful day:) Thank you to Chuck, Aiden and Ava for making it such a great day!

I was thinking today about how much my life has changed since I became a mother. It made me want to tell you all the Top 5 Things I Love About Being a Mother:

1. Making my adorable kids laugh. Seriously, anyone who's ever stayed at home to care for two young children knows what an exhausting and thankless job this can be some days. But making my kids laugh makes it all worth it to me. Nevermind that my knock-knock jokes are ridiculous, and I make up the silliest of songs that just don't make any sense--my kids think I am the funniest person that ever lived. Really. Just ask them! :)

2. Falling in love with my husband all over again. On the cruise for Liz's wedding, so many people commented to me on what an amazing father Chuck is. And I couldn't agree more. He spends every spare second of his time with us, playing with the kids, helping me around the house (he does all of the outdoor chores--AMEN to that!), and just being generally wonderful. I knew when I married him that I loved him, of course, but seeing him grow into an amazing and caring father, well, it made me fall in love with him all over again. Growing up without a father myself makes me all the more appreciative of everything that Chuck does for us. He really is the best!

3. All of my awesome mom friends! I knew that having kids would mean making news friends, but I never knew how important other mothers would become in my own life. Thank you to all of you for being such wonderful inspirations to me, providing me with the encouragement and support I have so needed over the past 3 years. Some of you I've never even met in person, we're just pen pals on the internet, but I don't know what I would do without you. Every one of you has taught me how to be a better mother, and I have so much respect for you all!

4. Appreciating my own mother in a whole new way. I knew that motherhood would change me, but I didn't realize how much it would make me appreciate my own mother. Giving up so much for my children, working so hard to make sure that they thrive--I have a newfound respect and gratitude for my mother that some days brings me to tears. She was a single mother for most of my life, and not a day goes by that I don't think, "I don't know how she did it!" She is an inspiration to me to try to be a better version of myself, and to love my children no matter their mistakes or faults. I love you Mom! Happy Mother's Day!

And finally, 5. Learning that there is no such thing as a perfect mother. All my life I've been a perfectionist, but having children is helping me to learn that perfect just doesn't exist with this job title. All I can do is try my best, take a deep breath, and remember that tomorrow is a new day. Some days all 3 of us are in tears, and I think that I must be failing at motherhood. But then 10 minutes later we are in a giant tickling fight and the tears and tantrums all just fade away. There is no such thing as a perfect parent, but my kids make me want to try, and that's really all that I can do.

I hope all of the mothers in my life had a wonderful day today. You deserved it!

Photo Friday

Well, photo AND video Friday! Again, not much of Aiden and I apologize! He's been in a generally non-photogenic mood lately, not sure why. But here is a pic of him this morning enjoying his breakfast!

The videos are from the trip--nothing too exciting and again mainly of Ava. I must have video-taped the ONLY two minutes in the aquarium at Atlantis that Ava wasn't shouting, "WOW!! Wook! Wook! WOW!" Not sure how I managed to tape her being so quiet!

Happy Friday!

Aiden pics

I finally scanned in these pics of Aiden from the cruise. The one with him and the fishes would have been much cuter if he hadn't insisted on wearing his "Funship Freddy" hat, but oh well! He really loved Funship Freddy!

Scrapblog

A simple scrapblog of some of the pics from Liz & Dave's wedding. Congratulations again you two! I wish you all the best and a lifetime of happiness:)

Bird is the word

For most of the cruise, Chuck and I couldn't get the song "Bird is the word" out of our heads, thanks to a recent Family Guy episode. Well, I had to laugh when we came home to discover that a bird had made a nest in one of my hanging plants on our front porch! This bird couple has been trying diligently to make a nest in my plants since I bought them a few months ago. I thought they had finally given up, but then we were gone for a week and they succeeded. Very soon we'll have two baby birds living (and pooping) on our front porch. I'm not exactly thrilled...but I'll admit I am a little bit excited! We read "Are you my Mother?" this morning for story time to celebrate! Aiden is very excited for the eggs to hatch!

We're back!

We're home! What a trip it was! Liz and Dave's wedding was so beautiful, and we were so happy to have been there to share the experience with them. Aiden did a good job as the ringbearer (although he refused to walk on the white carpet, lol, so he walked on the side of it!). Ava missed the wedding because she was a real grump that day--lack of sleep we suspect. The kids had a nice time on the cruise, as did we, although we agreed it will be several more years before we do another one. I really do think that as far as values for vacations go though, you can't beat cruising. It is well worth it!

We had a great time at the Jacksonville zoo with my parents before the wedding, and then also in Key West and Nassau at our ports of call. The kids especially loved the Atlantis resort, with the best splash pool I've ever seen and an amazing aquarium. Ava's "WOW!!! Shishy shishy! WOW!!!" could be heard through the entire aquarium! Lol.

Here are the pics I took, I know that Liz has MANY more and Dave and his family do also. Hopefully I can get the good ones from them and post them also.