A boy, a box and a flashlight...

Who knew what fun an empty box could be when the electricity is out in the middle of the day?


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Sweet Ava

The older she gets, the more defined her personality is and the prouder I get as her mother. She loves her sister so much and now that Sydney is getting bigger and not so fragile, Ava gets to hug and squeeze her more. When she holds her, she does not want to let to go. Sydney doesn't seem to mind :)

Lately Ava has been asking Daddy and I to hold her. She says, "up, up." I always wanted a kid like that... that wanted to hang out on my lap or just carried around. She is my little shadow and I love it. When I put her on the counter to help me cook or do whatever, the next minute I see her putting Stella on the counter of her little play kitchen, reenacting whatever I had just done with her. After she sees me playing with Sydney with a certain toy, the next thing I see is her using that same toy with Stella. She was even wiping Stella's nose this past week, just like I have been wiping her nose 20 times a day because she has had her first cold this season. Ava does not miss a beat. She is going to be such a great Mommy someday, I can already tell.

And sometimes, she still wants to be the baby herself...

My Baby

I can't get enough of her wide eyed face! I find myself babying her more than I did Luke and Ava because I know she is our last. My favorite moments with her are early in the morning when I wake up and she is just smiling at me. She is such a cuddler. I am glad I have the excuse of breastfeeding her while I sleep so she can stay in bed close to me longer.

"Daddy, Daddy!"

I absolutely LOVE it when Daddy is being silly with Luke and Ava, running around the house playing "Hide and Seek." Luke yells, "Daddy, Daddy" so cute when they are looking for each other. Luke always runs off to hide when they all count to 10, but when he is not found instantly (like within 3 seconds) he gets impatient and goes to find Ava and Daddy or he laughs really loud giving himself away. Ava just runs all over the place like crazy when she is hiding...never even finds an actual spot to hide.

Spiders, Spiders everywhere...

Steve and I have noticed there are a lot more spiders in the PacNW compared to all of the other places we have lived. Even more so this season for some reason. It has been on the news but they have not said why there are so many, just the fact that there are more than usual. Someone at Luke's school said that it means we are going to have a colder this year. Either way, Luke especially loves looking at them but says "Ewwwww, spider web" whenever he sees one. He calls just the actual spider, a "spider web." They stretch across the decks in our back patio area and we look at their ever changing webs everyday.

Sydney laughed!

Sydney gave a little cackle a couple days ago, for the first time. I am also working on transitioning her to napping in her bassinet or crib instead of in the baby carrier. She will sleep there for only about 30 minutes tops, but at least we are making progress :)

The Pumpkin Patch ~ Craven Farms

Today was the perfect fall day for going to the pumpkin patch... cold and sunny. We really had a great time this year watching Luke and Ava together. Last year, Ava was only 10 months so not very into anything. We went on the hayride and walked around the patch. The ground was nice and dry and there were a lot of green pumpkins because there was not enough sun this year. Luke told me earlier in the day that he wanted a tall, skinny pumpkin so we found just that! We also found a huge one that will be fun to carve!

My 3 girls...

Oh, how I love my girls... Ava, Sydney and I can't forget Baby Stella! She goes everywhere Ava is! The 4 of us have been up every morning at 6am since we got back from Wisconsin. I actually enjoy the peace of the morning... it is still dark outside and we just enjoy playing together.

Ava in the mornings

I love her sweet little face in the morning... her eyes just waking up, her hair coming forward from the crown of her head forming her bangs, and her tousled curls. And best of all, she is always so happy to see me and start a new day from the moment I peek at her.

Batman Spotted!

Batman with Froggy boots on a Tinkerbell Scooter?? Oh wait, that is Luke....
This whole week we have had so much fun spending hours outside riding our bikes with the neighbors. Each and every day, Luke insists on wearing his Batman costume with his froggy rain boots. He calls the yellow belt a "seatbelt" and the cape a "flag." I let him wear it all day everyday and he can call it whatever he wants! I love Lukisms... one of the mant reasons I am keeping this blog...so I never forget the cute things he says.

2 Brown Nevi

Both Steve and Sydney have eye freckles (aka nevus) in their left eyes. Sydney's is bigger than Steve's but not as noticable because her eyes are darker. They are almost in the same exact place. Let's hope she get's Daddy's baby blue eyes too!

Potty Pictures

Is it weird that I think my kids look cute on the potty? Ava is all about it but has had 0 successful attempts. Luke uses it only if I make him but actually had his first poop on the potty today! Maybe they will be potty trained together.... someday. It is a work in progress! And yes, Luke unraveled the whole roll of toilet paper.

Sydney is grabbing toys!!!

A new first for Sydney... This morning she was sitting in her bouncy seat trying to hit the toys around with her right hand and she did it. Yay Sydney!!!

Our wonderful trip to Wisconsin...

Our trip to Wisconsin was more than great! The flight by myself with the kids was easy, anyone could of done it. They were amazing! It was one of those experiences that confirmed to Steve and I that yes, we ARE doing a good job at raising our children, despite all of those moments of doubt we have day to day.

I was just telling Jen how good the trip was for me, it was like someone pressed my "reset button." It was nice to have a vacation away from cleaning the house, picking up the same ol' toys, going to the same places... it was nice to have a change of pace with my best friend in the world. Now, if only we could live in the same neighborhood, a few houses away and have our kids play everyday. The kids had so much fun together and never got bored. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the week!

Jen's yard is my dream yard, there is a wooded area mixed with a grassy area and she has a green thumb, something that I did not inherit.

Paige was so cute, she knew I was trying to take pictures of her and Luke playing while Chase and Ava napped. She was tring to run out of the frame on every picture and in this picture, I finally got her! As Luke would say, "Gotchu!"

Luke and his love of Birdhouses... I have no idea where it came from but I think it is cute.

It was peak leaf-turning season in Milwaukee and all of the trees were so beautiful!

Sydney's first real stroller ride, not in the carseat adapted version :)

A few other's...

5 Grandkids in less than 3 1/2 years!

Crazy to think that these 5 kiddos were not here just 3 and 1/2 years ago. They have changed our lives forever and have brought us so much happiness. Grammy and Pop Pop got to see all 5 together for the first time this week. Va Va and Chase look like fraternal twins right now... their age gap of 4 months seems so small and their coloring is just the same. They love to play together as do Paige and Luke. We went to open gym yesterday and they ran all over the place together... they were so cute. For some reason Luke still has a hard time remembering Paige's name. He was looking for her at open gym and said, "Where's Chase?" I pointed to Chase, who was right next to him. Then he pointed way over to the other side of the gym, where Paige was and said, "No, that Chase." Or maybe it is just that Paige and Chase sound the same when they come out of his mouth...

Baby Sydney is cooing

Baby Sydney has given a few coo's here and there but today was a very vocal day for her. She spent a lot of the day awake, smiling and cooing. Here she is hanging out with her Auntie Jen.

So far so good

All 4 of us are in our seats.  It is a full flight.  Hopefully the rest goes well.  We miss Daddy already.  Ava has said "bye Daddy" about 50 times.