What We've Been Up To...Continued

Ava has so many new tricks. I can't believe she's 8 months old! She just mastered sitting up a few days ago and she loves to play with anything she can hang on to with her hands.

One of her favorite times is rocking to sleep with her Daddy. (He is such a softy!)

Tummy time isn't one of her favorite activities, but here she is enjoying herself. She is getting closer to crawling. Once she figures out how to get up on her knees she'll be on the move.

J.T. is a great babysitter! Doesn't Ava look cute in her Nike outfit? She and J.T. are neck in neck in a weight competition. I think J.T. is still a little ahead, but not for long.

Ava wasn't exactly thrilled about her lion costume on Halloween, but I put it on her the next day so I could take a few pictures.

Here is a clip of Ava in her exersaucer. She loves to jump and play in it, especially if somebody is watching.

What We've Been Up To...Continued

Ben is growing into a fine young man. He is very busy with sports, Cub Scouts, and piano class. He is a fast learner and likes to try new things. He is a great big brother to Jack and Ava.

This is the Cub Scout Halloween party pack meeting. Ben had no problem dunking his head in a tub of cold water to bob for apples. All I could think about was the germs...but he didn't care.

Here he is pictured with some members of the Wolf Den. From left to right are Will, Mason, Ben and Griffin. They are a fun group of boys and Kent enjoys being their den leader.

Ben played his final soccer game for the fall season last Saturday. I was really proud of him and his team for how hard they worked and how much they improved. Ben always got right into the game and wasn't afraid of going after the ball. He's turning into quite an athlete. The video at the bottom shows a bit of what he does during soccer.

Ben often likes to play the piano with Ava. She loves it when he helps her do things. They can play some funky tunes together. Jack likes to join them, too.

Here's What We've Been Up To...

These are a few pictures of Jack in his various moods.





Happy...

Oh so ORNERY!! His hair sums it up...

Yes, Jack puts a new meaning to "terrible" when I say he's in his "terrible two" phase. He's a middle child who makes sure he's getting his rightful amount of attention any way possible. He refuses to go to sleep on his own. Kent and I have both taken this on and bowed our heads in defeat several hours later in the early morning hours while Jack continued strong. Jack has no interest in learning to use the potty. I've thrown in the towel several times on this one as well. Any discipline action taken with him must be thought through because he will come back swinging, tackling, and repeating everything you say. He cooperates about 40% of the time, so we use lots of reverse psychology, which only works about 10% of the time. He does not like his picture taken, so I only have a few to show. We love him dearly and can't wait for him to move past this phase...

He does enjoy being outside with Kent, so we decided he could try out Ben's old Jeep. Here is his first spin around the yard.

"VACATION"

We made the 600 mile trek to Blackfoot a few weeks ago and I've just recovered enough to share some pictures and a few "notes to self" for our next road trip.

1. Driving all night goes very well because the kids slept the entire way. However, things went down hill when we arrived at 8 a.m. The kids were "ready to rock" and Kent and I were "ready to crash!"

2. Jack=car sick! (even though he can't tell us because he doesn't know what it is!) Yes, he spewed chocolate milk and cheerio chunks all over about half way to Missoula. Poor kid. This happens almost every time we drive somewhere on windy roads. (Kudos to Kent for remembering to throw a roll of paper towels into the van just for this reason!)

3. Ben can ride for hours as long as he has sunflower seeds, Harry Potter audio tape and a bb gun.

4. Plan to stay longer! We never have enough time to see everyone and do all the things we'd like to do.

Little Ava's Photo Shoot

Ava is now 4 months old and these are some of the highlights of her photo shoot with my beautiful, talented friend, Michelle Wolf. You can check out more of Michelle's work at michellewolfphotography.com.

Silverwood

Yes, Kent and I braved chaos, tantrums, meltdowns, heat, etc. and took our three children to Silverwood. I must say the trip turned out lots better than anticipated. Jack and Ava both took their naps while we were there! Can't ask for better than that. Ava was a doll the entire time, except when the roller coaster scared her to death! Jack remained fairly content as long as he had ice cream, his mom or dad, and we weren't forcing him to ride rides!