everyday life

park play with the cousins

it's so nice to have some family living here in AZ with us!  Ava LOVES getting to see her cousins!  Last week Jill and I met at the park to let the kids play.  It was actually a cold & windy afternoon (bizarre) and probably one of the last we will see until December so we had to break out the sweatshirts for this park day.  Ava and Berkeley play so well together and totally take care of each other.  It's really sweet to see them love each other so much!  Bailey & Beckham are only 3 days apart so it will be nice when they get a little older and can be buds.  Good times!

Ava is going for the "I'm Miley Cyrus and I wear boots with everything even though it might not look good" look.  She chose it herself!

Why is it that kids are the happiest when they are dirty & outside?  Doesn't bother me....it made for some easy bedtime with very tired kids!

it's so easy to forget

Time really does fly!  I was reminded of this on Monday after taking Ava to the Hospital for a scheduled Lung Profusion Scan.  It's been nearly 2 years since she has had any *real* procedures!  It's so easy to forget what all of this stuff does to my sweet little girl.  It's sad and it's hard and there is nothing I can do to fix it.  She has to go through this and that is the worst feeling.  She has come so far in just 4 years!  It's so easy to forget that this is what my first born looked like when we met for the very first time....

All 4lbs of her!

This visit on Monday was also the first time that she would have a procedure and need to be fasting during part of the day.  Usually the kids who are fasting get scheduled early in the morning but not this time.  She did fairly well until we were waiting and she saw a little girl start to eat a yogurt!  (um, hello....there is a sign that asks you not to eat anything in that area BECAUSE of the kids who are fasting!)  Luckily, we were next to be called back!  We took pictures of ourselves to pass the time!

I won't have the test results for awhile but she did really well during the procedure.  Because of all she's been through they give her this little "cocktail" that makes her completely loopy before she gets any anesthesia. Now that is funny to watch!!! (It also gives her amnesia so she can't remember what happened to her.)  She gets super flirty and over exaggerated!  When we went to the procedure room she then had to put a pink bubblegum smelling mask to her and breath.  She decided to start singing into the mask at the top of her lungs!  The Doc and Nurses were wishing they had a video camera.  They could hardly control their own laughter!

The hardest part of the day was when she woke up!  Naturally she was confused and not sure why she felt so weird.  She was pretty uncontrollable for about 45 minutes!  I was amazed at the strength she has in her little body!  It was like wrestling a 500lb. Gorilla!  No joke...I was sweating!  It was so hard watching her go through that!  Finally she calmed down enough to take the IV out so we could go home.  After a trip to the Gift Shop and some fries from In-N-Out she was back to her normal self by bedtime!

And during all of this Bailey was safely home having fun with a very good friend!  I'm very lucky to have such good friends!

Ava will have her annual Cardiologist visit in May and we will get the full results after her Echo and EKG.  We will be praying for an all clear for one more year!  It's easy to forget about where we've been but I will never forget how blessed we are!  Truly!  She is growing and changing and doing more than I would have ever expected at this age!  Prayer and Modern medicine are wonderful things!

spring has sprung

Spring is here and probably not for long!  Both of the girls LOVE being outside so that is exactly what we've been doing!  Bailey likes to eat sand and tries to suck on rocks.  YUCK!  Ava is always trying to stop her....another set of eyes is always nice!  We've been making good use of the sandbox and occasionally some sprinkler time too.

I swear I have no idea where Ava has learned to pose like this EVERY time I try to take a picture!  It's cute the first time but sometimes I would like her to just look normal?!  Ah well, I'm sure I'll be sad when she stops doing it!

And this crazy little one loves the sand!  Ava will make a little castles and she will smash them as quickly as she can.  She loves to shovel and carry buckets around the sand box.  She is a total mess when we're done but they both love it so I can't complain!

I said "Bailey, say Cheese" and she starts to scoot to me and says "Eeeeee" over and over!  HA!!!  She's confident with her use of the word "UH-OH"....she calls Ava "Baba" and can say "Dada" but hasn't put it together at the right time when Ken is around.  She has the jabber that sounds like "Oh-lee-Oh-lee-Oh" and likes to scream for fun.  When I pick her up from a fun activity she throws a complete fit that makes me laugh!  Such attitude!  She just got her 3 top teeth and I'm sure the rest are right around the corner.  We are trying to transition her to one nap a day but it's still a little rough going!  She has gotten comfortable with her new straw cups and cold milk so the bottle will be going away soon!  She is definitely moving out of the baby stage!  She is such a fun little girl!

Easter

What a beautiful weekend!  First, let me say how grateful I am to have had the opportunity to listen to a living Prophet and his Apostles!  WOW!  This General Conference was so wonderful and to combine that with an Easter Sunday was even better!  Ava actually listened with us and would pick out words that she knew and faces she recognized!  There was a few songs she knew as well and she would sing with us.  My spiritual bucket has been filled and there is so many things to think about after this weekend!  I should say 'think about' and act on!  There is so much to do!  No matter what your circumstances, life is good when you have the proper direction!

On Saturday afternoon, while Bailey slept, Ava and I colored Easter Eggs.  She could hardly wait for the eggs to cool!  She has been asking about Easter since last Sunday.  Everyday she would wake up and want to know what day it was and what was exactly going to happen on EACH day before Easter!  She's a little intense, you think?  HaHa. It was fun though and kept me on my toes.  That Easter Bunny was READY for her on Sunday morning!

checking out their stash!  Bailey's was a little light on "stuff"....she'll get that next year!

After Conference we headed over to my cousin's for a perfect ham/potatoes Dinner.  I was in charge of rolls but decided to make an egg bread instead.  It was a new recipe for me but turned out really great!  I didn't add the colored eggs in the bread like most people do - I will do that next year now that I'm confident with the recipe!  Very delish and pretty easy!  Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture of the "after".

And now to the ever important 'egg hunt'!  With just a few 'little' kids it was fun to watch them run all over the place.  Of course there were way too many eggs for just a few kids but that made it funny.  They would run past 5 eggs to get to a certain one!  Funny!

It was just a really great weekend and I'm feeling so blessed today!  Looking forward to having a great week!

Oh, and it's in the 80's here so we will be in the backyard all week with our fun little wiggly sprinkler thing!  Water+sunscreen+outside= extremely happy kids!!!  Awesome!