Livin' the Army Life

The Toothless Wonder

2011-11-03T21:48:00.000-05:00

In the past month and a half Andrew has lost 3 of his 4 top teeth. I keep teasing him that if he looses any more we're going to have to blend all his food up and have him drink it from a straw :-) Lucky for him it looks as though at least one new tooth is coming in so maybe he will be able to keep eating like a "normal person".

I threw in this picture of Ava simply because I think she looks pretty darn cute

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-03T21:42:00.001-05:00

On Halloween we went over to the Sutterfield's house, otherwise known as our friends Steven and Becky. We trick or treated their neighborhood with the kids and then came back to their house for some great food. I have to say this has been one of the best October's we have had in a while. We are so lucky to have met so many great people here in Kansas.

Ok I have no idea why the two pictures above are stuck together like that, but I can't seem to fix them. The top one is Adam with Ava's hat and wig on. The bottom one is Ava waiting until it's time to go trick or treating.

Andrew and Hayden playing until it's time to head out

This night we have Darth Vader, Raggedy Ann and a Ninja. Hayden was Buzz Lightyear at the company Trunk or Treat, but at some point between that Wednesday night and Monday he decided that was stupid and wanted to be a ninja. Gotta love kids

Trick or Treat!

Hayden wanted to help Ava up to the next house

Yes my son is a big ol' dork but that's ok. We love him anyways

Great Wolf Lodge

2011-11-03T21:16:00.000-05:00

The Friday before Halloween (can you tell we had a crazy busy week leading up to Halloween?) we headed on over to Kansas City to stay at the Great Wolf Lodge. In case you have never heard of it, the Great Wolf Lodge is a hotel that has its own indoor water park that is only available to hotel guests. We went there to celebrate our neighbor Luke's 11th birthday. The kids were out of school that day so we got there around noon so that we could play in the water as much as possible. All of the kids had a blast including Ava. In fact both of my kids overcame a fear that day. Andrew finally decided to try going down a water slide (he's been terrified for the longest time) and Ava decided it was ok to put her face in the water and get splashed. We spent about 5 hours playing in the water before getting ready for dinner.

Ava and Jackie shortly after we arrived

The birthday boy, Luke, and Ava sitting in a bucket

Andrew taking his turn on the obstacle course

He did really well!

Ava also found a love for water slides while we were there. Of course we had to give her a little push over the edge, but she loved it just the same. In fact we quit walking her up the stairs. One person would push her down, someone would catch her at the bottom and the put her back on the concrete to walk up all on her own. We did this for a LONG time :-)

I absolutely LOVE her face in this picture

The boys headed up for another slide

They really liked the 3 person tubes so they could all go down together

From front to back: Andrew, Matt, Luke

Nothing better for snack time then a big soft pretzel and some cheese

After we finished playing in the water park everyone headed up to our rooms to get ready for dinner. We decided to eat at the restaurant in the hotel so that the kids to participate in everything the lodge had to offer. Since it was so close to Halloween they had trick or treating throughout the main level of the building. Around 8:00pm they had story time for all of the kids in the lobby which was followed by a costume parade and finished up with a 2hr dance party complete with contests. The boys had a blast. I missed the dance party because I had to go put Ava in bed. She had been all day without a nap and somehow managed to not meltdown one single time. I was so proud of her and when she started to fuss at 8:30 I promptly took her upstairs and laid her down.

Decorating their bags to collect candy in

Ava wasn't really interested in her costume that night so knowing that she had not napped I decided not to force it.

This is the only picture I got of the boys because they were too busy running all over the place. Can you tell they were annoyed we made them sit down and wait on Ava?

From R to L: Darth Vader (Andrew), a Kansas State Univ Fan (Luke) and Matt who is some other Star Wars character, but I can't remember who specifically

Andrew and Matt loved sitting in this big chair carved out of a tree. Here they were waiting on story time to begin

Adam got Luke in a headlock and was trying to avoid being bitten

All in all we had a great night. It was definitely expensive but I think it is something we will do again on special occasions in the future. It was fun getting to celebrate Luke's birthday with him. We are so lucky to have neighbors that have become not only our best friends but also like a 2nd family to us.

A pie in the face you say?

2011-11-03T15:06:00.003-05:00

As I mentioned in my past post, the night of the trunk or treat the 3 platoon Sgts were auctioned off. Every now and then members of the "command group" are auctioned off as a way to raise money for the FRG. The money raised is generally used for company parties or functions. Anyways, that night it was the platoon sgt's turn. The soldiers live for these nights because it is their turn to get their leaders. Each Sgt is auctioned off individually and the one who brings in the most money get the biggest pie. Apparently Adam's soldiers really like him because he not only brought in the most money, but his bid also set a new battalion record at $325. Below are pictures of Adam and Steven (one of our good friends) getting their pies. I missed getting pictures of the 3rd SGT, but I have him at the end. Enjoy!!

Here is Steven getting ready for his pies

I just love how you can see the pie falling down his face. Looks yummy don't you think?

The after shot.....good times

This is the soldier who got the honor of putting the pie in Adam's face. Remember how I said the one with the most money got the biggest pie? Look at the size of that pan?!?! I'm not sure I heard all of the ingredients put into this pie but I do know that there was at least: apple pie, cottage cheese, yogurt, flour, raw eggs and who knows what else. Before you ask let me just say that yes it was nasty and yes he smelled after

She let her son help out. I love the smile on his face

Rubbing it in good

HYSTERICAL!

I was laughing so hard at this point.

Finally here are all 3 PLT SGTS. There really are no words for how they look

Trunk or Treat anyone?

2011-11-03T14:43:00.002-05:00

The Wednesday before Halloween Adam's company had a Trunk or Treat. Adam, the kids and I all got dressed up. We were an interesting group to say the least :-) The kids had lots of fun and got tons of candy. It was a little cold and windy that night so we tried not to stay outside for too long. Once the trunk or treat was over the FRG (family readiness group) had a quick meeting and then they auctioned off the platoon sgts, this included Adam. I will go into more detail about this in another post. It is hysterical!

Adam getting all bloody so he can hand out candy

Sweet little Raggedy Ann minus her hat and wig because she REFUSED to wear it

The kids watching Adam decorate the back of our car. Andrew is Darth Vadar and his friend Hayden was Buzz Lightyear

Here are the boys again. Hayden is about a year and a half younger than Andrew but they are good friends and love playing together

Trick or Treat!

Shhe Sheet (Ava's version of trick or treat)

Ava was not scared of her Daddy in that mask at all

Did you know that Olive Oil and Katy Perry were friends?

Browndale Farms in Clay Center, KS

2011-11-03T14:07:00.005-05:00

The weekend before Halloween my parents came up from AR for a visit. On Saturday we went to one of Andrew's football games and then just hung out around the house. On Sunday we decided to venture over to a pumpkin patch I heard about in Clay Center, KS. What I originally thought was supposed to be a 30min drive turned into almost an hour because the farm was on the outskirts of the OTHER side of Clay Center. Andrew and Ava seemed to a have a lot of fun running around doing all the activities they had available. There were giant round bales of hay the kids could run and play on, a trailer full of corn to play in, a slide into a pool of corn, a zip line, an eye-spy forrest, goats to feed, "dirt" bowling, a hay ride and corn maze. Needless to say there was A LOT of stuff to keep the kids occupied and it was almost impossible to keep Andrew in one place for very long. On a side note I have to thank my parents for going along with us despite the fact that it was incredibly dry and windy so there was dust and hay flying around. Those conditions did a number on my Dad's allergies.

Andrew posing as a scarecrow

Ava and Daddy feeding the goats

Andrew's turn

This goat tried soo hard to get a hold of my mom's purse (it kind of looked like straw) and he got his horns stuck on the outside of the fence. It took a while for him to figure out how to get them back through

Andrew running all over the hay bales

Ava loved playing on the hay bales too

HA! I got them to be still, if only for a split second

Time for some dirt bowling

The pins were small logs that were hard to balance on end

Playing in the trailer of corn

Whee!!! This girl LOVES to slide!

There was a tunnel made of small square hay stacks. Ava would stand at one end and look through, but never would walk into it not matter how hard we tried.

There she is at the other end. I couldn't get her to walk to me for anything

Ava's turn in the corn trailer

Andrew had so much fun on the zip line

He wanted to do this over and over and over

Nana and Andrew on the hay ride

Ava and Daddy on the hay ride

This was our attempt at a family picture. Ava did not want to sit still and she let us know about it.

Heading into the corn maze

Ava and Pawpaw taking one last run around the hay bales

She did not know what to think about this big turkey. Of course all Adam could think of was shooting it. Gotta love the hunter in him

Are you ready for some football?

2011-11-02T13:57:00.002-05:00

This fall instead of signing up Andrew for soccer we decided to try flag football. I must say it hasn't been a completely positive experience due to teenage referees who didn't seem to know what they were doing and coaches on other teams teaching their players bad sportsmanship, but Andrew has had fun and that is really all that matters. Here are a few pictures from the first game. We have our last game of the season this Saturday so I'll try to get better ones then and post them later.

Our neighbor Matt was on Andrew's team

Andrew is in the green jersey, center of the picture "locked up" with a member of the other team

Matt scoring one of many touchdowns over the season (he's a running machine)

Custer Hill Elementary Freedom Walk

2011-11-02T13:44:00.002-05:00

Every year around September 11 Andrew's school does a Freedom Walk. In the past this little parade was kept on school grounds and the kids just marched around the building. This year they decided to let the kids walk around the block with a fire truck leading the way. The older children were singing songs about America and freedom as the walked through the neighborhood. The kids really seemed to have a lot of fun and I think it is great that the school is teaching them the importance of freedom and what it means in terms that are age appropriate. Because we live on a military base, all of the kids at Andrew's school are aware in some form or fashion of deployments and the sacrifices soldiers and their families make on a daily basis.

Here they come

There's Andrew!

It was at this point Andrew ran over to show me he had a loose tooth. He lost his 1st top tooth later that afternoon and as of today he is now missing 3 top teeth with a 4th one that is loose.

701st BSB 2011 Ball

2011-11-02T13:23:00.002-05:00

In September Adam and I went to his Battalion Ball. We were lucky to have some great friends and neighbors watch Andrew and Ava so that we could go and spend the night at the hotel without worrying about the kiddos. Adam's 1SG rented a limo for himself and the Platoon Sgts so we were able to arrive "in style". Sadly I didn't get a picture of the limo but it was white and much better than driving ourselves :-) All in all we had a great night, got to see several people make drunken fools of themselves (we were not some of those people) and then to top of the night we headed to Denny's around midnight still dressed up in our formal attire for a late night snack. My camera battery died about half way through the night so I don't have many pictures.

Waiting on the limo to come and get us

Becky (one of the other Plt Sgt's wife and a very good friend of mine) and I decided to take our picture in the mirror which was on the ceiling of the limo

Here we are again at our dinner table. We like to have a good time

That's us in the limo again (and that's her husband in the background).

Adam was gone through most of the dinner dealing with the formality parts of the ball so I didn't get a picture of the two of us again before my camera battery died. However I did manage to get a final picture of Adam and I with Becky and Steven before we left. This is our "rock star" picture. Like I said....we like to have a good time..LOL

Happy Happy Birthday Baby!!

2011-09-21T19:01:00.005-05:00

I know I know I have been a horrible blogger this summer. The sad thing is I really don't have a good excuse other than a lack of motivation. So as usual I'm behind on my blogging. On Aug 23 Ava turned 2 years old. It's hard to believe she is this big already. Seems like just the other day that she was born. Because Adam was in the field the week of Ava's birthday we waited to have her party until the 27th so he could be here. We kind of went with a luau themed party and invited several of our friends and their kids. I think when it was all said and done we had 7 adults and 12 kids. Everyone seemed to have a good time just running around the yard, playing in the sprinkler ball and riding bikes up and down the street.

The present table
Sneaking ice. This girl LOVES ice!

She loves her sit-n-spin

One of our neighbors Jessica helped Ava open her presents (and helped keep the bigger kids from getting in her way)

She was a little excited about her last present

A CAR!!

Ava's luau cake that I made. It wasn't perfect but I thought I did a pretty good job

Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Ava!

Movin' on down to Searcy

2011-08-10T10:51:00.007-05:00

After spending the first part of our trip with Adam's family we moved on down to Searcy to see my family. On Saturday everyone that was in town came out to mom and dad's house for dinner. It was good seeing everyone again, I just wish the entire family had been there. Jenny and Mary Evelyn were at church camp, Matt, his wife Beth and their son Brisco live in MI and weren't coming to visit until a few weeks after we left, and Craig now lives in VA where his fiance is going to law school. Hopefully one day soon we will all be together at one time again, but it's hard with so many of us living out of state and having different schedules.

Here is the kids table which is getting increasingly larger each year.

From L to R: Andrew, Caroline, Lydia, Eden and Ava

We were missing Mary Evelyn, Brisco and Jack Henry who was at the house, but he's not quite big enough to sit at the table. In October we will have yet another addition to our family when baby Harper comes.

Ava checking out baby Jack Henry. He was born on July 5. We are finally starting to add some boys to the group of great grandkids. We are up to 5 (soon to be 6) girls, and 3 boys.

I just love this picture. I was trying to get Ava and my Grandmother with Jack Henry (you can see his foot) when Sarah kissed her sweet Lydia in the background. Talk about perfect timing

Present time! Gigi (my Aunt Betty) and Granna (my Aunt Marilyn) brought Andrew and Ava b-day gifts. They had missed Andrew's birthday in May and of course Ava's is in a few weeks.

Andrew loves his new game. We have played it several different times since we've been home

Ava reading her new book with Gigi

Ava loved looking at Jack Henry, but she wasn't crazy about her Nana holding him

Andrew, Caroline and Eden playing in the sunroom

Sweet Cousins

A day or two before we headed back to KS we drove down to Little Rock with my parents and took the kids to Playtime Pizza. It's a lot like Chuck E Cheese, only better (in my opinion). They have a pizza buffet so we all ate lunch and then it was off to play games.

Andrew and Adam practicing their ski-ball skills

Of course Ava wanted in on the fun too

The kids had a great time. I wish I had taken more pictures, but oh well. I was a little distracted playing the games too :-)

After we got back to Searcy from Playtime Pizza we went over to my Grandmother's new house to see her one last time before going home. The kids love running around and playing at her house and of course she loves watching them.

Running, running everywhere

Andrew desperately wanted a picture with his sister in the recliner, but Ava would not be still. I think she was afraid she would fall asleep at this point if she got too still

Giving Grandmother some goodbye loving

We had a good visit with family but it was good to get home again. Hopefully we will be able to go back around Christmas to see everyone again. I promise to take more pictures next time :-)

Picnic at the park in Mtn Home, AR

2011-08-10T10:31:00.003-05:00

The last 2 weeks of July was Adam's block leave so we headed down to AR to see family. For some reason I didn't take many pictures at all during this 2 weeks, but I didn't manage to get a few. Our first stop was to see Adam's family in Mountain Home. One afternoon we picked up KFC and met Adam's Grandma Billie, Gretchen and Sydnee at a local park to let the kids play. Sydnee is only 2 months younger than Andrew so they always have a good time together.

It was hot out that day, but the kids had fun running around and burning off some of their excess energy. We also saw Adam's mom and friend's the Davis' while we were there, but like I said I didn't get my camera out very much so I have no pictures of them. I will have to do better next time we're in town. Oh, I also have to say a HUGE thank you to Wayne and Carolyn Camp for letting us stay at their house whenever we come to town. I have known them since I was a little kid and was best friends with their youngest daughter throughout high school. Without their generosity we would probably have to stay in a hotel when we come to town (Adam's family doesn't have a lot of room where they live). It's so nice having a "2nd family".

Girls Weekend

2011-08-10T09:59:00.002-05:00

When you first move to a new Army post one of the first people you meet are your new neighbors. There is usually a 50/50 chance that you will like the people you move in next to. More often than not they are people you can tolerate, but no one you want to spend a lot of time with. When we moved to Ft Riley we hit the neighbor jackpot. We could not have hand picked better neighbors, and now best friends. Adam and Jeremy enjoy hanging out and go to play golf ALL the time. Andrew and their boys Lucas and Matt have become fast friends and play together almost daily. As Lucas says we are all "family-mates". This post, however, is not about the boys. It is about me, Jackie and the amazing group of girl friends I now have thanks to her. Below is a picture of the 5 of us.

From L to R: Mary, Jackie, Kim, Mandy, Me

I love this group of girls! There is never a dull moment when we are all together. In fact we have started a quote book where we try to keep track of all of the crazy statements made by one or all of us. One of these days, maybe we'll make it into a book. The purpose of this weekend get together in Wichita was because Kim turned 30. We had a big party for her at Mandy's house and let me tell you it was a blast!

Kim and Jackie decided to do the Chicken Dance in front of the house in order to welcome Kim's brother James to the party. Before you ask, yes, the is completely normal behavior for these 2 :-)

Me and the Birthday Girl. Don't you just love her pink sparkly crown? She was such a good sport about wearing all the silly birthday stuff we bought.

Me and Jackie. Love this girl and I can't imagine finding another friend or neighbor like her.

Ahhhh...Mandy the hostess with the mostess! She always opens her house to all of us when we come down to Wichita.

Mary, Mary....She would kill me if she knew I posted this picture. This girl is BEYOND crazy and that is why we all love her.

Kim with her cupcake tower. In case you're wondering, yes, there are 30 candles on top.

Jackie shoving the pink cupcake in Kim's face/up her nose. They have been best friends since high school. Can you tell?

Icing anyone?

Ok, allow me to explain this picture. The temperature that day in Wichita was around 106. Granted the party was at night, but with so many people in the house, Mandy's a/c had a hard time keeping it cool. So Jackie decided to hug one of the ice blocks from the cooler. We later found out that Mandy's a/c was broken and had to be replaced so it wasn't just because of the high temps and large number of people in the house.

All in all it was an amazing weekend (it always is with this group). I am so thankful to have met these girls. It has been a long time since I have had a group of friends like this one. I'm sure there will be many more posts with these girls this fall so stay tuned for our crazy adventures.

The next pro golfer?

2011-07-07T09:51:00.005-05:00

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!

2011-07-07T09:04:00.006-05:00

This year we drove up to Wamego, KS for their 4th of July festivities. Adam's 1SG lives there and invited several soldiers and their families to come watch the parade (the soldiers were asked to march in the parade). Afterwards we all stuck around to watch the fireworks. Wamego is known for having an amazing fireworks show and I must say they didn't disappoint. We didn't get home until after midnight but it was a great day.

Waiting for the parade to start
I didn't notice Ava had dropped one of her flags until after I took this picture

Me and my sweet girl. It was soo stinkin hot!

Andrew stood there patiently waving at the floats just hoping to get more candy

Here comes C Co 701st

Thankfully Adam was walking on the same side we were on

1SG's wife Angel was in the parade handing out goodies from the bank she works at.

Ava bonded with Becky during the fireworks. She is the wife of another Plt Sgt that Adam works with

Sparkler fun = lots of smoke

I love how this picture makes the firework look like a bunch of sideways hearts

Andrew and Hayden taking a little break from running around to watch the fireworks

Ava getting some daddy love. I was surprised she didn't seem to mind all of the loud pops and bangs from the fireworks. She didn't get upset one single time

Memorial Weekend

2011-06-14T17:04:00.005-05:00

Memorial Weekend was a busy busy weekend for us. We had a BBQ on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Saturday evening we BBQ'd with our neighbors Jackie, Jeremy and their kids along with another set of neighbors we recently met who have a daughter Ava's age. It was fun watching the kids play and getting to know more of our neighbors.

Matt pushing Ava in Grace's little car
This is sweet little Grace. She is just a few months older than Ava and the girls seem to really like each other (as much as two 2yr olds can)

Grace is explaining all of the features of her Cozy Coupe to Ava ;-)

Andrew riding his bike and Luke riding the scooter

Ava really liked the Cozy Coupe. I think we might have to get her one for her birthday.

On Saturday we went to our friend Mary's house for a BBQ. She lives in White City which is about a 30min drive for us. Sadly I forgot my camera so I have no pictures of that day. Let me just say we had a lot of fun watching the kids play in the sprinkler and eating some good food.

On Sunday we were back at our house partying with the "usual crew". Of course it was our family along with Jeremy and Jackie, plus Mary with her 4 kids and then Kim came up from Wichita with her new boyfriend. The only person we were missing was Mandy :-( There is always a good time to be had when this group gets together. We sat around and talked while the kids played in the slip-n-slide. By the end of this night we were all exhausted but so thankful we have so many friends here in Kansas that we can spend time with.

After everyone left Lucas took Ava for a ride on his plasma car. She LOVED it!

Time to try it alone

Branson Weekend Getaway

2011-06-09T15:42:00.008-05:00

WARNING: PICTURE OVERLOAD!!

Ok it's time to pick up where I left off. The day Ava had her stitches removed we drove down to Branson, MO to meet my parents for the weekend. Because Andrew and my Dad's birthdays are only 1 week apart we generally try to get together to celebrate. This year we were in Branson on my Dad's birthday so that was nice. We got to the condo pretty late at night because Adam was held up at work longer than planned that day. However a late arrival did not stop us from opening presents and having some ice cream cake from Coldstone. Of course I didn't take a picture of the cake, but trust me it was yummy :-)

Ava was trying to help Andrew open his presents

I love that he is ok with getting clothes for his birthday

This is a kit to build a birdhouse and something else (I can't remember now). We haven't started it yet, but I'm sure Andrew and Adam will have fun working on it together.

Of course Nana and Pawpaw had to bring Ava a gift too

The next day we went to a go-cart/mini golf place on the "strip". We all played a round of mini golf and then Adam took Andrew on the go-carts. Andrew LOVES go-carts so of course that is all he wanted to do. It is insane how expensive all of those rides are, but worth it in the end to see how happy Andrew is.

Getting some pointers from Pawpaw

Now it's Daddy's turn to help out

Ava decided she needed to get in on the fun

Right where the two birthday boys needed to be :-)

Ava however didn't love the idea of being in jail

This is what he was waiting for

It was really hot out that day so Ava and Nana found some shade

Yes they are sticking their tongues out

Before we left they rode the bumper boats

That night we decided to go to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner. It was so much fun and the food was good too. Of course because it was a Saturday night there was almost an hour wait for a table so we took advantage of the play area they had out front. Ava particularly liked the rides you have to put quarters in. In fact she liked them so much that she threw a nice little tantrum when we ran out of money. You know her Nana couldn't stand that so she went and got more change from inside the restaurant so Miss Priss could ride some more. Like I said before the food that night was really good but probably the best part was how Joe's celebrates birthdays. We told our waiter that it was my Dad's birthday and that Andrew's had been a week earlier. For those of you who have never been, they don't just sing to you. The brought out 2 giant foam cowboy hats and had Dad and Andrew race each other around the restaurant. It was hysterical! Once the race was over and we were almost done with dinner Andrew decided he wanted to get up and dance the Macarena with our waiter. The waiter was such a good sport about it and helped Andrew out with the movements and all of the little extras they add.

All I had with me that night was my phone and it doesn't take very good movement shots so everything turned out blurry, but you get the idea.

Their post race photo along with their stick horses. I think I forgot to mention earlier that they had to race with these horses :-)

Doing the macarena

As you can see we had a great weekend in Branson. I hope we are able to make this an annual trip for as long as we live in Kansas or at least close enough to make the drive.

Ava's accident

2011-05-24T12:46:00.004-05:00

Ok as I stated at the end of my last post the day of Andrew's birthday went really well. He loved his donut cake and presents and we all had a really good time at Jackie's graduation party. Once the party was over we all came home to have a BBQ and an "after party" for our two families plus a few extra friends. Everything was going great until Ava fell.

The stairs in the older houses on post are mainly wood which can cause problems with little kids. Ava was walking up the stairs that night when Andrew accidentally bumped into her. This caused her to fall face first on the stairs and she ended up biting through her lower lip. It was very obvious that she needed to go to the ER so Adam and I scooped her up and off we went. Fortunately by the time we got there the bleeding had stopped and believe it or not Ava was in a pretty good mood, all things considered. We checked in and got her some ice to eat on in order to numb her mouth. Once we were in a room and the doctors were able to get a look at her lip it was determined that she would need to go to the OR. The main reason for this was because the injury was so crooked there was no way they could sew everything straight without sedating her. Because we had been eating right before Ava fell, the oral surgeon and anesthesiologist decided to have us come back Sunday morning at 7:30 to fix it.

So bright and early Sunday morning we were back at the ER getting checked in for Ava to get her lip fixed. The surgeon and everyone were really nice to us and especially Ava. We did all of the pre-op paper work and then it was time to head upstairs to the OR. The entire process only took about 15 minutes so there really wasn't time to worry much about anything. They were able to simply give her "goofy gas" for the procedure so our time in recovery was very short and we were able to leave an hour later. 5 days later I took Ava back to the Oral Surgery office to have her stitches removed. She screamed like there was no tomorrow but everything came out just fine and the doctor said her lip looks really good. She will probably have a scar but how bad remains to be seen. Here are some pictures I took with my phone

In the ER waiting room. Her lips weren't that swollen, she was eating ice :-)

Back in the exam room. We had to hand feed her ice in order to get her to open her mouth so we could see the injury.

Sunday morning: It's way too early to be up and out of the house

Patiently waiting

All dressed up and ready to go get fixed up

I was so amazed she went to one of the doctors without crying

Afterwards in recovery

The following day acting as happy as can be

Finally...Friday after her stitches were removed. Such a sweet face

Happy 7th Birthday Andrew!!

2011-05-24T12:20:00.004-05:00

Yep...that's right. It's hard to believe that Andrew is now 7 years old. This year we decided not to have a party since the following weekend we were meeting my parents in Branson (I'll post on that later). Another reason we opted not to have a party was because that same day our neighbor Jackie was graduating from Kansas State University and we were going to her graduation party. So Adam and I decided to "make" Andrew a cake out of donuts for breakfast and let him open his presents that morning before the craziness of the day began.

Andrew's cake of donuts. He really liked it and said from now on this is the only kind of cake he wants.

Can you tell he's excited about all those donuts?

Make a wish!

mmmmmm....yummy

Present time!

Roller Blades!!

After breakfast and presents we got ready and headed to Kite's, a local restaurant, to set up for Jackie's graduation party

Waiting for everyone to arrive

Our neighbor Lucas, one of Andrew's best friends

All 3 boys together: Lucas, Matt and Andrew

Miss Ava eating away

After the party we all came home and Jeremy helped Andrew learn how to Rollerblade. It was pretty funny to watch seeing as how Andrew is about as graceful as a baby hippo :-)
He finally started getting the hang of it

All in all it was a good day....until later that evening. That is a story for another post so stay tuned

11 years

2011-05-24T09:36:00.004-05:00

Ok so I am way behind on my blogging so I'm just going to jump right in. On April 29 Adam and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary. Since we weren't able to do anything to celebrate last year (we were moving into our house here on Ft Riley), this year we got a babysitter and went out with our great friends, and neighbors, Jackie and Jeremy. We went to Dave and Busters for dinner which was soo much fun. After dinner we played games for a while and then went walking around Legends (a big outdoor shopping complex in Kansas City). We stopped and picked up some ice cream from Coldstone and just walked around talking, laughing and having a great time. It was so nice to be out with great friends without the kiddos. The pictures I took that night didn't turn out very good, but they are better than nothing.

The 4 of us at dinner
I despise the way I look in this picture but it was the only 1 of Adam and I together

Adam and Jeremy playing games. Don't they look like 2 little old ladies sitting a slot machines :-)

Jackie and I walking on the yellow brick road at Legends

I can't remember what was said but obviously it was funny

I really like this picture. Jackie ran ahead and took it without looking.

I cannot wait until the 4 of us are able to go out again. We are so lucky to have been blessed with amazing neighbors who have become some of our best friends.

Happy Easter!

2011-04-24T20:32:00.004-05:00

Happy Easter everyone! We had a great day BBQ'ing and hunting eggs with some friends. The Easter bunny left Andrew a new Wii game and Ava got a swing. Of course they both got tons of candy. I have lots of pictures from today so I will let them tell the story :-)

The Easter bunny came!
I couldn't get many pictures of Andrew this morning since he was wearing nothing but his undies :-)

Ava was just a little excited

This was the look I got when I told Ava to put the candy back

She found one!

Andrew and his friend David running to the back yard to look for more eggs

She likes her swing

Ava and Haley walked all over the yard holding hands

I tried getting a picture of the two of them but Ava would not be still

He's getting so big

Spring Break Part 3: Olympic Training Center

2011-04-01T08:58:00.004-05:00

On day two of our trip we had planned on going to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. However because it was very cold that day and I was feeling awful we decided to change our plans. We drove over to the US Olympic Training Center to take a tour and see where some of the athletes train. I didn't get a lot of pictures while we were there because my battery was running low, but I did get a few. It was very interesting to see the facility and everything that is put into helping our athletes prepare for the Olympics.

Along either side of this walkway were flags representing every country that participates in the Olympics This plaque lists the names of all of the doctors involved in the athlete's training. Every kind of doctor you can imagine from dentists to orthopedists in the Colorado Springs area volunteers their time to help athletes with the hope that their name will be drawn to be a team doctor during the actual Olympics.

These are a few Olympic hopefuls practicing wrestling in one of the gyms.

On the other side of that same gym is the gymnastics training area

The medals in the center of this display case were donated by a rifleman (not sure that's the right word). The one on the far right with the red, white and blue ribbon was given to all US athletes in 1980 when the US boycotted.

Anyone up for a bobsled run?

This sculpture is at the front entrance of the training center

Spring Break Part 2: Garden of the Gods

2011-03-30T20:47:00.006-05:00

After our trip up Pikes Peak we grabbed lunch and headed to the Garden of the Gods. The rock formations were so neat and it's amazing to think they all formed naturally. There are a lot of pictures here and I didn't upload all of them. We all really enjoyed walking around the park and Andrew especially liked being able to climb on some of the rocks. There really isn't much to say because I think the pictures speak for themselves.

Spring Break Part 1: Pikes Peak

2011-03-30T11:43:00.005-05:00

On our first full day in Colorado Springs (before I got sick) we started out the morning by driving up Pikes Peak. We had originally planned on riding the cog train to the top, but due to snow the train was not going all the way to the top so we took our chances driving. When we started up the mountain the road was not open to the peak. However after 2 stopping points they were finally able to clear enough snow and open the roads to the top. Here are some of the pictures from our drive up, the stopping points, the peak and then a few on the way down. It was really cold on the peak, about 14 degrees, but well worth it.

Entering the canyon that leads to Pikes Peak

Love this sign!

One of the many pictures I took on the drive up

Our first stopping point. Andrew liked this big pile of rocks.

The view from our stopping point.

Looking down on the road we were driving up.

Stopping point #2 with the Colorado Rockies in the background

This direction supposedly looks towards New Mexico

Finally made it to the top!

The view from the top of Pikes Peak....AMAZING!

Andrew wanted to get his picture with the Bigfoot statue. This statue was carved out of 1 (very large and very old) tree

The water in this lake was so blue. The picture really does it no justice.

Semi-Perfect Spring Break

2011-03-29T16:32:00.002-05:00

This year for Spring Break we decided to go to Colorado Springs for a few days. I've always wanted to go see the "sites" and now that we're living so close it seemed like the perfect time. We left on Tuesday and came back on Friday so we had 2 full days to explore everything there is to see. However it didn't start out quite as expected. Adam started getting sick Monday afternoon with a sore throat, fever and body aches. This continued into Tuesday during our 7hr drive to Colorado Springs. Fortunately he woke up Wednesday morning feeling much better, not 100% but good enough that it didn't seem to effect our plans. As Wednesday went on I began to feel bad and by that night I was completely sick with the same thing Adam had. It turned out to be Strep throat. Wednesday night was a long restless night for both of us and I woke up Thursday still feeling horrible. We had to change our plans for that day due to me feeling bad and the fact that it was cold. I was hoping and praying that Friday would be a MUCH better day seeing as how we were driving home. When I woke up the body aches were gone for the most part, but I still had a fever and now developed a pretty bad cough. Sadly the cough has continued for the past several days. I went to the doctor today and found out that on top of the strep throat I have bronchitis. Woo Hoo for me :-) Anyways, despite all of this sickness we did manage to have some fun while we were gone. We went to Pikes Peak, The Garden of the Gods and the Olympic Training Center. Because I tend to be a little picture happy I'm going to have to break this up into multiple posts so for now I'll just put some pictures up of the kids hanging out in the hotel room. Stay tuned for pictures from the rest of our trip!

Ava loved sitting on top of this table

There was a train track just across the parking lot from our room (it was surprisingly quiet) so the kids enjoyed looking out the window and watching it go by.

A whole lotta nothin going on

2011-03-14T08:26:00.002-05:00

I realized the other day that it's been over a month since I blogged last. There is a fairly good reason for this considering we haven't done much of anything that was blog worthy. It's pretty much been the same old same from day to day which is rather boring :-) As I sat down this morning to find something to blog about I realized that I haven't even taken very many pictures. I know shame on me, but between Andrew's homework and my own homework it seems like that's all we do. I did manage to find two pictures to post that tell about two different things that have happened since my last posting.

On March 5 my Aunt Paula (my Mom's sister), Uncle Mike and my cousins Blake and Becca drove up to Overland Park, KS for a soccer tournament Blake was competing in. I haven't seen them since my Grandma's funeral in May 2009 when I was still pregnant with Ava so Adam and I made the 2hr drive over to watch Blake's game. It was really good seeing them again and to let them meet Ava for the first time. Definitely worth the drive to visit for a little while over dinner before having to drive home. I am happy to say that on Sunday March 6 Blake's team won the tournament for their age division. Who knows maybe us coming for a visit was their good luck charm.....I doubt it, they are a really good team :-)

Back in February, I think on Andrew's last snow day off of school, we took Ava to get her ears pierced. This picture is not a good one to show off her earrings, but she would not sit still long enough for me to take a good one. If you look very closely you can see a dark spot which is the earring. Ava did really well getting them pierced (yes I forgot to take my camera that day) and only cried for a minute or two once it was over. I think it hurt her daddy's feelings more than anything since he was the one having to hold her still. All in all it was a positive experience and she fights us when it comes to cleaning them less and less each day. I will try to get a better picture of Ava showing off her earrings and post it on here.

Snow, snow and more snow

2011-02-02T12:21:00.003-06:00

The title of this post pretty much sums up the month of January. After a fairly dry and mild December, this past month as brought quite a bit of snow and cold. Of course it's hard to compare it to the NY winters we dealt with but still it has been an inconvenience at times. Today is snow day #5 the kids have had out of school (the past 3 all in a row). The first snow days managed to fall around the weekend so fortunately they did not have to miss much school because of it. However the Blizzard of 2011 has had them out every day this week so far. We really haven't gotten much snow out of this storm, 4-6 inches give or take a little. Monday they were out of school due to freezing rain and drizzle that fell most of the day. Thankfully despite coming down most of the day we didn't get much ice accumulation. Tuesday brought on the snow, but not as much as originally expected. School was cancelled primarily due to the strong winds and cold temperatures. The winds are why it is hard to know just how much snow we really got. Today they are out of school again simply because of the frigid temperatures. I think the high today is around 9 and the wind chill isn't supposed to get above 0. I have no idea if they will go tomorrow or not, but I sure hope so. Granted Andrew has had a blast playing with our neighbors (we all have actually considering post was closed yesterday so Adam was off work too),but it is time to get back to a normal routine. I am ready for some quiet around this house, not to mention it is hard to find the motivation to do my own homework when everyone is out of school. Speaking of homework I should probably stop playing around online and get some of it done. Here are a few pictures from our first snow day a few weeks ago. We went to a hill just down the street to go sledding with our neighbors.

All bundled up and not sure about the cold

Andrew and Matthew making snowballs

Abominable snow baby

Adam and Andrew sledding

Andrew trying to pull Adam

Sweet kids, but Ava was done with the cold at this point

Christmas Day

2010-12-26T10:38:00.007-06:00

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! I know we sure did despite not being able to go to AR and be with family. There are too many pictures to try and comment on each one and I honestly don't feel like giving a detailed account of everything that went on yesterday morning so I will just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Ok I have to add this story about Andrew on Christmas morning. All he ever asked for was a Nerf gun so needless to say he was VERY excited when he opened this present. A little later in the morning Andrew was playing with the gun shooting at random things in the living room. Adam and I weren't paying much attention until he hear him say "I'm just gonna point this at my face, shoot it, and dodge the bullet". Really?!?! Before either of us could say anything the kid did exactly what he said he was going to do. Only he didn't dodge the bullet. Yep, that's right, my son shot himself in the eye with a foam Nerf dart :-) Being the good parents we are, Adam and I laughed uncontrollably for a good 5 minutes. Once we calmed down and Andrew stopped crying (lets face it you know it stung a little) we took that moment to explain that this was the reason you don't point guns at people's faces, real or fake.

Andrew got a snuggie :-)

Above: One of Adam's favorite Christmas movies is National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. I got him one of the moose head eggnog cups from that movie. For the 1st time in 12 years I was finally able to surprise him with a gift.

Below: Adam got a snuggie too courtesy of my parents. Actually we all got one. Ava has a pink cammo one and I got a Razorback one, but I don't have a picture of us wearing ours.

Christmas Eve

2010-12-26T10:21:00.002-06:00

Christmas Eve we let the kids pick one present each to open. I kind of laughed when I saw the gift Andrew chose because I knew what was in it and I was afraid he would be disappointed. Boy was I wrong about that. I have never seen a kid so excited over getting a pair of slippers! They haven't left his feet ever since he opened the package.

Ava's reaction to her present was much much different. She opened her new bath toy which was a boat that plays music, motors around the tub and has a sprinkler that shoots water out of the front. She loved this toy while we were in the living room. She danced to the music and laughed constantly. However, when we put her in the tub with it, Ava's feelings changed. She screamed like someone was trying to kill her as soon as it started coming towards her and shooting out the water. It was hysterical! Adam had to sit next to the tub and keep the boat as far away from her as possible in order to keep her from screaming. Sadly I was too busy laughing to think to get the camera. I will try and get some pictures and video the next time we decide to put it in the tub with her.

After both kids were all bathed they got to put on their new Christmas PJs. Ava had Dora the Explorer and Andrew had How to Train Your Dragon.

Milk and cookies all ready for Santa

Our tree Christmas Eve.

Santa came!!

Adventures in decorating

2010-12-26T10:07:00.002-06:00

This year we finally got around to letting Andrew decorate a Gingerbread house. I have had the intentions of letting him do this in the past but for one reason or another we've never done it. So on Christmas Eve we broke out the kit, I mixed the icing and the two of us sat down to decorate. I opted to do the icing and Andrew put on all of the candies. He had a lot of fun deciding what color went where and telling me what he wanted on each side (windows, doors, etc). All in all I don't think we did a terrible job, especially for our first attempt. I am hoping to make this a tradition and in a few years Andrew and Ava can decorate together.

The finished product

This year I forgot to buy everything we needed to make sugar cookies so instead I picked up some slice and bake ones from Wal Mart. I also got a bag of green cookie icing so Andrew could decorate the cookies once they were cool. He did ask me to do a few of them (mainly the ones with writing). I didn't get a picture of the actual decorating process, but here is one of the finished products.

Going to see Santa

2010-12-26T09:50:00.002-06:00

This picture really says it all don't you think? The Wednesday before Christmas Adam and I took the kids to the mall to see Santa. Andrew went straight up there and started talking Santa's ear off about everything he wanted. I had a feeling Ava was not going to like Santa so we waited a few minutes to let Andrew finish before sitting her on Santa's lap. It took her all of about 10 seconds to freak clean out once we put her down. I do love how this picture came out though. It's such a classic picture.

After visiting Santa we went to Topeka to drive through their Winter Wonderland. It was a great little setup of lights and you could even buy 3-D glasses to look at the lights. Andrew of course loved every part of it. Adam and I weren't quite as impressed but I think that's because we are older. Of course before we went to see the lights we had to get dinner. We ate at Red Lobster (one of Andrew's favorite restaurants) for the first time in a long time and it was so good. Ava even started feeding herself with a fork there. We had to put the food on it for her but then she picked it up and put the fork in her mouth. I took a picture with my phone but I haven't figured out how to get it onto my computer yet. Maybe I'll figure that out one of these days.

All dressed up

2010-12-26T09:43:00.002-06:00

On December 10 Adam and I went to the IACH (Irwin Army Community Hospital) Annual Holiday Ball. This was the first military ball we've been able to attend in 5 years so I was excited to get all girled up for a change and go. We had a really good time and met some new people we are becoming friends with.

Above: At home before we left for the ball.

Below: After dinner waiting for the dancing to start

A Christmas Concert

2010-12-26T09:39:00.002-06:00

The first a second graders at Andrew's school had their Christmas concert on Dec 9. They sang about 8 song and did a really good job. Sadly I didn't get very many pictures primarily because people in front of me kept getting their heads in my way. Maybe at the next concert we'll get their earlier and find some closer seats.

The Toothfairy's 1st visit

2010-12-26T09:35:00.002-06:00

Andrew got his first loose tooth while we were in AR over Thanksgiving. It finally fell out about a week later while he was at school. He was so excited to show me when he got home that afternoon. It took 6 1/2 years to lose his first tooth, I wonder how long it will take to lose the second :-)

A time for Thanksgiving....and Remembering

2010-12-09T08:30:00.005-06:00

I know this is late, but there's just been soo much going on lately that I haven't had a chance to sit down and blog about Thanksgiving and the week before it. It is safe to say that our Thanksgiving did not end up to be what we had planned. Originally we were going to stay here at Ft Riley and celebrate the holiday with some friends and their kids. However, these plans changed the night of the 18th. We got a phone call letting us know that Mike, Adam's step dad, had passed away. Mike was diagnosed with throat cancer back in the summer, but had been doing really well with his treatment so his death came as a huge shock to everyone. Of course we immediately started making plans to travel to AR for the funeral. We got into Mountain Home Saturday afternoon and had several days before the service so we got to spend time with family which was nice. We were able to meet Adam's Grandma Billie's sisters and brother for the first time. They were great and I am so thankful they were there and willing to help me out with the kids. Entertaining the kids was a little challenging to do at Billie's house so she made a phone call and we were able to take them to play at the local youth center for a few hours. Andrew loved running around the gym playing kickball and basketball.

Ava carrying/kicking/pushing around the kickball

This is Kathy (Billie's youngest sister) teaching Andrew how to shoot a basketball

Grandma Billie and Ava waiting on our lunch at Hardees

Andrew and his Great-Grandma Billie

Of course Andrew just had to have a picture with his baby sister. Ava was not amused (we were several hours past nap time at this point)

After the service on Wednesday we drove 2hrs down to my parents house to spend a few days before heading back up to Mountain Home for the burial on Monday and then on to Kansas. While we were there the kids got to open a Christmas present from Nana and Pawpaw. They got Andrew a soccer goal (which they didn't want to mail so that's why it was opened early). He loves it! Ava got a dog called Jingle with a story book. Jingle barks and sings along with certain parts of the book. She really seems to like it as well, even if she won't sit still long enough to hear the story :-)

Andrew loving on his Nana

With his Pawpaw wearing the Hog hat. My dad has had that hat for as long as I can remember and Andrew loves playing with it.

Ava looking at a book with Nana

Andrew and Ava with their Great Grandmother (my dad's mom Frances)

On Friday my dad's family had their Thanksgiving at what is known as the "G" house. My 2 aunts live together and they are known by their grand kids as Granna and GiGi. It is always a fun time when this group gets together. We were missing a few people which is pretty common now that we're all grown (usually we are the ones missing). My youngest cousin Craig just recently moved to Virginia so he was missing and also my cousin Matthew along with his wife Beth and their son Brisco were home in Michigan for the holidays. We definitely missed having them with us. Hopefully we will all be able to get together again soon.

GiGi (in blue) and Granna (in white)...aka...Betty and Marilyn....carving the turkey.

Andrew, for once, sitting quietly on the couch playing a game

Sweet Eden and Lydia. These girls are only about 3 weeks apart in age and just adorable!

The girls convinced Adam to roll the ball with them. The odd contraption on wheels you see in the background is my cousin Brett. A few weeks earlier he tore his Achilles tendon while playing basketball. So now he gets to rest his leg on this thing while he wheels/walks around. Hopefully it won't be much longer before he can put weight on that leg again.

Andrew and the girls playing with blocks

Ava pretty much just walked all over the place checking things out. The "G" house has lots of pretties for her to look at.

Cousins playing

All and all it was a good visit to AR. Granted the reason we were visiting wasn't what anyone wanted, it was still nice to see everyone for the holiday. Not sure when we will make it back down there again, but hopefully it won't be too terribly long

Shutterfly Holiday Cards

2010-11-18T19:22:00.002-06:00

I have the most amazing deal on holiday cards! Shutterfly is offering 50 free holiday cards to anyone who blogs about it. Yes, that's right, I said free...F.R.E.E!! Who am I to pass up an offer like that? I personally love creating Holiday cards that include the kids picture. In my opinion it is better that printing a ton a pictures and putting them into the card (and it's cheaper). There are so many things I love about the holiday season and getting cards from all of our friends and family is one of them. I find it so interesting to see the different cards everyone chooses and I love reading the "family update letters" that come in a few of them. It is hard to believe that it's time to start thinking about Christmas and cards. Seems like just the other day school was starting and now Thanksgiving is just next week. The years just keep going by faster and faster. Why couldn't they go by this fast when we were younger? Anyways, if you haven't gotten your holiday cards yet you should seriously check out Shutterfly's selection. They have soo many to choose from and if you're a blogger be sure to create a blog about this deal so you can get your free cards. Hope everyone is having a great start to their holiday season!

Happy Halloween!

2010-11-04T21:59:00.005-05:00

First I have to start out saying that I am happy Halloween is over. It is always fun watching the kids dress up and trick or treat, but I'm ready to move on to my favorite holidays. Friday the 29th Andrew had his Halloween party at school. Our neighbors kept Ava for me so that I could go help out up at the school. It was a lot of fun watching Andrew and his other classmates.

Painting pumpkins

Playing pin the nose on the pumpkin

mmmmm.....cookies

Andrew had 2 costumes this year since he was not allowed to wear his original costume to school. Apparently Ninja's are too violent so he picked out this Astronaut costume.

Some of the boys in class

Saturday we went to a Trunk or Treat at our neighbors church. It was soo much fun! They had bounce houses, carnival games, food, a fire pit to make smores on and of course trunk or treating after dark. Andrew had a blast playing with 2 of his best friends (our neighbors) and we got enough candy that we didn't go out Sunday night during trick or treating hours on post. Before the trunk or treat I got pictures of both kids outside next to the pumpkins.

Ava...the sweetest witch there ever was :-)

My little ninja

Striking a ninja pose

Ava was on the move out there so I couldn't get a good picture of them together

Walking into the trunk or treat. I think Adam should wear that hat more often.

Andrew and his balloon hat

Headed to our first car.

All in all we had a great weekend and I look forward to next year when Ava will understand it more.

Bend it Like Beckham......well almost

2010-10-18T09:50:00.005-05:00

This fall Andrew is playing soccer for the first time. So far he seems to be doing pretty good and has shown improvement in each game. He is definately better at soccer than he was at t-ball and he is really enjoying it too. Here are a few pictures from 2 of Andrew's games. If you can't tell Andrew's team is wearing the white jerseys.

He and another player butted heads during a play

Apple Days

2010-09-20T21:43:00.005-05:00

Every September Fort Riley hosts Apple Days. It takes place on a Saturday from about 9am to 3pm and is open to the public. This was obviously our first year to attend and even though it was really really HOT we all had a good time. They had inflatable bounce houses, slides and one inflatable thing where the kids could hook themselves up to bungee cords and see how far they could pull themselves before snapping back. They also had tons of military stuff out for everyone to look at and get inside. There was even an area where you could shoot military rifles (with blanks of course), but we didn't do that. The line was just too long. You may be wondering why this event is called Apple Days since I haven't mentioned apples yet. Well they sell these amazing apple pies during this event only. Supposedly there is only 1 person who has the full recipe for these pies (the commanding general's wife) and different groups are in charge of making specific parts of the pie and then they are all combined in the end (so no one knows the exact recipe). I have no idea if this is true and we haven't even tried ours yet (we bought a frozen one) but from what I've been told I think we are going to wish we had bought more than 1 :-) Yes they are apparently THAT good. Here are some pictures from that day. I don't remember what all of the military vehicles are so I'll have to come back once Adam is home and have him tell me, yet again, so I can label them all.

Andrew showing off the spider he had painted on his head. Sadly it was soo hot and Andrew was soo sweaty that it didn't last but about 15min before it was wiped off.

Andrew in front of the Kiowa helicopter. The windows were all blacked out because it is apparently top secret stuff so you couldn't look inside.

In the turret of a humvee checking out the gun.

Sweet girl just hanging out. Maybe next year she can get on a few things.

Up in another turret checking out another gun.

Walking up to the M1A1 Abrams tank

Down inside the M1A1

The ammo used in the M1A1 tank

Going into the back of the M2A2 Bradley fighting vehicle

Inside the M2A2

Checking out all the controls and pretending to drive

Coming out the front hatch

Bounce house fun

Little Miss was getting hot and sweaty

Getting hooked up to the bungee cord

Pulling hard

And back he goes

Lets go Royals lets go!!

2010-09-20T14:04:00.005-05:00

On Friday night Adam and I took Andrew to his first major league baseball game. I don't know that I would consider either of the teams great (it was the Kansas City Royals vs the Cleveland Indians) but all in all it was a good night. The Indians won 10-4 and Andrew had a great time. We were lucky that our babysitter was willing to drive from Lawrence, KS where she goes to college (Univ of Kansas) to watch Ava for us. That's close to a 2hr drive. Here are some pictures from the game.

Andrew getting his face painted
Gotta show support for the home team

Kauffman Stadium has a great Kid Zone that Andrew got to play in before the game started

They had an area where kids can see how fast they run from home plate to 1st base

Practicing his pitching. They even had a radar to tell you how fast you throw.

In this area kids get several balls pitched to them and then are able to run the bases on a mini field.

Run Forrest Run!!! (Adam swears Andrew runs like Forrest Gump)

Showing off his souvenirs with the stadium behind him.

Andrew and Daddy hanging out before the game.

Me and my little man.

Every time a Royal hits a home run they shoot off fireworks. There were 2 Royal home runs that night.

The view from our seats.

Trying to catch one of the hot dogs that were being thrown to fans in between one of the innings.

He got one!!! Can you tell Andrew was super excited?

After every Friday night home game there is a fireworks display. Andrew loves watching fireworks so this was the perfect ending to a great night.

Of course we had to get a family picture once the game was over. I think this is something we will probably try to do with Andrew every summer. Next year the All-Star game is in Kansas City so we might have to try and get tickets to that game. I know Adam would LOVE it.

To the doctor we go

2010-08-30T20:34:00.002-05:00

Today was Ava's 1yr well baby check up and of course I didn't think to take the camera with me. As I'm sure you all are aware of, Little Miss Thing is perfectly perfect. She weighed in at 21.8lbs and is 30in long. The doctor said she is right where she needs to be in every way.

This is Ava right after we got home. She was in a really good mood despite having 4 shots, a finger stick and missing her morning nap.

Ava getting some Daddy lovin. Notice her hot pink bandage? This is what the lab did after her finger stick to keep the gauze on her finger. They don't like to put band aids on babies fingers because 1. it's hard to and 2. they become choking hazards. Soooo the used a lot of coban and wrapped her entire hand. It was so funny to see her trying to figure it out.

Sweet little lady bug turns 1

2010-08-26T22:44:00.005-05:00

Where oh where has the past year gone? I cannot believe my little girl is 1! It seems like just yesterday that my sweet Ava was born and now she is almost walking. We are soo lucky to have some good friends here at Ft Riley to help us celebrate her birthday. I found it very funny that of all the kids who were at Ava's party (there were about 10 I think) only 1, other than Ava, was a girl. The rest were all boys about Andrew's age or a little older. Gotta love living in a neighborhood full of boys. Thankfully they were good sports about attending a little girl's party.

Ava's personal birthday cake. A lady my neighbor goes to church with made the cakes and she did a great job. We were soo pleased with her work.

the cake everyone else ate

Andrew was not thrilled I was taking his picture. I'm lucky I snapped it before he ran

little girl got lots of presents

Our carport partially decorated. I forgot we had balloons in the house until the party was almost over. The sad part about that is I had just picked them up that morning from having helium put in them. Guess I'm loosing my mind.

I LOVE the look Ava is giving her brother in this picture. She looks very irritated that he is helping her open gifts.

such a pretty girl

check out all her loot :-)

The bag says it all

The boys were such good sports. I told them they all had to put on the lady bug party hats if they wanted cake. Surprisingly no one complained. However I'm a little disappointed that I managed to get a group picture without the birthday girl. Oh well

Wearing her party hat...but not for long

Daddy and Andrew singing Happy Birthday. The wind blew her candle out before anyone else could

Tasting the frosting on her cake

Now we're getting into it

Haley is such a cutie! She was the only other girl at the party but had no problems playing and keeping up with the boys

Some of the boys eating their cake and ice cream

Adam and our neighbor Jeremy serving the cake and ice cream

Jeremy decided to share his ice cream with Ava. I'm pretty sure she liked it

Sweet birthday girl in the dress my Grandmother made for her

Our neighbor Jackie (Jeremy's wife) helping Ava play with one of her new toys

Adam decided to take a break from all the party fun

All in all it was a great day and I am amazed at how much my little girl has grown. Before we know it she will be starting school and I'll wonder where all the years have gone (just like I do now with Andrew). So here is to another fabulous year with the sweetest little girl I know. Happy Birthday Ava my love!!!

First day of 1st Grade

2010-08-26T22:41:00.001-05:00

Yep...that's right...Andrew is now in the 1st grade. So hard to believe my little boy isn't soo little anymore.

7 greats all in a row

2010-08-23T14:00:00.002-05:00

While in Searcy we were able to get all of the great grandkids on my father's side together for a picture. Not sure when this will happen again (or if there will be more additions between now and then).

In order from left to right: Ava, Andrew, Lydia, Caroline, Brisco, Mary Evelyn and Eden

Family Ties

2010-08-22T16:17:00.007-05:00

After a few days we left Mtn Home and headed down to Searcy to see my family. Along the way we stopped at Blanchard Springs Caverns and took Andrew on the cave tour. He seemed to really like it, but all Ava wanted to do was get down and crawl everywhere. While we were in Searcy we had a little family reunion/birthday party. The only person missing was my cousin Craig who was off in Virginia trying to get a job and everything set up before he moved. We had a great time and I was sorry he couldn't be there with the rest of us.

Family picture infront of the spring that formed Blanchard Springs Caverns. That water was soooo cold!

Andrew posing with the preying mantis he found in my parent's back yard

My Grandmother with Ava and sweet Brisco. He is the newest member of our family, born in April to my cousin Matt and his wife Beth.

Ava playing in the floor with Beth. Wish we were able to see them more often (they live in Michigan)

Ava playing with blocks one morning in the sunroom

My Grandmother and Ava

Nana with her sweet girl

Matt and Brisco

sweet cousins...Mary Evelyn and Eden

more cousins...Caroline and Andrew

We were in AR a few weeks before Ava's 1st birthday so we had a little party for her

Andrew and Caroline helping open presents

The party was mainly for Ava but my name and Matt's name were put on the cake too. We all have August birthdays.

Eating her 1st birthday cake

Getting ready to drop some in the floor

And she dropped it

Mary Evelyn and Andrew

Checking out her new puzzle

My cousin Sarah and her sweet girl Lydia. Lydia wouldn't let me take a picture of her so her momma had to contain her for me :-)

A fishing we will go.....

2010-08-22T15:52:00.003-05:00

The first of August we headed down to AR to visit with family one more time before Andrew started school. Our first stop was Mtn Home to see Adam's family. While we were there the boys did some fishing and we went to the lake. I think it is safe to say that everyone had a great time while we were there. A huge thanks to our dear friends the Camps for letting us stay with them!!

showing off the "bait" they caught

Ava did not love the heat. It was 100+ degrees the entire time we were in AR

swimming in Lake Norfork with Grandma Vickie

Calhan (my friend Landrey's son) trying to kiss Ava

Landrey and I have been friends since high school

Yes....that's right....THIS is my husband

2010-08-17T19:35:00.000-05:00

How do you learn how to ride a bike??

2010-08-17T19:14:00.002-05:00

That is an interesting question. Everyone has their own way to teach a child how to ride a 2 wheeler. We started out trying to teach Andrew using the "original" way at the beginning of the summer. Adam took off the training wheels and they went up and down the sidewalk over and over again. Sadly it didn't get Andrew any closer to riding his bike without the training wheels. When Adam put the training wheels back on he canted them up higher than they were supposed to be. This gave Andrew the support if he started to fall, but they weren't being used when he was actually riding. After about a month or so the training wheels were bent really high up (from Andrew's weight sitting on them) and were really no use at all. After his final day of swim lessons Andrew came home and announced that he was ready to take off the training wheels. Adam helped him take off one wheel and Andrew rode for a little while like that. Then he came over, grabbed the wrench and started taking off his second training wheel. The boy has never looked back! It amazes me how well Andrew can adapt to something new when he decides he is ready for it.

taking off the 2nd training wheel

look at him go!!

he's such a big boy

riding on the new "big kid" bike we got him

Once he got fairly good at riding his little bike we went and bought Andrew a new bigger bike (his knees were almost hitting the handle bars on the old one). He was sooo proud and couldn't wait to get home and ride it.

Water Park Fun!!

2010-08-17T10:28:00.004-05:00

There are several water parks in this area of Kansas and this summer we checked out 2 of them. The first one was Schlitterbahn in Kansas City. We went with some friends of ours to celebrate their son David's birthday. It was a lot of fun and the kids really seemed to enjoy it. The second water park we have been to twice and it has become our favorite. It is called Kenwood Cove in Salina, KS. The city of Salina turned their city pool into a water park, but kept the city pool prices. It is sooo nice and we can't wait to spend even more time their next summer! Here are pictures from all 3 trips to the different parks.

SCHLITTERBAHN

KENWOOD COVE

Andrew and our neighbor Lucas playing with Ava in the baby water swing

Swimming Lessons

2010-08-17T08:39:00.003-05:00

This summer we were finally able to put Andrew into swimming lessons. This is something I have wanted to do for a while now but never had the time/opportunity. We were really lucky because he ended up having a great lifeguard as the teacher. In fact she's become our new babysitter :-) The lessons were for 2 weeks and it was a rough 2 weeks. Andrew did great with everything except going under water. He screamed like someone was trying to kill him whenever going under was mentioned. Becca (the lifeguard) would take him under even while screaming. It was kind of funny (yes I realize that probably makes me a bad mom). Finally on the last day he put his head under and he's been doing it ever since. You might wonder what finally motivated him to go under water. On the last day Adam was able to come and watch lessons. He told Andrew that is he went under water on his own, Adam would throw me into the pool. Thankfully I never went into the water :-)

lining up to get into the pool

waiting his turn and looking a little nervous

going under

not happy about it....ha ha

practicing his kicks

doing windmills

just keep swimming

jumping in

having fun

back float

Long Hiatus

2010-08-15T21:03:00.004-05:00

Ok so I know it's been forever since I blogged and I have a very good reason for it. Ever since we moved to Kansas in April I have been having issues with my laptop. Because of these issues it spent lots of time with the nice people at Best Buy. Finally after 4 repairs they agreed to junk it and give me a new one a short 2 weeks before my warranty expired. Now that I have a new issue free computer I am going to try and catch up on my blogging. We have had a busy summer and I have lots to post about. Hopefully I will get it all caught up in a day or two because tomorrow is Andrew's 1st day of 1st grade and that is something I definitely want to blog about. So if anyone is still reading this thanks so much for sticking around. I hope to be a better blogger from here on out

Andrew's 1st T-ball game

2010-06-21T22:15:00.002-05:00

I love t-ball!! That's all I have to say about it. Those kids are so stinkin cute!!

SCORE!!!!!

Great weekend with an old friend

2010-06-21T21:37:00.005-05:00

The weekend after Andrew's birthday we had an old Army friend and his son come stay with us. Adam first met Neville in basic training back in 2003. Thanks to the Army we haven't seen him much over the last 7 years. Actually I hadn't seen him since May 2003, but Adam was able to spend some time with him in 2008 while he went to a school in San Antonio, TX. It was so great to be able to catch up with Nev and to see how big his son Chase has gotten (Chase was 3 months old when we saw him last). We had a wonderful weekend and even went out to see some old tanks Fort Riley has on display on a hill...errrr......mountain.

Andrew and Chase
pretending to sleep

a train you can climb on at a playground here on Ft Riley

future conductors??

sweet Ava just hanging out in the hot weather

Chase showing off his monkey skills

Andrew's turn

Adam, Andrew and Chase taking a break at the playground

Chase and Andrew sitting on a 155mm Howitzer

going up the hill to the Atomic Cannon

all the boys (and part of Ava's head) by another "big gun"

taking a break after the long walk up

looking over Ft Riley from the top of the hill

Andrew and Nev sitting on the Atomic Cannon

Adam, Andrew and Nev on the cannon

sweet boys

me next to the cannon with Ft Riley in the background

Our little family minus Ava. We didn't think she needed to be up there :-)

Adam being Adam and laying on the Atomic Cannon

a full shot of the Atomic Cannon. This picture doesn't do it any justice. This thing was HUGE!!

Poor Ava trying to endure the heat

on our way back down. Can you tell how steep the hill was??

Happy 6th Birthday Andrew!!

2010-06-18T08:26:00.002-05:00

Wow...I cannot believe my little man is 6 years old! Time sure has flown by. He has officially finished Kindergarten and is going to be in 1st grade this fall. That just doesn't seem right. This year Andrew's birthday fell on a Friday so I decided to take cupcakes for his class snack time. I forgot to take my camera with me to the school so I no pictures of him with his class :-( I did think to snap a picture of the cupcakes before I left the house to take them to school. That evening we had our friends Brad, Catharine and Noah come over to help celebrate. We are so lucky to have these friends here in Kansas. They were our neighbors when we lived on Fort Drum so we've known them for a while now.

peeking in the opening of the box to see Andrew's cupcakes

opening presents that night

Noah was watching and helping hand Andrew his presents to open

He really loves his books

crazy boys

showing off his new game Ladder Ball

I just love this shirt

Andrew's Scooby Doo cake

blowing out the candles

Branson, MO

2010-06-17T22:30:00.005-05:00

On May 7 we met my parents in Branson for a little family weekend. Since it was the week before Andrew's birthday my parents brought their gifts to him and we had a mini party our first night there. Let me start off by saying my parents picked an amazing place to stay. It was a 2 bedroom suite with 2 full baths, a living room, dining area, fully stocked kitchen (not with food but with cookware, plates...etc) and a sun porch. If I remember correctly it was called the Lodge at Fall Creek. I would highly recommend staying here!

Looking from the dining area into the living room. The front door is behind Adam and behind the gold curtains is a sliding glass door leading to the sun porch.
the kitchen/dining area

one of the 2 bathrooms. They were both identical with a jacuzzi tub in each :-)

Andrew getting ready to open presents. In case you're wondering my Mom ran out of b-day bags so a few of his gifts were in Christmas bags (Andrew didn't seem to care)

Adam helping read the card

sweet Ava quietly watching her brother open gifts

Nana and Pawpaw got some major bonus points with this present. Andrew loves his scooter!

showing off how to stand on it

Andrew shared a cake with his Pawpaw since their birthdays are only a week apart.

On Saturday morning we got up and headed to Silver Dollar City. I haven't been since I was a little kid and Andrew had never been so we were all looking forward to the day. The day started out great. While waiting in line for tickets to get in we had a nice family offer to give us their visitor passes that were about to expire. This allowed us to get in for free. I am all about getting things for free! Of course we offered to buy them lunch or something to show our appreciation but they refused. We had no idea how grateful we would be for these free passes a few hours later. We walked around for a while and then Andrew rode a few rides. Everything was going great! Both kids were in a good mood and things seemed to be going well. After the rides it was lunch time so we stopped to eat before continuing our trip through the park. I was so excited to see a place that sold big pickles. You know the ones you get at ball games and such. Andrew LOVES pickles but had never seen one that big before so of course I had to get it for him at lunch. Now I feel it is time to mention just how bad Andrew's allergies have been since we moved to KS. He is on 2 different meds daily to help combat allergies. Something in MO did not like my poor boy. His allergies were kicking his tail this day and as lunch was ending we found out just how bad. As we were finishing up eating Andrew started to complain about not feeling well. Adam and I both assumed that was his way of not wanting to finish his food (he uses that excuse rather often). We both played him off and told him to finish eating when all of a sudden he went white and got sick everywhere. It was not pleasant to look at or smell :-) We tried to continue through the park because I knew it was just drainage from his allergies causing it, but he got sick 2 more times in about 45 min so we decided to leave. We got back to the suite and he took a nap. When he woke up the boy was as good as new which further proved the allergy drainage theory. Despite this is was a good weekend. We are hoping to go back again sometime soon and try the park again, especially since it's such a short drive.

watching the glass blower

on the roller coaster in the little kid section of the park. Andrew and Adam are in the 3rd car

Andrew and I waiting on our ride to start

on the teacups

taking his scooter out for a spin later that evening

The outside of our building. We are the door just above the bushes

This shows the sun rooms. We were on the 2nd floor

22 days in a hotel

2010-06-17T22:05:00.002-05:00

We arrived at Fort Riley, KS on April 7 and checked into our hotel on post for a rather extended stay. Now when I say hotel I am using that word loosely. This "hotel" is more like semi renovated old barracks. There were 2 rooms: a living area with table, couch and television along with the bedroom which had 2 full size beds with a dresser and another television. (Of course there was also a small bathroom). This wasn't my idea of a "great" place to stay for 3 weeks but considering what we paid it was good enough. We made due the best we good and bought a small crock pot to cook meals in so we weren't eating out all the time and of course I had to get a tea maker so I could feed my addiction of sweet tea :-) Our 1st full day here we went up to the housing office to see exactly how long it would be before we were offered a house. Ugh.....3 weeks! That is a VERY long time to be stuck in a hotel with 2 kids. However the housing office was very nice and helpful. They were able to give us the address of the house we would be given, the school Andrew would be attending and also a map of post so we could start finding our way around. The second day we got Andrew enrolled into school and he started back to kindergarten the following Monday (which was a life saver for both of us). There were many ups and downs during our stay at the hotel. The biggest down was probably the 3 straight days they tested fire alarms. That did not make for a happy Ava or a happy Mom. All in all we survived it and have some funny stories. Here are a few pictures from our "hotel time"

Andrew and Ava posing on the couch in the hotel. Isn't it beautiful :-)

push up contest!

It took a lot to keep Andrew occupied in that small space

ahhhh....One of the many play grounds on post. We went several time during our hotel stay to let Andrew burn off some energy.

Sweet baby girl. Such a good baby and amazing traveler!

So far we are really liking it here in Kansas. One of our neighbors from Fort Drum is also stationed here now so it's nice to have familiar people around. We are also lucky enough to have a great neighbor here at Fort Riley too. Andrew has lots of boys his age to play with around the house so it's never dull. Ava is doing great and is finally crawling. She is a little firecracker though and very attention needy (must be a girl thing). I am doing well and have made several new friends which is always nice. Adam is hanging in there. This job isn't like anything he has ever done before and sometimes it's hard on him. He is in more of an admin position now and even though he's working in an ER he isn't really doing anything medical. Lots of paper work and stuff like that which he hates. I am hoping he adjusts and things get better in the near future for him.

Ava's photo shoot

2010-04-22T14:36:00.001-05:00

Outdoor fun at Nana and Pawpaw's house

2010-04-22T14:25:00.003-05:00

playing hopscotch

taking a nap in her swing

nothing better than jumping across the stumps

trying out his new flier disks

completely worn out

pushing his baby sister

Easter

2010-04-21T13:27:00.004-05:00

This was the 1st year we dyed eggs with Andrew and he LOVED it!

All of us joined in on the fun

showing off some of his finished work

Daddy dyed eggs too

the Easter Bunny came!!

Ava checking out her basket

soo excited

My handsome boy all dressed up and ready for church.

Pretty girl in her Easter dress with a flower in her hair.

sweet kids

Happy Easter!!!

hunting for eggs

The Little Rock Zoo, Chuck E Cheese and Andrew's present

2010-04-21T13:09:00.003-05:00

One Thursday before we left Searcy my parents took off work and we all went to the Little Rock Zoo and Chuck E Cheese. It was a long tiring day but I'm pretty sure everyone had fun (I know Andrew did).

sweet Ava saying hello

such a silly boy

checking out the giraffe. He has developed a love of giraffes recently so this was his favorite part of the zoo.

family picture in front of the waterfall

Nana and Ava at Chuck E Cheese

He's such a serious ski baller :-)

riding a horse

Ava and my grandmother (her great grandmother)

Andrew got an early birthday gift from us. A compound bow. He was so excited to shoot it and to eventually go hunting with his daddy.

Showing off his bulls-eye

Ava modeling the dress my grandmother made her

Sadly this is the 1st picture I have of Ava in the bath tub. Not sure how I managed to go 7 months and never take one, but I did.

Traveling and Mtn Home

2010-04-17T08:53:00.003-05:00

We left VA on Friday morning and headed to Searcy. It was about a 15hr drive so we planned on stopping in TN Friday night and finishing the trip on Saturday. Fortunately we made good time so we were able to stop somewhere just west of Knoxville, TN (I don't remember the name of the town). We ate at an amazing Mexican restaurant and then went back to the hotel to play in the pool for a little while. The water was so warm it was almost like taking a bath so it was perfect to let Ava get in a play a little too. We all had a good time and it was nice for Andrew to burn off some energy after being in the car all day.

Ava's 1st time in a swimming pool

Andrew showing how he can go under water (yes his goggles are on upside down)

practicing how to swim

We got to Searcy on Saturday afternoon. My grandmother and great aunt came over but I didn't manage to get any pictures that night. We spent Sunday resting and then got up early Monday morning and headed up to Mtn Home, AR to see Adam's family. It had been a while since we had seen his family because of the deployment and what not. It was great being able to see everyone and for them to meet Ava and see how big Andrew has gotten.

Ava with her great Grandma Billie

Andrew and his cousin Sydnee at Billie's house

Andrew and Sydnee helping Grandma Billie feed the birds

playing at a local park

Daddy and Ava going down the slide

Miss Ava's 1st time in a swing

she LOVES swinging

Adam and the kids with his mom Vickie

Adam and the kids with his dad Lawrence (Ava was in desperate need of a nap at this point)

All and all it was a great trip to Mtn Home. We were able to stay with some great friends that I grew up with but I managed not to get any pictures :-( I don't think they will ever know just how much we appreciated being able to stay with them and we look forward to seeing them and everyone else again the next time we come down.