Ava: 5 Months Old!

This sweet, happy girl is 5 months old!  Goodness gracious, that smile makes us SO happy!:)

Ava, here's what you are up to this month:

• Not sure about your stats this month!  It seems like you are starting to slow down a bit, but you are definitely still growing!:)
• You are wearing mostly 3-6 month or 6 month clothes.  I have been buying some 9 month things for summer so that they will last all season.  They are a little big, but you will grow quickly I know!
• You are wearing size 2 diapers.  I think you will be moving to size 3 soon!
• You nurse every 3 hours during the day usually.  You seem to have hit a little growth spurt in the last few days where you are acting hungry every 1 1/2 to 2 hours.  When you want to eat, you arch your back SO hard towards me and you will not give up easily.  When you're hungry, you are hungry!:)  You still drink 4 ounces of breastmilk in a bottle at bedtime.
• You sleep from 8pm-8(ish)am every night.  Your nap schedule doesn't seem to be much of a schedule yet.  You are pretty willing to nap in your carseat so we take advantage of the freedom to go as we can.  If we are at home, you have been napping for about 45 minutes each at 9 and 11am.  Then you will sleep for 1 1/2-2 hours in the afternoon.  You will sometimes take another 45 minute nap in the early evening. 
• You still take a binky and suck your thumb.  You seem to prefer your binky during the day and suck your thumb mostly when you are sleeping.
• You are starting to get anxious to be able to sit up on your own.  You like to be able to see what's going on so you aren't too keen on laying down all the time.  Your little ab muscles have some work to do though.  If you're using the boppy pillow, you can sit for a little while and then you are collapsed over the top of your own legs!:)
• You do not love your exersaucer, but you are starting tolerate it a little more each day.  You still play with your activity mat some.  Your favorite "toy" is your sister!  You love to watch her.  I will hear you laughing at her and she isn't even doing anything!  I hope you always have a special bond with your sissy.
• You want to put everything in your mouth!  I think you will be happy when we try some solid food next month.
• We have started to come to the conclusion that you are just not very into rolling over.  You have done it a few times from your belly to your back and one time from your back to your belly.  You are just content to be wherever we put you...or you cry until someone feels sorry for you.:)  It is so interesting to see how different you are than your big sis!  She was on the move from the day she was born almost and you are just so much more laid back and relaxed.
• Baths are still a questionable activity for you.  You cry more often than not.  I think that will change when you can sit up on your own!
• Your hair is the most beautiful shade of light red.  I love it so much!
• You are a very happy baby.  People always comment on how content you are!  We are so thankful for that!:)
• I joke that you will probably grow up thinking that your name is Sissy.:)  We call you that a lot, along with Ave and Avey.  Of course, Mama calls you sweet petunia, petunia pig, punky, and kitty cat.  Dada likes to call you Avey-wavey-little-baby.:)

Precious girl, you have become an irreplaceable member of our family in such a short time!  You bring a calmness and sweetness to our home that we cherish every day.  We love you so so SO much!!!

Easter, Part 2

Here are some more photos from our Easter festivities...

We spent Palm Sunday at Great Grandma Barkley's house!  The girls spent time rocking each other in the rocking chair...

...and laughing at themselves in the mirror!:)
 
Ava got to participate in her very first egg hunt!  Sure, she just walked with Mama while Lex found her eggs, but whatever.:)
 
Daddy and Lex were all ready to get started!
 
They found one!  Alexis LOVED looking for eggs!  She kept running around saying "PURPLE!  PURPLE!":)

One of Avey's eggs.:)

Our fam!  It's hard to believe that 2 years ago Bryan and I took a photo in this exact same spot with no children!!
 
We also got to have a special Easter story time at the library!  Daddy came from work so that he could be there when the girls met the Easter bunny for the first time.

It was really nice because there weren't that many people there so we didn't have to wait long!
 
Ava seemed happy to see the bunny!
 
Alexis was not a fan!  There was no way we were going to get her to sit on his lap by herself.  We settled for a family photo instead!:)
 
At Jefferson Pointe, they had a fun Easter activity day for kids.  Ava hung out in her stroller and thought it was great!
 
They had lots of bunnies and chicks to pet.  Alexis loved it!  It was a fun, free way to spend an afternoon!
 
Our family on Easter Sunday! 

This was the best picture I got of my girls in their sweet white dresses.:)
 
Ava was hamming it up!:)
 
All five cousins!
 
Daddy and Avey!
 
Alexis was loving the egg hunts!
 
Ava was happy to just chew on her eggs.:)  We had an awesome holiday!

Easter, Part 1

On Sunday, we celebrated Ava's first Easter! 

The Easter bunny paid a quick visit to our house.:)

The girls were excited to find goodies when they came downstairs for breakfast!

My big girl bunny...

...and my little girl bunny!:)  They got some candy, a VeggieTales DVD, some new CDs for the car, some bunny ears, and some other random things.

Brody and Alexis at church!  They looked so stinking cute!  It looks like a little preview of their wedding day.;)  Waaaaaaahhhhhh!!!

We went to Mom and Dad's for lunch after church.  Daddy and Ava were all ready for the Easter egg hunt!

Zaya baby and Avey baby...our little twins!:)  More pics to come...

Lex's 2nd Birthday!

Our oldest girl is very much like her mama in the fact that she seems to cherish quality time with her peeps!  So, Daddy took the day off on her birthday and we spent the day together celebrating her life! 

We started the day with family snuggles...the best part of any day!:)

Then, we had a fun birthday breakfast complete with donuts topped with M&Ms...Daddy did a darn good job of "making" breakfast!:)

The birthday girl was quite pleased, I think.:)

Grandma agreed to keep Ava for part of the day so that we could spend some one-on-one time with Alexis.  We headed to Chuck E Cheese for some fun! 

She loved playing skee-ball!  Really, she just kinda threw the balls in the direction of the holes.:)  I love that game, too!

It was a great time to go!  There were hardly any other customers there so we had the run of the place. 

We spent lots of time in the (free!) tunnel/climbing system!

I loved having time with just Lex.  I've been missing that since our sweet Avey joined us!  I love to see each of their sweet personalities more clearly when I have the chance to focus on them individually.

Alexis had so much fun trying out the different rides.  She thought this horse was pretty cool!

She wasn't such a fan of Chuck E. Cheese himself!:)  She kept a tight hold on Daddy any time that Mouse was around.

After we left Chuck E. Cheese, we went to the mall to eat lunch and ride on the carousel.

This girl loves the carousel!!!

We decided to take her to Payless and let her try on shoes for fun.  She is really into shoes lately and loves to show them off.  I figured that we would buy her one new pair.  I forgot that Daddy would be with us...she ended up with three new pairs!:)  He loves to spoil his girls.

We stopped at the cookie shop for an M&M cookie (of course).  We also picked out a new ball at Toys R Us!  It was a great day spending time with our 2 year old.  She makes us laugh every single day!:)

Alexis: 2 Years Old!

*A little disclaimer...this post was actually written  in June when you were almost 2 years and 2 months old.  Things were pretty busy around your birthday and I didn't get around to doing your post then.  Better late than never, right?:)*

Alexis Campbell Hall is 2 years old!  I can't even believe it...my baby is growing up!

Here's what you are up to these days:

• At your 2 year well-check, you weighed 27.5 pounds, which put you between the 50th and 75th percentile.  You were (very) approximately 34 1/4 inches tall, which put you in the 75th percentile for height.  You were reeeeeeally uncooperative when being measured though so I am not sure how accurate that is.:)
• You are wearing mostly size 2T clothes.  I usually buy you a 3T top if I buy separates because they fit fine and will hopefully last for a while!  You wear a size 7 shoe.  You wear a size 4 diaper.
• You sleep so well at night!  You usually go to bed around 8:30 and sleep until 7:30 or so.  Our summer schedule has been MUCH more laid back though and you often don't get to bed until 9 or 10.  You are so flexible and are almost always up for staying up late!  Lately you have been sleeping in until 8:30 or so. 
• Up until just a week or two ago, you were consistently taking a morning and afternoon nap.  You would sleep for about an hour and a half in the morning and about the same in the afternoon.  Now that we are in the swing of summer, you have been getting up later so I haven't been putting you down in the morning.  You are really so good at going with whatever I decide to do with your sleep schedule!
• You eat oatmeal mixed with baby food for breakfast almost every day.  You love it and eat it so well so we are happily getting veggies in you any way we can!:)  You eat very randomly for lunch and supper.  You have certain foods that you almost always eat and beyond that it is just a guessing game.  It is not uncommon for you to eat practically nothing.  Some things you love are: milk, cheese, yogurt, sausage links, bananas, mandarin oranges, grapes, pears, peaches, fish sticks, popcorn shrimp, spaghetti, bread, pizza, pretzels, goldfish, cereal, applesauce, peanut butter and jelly, popcorn, and chicken strips.  You do NOT like macaroni and cheese or hot dogs...what kind of kid are you, anyway?!:)
• You still love Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.  You also love Doc McStuffins, VeggieTales (Bob), LeapFrog Letter Factory (Frog), and Frozen (Snow-ma).  You are a tv girl!
• Your vocabulary is really starting to take off!  When you turned 2 in April, you only said about 50 words and we were just a teensy bit concerned.  But since then, you have started trying out different words a lot and you can say tons of things now!  Some words are only intelligible by us, but you get your point across!  I love being able to have "conversations" with you.:)
• You love to read!  You will get a book and flip through it by yourself or you will bring it to one of us and ask us to "sit."  Your favorites right now are Pete the Cat, your Eric Carle animal book, and your 100 First Words picture book.  You have so many more that you love to read, too.  That makes Mama so happy!
• You L-O-V-E to be outside!  Your favorite things are swimming, swinging, sliding, running, playing with balls, writing with sidewalk chalk, blowing bubbles, and finding bugs.  When we are inside, you like to read, watch shows, color, play with Sissy, and do puzzles. 
• You have lots of friends!  You love your cousins so much!  You call Peyton "P or Pete" right now and it's so stinking cute.:)  He doesn't like it when you call him "P!"  Your friends at church are Brody and Tucker, Hadley and Jocelyn, Emerson, Tanna, and Reid.  Your friends from story time are Claire and Addy and Forrest and Walker.  You really love Ella and Maggi right now too!  You love when they are outside to play with you! 
• You are a bundle of energy!  You have a zest for life that is hard to match.  You can be the definition of terrible 2's at times, complete with tantrums and defiance.:)  But you can also be the sweetest, happiest girl, too.   

To our Lex,

Goodness.  How is it that we have already experienced two years of your life?  They have been two of the best and hardest years we have ever had.  Parenting is certainly not easy, but you bring so much joy and life to each day!  Your energy and spunk are going to be assets to you in your life.  Even if they get you in trouble sometimes now.:)  We pray every day for you to grow up healthy and strong.  We pray that you will always look to Jesus for comfort and salvation, sweet girl.  Being your parents is the best gift we could have been given and we will treasure you always!  We love you!!!

Mama and Daddy:)

Lex’s Clubhouse!

We had such a fun time celebrating Lex’s birthday with our family!  We invited everyone to Mom and Dad’s house to enjoy some Mickey/Minnie fun!

It was a no-brainer that we would have a Clubhouse-themed party since Alexis loooooooves Minnie and all of her friends.  I wanted to include all of the characters from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, but keep it girly at the same time.  I found this darling invitation on Etsy and knew that it was perfect!:) 

The birthday girl and her sissy were all dressed in Minnie Mouse clothes and ready for the party!

We had a fun food buffet complete with all of the characters’ favs: Mickey’s Hot Diggity Dogs, Minnie’s Bowtie Pasta Salad, Donald’s Cheese and Quackers, Daisy’s Rainbow Fruit, Goofy’s Corny Chips, and Pluto’s Puppy Chow. 

I had tons of fun shopping for the goody bags!  I found these darling buckets with shovels that were perfect since our beach vacation is right around the corner.  Party City had tons of inexpensive Mickey and Minnie trinkets that were fun for the kids!

The sweets table! 

We had Ingrid’s delicious mints and Minnie Mouse cutout cookies.

Ingrid also made this yummy Clubhouse cake and strawberry cupcakes.  Each of the cupcakes had a topper with a Clubhouse character on it so it looked like they were hanging out at the clubhouse!:)

Of course, we had Minnie and Mickey ears for all of the guests to wear!

My super talented friend Erin made these party hats to look like Pluto, Daisy, Mickey, Minnie, Donald, and Goofy!  They were so stinking cute!

The eating area that we ended up not really using because the weather was absolutely perfect!  We ended up being outside most of the time!

We got this backdrop for cheap from Party City and Lex loved the oversized pictures of all of her favorite characters!

Our family! 

Opening presents!  She was very spoiled by our family.
 
Grammy and Ave, Aunt Michele and Lill, Grandpa, Uncle PJ and Aunt Rachel
 
Our girl on her new bike!  She hasn’t quite figured out how to pedal yet, but she’s going to get it soon!
 
Blowing out the candles on her birthday cake!
 
The birthday girl loved her cake!   We had the best time celebrating Lex’s 2nd birthday!!