My Helper

Ava is loving this whole new baby sister thing. She just can't get enough of Ily. At times it is so darn cute and other times I get a little frustrated and need to tell Ava to give Ily some space. With all of her need to help and hold Ily I have been wondering how long it would be that Ava would find the need to carry Ily some where. Well I don't need to wonder any more because it happened. Day 10 is when Ava decided that while I went to throw away a poopy diaper that she should get off of my bed with Ily in her arms and put her in her cradle. I walked into the room just as she was about to put her in the cradle. As I quickly went to Ava's side I calmly asked what she was doing. Her response was "Ily's sleeping so I am putting her down for a nap." I then helped her get Ily in the cradle and reminded Ava that she is not allowed to carry Ily even when she was needing a nap. She of course disagreed with me. But I explained that carrying a baby is an adults job!

Once upon a time...

The other morning while all the boys in our family where still asleep Ava, Ily, and I where awake and were snuggling in our bed. At Ava's request I made up a story for her and Ily to listen to. Not just any story though, this one was about a girl named Princess, her sister Tinkerbell, their Mama and a trip to Little Boy Resort!

Little Boy Resort

We spent the day at Little Boy Resort on Friday. It was a perfect day to be at the lake! We spent our day visiting with our friends and family, playing at the beach, feeding the baby ducks, going on paddle boat/water bike/kayak rides, fishing, and made several laps around the resort with our bikes and stroller. Or should I say Luke and the 3 older kids did all of these things. I mostly just watched and took pictures of all the activities. As for Ily she pretty much slept the whole time we were there. We had a great time and as usual we didn't want to leave. It doesn't seem to matter if we spend one day or a whole week at Little Boy Resort it is never long enough and we all want to stay longer.

Thank you Troy, Nancy, Dillon, and Jordan for letting us come and hang out with you for the day!

ILY

It's My Turn!

Ily is one popular baby at our house! Everyone wants to hold, look, kiss, and hug her. At times it gets a little over whelming for me but Ily doesn't seem to mind. She loves being held! We even have to set a timer for Owen and Ava so they know who's turn it is. I hear lots of it's my turn now. You have had her a long time. The timer rang. Is it my turn yet? The timer didn't ring yet. I want to hold Ily. Can you bring her to me Mama? I just wonder how long her popularity will last. Ava seems to have her the most. She is quite the Mommies helper. She is either holding her or right by her side most of the day. Ezra has really proven me wrong. I thought we would have lots of problems with him not wanting me to hold her. But, so far it has been going really good. He likes to sit by her, tickle her, and help me burp her. Some of his touches are a little rough but not on purpose. Over all things are going great. Everyone is adjusting extremely well to our growing family. We love our baby Ily!

B is for Baby and...

I is for Ily.

Our baby girl is finally here!

We are so excited to have her in our family!

On Saturday June 18th our little "Tinkerbell" was born!

Weighing in at 6 pounds 8 ounces.

Measuring seventeen and a half inches long.

Our precious little girls name is Ily Annette.

(Ily sounds like eye Lee)

Bikes

As promised pictures of the kids riding their bikes on our new concrete driveway!

The Alligator

I had my 39 week check up this morning and all went well. I had Ava and Ezra with me and as we walked into the clinic Ava asked me "Can I push the button for the Alligator?" Trying not to laugh at her I said "you mean the elevator!"

Conversations with Owen and Ava

This morning at breakfast Owen told me that he is not going to run a business when he is a Dad. I said "what are you going to do then?" He said "My wife is going to run the business and I am going to watch our kids." I said "that sounds like a good plan." He said "yeah, and I am going to take them to the Library whenever they want to check out Lego books."

Ava is really excited about having a baby sister. She likes to give "her baby/my tummy" hugs and kisses. She also likes to tickle the baby, feel her kick and squirm and talk to her. She asks me lots of questions about the baby as well. She still calls the baby Tinkerbell and it might just stick with her as a nickname! Well today while she was looking at my tummy she asked me when Tinkerbell was going to come out. I told her I didn't know and it was up to Tinkerbell to decide when she wanted to come out. I also said that I hope it is real soon so we can hold her. Ava excitedly grabbed my belly with both of her hands and said "Tinkerbell I think you better come out right now!" I love that she is so excited to be a big sister again!

Driveway

We finally decided to fix our crushed concrete driveway. It has made our entry way floors and rugs nothing but a huge mess year round which frustrated me to no end. Also if Luke wasn't extremely careful when he cleared the snow off of our drive way we would have a yard full of rocks to rake in the spring. Our shoes were always muddy if it rained or the snow melted a little bit. The kids were unable to ride their trikes and bikes because their wheels would get stuck and just sit in spin because of the uneven ground.

We had been putting it off for many years because of the expense and we also had other projects inside our house that seemed more important. It turned out that we were able to do this project pretty cheap because Luke lined up a crew of guys to come help us for free. Then my bartering husband traded a few things he had to Kevin who was the "Brains" of the project so that we wouldn't have to pay him! So in the end our only expense was the cost of the concrete.

The project is done. The driveway looks great. Luke is excited because we made it wider than what it was and we can now park 9 vehicles on our driveway if we ever have to that is! The kids love it and have spent hours and hours riding their bikes in a huge circle on it. By doing this we discovered that Ava can ride a big girl bike with training wheels, so no more trikes for her. She is really good at it too! Much better than her big brother Owen was when he was three and a half. I don't have pictures of the finished project but I will do that soon. I will make sure that the pictures have the kids on their bikes in them!

Pedicures

Monday night Ava and I went with Grandma Ruth, Auntie Anna, and Olivia to get pedicures! This was Ava's first time going with us and she was really unsure of what to think at first. She didn't want to soak her feet like the rest of us and she sat in the chair next to me me with a straight face and wouldn't talk. But, it didn't take too long for her to decide that getting her nails done with the girls was lots of fun!

Olivia and Anna are at the top, Ava on the right, me on the bottom, and Ruth on the left!

When we were done all of us went to McDonald's (Ava & Olivia picked) for dinner. Then on our way home we stopped and helped pick out some flowers for Grandma to plant at her house. It was a great night! Thank you Grandma Ruth for the pedicures and dinner!

Tent

Luke and I set up a little tent in the yard after we ate dinner for the kids to play in! They loved it, and really wanted to sleep in it tonight. That didn't happen they are tucked in their beds and are sleeping. However, Luke and I have talked about tenting it this summer but in a much larger tent! They are excited to play in it again tomorrow.

Dirt Magnet

Ezra's John Deere "Dirt Magnet" sweatshirt that he has on in these pictures explains his every day adventure! This boy LOVES playing in the dirt, sand and gravel! Every time I bring him in from outside I have to wash his hands and feet because they are filthy. If I do not carry him the short distance to and from the car at our house I have to wash him up because he takes a pit stop in the driveway to play in the gravel! But I do have to say our little dirt magnet sure is cute even when he is a filthy mess!

(I love how he has one shoe on and one shoe off in these pictures. I think it adds to his overall cuteness!)