Kinley's birthday, 4th of July and more summer fun!

Kinley, Ashley and Marissa hanging out in the kids' "Jumpy House" late in the day after her party.

We ordered the kids a bouncy house after finding out it costs as much to buy one as it does to rent one less than twice! It's a nice way of letting them wear themselves out without taking a trip to Jump Zone! It blows up in less than a minute and comes down just as quickly. Note to others: this is for SMALL kids only. (even though it says it can accommodate 3 kids weighing less than 150 pounds each, with a max weight of 900 pounds.... with 3 kids each weighing WAY less than 150 pound....a 2 1/2 foot hole tore at the opening THE FIRST NIGHT. SO, it is now for kids under 5 only. :-(

But what fun was had the first (and only night) it was used!! (Brad is patching it this weekend)

Miles hanging out with Pito at Kinley's birthday party. He was so good all day long! And just look at how big my baby is getting!!

Ava having cupcakes (her favorite thing in the world) with her cousin Hayden...you will see a pattern here..

That is one happy little girl!

Cousin Nathan sitting back taking it all in.

Ava having cupakes and ice cream with her cousins Ian and Ashby....starting to see a pattern..

This is a whole out fit later!

Kinley and Ashley...Good Friends!!

The Birthday Girl!! Can't believe she is almost a teenager!

Ashley is so good with Ava and Miles! And they love her to pieces. Ava loves when she comes to spend the night with her (I mean, with Kinley!).

Miles hanging out with MeMaw!

Finally, time to open presents. We always know when it is time because the kids sit in front of the gifts and don't leave.

Aunt Keri with baby Mia and Miles. OK boy, you have GOT to get some sun!

Two of the great-grandmothers....Grandma and "Aha" (Grandmother).

Our sassy little poser with the braids Ashley put in her hair. She now wants braids in her hair everyday. Although, for the sitting still-to-braid-them part, she stinks. Thank you Ashley! ;-)

Cousin Olivia hanging out with the big kids. She is so sweet and so tiny, I think they are all big kids to her!

Sweetheart!

Family...

We had lots to do outside, but the heat was unbelievable. We didn't expect the playroom to be the most frequented attraction or we would have straightened it up a bit!!

The Girls!

Kinley putting water in the waterslide and babypool.

Some of the cousins testing out the swingset....which sadly, didn't get a lot of action.

Kinley's cake and cupcakes!

This is the sweetest picture of Brad and Miles looking directly at one another!

With Aunt Keri and the 5 cousins from Indianapolis in town, we all got together at Papa Gary and Cindys to eat and swim. This is the first time I have heard Ava start calling everyone by their names and it was precious. Miles had a great time in the water....we should have seen that coming if bathtimes were any indication.

Three Generations

I just loved this one as well!

My precious family!

This is a picture one of Brad's best friends, Mike, took of Ava on 4th of July on our back deck. He and Brad were taking pictures of the fireworks over the river from our deck (there were large ones in our neighborhood being shot off) and Ava was busy playing on her iPod touch. She did enjoy the "firetrucks in the sky", but was playing with one of her new apps. Mike appropriately titled the photo, "fireworks vs. iphone".

Ava's first experience with water balloons was at MeMaw and Papa's 4th of July Party this year. All the cousins were doing it and she couldn't wait to get her hands on one! She got the hang of it pretty quickly!

No need to throw them down if you can just squeeze them and get it all over you!

Miles doing his "sumo wrestler" crouch. He does this to lower himself down to crawl instead of, you know, WALKING! He has been crawling for 3 months and is VERY fast...he has taken as many as 2 steps (ha) in a row, but alas, no walking.....his parental units are getting very frustrated!

See, he looks like he will just let go and walk, but straight into the sumo crouch he goes....however, this HAS to be good for the gluteus maximus muscles. And seeing how my son has "No-ass-at-all" syndrome....I am hoping this helps him along in filling out the backside of his pants in the future!

More water balloon fun.....she was addicted. Cousin Maddie was having a great time too!

We figure she burst at least 25 balloons herself.

Kinley was filling them up as fast as she could, but they were bursting them everywhere!

The goggles didn't fit on her face, so they didn't help much! But what a fashion statement!

Brad relaxing for a change. A very rare moment indeed!

Ava was tired and cold (she had been in water and was in the shade....I am acutely aware that it was 100 degrees outside). Kinley is so sweet with her. Ava loves her big sister! I thought this picture captured that.

Brad and Ava were playing in the tree. Ava wanted to swing in the tree like Mogli and the monkeys in Jungle Book!

Our sweet little monkey!

Miles was perfectly content to hang out in MeMaws lap most of the day!

They always have such a nice, festive spread! And the food is always great!

OK, this hat is WAY too small for Mr. Miles! It makes his head look way bigger than it actually is!

Mommy and Ava (who has a mouth full of M&Ms here).

Just a lazy summer day, hanging out in the backyard with the kids.

Our Ganstasaurus, for sure!! All she needs is a do-rag!

There is no telling what they are looking at or what in the world she is telling him! This is probably bad news all the way around.

Miles with his first shiner! He fell at Aha's house and hit his left eye on the corner of the coffee table. Bless his heart! It was just coincidence that his bib says, "Little Bruiser".

Miles hanging out in his highchair while I was cleaning the kitchen.......Going...

Going......

....GONE! Apparently, I am pretty boring company while cleaning!

Kinley had volleyball camp this summer and the hours were right in the middle of the day! There was one day when I couldn't leave to go pick her up, so I told her that a couple of the girls from work were going to come get her. She said that was fine as long as they didn't hold up a little sign with her name on it...... they didn't. They held up a BIG sign with her name on it! They worked on it all morning and were going to hang out of the sunroof screaming her name, but got lost on the way and got there right as everyone was pulling away. That's ok, she's only 12, there will be plenty more times that we can embarrass her!

Kinley, looking like a movie star leaving a plastic surgeons office in Hollywood after having 7 teeth pulled in preparation for braces! She is styling even when she feels rotten!

Nana and Ava sacked out after playing hard all morning together!

Miles exploring the pantry after someone (me) accidentally left the playroom gate open. He just kept grabbing things and throwing them behind him into the kitchen. He could have played in there for hours! I guess there is nothing like a few empty soda bottles, cardboard and plastic wrap to make a baby happy!? Who needs Toys R Us?

Miles destroying the playroom singlehandedly. I didn't consider that he could actually knock the whole wooden dollhouse over with all the furniture inside it! I think he just wanted to get inside it to play. He is much stronger than he looks.

Trouble for sure! Here they are playing in Ava's bed. It turned into a pillow fight, but I had to step in as Ava has an unfair advantage....she can actually stand AND aim accurately. Miles was just burying his face and laughing! Their newest adventures consist of Ava locking (literally) them in our bathroom and making him dance. I picked the lock yesterday and peeked inside. Ava had on her plastic fairy heels (which sound a lot like her tap shoes on the concrete floors) and pretended to turn on a stereo on the wall and said, "Dance Miles! I turned on the music! " She then started doing steps from her Tap/Jazz/Ballet and Hip Hop classes. "Shuffle step, Shuffle step, One, Two, Three. Toes go in, Toes go out, Toes go in, Toes go out. Get on your mark Miles! Tap tap tap" He just stood there smiling and laughed at her. As did I.

Ava working on her letters on the laptop at night. She is such a little night owl. (Gets it honest. She comes from a long line) So we try to find things for her to do that are quiet. Lots of book reading, working on her iPod Touch(learning games) and working on her computer, flashcards, etc.... Usually, watching the nightly news actually gets her to sleep. Pitiful.

Every shoppers nightmare! Actually, as long as I keep moving they do pretty good in here....MUCH better than in the cart. This particular day at Kroger we went by the bakery to get them a free cookie to eat while we were shopping and they had the little brownies with the cream cheese frosting. Ava called them cupcakes and was so excited. I was letting them ride and eat while I shopped when I heard them scuffling. I looked down to find poor Miles with a head FULL of cream cheese frosting. I asked Ava (whose hands were covered in said frosting) what happened. She replied, " I didn't have a wipee". Me:"so you used his head???!?!!"

Ava,(insert big grin here) "Uh huh".

In the parking lot, prior to cream cheese event.

This is a picture of my Daddy, Mickey, at around one year old. As a child, he had really blonde, curly hair and always had really blue eyes. Note: shape of head.

This is Brad at around one year old. Note: facial features (esp. lips and eyes).

Miles at 10 months old. You can't see his very blue eyes here, but I am willing to be if we did the Conan O'Brien blend of my Daddy and Brad, you would come up with MILES! It's like they stuck Brad's face on my Daddy's head and changed the color of his eyes!

Wild!