This is Miles' second season playing soccer and he is actually getting very good at volleying the ball down the field. He loves to run and is quite fast! His calf muscles are so developed that his pediatrician actually wants a specialist to look at him....I'm not real sure how to take that, but will keep the appointment. He has jumped on our mini-trampoline since before he could walk and has been a climber since before he could walk. And once he could walk, he ran. I guess they are so used to seeing "chubbier" kids these days, so being thin now looks abnormal. Sad.
Always in a full sprint! He can't get enough of this!
A rare "still" moment when the coaches ask them to sit on their balls while they give them direction.
They have decided that they like sleeping in the same room....this particular night in the same bed. Ava likes to lay in bed and sing songs, tell stories and have very cute conversations with her stuffed animals and babies. Miles occasionally participates, but falls asleep much quicker than she does. So dang cute to listen in on the monitor!
A rare shot of the 3 of them doing something together that they all can do. Grocery shopping.
This is how I found them one night when they tried to stay awake for me to get home to kiss them goodnight.
Ava LOVES corn on the cob!
Miles and Ava visiting their Granny (Great-Grandmother). They love going to see her and seeing the fish in the fish tank and the birds in their aviary.
Peanut butter and honey sandwich, hot dogs, carrots and macaroni and cheese......it's what's for dinner! This particular night we just gave in and made whatever they asked for and this is what we got!
I have been so tired before that I KNOW I could have slept like this! He looks like he has been out drinking all night! HA!
Ava's Pinkalicious outfit I scored at Rhea Lana's with tags still on it! She loves it!
This is the magic Brad performs when we are able to go shop at Rhea Lana's. We got home from shopping this night and they were ALL asleep! I don't know how he does it.
She is just as pretty as a picture!
Miles at his school birthday party. He fell face down on the playground that morning and had a knot on his forehead and a scrape in his nose and lip, but didn't seem to bothered by it.
New warm Razorback Jammies!! Thank you Wal Mart.
Ava has a different crown on each time we turn around. She always has one on and insists that we call her Sleeping Beauty. She gets a bit steamed when we lovingly call her Stinking Booty for fun! Here she is with her baby! We all had to be very quiet because she was getting her down for a nap.
My little Sleeping Beauty crashed while doing "work" on her iPad. At her school they use iPads in class. Recently the teacher told Brad that she had to take the iPads away from all 9 students in Ava's class because when she turned around to start the lesson (they were all on the same app that she was), they had all closed that app and were surfing other applications on their iPads. LOL! At 3! The whole school is on smart boards/MACs and I think each of the kids in her room is proficient with at least an iPhone if not an iPad at home.
Their favorite bedtime app is "Nighty Night". We let them read/Interact with it after we read paper books each night. They LOVE it! They are really good with a routine. They actually GO TO BED now. After bath and teeth brushing, we read books, Nighty Night app, say prayers, hugs and kisses and turn on their stars/moon on their ceiling and it's lights out! Then we just giggle as we listen over the monitor at the funny things Ava is saying/singing, but they never come out! Crazy! Who knew it could be that easy?
We have downloaded several applications that Ava's teacher is using at school so that she can work on them at home. Miles has several teaching apps that are appropriate for his level too. And of course they have Nook kids books on it. We actually may have to put a curfew on the iPads.
Luckily, nothing takes the place of reading a paper book!
Getting all their energy out before bedtime!
Miles insisted on wearing his sunglasses to school this day and only took them off when Ms. Rose told him to! She loved his shirt, "Single and Loving it". Somehow it just fits his personality. He is ALL boy!
Ava has decided that everywhere we go, we have to take her picture with things that she wants for Christmas so that we can email the picture to Santa Claus...so he knows EXACTLY what to bring her. So stinkin cute.
Our little ballerina wore herself out! She literally danced until she dropped!
Lately, Miles has taken to sleeping with 7 stuffed animals. He rattles them off by name....Hoo Hoo, Snap, Nay Nay, Jack, Bolt, Rhino and Mittens (Oh, and his Tag blanket). He won't go to bed until they are all in and accounted for. This is him in the morning trying to carry them all into the playroom....he obviously can't carry them ALL, so Brad had the rest.
90 to nothin.
Miles second birthday! He is getting to be such a big boy!
Sweet girl!
So many gifts and the one that he won't release is a top that Grandma said didn't cost a thing at the dollar store! He would not let it go! I swear we could give him a cardboard box and he would be happy!
Doofus.
Again, with the top.
Cool new two-seater bulldozer thing.....with deathgrip on top.
Lately, he has wanted to watch Bolt nonstop and listen to the Bolt songs in the car. But, right before his birthday he decided that he would rather have Shrek. Too bad buddy, the Bolt cake was already ordered and paid for.....next year!
Blowing out the candles by himself.
Enjoying the cake!
Kinley and Morgan with one of their infamous Lemonade stands!
Kinley and Morgan after a cake fight in the backyard.
Ava's Prek3 school picture.
These pictures were taken for free after making a small donation to the local volunteer fire department. We donate each year and they always take such good pictures.
And of course, Kinley and Morgan had to have their picture made together!
OK, so I admit I am a Pinterest addict. This year we made our outgoing teachers and incoming teachers gifts that we either found the idea on Pinterest or were inspired by something we saw on Pinterest. This pencil vase and quote we found separately on Pinterest and made at home.
This is the back and front of the outgoing teachers gifts. We found the quote on the card and the crayon letter craft separately on Pinterest and made them at home for Miles' and Ava's outgoing teachers.
This one we made for the incoming teachers, but we came up with this one on our own. We stole the quote from Pinterest, but found a cardboard book at Michael's and painted it, added scrapbook stickers and drilled a hole for a ribbon and filled it with bandaids, neosporin, kleenex and chocolate.
We decided recently to redecorate all the bedrooms in the house. Kinley made the artwork for her room, so we decided to Ava and Miles do the artwork for our room! It actually turned out very nice. Watching them paint it was a lot of fun. Ava was very meticulous and Miles tried to beat the hell out of the canvas with his brush!
Taking turns on the lawnmower while waiting for that color to dry before applying another color.
Ava standing proudly next to her painting.
Miles being 2.
Kinley's new room. She chose all the colors, etc. herself. Brad built her floating shelves and she painted the artwork. We think she did a great job and her room now looks a bit more mature, like that of a teenager instead of a little girl. (tear)
This is the platform bed that Brad made me. He made the headboard (buttons and all) too! I told him that if we had been pioneers years ago, we would be living like kings! HA!
Our floating nightstands. He made them so that all cords for chargers, lamps, etc. would actually be coiled up INSIDE them. Genius.
Our painting that the kids made. We LOVE them.
We stole this from Pinterest as well. Brad made a wooden canvas, glued on the letters, painted it with a textured white paint and voila! (If either of us EVER forgets our anniversary now...we will need to have our heads examined)
Brad's birthday gift (again, stolen idea from Pinterest).
Our finished room.
Ava wanted a Princess room....shocker. So I made these glittered magic fairy wand bookshelves out of dowel rods, paint, glitter and feathers.
Brad made a castle bow holder for her.
He also made this "cage" for all of her stuffed animals, etc. that needed a home. We saw a square one on Pinterest that had wooden bars and a hole in the top, but decided we wanted something that wasn't square and that the kids could get things in and out of...so Brad came up with this design and used bungie cords....again, genius.
Ava's finished room...Brad also made the square bins on the right and bolted them together.
Miles' cage for his balls, stuffed animals, etc. Talk about helping you de-clutter a room! Miles went with a Skateboard theme....chosen by his parents based on his personality and looks!
Skateboard shelves, so easy.
Miles' bins that Brad made/bolted together.
We were walking through Wal Mart one night and saw these "fingerboard skateboards" and decided to put them in a shadow box that Brad painted red. It was SO cheap and easy.
Brad painted this exposed brick and his name in graffiti. (the underlying bricks are vinyl, but he painted over them and painted the grout to make it look more "real") I thought he did an amazing job!
Miles room!
Did I forget to mention that they are SHARING a room now? This is the center of their room and you can see how perfect Brad got the lines. He even painted this dresser right down the middle! Unfortunately, Miles' green skateboard wheels haven't come in yet. Brad is going to make dresser knobs out of them. They are an electric green with designs on them and will look really good once we get them on! It was all a lot of work, but was actually a lot of fun too!
