School pictures

Unfortunately, they set up their "studio" to take pictures in the kids' playroom at school and Miles was having none of it!! He wanted down and into the ball pit pronto! We are lucky he even looked in the general direction of the camera (although said ball pit was directly behind the camera! TG!) He did give us a little grin though. Ava is finally at the age where she will smile on que (and not the dorky smile, the real one!).

Easter

The kids had Easter lunch at their "Aha"/Great-Grandmother's house after church and had a great time hunting Easter eggs with their cousins, Hayden and Olivia!

This looks like it's going to end up in a fight, but remarkably does not.

Oh, the candy. There was SO much of it! Oh well, should keep the dentists in business!

God bless her! Olivia could almost fit into her basket. What a precious, petite little girl she is!

The boys had a good time running all over the yard with no particular destination in mind. They look so little here!

Daffodil Fields and Miles' Soccer Practice

This is the first time the we have been able to get our kids to pose for pictures and not be absolutely crazy while trying to photograph them! They did great!

And they may have had a little fun while they were at it!

Too sweet! What a precious age right now!

I told you....posing like champs!!!

Miles high-five-ing his soccer coach! He was actually good at that!

This particular Sunday it was warm and sunny and he had a blast!

It was only his second practice and already he was starting to follow much more of what the coaches asked of him. He would sit on his ball when they asked, high-five (of course), kick the ball, run collect jerseys off the field, etc. They have a water/juice break about every 7 minutes or so and he really enjoys running back to where we are sitting so that his other coach/Mom, AVA can give him his water and them promptly take it back and tell him to, "Now Get back out there!". Bossy.

Little Coach/Little Momma, also known at Daycare as "Ava G the Queen Bee". At home she answers to Bo Bo, Ava G, G-money or just "Money". Besides having gangster names, she is really progressing at school. She sounds out the letters to words very well and is trying VERY HARD to read. She is also adding, which is weird because neither her parents nor her teachers can take credit for this. We credit her iPhone apps and Leap Frog videos, as that is where she says she learned it! She is now quite proficient with a set of chopsticks and if I could figure out how to get my videos on here, I would show you! She went for her placement testing a couple of weeks ago and is now enrolled to start at the Anthony School in the fall! She is very excited about going to "big girl" school like Sissy.

Miles running the ladder. He is really quite good at his motor skills. Verbal, not so much. He is a boy, a second child and very bashful....three strikes against early speech. We had a speech therapy eval and they said NO WORRIES. He will talk when he has something to say! He loves books and will bring you one and then climb up into your lap and start turning pages. He is just now into animal sounds. Meanwhile, back to his strengths, he is quite proficient with a spoon-like he has used one his whole life. Which is good, since he eats like a truck driver. We just got him a pair of chopsticks to start learning now, while it is easiest to pick up. He is a big rough-houser and can take down kids twice his size by grabbing them around the waist and then dropping all his weight to the ground....then laughing his @&& off! He has a very hearty laugh and the deepest voice for a child that skinny I have ever heard! He is all gut and no butt. He has no thighs either. He has a smile that literally goes from ear to ear! Happy all the time.... except the occasional "tantrum" which he has recently mastered. We just do what we did with Ava and walk away.... generally laughing.

Thank you Amber (friend from High School!) and Facebook for the snow ice cream recipe! The kids loved it. Ava added a twist....she wanted pink and Miles (she said) wanted lime green. Momma got purple and Brad, well he went CHOCOLATE!

I think Miles liked being allowed to sit on the countertop better than the actual ice cream!

Ava was very proud of her newest invention in the kitchen!

Our snowman (which had to have ears like Minnie Mouse!) decorated with various toys borrowed from Mr. Potatohead, buttons courtesy of Miles' toolbox, and a carrot from the kitchen!

Miles had had enough here and was ready to take his frozen little hands inside (couldn't keep gloves on!!)

Ava could have stayed out there ALL DAY! Only the promise of getting to make snow ice cream could bring her in. (Although, she was eating the snow the whole time we were outside... "I'm eating the CLEAN snow Momma!!!" TG!

We had a small sled, but it was plenty big enough to pull out 2 skinny kids! Talk about a workout!

OK, well a workout for me.

Saturday morning basketball game and Kinley was the cutest cheerleader there!! Ava and Miles cheered her on from the bleachers. They had more fun than anyone there! I had forgotten how fun bleachers could be. (wink)

The "snow-before-last". We didn't get as much that week, but it was enough for the kids to get out and have a bit of fun. Good practice, at the very least, for this last blast of winter!

He kept falling and couldn't keep his gloves on....poor little frozen fingers! He looks so TINY next to our 4 foot tall fence!! And that goofy had is actually giving him some artificial height!

Having such a good time!

Sleeping with Ziggy! She is finally bigger than him! I think Ava was enjoying this more than Ziggy.

Four Generations!

This is "Baby Chase", as Ava refers to him. He is her newest half sibling and SUCH a cutie!!!

Chase and his Mom and Grandmother came down for a visit after Christmas so we could meet him. We hope it's the first of many get-togethers!