Twins?

  

No way!  They look completely different to me.

We did stuff this summer: The Big Apple (ridiculous amount of pics)

Every year in August, Rob gets asked by the firm to go out and recruit at Columbia. We decided to make it a tradition to go with him and make sure that we get at least one trip a year to NYC because we love NYC. Lucky for us, this time when we went, our friends The Harrisons had just moved there for work so we were able to spend time with them and their cutie pie daughter. We also watched an outdoor movie with the Hudson river as the backdrop and my friend Monica watched the girls one morning so I could spend some time alone in Chinatown and trek down to Rice to Riches, my favorite treat place ever!


At Riverflicks



Waiting for the movie to start

Ava admiring the view from our hotel window

Ava admiring the morning view from our window

Street Fair!!!  One of my favorite things about NYC

Brooklyn Bridge

B. Bridge

Ava at the new imagination playground.

Building away

Don't mess with me, I'm busy

Her creation

Ava and Elle at the Museum of Natural History

The water park above the museum

C enjoying the water park too

Poop discovery as we tried to get family pics where Rob and I took our engagement photos

Take one

Take two (the couple on the left does not belong to us)

Bathtime after playing in the mud at Central Park

Elle loves Rob

Staten Island Ferry (see the Statue in the background)

Ava loved the subway

Children's museum of Manhattan

Dad and Charlie at the museum

Ava with Alfie the Dragon

Ava dancing with the alien at Mars 2112

The alien flirting with Rob

Charlie and the alien

Times Square

Both girls pooped out after a long, fabulous trip

Sleep

For the last 9 months I haven't gotten much of it.  And since Charlie sleeps in our room, neither has Rob.  And up until a week or so ago, this is the only way Charlotte would sleep much:

In my arms............

Or lying right next to me (the binky on her face is optional)

But we've been given a Christmas miracle.  Rob decided it was time to put Charlie in a pack n play in the closet. (We have a big walk-in closet so nobody call CPS)  The first couple nights all that meant was that I had to actually get out of bed three times a night to feed her instead of just feeding her lying next to me in bed.  But on the third night something magical happened.  She only woke up once!  And I got 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Folks, it was incredible.  I was practically a new woman.  And you know what the best part is? It has continued.  She now will go to sleep around 7:30, wake up to eat around 10 and then only once more at night.  AND she is taking real naps!  Some of you may think I am being way to excited about this but literally before this the girl would take 20 minute naps and would wake up 3 to 4 times between 7:30 and 11 pm and at least 3 times after until morning.  It's only been a week and a half but let's all cross our fingers that this is not just a phase............or that the phase lasts for a very long time.

We did stuff this summer: hop scotch, swimming, waffles & VBS

Ava somehow came up with the idea that she needed to make a "hopscotch chart." I think she saw it on tv somewhere.  So one day this summer when the weather was bearable we made a hopscotch chart and she was thrilled.  There was also a lot of swimming this summer though not as much as we would have liked in our own pool.  Another big thing for Ava this summer was Vacation Bible School.  She loved it!  We sent her to VBS at her future preschool but have since ended up changing preschools but nonetheless she thought it was fantastic and everyday got up talking about 'cation Bible school.'

Ava and my hop scotch



Hopscotching

You think she likes the pool?

A.J. with her water barbie

The girls

I like to eat eat eat waffles for breakfast (actually I just chew on them frozen for teething)

Ava on her way to "Hero Headquarters" vacation Bible school

We did stuff this summer: Idaho Cabin

Every year it is tradition to go with all my brothers and sisters and parents (and a family thats thats only related to my older sister but we claim them nonetheless) to our cabin in the beautiful Sawtooth mountains in Idaho. This year was no exception and Ava was thrilled everyday to be surrounded by her cousins. It has also become tradition for Rob to go on a man-trip with some old law school buddies during the first few days of the cabin. This year they went to Vancouver and then he flew to Boise to enjoy the rest of the cabin. The final tradition that we took part in was Ava leaving the beach with her face looking like a dirt clod sneezed on her. I don't have a picture because those are on my sisters camera and she hasn't uploaded her pictures to our Picasa site yet. Yeah, it's October and yes the cabin was in July. Tara, get on it already! But then again maybe if I had remembered my own camera at the beach I wouldn't have this problem. Sheesh! Anyway, this year the girls and I were there a couple days early so we were able to see my grandparents. They usually come to the cabin for a day but weren't able to this year because my gramps had just had a really bad fall. The girls were thrilled to get to see them.



Ava plays Barbies with Alexis



Ava plays Barbies with GG

Charlotte plays with Grandpa GG



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Classic GG pose although usually its her hand hiding her face!

I used to always get these donuts from Arts in the park so my mom bought them from AITP the weekend before I came and froze them for me. How cute is that?

Ava playing peek-a-boo with her cousins

Playing ghostez (ghosts)

More ghostez

There were only 3 kids books at the cabin, my sister found them in her camper and Ava had everyone read them to her several times.  Here's poppy taking his turn.

Daren looking for a place to hike

Charlie being Charlie

My funny nephew Jackson

My cute sister Breea who told us while we were there that she's expecting! Yay!

Something in the boat needed sewed.  It was too heavy to come in the cabin. So the sewing machine went to it.

Peek - a - boo

More peek-a-boo

Ava being so annoyed at Uncle Brian for sitting in Charlottes pool

Charlie enjoying the beach with Aunt Tara

Da beach

One of the many breathtaking views up there

Mellonee, Jace and "Aunt" Tammy

Ava chillin on the tube with kyle and jackson

Brad with his funky mustache

My cute sisters and my cute niece

Jace trying to avoid the camera

Ava on the tube with Aunt Tara and aunt Tammy

Rob

Ava loves the sand

More playing in the sand

"Mom what's with all the pictures?"

Throwing sand in the water

My Dad is a counterfeiter! Everyone got poppy bucks at the beginning of the cabin to spend later in the week at an auction.  You could earn poppy bucks for doing good things and pay them to people who did stuff for you.

Moon Sand.  Ava paid 37 poppy bucks for it!

Daddy and C hangin on the couch

Daddy's turn to read the books



Charlie hangin out with Grandma Kathee



Get a room!

Charlie playing with Daddy

Blakers trying to hide from me