The Fighter's

What a fun day to ring out my favorite month of the year... 7am...work & coffee (I love my coffee!) 8:30am...girls up, breakfast, playtime (and a little bit of laundry) 10:30am...Depart the Fighter residence for what turned out to be a four hour outing with the girls that included rare shopping trips at Old Navy & Macy's, lunch at Chick- fil -A, play-time at the mall playground, and gummies from the candy shop. Some favorite moments... Ava trying to try on clothes with me in the Old Navy dressing room. I looked over and she had 2 tank tops over her head and was asking for more. Where's the camera when you need it! Kate rapidly throwing her hands up in the air with a big smile (her gesture for the so big game) after I finished telling Ava that she is going to be 3 and is getting "so big". Kate heard those 2 words and couldn't help herself. She repeated the "so big" gesture for about 3 minutes until it was time to leave...cracking herself up the w

Here are a few shots of the girls from this past week. Love this weather, so we've been spending lots of time outside!! Hope you are enjoying your first few days of fall!!

In the car on the way to Ava's gymnastics class tonight... Ava: "Mommy...where can I scream? Can I scream inside?" Mommy: "No, you can't scream inside. You can scream outside." Ava: "Can I scream in the basement?" Mommy: "If mommy and daddy give you permission, you can scream in the basement. Otherwise you have to scream outside." Driving, driving, driving...change of conversation, talking about the sounds cars make, gymnastics, the grocery store, yaddy, yaddy, yadda. Arrive at rec center, open van door, Ava jumps down and as soon as her feet hit the ground, she exclaims... "I'm outside and can scream....AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" The loudest scream I've heard out of her ever. After a few seconds of this and me figuring out that she was screaming for fun (not out of anger or pain for once)...I said her name about 5 times and asked what she was doing. With a big smile on her face, she looked up at me and laughingly said...&

Trying to figure out this bubble stuff...Kate just wanted to eat the bubbles. Ava's new pastime ...going down the slide backwards. Kate crawling over to cause havoc and succeeding.

Grammy's house.... Welcomed by sweet hugs and kisses every time, the scent of delicious food cooking in the oven (sometimes a Sunday lunch, other times a mid-week dinner), warm, cozy, loving. Favorite toys include the coasters (both sets...the beige coasters and the hamburger coaster set), fire place blower thing (not sure the official name), fridge magnets, the recliner, wooden wine cups, and the green bag of toys (which includes puzzles, books and other trinkets). Ava loves to build a fort with Grammy's blankets between the couch and the recliner (she also loves to make her poor Grammy crawl through the fort with her 50 million times). And lately she's been stealing Grammy away upstairs for an application of clear nail polish, lip gloss and blush. She comes down every time strutting her stuff, saying...look mommy...with pursed lips, feeling like a queen! Kate loves getting into Grammy's cupboards, messing with grammy's cd player and/or the VCR(which is off limits.

Whoever thought that my two little brothers Rob & Pat (aka Robby Bobby and Patricia), who I used to kneel on and perform spit tortures to, who used to chase me up and down the stairs in all out physical warfare while our friends sat on the couch (watching in wonderment)...would ever grow up to be two of my very best friends. Cheesy line…yes. But it’s true. They have grown to be such kind-hearted, great guys who are so much fun to be with. I am truly thankful. Doug and I were blessed to be able to spend the weekend with the two of them and their amazing better halves. My parents took the girls for the weekend, and we (minus Doug who was at a golf outing) started the day out at Pat’s for bagels and coffee. We then headed down to campus for OSU/OU tailgating. After a painstaking game for the Buckeyes who ultimately won (but barely…go Bobcats!) we took naps, cleaned up and headed downtown to Martini’s for a fantastic dinner out. It was fun to look around the table and see how “grown up

Here is a shot of Ava's new do. She had about 3 inches chopped off into a cute little bob. Adds to her spunkiness (and it's so "trendy" that I'm thinking of following in her footsteps)!!! The girls are headed to grandma & grandpa's and Doug and I will be spending the weekend here in Columbus with my brothers and their better halves. Can't wait! Hope you all have a fantasticly fantastic weekend!

Gotta love it! I know I adore my thomas the train loving, movie star princess!

This is my absolute favorite month. Nothing better than September...fall is coming (my favorite season), college football, school is back in session (I always used to love going back to school!), beginnings of crisp autumn air and leaves, autumn sunsets and skies...I could go on and on! And we rang in my favorite month with a wonderful day! Here are a few pics from the picnic we had with neighbors. We are so thankful to have such great friends living right next door, all with kids the same age. It can often times be sort of crazy with 6 kids running around under the age of 3 (and 1 on the way), but it is so nice to be able to relate as parents...and the kids have so much fun together. I just love watching Ava & Kate running around, laughing and giggling and having so much fun with the other kids. So much joy! What are you doing Kate? Haiden & Ava cooking with their hard hats on... And now grocery shopping... Kate checking out Carter...