Days of Ava & Kate

So I was on a walk with the girls this morning and started thinking about how in the next month or so, it will change from being "Ava & Kate" to "Ava, Kate and Baby". The days of just "Ava & Kate" are slowly coming to an end. I know when this baby comes, as with the girls, it will be hard to imagine what life was like without them. It's amazing how these little bundles come into your life, rock your world a bit, and then suck your heart in like nothing else on this planet. It is so true...nothing can explain how amazing the love you have for your children.

So in the spirit of Ava and Kate adventure, we jam-packed our day today.

First we went out and checked our veggie garden. This is my first year ever growing veggies, and I'm pregnant, so slacking a bit in the gardening department (making up excuses?). I think I got them in the ground a bit too late. The plants look as healthy as could be but so far...no tomatoes...just pumpkins...and cucumbers are finally starting to grow. Out at the veggie garden, Ava found a roly poly, and much to my bug-phobia's dismay...picked it up and decided that "Sam" needed to go on the bike ride with us! So off we went. Me pushing Kate in the stroller, with Ava up ahead on her bike, princess helmet on, holding Sam in between her thumb and pointer finger. It was a little over a mile bike ride and I thought for sure she would either drop or smoosh him.

But when we got back to the house, she ran in to show her dad "Sam", and much to my surprise, Sam had survived the bike ride. Her dad proceeded to go find a "jar" out in the work bench he recently got from his dad. The jar is actually a urine sample cup with holes poked in the top...Grandpa Fighter used to sell medical supplies and had extras (un-used:-)) that he would keep at home to store things in. Perfect for a bug jar! Doug also added some grass, a leaf and a tad bit of water for Sam. Ava took her roly poly in the jar (i.e.urine sample cup) everywhere today. She was so proud of her bug.

After the bike ride, we went over for hair cuts at Cookie Cutters. Ava is a girl after my own heart and LOVES getting her hair cut (I love the spa!). Kate on the other hand does not yet have enough hair to cut, but we let her sit in one of the cars so she felt special too:-) I don't even know if when her hair is long enough to cut, that I'll want to cut it. Her curls are too precious to me!After the "beauty shop", we headed over to Hobby Lobby (still in the process of trying to decorate this house!). At Hobby Lobby I asked the girls where they wanted to go get lunch, and Ava responded..."Panera to get biggles" i.e. bagels. I have tried to teach her how to pronounce bagels time and time again, but she loves her biggles. After Panera, we headed to the bouncy place in the mall. This is a store front filled with the giant blow up playgrounds. You pay $5 a kid, and they can bounce all they want. The girls absolutely love it.

After the bouncy place, it was home for naps (or attempted naps on Ava's part). Ava didn't sleep, so we worked a bit on her very first piece of homework. Doug and I went to our first parent meeting last night at Ava's Preschool. They had these "About Me" sheets on which the kids need to fill in four boxes with their favorite things. I asked Ava what some of her favorite things were and she quickly responded "Trains, Tinkerbell, Little Mermaid and Blues Clues". So those things will be taking up two of the boxes. She's a girl who knows what she likes! I then asked her what or who she loved...and much to my happiness...she replied "you, Daddy & Kate". Glad we're at least in the top five:-) A few of her other favorite things...and...in this order..."bacon, macaroni and cheese, pepperoni pizza and glue". We go tomorrow for her open house at preschool. The big first day is Monday. She is excited and I think she'll do great. I'm still a little bit in denial that the first three years have gone as quickly as they have, but this will be a fun new phase! Here are some shots of Ava working on her "homework".

To top the day off, the four of us went over to the park for a walk and playground.

After the park, we headed over to Max & Erma's for dinner. The girls ate thier mac & cheese like there was no tomorrow. Ava was sitting next to me, and kept pointing at my stomach saying "baby". She told me that I could take care of Kate, and she would take care of the baby:-) She also told me tonight that when she grew up like me, she would have a wedding and then have a baby. I asked who she was going to marry, and she pointed at Doug and said with a big smile on her face..."daddy":-)

It was a jam-packed, great day! I love my time being mom to Ava & Kate, and am getting so excited to throw baby Fighter #3 into the mix and pray for lots more jam-packed fun days with three ahead!