The Fighter's

Ava - 4, Katelyn - 2, Olivia - 9 months, Jet - 5 months

A fellow mom in my morning aerobics class was raving about a place called 577 foundation, so...the girls and I called up Aunt Carly and ventured down with her and Jet for the morning.  And my fellow mom had every right to rave - it was fantastic (thanks Jennifer!)!!  577 Foundation is a preserved historical property and botanical garden that has a variety of activities geared towards kids.  Ava & Kate absolutely loved it - and so did Carly and I.  And little Jet Jet (as Kate calls him) survived a full day with us girls.  I cannot wait to go back again!! The Gang... Checking out the lilly pad ponds, fish and gardens... Fossil Dig... Puppet Show... Instruments... Water Art... Fairy Garden...

Dear friends from Columbus + family + lots of swimming + camp fires + smores + Ava & Katelyn catching their first lightening bugs + summer sun + sand castles & toys + sparklers + children's laughter + lots of adult laughter and catching up = one fantastic weekend!  Some of our best friends from Columbus came up for the weekend and we had a blast (and so did the kids).  Then we celebrated Father's day with some relaxation, good food and family time.  The girls love their daddy so, and I think he's pretty swell as well.  I could not have asked for a better partner when it comes to this kid raising stuff.  He is the best!!  I can get used to these summer weekends:-)

With Doug out of town last week, we planned a pajama party complete with Grandma, pizza, a movie ("The Pirates Who Don't do Anything" - Veggie Tales), nail polish and popcorn.  The girls thought it was the best thing ever.  They even got to stay up past the sun going down, which in the summer - is big time here at the Fighter house.  Hopefully this will be the first pajama party of many here at the Fighter house.  I love hanging out with my girls (and my mom:-)).   

This morning Ava disappeared to her room for a while - I thought to play with her dolls/kitchen in her room.  I went up to check on her and found her completely orga nizing her closet (let me preface this post by saying that none of the following was prompted by me - all Ava's initiative:-)).  She had all the bins out of one of her toy drawers and was organizing the doll accessories into different containers - all the bottles/spoons in one spot, doll "toys" in another and folded clothes into the third.  Her shoes were lined up on her shoe rack very neatly - all in a row. The strollers were tucked away into their assigned spot and she had even hung her princess dresses on hangers.  Needless to say...I was impressed.  I asked her what she was doing, and in a very matter of fact tone she said "cleaning my closet.  I have  a lot of cleaning to do."  About 15 minutes later I was downstairs doing some of my own cleaning and she opens up my front closet (which trul

So we get kicks out of small things in this house and couldn't get enough of our little Olivia in her sister's Sleeping Beauty wig from Halloween.    Oh how they make me laugh....:-)