The Fighter's

Doug and I had our first AND last garage sale this past weekend (such a pain - won't ever do it again!)...and Ava and Kate wanted to build a lemonade stand.  So we set up shop, made a sign...and Aunt Carly even brought over a REAL cash register.  Grandpa hooked it up to electricity so it worked.  The girls thought it was the coolest.  Ava was devoted to her stand...I had to tell her multiple times throughout the day that she could go ahead and take a break.  But...she was afraid to relinquish control...even to her mom:-)  I think they did better at the lemonade stand than we did at the garage sale! And...a funny aside....Doug HATES clutter.  He would get rid of 75% of the toys in our basement if it were up to him.  But... Aunt Carly got a bouncy horse from a friend and asked if we wanted to put it in our basement.  I knew the girls would LOVE it (and they have...on it every single day) so I said yes!  But I also knew Doug would b...

Amidst the 50 degree rainy weather days we've had this May...we had one 80+ degree day and took full advantage of it!  The girls and I hopped in our mini-van, drove to Meijer, picked up a humongous (as Ava called it) kiddie pool, a new swimsuit and goggles.  We came home - they ate lunch while I wrestled to blow up the baby pool (finally with a hair dryer) and the girls had a ball the rest of the afternoon.  I especially got a kick out of their excitement over the goggles:-) The next day it was back to being 50 degrees...but hey...we will take the good days as they come.  Looking forward to more around the corner!

What's better than a summery day, aunts, uncles, cousins and putting on a show (on a Thursday!)?  Not much!  And...I have to add...the show and singing were hilarious.  Pure joy:-)  Our curly heads:-)  And Mattingly slept through it all...dreaming of days when she'll be able to join in the madness too:-) 

Ava, Olivia and I went out for a bike ride/walk while Kate was at preschool.  Ava wore her new helmet...and Olivia wanted to follow suit, so Ava found her this old Easter hat.  Olivia was so proud to have a "helmet" like her big sis and wore it the entire walk.   She is so into being like her big sisters.  Lately whenever we let her drink from a real cup she smiles and says proudly..."Ava.  Kate. -  Ava.Kate"  Like big sis, like little sis:-)

We love our dear Olivia to the moon and back a hundred bazillion times.  She makes us laugh every single day and is just FUN to watch.  She is over the top curious, constantly on the move, very brave (climbs on anything and everything) and is not afraid to stand up to her sisters (most days she runs the show).  And many of these traits, if steered in the right direction, will serve her well in life.  But as a 20 month old...these traits often are the cause for lots of "No's" or throat clearing "eeght's" from me...and lots of frustration, whining, grunting, kicking and crying on her part.  Just today (and this isn't all of it)... 1) We are letting her practice with a real cup at lunch.  Today - she thought it would be fun to dump her glass of milk on the floor - all while looking straight into my eyes from across the room.  Kind of a..."what are you gonna do now mom, huh?" sort of look!  She got a big N...

What a mother's day weekend!  I am so thankful for family and jam-packed weekends!  A re-cap of our activities... Thursday... Preschool with Ava & Kate!  They had a bike-a-thon to raise money for St. Jude's Hospital so I asked the teachers if I could come in to help.  I can't tell you how much FUN I had...if you ever need a morning pick me up...go to preschool.  My morning started off with mat time...followed by 20 minutes of pushing 8 preschoolers on the swings (workout!).  Other favorites...snack, weather, story time, songs, coloring, playing kitchen and drawing dinosaurs.  My favorite part of the day though was watching Ava & Kate interact with their friends.  At one point during the bike-a-thon the two of them hopped up on the play gym and started cheering on their friends that were riding their bike laps.  Pretty soon 1/2 the class had climbed up to join in.  So much fun to see them in a different environment.  ...

Easter festivities started off on Saturday with Easter basket cupcakes and an Easter Egg hunt thrown by church... They came home from the Easter egg hunt to find Grammy and Uncle Bobby who came to visit for the day!  We spent the afternoon outside...we love spring!  Lou is our climber!  The Easter Bunny came!  Ava & Kate hunted for easter eggs and Olivia discovered jelly beans!  I loved the sequence of Olivia stuffing her mouth full of jelly beans and had to include all the pictures.  After massive jelly bean consumption, we put on our Easter dresses and went to church! Easter evening we went to Grandma & Grandpa's for Easter dinner. Jet was waiting in the window for us, Mattingly was dressed in her Easter best and Grandma had even more baskets waiting for all 5 grandkids. Fun day! Olivia checking out her buddy Jet! Ava & Kate checking out Mattingly, Jet & Olivia in their own little world:-) Happy Easter!