New Pictures of Hayden

Hayden had to have another bath this morning because he squirted lotion in his hair.

Hayden likes to play Super Frog after his bath. He runs around the house with just his towel on and giggles and giggles.

Reading Love You Forever, one of Hayden's favorite books.

New Pictures of Ava

Summer Stash

"Please let me have the camera!"

Well summer is going to sneak up on us at our house so we are slowly getting summer clothes for Hayden. We bought a few things ahead last summer-- mostly just tshirts and no shorts. Here is an outfit for this summer. Normally I can't stand cammoflauge anything for Hayden, but since this set is called "On Safari" I found it more appropriate-- plus it was a good price.

Polka Dot Princess

Here's What's Cookin'

Well Josh didn't feel up to putting the kitchen together so I gathered up the screwdriver/drill (since the holes aren't pre-drilled) combo and got to work. It would have been easier without Hayden trying to grab the drill or screws at every chance he got, but we got it done. After he went to bed I was able to get the decals on and set all the food up. When he got up the next morning he was in heaven. He went right to cooking up Mommy and Daddy some eggs and bacon. Yum!

What's New?!

Hayden and Ava's new ride. We really debated which double stroller to get. We love the versatility of our single stroller since it's good for any type of terrain so we wanted something similar in a double. It came down to the Bumbleride Twin Indie or the Valco and we ultimately decided on the Valco. Now the color decision was a little more difficult. We didn't want red since our single was red and we wanted something different. I really liked the Sunrise Navy/Orange combo, but that was last year's model going for the same price as this year's model, but the new models have some upgrades such as the shade being bigger. Finally it came to pistacchio or the Boy Meets girl, but I was leaning away from the boy meets girl. Josh talked me into it. What's nice about the boy meets girl color is that it came fully accessorized with foot muffs, a rain cover, a sunshade, and cupholder. What made up my mind on the Valco was that when you close it there's a lock and the Bumbleride didn't have that and people found that it would open up as it was put into the trunk. The valco has a nice basket underneath like most strollers, but also has saddle bag pouches on both sides of the basket as well as pouches behind each hood. It's a great place to put sunscreen, extra pacifiers for Ava (when she'll take one), or snacks.

Ava is now 5 months old as of yesterday and not much is new with her. She's very expressive and is such a happy go lucky baby. I came down with the stomach flu on Wednesday night and Josh took Hayden to work with him at the new office where the playroom is huge and has a giant pirate ship for him to climb all over. It's like a continuation of his bedroom! But, Ava was a dream baby. She slept a lot and let mommy rest or she was just happy playing. Then last night Josh came home from work not feeling well and he was up late being sick into the night too. Today we are just getting rested up and rehydrated. So far the kids are showing no signs of getting sick and we hope it stays that way. Josh has to get better because Hayden's Christmas present from Bibi is coming via UPS today(his play kitchen). He had gotten one play kitchen that we brought home with us from Colorado and when I went to set it up half of it was missing (only one box of two was shipped). I called Amazon and they told me a replacement was being sent and should arrive Monday or Tuesday of the following week. By Friday we had no kitchen so Josh called back and I guess the other customer service rep was wrong and they weren't sending a replacement and the kitchen we got was no longer in stock! Ugh. So they issued a refund and we picked out a different one. No big deal.

"I love my big brother," Ava says.

Hayden giving some attention to Ava

Hayden loved playing with Josh's wallet so we got him a cheap one for him to play with and I put some old cards in it for him.

Hayden and his bed head after waking up from his nap

Recent Pictures of Hayden and Ava

Ava looking sweet in an outfit she got for Christmas

Showing off the matching hat

Cute smiles and a BIG BOW she got from one of my friends, Kristy.

Giant smiles from Ava

Hayden running off with the remote to the playroom

Hayden trying to get to the window seat

Ava doing her tummy crunches

Hayden isn't always into posing for the camera. He usually tries to take it from me so he can play with it. Needless to say we end up with lots of weird close up pictures of him. So it seems we have to sneak up on him to get a picture.

Goodnight Hayden

Night Night Hayden
Night Night My Dear
Night Night Hayden
Mommy's Always Near
(in this case Daddy since Mommy put Ava to bed tonight).

Hayden is now 19 MONTHS OLD!!! We can't even believe it. Hayden is such a happy boy and so full of spunk. He is constantly climbing on everything. He now climbs on his rocking chair to reach for his radio on the bookcase next to it. He's almost able to climb out of his crib-- not yet thankfully. Today he climbed on the couch and found his crayons on the window seat and he came out with green crayon on his sweater and green and purple drool coming out of his mouth. Yay for non toxic crayons. He normally has free rein of the playroom so we had to find a better hiding spot for his crayons. He likes to get into EVERYTHING and today he also climbed on a dining chair, reached for the wipes box, and started pulling out all the wipes. Whenever he grabs my phone he runs away, around the dining table, into the living room, and back all the while giggling up a storm. He's always calling someone by accident. Even if I have my phone on lock he can somehow manage to push all the right buttons to unlock it. The other day he leaned down next to Ava and started shaking his head at her and making funny faces to get her to laugh. Uncle Louis taught him that in the car. He loves to dance, read his books, and play with his blocks. He's been having a couple rough nights with his canines coming in. One top canine has already broken through and the other doesn't look too far behind. He's such a good helper as when he finds a bottle he tries to give it to Ava. It's super adorable.

I know winter just started...

But we are ready for warm weather. Here is Ava in her swimsuit and sunhat.

Ava Pics

I didn't get a picture, but when Ava lays on her back she is always doing little crunches like she's trying to sit up. It is the cutest thing. She's so strong and she's not that far from sitting up on her own. Just a little more work on balance and she'll be there.

Daddy's so funny... :)

Ava and her Daddy.

Ava's a happy girl!

Hayden Pics

Playing with the clipo table he got for Christmas

One of Hayden's new things is climbing in his chair to read his books

Go Hawkeyes!

Christmas 2008

Hayden trying on Papa's hunting hat

Olivia loved holding Ava

Josh and my little dolly Ava

Hayden checking out one of his new books

Grandma and Ava

Two rivals with their new flags

Grandma and Grandpa with the grandkids

Ava after she rolled over for the first time! Bi Bi saw her, but I missed it. :(

Bi Bi (grandma Dawn) got Ava special wrapping paper for her first Christmas. She got the other grandkids special wrapping paper too.

Cole (Josh's cousin Mandy's baby) and Ava. They were so cute together and seemed really interested in each other.

Hayden coming over to check out Cole

Hayden in the hotel not ready to get up

Papa and Ava

Grandma and Ava

Our Christmas adventures started on the 17th of December. We had planned on leaving the 18th, but bad weather was on its way so we decided to get going a day earlier. Our first stop was Muscatine, Iowa where we had Christmas with my family. Everyone was able to make it despite the icy weather the day before. On the 21st we headed out after breaking two ice scrapers and loading up. We picked up Louis and Carly (Josh's brother and his girlfriend) in Iowa City and started the long trip to Colorado. At 11:30 pm we stopped somewhere in eastern Colorado for the night. We were able to make it to Steamboat Springs, Colorado where Josh's mom lives by early afternoon on the 22nd. On the 24th everyone ventured out to either ski, snowboard, or go to the spa. Carly and I decided to go to the spa where we got pumpkin wraps, massages, and pedicures. It was a nice day. Hayden went to the resort daycare for the day (next year they will add skiing to the day of activities) while Josh tried snowboarding and Ava was with a babysitter for a few hours. The whole clan met up at a slopeside restaurant in the afternoon. The daycare gives a nice report of what he did and he enjoyed storytime the most.

On the 25th we waited for Gabe to get out of bed before we could open gifts. I don't know what child sleeps in on Christmas Day, but he did. Haha. Santa left him a nice letter, a Santa cookie, and a candy cane. After everyone open gifts and their stockings we all got ready really fast and went out for breakfast. The rest of the day was just games and hanging out. I got all of our suitcases ready to be loaded up in the morning.

We left Colorado on the 26th and tons of snow was expected so we got out as quickly as we could. The snow in the mountains was so bright that Josh wore his ski goggles just so he could see better. After getting out of the mountains a car was swerving headed our way, but the driver corrected himself and headed into the ditch after hitting a road sign. We pulled over as well as the car behind them and they were ok. We saw several cars on the side of the road. Not a fun way to start a vacation for them. Just after we got on I-80 in Nebraska the roads were looking wet and the other side was slowing down. I slowed down too, but it didn't seem icy. There must have been some black ice because we were seeing cars flipped on their tops in the ditch. We slowed down to about 30 mph and Josh called the hotline for road conditions. Luckily it was only bad for about 20 miles. We stopped for the night just before Omaha and between Des Moines and Iowa City the westbound traffic was slowed to a standstill and the semis' wheels were spinning. There wasn't an accident, but traffic was stopped on that side. People were getting out of their cars trying to figure out what was going on and almost falling down. I guess we were lucky that our side wasn't affected. After dropping off Louis and Carly we headed to Burlington to visit the rest of Josh's mom's family. We had a good time and visited Josh's great grandma Heiniger while we were there. When we left there the roads were extremely icy so we decided to stay in town until the salt trucks could get out. We made it back to Muscatine on the 28th and finished up our visit with my parents. On the 30th we decided it was time to get home so we could get things put together and put away before Josh went back to work.