Lil' crawler

Can you believe that our little princess is almost 9 months old?? It seems like yesterday that she was still in my tummy kicking up a storm. And to top things off, she has begun to crawl. Ava loves to be on the floor, finding all the little goodies that her brothers have discarded at play or at snacktime. We really have to watch the messy older rugrats, the other day sis was eyeing a fruit snack that had been lost from a sticky hand!!! She is absolutely so sweet and lovable, always wanting to snuggle in a lap or give a slobbery open mouthed kiss. She jabbers up a storm and lights up when her brothers walk into the room to give her attention and to make her giggle. She, along with her silly, sweet older brothers make my days so much brighter and more fun. There is always something to laugh and chuckle at and appreciate this time as a mommy.

Viva Las Vegas

This past weekend, Dan and I went to Las Vegas with friends to celebrate the union of our friends Jeff, "Heffy", and Jenn in holy Vegas matrimony. We had a blast!!! I think so much fun that all of us agreed that we should make it a yearly trip. And we should certainly go this time of year...it was beautiful.
Besides the wedding, highlights included, "Ka" by Cirque de Solei, a yummy dinner at Emeril's, VIP drinks and dancing (courtesy Farag) at Studio 54, awesome shopping at an outlet mall, winning $270 (then losing it ), KU to the finals, a $1 million ring at 40% off (what a bargain for $600,000 ), some random guy walking through he casino and puking then just walking on (crazy!!!), and lastly, spending time with friends and my wonderful sweet husband.
I came down with a bronchial infection and sinusitis while we were there and could not have asked for a sweeter more understanding man to take care of me. At 3:30 am, when I am hacking up a lung, he gets up and goes down to the lobby to find me way overpriced cough drops and DayQuil. I just love him so much I could squeeze him to pieces!
Thanks Vegas for so much fun!!!!!!!

The choker and the dreamer

So Maddox has discovered that he can make this new noise...a choking noise and then erupting with mounds of uncontrollable contagious laughter over the noises he has just made. Jackson is so paranoid about it that he keeps running to me yelling for me to make Maddox stop. Not only did it give me minor heart attack the 1st time I heard him do it, it makes me realize that my little man is beginning to show his true personality as a little onery jokester. He has also begun to say phrases like, "Oh man" and "Come on Jackson!!!". We have begun to pick up several other sentences that I know he has been saying for a while but we haven't been able to understand until recently. He is absolutely a crack-up right now and I just can't help but squeeze him silly sometimes. I love this challenging age and relish in the time that little man is discovering himself and how he can communicate with the world around him.

Jackson of late has been very inquisitive. Surprise, he is 5!!! Since the movie Enchanted came out, questions of true love and magic have filled our days and evenings. Something so cute. He is forever singing and dancing, but there is a song in the new Disney fairy tale called "Ever, Ever After". He has played this over and over and over... singing and memorizing the lyrics. I will forever and ever remember peeking into the toy room watching him sing about true love and a princess.

Easter pics

Invasion of the white rabbit

We had such a fun Easter weekend. Everyone got all dressed in our pretties for church on Saturday night and mommy could not resist taking pictures of everyone before the kiddos got all sticky. Daddy was playing for praise team, so we were accompanied by mamm-aw to a wonderful and uplifting service at church. At home we colored eggs and carefully laid them in our baskets in preparation for the Easter bunny's arrival. Jackson kept pushing me out of the bedroom so they could go to sleep so "the Easter" could come. Sunday morning the chillins ran into the living room bright and early making a beeline for all of the goodies that the big white rabbit left them. We had an egg hunt with the "smelly"eggs before we had the "big" hunt in the afternoon with daddy. A little chilly, Jackson and Maddox ran around the backyard yelling and grabbing for treat filled eggs. We relaxed in the afternoon by playing Wii and watching a little Enchanted and Ratatouille.

Jelly beans and gummies are scattered everywhere along with the heaping bowlful of chocolates that sit in the middle of the kitchen ready for grabby sticky hands. What a perfect and fun filled weekend. Hope yours was as sugar filled as ours :)

Maddox's 2nd Birthday

My sweet baby goobley turned 2 years old on Thursday of last week. We celebrated his special day by going to the zoo to see animals and to play on the super fun play yard. After running all over the zoo and playing too long on the play set, we met daddy for lunch for nuggets and fries at Mcdonald's. Maddox could hardly keep his eyes open on the trip home he was so exhausted from all of this big boy birthday fun.

Saturday, we celebrated with friends and family at home with a Little Einstein's themed party. Maddox received lots of wonderful gifts and couldn't wait to get any of them out of the box!! In true 2 year old form, after opening one gift it had to be taken out of the plastic to hold on to right away before opening the next present, or a fit was soon to come. So tough being 2!

He has enjoyed playing with all of his new things including his train table and Thomas the Train set! He slept with 2 train cars last night, holding on so tight that I doubt they fell out of his hands while he slept. He and brother awoke this morning to play with trains before daybreak and before mommy and daddy awoke! Choo-choo!
Happy birthday big boy! We love you soooooooooooo much!

Red light, green light

Not allot going on today since the wind outside is blowing 100 mph and chaps your face the minute you walk outside. Unable to play outside, the boys and I decided to play red light, green light while sis was down for nappers. Running and freezing like statues through the living room, we all took turns being the light. Maddox was so funny, only taking his turn at the light for a second before running back to the other end of the room to make a running leap at mama. Mama seemed to be the most fun at jumping and tagging, seeing as how I ended up on the floor countless times, covered by my sweet little stinkers! I am sure I will have a few battle scars to show for it come tomorrow. We laughed and played and tackled until our stomachs ached. I love those laughs and I love today!