Eventful Weekend

Holy Moses!  It's been a long time coming, but finally, Ava is WALKING!!!!!  I've told Jody countless times that this kid is super calculated in any risk, and wants to be sure she's got it 100% before she really gives it a chance.  That's how she rolled with crawling, and sure enough, that's how she's done it again with walking.  Today was the magic day, and she decided that upright was the way to go for transportation :)  Could I be any more proud?




In other news, the day that has been forseen by many has also arrived.  Ever since Ava was born, everyone kept telling me that the girls were going to be so close, given their closeness in age.  Seeing as how we have had more than a rocky start, I was beginning to believe that my kids were just going to be the ones that quarrel constantly and never really like one another.  Yet again, I have been surprised by my kiddos.  The tandem bath was something we tried many months ago with little success.  It always turned into a pandemonium of splashing, screaming, and fighting.  For some reason though, this weekend, Taylor has been fighting us to bathe with Ava again.  And then the fight is on again once I decree it's time for Ava to get out.  Watch below, the magic happens around 1:30.




Anyhoo, my babies are growing so much faster than I'd like, but it's still such an amazing (though stressful) journey.  It was so nice just having a calm weekend at home for everyone to be lazy and enjoy each other.

God Bless Ronald McDonald

It is said that music soothes the savage beast.  I call bullshit, it's Chicken McNuggets, all the way.  Today Jody had other engagements, so it was my duty to gather the turds after work.  Both were barely hanging onto the thread of good behavior that comes with parental arrival, as that thread was becoming rather thin by the fact that it was an hour and a half past their usual pickup time and by God, they were hungry.  If you've ever been around my kids when they're ready to eat (especially Ava), you know that time is of the utmost essence.  

Enter the Golden Arches.  We were smack in the middle of what Amarillo refers to as "rush hour," meaning it would take us 25 minutes to get home from daycare as opposed to our usual 15.  Curses on this big city traffic (Please know, I have lived in MUCH bigger cities than this, and do truly understand real rush hour.  Yes folks, this is a sarcastic comment.).  As usual, the aromas of grease laden fries and mystery meat pressed and formed into odd non-chicken like shapes were too much for my kids.  They had to eat, and now dammit!  At a red light I literally threw a nugget at each of them behind the seat.  That's when the angels started to sing, and the screaming and growling ceased (Wanna guess which was screaming and which was growling?).  As much as I personally loathe the clown and his golden arches of hell, it totally made my life endurable for the remainder of my journey home.  And as an added bonus, since both inhaled the contents of their Happy Meals en route, we were able to walk into the house, bathe, and get pajamaed up.  Bazinga!

In case you weren't sure if you guessed correctly, this one was the growler.

...and this one was the kicking and screaming one.  Thank you Ronald, for saving me from CPS.

More of the Same

Once again, still nothing truly blog-worthy going on around here.  It's been so damn hot the last few weeks, that we've just been laying low.  We have taken the girls to the lake a couple of times, but you're crazy if you think I'm taking my camera out there.  Ava is just about ready to take off walking any day now.  She is a whiz if she's got a hand to hang onto, but her solo efforts are still a little wobbly.  But that's ok, we're making progress.

Lumbering Beaster

Ava is also starting to enjoy the wrestle-mania that goes on around here with her dad and sister.  She can take a tackle and not even bat an eye.  She also delivers a pretty good sneak attack too.

Bring it on Dad!

Ava's new favorite pastime, pestering her sister.

Other than that, we've just been kind of lounging at home, enjoying the new house.   

Taylor playing in the rocks and mud in our flower bed.  

Beaster and me sitting on the front porch.

 Seriously, though, we've been keeping a low profile.  And it's been nice.  I'm sure excitement will kick back into full gear with the onset of fall and all the holidays, so for now I'm just trying to enjoy the slower pace.