Summer is Here

Friday we spent the day at NRH2O, a waterpark here in town. For Elliana's birthday, grandma and grandpa got us season passes so we can go all summer! When we got out of the car and Avery saw the park, she started jumping up and down screaming "I see it, I see it, I see it!" Its so fun to watch the pure joy and excitement on their faces.
The top picture is of me with the girls going down the slide. Its interesting because this year Avery is a bit more aware of danger and so is hesitant to do anything by herself. On the other hand, Elliana is miss independent, has no clue water can be dangerous, and was rather annoyed that I wouldn't let her go down the slide by herself. Interesting dynamics =)
The 2nd picture is during lunch. The park lets you bring coolers in so we were able to bring our own lunch and have a little picnic.
The final picture is of the girls playing in the water. The alligator squirts water out of his nose and Avery was waiting for the water to squirt and get her all wet again. Elliana was waiting some what patiently for her turn. We're working on the whole sharing thing =) And just for the record, Elliana has to wear that many layers at the pool b/c of her kidney problems and the medicines shes on! She won't be the dork at the pool forever =)

Brent's new toy

On Friday we decided to go ahead and buy a scooter for Brent. If you know Brent, you know he had a spreadsheet full of info about how much money we'll save in gas and insurance if we got the scooter. He researched bikes all week and test drove a few Friday morning and then ended up getting a great deal on this bike. We're keeping the Accord for right now, but if the bike works out, we'll probably end up selling the Accord and just having one car. So far he's loving it! He even taught me to drive it last night and it was a blast. In this picture, Avery is sitting on it but no worries, she never got to ride it =) Mommy isn't that nice! The first thing she said Saturday morning when she woke up was, "do you think I'm big enough to ride daddy's new bike now?" I told her maybe when she's 5 =)

Avery

So one of my goals as a parent is to get to know each child as well as possible. I really want to study them and find out what makes each kid tick. So I thought I would blog about each kid this week. Below is all about Avery at this stage in her life. She loves to color, swim, and play with dolls. If you do any of those 3 things with her, she feels like a princess. She also obeys quite a bit quicker if you have spent time doing one of these activities with her. I guess she feels loved and so reciprocates by showing us respect and obedience. Below I've posted a couple pictures and a video. The video is of Avery coloring and telling me all about what she wants to do today. I hope you can hear it! She is talking all about a white trampoline at a big swimming pool that she wants to jump on today. We've never been to a swimming pool with a trampoline at it before so who knows what made her think of this! Yesterday she wanted to go to the "moon" place with her wagon and it was purple and pink and white. Who knows what that is either!! Her imagination is incredible these days =)

Our Cruise

Brent and I went on our first vacation since our Honeymoon. This summer is our 5th anniversary and we both turn 30 this year so we decided to bite the bullet and just go. My parents were gracious enough to watch the girls for us, and we had a blast. I have to say that I wasn't sold on the idea that we needed a vacation, but I knew Brent really wanted to go so I helped make it happen. I am so glad I did. We go on date nights every other week, and we have a lot of fun as a family, but its just not the same as the fun you have without kids on an extended vacation. We got to be adventurous, lazy, silly, and totally irresponsible for a week and it was wonderful. It was such a great reminder to us about who we were before kids. I never want to forget that. After 3 years of being pregnant and nursing, it was needed. In the midst of the beaches, the ocean, the zip lines, and the rappelling, I remembered how to let go and just enjoy life.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day was bittersweet this year. I took the girls to Texarkana to my parent's house on Mother's Day. We ate a wonderful brunch with my parents and then I had to say good bye to the girls for a week. Brent and I were going on a cruise and the girls were staying with my parents. As I'm getting ready to say good bye, I realize that I've never been away from Elliana before and only been away from Avery for 1 night when she was 8 months old! Needless to say, I was a mess. As I was sobbing and saying goodbye, Avery crawled into my lap and said, "Its okay to be sad mommy, but try not to cry on the boat. Have fun with daddy." Talk about role reversal! So with my 2 year old cheering me on, I said good bye to my babies and drove home. On one hand it was difficult to leave them, but on the other hand it is so fun to watch them grow up and form relationships with their grandparents. This is definitely a mother's day I won't forget.