Carnival 2011

We have a yearly tradition of hitting up the St. Barnabas Parish Festival with our dear friends (and former neighbors) Uncle Perry & Aunt Siggy. It began when Mason was a sweet 6 month old and may have just been an excuse to indulge in the a corndog or two, drink some fresh squeezed sugar lemonade, and maybe end the night with a funnel cake. But, as Mason has grown and we have added others to the mix, it has become more about the time together and the overpriced rides!

Safety Town

Oh this 5 year old year is filled with so many milestones and firsts and tear-jerking moments...it is like a year of getting slapped in the face with just how old your baby has become. You used to tell them they were a 'big boy' to encourage growth and development...as in, "What a big boy you are!" "Let's put on your big boy underwear." "Big boys eat their veggies." etc. etc. Well {GULP!} it has been this 5 year old year that has announced loud and clear that Mason has achieved official 'big boy' status.

And this week was Safety Town. 5 days in a row of 9:30a drop-offs and 11:30a pick-ups. He loved it. And I loved 5 days of precious one:on:one time with my second born while Ava napped (more on that later)!

Here are the pics of the Safety Town graduation. I admit I find all of these 'graduations' a little excessive....I mean, kids graduate more now than ever before: pre-school, safety town, kindergarten, etc. I know it is much more for the parents than the kids--which is probably why I find it annoying. But even I have to admit there is something rewarding about hearing your child's name and seeing them accept their 'diploma' when all they really want is the kool aid and traffic light rice krispie treat ;-) Well, if I am being honest, it is also quite fun to chuckle at the parents who arrive {at least} 30 minutes early to get a prime seat {on a picnic table} for this {once of a lifetime} occasion. You can see the back of these parents heads in this momma's pictures.

all systems go!

Well, here is the indisputable evidence: When I say our baby girl is crawling at 6 months of age...like, really crawling...I mean it.

She is quite proud of herself. We are quite proud of her. I guess it is time to start vacuuming and mopping every day week. :)

totally tubular

Our sweet Ava {and her poor, poor parents} have been dealing with chronic ear infections since March due to persistent fluid in the ears. I blame Tim. I blame my sister. Both of whom had poorly tilted eustachian tubes as children. I thought my children would be invincible to ear infections since they are given only the good stuff, but {ALAS!} this was not the case. We tried every known natural remedy in addition to the dreaded antibiotic route, which, by the way, is absolute torture for parents and babies alike. Most antibiotics require 10 full days of twice a day dosing--seriously??!! These fancy schmancy pharmaceutical companies can't come up with anything better--a dissolvable tablet??

And, while it took everything I had not to chug the entire bottle of 'bubblegum medicine' (the smell of the 'pink stuff' (amoxicillin) brought me straight back to my childhood), Ava's sensitive pallet was not impressed in the least. Let's just say that I have no worries that my baby girl will ever be held against her will. She learned quickly and effectively how to evade the medication and adapted her evading techniques {pursed lips, head turn, spitting it out, double head turn} as I tried every possible position and coaxing technique under the sun. I dreaded 7a and 7p each day...for a long time!

In reality, Ava handled the pain associated with these infections like a super champ, but enough is enough. In addition to not wanting to pump any more antibiotics into my 6 month old, that nasty fluid in her ears was causing hearing loss/distortion, which is not good at this age in speech development. I was proud of myself for going in for a second opinion, which luckily agreed with the first opinion.

So, today at 7:30a Ava had a new pair of ear tubes installed in her sweet little bulging ear drums. Dr. Katz also assured me that he drained lots of 'thick, yellow fluid' from behind both ear drums. He said that our happy little girl should be even happier {which is hard to believe}...but I take this to mean that she might just start sleeping thru the night....hey, I can dream, right??!?

I was so thankful that everything went off without a hitch and that my hot hubby {he even rocks a blue hair net} was there to handle the job of holding Ava while they put her to sleep and then holding my hand while we waited the 7 minutes for the procedure.

Ava was a little confused and upset upon awaking, but quickly settled down and then slept off the anesthesia for 3 hours at home.

Beach Bummin'

Oh what a week we had in Myrtle Beach, SC!! My parents gifted my sister and me a week at their Marriott timeshare and we picked this fabulous resort in N. Myrtle Beach. Can you say "OCEANFRONT WITH 4 POOLS?" It was beyond wonderful!!

A blog I used to read described how she loved to 'freeze' her kiddos at the beach every year. And this description has stuck with me. The running on the beach...how did my firstborn baby get such big boy legs? And how fun are these cute little girl bathing suits?? Enjoy these pics of our amazing week of fun in the sun...in no particular order... :)

Ava supervising her brother's sandcastle making

Levi riding the waves with Daddy -- he LOVED every second of the ocean!!

Beach baby watching the wave riding


Daddy & Ava catching some rays (and tasting sand)

oh this face says it all! Did I mention Ava started crawling a few days before we left for vaca!

Pooltime with Daddy Shark...

love this surfer boy!

Mason's turn riding the waves. He took a little longer to warm up to the ocean's 'roughness', but by the end of the week he didn't need to strangle Daddy with his death grip....he actually was riding the waves NEXT to Tim and loved getting pummelled by the waves!

Even the promise of chocolate ice cream didnt get a photo of all 3 smiling

Mason found this hermit crab and wanted a pic.

Our Sleeping Beauty: poolside. Ava was a total trooper, sleeping when she needed to wherever we were. So this is what it is like to have a laid-back baby!

My sweet nephew Elijah -- he LOVES the water! He would go out on the balcony every morning and point to the ocean saying "waddur" with a huge grin!

waterslidin'. the sign said you had to be 48", but the lifeguards were super cool and our kiddos couldn't get enough of this slide!

brothers -- and I didn't even have to bribe for these smiles

and awake poolside

my boys: beach bound

Mom, there's a tv in our room!!!! I am surprised he left this bed all week!

the boys

nursing our 'babies' on the beach....

Luke & Levi buried by Mason.

Mason buried.

Levi taking a little break from the waves.

The girls.

our family of 5

this is the life.

Ava's first shower. Each of the kiddos had their first shower with Daddy while on vacation!

My sleeping beauty! (the animal print bikini made it despite Daddy's protests ;-)

"Mom, why do I have a boys swimshirt on???"

Trying to get a family pic was difficult to say the least ;-)

but we took it anyways!

Sunbathing with Daddy...

one of the pools! the kids loved the splash area!

My sister Emily showing off her 25 pound+ weight loss!!

Sportin' the shades ;-)

All systems gos for the beach!

w We stayed with my dear college friend Tricia and her familyon the way down to Myrtle. More on this later!! It was so fun--she is an absolute inspiration and we haven't laughed this much in a long time!