Our little dancer!!

Avery started ballet and tap yesterday! She has been so excited to go back to dance. She did jazz for a couple of months but it ended in June and she was pretty sad. So she'll do ballet and tap through the summer and start Jazz again in September for the whole school year. I have to say, I took dance a lot through out my life so it just seems natural for me to put my daughter in it. I seriously can't believe how big she is. She is growing into such a beautiful girl and Erik and I are so proud of her. I can't wait until her recital!!

I'm ready for bed!!!

Getting the kiddos ready for bed is pretty routine around our house. We get them bathed, read a book and Erik brushes the teeth since he's the dentist. After the teeth brushing, Aves usually runs to her bed and climbs in. We soon follow to say prayers and tuck her in. Last night Erik and I walk into her room to find this. Apparently, she was ready for bed with her beanie on. I asked her if she wanted to sleep with it on, she said yes. So, she did. She just makes us laugh. She is always doing the funniest things, and I wish I was better at capturing and recording all of her funny moments. We LOVE this little monkey more than life itself. Already at three, she has so many wonderful qualities. I know she is going to grow up to be an amazing person. We love you Avery!

I just might hate princesses!

I used to think it would be so cute and sweet when the time would come that Avery would love princesses. Now, I am singing a different tune. In fact, I think they drive me crazy. Her obsession has gone to a whole new level. She believes she is a princess and now regular clothes are no longer suitable for this little princess living in my home. It is a fight daily to get her to wear normal clothes. She is quite certain that she needs to wear some sort of dress or she is not a princess. I'm not even kidding when I say she won't even put on a pair of pants or capri's. She throws a wicked fit and I have to threaten to take the princess dresses away. Not to mention that is all she wants to watch now. If it doesn't have a princess in it, it doesn't belong on our television screen. What saddens me the most about all of this is that when ever Erik and I do something for her that we know she'll love, it usually turns into some sort of nightmare for us. Oh what we go through for our kiddos. I just have to remind myself that she is only little once and these minor occurrences, will one day be the least of my problems.

Oh how I love my kids!!

Although mother hood brings joy and fulfills a woman in a way that is impossible without them, it is also a very difficult job. The responsibility is so huge and divine, and with that responsibility is great stress and anxiety. Am I doing this right? Will my kids turn out successful in all aspects of their lives? Am I rearing them in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord? These are just a few questions I often ask myself. However, among the madness in my head, is joy and gratitude for these little ones. I can't thank the Lord enough for blessing me with these beautiful kids. I love them so much sometimes, I feel like I am going to burst at the seams! Motherhood is truly the greatest calling in life.

Some facts about these two loves of mine:

Little miss Avery Elle,
 She loves princesses. So much it's almost driving me to insanity. At night, she doesn't even want to put on pajamas unless they are her princess pajamas. We only have two pairs so it's an issue most nights.
She loves breakfast! She looks forward to it. She talks about what she's going to have the night before.
She loves her trampoline.
She loves to play dress up.
She is very polite and tells me thank you for almost everything.
Loves swimming in pools and anything with water.

Little man Konner,
He is now 6 months old and growing too fast in my opinion.
Has darker hair and eyebrows than Aves did at that age, plus he has way more hair than she did.
He loooves his mama! He always keeps his eyes on me, which I love :)
He is such a good sleeper. Goes right to bed at night and always sleeps in.
Wants to crawl. Gets mad when he sees something he wants and can't get to it.
Likes to suck on my cheeks.
Loves carrots among all the other foods he's tried.

Pretty much, these kids and my husband are the best thing that ever happened to me.

My new toy!

We got a new camera and I love it!!! No, I do not have the goal of becoming a photographer. I have great friends who do that and they are so fabulous, I'll leave that up to them. However, I do want to be able to capture some great shots of my kiddos. When I got the camera a few weeks ago, I had no idea what I was doing with it. I wanted to learn how to use it in manual mode so I took a class and here is my first shot after figuring out some manual settings. I must say what a fun little hobby and for my great friends who are photographers, wow!! This takes some definite work and talent. Finding the right settings for your lightening isn't the easiest task so hats off. I love this little man and I thought for my first shot in manual, it was pretty decent. It's definitely a fun toy!

Our happy Easter!

 We had a great Easter this year. For the first time in 7 years, we stayed home and did our own family thing.

We had an Easter egg hunt with friends, colored eggs in our back yard and celebrated Easter Sunday at church and dinner with friends. This year we made sure to teach Avery the true meaning of Easter. It's not really about bunnies, eggs and candy, it's about our resurrected Savior and His ministry on this earth. She loved all the fun we had and we loved watching her enjoy!

 Little man's Easter present!

The happiest place on earth!!!

Each year our family takes a trip to California. For the past two years, we've gone to San Diego so this year, we thought we would give Disney Land a try. It did not disappoint! We made reservations for Avery to have lunch with the princesses and it was worth every penny. The food was really good and the fact that every princess came to our table to see her, made it completely worth it. She loved it. She couldn't get enough of the princess stuff. The first day we went to downtown Disney and strolled around, had dinner at the cheesecake factory and then hung out in our hotel and watched the fireworks from our room. The next morning, we hit Disney Land. I thought for sure it would be difficult with Konner but it wasn't. They let him on every ride we went on except one, which was a roller coaster. Of course, we only went on the kiddie rides cause there was no way Erik and I could do adult rides with two kids but that's okay, we really went for Avery anyway. The third day, we went to the beach. It was really windy and not warm enough to swim so we just stayed in our clothes and hung out and played in the sand. Erik and I kept saying how strange it felt to be back at Disney Land because we went there on our honey moon seven and half years ago and it's so fresh in our memory and then seven and a half years later we're there with two kids. It was such a weird thought. We had so much fun on this vacation and I love this tradition that we've started. California every year is a great tradition!