It's been awhile...

So, I'm pretty sure I don't have any followers seeing as I haven't posted in about a year. Wow that has gone by fast! I just want to remind myself about what's going on with the kiddos and us. Coop is now 4!! Holy moly. He still LOVES riding his motorcycle and bike. He goes off a 6" jump with both and has figured out how to jump up the curb with his bike. Which I still am too scared to do. He loves digging in the dirt, fixing things, taking things apart, and playing with/bugging Ave, and playing hide and seek. We had a special trip to d.i. just to find stuff to take apart. My favorite thing to do with him is lay down and talk to him right before he goes to bed. Finding out what his favorite part about the day was, and seeing it through his eyes. There's always something I never even noticed that he thought was hilarious or interesting. And questions, always questions about the world around him. He's either very helpful and kind and willing to share or he's doing everything in his power to drive you nuts. He is shy and daring, interested and funny. We love him a bunch! He's our favorite little guy.
Ava is almost 2 which is so crazy because I swear I was in the hospital and staying up all night yesterday! We call her our sassafrass (even the neighbor kid knows she's sassy) and she is a total girl! She loves to try on shoes and put bows in her hair and will tell you whether or not she likes them, by shaking her head because we're discovering she's a bit stubborn and does things only on her time. We found out her Scoliosis has gotten worse (fyi she has scoliosos) so instead of a brace she will have to have a cast. We got two opinions just to make sure. She is saying Mama, Dad, bubbles, ball, hi, dog, bober (something like that, it means Cooper), Devin, more, no (her favorite), ouch. There are a few more but I can't think of what I'm missing. She signs please, fishy, snake, candy, drink, all done, dog, milk. She's a mama's girl and is pretty particular about who she'll go to. Nursery-not so much. She loves babies and little kids and likes to follow them around and laugh at them. She makes us laugh all the time and has the cutest smile and laugh! She gets really excited and yells every time we play hide and seek and she can hear Cooper coming to get her.
As for us...Not too exciting! Justin is fixing exercise equipment and working some crazy hours. We (Lindy, my friend, and her husband that is) planted our first tree in our yard! Yeah!! I smile every time I see it. And we are getting our garden ready to plant! Sometime in the future is a playground and sandbox. Sometime...
Anyway, that's just for me. They are so much fun! They miss each other when the other one is gone and are best friends. We love them like crazy!

Yeah, we also got a new camera and I'm so tech savvy I can't figure out how to download pictures so those pics are both a few months old but hey, something's better than nothing right?

For Great Grandma Olsen

(This is really long)

Ava can scoot! She learned this about 1 1/2 months ago and it's so cute! This is how she get around now and my suspicions about her being the one that gets into everything have been confirmed! She loves eating paper and playing with doorstops. Time to baby proof again!

Two Wheels BABY!

My 3 year 3month old can ride a two wheeler! He jumped on our neighbors little bike without training wheels, the seat was held for about 2 seconds and he was off! If he were like one inch taller he would be able to start on his own. Soon! (I switched these videos around but it takes too long to change them so just watch the second one first. And they are really bumpy, sorry)

Cooper's 3rd day riding a two-wheeler. Didn't take him long to pick up some tricks. Going off the curb is his favorite! He got a little bit more graceful putting the bike down. Now he keeps asking to take the training wheels off his motorcycle so he can go up big hills. Cooper is our retirement plan, we're banking he's got some mad motocross skills also!


He had been riding for five minutes max. Holy cow I can't believe he's so big. Love this kid! Don't you love Ava's bike? She's ready to go to!
FYI: He's at our neighbor's house. Our house is the white one in the background-for those of you who are wondering. (Andrea that is your lot right behind us. OUR neighbors are really nice, I know you'll love it)

This is how pretty it was when he learned

Ava @ 10 Mos is...

I know I did an update not too long ago on Ava, this is just for my own remembering because Heaven knows I need all the help I can get!

Nicknames for Ava at the moment: Lil' Ave, A-V-A, baby Ava, Ava Bava, Sweetpea.
Some of your favorite things: FOOD! watching Cooper play, anything small enough to put in your mouth, Mom, sitting in big kid chairs, and oh yea FOOD. It's a wonder you're so small

Ava you are honestly the best baby ever! The only time I hear a peep out of you is if you are hungry-and then it's just grunts or Cooper is being too friendly. Yep, that's pretty much it. Oh, or if my hands are cold when I'm changing your clothes! That is about it. I can't believe how content and happy you are. You give me a smile everytime you see me, yes everytime and I can't get enough of it. I just want to squeeze you and keep you like this forever. I know you're smart because you sit quietly and observe so much. You are saying Mama, Dada, and Hi but without the 'i', and waving.

Some new things that you're learning: You will sit on your bum and move your feet until you've gone in a full 360 degree circle to see what or who is around. You have been so laid back that if a toy was out of reach it was no big deal. Great for temperament, not so much for learning to get around! But you are now wanting to get moving a little more. You are trying to scoot on your bum but it's hard on the carpet. You are also starting to stand for a few seconds on your own! Yeah! You are rolling everywhere and we are working on those abs so you can go from laying to sitting. You have two new teeth and you know how to use them! Food is your favorite! You can eat nearly a whole packet of instant oatmeal. I usually split one between you and Cooper and you eat yours and then finish off half of Coop's because he is 'full' ie wants to play.

Cooper is still your best friend and is pretty much the only one who can make you belly laugh and he thinks that's great. Even though he realizes you are never leaving, he's now realizing you are somebody he can play with to.

I love that you are just happy and have no worries. I wish I could keep you this unaware forever but I fear the day will come when you realize not everything's perfect. So, I will keep you in my arms and kiss you as much as I can so that maybe when that time comes, it won't matter so much. We love you and can't get enough of you!

FYI

I took Ava in for a weight check today and she gained 7oz in 2 weeks! So, maybe she's like the 4th percentile now. Yeah!

GoOD cLeaN fUn

Cooper very proud of his motorcycle jump (the little mound of dirt on the floor)
The motorcycle getting ready to jump

Good 'clean' fun

That's my boy! He's always digging, building,and figuring out how things work. This plant is his usual building ground. I have found him here quite a bit during the day. You never know what they'll come up with!

So, this picture may not be a big deal to anyone else but to me it's huge! The other day there were a few boys around his age playing by our house (our whole block is a field aka playground) and I said, "you can go play if you want" Not thinking he really would. He's usually so shy I didn't think he'd chance it but he ran and got his shoes and put them on, ran out our door, hesitated for a few min at the bottom of the stairs, and then ran right up to them and started playing! What?! Since when is my baby boy big enough to go play outside with the boys and make friends that aren't at a playdate with their mommies? It was one of those make your heart ache because you know they're not your baby anymore kind of moments. I was glued to the window watching. I'm so excited to live in a neighborhood and watch him grow up with all the boys in our neighborhood. We have some great neighbors. Justin is still really good friends with his neighborhood friends so hopefully my kids will have some lasting relationships just like it! I love our house!

I've had many entertaining conversations with Cooper while we were driving in the car but I think this one tops them all!

Coop: Look at those horses!
Me: What horses? (We were on the freeway so it was a quick glance)
M: Oh! (Shock)
C: What was that horse doin Mom?! (Lots of laughing)
M: Maybe it's getting a piggyback (also lots of laughing)
C: Why's it so tired? (laughing) It's gettin' a ride on the other horse! (laughing)

The above repeated until we got home with lots and lots of laughing on both ends. We had to call Justin and tell him about the funny horses getting a piggy back ride. Who needs the discovery channel?

Tulip Festival

My good friend, Coralie, invited us to the Tulip Festival and I'm so glad we went! We were there for over 4hrs and the kids had a blast. I can't believe we've never done this before! This definitely won't be our last time. Someday I'm going to get a good camera. So many opportunities for good pictures

Oh my goodness I love her!

'The Boys'

Cooper~best friend Jaden~Carter

I don't know how many times they rolled down those hills but it was a ton. Cooper could barely move when we got home!

Feeding the fish

They were troublemakers the whole time. They ran around together like a mini tornado. I don't think we got one pic with all three of them looking at us. They were so cute to watch run around

My cute kiddles and I



Ava checking out Miss Bailey's bow, our little flowers (once again, another pic they're going to love when they're older!), my cute Ave, and Coop and his bff.

Thanks Coralie and Jessica! We had so much fun

ZoO

We took the monkeys to see the kids at the zoo

We've been having lots of fun nights with Cooper trying to sneak into our bed at night so we told him if he got to mark off a number every time he stayed in bed all night and for naps, when they were marked off we would go to the zoo. He marked all the numbers off about a month ago but it's been so yucky we just made it to the zoo! Sorry buddy, but good work! The train was by far his favorite thing!

2nd Generation 'Brigade'

Ava~Staeli~Oakley

Ava is the oldest of the three, can you believe it?! Look at how big Oakley is

Hopefully they won't get into any more trouble than their parents did in high school!

~9 Month Follow Up~

Length 26.5" 10th percentile

Weight 13lbs 3rd percentile

Head 42.6cm 10th percentile

She's my dainty little peanut! She's tiny but full of life. I will give everybody an update on what's going on with her. It's just everyday life for us so I forget that people wonder about what's going on with us. Ave is pretty much the cutest thing I've ever seen. She loves food but will now look at her spoon to see if it's from my plate or hers. And then she decides if she will eat it or not. And she loves to feed herself which is so cute! She sits up like a champ. I think she will have to learn to scoot on her bum because crawling may be a little difficult. We'll just have to see what she comes up with! Justin says (and I agree) that we will have to put food just out of reach to get her motivated to move! Seriously. She is the most laid back, easy going baby. And she's an adrenaline junky. You can try to make her laugh all day and nothin' until you throw her in the air or push her in the swing. She loves it. And she's a total Mama's girl-I'm loving every minute of that-because how long is that really going to last? We will probably be going to Shriner's in the next few months to see about possible prosthetics and ortho stuff. But she's healthy, happy, and has eyes that make you melt. We love her!

Ahh...the simple things

This is for you Andrea. (and Mom, maybe you'll believe me now that she laughs!)

So, we are alive for those of you who still check our little blog! And LOTS has changed in the last 6 months. We went on a trip to Cali for Halloween-didn't want to come back, sold our condo in a week, and MOVED! Oh yeah baby! We are currently the only people on our block. Nice change from being surrounded on 3 sides. My little boy turned 3, and my baby girl is 9 months old! Ava is now saying Mama and Dada and has one tooth with more on the way. Coop is a daredevil on his motorcycle. Coop and Ave also started swim lessons by our house. Crazy. We also took a little trip to Moab for Easter weekend. I'll post pics of the house soon but for now these will have to do!

Sand mountain in moab, Coop rolled down the whole thing and had sand in every cravace

Check out Ava's face. Not quite sure about that bit white bunny

Ava had much more fun on this trip than her first one in August. Love this girl

Ava and Brooke

He's going to be so mad about this picture when he's older but I love it!

Potty Training

Oh the joys of potty training! The only thing that has worked so far is bribery. And it works well! So far we've used mini cars, candy, and mini golfing. We told Coop if he sat on the potty 5x and peed then we could go mini golfing. So we went and had a blast. He's surprisingly good for 2 1/2. He definitely didn't get my coordination thank goodness! We also rode the bumper boats and Coop squirted everyone in line. It was pretty dang fun. So, we'll see what else we can bribe him with...

2 Mos and so cute!

These were done in August, but better late than never right?

Jackie~check out the tutu!

Cooper 2 1/2 yrs, Ava 2 mos