Ava's room is almost done!

Ava's bedroom as been a work in progress. A few months ago we gutted it, added new insulation, and a new floor and ceiling. I had a blank slate to be creative, so I thought of this neat room. Ava calls it her "inside, outside" room. As much as it will serve as a room for her, it will also be a great playplace for Brendan. As you can see in one of the photos below, he has already started mowing the lawn. Its not done yet, we are laying carpet now and then we will put in molding and I still have to paint the closet. I'm kind of sad that its almost done, because I have using it as a place to relax and paint after the kids go to bed. I think it will be a great room for them to use there imagination, but there is one thing I know for sure now, I can't send Ava to her room anymore when she gets into trouble!

We found a cute birds nest at the craft store and added a little bird that Ava made and Brendan loves taking the frogs and turtles off and on the lilly pads.

The apples are craft apples stuck to the tree with velcro so that they can be "picked", we did the flowers in the "reading garden" the same way. We glued a fuzzy ladybug to the vine and put birds in the tree.

The school has a built in chalkboard thanks to black chalkboard paint. We made Brendan a little pear tree so that he can reach to pick the fruit. The alcove closet will also serve as the "house". We are going to paint that pink with white polka dots. (Ava's choice) The library will eventually have a bookshelf added to it so that we can read in the "reading garden. We'll have to get a comfy beanbag chair to read on there.

Ava's Dance Recital

Photos from before and after Ava's Recital

Cell PhonePictures

I finally figured out how to upload pictures from my cell phone!

Cell Phone Pictures

A local field days!
This boat is at a local library. Ava loves to pretend she
s sailing away traveling the seven seas. She could play on this all day! Brendan was asleep the day we went so we'll have to go back soon.I'm sure he'd love it.

Brendan watching Ava swim at the pool. (This is an old one)

Sara and Brendan

Sara loves a game of fetch. She is always bringing us sticks to throw!

Our Afternoon to Music

That dandelion blowing needed to be set to music, and that little Brendan just loves to "help" with the yardwork. He's been helping to haul weeds and shrubs to the pile to be picked up. I bought him a toy push lawnmower last week and his favorite thing to do is to push that down the sidewalk. He was pushing Ava's doll strollers and little shopping cart so the lawnmower makes Paul happy too. (just kidding)

Ava Singing

Ava is learning how to sing "Tommorow." You may want to turn the volume down a bit, but I am very proud that she did hit some of the notes!

Muddy Water

The kids got to cover themselves with mud in the bathtub this morning with Crayola Mud Soap. What clean dirty fun!

A Walk to Visit the Fish

I have been watching a couple of kids this week because my neighbor who usually watches them is in Alaska. It has been an interesting week and overall Brendan has enjoyed spending time with his little friend, although it was a bit stressful at times due to the change of his routine. Today we took a walk to the DEC Fish aquarium. Brendan loves visiting the fish!

May Flowers

I received flower bulbs for Christmas from my mom and they took right off this spring. They are beautiful!

Don't mind the posts. The kids went to bed early so I have been playing around with pictures again!

messy painting

Happy Birthday Em!

Emmy's Birthday

I have been neglecting my blog lately, but I'm back ! Last night we celebrated Emmy's 2nd Bday. Here is Josie jumping out of the box to Emmy's surprise!

Emmy eating cake.
Baby Sam.

I just had to throw this one in of Brendan after enduring many hugs and kisses from Emmy.

Brendan: I'm outta here.

Emmy: What did I do?

Georgia and Russell.

Here is the Birthday girl, leading Brendan to the horses.
Aww, is she telling him a secret?

Brendan loves Uncle Brad's lawnmower.

I love this picture of Georgia in the sunshine. Love the boots Georgia. You can dress her up- but you can't take the country out of her!

Elsie stopping to pose with the horses.

Here is Josie with the adorable bumble bee that she and her mother made out of a mustard container! Great way to recycle! It makes a cute lawn ornament. We are definately going to try this. (when we run out of mustard!)