Bobby and Sarah

at the beach

 My brother Bobby and his wife Sarah married not yet a year came to visit our little family a few weeks ago. We greatly anticipated their coming and had such a wonderful time while they were here. They course has some of their own plans, such as going to Disney World, taking an air boat ride in the St. Johns river, going kayaking, driving down the coast, dates at local delicious restaurants, but that doesn't mean they didn't have any time for us. I got to cook them several meals (my favorite thing to do when people come :), we played Settlers of Catan once, watched the UFC fights at some friend's house, went to church, hung out in Cocoa village, and of course... went to the beach.

The morning after they got here they were sleeping in because the time change can be a difficult adjustment in the mornings, and Ava was just waiting for them to come out of the room, she couldn't stop mentioning Bobby, and when he actually came out she was so shy but then after a couple minutes she couldn't contain herself, I don't know if I've ever seen her this excited about someone (other than her daddy) coming to visit before, she was “performing” for Bobby, saying crazy stuff, jumping off couches, laughing historically... the point being she was VERY excited to have Bobby here! She enjoyed Bobby and Sarah the whole time they were here, and she was forever entertained with their Iphones and Ipad, she wishes she could have kept them around forever. I also enjoyed getting to know Sarah a little better as I hadn't gotten to know her very well before Bobby married her, so that was fun!

Ava wasn't feeling good

In our beach tent my mom and Grandma got us 

Toy Store!  

walking around Cocoa Village

Ava make'n a run for it

Eating lunch at a local favorite

UFC fight night, everyone's helping Andrew hold Penny  :)

Kisses

chill'n with her daddy

Sarah and Penny

Ava playing with Bobby's phone (common occurance)

2 Months Old!

first time in the bumbo chair

she can only hold her head up for so long  :)

"poop face"  :)

Penny is 2 months old today, it's pretty easy to keep track seeing how it's the first of every month.  She's starting to get pretty chunky which is fun.  She smiles at me now several times a day, and I love that her personality is starting to show through.  When she cries, she gets her sad face on, and then lets out a sort of long sad sob cry  :(  I'ts so ridiculously sad, it's cute!  She is a really good baby which helps seeing how Ava seems to be a handful lately.  Penny is such a joy, and I'm so grateful to have her in our lives.

My girls & A Tribute to a special man

 

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Sisters :)

 

Love my family! 

my girls!

We haven't taken enough pictures of Penny and so... I did a little photo shoot with her and if I might say so myself, she's a doll!  But that's her mother's opinion, what else am I going to say?!

Sunday was Easter, and so our little family decided to match, so... Family pictures were a must!  Plus we had to send one to the MTC (Missionary Training Center) so they would have one on file.
Also, an update on Ava:  Her behavior has improved sooo much, not only back to normal, but she seems to be behaving BETTER than she was before (other than the biting : - / ... still needs a little work there)  I am so grateful, TJ and I are really enjoying her again, as she has been such a happy girl!  Thanks for praying. 

On another note I was informed this morning that a teacher at NTBI Jackson, and an incredible person (James Hatton) died last night after battling cancer this year.  I feel sad for the loss, for his family who in my opinion is one of those gem families that you don't come across too often.  He was such an enjoyable man, so so soooo encouraging in the Lord, lived his life as an example of Christ, as a husband, father, and grandfather.  He will be missed!  Knowing someone like this also brings such the reality that he is actually in the presence of GOD!!!  Wow... life all of the sudden seems so short.  Like my brother Del says "life is short, you have to live every day for God" he's right, life isn't worth living if your not living for God.  Things in my life all of the sudden seem so unimportant and selfish... I'm so selfish.  Things just come into perspective when you realize how short life is and how important it is to live every second for God.  It's so easy to always focus on the future, even through the circumstances with our church, TJ and I are still planning on going to the MTC this fall based on the fact that God hasn't said no yet, but at the same time it all seems so unknown, and quite frankly, it worries me!  These things are in God's hands and I think he really only wants me to think about today and how to serve Him right now... easier said than done!  James Hatton, you were an amazing man because of who Christ was in you, thank you for the legacy you left, and for being the example you were to every person you came into contact with.

Penny - 1 Month old

One month old

Penny's "poop" face

smiles  :)

kisses

Ava trying to feed Penny  :/

Ava found that Penny likes to suck on her finger

Penny was a month old last Sunday, so here are some pics to update you.  Penny has been a fun addition to our family, I am proud to call her mine.  She can hold up her head pretty well now, and is just starting to smile at me.  Unlike Ava she doesn’t really appreciate being swaddled, and sleeping on her back doesn’t really do it for her, she prefers her side  ;)  and sleeping without mommy is nothing to be desired, which you can imagine makes it hard for a mama to get any sleep.  She also tends to not want to go to bed until late, and is pretty fussy the entire evening, if I wasn’t ok with pacifiers before, I’m more than okay with them now… they are my new best friends! 

The day Del and Arielle left, Ava got sick and had a fever for 4 days straight, nothing really came of it.  I don’t know what the deal was, but when she actually started feeling better, she was acting out like crazy, being rebellious towards us to the core!  She’s been screaming constantly, yelling “NO!” at us, throwing fits like she had never done before, this lasted a few days before she really broke of it, and we are still working on her.  Even though it was really draining for TJ and I emotionally we tried to be as consistent as we could in disciplining her in order to get over this hump and her not gain any ground on us.  She is still testing us, and having a hard time getting along with other kids, but I think she is really improving in her behavior, TJ and I need prayer though as we want to do the right thing with Ava and deal with her correctly.  There are definitely a few things that Ava has had to deal with though, first it was a new baby in the house taking attention away from her in combination with a family staying with us.  Ava then got used to my brother’s family being here, but then they left :(.  The day they left she came down with a fever AND I had to figure out how to take care of two little ones.  So… I am not ignorant to the transition she is going through, and am trying to be sensitive to that, but at the same time she needs consistency and thrives off knowing where the boundaries are, then she can act on that. 

Anyway… Ava really does love Penny, when she cries Ava tries to console her, she talks in a high voice to Penny saying “HHhhiiiiiiii!!!”, she loves to hold her and give her an innumerable amount of kisses a day.  She enjoys throwing away diapers, she grabs the diaper and says “trash… trash” and proceeds to throw it in the trash.

 Ava was holding Penny yesterday and actually pretended to feed her, and since then has been religious about feeding her own babies  :).  Ava, just in the past couple of weeks has really increased her vocabulary, she has started shooting out all kinds of words I never knew she knew.  She has also started putting two words together, for example “nighnight mommy”  “help please” “obey mommy and daddy” “choo choo train”  and many more, basically whatever 2 words she knows, she can put them together. 

That’s all the news for now… :)