sweet Ava

I went to Tulsa Thursday night to help Dave & Bekah through the first couple days at home. Ava is such a good baby that I don't think they really needed much help.

Bekah and I played dress up one afternoon. It was just like when we were little kids only with a much cuter and squirmy doll.

Ava is the same size as bunny bear!

All that really fits her well is onesies but add a hat and anything looks good.

I could never picture myself with a girl but they are really sweet....

When I got home Max said, "Well, I still want a baby sister. I don't know we can't just get one."

T-ball Trophy

T-ball officially ended last week. Max went out big with his last game hitting a true double. The highlight of all the kids lives happened after the game with the presentation of their trophies. Their coach missed their last game because it was a make up game and he was on a work trip so the team signed a ball for him. T-ball was so much fun to watch but I have to be honest and say I won't miss chasing Jack around the ball park.

my niece

7.23.07

Yesterday Bekah went to the hospital at 7:30 am to be induced. Long story short, by 8:00 pm she had made absolutely no progress (her body is great at carrying babies but apparently not made for getting them out) so she had had a C-section around 8:15 pm.

This was our first glimpse of baby girl Parrish and her proud Daddy. We were all waiting in the lobby forever! I finally saw Dave walking into the nursery carrying his new baby and alerted the troops that she was here. We ALL started running toward the window to see her. The seas of people near the window literally parted so we could get our first glimpse of our newest relative. I think they were afraid of getting trampled... and for good reason.

Nana, Nana D and Aunt Leah watching baby girl get cleaned up a little. We are all knocking on the window trying to get Dave to tell us her name but he still refused. He said Bekah wanted to tell us. Fortunatley, nurses came in the hallway soon after telling us we could go back and see Bekah.

Once we were all in the room (Dave's parents, my mom, Leah, Dave's sister, B-I-L, niece, nephew and me) they finally revealed her name... Ava Lorynn. Her middle name is a combo of my mom's middle name: Lorraine and Dave's mom's middle name: Lynn. She weighed 6 pounds, 3 ounces was 19 1/4 inches long. She is so sweet!

Bekah's first time holding her new baby. Ava was mesmerized by Bekah. She just stared at her not making a sound. Then Dave walked up behind Bekah and said something; Ava immediately turned her head toward her Daddy. Then Ava started crying and Bekah realized it was her responsibility to make her stop. The sweet reality of parenthood.

A little fuzzy but cute none the less. Our much anticipated baby girl!

Reptile Wreath

When I got home from work today the boys came running over yelling something about a snake. I was confused. I looked to Leah (who had been watching them) for some help. She confirmed that yes, there was a snake. I asked if they found it in our yard. Her reply was even more alarming than that.

Leah heard a sound at the front door. She thought perhaps the screen door wasn't latched. When she opened the door there was a snake IN THE WREATH on the door. It hissed at her and strut it's head toward her. Now, I know what I would have done at this point but I can't say for sure what her initial reaction was. Nate came home for his break at some point during this and all I know a broom and some gloves were involved. Somehow, in the end, the snake ended up in a pillow case. Leah took it with her when she left to dump it somewhere.... probably near Lake Fayetteville since snakes seem to like that place.

AAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!! How does a big stinkin' snake end up in a wreath on the front door? That is so creepy.

Siblings

It's weird that we're all "grown up"... well, for the most part. It seems like just yesterday we were dressing Adam up in girl clothes and curling his hair with the curling iron. Oh, the good ol' days.

more Max

Last night after church Max came out with a sealed envelope addressed To:God From: Max.
I asked Max what we were supposed to do with the letter. He said he was going to give it to God. I asked him how. He said, "I guess just put it in my back pack." I asked why his back pack. Max said, "Well, then you can just make sure I have my back pack on when I go meet God."

Please, Lord, never let me see that day.

A few words from Max

As I was leaving for work this morning...
M: Why do you have to go to work everyday?
S: Because we have to have money so we can buy things like waffles (what he happened to be eating at the moment).
M: You should work at McDonalds then.
S: Why McDonalds?
M: Because, the people just come up and give you the money AND we could eat lots of good food.

At dinner...
"Hey! He got more cauliflower than me!!!"
He's a picky eater but for some reason he absolutely loves cauliflower. Weird.

T-ball

Max started T-ball this year. He loves it. It has been fun watching the crazy games... which is a good thing because they play 3 times a week! The t-ball teams are named after minor league teams. He is on the Lookouts. Notice the large eye balls on his cap.

Is it just me...?

... or do these guys look alike? Bonus points if you can identify them.

Dirty

Playing in the dirt all day makes for some nasty boys. We rinsed them off in the bathroom sink at night but during the day they were all covered from head to toe. Jack especially liked playing in the fire pit area creating a dirt-soot mixture. It was especially gross when he started sucking his thumb... making the dirt more like mud. I just thought of it as immune system boosting time.

Rocky Mountain High

We got to my parents house on Saturday night and left for Rocky Mountain National Forest on Sunday morning. We spent 2 nights (which was more than enough for me) camping and enjoying being surrounded by trees and elk. We saw lots of elk (they walked through the camp ground), some deer and even saw a moose. Tent-sweet-tent... or it could have been had we not had to share it with Grant and Jack (Max slept in my parent's tent with them). Grant snores and moves around all night long and Jack rolls over you, sits on your head wanting to play in the middle of the night and cries. I think our camping neighbors were really excited to be so close.
Camping was a dream come true for my boys... dirt everywhere and hundreds of trees to pee in.

Home Sweet Home

We made it back from Colorado last night. We had a great time (minus the blow out on the highway, driving 300 miles on a spare and waiting 2 hours in Sams for a couple new tires) and saw enough wildlife to last a while. Sometime when I'm not so tired I'll show you some pictures.