Epic Fail!

Sooooo, I seem to have gotten out of the art of blogging for a while! I am not going to make any promises to keep up with it as I can't make that kind of comittment!  Lots of changes since last April!!! Both of my children are doing great!!! Ava is taking tap and ballet and loves it! She is 100% diva, loves all things girly and has an attitude of a teen, I call her my three-nager.  Aiden is currently playing basketball and enjoying 3rd grade, he just turned 9 years old on Saturday!! Amazing, I feel like we just welcomed him to the world yesterday!  We celebrated by taking him and a few of his closest friends to Dave and Busters then they spent the night. The boys had a blast, for most is was their first official sleepover!  I am still working full time and trying to balance work, the kids and really working hard on getting back to my pre pregnancy weight with Ava!  I was doing really well last year then fell off the wagon a little so I am back at it and participating in an 8 week fitness challange with some friends! This is only week 1 but so far I am feeling great. Aside from just being exhausted from all the running!  Eating healthy means more trips to the grocery store and more food prep and cooking then add the trips to the gym and additional laundry from the gym, time adds up!!!! But it will be totally worth it in 8 weeks when I can look back and be proud of my results!  Chris is coaching Aiden's basketball team for the second year in a row. He is busy with work and traveling here and there for work.  I really can't complain, we are all doing well overall. My Mom and Dad are preparing to sell their home and move to Florida this spring.  My Dad is slowly progressing with his Alzheimers but we are working through it as a family.  It isn't easy and I wouldn't wish this awful disease on anyone.  I started attending a support group for people in their 20*30's and it's been nice meeting people who are dealing with the same issues with their parents. It's also not easy being over two hours away from them when I would like to be there to help. Having two little ones, one in school and a full time job doesn't allow me much time to travel :(  I did make a phone call in December to my sister, who I haven't spoken to in many years and we are now communicating and she has been a wonderful help to my Mom and Dad. She loves near them so it's going really well and I am thankful she is able to step in, sometimes we need to set aside our differences, pull up our big girl panties, get over it and move on!!! So I did, I did it for me, my family and mostly my Daddy! 

Wow! It's been a while!

I'm not sure where time has gone! I am going to attempt to update on the past several months as I have completely neglected my blog. It seems I left off with our family vacation to DC and Hershey which was a lot of fun! Then it was back to school time once again!

Aiden started second grade and sadly, there is only 9 weeks left and he will be a big third grader! He played flag football last fall and played his final game in the Bangels stadium which was quite an experience for a 7 year old! He played Upward basketball throughout the winter and Chris coached his team. He really enjoys sports and we love watching him! He decided this spring to try soccer again instead of flag football. It has been three years since he played but he plays as school a lot at recess so he had his first game this past weekend and scored a goal! He did great!!! We were a little worried since the team he is on has a lot of returning players and were undefeated last year but he fit right in and played his little heart out! He is doing very well in school. Trying to get him to sit down to do homework is a struggle but he would rather be up moving around doing something most of the time! He also just got a palate expander put in his mouth last week, he will wear that for about a year. I look at my baby boy and he is turning into this big boy, he still loves to cuddle with his Mom and hasn't shyed away from me giving him hugs and kisses in the morning even in front of his friends at daycare so, I can't complain! I just love him to pieces!!!!! Did I mention what an AMAZING Big Brother he is to his sister??? Honestly, I was so afraid of the age difference when I had Ava but they get a long so great, it's so much fun watching him take care of her, he loves her so much. She just loves him as well. I don't expect this to last forever, but for now, I am cherishing every second!

Oh and speaking of little Miss Ava...she is 13 going on 3! She is everything GIRL! She still loves Dora and we are getting ready to have a Dora party for her next Saturday! She still loves her dolls and just loves babies! When I take her to daycare she has to stop to see the babies in the nursery! She enjoys daycare and loves her teachers! I think she thinks she is one of them sometimes. She is stubborn as all get out and refuses to go potty on the toilet! I have been trying but she just isn't interested at all!!!!! She has gone here and there but nothing routine. I am going to give it a few more weeks and try again. Part of me just says wait until she is ready the other part of me is ready to be through the diaper phase! Plus, she has to be potty trained to take dance lessons and I would really like to sign her up this fall!

Chris and I are both busy with work and the kids and we both started going to the gym on a regular basis last fall. He talked me into seeing a trainer which I was not excited about, but after a few weeks I was hooked! It was just the motivation I needed and I lost about 12 pounds! I felt better and loved having someone to push me and encourage me. Then it got to be pretty expensive so I was cut off! (Boo :-() But I totally understand! I haven't been as committed to going the past two months but I am getting back on it- hopefully starting today!!!!! I just feel better about myself when I go and get a good workout! I took a body pump class that works your entire body with weights and hopefully I can get back to that soon. It's just hard to find the time! Chris and I took a 10 yer anniversart trip to Cancun in February, just us two for a long weekend and it was awesome! Our family vacation this year is to Florida. We are renting a house with my Mom and Dad for a week in Anna Marie Island. I am looking to that!! Easter is this coming weekend so I have been preparing for that as well as Ava's party which we are having the Sat before at my Mom and Dad's house. Hopefully the weather will be as wonderful as is has been these past few weeks!

I will try to keep this updated more often!!!!!!! Don't have time to post pictures but anyone who actually reads this is more than likely on my facebook and I post enough on there!!!!!! What can I say, I love my kiddos!

Countdown to VaCaTiOn!

We will be leaving for vacation one week from tomorrow! Our first stop is in our home town for a family reunion on Saturday afternoon. We will spend the night there and enjoy our Sunday with family. Then we are heading out after dinner to drive half way to Washington DC. We will stop and stay the night somewhere along the way in Virgina. Then we plan on getting up early on Monday and heading into DC for two days of sightseeing!!! We have a tour of the Washington Monument scheduled for Tuesday morning. I am still trying to talk myself into take the elevator as my fear is already setting in...:-( But I see the pictures from the top and it's an experience I don't want to miss out on so I might just have to pull up my bif girl panties and get over it! LOL I also tried to get tickets to tour the white house but I don't think that is going to happen. I have a high school friend working on getting those since the congressmans office couldn't obtain them for us. I guess the tours are very limited since 9/11. I won't let it ruin my trip if we can't go but I know that is something Aiden would love so trying everything in my power to get them!

After our 2 days and nights in DC we will drive up to Hershey, PA to go to Hershey park on Wednesday. I have never been there and always wanted to go so it made sense to make that part of our trip since it's only a few hours north of DC. We will stay the night there Wed then go on the Chocolate World tour on Thursday before heading back to my parents for the weekend. I am going to help my Mom with a garage sale and it's my Dad's Birthday weekend so we will enjoy some more family time before heading back home!

My goal is to try to just relax and enjoy our time as a family, I have a list of things I would like to do and see but, I am limiting myself on expectations!!!!!! As I know, setting any official schedule with two young children would just be foolish! ;-) Wish us luck!

**Seth is 6**

We spent last Saturday evening at Darby Creek Metro park. The Davis's invited us to a picnic to celebrate Seth's 6th Birthday. His actual birthday is the 4th of July but we both had busy schedules so we decided to celebrate a little later this year. We had such a nice time! The park was beautiful and so was the weather! Seth loved the OSU Jersey and watergun we got for him! He was even sooo polite and didn't need to be told to thank us! So sweet!!!

4th of July

Here are a few pictures from our 4th of July.

I love the one of Ava looking down the road at the parade. This was her very first parade. It didn't take her long to figure out if you want that candy they are throwing you have to go after it!!! She also did a great staying up for fireworks. We went to our normal spot for viewing and Aiden had fun playing with his friends and lighting smoke bombs! It's the simple things in life that excite him these days! Overall we had a wonderful holiday!

Epic-Fail

So...I haven't been doing really well at updating this blog. I'm not even sure anyone still follows but, I will continue to come and go and try to post some pictures when time allows. As you can see, time hasn't been allowing....therefore I am failing.....hence the title my new favorite term: "Epic-Fail"

We are having a great summer! Spending a ton of time at the pool!!

Aiden enjoying playing outside with his friends. He is also going on tons of field trips with daycare. They go to different parks, the police station, one day they went to a pizza shop and made their own pizza, today was library and the fire museum, yesterday was an animal hosptial...the list goes on and on...somedays I wish I could go to summercamp instead of work!

Ava loves being outside and taking walks. She is really enjoying her baby dolls and just loves Babies, so we take her dolls on walks, she makes it for a little while then I end up carrying the little stroller back home, or carrying the baby...but I love every second of it! She is talking up a storm, starting to ask things like "What you doing Mommy"- so cute!!! She loves to eat and will try almost anything we give her! She loves to draw and color. She is very independant as well! This can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on the situation.

We had a great 4th of July weekend! Ava had her first parade experience and loved it! Aiden also enjoyed catching all the candy and he saw a lof of his friends that were in the parade, of course now he wants to be in one... I told him I am sure someday he will get to participate! The fireworks were pretty great as well! I was surprised at how well Ava did given how late she stayed up to see them.

We are now looking forward to our vacation! Only 3 more weeks left! Soon after that it will be back to school! Aiden will be off to the second grade!

I am anxiously waiting for the gym near my office to open (this Saturday)! I really need to get into a workout routine. I plan on going a few times a week, either at lunch or after work on my way to get the kids. I have no excuse, I haven't lost the weight gain from my pregnancy with Ava. I really need ot focus on that and get back into shape! I am actually looking forward to it!

We just sold our changing table and crib on craigslist. Therefore, our family is officially complete. We now only have a pack n play left which I plan to keep incase we ever have company that needs to use it! *Bittersweet*

Sweet Summertime!

Summer is finally here!!! Aiden's last day of school was this past Friday and he started his summer camp through our daycare center yesterday. I can't believe he is going to be a second grader!

I obviously have been a complete slacker when it comes to posting on this blog! I've been extremely busy taking on some new projects at work. My time at home is most often spent, taking care of the kids or when they are in bed I am ready to CRASH!

Ava is also doing well. She was supposed to have her tonsils removed today but they called yesterday and cancelled the appointment. Apparently the outpatient surgery center will not operate on children under 3. They were not able to fit her in under the "regular" surgery center at the hospital so they were going to reschedule two weeks out. Then the doctor wasn't avaialbe and the fill in wasn't so we took that as as sign that maybe now isn't the right time. She has not been sick for several months. We have an ENT appt in August so we decided to hold off for now and we can discuss further in August. That will also give her time to get a little bigger and closer to the age the recommend the surgery. :-)

We are now going to move onto getting her to sleep in her big girl bed and potty training!

We are also in the process of planning a family vacation the first week of August to attend a family reunion then we will proceed onto Washington DC for some sightseeing. After that we plan on going to Hershey Park for a few days! The beach was not an option this year with Ava being so mobile, it just wouldn't be very relaxing!

We had a nice memorial day weekend visiting family and we spent the day in Pittsburgh. I will have ot post pictures when I find time to transfer them....