Where have we been???

Well June is almost over & no blog posts??? I promise I have some really great reasons... First of all, we spent the entire first week of the month at Disney World! Can you believe it? Seven solid days of Mickey, Minnie, & the gang. I have tons of great pictures and stories from the trip I can't wait to share. The second week, as you can imagine, we needed a vacation from our vacation. We were all pooped. It took me DAYS to get caught up on everything after being gone so long. It took me more days than I care to admit honestly. Had a serious Disney hangover. Last week was Vacation Bible School at church. It was my first year to volunteer full-time and WOW was it exhausting, but fun at the same time. I was the class "Shepherd" for Ava's class. The "Mosquitoes" class consisted of 20 kiddos going into either 2ND or 3rd grade. Benjamin stayed in the nursery every morning from 8:30-1pm while I was with my class. He had a ball playing with the other babies and winning the hearts of all the nursery workers! He is such a little flirt. I missed him WAY more than I expected, but I know it is good for both of us to spend time away from one another and I welcomed the opportunity to spend quality time with Ava during the week.

Baby Einstein

Ben got a new toy! And he obviously likes it... a lot. The story is that Matt and I were going out of town for a wedding and Ben was staying with his Grandma and Grandpa for the night. Well, Grandma being a grandma went out and got a few things to help keep him entertained. He seems pretty entertained to me!! After it was all said and done he had a great time while we were away (we were gone 30 hours to be exact) and everything went well. I will admit that I missed the little sucker, but it was probably good for the both of us.

The Bay

I took this picture a couple of weekends ago when Papa Ernie and JoJO came down to the Bay House to go fishing. When everyone got back to the house after a long hot day on the boat, Ava and Papa Ernie sat out on the lawn and counted the flying fish. I think they said they counted 127- wow!

Water Water Everywhere

I just love this picture of Matt and Ben. It is the cutest thing. This was Ben's first trip out on the sail boat. He absolutely LOVED it, and no one was happier about that than Matt. Looks like he has a new little sailing buddy :) They both look so reflective and relaxed, perfect for an afternoon on the boat. But the fun did not stop there! Mr. Ben had his first big boy bath this weekend.

It is pretty evident that he liked it. I can't believe he is so big. It was a fun weekend.

Sitting Up

When did this happen??? Benjamin is totally sitting up now. He is getting so big. The sitting up thing has definitely been a gradual process. He started out with the Bumbo chair and then moved on to sitting with the Boppy pillow around him. Now he can sit up and play all by himself. He is still a little wobbly so if I am not right there I put a pillow or two around him. (Sometimes he is a little overconfident!) But overall, I think it is time to declare that he has achieved the sitting up milestone. I'll go pour the champagne (apple juice for you Ben)!

Little Mama

A funny thing happened Sunday morning at breakfast. The morning started out the same as always. Ben woke up around 7:30 and I nursed him. After that he always has oatmeal with some kind of fruit for breakfast. (Normally Daddy feeds him his breakfast on the weekends) I don't know why, but he has always eaten better when Matt feeds him. Anyway, Matt sat down to feed him and he sat there with his mouth clamped shut. Well, these days that just never happens. Matt waited a few minutes and tried again, but Ben was not having it. Normally I wouldn't worry about it, but we were heading to church that morning and I knew Ben would never make it all the way through the service if he didn't eat. I decided to give it a go, but I couldn't get him to take one bite of food either. We just let him play in his high chair for a little while not having any idea why he wouldn't eat. Meanwhile Ava had woken up and came down for pancakes and strawberries. I told her that we could not get Ben to eat and she asked if she could try to feed him. (She had never fed him by herself before this) I figured it couldn't hurt so she gave it a shot. Well, dang it if she did not get Ben to eat every bite of his meal. It was the sweetest thing. She sat so patiently feeding him like a little mama. Maybe Ben just had his heart set on his big sister feeding him, who knows? Ava was quite proud of herself and we all got a good laugh about it that morning around the breakfast table.

Dance Recital

Our big event this past weekend was Ava's Dance Recital. The dance company put on a riveting performance of the Lion King. It was really cute! Ava had two routines. She was a Lion for her jazz routine and a Leopard for her ballet routine. She did a fabulous job and really had a great time. (I think she really enjoys dressing up in the costumes the most!) We were very proud of her and all of her hard work this year. I don't have many pictures to share because they did not allow and photography or video during the performance. (bummer I know) Ben was his sister's biggest fan!