One Year Pictures

A few weeks ago we went to Fort Smith to have one year pictures made!  Mika Beth posted a sneak peak on facebook.  I know these are my kids  and I'm a little biased but I really think these are the cutest pictures ever!   Thank you Mika Beth!  I am in love with these pictures!  

Important Dates"

So much has happened lately and I just haven't had a chance to document it! I definitely need to get better at writing all of these things down!


April 29th-Knox finally has teeth!  He has four now!


May 5th-Ava said "Duck" and "Shh'd" Jennifer when she was going to bed.  


May 7th-Knox said "Duck."  This is also around the time Knox started saying, "No, No, Coco." It's the cutest thing you have ever seen.  He points his finger at her and really gets into it!  Coco is in trouble a lot so he gets a lot of practice with this phrase! 


May 23rd-Ava said "Boat!"  We were in the ocean and a sail boat floated by and she pointed at it and said, "Boat!"


May 24th-Knox took his first steps!  


May 26th-Ava said "Nana"


June 8th-Ava took her first steps!  Of course B and I weren't home but Gigi called and told us all about it! 


June 18th-Ava said "Baby."  We were reading a book about babies and she pointed and said, "Baby."  


June 20th-Ava took five steps!  Brooks took three!  These were Brooksy's first steps!  


I'm not sure when this happened, probably the beginning of May, I put my finger in Ava's mouth and realized she had 4 new molars!  This girl has a mouth full of teeth! 

We are blessed...Literally

One of my dad's good friends, John Barry, is the Quapaw Indian chief and he offered to bless the babies!  We will take all of the blessings we can get at our house!  We had the ceremony a few weeks ago in my dad's garage! 

I wish I could remember the stories that went along with the blessing but I really can't!  I know that he started a fire without matches and burned the bark from a tree planted in the 1800's on his land.  He then added cedar leaves.  The smoke was supposed to be a direct line to god.  He said a prayer and then we waved each baby over the smoke four times and then he said their blessing and waved an Eagle wing over their body.  B and I got blessed too! Oh and they were each wrapped in an Indian blanket the Chief brought them.  

Ava getting blessed.

Brooks getting blessed

Knox's turn

Ava

Brooksy

We joked that Knoxie might need an extra wave over the fire!  Just in case!

Adding the cedar to the fire.

And we are blessed!  I hope the babies really do live long healthy, stress free lives! 

After the ceremony we hung out at my dad's house for a while. 

Knox just walking around!  It still blows my mind that he can walk! 

Dad and Ava post blessing

My sweet sweet Brooks

I thought Ava's outfit looked a little "Indian Like"

Hi Knox!

Love this kid! 

This is the look Ava has when she spots something she wants to get in to! 

The babies with their special Indian blankets the chief gave them! 

This was such a neat experience and I definitely feel better knowing we have the Methodist Church and the Quapaws on our side! ha 

Happy Memorial Day!

We had a pretty relaxing Memorial day at our house which is just what we needed after traveling so much lately!  We spent most of the day laying around the pool and playing in the water with friends!

Nothing is more summery than bathing suits and watermelon! 

She could eat it all day long! 

My little naked baby!  I'm not sure what happened to his clothes! 

That night we went to my dad and Jenny's house for dinner.  The food is always so good! The babies love playing with all of the toys at their house too!! 

This rocking horse is from 1951! 

Knox also loves playing golf at my dad's!  He carries the golf balls around with him everywhere and he even tries to hit them with the putter! 

Getting a little lesson from Grandpa Bob! 

Thanks for having us over guys and we hope everyone had a happy Memorial Day! 

Dumas Visit!

I got home from Florida on Thursday and turned around and left Friday afternoon for Dumas!  It was a quick turnaround!  After a six hour trip to Dumas we finally made it to Nana and Poppy's house and visited with family for a little while before we went to bed.  The babies once again did surprisingly well on the trip.  They never made one peep! 

Saturday we attended the Elliott family reunion.  This is our official reunion family picture! 

We also got to visit meme and papa!

Saturday night we finally got to try Nuckol Sandwich!  It was so yummy!  B and I were so excited about eating there! Yah! Karrie and Joseph! 

We also made a pit stop at Big Banjo (no trip to Dumas is complete without it!) to see more family! 

These boys got to try chocolate gravy for the first time too! Yummy! Yummy!

I love looking through old pictures.  We found this one of B and I did a little comparison!  

B and Brooks at approximately the same age.  I want B's little outfit! ha

Saturday night we went to Sarah's and John's!  B and John had a little frog gigging (sp?) planned.  I really can't believe B thinks that is fun!  It sounds pretty disgusting to me! 

Sarah and I got left at home with the kiddos!  It was wild!  The babies couldn't wait to test out all of Stevie and Tripps toys! 

I LOVE

THIS

BOY!

This one too!  

Saturday we spent the day in the pool!  It was fun!  The babies just floated around and ate Popsicles!  John also took us all on a few rides on his ranger/four wheeler thing.  The babies loved it! Thanks so much for having us Sarah and John!  We can't wait to come back to Camp Parker! 

Sunday night we went back to Dumas and had dinner with B's parent's and grandparents.  Poppy took the babies on a few rides around the yard!  They loved it! This was the only way we could keep them awake!  They skipped their last nap and weren't in the best moods!

Instead of unpacking the car for the third time we decided to put the babies in the car at 8pm and drive back to Fayetteville!  The babies slept most of the way. We didn't get home until after midnight but it was worth it to finally get to sleep in our own beds!  We had a really fun trip and we can't wait to come back and visit again soon!  

Going Home

We didn't leave until Thursday afternoon so we had a little time to play snap pictures while we packed up! 

Love this girl! 

Thank you Gigi for taking us on such a great trip!  Ava and I had a great time! Also, thank you Nana for coming up to help with the boys!  Ava and I missed them so much but we know they had such a good time! Although, probably not as much fun as us! ha


I couldn't wait to get home and kiss these sweeties!  I know B might not ever say this again so I have to document it here.  When I got home he told me, "Your job is a lot harder than I thought it was."  Umm yeah!  Taking care of three babies is not exactly a walk in the park!  Thanks B for admitting that I deserve a little credit! ha 

My three really love each other.  As soon as they were reunited my sweet calm Ava that I got use to on the trip disappeared!  In her place was wild and crazy Ava who was all over the place and up to no good with her brothers!  The boys got a little crazy too!  B told me they were so much calmer when we were gone!  ha 


Now I think it's time to take the boys on a little "Boys Only" vaca!

Beach Day 3!

By the third day at the beach Ava was a beach lover!  She couldn't wait to get in the sand! 

I don't think there is anything cuter than a baby in a bikini!  I think I bought this bathing suit for A back in February! 

For some reason Ava preferred to be naked when she swam in her baby pool.  So she got naked!  And I might have been wrong!  A naked baby booty might be even cuter than a baby bikini! 

Showing off her shell that Aunt Caroline gave her!

On our way back to the condo from the beach I tried to snap a few pictures.  Rosemary is really such a neat place! 

Gigi's toy store!

Love this tapas and chocolate restaurant

We had to make a quick stop at the Sugar Shak! 

I think this place is every kids dream!  

Ava got her first ice cream cone!  She refused to hold it so we ended up sharing it!  Lucky Mommy!

She was a big fan! 

That afternoon we went to Alys Beach to look at locations for Caroline's wedding!  We found the perfect spot!  It's really going to be beautiful!  I still can't believe it's less than a year away! 

A is going to be the cutest flower girl ever!

Ava had lots of fun checking out the area! 

When we got back we went to a little play on the lawn in Rosemary.  

Ava really seemed to like it!  I might have a little actress on my hands! 

She really wanted to get in on the action! 

After the show she got to meet a few of the performers.

And this was the highlight of my trip!  Dierks Bentley and fam were literally sitting two feet away from us.  I am such a big fan (obviously since I was a creepster and snuck pictures).  I still can't believe I saw him!  Ava kept trying to crawl over to his group and now I really wish I would have let her!  He did look over and laugh at her a few times because she was singing and clapping with the music!  

B and I got to meet him a few years ago at a concert.  I wonder if he remembered me??  Completely kidding!  

That night we had dinner at the Caliza pool in Alys.  

My pictures really don't do this place justice! 

I'm thinking this will be the perfect location for a party for Carol! 

Great way to end the vacation!