Saturday, August 29, 2009

More of the Zoo

These birds were so cool. I've never seen them there before.
They were such a pretty pink and their bills were hillarious.
Look at that slobber!
This is how close they were - see his tail?


I love my camera - no way would I have gotten this picture with my old camera. The bats were SO fast flying in to get a quick drink and immediately moving on. They never sat still, except when they were hanging upside down.
Look at all those lily pads?!?

The baby camel was just born in April.
Her name is Miley, which Ellie loved, of course.
When baby camels are born, their humps lay over almost flat. As they grown and have more fat, the fat is stored in the hump, which is what makes it stand up. Didn't know that. Miley has 2 humps, but only one of them is standing as of now.
We have a book that says that a one hump camel makes a one hump poop. A two hump camel makes a two hump poop. Wonder if it's true?!?
The peacocks (or as Ava says, "peapock") were so pretty - but they are WAY too comfortable with people!! They wouldn't leave us alone! I learned something else, too - they shed their long feathers in late summer or early fall and grow new ones in the spring!

The Baby Zebra

We went to the zoo Friday and there was a baby zebra - he was only a week old!!!
We don't know yet if he is a boy or a girl, but Ellie decided he looks like a boy.



Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Ellie and the Wii



Ellie LOVES to play the Wii! She beats us almost every game. We'll be trying so hard to be strategic...and her ways are so non-conventional, but she manages to beat us - especially me!

Poppa feel better?



Ava has been "calling" Poppa on the phone and asking if he feels better after he had surgery. She is very good at "pretend play". She'll make her little people talk to each other and ask each other questions. Her communication skills are through the rough. Poor girl. She gets it honest. My mom and I can talk to barn walls!!!!!

Ava can jump!



Ava just learned how to jump with both feet off the ground. Ellie is over her fear of jumping high, so she's doing great, but she wouldn't jump with both feet until after she turned 3. Ava is our little daredevil!

Ava's ABC's



Seriously, I think Ellie probably taught her how to sing her ABC's and how to count. She can do her entire alphabet, she just got camera shy on here. She can also count to 10 independently and to 20 with help?!? I don't think it's from Jeff and me teaching her, though. She tells us no, but will go along with whatever Ellie says!!


This is a video of Ava's second Kindermusik class. She loves it! She's very good at listening to what the teacher says to do, until it comes to facing Mommy. She wants to see what the other kids are doing!! She does really well, though.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Happy Birthday to ME!

sweet, sweet picture of Nannie and Ellie at mom and dad's house
Ava is a little water bug!
Jumping in with Daddy - something Ellie still won't do!
Ellie loves to swim when she can touch or hang on to something.
She did great in her swim lessons, though!

My mom and dad came to our house on my birthday. Jeff and Dad worked on projects around the house while Mom painted an accent wall in our living room.
Looks like a perfect place for a family picture.
Maybe when Dad is feeling better. This is in their back yard.
The baby birds (you'll see earlier pictures as you scroll down) are growing up.
With Julie and Hadlie at Ben and Michelle's wedding.
One of my favorite pictures of the girls swimming out back.
He's a hard working man!
My Dad loves his garden - and so do we!! He and mom work so hard around their house and in their yard. Dad just had surgery on his hip, but is doing well other than the normal pain. Although he just had another flare up of gout, which is horribly painful!
My mom's pretty flowers. I love how the one is in focus and the other is blurry.
Might have to blow this one up to put on our wall sometime.
Very telling of our girls and their personalities.
Ellie colored every little circle, then put a tiny dot of glue and a cheerio on each one.
Ava colored all over the place, used a ton of glue, and put cheerios wherever she thought they needed to be (beyond appropriate for her age)!! They both enjoyed it so much - think we'll have to do more like this.
Little Miss Ellie is quite the photographer.
Jeff and I haven't had a good picture taken of just the two of us in a very long time
and Ellie took this one!!!
Jeff's first wedding - Ben and Michelle.
It was a great wedding! For the rehearsal, Ben showed up in a costume with a ball and chain! Funny, sort of...
Our little friend that followed us from Nannie's house.
She sent a plant home with us and this little guy rode home with us.
I really thought they were very rare any more - almost extinct...guess we were the lucky ones.
This one is older, but so cute.
Ellie and her dance teacher at their "red carpet event" to watch their recital on the big screen.
No, they didn't match on purpose, but it made for a great picture!!
The girls enjoying Nonee and Poppa's corn.
It was storming and Dad went out in his rain coat to check on some things. He scared Ellie and she thought it was funny, but Ava still "tells" on him and says "Poppa scared me!"
Our baby birds not long after they hatched.
They are in our front tree, only I think they have now flown away. They grow up SO fast!

So, I'm a little obsessed with my new photography hobby. I have been taking my camera everywhere - and kick myself sometimes when I don't have it with me. BUT for my birthday, my hubby gave me a zoom lens for my camera and it has been so fun playing with it - it just makes me happy!!! Some of these are with the zoom, some are not, but I have gotten my money's worth out of this camera, that's for sure!

Friday, August 14, 2009

Oh, the things we've been doing...

we went to holiday world today - had a blast!! It wasn't crowded, wasn't hot, didn't rain...perfect!
Ellie was driving us in the old cars - my Grand-daddy would be so proud!
Ava loves to take baths! She had a beard, but lost it before we could snap the picture.
bumper boats were popular today - ava is in the background
ellie's favorite was the lazy river
ava's favorite was Kima Bay - lots of water pouring, slides...
ellie didn't like the surprise water pouring on her head, so we watched
Ava started her Kindermusik class and LOVED it!!
We went to eat at Texas Roadhouse for my birthday!!
Jeff and Ellie at TX Roadhouse - when ellie was younger, we would ask her where she was born, expecting her to say, Texas. She almost always answered, "Texas Roadhouse!"
One of my favorite shows is America's Best Dance Crew -
partly because I love to see the dancing, but mostly because my girls love to try to dance like they do on tv!! They're both actually pretty good (and very entertaining)!
Jeff officiating his first wedding!! It was amazing!
More pictures on my other camera. I'll post those sometime...
Dancing the night away - literally! I was sweating and Ava wouldn't let me put her down or stop dancing!! Ellie had a blast! Cole and Christine were there, too.
my girls loved dancing at their wedding
- and Jeff and I weren't complaining about such great family fun!
Brett and Niccole's wedding
Mr. and Mrs. Luker!!
College students in Jeff's ministry at USI. They just graduated, got married, and are living in TX where Jeff and I did in seminary!! It was a beautiful wedding and such a fun reception!!
The HUGHES fam at their wedding