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!
These birds were so cool. I've never seen them there before. 
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.
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!
