eh...

does anybody want to take a guess at why i just found Ava's peed on pajamas from last week (which should have been in the dirty clothes basket and washed by now) in the hair bow bin? Upon searching for a twistie to finish off her french braid I found the pajamas. Ew...

Around the world (lower South part of the US) in 20....hours.

My husband is an amazing man. He works selflessly 6 days a week away from home for 6 weeks at a time. He lives in hotel rooms and sleeps (all night...) by himself in his big fluffy hotel bed. (I'm not bitter...not at all.)

At times I feel I fail as a wife...partly because he's not here for me to fulfill everyday wifely duties, such as laundry, cooking, cleaning up after him... (pwhahahaha! yeah right...) My biggest fault this pat month was forgetting to get him a father's day present. It's not that I forgot about Father's Day. It's that while I was dealing with the kids, Father's Day weekend snuck up on me. I was going to buy him a new pair of Wiley X safety glasses that retail at about $100. I forgot. I was going to bake him brownies 2 days before and mail them to Texas. Who the hell has time to bake brownies???

Driving into Tallahassee the Thursday before Father's Day (which fell on a Sunday this year, does it do that every year?) I decided what my last ditch resort would be for Father's Day. I would FedEx him the children. Since the guy at the FedEx counter assured me that this was quite illegal and "No, they couldn't be shipped as fragile and be ok." I resigned myself to the fact that I was driving to Texas. (the FedEx thing is completely fabricated...get over yourself.)

I immediately called my mother to fill her in on the plan, because she usually squashes my bad ideas with a quickness...for some reason she found this to be a really good idea. WHAT THE HELL, MOM!!! We plotted out the course and figured it to be, with babies in tow, about a 22 hour trip. Marshall's working all the way in Ft. Stockton, TX which is like... 1 hour from Mexico and hot as hell. If we drove a Handbasket instead of the CRV it couldn't have been more true.

I have family in Ft. Worth, Texas, so mom figured she'd ride with us to Ft. Worth to help with the kids, and then she'd fly back home. That puts us about 6 hours away from Marshall, which is a manageable ride alone with 2 kids. HAHA. Kids. HAHAH. 1 two year old straight out of The Shining and 1 six month old cutting his first tooth. I don't think they fall under the realm of "kids". Anyways, we decided to leave the next day. Friday. We would arrive Saturday morning around 4 AM. That's with driving all night, which we decided at the time sounded like a right dandy idea.

All because I didn't mail brownies...

Damn you brownies...

We started out all smiles. I have no pictures of us close to the end...because nobody wanted to touch the camera.

In all honesty, the trip went MUCH better than anticipated. We took our time. Stopped at rest stops when we felt it necessary. Changed diapers. Got back on the road and traveled. Jaxon slept most of the way. Ava took some naps. Played with the $400 worth of toys I bought because I was gearing up for Hell Ride 4.

I drove the first leg and mom drove the last leg and torso of the trip. We stopped in Mississippi and drove straight through Louisiana because I've seen Swamp People and wasn't interested in running into any of those people... I'm kidding. I love that show. I'd party with those people...

We arrived sure as word at about 4:30 in the morning. Texas time. Which is 5:30 in the morning Florida time. Hell. Trip. The Texas family was really happy to see us and we got a little bit of sleep. I told Marshall we made it this far, he was to drive up when he woke up! So, Saturday around noonish my Marshall made it to us! He, we came 16 he can come 6! We had a cookout with Texas family and really enjoyed it. We stayed that night in Ft. Worth before heading out the next morning to Ft. Stockton. Ava rode with Marshall and Jaxon rode with me. We stopped twice for gas and made it down to Ft. Stockton (Hell) that afternoon.

All in all...the brownies would have been so delicious. I swear. I mean, they would have been boxed brownies. But with like milk...damn good.

Cardboard Box?

Today was a day much like any other in our house. Ava is full of bundled energy. Jaxon just wants to be held and snuggled and fed...

When the kids went down for nap I decided to put some use to the huge cardboard box my composter came in. It really wasn't much work, I enjoyed the hands on interaction and getting paint all over me, and Ava enjoyed the surprise when she woke up. :)

You know you like the Bud Light box on top and the taped up shutters. :D

While Ava took a much needed prolonged nap, Jaxon and I had a mini photo shoot. I'm so proud of my boy who started sitting up by himself. I love that kid. :)

She said she needed a hat to paint with and asked for Daddy's. So I grabbed her one that I didn't think daddy would mind having a bit of Ava paint on. Hopefully I'm right! She painted the inside of her playhouse pink, tore apart the table, and brought me the vase that I'd set up for her.

All in all I think the little fairy enjoyed it, and it was one more use out of that box before it goes on to a better place.

one of those dayssssss...

from her viewpoint, she's having a blast...

from my viewpoint, i'm just trying to survive...

A Day of Space Invasions!

In keeping with our finding new things to get messy with, we found a box, some paint, and another box...We made a spaceship and the babies rocketed into orbit. Ava's been a bit obsessed with spaceships since we watched the Endeavor take off so she had a "blast" (hahaha!) with this pretend rocket ship!

Everyone knows you need a wooden spoon to blast into orbit, duh...

7 Days of Fun.

Today Ava, Jaxon, and I are all embarking on 7 days of fun. We are going to find all new things to get messy with. And we're going to document it on here. :) Let the messiness begin!!

Day 1 - Blowing Paint w/ Straw! Simple. Yet effectively messy...









She would sometimes forget that she should be blowing and not sucking, so she has a rainbow mouth now. :D Jaxon was banished to the floor shortly after these pictures were taken because he decided to try and eat Ava's artwork. She was not happy about this. My goal, is to find new things for us to experience. I want to have fun and not have to tell her "No."

Wish me luck. :)

22 months.

Wow, where do I begin with this child. Allow me to preface by saying Ava has got to be one of the best behaved children I have honestly ever run into. Now, that being said, I'm not saying she sits in a corner all day and it completely silent. That she'll curl up with a book and go unnoticed for hours on end. No...not at all. My little girl is one of the most vocal, most in your face, and attention hogging children I've had the privilege of knowing. There's some delicate balance to the way Ava is. There's some fine understanding that we have as mother and daughter that I never knew we could possess. She is a whirlwind tornado of energy running through the house destroying things, but her actions are never actually destructive. The end product might be a destroyed magazine or milk spilled on the floor. Her actions are always an inquisition of things to happen. "If I open my mouth after I have put milk in it, what happens?"

I decided that if i treat Ava like she's smart, she will be smart. Now, either this has worked like a charm, or my kid was just born smart. I've allowed Ava's mind to play, think, and destroy things. I've allowed Ava's hands to play, think, and destroy things. I've taught her what's right and wrong. I'm continuing to teach her what's right and wrong. My 22 month old can tell me her whole alphabet. She knows the majority of her colors and a great deal of her shapes. She talks like it's going out of style and if we don't talk the world will implode. Not only does she talk, Ava communicates, which has been a blessing straight from heaven. She tells me what she wants. "Juice." "Cookie." "Blues Clues." She listens to me when I tell her "No, no cookie until after dinner."

I think I'm just blessed with an awesome child. Thank you.