So today, we are getting ready to go outside and I hear Ava say she’s got to go to the bathroom really bad. I am in the hallway and Josh is standing outside the bathroom. We hear Ava mutter something and Josh goes “what did you say”, she doesn’t respond. Josh comes over and says “I think Ava just said damn it”. Apparently she had an accident.

So for clarification, Josh ask her to tell him what she said. She replies with “nothing”. This goes on for a few times and Josh finally says “Ava, just tell me what you said, you won’t be in trouble”. She says “I won’t go on time out trouble” and he says “no”.

She looks at Josh and says “damn it”. Josh tells her that this is a word she shouldn’t say and she says “only mommies and daddies should say that?”. Josh replies with “well, its an adult word so you shouldn’t use it”. She says “OH” and its all over.

She used the word “damn it” when she had a potty accident. She used it correctly and with the right tone and attitude. I guess that word must be said around here a lot. I’m off to wash my mouth out with soap while I laugh hysterically and try to keep it all to myself.

Its been awhile since I’ve told you all what’s been going on with us. I would blame it on being busy, but really we all know that’s not true, so I’ll just come right out with it, I’VE BEEN LAZY. Now that we cleared the air as to why you haven’t gotten delicious updates to what my adorable rug rats have been up to, lets get to it.

We have been busy in that we went on Vacation in May and then Ava just had her dance recital today. It was gosh darn adorable and we will be posting pictures and video (of the dress rehearsal) when Josh gets around to it. You can look for them this fall……

Now, moving onto the more important things, what my kids are saying these days…..

Today we went to a park so that Daddy could take pictures of one of mommies coworkers. We were getting ready to wrap up and Ava says to me “well mommy, I think we can keep Addie”. I was kind of surprised by this and asked her what she meant. She replied “well, we don’t have to take her back to the hospital, we can keep her”. I’m super glad she made this decision because the two year replacement warranty is getting ready to expire and we had to decide when or if we returning Addison. Thankfully, the decision has been made for us and happily, we get to keep her. I’m so thankful because it wasn’t easy getting her into our family and it caused me a lot of pain and time in the hospital.

The other thing Ava has been up to recently is demanding we buy her a pet. She really wants a kitty but has recently discovered they don’t really walk on leashes all that well. Therefore, she has it in her mind that we must instead get a puppy. She has been very demanding about this and telling us for over a week that she “needs” an animal. We were driving to her dance class today and she says “hey mommy, we should get a puppy”. Josh explains that if we get a puppy that we have to pick up its poop in a baggie. She gets this incredulous look on her face and says “um, you mean you and mommy has to pick up its poop”. If that is her argument for getting an animal, its not going so well for her. We are still deciding and I’m uncertain as to how the animal push is going to end up.

Addison is her ornery, rule breaking self. She is getting ready to move into a “big” girl bed and I have been searching for a bedspread to match her pink and yellow room that will not melt my eyesight by the bright colors. I finally found a pink and brown set that will work but finding a valance that will match has proven troublesome. I guess this might be reason enough to finally learn how to sew, or perhaps my lazy rear end will do nothing with it and the window will remain blank. I’m thinking the second option will probably win that battle.

Her tube surgery (which she had on the 5th of June) was a success and she seems to be hearing better. Now, while she’s hearing better, she’s not listening better. Oh, and apparently when you can hear the world better and everything seems louder, then this means you must increase your volume by 30% to keep up. The child is loud and dose not stop shouting or babbling for anything. She is still obsessed with baby dolls and bicycles screaming either baby or bike whenever she sees said object (or when she feels its way to quiet). The child can spot a bike a mile away and this was the main topic of her conversation all the way on vacation.

My favorite new word of her’s is apple. She says it pretty clearly and its about as clear as mud to those that are not used to hearing her say it. Why you ask, since she says it clearly? Its because when she’s asking for an apple, she really wants a banana. Let’s just say it took me a few tries to get her the right food when she started shouting Apple at me the other day.

So, you are all pretty caught up on what my kids are up to. Stay tuned for new photos and video’s. We have the awesome one of when Addie was sedated before surgery (which is quite funny) and Ava’s dress rehearsal coming up.

We finally got a picture of Ava from her dance class picture night. We had a camera problem, mainly, we forgot it at home so a classmate took the pictures and forwarded them to us. Josh will be adding a video of her dance to the Video Gallery but I wanted to share a picture of her in her costume. She looked so incredibly adorable in her little outfit.

For the real recital, I think we are going to have to pull her hair up in pig tales. Her headband would not stay in place the way I put it on her head. I’m not sure if I can figure out a way to secure it. Her hair was so adorable and I was able to contain it using some mousse and hair spray. I will get everybody her recital information, but its on June 13th at 3:30 PM. I believe she is the 10th dance in the recital for that time period.

Today at dinner, we are talking to Ava. Josh ask her to tell me what Stars are made out of. She looks over at me and says “hot balls of gas”. I started giggling and said “oh, just like Daddy right”? Her response “Yes”. Josh was not so thrilled with that, but I found it really darn funny.

She then tells me that she knows how to say Molecule.  I was all impressed with this and asked her if she knew what it meant. She says “yes, its very tiny things that make up other things”. She and her daddy have a bit of a side conversation about this.

Of course, while we are eating she decides that she has to go potty “right now”, so off she runs. From the bathroom we hear, “Mommy, I can also say vap-er-ation”. Josh and I couldn’t figure out what she was saying so we asked her what it meant. She says “when the rain goes upwards to the sky so it can rain again”. Josh goes “oh, she means evaporation” and Ava goes “yes vaporation”.

I’m so in for it when this child hits her high school years. Apparently her daddy taught her about the molecules, but she learn ed (as she says) about the stars and evaporation at school. The child has a memory like you would not believe.

On the Addie front, she got her first haircut. It is currently cut into an adorable little bob that is slightly crooked. I don’t think the girl at the salon can cut very straight. Addie’s left side in the back is a bit longer than the rest of her hair. I might try to correct it or not. I haven’t decided yet. She has also decided that her favorite word is NO. She will not hesitate to use it as many times as she can. Gotta love defiant little children.

So now, I sit here in the silence of my house, after wearing my kids out today. We spent all day outside working on the yard and playing. Ava got her new bike and happily peddled it up and down the sidewalk while Addie attempted to ride Ava’s old tricycle. Addie is way to small for said tricycle so she pushes it to the top of the driveway, turns around, sits down, picks up her feet, and allows gravity to do the rest as mommy frantically races after her to make sure she doesn’t go out in the road. Did I mention that she laughs this delightfully evil laugh the entire way down the driveway? The pure bliss of being 21 months old.

So, what happens when you give a toddler some tomato soup, grilled cheese, and some milk.

This is what happens:

MY BABY BELLY COULD EAT YOU!!!!!!

Anyway, Ava also said the best thing the other day and I must pass it along. A few days ago I was outside and found a pile of dog poop in our yard. I was not happy and said “Hey Josh, there is dog crap in our yard”. That was the end of that conversation. So, a few days we are standing around talking to Ava and she goes “Hey daddy, is there that Dog Crack in our yard, you know in the side yard where I play”.

Dog Crack….he he he he he. Must remember this for future use!

So today we are driving home from school and we pull into our neighborhood past the ponds. Ava looks over and says “Daddy - look at the water moutain”. Took us a few moments to realize she was talking about the water fountain.

Fast forward to a few minutes ago while playing outside. She comes running over and says “Mommy, can I play with my Hoopa Loop?” After a few moments, I realize she’s talking about her Hula Hoop.

I love this age and how words get twisted around when they are trying to talk.

On the Addie front, we have two new words. Those words “No” and “Mine”, proudly pronounced “NO NO NO NO” and “MY”.

::DISCLAIMER:: Sorry for the crass nature of this post, but anyone who has ever had children should understand.

Ava (yelling): “DADDY, COME QUICK! I MADE A BIG POOP AND IT GOT STUCK! BRING THE PLUNGER!”

Daddy: At a loss for words or proper response…

There is literally, never a dull moment around here.

Addie has decided that its a blast to hit people. We are starting to work with her on it, but it really drives me crazy that I’m constantly hit in the head. She just giggles. In fact, she giggles a lot when I discipline her. I must not have a very good mommy mad voice. She does a lot of things that she knows will get her in trouble and then just laughs at me. Silly girl.

Ava has been going through some growing pains recently. She is constantly throwing tantrums and fits. She thinks that she runs our house and gets very mad when we show her otherwise. Tonight was a very bad fit that resulted in some major time outs and some lost privledges. I’m not sure what to do with her sometimes. She really causes some trouble around these parts.

Yesterday, we took her to see Disney on Ice. It was super cute and she loved it. There were a few parts that scared her (the haunted mansion part and the fireworks, or course). Pictures will be posted in the gallery shortly. It really was a cute and fun production that kept me entertained. We took Jan/Stazi with us and I think they had fun as well.

Then there are Ava’s Target Shoes. She found my glittery heels that I wore to a wedding and she now calls those her “target shoes” or the shoes she wears when we go to Target. Sometimes, I wonder what that child is thinking.

I love watching babies learn to talk. The way they learn to pronounce things and how excited they look when they finally get a word that Mommy or Daddy can understand. Addie is a bit on the late side (ok, that is with my limited knowledge of this and Ava talked earlier so that is really all I know) with talking but she can say a few words. Her vocabulary consist of about 6 words right now (the daycare tells me more, I don’t believe it because I haven’t heard it). So, I know your curious. What are these words that she is saying? Well, you are in luck because I’m going to tell you and then try and  explain what they sound like when Addie says them.

Mama - this is more like mumumumumum or if she’s very whiny I will get a mummmy out of her

Dada - sounds exactly like its spelled. You can clearly tell what she is saying

Kitty - think a  sneeze with a K on it.

Uh oh - yup, pretty much right on target

Bye Bye - sounds a little like buhby

and last but not least - the best word that my 18 month old has learned……

Spongebob. Imagine a little thing who cant talk walking around going “pumob”

I’m not sure if I should think this is cute, or perhaps cut down on the TV. The good news is, she doesn’t watch spongebob all that much. Nope, I do. The bad news is, now everybody thinks she watches way too much TV. However, I’m going to just let her go on saying it because you know what, its really darn adorable watching her walk around saying “pumob”.

So today we were all on the floor playing in the living room and we are playing Addie’s favorite game, peek-a-boo. We do this for awhile and Ava decides she wants to play Hide-n-Seek. She runs up to Josh and says “Daddy, lets play Hide-n-Zeke?” After some giggling from Josh he tries to explain that its not “Hide-n-Zeke”, but instead “Hide-n-Seek”. He tries to convince her of this after a few moments and she thinks it over. She then runs over to me and says “mommy, lets play Hide-n-Zeke”. Of course, more giggling and trying to explain that its really Hide-n-Seek. She continues to argue that its “Hide-n-Zeke” so we let it go.

Funny what kids hear. We were also watching Handy Manny this morning and she goes “Mommy, I would like to watch more Handy Mandy”. That was about 20 min of trying to get her to remove the “d” from Manny. Oh well, good times.