A little update...

So I've been a slacker on posts, sorry. Here's a few pictures of what the girls have been up to.

I heard about this park that has one of these little water fountains. I thought Ayva would like it.
She had a great time running up to the water and touching it. And of course just running around. I know this sounds bad but as she was running around I was hoping the water would shoot out just as she was running over it. Isn't that an awful thought?! I just know her reaction would have been worth it.
And Cheyenne just started feeding herself, what a big girl!! She is getting so big.

Ayva and Cheyenne playing in Cheyenne's bed before church a few days ago.

I always do Ayva's hair in a pony tail so I thought I would try leaving it down. And this is my first attempt at curling her hair. She actually did a great job for a two year old, sitting there letting me curl it. She was a little nervous though to have that hot curling iron by her head but she was a trooper.

And this is Ayva's new Dora chair. She loves it. The first night it had to be in her room and on her bed. She carries it back and forth from her room to the living room.

Memory Tag

Thought I'd join in on the fun with this tag. In advance for anyone who leaves a comment, thanks. I'll enjoy reading them.

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you.

Hey There Delilah...

by Plain White T's(click to hear the full song if you want) is one of my new favorite songs. So on the way down to the lake on Saturday I played the song and this is what we heard from the back seat...

***warning: It is pretty long and listen carefully***

During the verses she just mumbles a bit but she loves the chorus.

Sometimes she walks around the house now saying, "OOOOH, it's what you do to meee!"

Ayva's new fishing pole

Saturday Josh came home from the store with a surprise for Ayva. Her very own Dora fishing pole and she loved it. I couldn't separate her from her pole. So of course we had to go try it out. We went to this smaller lake just 15 minutes south from our house and the girls had a blast. Cheyenne playing in the sand and Ayva playing with...well....everything!

This is her new fishing pole.

Ayva making her way to the lake with her wagon of toys and fishing pole.Ayva taking a break from fishing and playing with her sister in the sand.

Cheyenne loved the sand.
Ayva fishing with her new pole. She was actually pretty good at it.

So dad cast her line out and stuck the pole in the sand and after a while Ayva decided to check on it. So Josh and I were busy watching the other poles and I looked over and Ayva was reeling in her line and next thing I saw was a little fish flopping around.

She actually caught her very first fish all by her self.

Daddy pulling the hook out of the fish for Ayva.

We didn't catch anything really except for those tiny fish and also believe it or not, turtles. Josh caught two turtles. Crazy! He said that was a first for him.
It was an interesting afternoon and we topped it off with a very good dinner at Panera. YUM!

Welcome to the world, Kendi!!!

Congrats to Brandon and Leisel!

The baby came last night at 11:30pm weighing I believe 7lbs 5oz and 19 inches long.

The delivery went really well, no problems. Mommy and baby are doing great!

Gas light....

probably means we need gas!

You know when your gas light comes on and you can go a little longer until you really need to fill up, well on our way home from the trip we found out that once that light comes on you're out!

This is us, out of gas on I-70!

The girls were good sports about it!

So Josh started walking to the next gas station and about a mile out some guy pulled over and said,"Dude it's hot out there, get in the car." So he drove him about 5 miles to the gas station, got the gas and then drove him back to us. See, there are nice people out there still! So, thank you to the guy out there who picked Josh up!!!!

DIRT, MOSQUITOS, FUN, FAMILY, FISHING AND DID I MENTION DIRT!!!

Our 4th of July weekend was a Bates family camping reunion. We had a great time and Ayva especially loved being with her cousins and playing in the dirt. There was a lot of fishing going on and between everyone who fished I'm sure they caught over 20. We had awesome meals, which was bad for anyone who was dieting. The weather was pretty good, a little hot during the day and the night wasn't too bad and tons and tons and tons of mosquitos. Ayva called them moquitos and she did not like them at all but they loved her. They also loved Cheyenne. Cheyenne was probably the only one in camp who didn't get dirty.

Cheyenne also made some new friends, Aunt Liz and Uncle Nick helped us out a lot in watching after those two especially when we went fishing and packing up on the last day. Thank you so much guys!!!

Their Aunt Natalie had a great idea for the kids. She got them whistles to put around their neck in case they wandered a little too far. Thanks Nat!!! Ayva loved it so much she would want to sleep with it at night.

Poor Grandma Bates got a nice dirt shower from Ayva one day. Natalie, Grandma and I were just sitting around talking and Ayva was playing with a big toy shovel. She was in front of Grandma just playing with the shovel, pick up a lot of dirt and threw it behind her. Grandma got drenched with the dirt and I must add was a great sport. She has a lot of patience and just laughed it off, unlike me I'm sure I wouldn't have laughed it off.

Here are some pictures from the trip...