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Archive for the ‘Family’ Category

26 May

Fish tales

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Bryan, Family, Olivia, Outdoor life. 4 comments

We took the girls fishing while visiting the lake this weekend. Bryan and Dave spent most of the weekend in the boat, and as such, caught quite a few fish, some of which were large enough to keep for the fish fry we had on Monday.

To make things a bit more exciting for Ava, Dave secretly baited her hook with a small catfish he had caught earlier in the day. When he alerted her to her bouncing pole, she excitedly reeled in her catch.

Everyone was pretty excited about this…

But we were downright shocked when Ava had two more actual bites on her little pole!

Olivia eventually lost interest…

And she missed her dad’s big catch.

26 May

And we’re back…

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Family, Olivia. Leave a comment

With a lot of catching up to do! We took the girls to Mom and Dave’s this weekend–they had a blast playing, swimming and swinging. Plus, Bryan and I really enjoyed and appreciated the extra help.

Ava and Gramma had a number of projects over the weekend. They made great desserts:

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And snow cones , which were definitely a highlight.

Olivia’s was without flavoring, but she loved it nonetheless. (Katie and I made ours with margarita mix.)

And speaking of Katie, the girls kept her quite busy this weekend, too.

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6 May

Balancing work and play

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Family. 5 comments

My mom and Dave came this weekend to watch the girls while Bryan and I went to a concert in Kansas City. The timing of their trip was perfect, though, because Dave was able to help Bryan assemble the play set we gave Ava for her birthday, and Mom helped me prepare for a big event I had last night.

Bryan and Dave assembled most of the swing set in the garage Friday night, and took it outside Saturday morning. Dave said it was pretty easy to assemble, but Bry thought it would have taken him four days if he’d had to do it without Dave’s help. Ava and Olivia were relieved it was done in a matter of hours!

Mom took a few shots along the way, too, and she captured Dave showing Ava how to make the slide perfectly slippery (Pledge!). Olivia had a blast flying down it as well.

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20 Apr

Down on the farm

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Family, Olivia. 3 comments

Believe it or not, there’s a 12 acre farm in the middle of Kansas City—and it’s amazing. Katie’s here visiting this weekend, and the three of us took the girls to check out the livestock and other country attractions. By the way—3:2 is the perfect adult:child ratio for an outing like this . . . I hope she never leaves!

Olivia LOVED the animals–especially the cows. “Cows” just happens to be her new favorite word, in fact. Check out this video of her experience with a calf:

Speaking of cows, Ava picked up a new trade.

She wisely decided to keep her distance from this guy.

Katie bottle fed a few overzealous goats. The whole thing was a bit much for Ava, though, who fled the pen halfway through the feeding frenzy. The goats, in turn, ran from Olivia, who chased after them saying, “Nice, nice…”

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13 Apr

Little Leo

Posted by Rebecca in Family. 2 comments

I finally figured out why it’s so great to be an aunt: You never have to say no. In fact, you can say yes to just about everything. So, when I hear sweet little Leo saying, “Auntie, let’s go for a walk,” my only response is “Where to?”

13 Apr

Easter Round-Up

Posted by Rebecca in Family. 3 comments

We took the girls to Nebraska for a whirlwind trip this weekend. We started out at Dad and Rose’s Saturday morning. Grandpa joined us for brunch, and Ava and Rose spent the morning working on a few craft projects.

Then, we headed over to Bryan’s parents’ house for the afternoon and overnight. Grandma Smith set up an elaborate egg dying station for Leo and Ava, and Wyatt got in on the action for a bit, too.

Josh and Laura arranged an Easter egg hunt for Ava, Olivia, Leo and Wyatt, allowing us an opportunity to spent part of the gorgeous afternoon outside.

The next morning, the Easter Bunny managed to find both Ava and Olivia, though they had to search a bit for the spoils.

We said goodbye to the Smiths, then headed over to my grandparent’s house. We were joined by the Tooleys and Mom and Dave, which made for a very fun afternoon. Gramma Great hid several eggs (many, many times) for Toby, Ava and Olivia to find.

Grampa Great treated us to perfectly cooked rotisserie chicken…

And Gramma made this adorable bunny cake.

We didn’t start home until after 6 pm, leaving us a bit tired for today, but it was completely worth it. Thanks, everyone!

7 Apr

The Good Life

Posted by Rebecca in Family. Leave a comment

Which state is the happiest? Nebraska, of course!

26 Mar

Good company

Posted by Rebecca in Family. 3 comments

In celebration of Ava’s birthday weekend, we had a number of family members come down to stay with us. Jess arrived on Thursday afternoon and immediately set to work making favors and decorating cookies.

Katie, Mom and Dave arrived that afternoon…

And Doug, Karyl, Gramma and Grampa arrived late in the day.

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Josh and Laura joined us that night, too. We had a full team on deck for Saturday morning party preparations, which included taming the wildlife…

Mixing bloody marys…

Entertaining the children…

Setting the tables…

And cleaning the kitchen repeatedly.

It’s amazing what you can accomplish when you have such willing partners!

25 Mar

Ava’s Fourth

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Family. 3 comments

Doug posted his shots of Ava’s fourth birthday party. There are more than a 100 fabulous images, including this one, for which Laura deserves credit. The rest, though…all Doug. Thanks very much!

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2 Mar

Grandma and Grandpa!

Posted by Rebecca in Ava, Family. 2 comments

Grandma and Grandpa Smith came for a visit last week, driving down on Wednesday in advance of a concert Bryan and I had planned to attend. The concert was canceled, but we went out anyway that night (and the night after that, and the night after that) knowing full well the children were in good hands.

When it came time to say goodbye on Saturday morning, Ava wanted to take the traditional parting photo with her own camera: