It is about time!

Hello bloggers! Sorry to disappear for so long. We've had some fun things happen and I'll try to do a brief update. I feel overwhelmed with trying to remember everything (Besides, I think that would be way too long for one post) so after my brief recap I'll try to be better in the future.

Bowe turned 8 months old. And then he turned 9 months old. He's 30 inches tall, 23 lbs and so adorable and fun. He laughs out loud and keeps us on our toes. He can now crawl, climb stairs, pull himself up on just about anything semi-stable, and walk with assistance. This boy is rearing to go! I'm going to have my hands full for . . . well, forever. He has one tooth and still doesn't sleep through the nigh. What can I say, he loves Mommy! Bowe pretends he's talking, but we haven't heard any real words yet. I know it's still early, but by this age Ava was saying, "Hi baby" to just about everyone she saw. He skipped bottles completely so he drinks out of a sippy cup, feeds himself a small selection of soft foods and puts everything he can find, in his mouth. I have to vacuum daily! This boy loves the carpet fuzz.

Ava is now telling everyone, "I'm going to be three on my birthday." Sometimes I feel like she already is three. She talks so well and I'm constantly impressed and surprised by her vocabulary. It is so fun to teach her and help her explore the world. However, she is only 2 and I will hold on to that for as long as I can. I keep telling her we have all Summer to enjoy being 2. She loves to swim and is trying to learn how to do it all by herself, with no floatation assistance. I like the floaties. They give me peace of mind. Grandma and Grandpa surprised her and Bowe with a renovated playground. It is wonderful. We are going to have a lot of fun on that for the next 10 years.

We celebrated a wonderful Mother's Day. I feel so lucky to have wonderful, healthy, happy children. I also got to spend time with my Mom which I always enjoy. We also celebrated Father's Day. Todd is a wonderful father to our family. He wants the best for everyone and keeps things calm and in perspective when everyone else seems to get crazy. We love him so much!

Todd and I are busy, busy. He is building us a new garage. Us country folk call it a barn, but most people think of hay and livestock when you say barn. It really is a very large, detached garage. Us country folk also need lots of storage space for all that valuable stuff we keep around! That has turned into a large project, but nothing Todd and his tool belt can't handle. Oh yea, we also needed to purchase a backhoe to assist Todd in this project. Now we are the proud owners of a back hoe. Who knew? I am busy with my church calling (Young Women's President) my kids, my job, and my home. We are working hard on building up our year supply of food storage which has taken a lot of time and effort, but it feels so good to follow the counsel given by the leaders of the church. To all our friends and family, we encourage you to start your food storage if you haven't already done so. There are tons of resources and it's not as hard as it seems. Let me know if you have questions and I'll see if I can come up with an answer!

This is the kids watching the walls go up on the barn.
You can see the old barn in the background. We think it'll fall over soon.
Todd putting the roof on . . .


Last, but not least, we went on vacation! We were lucky enough to meet up with my family, almost the whole Pitts clan, in Williamsburg, VA. It was super hot, but so much fun. We spent almost everyday of our week at Busch Gardens or Water Country USA. We also saw Historic Jamestown and parts of Colonial Williamsburg. Everyone had a blast. There was lots of stuff to do for the kids (not so much the babies, but they were great). Todd and I had so much fun riding roller coasters and water slides. Ava did really well. She has no fear of anything. Any ride she could go on, she did. Some waterslides were in tubes so they are dark. We'd hit the sunlight and her face would look terrified, but as soon as we hit the splash pool, she'd say,"Can we do that again? I didn't like the dark, but I'll just close my eyes." It was great to see my sisters and their families. The kids are growing and changing so fast. I hope we can get together often enough to keep the cousins close. They got along really well. Thanks Fam for a wonderful vacation!

Sorry for all the slideshows, but that was the best way I could think of to get the last few weeks of our life updated. And now, here is the Hawkins Home Video pic of the week.