Suzanne & Anthony

We went to Louisville, KY this past weekend for Suzanne & Anthony's wedding. Michael was in the wedding, so we stayed overnight. Ava did well in the hotel (it was her first time) Hopefully this is a good sign of how she will do in the hotel next week for our vacation.
Unfortunately we didn't get many pictures at the wedding or reception... so if any of the Iles family is reading this, hopefully you will email us some :)
In other disapointing news, our basement was flooded when we came home.. so that stinks... literally. Oh, the joys of owning a home.

Busy Weekend

This past weekend was busy, but good. On Saturday we drove to southern Indiana to "the creek," the place where Michael's family has always gone camping. We only stayed for the day, but it was really fun. Michael has a lot of memories there; He was really excited to take Ava for the first time! Ava had fun hanging out with Grandma&Grandpa Iles, Aunt Amy, Aunt Debra, and Uncle Philip, even though she was a little grumpy at times.
On Sunday morning, she surprised her daddy with some Napoleon Dynamite gifts for his first fathers day. Then we went to Wyandot Lake, our 3rd attempt to see if Ava would like the water. She made lots of progress.. I think that it helped to have her daddy there. I think that she may have even enjoyed it for a couple of minutes! She didn't really cry, so it was a success! We had fun swimming with Julie, Jason, and the kids all afternoon.
Finally, Ava made her dad lasagna and apple pie for his father's day dinner... with a little help from her mom.

New Job

Sometimes it's difficult to know what God wants for your life.....

After (lots and lots) of prayer, Michael has decided to take a new job opportunity here in Columbus.
Yesterday Michael resigned from B&N and in two weeks he will begin working at Frank Gates. He accepted a similar position.. he will still be an in-house graphic designer, but he will have a little more responsiblity.
It was a difficult decision for him, he really loves B&N and has grown very attached to his coworkers, but it seems as though God was pointing him in this direction.
We just prayed that doors would open and doors would close according to His will...and that's what happened. We are learning that God's will for us is surprising sometimes, but we trust that He knows what he's doing!
**Michael, I know that there's a lot of pressure on you being a husband and a daddy. Thanks for always providing for our family. I admire you for your integrity and commitment to us and to God. We love you!!

Enjoying the weather

We managed to get a few good shots of Ava in the last week, so we thought that we'd share them. She seems to really like to be outside, which is really nice. We spent the majority of last summer indoors (in ac) because I didn't handle the heat so well being pregnant, so we want to really enjoy summer this year.
Last week Michael's dad came to visit for a few days and helped Michael replace our gutters and tame the jungle that is our backyard. It was really fun to have him here, Michael really enjoyed the company and the help.

Ava and I, and Julie and the kids spent some time last week with my grandma Johnson. She was in Doylestown visiting from Wisconsin. Ava had never met her great grandma, so we were glad that we could spend time with her. Ava even waved to great grandma, which is pretty cool, since she only waves for a selected few. :)

Ava Hates Swimming

Tuesday morning my sister Julie, and I headed off to Wyandot Lake for the first time with the kids. I dressed Ava in her cute little bikini lathered her with sunscreen and proceeded to the kiddie area, excited to see how much fun she was gonna have splashing around in the water.. But, unfortunately, she seemed to hate it. Noah and Abbey, on the other hand were having a blast (as you can tell by their smiles and Ava's tears in the picture!)
If I even sprinkled water on her leg, she would scream. She spent most of the time glued to my shoulder, screaming with lots and lots of tears while I tryed to convince her that water is fun. I realized that in that moment I was the mom with the screaming kid. I had observed moms throughout my life in walmart, malls, parks, ect. who were struggling with their kids as they threw a fit. I would give them a look of pity as I went along on my way.. But for the first time I saw people giving me that look. :)
Let's hope that Ava learns to like Wyandot Lake.. Did I mention that I bought a season pass?....

2 Teeth & 3 Year Anniversary

In the last two weeks, Ava has gotten her first teeth! It was pretty exciting at first, but then we started to get kinda sad because we realized how quickly she is growing up (we're pathetic, we know). It's weird to see her chew Cheerios with her two little teeth, but it's really cute.
Poor Ava got Roseola this week, so she had a fever and now she has a rash. We quickly learned that she doesn't handle being sick very well, and we realized that she inherited her daddy's pain tolerance (Very Low!) But, she's doing better now that it seems that she's at the end of it.
In other news (in hopes of adding something to this blog that isn't just about Ava).. We celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary this week. Mary's mom and dad babysat Monday so that we could celebrate early. It was nice to sleep in and go out to eat. We actually came home earlier than we expected because Michael really missed Ava. (I missed her too, but I am home with her every day all day, so I wasn't in as much of a rush to get home!) :)
It's been a great 3 years and the last 8 1/2 months have been a lot different. (different but good!)