Siblings

Although they're often moving too fast for the phone in my camera to catch a "quality" image, these are definitely worth sharing.  :-)

Peace, love and best friends,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava & Liam: 29 Months Apart

Recently Ava and Liam had doctors appointments within days of each other.  I thought it was interesting how close in size they actually are!


On 05/25 Ava measured 3 feet 6.5 inches tall.  She weighed 39 lbs 1.6 oz. She is 62 months old. 
On 05/21 Liam measured 3 feet 2.5 inches tall.  He weighed 37 lbs.  He is 34.5 months old. 


So, for the record, Liam is 29 months behind Ava, but only 4 inches shorter and 2 lbs lighter.


Peace, love and vitamins,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam :)

The Peace Pipe

The other day, I knew something was up in the kitchen, before I even put my feet on the ground in the morning.


While in bed, I heard someone open the freezer door. No one was screaming, so I thought I would see what would happen next. :) Ava or Liam seemed to find a homemade popsicle, which I had made with apple juice. It was hilarious to first hear from another room what they were doing. I waited to go into the kitchen, to see how long this might go on.


When I walked into the kitchen, I found Ava and Liam passing it to each other as if it was a peace pipe. They passed it to each other, would wait patiently for the other to take a bite or a slurp and then pass back it to the other. They were absolutely giddy over their find. It made me proud to see how nicely they voluntarily took turns with each other. My heart smiled.


These pictures were taken of the popsicle-sharing. :-)

 

Peace, love and brain freeze,

Shelly, Doug popsicle finder #1 and popsicle finder #2

Snow in Atlanta 2011

Atlanta received 4 1/2 inches of snow on one day during January.  The city seemed to shut down for at least three days!  It wasn't really the snow that made the city shut down.  The snow seemed to melt a smidge in the sun one afternoon, which then iced over that night.  Talk about a mess!  Everything was frozen.  We decided to park at the top of our driveway, in case we needed to get out.  Church was canceled, Doug didn't have to go into work.  My work day continues, though, since I work from home.  No excuse for not "getting into the office"! 


By the third day of our adventures, we all had cabin fever and needed to get out.  We actually drove to McDonald's, thinking if any place would be open, it would be the golden arches!  We were ready to park the car when the manager waved outside of the drive-through window, mentioning that the "dining room was closed, but the drive-through was open."  What the what?  Thankfully, the trusty el cheapo Mexican restaurant in the same plaza was open.  We waited FOREVER AND A DAY for our food (everyone in town was there! Ha!) but it was nice to get out.


Our neighbors the Quinns offered up some rock salt for our driveway, which we appreciated. 


Here are some pictures from our Snowmageddon 2011 adventures.


Peace, love and the biggest of flakes,
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

On our deck.

They loved playing in the snow. 

It took a little getting used to for Liam, but he warmed up to it.

Our creek.

Looking toward the back of our yard.

He fell hands-first in the snow before his gloves were on his hands.  Poor little guy.  He looked like the brother from "A Christmas Story"...He could barely move in snowpants! 

Christmas at The Lighthouse Academy 2010

Ava and Liam's day care had their annual Christmas luncheon.  This year the program was held in the sanctuary of the East Cobb United Methodist Church.  It was adorable.  Ava was an angel this year, although she was originally "Mary."  She mentioned to the teacher that she didn't want to be "Mary", so she decided an angel might be fun. ;-)

Even Liam's class got in on the fun.  Liam wore reindeer antlers, although by the time his class got to the stage, only ONE of his reindeer antlers actually stuck up.  It was so funny, Doug and I couldn't stop laughing!  Liam had no idea how funny it looked!   We took some video of Liam with his antler ;-) 

Ava's friend Tommy-Elyse was the angel Gabriel.  She memorized an unbelievable amount of lines for a little girl her age!  She did a great job.  So did Ava!

Here are some pictures after we all headed into the fellowship hall for lunch, as well as the kids' professional Christmas pictures from school.  I brought some homemade truffles and Aunt Linda's pumpkin torte to share.  We gave out gifts to the teachers after the festivities.  Ava and Liam also got Christmas gifts from the day care.  Incredibly sweet!  They have been our family, since we're geographically far from our own families.  Thank you, Lighthouse!

Peace, love and kid-Christmas carols,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Ava's bestie: Tommye-Elyse.

Girls just wanna have fun.

 O.M.G. This picture cracks me up.  Liam didn't want to keep his dress clothes on after the pictures were taken in the morning.  The day care staff assured me they would change him back into his dress outfit.  Check out the tie.  He looks like a monkey's uncle!

Sibs: February 2010

Ava and Liam play so well together. I love to see how much they truly care about each other. They do fight OFTEN over the ONE toy in the house of which there aren't multiples, but they really do have fun together.


Ava is sweet to Liam. Liam is heavy-handed now, but we're teaching him gentle. So if he does something to Ava that he knows is wrong, he will go over to her and pat her lightly with his hand, as if to say he is sorry. It's too cute to watch.


Here are some pictures of their latest interactions.

Peace, love and brotherly kindness,

Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

My crib or yours?

Ava and Liam continue to share a room. Doug and I realize we are in the minority when it comes to this. Truthfully, it hasn't been bad at all!

Sunday night we put Liam to bed. He started crying (pretty loudly), so I went upstairs to check it out. He was STANDING UP IN HIS CRIB waiting for me to come get him! When I got close to him, he started laughing. This entirely sums up Liam's disposition. A social snuggler. :-) (He is pulling up quite a bit more these days.)

The next morning, when I awoke, I heard Ava laughing in their bedroom. Normally one to come downstairs on her own fairly quickly in the morning, I wondered why she hadn't made her way downstairs yet. I walked upstairs to find Ava IN Liam's crib. With him. She had pulled a stepstool close to his crib and used it to climb in. They both were hanging out in his crib, giggling away.

Peace, love and "bunkmates",
Shelly, Doug, Ava and Liam

Christmas Pictures 2008

These are some pictures taken before this past Christmas at Ava and Liam's day care. Grandma Carey sent these matching outfits for the kids, so we put them to good use during the holidays. Surprisingly, Liam did well for the sitting (during day care hours), even though he was super tired at the time!






















Notice how Liam is touching the little girl's arm in his day care class picture. Hilarious! The picture is definitely representative of his personality. He is Mr. Social and loves to "talk" to other babies.