Gymnastics

The last 8 weeks every Thursday night we've walked over to the Y for gymnastics. It has been so much fun! The kids have loved every minute of it! Ava is in the "big girl" class now. Parents cannot help her or be out on the floor with her. I wasn't sure how this would go over at first but she hasn't looked back once! She has loved walking on the beam, trying cartwheels, the trampoline! Ava's teacher has done an incredible job with the kids!

In Cooper's class either Matt or I have to be with him. Ava did this class last year...boy do they have different approaches:) He loves just moving, flopping, flipping, sliding, swinging, bouncing, rolling...you name it, he tries it.

We are so sad the class is over! We are tempted to start them back up again in a week...this or swimming???

Does This Have to Come to an End?

As I sit here now the rain is pouring down and there is a cold wind blowing... oh how I am going to miss these days we've had of absolutely gorgeous weather!! Here's a bit of what fun we've been having.....

Picking pumpkins and more pumpkins!!!

Bouncing in fun jump houses and running through hay tunnels and bouncing some more....

Picking raspberries....YUM!!

We don't want it to end yet!!!

Wait...I Should Know this by Now!

All I can say is EXPECTATIONS!!! Ahhh...they get me every time! Last Friday we had great weather....I don't know if I mentioned it but I LOVE LOVE this time of year and all the fun things that you can do outside! So, I got online and found a farm down in Lebanon where we could go apple picking!! I was so excited because we haven't done this as a family together...we just stick to the pumpkin picking. We pull up to the farm, get out and the first sign Matt sees says, "We apologize but the apple orchard is closed due to a bad crop of apples this season." What?!! I know to some...no big deal. Move on. But I was so sad!! Expectation dashed!
Thankfully, I was able to pull it together and have a fun evening still...picking pumpkins instead:)

Then on to Saturday...a new day! I was looking forward to a Mommy/Daughter day! We had a buy one get one free coupon for Disney Princess on Ice!! Perfect...or so I thought...or actually I wasn't thinking it all through when I bought the tickets. Long story short...I forgot that each Princess story has a Villian... and Ava is very sensitive to these things. Ava was scared...really scared! I won't go into all the details but ugh...I was mad! After waiting it out until intermission, I decided to go ahead and leave and now looking back so thankful I did. Expectations dashed! My emotions were on a roller coaster and I'm thankful God entered in to eventually bring me to a place of asking for forgiveness from my sweet Ava....the redemptive spot in the day - she looked at me, gave me a big hug and said, "I forgive you mama!" Lot's I'm learning about myself, about my kids and how God wants to change and grow me!

Time Away

Can you guess from the picture below where we got away? Those might be called hills by some and others would say for sure those are mountains....we went to the Smoky Mountains. Gatlinburg to be exact. One of our good friends was turning 40 so it was a great reason to get away with some friends and celebrate!

We always seem to talk about getting away with good friends but it rarely seems to happen probably for lots of reasons...one of which just being our season of life with young ones. But, thanks to our friend who picked a weekend, invited us, booked this AMAZING cabin...we actually did it!!! (THANKS too to our parents who loved on and took incredible delight in watching our kiddos:)

This cabin was incredible and a great price to top it off...because we went one weekend before the peek season it was so much cheaper! Anyway....3 stories, 3 big bedrooms all with wrap around porches, hot tub, full kitchen!! Definitely a keeper!We were really only there a short time but we were able to do so much plus relax and get rich time with friends!! The only bummer was the extra 2 hours in the car heading out of Gatlinburg sitting in traffic.....oops, next time we'll know everyone leaves Sunday morning at the same time! It was a great weekend and a good reminder that we need to do this more often!

A Schmattering of Things

You never know what you might find us doing these days! I actually love routine and a "normal" schedule in life but these days you won't find that here. Part of it because of the time of year...it's the fall and there are LOTS of fun things to do, it's the beginning of another school year (not for our kids because they're not in school yet) but for the athletes we have the privilege of getting to know at CSU,and we have only been in our house for a month....oh the list goes on.

One of the "new" things for the kids has been moving up a class at church. Cooper really had no clue although he now is in a room with lots more toys he likes. Ava on the other hand was nervous (she went from being downstairs to upstairs which is kind of scary for her). After several weeks she LOVES it. There is a lot more interaction and she went from a room of about 15 kids to a room of about 6! Here she is after church posing in her "coat of many colors" that she made....any thoughts on what to do with all these crafts????

We also have had tons of "projects" to do around the house. A few weeks ago we finally decided to paint the dreaded mud room. As you can see it's a very tall ceiling and of course the ceiling needed to be done too! Oh, and on top of that the texture is really rough...kind of stucco like..which is hard to paint! Thankfully it's finished! Now on to the next project....here's what our kitchen looked like today....

Matt worked hard last night pulling out the countertops and sink (thanks to a friend as well who came over to help when my muscles couldn't do the deed)! Anyway....I don't have an after picture but it is done...new countertops! It looks great..changed the whole look....of course it would when the old ones were a really bad shade of blue.

Don't worry we aren't all work and no play around here....we made it out to Young's Dairy on Saturday...they had a festival going on with all the fun and flair...oh and one of my favorites, pumpkin ice cream!! I didn't realize I uploaded the pic below but I'll just keep it here...the kids have really started to enjoy making cookies so we decided to make cookies one morning and send them to grandparents....you have to notice of course not just the aprons but the tutu's underneath:) Who knows what tomorrow has in store???

This one is for Matt!

Go Bears is a common saying around here these days!! Not just from my husband but from my sweet Ava!! Her daddy is loving it!

Here's a family photo shoot before the game on Sunday!! Yes, that is Ava in a bears shirt and just her tights...who needs pants?? Let's just say Coop wasn't really in the mood for any Bears schananagans!!

I was behind the camera taking these pics but some of you would be surprised that I too had on a bears shirt...that's right all 4 of us...OBNOXIOUS!! And even worse is we headed out after the game to Kohl's for a little shopping....all in navy and orange!! As I was paying, the man at the cash register says to me, "Go bears...they had a good one, huh?" Me.... "Um.....yeah..... well I have to be honest I didn't watch any of it but my husband did tell me it was a good game:)"

Here's to football season!!

Happy Birthday Matt and Cooper!!

I wasn't sure in the midst of our move if we'd be able to pull it off....but we did! We were able to have a dual birthday party to celebrate my boys!

Matt turned 39 on August 26th! We were able to have some friends over to celebrate that night with Matt's favorite....cheesecake! No, I wouldn't be so insane as to make it...Walmart has a pretty good cheesecake that has lots of variety. But, I did make it over to our local Cheesecake Factory and bought Matt a piece of his favorite...Adam's peanut butter cup!

Yes, that is a big birthday cake with candles on Matt's head:) It has been a tradition in our family to wear this birthday hat when it's your big day!

Cooper Paul Hardy was born on August 27th! What a joy he is to our lives! He has become very verbal and loves to repeat any word he hears you say. He loves to wrestle with Daddy, enjoys playing with anything that has wheels and can be heard calling out for his sister in which he says, "Fava, Fava!" He didn't get cheesecake but cupcakes with cars and dump trucks on them. They were so cute. I didn't think the cars on top tasted that good but he loved them.


Here's Coop with the hat! He blew and blew and blew and blew....and finally got a little help from mommy.

Here he is playing with one of his gifts....pure delight!