Funny Faces

Ava has a game called Silly Faces that she calls Funny Faces. She loves to play it because you can mix and match eyes, noses, hair, etc. on these cardboard faces. Well, it is no longer just a board game at our house....it is our family! We've had lots of fun lately with the camera and just being plain silly. As you'll see, we had some glasses that helped in our silliness!

On the not so silly side of things, Matt and I got to go to the ATP Tennis Tournament last week! A friend was able to get us free tickets! I am the first to admit that I am not an athlete! But tennis is the one sport that Matt and I really do enjoy playing together and watching together, so this was a treat! We were able to see Nadal and Roddick who are in the top 4 of the world players. I love that God loves to give in sweet ways like this!

A Surprise Getaway!

Last Sunday, Matt wisked me away for a little getaway! It was 7 years ago that he proposed to me! He decided to take me back to the special spots at Put in Bay, Ohio where he first told me he loved me and where he asked me to marry him! We left the kids with mamaw and papaw and headed to the island! It was so much fun to be there and reminsce of all God had done in our relationship! We realized we didn't really get any pictures of the night he proposed and where we had breakfast the next morning before leaving so we got lots of pics this time:) Here is the Monument on the island where we got engaged.

And this is the restaraunt we had breakfast at the next morning..Pasquale's.

When I was there last the best way to get around was by golf cart...well now they have the scoot:) Matt had a blast driving this thing...he said it was the closeset thing to a sports car he'd ever get to drive! It was a fun way to see the island.


We had a great time and we think the kids had a great vacation away from us too:)

It's Potty Time!!!

That's right....we have a big girl now who sits on the big girl potty!!! Yeah! Let's just say I have never danced so much in all my life on a daily basis than this last week! It really has been so delightful to see Ava's eyes get big and light up as she realizes she is pee-peeing or pooing on the potty! Today was a big day because she even told her Sunday School teacher when she had to go! One question....how do we wean her off of the M&M's and cookies she's been getting as her reward??? Oh, and another question...how do we get her to not scream at the top of her lungs in public at a restaraunt as she comes back to the table to tell Daddy, "I went pee-pee Daddy!!!"?

It's been a fun few weeks as Ava is realizing she can do more than what she used to do...like putting her shoes on and off by herself (some of them anyway), open the back door by herself, get in and out of her carseat by herself.....it is a ball seeing her change and seeing her excitement with each new thing!

Coop's First Haircut!

Well, it's been awhile coming but we finally got Cooper's haircut! Let's just say it was getting hard to see his ears and Ava's hairbows weren't gonna look so good on him:) Here is the before pic!

He wasn't so sure of this strange woman taking a comb to his hair let alone scissors! He didn't really cry, just whimpered. He was a wiggle worm of course and this lady did a great job! I know I couldn't have done it without poking out an eye!

Look at that cute face! He was oh so glad to be done with that! He looks so much older now for some reason! The lady cutting his hair even took the electric shears to his neck in the back...I wasn't so sure at first, but he did fine! What a cutie pie!

Summer Fun!

It's been a while since I've written! Oh where does the time go? We have had a busy summer with the X-Project but have managed to get away here and there as well! I recently had a fun overnighter with some very dear girl friends! We met up in Indy for the night....ate, talked, ate, talked and talked some more:) I loved it! The only bummer....well, two things....I didn't get a picture of us all and the time was way too short! So we decided to do it again in October!

Nana and Papa came for a visit a few weeks ago! We spent a few hours at the Dayton Children's Discovery Gardens! What a great place for kids...lots of water to run through, sand to play in and flowers to water! Ava is keeping her feet cool here as she puts them in some water....notice no pants:) She protested on putting her bathing suit on....and she fell and got a boo-boo so she didn't want blood on her shorts! Thankfully, Papa came to the rescue with a band-aid in his car!

What's summer fun without bubbles...i think this is such a cute picture of Ava catching the bubbles! She and Nana had lots of fun on the front porch!

We also went down to Batesville for a day to watch my nephew, Eric, in his last baseball game for the summer. It was fun to see him pitch! We then all went back to Mamaw and Papaw's where Ava got to play on her new swingset and this fun swing that Uncle Tim brought over for the kids! They loved it....Ava loved pushing and Coop loved riding:)

Hopefully I will post some new pics of more summer fun soon...we just went to the Columbus Zoo and had a great day!

One of our Favorite Things

With the weather being warmer, one of our favorite things to do is go for a walk after dinner....it helps with the after dinner/before bedtime blues:) This week we realized that Coop is now old enough to ride in the bike trailer with Ava! So instead of a walk, we decided on a bike ride! Ava thought it was so cool to have Cooper now sitting next to her! Cooper seemed to enjoy it...didn't really hear anything from him...other than on the way back some snoring because he

dozed off:) Lots of fun to be had this summer!

I Know Myself Too Well Sometimes!

Okay....if you read the previous post(and the only one so far), you can see it was over 2 months ago! As I commented in it, I wasn't confident that I would post again for awhile...and here I am! That was spring break and now this is summer!

With summer comes lots of things....a few of which just happened at the Hardy's house! The first is Ava & Cooper got a new playset for the backyard! Knowing that we would be here all summer we thought it'd be a good purchase:) Ava LOVES it....she will slide and slide and slide and then play with her babies in the house under the slide and do it all again!

The second was vacation!!! We had a great time at Edisto Beach in South Carolina! My parents went as well and let's just say it was a win for everybody! The kids loved time with Mamaw and Papaw and it was great to have extra hands as well:) Ava loved the sand but was not so fond of the ocean...this is a picture at the end of the week she finally decided to put her feet in and loved it!

Lastly, we had a fun bbq over the memorial day weekend! It was a great night to hang out with dear friends and to see all of our kids have a blast with each other...I think we had 10 kids there between the ages of 3 months and 4 years!

Can't wait to see what the rest of the summer holds and hopefully I'll keep this updated more frequently so you can enjoy:)