Outside Fun & Memorial Day

We were outside yesterday enjoying the sunshine and freshly mowed grass.  The girls love being outside and loved wearing their new dresses from Grandma Nadine (thank you!) to church.

Well, all WAS good but then Isabella realized that she was tired and it was time for bed for this little one.  It's hard to tell from the pictures that it was about 7:00 in the evening.  It is about 10:30 PM before it is completely dark these days. 

Ava was still going strong and was having fun playing with the grass.  We laugh because she is sooo our night owl.

Do you see Ava's top teeth?! :)

We hope that you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend!!
Marc had to work today (he doesn't get American holidays off) but we had a beautiful day and I am thankful for all those who serve our country, past and present!  Thank you!

Traveling with little ones??

So Marc and I have been told by many people that we are "brave" to travel with little ones.  Well, those that know us know that we rarely shy from an adventure!  We are finding that traveling with little ones takes a lot of prep work and a go-with-the-flow attitude (& a good book).  So for our week in France we did a lot of prep work to make it a fun week.  

(I forgot to put this in before but we LOVE the new swimsuits Grandma June...thank you!!!)

I have been asked by a few people how we did it and here are a few things that we did: 

-I made ALL of our food for the week before we left and froze it all!  It was the BEST idea!  I had to do no cooking all week and we didn't feel the pressure to go out and eat.  The eating hours are really late in Europe...in France the restaurants don't even open till 7.  Well, Isabella is always ready to go to bed around 7. Tired baby + late dinner = miserable time for everyone.  We did go out to eat our last night there but stayed home all day to have everyone rested. :)

-We also didn't over-plan.  We decided that we could do only about one thing a day.  That meant that we stayed home most mornings so that the girls could get a good nap.  It also meant that I read a good book :) and Marc took Isaac out to play or vice versa.  The girls can sleep on-the-go but never sleep as long or as good...we knew this way they had a least one really good nap and that they would sleep in the car in the afternoon.  We had one day that we did something in the morning and afternoon and it was a long day for everyone.  

-We stayed in a central location so that it was pretty easy to get to places that we wanted to see.

 -We also stayed at a place that had things to do on-site so that we didn't always have to go somewhere. 

Hope these tips help for those traveling with little ones!  We had such a great time!  

Here are a few more pics from "our hang out at the hotel" times. :) 

Isaac loved this little children's pool. This was the first time the girls had been in a pool!

Isaac looks like he is rockin' out!  

Chillin' & Ice Cream France Style

The best part of vacations is chillin.  Whether it is exploring cute cities or just sharing a laugh...or in this case Isabella enjoying a ride on Daddy's shoulders.  

Ava was being a snuggle bug down by the water in a town near Pont du Hoc.

Another great part of vacations is getting ice cream!!  Isaac LOVES ice cream!  He is always a slow eater when it comes to sweets...maybe he just tries to see how long it will last.  It took him about 5 minutes to even start eating this ice cream but he was sooo excited about it! 

Check out Isabella taking some steps...with Daddy's help. :)  She is rockin' the new outfit from Grandma Nadine...thanks Grandma N!

11 months!

The girls are 11 months old!  They have been busy little bees lately!  We have been enjoying all the nice weather here lately and decided to do the pictures outside on our back patio.
Here are some of the things they are up to:
Isabella has 2 bottom teeth coming in and Ava has 4 teeth coming in...both of her bottoms and tops.
Isabella started crawling on high knees while we were in France and Ava still does the army crawl.
Isabella pulls herself up on everything and is cruising all over the place....walking soon??
Ava has started clapping. 

Isabella is not sure what to think of the strawberry cakes this month.  Ava was all smiles.
They both sleep great at night (from about 7PM-7AM) and still take 2 naps a day.  Sometimes Isabella will take 3 naps if her morning nap is short.
Isabella goes to sleep much easier than Ava although she is almost always the 1st one up.
Ava is always "talking" and is loud. :) 
They are both in 12 month clothes.  

They are both so sweet and will always share a smile.
They both have great laughs.
They interact with each other all the time and are always crawling over each other and love to take each others' toys.  They both are pretty easy going.  Isaac is having to learn to share...they love playing with his toys. :)

We decided to take a picture inside and Ava decided to go for the cakes then. :)  She had whip cream all over her hand.
Next month they can eat their cake.:)
They both are great eaters although Isabella still doesn't like anything green.
They have started eating cheerios and bananas.
We have started to introduce sippy cups with water.
*Their little tummies are still about 2 months behind other 11 month olds so we have been slow introducing table foods.

Ava Chilling

I shared a couple of pictures of Isabella yesterday so I thought I would share one of Ava today.  This is actually from the France trip...yes, I still have more pictures to share of our trip and also that 11 month post I KEEP talking about. :)  The last couple of days have been super busy.  Anyway, this picture of Ava is so funny because it is soooo her!!   She is so relaxed sitting sideways in her carseat.   I was about to buckle her in and she somehow went sideways in about 2 seconds.  She loves to stick out her tongue and she always has the best smiles!!!  She loves to laugh and "talk" all the time. :)

Isabella Playing Kitchen

We walked into the nursery at Church yesterday and found Isabella doing this!  Doesn't she look soooo cute?! :)  She is getting to be such a big girl and she loves to stand.  Most of her day is spent pulling herself up on things and she is beginning to "cruise".   I just had to share these sweet pictures of Isabella playing kitchen. :)  Check back soon for the 11 month post and what her and Ava are up to. 

She is showing us how she can use the knobs!  Just need to get her a real kitchen and maybe she can help with dinner.  :)

Mont Saint-Michel Day 2

Sorry it has taken so long to get this next post up. It ended up being a really busy week!  Be on the look out for the girls' 11 month post soon! :)
Anyway, we spent day 2 going to this incredible place called Mont Saint-Michel. It is a place I had seen on a postcard about 15 years ago and have ALWAYS wanted to go to!   It is an abby built on an island (a road has been built out to it).  Before modernization it had a natural land bridge that would be revealed at low tide and covered at high tide.  The abby is named after the Archangel Michael.

Here is Ava at lunch before we went to the island. 

Isaac had his first Orangina and was lovin' it (French orange soda). 

Cute close-up of Isabella  sitting on Daddy's lap. 

There is the island behind Marc.  *This is the point that we realized that we couldn't use the double stroller...we hadn't even thought of ALL the stairs this place would have.  We forgot both baby carriers at our hotel but we had the backpack that we use for Isaac that we put Isabella into.  We decided to use the umbrella stroller because it is easy to fold up and carry and I had a makeshift carrier (out of blankets) that I used for Ava....although she ended up in the stroller after we were done with the 300+ stairs!!

Such a neat place!   

Isaac did awesome with all the stairs! 

At the top!
*Isaac was super into the audio tour device (which he is looking at in the picture)...so much so that he had Marc's 99% of the day. :)   

At neat outside garden at the top. 

The makeshift carrier...she was getting really heavy by this point! 

Happy Isabella.  We tried putting Ava in the backpack but she wasn't a fan. 

Everyone was worn out by the end. 

Heading home. :)

France Day 1

Well, since I know most of you enjoy pictures I thought I would split our vacation pictures up a bit.  Our 1st day was spent checking out where we were staying and trying to get Isabella healthy.  Here are a few pictures from our low-key day.

This was the harbor of the town we stayed in.  Isaac loved looking at the boats!

Here are the girls having a little snack.  This picture is funny because Ava loves to kick her leg up when she is in her highchair.  She is buckled in...and yes, we did bring our highchairs from home.  The OFAV (Odyssey family assault vehicle ) was filled UP!  Babies are small but need a lot of STUFF! :)

Another Ava shot.

Isabella had been up most of the night sick but she had a smile to share with the camera.  She is a sweet and tough cookie! 

Isaac was there but wanted nothing to do with the camera. :)

Happy Mother's Day & Vacation!

We have the 2 best Moms and we wanted to let you know that we love you and wish you a wonderful day!!!  You have helped us out so much this past year we are so, so thankful for you two!  Thank you for being such incredible Grandmas too!

We have been kinda quiet this week on the blog because we have been on VACATION!  Yes, I know it seems like we are always on the move but it has been a while since we have gone on a vacation. :)  We went to the Normandy area in France for a week and just got back.   We were able to relax and enjoy the sights and all things French (including chocolate croissants...yummy).  The kids did awesome and we were able to pace out our trip so we got naps. :)  Isabella did get sick but was a trooper and is recovering well (just a virus).  The girls are both cutting the 2nd tooth on the bottom and so there were some sleep-less moments.  We have lots of pictures to share over the next few days but first we have to show what Isaac did all around France.... 

...BIKE!  He loves his new balance bike.  A balance bike does not have petals so it encourages balance and is better than a trike since he should be able to transition to a bike without training wheels...and best of all HE LOVES IT!!!  This is at the place we stayed near Omaha Beach. 

   Here is Isaac and Daddy at Pont du Hoc. 

At a Chateau near Cherbourgh.

Bike Fun

We bought some bikes from some friends that are moving (thanks Ellen!) and we took them out this week and had some enjoyable family fun---our first bike ride!!!  If you know me you probably know that I am not much of a biker...something about splitting my head open twice in bike accidents when I was younger may have something to do with it. :) Anyway, after I realized that it wasn't me that was making the bike wobbly and it was Isaac swinging back and forth behind me, we placed him on Marc's bike and I had a very pleasent ride with Isabella.  Ava rode in the Baby Bjorn as you can see in the picture.  We need to get her a seat soon (one that attaches to the front).  She was LOVING "flying" and had both her arms out on the bike ride and had the biggest smile.   

Isabella looking cute on the back of my bike. 

I had to sneak a picture of Isaac.  He loves his new "Cars" helmet.  We will do a post soon of him and his new bike.

The crew.