Kelleys Unite!

It seems like every time the Kelley family is together and snaps a family photo, it's outdated before we can even get it printed out. The family tree keeps getting bigger and bigger as more babies are born. It is so fun to watch Avery interact with all 6 of her cousins whenever we get together. She sincerely loves each and every one of them. With Erich and I being out of town and the demands of busy schedules for all of the adults and older kids' activities, we don't all end up in the same place at the same time as often as we'd like. So every time we do, we make sure to get a photo! I can't imagine two better people to be leading the pack...

Grandma and Grandpa. Every time we go for a weekend visit Avery's requests are to see Grandpa's trains, help water Grandma's flowers, and feed the fish (in my Dad's aquarium). She is never disappointed!

This is probably the best picture we've ever gotten of all 7 grandkids together. It's not often they all sit still long enough for a photo. Pretty soon we'll be adding Norah to the mix!

The whole gang together in Mom and Dad's beautiful backyard. We love each and every face in this photo and are so grateful that they are in our lives!

Summertime Fun

As I mentioned previously, this has been one of the hottest summers Ohio has on record. Of course, I was fortunate enough to be pregnant through the whole thing! Needless to say, most of our time spent outside was in the water and most of our time spent inside was with the air conditioner blasting (Erich has been very gracious about this... never complaining while he shivered under blankets and had dollar signs flashing in his eyes). Avery took to the water like a fish this summer and whether we were at the city pool, the ymca, the beach, or the baby pool in Nana and Papa's back yard, she was just happy to be swimming and practically had to be dragged out of the water. After the back pain that kept me laid up on the couch for the beginning part of the summer, I was just so so so thankful for every moment that I could spend having fun outside with my girl. Here are a few pictures of our summer fun...

Avery and Cara in Nana and Papa's baby pool.

The Piland ladies soaking up some sun.

Avery and I had a blast at a free local event for kids called "Sandtastic". A local outdoor shopping mall built a huge sandbox (bigger than our living room and kitchen combined I think) in the middle of the street and had it full of toys for the kids to play with along with professional sand sculpture demonstrations, live music, inflatables, and all sorts of other fun. I hope this becomes an annual event!

Unfortunately Daddy had to work and couldn't join us for Sandtastic, but Avery and I made a great little Mommy-Daughter date out of it and after we played in the sand for a bit I took Avery on her first visit to Johnny Rockets. We don't go out to restaurants all that often so it was a special treat for her and she was grinning from ear to ear the entire time. Her favorite part was when the wait staff spontaneously broke into a song and dance routine. Avery was dancing right along with them! When Erich got home from work that night and I tried to tell him about our day I broke down in tears because my heart was overwhelmed with joy that such a fun memory was made. These simple little moments are when my calling as a mother is most fulfilled. I love this job.

Every summer we take advantage of a free program at our city pool called "toddler time". They open the "kiddie" end of the pool from 10am-noon Monday-Friday for kids ages birth to 5 years old and their parents. It has been a huge blessing for us to attend toddler time and avoid the cost of having to buy a pool pass. It's more than enough time for Avery to get her water fix and it doesn't interfere with her nap time... perfect! This summer we went several mornings a week and I sat my big pregnant belly in the middle of the kiddie pool while Avery ran and swam around me. We were both happy campers! We usually meet Avery's little best friend Grace there and Lindsey and I get to talk while the girls entertain each other. This is the 3rd year in a row that we have pictures of Avery and Grace sitting next to each other in these chairs. I can't believe how fast they are growing!

Our friend (and Erich's co-worker), Nadine, has a wonderful in ground pool in her backyard and graciously invited us over for a pool play date. When Avery borrowed a pair of water wings from Nadine's granddaughter (also named Avery), we discovered that she loved the freedom of being able to float around on her own and we loved the freedom of not having to hold onto her every second she was in the water. You better believe I was at Walmart later that same week buying Avery a life jacket to wear at the pool! What a difference it makes! Nadine's pool has a diving board and all it took was Avery watching Erich jump off one time... she just had to try it! I couldn't believe that I was watching our two year old jump off the diving board over and over again and loving every second of it. (of course Daddy was always there to catch her... safety first!) Her sense of adventure is something to marvel at. She definitely doesn't get that from me!

This summer has flown by. I can't believe it's September already and time to start thinking about pumpkins, cool weather, and halloween costumes. (Oh yeah, and a new baby!) I am thankful for every moment that I've had to enjoy Avery and our time together as a family. Like every toddler, she has her moments that make me take a deep breath and pray for patience. But she more than makes up for that with every laugh, smile, and squeal of joy. I can't believe that in a few short weeks I'll be twice blessed and my heart will feel twice this amount of love. Thank you, God.

Texas Bound

When Evan and Passa had a new baby, Jacob, in May we just knew we had to make trip to Texas to meet our new little nephew! The last time we went to visit them I was barely pregnant with Avery and we were going to meet our new niece, Cara, who is 3 years old now. Time flies! Avery only gets to see her Texas Piland family a couple of times a year, so we were really excited to take her on a trip there to play with her cousins, but I have to admit we were apprehensive about the flight there and back. It was Avery's first plane ride and we had visions of meltdowns, tantrums, and freak outs... Oh my! Thankfully all of our worrying was for not, as overall she did a fantastic job. There were restless moments for sure, but nothing too embarrassing. Her favorite parts of the plane ride were the "big bump" (when the plane landed and the wheels hit the ground) and when we hit some pretty severe turbulence. While Erich and I were gripping our seats and praying for safety, Avery was throwing her arms up in the air and saying "Weeeeeeeee! Faster! Faster!". She's our fearless daredevil girl for sure. We can't wait to take her to Cedar Point someday.

The visit with Evan, Passa, Cara, and Jacob was great, but way too short. We got into town around 4pm on Friday and were leaving to head back to the airport at 4am on Sunday morning. We still managed to fit in quite a bit of fun during our stay though... going out to eat multiple times, getting family pictures taken, and walking down to the lake by Evan and Passa's house where we were nearly attacked by some of the most vicious ducks I've ever seen (it's one of those things we can laugh about now, but wasn't quite so funny in the moment). Jacob was an absolute doll. One of the happiest, calmest babies I've ever seen. Avery and Cara had fun playing together, with the exception of a few little battles here and there (blame it on the age where sharing is a tough concept combined with Avery getting two of her molars while we were in Texas... meltdown city).

We had a great time and were so thankful for Evan and Passa's great hospitality. They made us feel right at home!

Avery's first plane ride. She was entertained with movies on the laptop and a steady supply of fruit snacks and suckers. All star parenting!

The only family photo we got of Evan, Passa, Cara, and Jacob. It was a bit of a hectic weekend.

Proud Uncle Erich with his niece and nephew

Cousins!

Two brothers with their little girls. What a sweet moment it was to watch them all walking hand and hand.

Avery was on paci patrol with Jacob. She always wanted to make sure he had it in his mouth. We have no doubt that Norah will be well taken care of by her big sister!

The Butterfly House

As we prepare for the arrival of baby Norah, we are trying to soak up our time with Avery (while she's still our one and only) and squeeze in some fun family outings between washing baby clothes, tackling house projects, and crossing things off the to-do list. In July we spent a morning at The Butterfly House, a butterfly habitat in a neighboring town. It was basically a big greenhouse room full of beautiful plants and a couple hundred butterflies fluttering around. A simple concept, but absolutely breathtaking to stand in the midst of. Avery was captivated by the whole scene and kept asking for a butterfly to land on her (which sadly never happened. I think she was too much of a moving target). It was a simple, easy way to spend the morning together and it brought our little girl a lot of joy!

One of Avery's favorite parts of the whole experience was the butterfly stamp we got on our hands at admission. It's the little things.

Admiring the butterflies. She did VERY well with the "no touch" rule. I was impressed!

Posing (with some help from Daddy)

Another fun trip we took in July was a visit to the beach at Maumee Bay State Park. The park has special sentimental value because that's where Erich and I got engaged, but we had never visited the beach there and thought it would be fun for Avery since she's become such a little fish recently (Avery and I spent LOTS of time at the pool during this record hot summer!). Rocky Ohio sand and lake water don't quite have the same effect as the ocean beach (my favorite) but Avery didn't know the difference and she was in heaven as she ran back and forth between the sand and the water. We even got to witness a real life water rescue by the lifeguard... a tense moment, but thankfully it had a happy ending. We packed a picnic lunch and had a great time spending a few hours together on a hot day. Unfortunately, I forgot the camera so we don't have any photos to document it, but it was a fun day none the less!