Our God is Healer, Awesome in Power, Our God.

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The Frozen Crew

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Outside Fun

Ellie turned 2...awhile ago!

Ellie is two! It is a little bit of old news now, but she is a third child, ya know.
She had a great birthday and enjoyed celebrating with family. Lily and Ava made her a Build-A-Bear dog and she loved it. She also got lots of great gifts from family.

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I've had a few requests for me to repost Eliana's story for some people that I've met recently.
Click here if you would like to read it:

Eliana's Story

I've also had a lot of people asking for an update on Ellie so here it is:

Ellie is simply amazing. She hasn't had any major problems since she was born. Her only issue is she seems to get fevers for no apparent reason. At one point she had a fever for 5 months. The doctors checked everything and never found anything wrong. Eventually it went away. She gets them occasionally and there usually isn't a reason.

She is monitored closely at her well child checks for growth and development. She is also monitored closely for symptoms of tumor development, since she is at risk of having tumors develop in her body from her placenta. So far so good...she had an ultrasound of all of her organs when she had her five month fever since a long term fever could be a symptom. Everything checked out well.
She just had her 2 year old well child check and all is good. And we confirmed she still has her healthy fear of doctors that inflict pain. She screamed from the second they called her name until we confirmed we were 'all done'. Then she was laughing and trying to make friends with the doc who was WAY OVER her screaming. And it should be noted, she didn't even get any shots.
She is still hanging out in the 5% for height and weight on the growth chart, which is where she's been for awhile. The doc says they don't care what percentile she is in, as long as she is growing. Which she is, just on her own curve. Which kinda fits her personality anyways :)

We are so thankful for everyday with this pretty girl. What a blessing!

Kindergarten

Well...the day has come! Lily is officially a kindergartener. She is in the real world now. Ok, not really. It's just kindergarten, not college. But next time we blink, she will be 18 and headed to college. Yikes!

To say Lily was thrilled about going to kindergarten is an understatement. She asked everyday of the summer "is tomorrow the day I go to kindergarten?" She was thrilled to hear tomorrow really was the day she went to kindergarten. She was bouncing off the walls the night before, but wasn't so thrilled when I woke her up at 6:45 the next morning for school. She normally sleeps until 7:45 and school starts at 7:45 so it will take her a little while to adjust.


See? Pure excitement!

We left school on the first day with Ellie screaming "LILY COOOMMEEE!!! LILY COOOMMMEEE!!!!!." I guess Ellie wasn't ready to let go. I tried to console her by saying "Ellie, you get to spend time with mommy" and she screamed louder "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ha.

Lily described her first day of kindergarten as "Awesome!" (Apparently, she learned that new word at kindergarten). She made three friends but knows none of their names. Typical. And she loves her teacher.
Her only problem with kindergarten is she doesn't understand why they don't get to play. She is there from 7:45 - 2:45 and she gets 20 minutes for lunch and 20 minutes for recess. She said she asked her friend 'Why doesn't the teacher ever let us play?" to which her friend responded "I don't know, Lily. I think she doesn't like to have fun." Lol. Welcome to the real world, Lily. :)



On top of all the kindergarten excitement, Lily lost her first tooth this morning. She took it to school in a Ziploc bag to show her teacher and her class. What are the changes the tooth will make it home? None.
Slow down time, slow down!!


You can't tell from the picture, but she was excited about it! :)

And where is her side kick Ava during all this kindergarten excitement? We left her in Knoxville with Ted. He is there for a week and a half for junior and senior nationals and Ava is having the time of her life.

Don't go, summer. Don't go!

This summer has truly flown by. I think I say that every year, but even more so this year. The girls have learned so much this summer and thoroughly enjoyed our pool days. They love the water.

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And I'll leave you with this. Our synchro team.

https://flic.kr/p/omiFE8

They really were born this way.

https://flic.kr/p/ojFXR5

Sisters

The Fair

The girls went to their first fair the other day and LOVED it. Lily and Ava started with the kiddie ferris wheel and ended with the huge ferris wheel. They rode every ride and begged to go back again.
Ellie said 'no no no' to riding the rides at first. Then we forced kindly brought her on the merry go round without her permission and she giggled the whole time. She ended up riding about 5 rides, including the huge ferris wheel. There are no pictures of Ellie since she wouldn't ride anything by herself, but she was there. :)

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Swim lessons

The girls LOVE swim lessons. Lily can pretty much 'swim' now. And by swim, I mean doggy paddle. But she can survive. For about 20 seconds and then she starts to sink.
Ava is close but not quite to 'survival' skills yet.

Here's Lily's dive :)

https://flic.kr/p/nKdhHM

Open Gym

I took the girls to open gym yesterday and they enjoyed playing. Considering they have had no official gymnastics training, except for a few months in a toddler gymnastics play class, I was impressed with how comfortable Lily was on the beam. They have watched a lot of UK gymnastics competitions so I think she was imitating the routines she's seen.
I think she would've been VERY surprised when she fell and straddled it. Thankfully that didn't happen and apparently she's not worried about it :)

https://flic.kr/p/nDYPDx

Beach Trip 2014

We just got back from our beach trip and it was a lot of fun! Lily and Ava are at a fun age for the beach and loved riding their boogie boards and playing in the ocean. Ellie loved the sand and going out deep with Ted. She giggled the whole way out her first time. She preferred going OVER waves instead of under, but she eventually got used to going under.
All the grandkids, except Ellie, went out on dad's sailboat for the first time this year. Ellie was slightly (or very) afraid of the boat, maybe next year. :)

Here are a few (or a ton) of pictures that I took. ENJOY!

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Last Day of Preschool (for Lily)

Today was the last day of Preschool for Lily, she will be off to Kindergarten next year! Today was Ava's last day of Preschool for this year. She will return in the 4-5 year old class next year.
We have been so pleased with their Preschool and their teachers. Here are a few pictures...

Ava and Ms. Kimberly



Ava and her best friend 'Maggie Grace Young'. Most people call her 'Maggie Grace' but Ava calls her 'Maggie Grace Young.' We didn't get a picture of them together, but Liam is her other best friend. She calls him her brother. ;) They were quite the trio this year.



Lily and Ms. Kim (and her grass she grew)



Lily and some of her friends. Ava had to get in on all the pics :)

Soccer

Lily and Ava are playing soccer this spring with a league called I Am Third. God is first, others are second, I am Third. Here are a few pictures. Ava is #0 and Lily is #5 in the orange jerseys. They are the 'Little Giants.' These pictures are from their first game, they've only had one. The girls ran hard and played hard, but didn't have a clue what they were doing except chasing a ball around the field. Maybe this Saturday they will get it in their own goal, instead of the other team's goal. Maybe not. Either way, it's fun to watch! ;)

Dance

https://www.flickr.com/photos/50358735@N02/13743871784/

A picture of all three of them looking is rare!

Sister Fun

Ava is 4!!

Ava had a great 4th birthday. I cannot believe she is 4.

Lily made her a Build-A-Bear for her birthday, and it was her favorite gift. Her exact response was "Lily is THE BEST!!!!"



Then they wanted to get their birthday bears together...



She had a Dora cake...



And she was most excited to finally be able to tell people she is four years old. So if you see her, she will tell you:)

Frozen...and a little Ellie peek-a-boo :)

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VID_20140125_121952_097, originally uploaded by jhautau2.

Lily is 5!

Lily is officially 5. We tried to talk her in to staying four for one more year, but she wasn't fond of that idea.

Ava made her a Build a Bear for her birthday...



And she loved her other gifts too!







She kindly shared (after her parents made her) her pretend jewelry with Ava.



She loved her cake, because she loves anything sweet...



And she got some birthday love...



What about me?!?!



Oh yeah, Ellie was there too :) She enjoyed the cake.

Too bad this is the wrong girl holding the balloon

Christmas

We had a great Christmas. My dad came up the week before Christmas and Ted's Dad and Barb came to visit for Christmas. It was so nice to have Christmas at home and not travel. Ted got 6 days off of work so it was great to get some family time! :)

Cincinnati!





Christmas morning:







Ted got me a new camera for Christmas. Like a real one! Here's a few test photos