Catching Up

The last couple of weeks have been fairly uneventful.  We are still enjoying most of our time playing outside since it's not too hot yet.  We are so ready for the pool but the spring weather has been so nice!  We bought the kids a water table a couple of weeks ago.  We took them to Toys R Us and after about half an hour on the same aisle, Ava finally chose the water park splash table.  She says 'it's for boys and girls.' She even named the little figurines Ava & Keegan.  They play in it almost every day.

Ava has been having fun on roller skates. She's getting a little more confidant each time but still holding on pretty tight to Daddy.

Friday night we took her to see 'Pinkalicious' at a local middle school.  The book was given to her before she was even born and I started reading it to her while propped up on her boppy at one month old so it's kind of a favorite :-)  The play was a half hour musical and she loved it!    I so hope she grows up loving theatre as much as I do.  She went through her dress up box and chose her favorite pink dress and jewelry to wear.

And pink cupcakes were served after.....Thanks Aunt Kara for sharing this event with us.  It's still quite talked about this Monday afternoon :-)

We pulled our 'waterpillar' sprinkler out yesterday and the kids had so much fun running around.

Ava riding her new scooter and looking too gown up lately.......

And lastly, Ava's dance recital is just a few weeks away!  Costumes came in last week and tickets are purchased.  I think we have checked out every book the library has about dance recitals.  She's so happy to have such a big group coming to watch her.  We are getting really excited!

Dallas Zoo

Since we didn't make it to the St. Louis zoo last weekend we decided to head to the Dallas zoo on Wednesday.  We usually take a trip to the Fort Worth zoo this time of year but after hearing about all of the updates made to Dallas we thought it would be fun to check it out.  I have to say it didn't disappoint!  The new savanna portion was beautiful and the kids really enjoyed the kid zoo/splash area. 
Here are some pics of our day!

 First Stop-Penguins...  Always a favorite!

My Monkeys

Checking out the elephants

Feeding the giraffes

Sweet Keegan happy to be out of the stroller!

Love

Cooling off in the water area.....Another great new addition and a fun way to end the day!

Our Trip to St.Louis

We are home from our first out-of-state road trip as a family of four!  We left for St. Louis at 3:30am on Friday morning and broke up the 10 hour drive in Joplin, MO at a chick fil a around 8:00 that morning.  The kids woke up just before that so it was almost perfect timing!  We stayed about an hour and dressed the kids, ate breakfast and let them play for a while.  Ava quickly made friends with another little girl in the playground.  Jeff told me he could hear her telling the little girl "I'm on vacation today....On my way to St. Louis."  So funny! She cracked us up the entire trip.  Vacation suits her well because she always wants to be on the go.  As usual, the drive up was much easier than the drive back but overall the kids did great.  Keegan was so worn out he slept a lot on the way home so that was a huge blessing. We had an absolutely amazing weekend and such a fun time with family!  Part of the trip is a drive through the Ozarks which was so pretty.

We pulled up to our hotel downtown around 1:30 in the afternoon.  All the maps estimated 10 hours but we didn't anticipate making that great of time so it was a pleasant surprise.

Lots of family began arriving soon after we did and we spent the afternoon and evening catching up. Here's Keegan meeting his Great-Grandpa Marvin for the first time.

 Sweet Presley & Shay...They were instant buddies :-) 

 

Aunt Lori brought fun toys for the kids and she kept Ava entertained for hours!  They played animal finger puppets and Ava ran around the room "scaring" everybody with them.

Andrew gained points with his awesome Donald Duck impersonation.

Saturday morning we headed a few blocks over to the St. Louis City Museum.  It was incredible.  There was so much to see, do and explore. We are excited to go back when the kids are older to do a lot more climbing and exploring.  They had so much fun!

The big kids had a lot of fun too!

We had a couple of hours to get ready for Ryan & Krista's wedding once we were back at the hotel.  I dressed Ava after her snack and came out of the bathroom five minutes later to find her like this. She slept until we put her on the shuttle headed for the wedding venue.

The wedding was beautiful!  Jeff's cousin Ryan met his sweet bride when they were paired up at a ballroom dancing class a couple of years ago.  It was so fun to watch them!

And a couple of other little dancers enjoyed themselves on the dance floor.  Ava and Aiden danced their little hearts out. So precious!  Don't worry Mason, they are third cousins :-)

I think Ava would have stayed all night long.  She was such a little lady.

Little man didn't have quite as much fun.  He was so tired and we stayed until after 10.  Daddy walked around with him during the ceremony (to the bride's relief I'm sure!)  He would not have been so pleasant trying to sit quietly for thirty minutes.  This little guy is always on the go!

Sharp dressed Man...

Sleepy little man...

Mommy's little man...

Grandpa &  Grandma Jensen with Grandchildren & Spouses

And with great grandchildren...

Gramps & Ava

Family Pic

Sunday morning we met up with the Hutchisons and Ava met sweet cousin Emma for the first time.  They were running around the hotel lobby together in no time! 

It was a great visit and a fun trip.  We were so glad to be a part of Ryan & Krista's special day.  And how great to get to see so much family and pick up like no time had passed.  How blessed we are by this wonderful group of people!  We love you all and we hope to make it up again before too long!