Christopher Michael and Ava Grace

Happy Birthday, Ava! Ava turned 1 year old this past week - can you believe it??? Time has really flown by...it's crazy! I started back to work last week, so the summer fun is over :( I really enjoyed staying home with the kids these past couple of months, but it's back to work and back to daycare. We switched to a new daycare and the kids seem to be doing really well there so far. I hope it continues!

Ava had a great birthday, and lots of birthday festivities! She was not a fan of her birthday cake, though. She ate a little bit of it, but it was nothing like Christopher's first birthday cake. I guess that is just the girl in her :) Her nickname around the house is Ava Bug, and Christopher thinks that her full name is Ava Bug Grace and gets very upset if he hears me refer to her as Ava Hess (like while I'm on the phone with the doctor...). Pretty funny! She still isn't walking, but she did take about 4 steps yesterday, so we are definitely on our way - hopefully it will be soon. It will make it much easier on Mom and Dad! Ava is also quite the little dancer all of a sudden. If she hears any music she will start dancing :)

Christopher is also doing really well and has really turned out to be a great big brother. They get along really (as long as Ava doesn't touch the iPad), and he is very helpful. Christopher's newest hobby is playing Angry Birds, and he is literally addicted! I'm pretty sure he can navigate his way through the iPad better than I can. He has Angry Bird stuffed animals, Angry Bird games, Angry Bird pillowcase, Angry Bird gummies, Angry Bird t-shirts, etc. He is still working on his golf game - Dad has really high hopes for him and is hoping to have a golf buddy someday!

Not so sure what to think of this cake stuff...

Happy Birthday, Ava! We love you!

Opening up some presents!

Our newest addition to the living room...

Ava got to play on the iPad for a minute while Christopher wasn't looking :)

Roasting his first marshmallow for a S'more

This tastes pretty good!

Chris teaching Christopher the perfect roasting technique

I think the chocolate is the best part!

Blue eyes

Ava Bug Grace

Christopher and his girlfriend, Caroline (or as he calls her, Carolion)

Busted!

Playing at the park

This was one of the few things we weren't scared of

Hey, Look at me!

Happy girl :)

Peek-a-boo

Sliding with Dad

Higher!

Sweet girl :)

One of his favorite foods

Being silly

Ava loves the pool

Pool fun!

What a little munchkin <3 br="br">

Summer vacation with Mom

Exploring the house

Washing his bike

Nothing like a little drink from the hose!

Hi, Mom!

Hard at work building something

Look at what I found

So serious

Ava and her friend, Mary (Caroline's sister)

Trying to get a family photo

Christopher was NOT going to sit still

Putting practice with Dad

Christopher and Carolion

She loves her big brother <3 br="br">

Love the sleeping bum in the air :)

Hey, What are you doing??

Playing outside

Ava, Mary, Caroline and Christopher - what a crew they are!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms! I had a few minutes, so I thought I would update the blog with some new pictures...

All is well here in the Hess household. Ava just went for her 9 month check-up and is weighing a little over 21 pounds and is about 28 inches long. In this last week she has started crawling and clapping :) I don't know what I'm going to do with 2 of them on the move now! Ava has 4 teeth and is in the process of getting 4 (yes, all at once) new ones. She has not been the happiest camper these last couple of days, but I guess it's better to get 4 of them at the same time and over all at once. Ava is eating all table food now, and she has not met a food that she doesn't like...unlike her brother who has not met a food that he does like. Once she had a taste of real food, she did not want to go back to the baby food. I've been making her lots of sweet potatoes, green beans, macaroni, pierogies, rice and quesadillas :)

Christopher is also doing very well and is talking up even more of a storm than he was a month ago! At times he enjoys playing with Ava now that she interacts more, and at times, he does not want her around at all. We are going to have to work on sharing our toys with her. Overall, they get a long pretty well, and he has really started enjoying playing with her and making her laugh. He is getting better at golf (which Dad is loving), and is still loving exploring the outdoors!