Mommy and Christian play while Ava is away!!!

I don't get much time with little man by himself. I know he has a lot to say in life and he has many opinions, but I also know he is stifled by having an older sister and not getting to say all he thinks and feels.  She has a more dominant personality, so he seems to sometimes fall in the background a little.  He doesn't really act like he minds, but on Monday, when I dropped her off at gymnastics camp, he became a whole new kid.  I asked him what he would like to do while we wait for Ava.  He said, "iced coffee mom!!"  He enjoys DD iced coffees as much as I do.  :)  Kid after my own heart.  So, as we were driving (oh and he HAD to ride in Ava's seat, per his request)  He started talking.  He continued to jabber so much that I turned off the radio and we talked the whole way to DDs.  He talked about missing Ava and where she was at, and that he wanted donuts.  :) 

Once we got to DDs, we got him a bag of munchkins and then sat down and talked some more.  I also had left him pick out his own outfit that day and he was so proud of himself.  He was really trying for his independence that day and I just let him have it. I was so proud of who he was and the glimpse I got of who he was to become.  I know God has a great plan for this little guy and I am so extremely blessed to be his mom.  :)

Here are some pics of our time together.  Oh, and a side note, now everyday we drop her off at camp, he says, "iced coffee mom?"  ahahha.  He likes routine.  :)

His own outfit he picked out and dressed himself.

So excited about our donuts.

How do we let go of our children?

This week, Ava went to her first camp,  Beach week at gymnastics camp.  She had been in gymnastics for about two and a half months and then my heart attack happened and we pulled her out of gymnastics because I was to drop all commitment for a few months.  She was actually fine with that, since her anxiety shot up really high after the heart incident in our lives.  She would ask about it every once in a while, but mostly, she hated leaving my side.  It was sad to watch, this little girl, by nature very confidant, and now very anxious and scared to have mommy out of her sight.  We have been working on this and we have been building up to this week for awhile.  It takes awhile to prepare her and get her ready for these types of situations.

So, as I was getting her ready Monday morning, I was silently praying in my heart that God would calm her nerves that I knew were bound to arise.  We got up and packed her little backpack with a snack, drink, bathing suit and beach towel.  She picked to wear her PINK leotard and she was so excited.  She let me put her hair in a pony tail and then brushed her teeth and stood at the door hollering that it was time to go, while Christian and I were rushing to get ourselves ready.  She literally skipped out to the car and sang the whole way down the sidewalk.  However, once we got in the van, she got very quiet.  She said, "mommy?  I am still excited, . . .but I am nervous too.  I have chickens in my belly cause I don't know what to do."  I told her that sometimes in life, when I am going somewhere or trying something for the first time, I feel nervous, but I reminded her that God is always with us. I also informed her that she would like her teachers and make new friends while at camp.  She said, "now mom, I only like my teachers from church and your mom2mom class, cause I already know them."  I continued to explain to her that she would like these teachers too, it was just scary the first day.  I told her I would be right there with her.

We entered in, and she saw a familiar teacher from earlier in the year and skipped right up to him.  She was smiling and never looked back.  So, Monday went well and I left, came back three hours later and she was very happy to see me.  She had so much to tell me and she kept saying, "this is the last time you leaved me for so long and I did it all by myself!!!"  I was so proud of her.  So, Tuesday, morning, I got up and we did the same routine again.  She heard me talking to Christian about what him and I were going to be doing and she went from super excited about gymnastics camp to super nervous.  She started whimpering a little and said that I couldn't leave her and she would miss me.  I wasn't sure how to handle this but when we arrived at the camp, she was extremely hesitant.  She wouldn't let go of my hand and I wanted to cry for her.  She wanted to go in, but she was so scared.  She finally allowed a teacher to take her through the door, and then she again, never looked back.  Almost as though she had made the decision, the right one and was happy about it.  No doubt.  I, on the other hand, was extremely anxious, wondering if she was missing me and if she was feeling abandoned.  I called my hubby and he told me to stay strong and he was praying for me.  We have to let go at some point. 

I got to thinking about what he said. At some point I have to let go.  This got me thinking about how God loves us and wants us to make the right decisions.  He cheers us on and roots for us and sends people our way to encourage us along the path, kind of like the familiar teachers and friends.  He has big plans for us, ones he know will make us happier than we can imagine, but yet we have to take the step to find this out.  Like today, I knew Ava would have a blast at camp and would be fine, but I also knew she had to find that out for herself. I could tell her over and over, but she had to make the choice.  Once she did, she was great and when I came to get her, she had a blast and never mentioned the fact that I had left.  I wonder if God has a hard time letting us go and make decisions for ourselves sometimes.  He knows the easy path and the hard path to the end result.  He is there with us along the way, but ultimately we have to decide what we are going to do with our lives.  Are we going to take the leap of faith and trust what he tells us is behind the curtain that we can't see?  I believe when we do just that, we never look back once we see what is on the other side.  I am sure he cries with us and hurts with us, but he knows what is waiting.  I feel that I am Ava's biggest fan, but I know really that God is.  He is my biggest fan too and I am glad he is on my side.

At the Drive-In

Happy Father's Day!!!

For Father's Day, 2010, we decided to go to the drive-in theatre in Newville.  We went with Micah's family and two of my cousins, Bethany and Tori.  It was a blast!!  Toy Story 3 was playing and so we dressed Christian in his Buzz Light Year outfit I got at a yard sale for 25 cents.  It was hot, but he was so excited to have it, he wouldn't take it off.  :)

We played some cards, ate snacks, played on the swings and rocks and then sacked out in front of our vehicles for a fun movie.  Some of us even cried through the movie and ONE of us slept. :)

Here are some pics and I have to say I loved this third movie.  Sad and moving, yet funny.  I will be seeing it again.

Christian, Kelsey, Ava, and Abigail with the big screen behind them.

Lori, Kelsey, and Myself, waiting for the movie to start.

Eating the popcorn and having a 'picnic'

Playing Cards with the family. . .

Jeff, Fawn, Isaac, Stewart, Levi, Judy, and Margaret

Bethany, Tori, and Cate and Abigail.  Aren't we having fun??

It was a great memory and the whole family had a good time!!

Father's Day Weekend at the Jig

A few years ago, the Bumbaugh men decided to start a new tradition of a father son camping trip for a weekend down at the jig camping sight.  This was all fine and dandy, until a few of us women wanted to be a part of this great family affair.  So, this year, over father's day weekend, the entire Bumbaugh family and some friends that are considered family, spent the weekend down at the jig.  The biggest rule, made by mine truly. .  .BYO food.  This became a joke after the first night since our kids went around bumming food off of everyone else and had NO interest in the food we had brought on our own.  :) 

Lots of fishing to do, little and big fish to catch. Kelsey said she has now caught 5 fish in her entire lifetime.  :)  She was very patient and loved fishing.  I love this picture of her and her concentration.

Here, Grandma is talking to the grand kids while showing them how to properly make a mountain pie of an kind.   We had all kinds of mountain pies to share. .. oh, wait, it is BYO!!!

Micah and Fawn using their Tiki torches to call together Tribal meeting. 

Happy Fathers Day Harry.  We all went together and bought you a little something.  This Steelers Bean Bag Toss game was awesome.  we even had a tournament at one point.  We drew random teams and then did the whole tournament bracket thing.  Micah and his Mom won first place.

Number 1 Team

Some of the main events that took place were as follows:

Swimming in the snake infested water, no seriously.  you think I am joking.  We found a water snake eating a fish right where the kids were splashing around in the water and Uncle Jeff found a rather large water snake racing up past him while he was fishing in the water.  :(  Yuck!!  We will call these snakes "water moccasins" for lack of better terms, oh, yeah, and for a little added drama!!

They also found a 4-5 foot long black snake slithering up through our camp site.  NOT a fun highlight.  They told me it had been 15 years since they had seen a snake down there, and then we see three!!!  I think they were lying to me.

Uncle Scott showing off his fish to Kelsey and Christian.

The kiddos watching daddy fishing for 'the big one'.  They couldn't wait.  Christian kept saying, "doing daddy?" and then when you said, "fishing Christian" he would say, "why?"  This was a common conversation he had with each and every person that was fishing throughout the weekend.  His uncle Scott started to talk like him after this, and to this day is still talking in one to two word sentences. This might go on for a few months.  :)

Sharon caught a fish and dropped it or should I say it jumped out of her hand. I love this action shot.

A few other things we did over the weekend. .  . eating, fishing, laughing, games, relaxing, reading, and water balloons.  We even had a hand washing area set up and a private bathroom for all the comforts of home, thanks to Micah's fabulous parents.  :)  What a very fun weekend we had!!

Funny Little Moments from 2010 - In the Beginning.

Jan. 2010
"Mommy, when I get five, am I going to be a Mudder" - Ava Bean asked me this just now. hahaha, WE sure hope not Ava!!! Then she said, "when I am a mudder (mother) I sure will make some good food for my kids." Am I wrong for taking this that she means I don't make good food?? hahaha. I love her.


Feb. 14, 2010
Micah's parents took us to dinner on Friday night and his mom ordered Broiled Salmon. She was letting all of us try the fish and so Ava & Christian wanted a bite. We put a bite on a plate and slid it over to Christian, "here is some fish for you son." He looked down at the fish, smiled and said, "ohhhh, Look, it's Nemo!” He then took a bite. He smiled and showed no remorse.


Feb. 2010
Ava told me she had a dream last night, "I had a pair of pink and white striped socks and they were my favorite. Then, when I found them again, in the laundry 'basic', they were all growed up. They fit mommy's foots, and not mine." :) She was so sad about this. I love when she has dreams. I told her I would try and find some white and pink striped socks that were not all growed up yet.


February 25 at 8:23pm
My daughter just called out from her room, "Mommy, my heart is telling me that I need to come out and sit with you for awhile." I guess this heart thing has really got her being creative and she will put her own spin on it if it means her getting to stay up later. :) Lately, she has been doing this with using her heart as a reason for wanting to do things.  For example, "mommy, my heart says I miss you and I need to sleep in your bed."


February 23
Ava woke up today and informed me that she was growing up fast and that she was going to get married (to her daddy) and have two babies. She said she thinks she wants to name them Ariah and Tika. HMMM, this was all on her own accord, since I prompted none of this. haha Her mind amazes me.




February 23
I took Ava to the doctors yesterday and the doctor was telling her that since her hair and body both grow while she sleeps, she should really sleep all day and all night. She laughed and said, "well, I would but my chickens keeps waking me up." The doctor shot me a look and then said, "the chickens?" I had to explain ...that hat some people call butterflies in their tummy, Ava calls chickens


June 3 2010
Why does my son think he needs to 'water' everything, even if it is not a plant. I walked into my room today to find that he had dumped a bottle of water all over my bedspread, I was so angry and he said, "water flowers mommy!!" yupp, there are flowers on my bedspread. :)




While getting ready for Church today, Ava was deciding what shoes to wear. Finally, she looked at me and said, "mama, are you wearing your wheels today??" i realized she thought that Heels were called wheels, and she then decided to wear her Cinderella wheels today too, because, "mama, I want to look just like you



I did my hair tonight, since i was going to be around people. . I thought it looked pretty good. . . So my dearest daughter came in and told me, "mommy, you look like a Dinosaur" ???? she said it was my hair, but that I still looked pretty...




Ava was eating her oatmeal for breakfast and I told her that she didn't have to finish all of it, her reply was, "yes mama, I have to eat it cause my big mouth is trying to grow." :)


June 2010
Christian is really trying to learn his colors, or should I say I am really trying to get him to learn his colors.  I am so frustrated but at the same time, I can't help but laugh. I was told to teach him a Hook for colors like, "this is yellow, like a banana." or, "this is green, like grass" so I was working on this.  But first, you have to teach them what color a banana is or grass is.  Well, after literally about 15 attempts of saying, "Christian, what color is this grass?" 
"blue mommy"
I would say, "no, it is green. Grass is green.  Now, Christian, what color is this grass right here."
"pink mommy"
Welp, I guess in his eyes grass is multicolored cause I never did get the same color twice.  :)

Favorite Moments from our Family Vacation to Missouri

"Oh, Slaughbaugh!!" - cousin Eric

"We are unique cause we all have hands."

Micah and his random trips to McDonald's for the Caramel Frappes. Also the random Wal-Mart trips and the "Styrofoam cooler" in the upstairs Pink Room at Grandma's house.

"Hey, mom, Look!!! I found an Aquatic Snail!!" - Tio age 3

"Mom, this is so much fun.  I love this place!!" - Ava age 4 while we were at the beach at the campsite

Cheering the frogs on the windows on as they were able to hang on the window and catch bugs.  Celebrating at our FAMILY REUNION.

Dutch blitz with the cousins, no, we are not competitive at all.

The "Special" suite that became the hang out place.

Slumber parties and long talks until wee hours in the morning.

Grandma and Grandpa Yoder's 60th Wedding Anniversary.  They still got it!!!

Four-wheeler rides, horse back rides, kittens to play with, bowling, and other things to do.  Lots of people to hang out with.

The Hail storm we traveled through and all the comments dad and Micah made from that one.

Hershey Park 2010

On June 15th, we were able to experience our 4th annual trip to Hershey Park for the foster care appreciation day.  The kids love Hershey Park.  Mom, Micah, Ava, Christian, and I all went and met the Andino family there.  It was such a great day. 

We rode the first kiddie rides when we got in and then we traveled on to our bagged lunches by the second mile association.  Ava, from the moment we got in, wanted to ride her favorite ride of all time. . ."the miniature horse ride"  This was across from where we ate, so we shot over there and sat as she and Christian rode this ride for about an hour, non stop.  They would get off and then right back in line to get on.  Finally, we were able to pry them away and we went off to ride the BIG PIRATE ship, which is my all time favorite ride at Hershey.  Ava and Destiny rode it for the first time. They did good and they were brave but they both admitted they like the 'little pirate ship' better.  After that, we headed over to some more kiddie rides and then we walked by the trail blazer roller coaster.  This was so exciting. The kids, all of them, were tall enough to ride so we took them on this very first big person roller coaster. Christian and Ava loved it so much, they rode it with us 3 more times.  Then the Andino Girls decided they wanted to brave the Comet Roller Coaster.  This was a great idea, but not for our little ones.  However, Ava decided she wanted to ride this one too.  I started getting a few heart palpitations.  :)

We had decided that when we got over to the comet, we would tell her she was not tall enough, but she was almost there and she was crying how badly she wanted to get on it. Finally, Daddy said he would take her.  He held her in his arms for the entire line and she was somewhat nervous I think, but she wanted to be brave.  My mom and stood at the exit and waited.  I saw her face as they put her in the seat beside Micah and my heart ached. I was so scared she was going to be terrified and cry and I kept telling Micah to hold onto her.  I prayed and when the ride got back, I teared up.  MY BABY rode her first big roller coaster and survived. If they had a T-shirt that said, "I survived the comet" I would have invested in it for her.  They should have a t-shirt that says "I am a mom and I survived my baby riding the comet."  Micah said she was fine up the first big hill and then all of a sudden the coaster went over the mountain.  He said she grabbed a hold of him and the bar and held on for dear life.  She never looked up until the roller coaster ride was over and then she sort of looked up and smiled.  She said she liked it, and she even told me she liked it.  As soon as the excitement was over, she went over and climbed up inside her stroller and pulled the umbrella part down over her.  I peeked in and she looked as though she was slightly in shock.  Real quiet.  :)  I think the reality hit her.  Finally, she asked me to hold her and then she told me, "mommy, I want to ride the little rides.  Please.  She melted my heart.
Due to her request, we ended up heading back to the miniature horse ride and she rode that ride until she couldn't ride anymore.  The attendant at the ride said she was pretty sure she set a record.  :)  It was a great day.  I love Hershey Park.

In Line ready for the Comet Ride

In the cart, ready for the ride to begin. . I don't think she had any idea.  Daddy looks a little nervous as he is trying to figure out how to help her understand if she really wanted to do this or not.  :)

We got to meet quite a few of the candy bars.  They actually had a dance party and we had so much fun hanging out and dancing with them.  They were really cool.  Here is one of the pics of the kids with the mild duds.

Micah, Christian, Nana, and Ava on the Timber tots ride.  A very slow water boat ride with a splash at the end. 

I love this one.  Christian was resting his head on his arm hanging out the window, just like we see daddy doing on the way home from work. hahah.  So cute.

 

Christian and Ava loved the Frog Hopper Ride.  They had fun riding that with Gabriella and Abigail too. 

Missouri Trip 2010

So, for our vacation this year, we decided to travel to Warsaw, Missouri to visit our family that lives out there.  There was another reason to go and that is that my blessed Grandparents are celebrating 60 years of wedded bliss. Their actual anniversary is in December of this year, but they celebrated it over the Yoder reunion so more family could make it. 

We were planning to leave our house on Friday the 3rd of June, and head to my parents house to pick them up.  Before we were out of our driveway, Ava asked if we were there yet.  We knew then this could be a VERY long trip.  :)

We picked up mom and dad and off we were on our travels.  We ran into a really bad hail storm, our little hitch and haul attachment in the back kept dragging and actually bent the screw.  The kids did pretty well over all. We drove straight thru, and they slept pretty much the bulk of the trip.  Every time they would wake up, they would ask us if we were in 'souri' yet and when we said no, Ava would say, "why is it taking so long to get to souri??"  Funny fact, when we got to Missouri about 17 hours later, she told her cousin Tio that it took almost as long to get to Souri as it did to get upstate.  Upstate for our family is only 4 hours. :)  Kids have such a great sense of time.

A great high lite for the kids was that Grandma had baby kittens in her barn.  As soon as we got there, the kids started asking for the kitties.  Grandpa Dean took us out to get the kittens.  Ava started asking her daddy right away if she could take one home.  I was thinking by the end of the trip we would be certain to take one home.  A few allergies and a long week later, I was in agreement with Daddy, we were not taking any cat home!!!

We arrived on Saturday morning, and the kids were anxious to get out and about.  They got out and played with the kittens.  Cousin Ashlyn introduced us to her big horse, B.G. and then we met some puppies too.  We got to visit with some family that first night and it was good to be HOME.

Sunday, we went to church and then we came home to get ready for some more visiting.  That is what we do in Missouri, it is one big reunion.  The kids had a blast playing in the huge sandbox up at aunt Squeak's house.  They also had fun riding four wheelers and just hanging out.  Some of the boys set off fire works and we got to meet some of the new baby cousins for the first time.

A few of our activities that our trip consisted of:
Four Wheeler Rides
Horse Rides
Kitties, kitties, kitties
Swimming on a private lake beach
Slumber parties
Bowling
Dutch Blitz Competitions
Ping Pong (Micah was the reining champion)
Tours at the Truman Dam
Fun Special Suite Cabin
Frogs on a window and a crowd cheering them on
Melting slugs with Salt
Riding on a Miniature Horse, Ozzie

We had a blast and it was so great hanging out with everyone. I love my family in Missouri.  Thanks to them, we had a great vacation.  It was great hearing my grandparents get honored for who they are and always have been.  They have left an awesome legacy so far and they are still going full speed.  They definately still got it!!! Can't wait to go back. 

Like Mother Like Daughter???

Ava has been walking around the house, constantly on the old cell phone she got from her Nana.  I think she must be mimicking someone, but I can't figure out who.  I was in the kitchen and this is what I heard.  "oh my, that is soooo funny!!!!"  then much laughter, "I can't believe that!! Hey, can you hang on . . .Kids, I am on the phone, just wait."  then more laughter and I mean real belly laughter.  Then she says, "well, I will give ya a call later, I have to take the kids to an appointment.  Have a great day!"  then she closes the flip cell phone.  hahahah, I guess they do act out what they see.  Then later I heard her laughing, and I mean it was convincing.  I walked into the living room to see what she found so funny, and no joke, she was on her phone again, laughing at her friend whom she was talking to.  She makes me smile.