Never Fear Aunt Jen is here!

I was having one of those weeks of crazy single mothering when Jen came to town to rescue my sanity. It is so nice having her visit because I don't have to prep for her arrival, she made dinner for us, and she will discipline the girls so it doesn't feel like single parenting anymore. Sweet little Ainsley makes all days brighter and makes me even more excited to have an infant in our house again in a few months.  It was an action packed Saturday with the Zoo and a relax and enjoy the 70 degree weather on Sunday. I still have yet to figure out how to be a successful military wife without Jen in driving distance and I'm dreading when they move back to the East Coast in December. 

The girls with their second Momma

I get to sneak in cuddling time with Ainsley when the girls are in bed

Ava woke Jen and Ainsley up at 6 am by "singing" outside their door

Zoo trip!

Ainsley was all smiles and rolled with the punches all weekend

It looks like Ellie and this Llama are annoyed with each other

Petting Zoo time- Ainsley wasn't even hesitant around the large strange animals. Let's face it, the Valdez Zoo is scarier than the Fresno zoo.

The craziness of the sissies captured

Feeding Giraffes!

Poor Jen and Ainsley got sneezed on by the giraffe- blech! 

Ava did not trust the giraffes a bit and decided to let Ellie feed them. Ellie didn't like how quickly they ate the first branch of leaves so she picked them off one by one for the giraffes to eat slower. This child cracks me up!

Ellie entertaining herself in the car

Sunday we headed to the park and Ainsley is now big enough to start participating in the fun.

She is one fearless girl! Ava absolutely loves being a nurturer and tried to make Ainsley comfortable in every situation. 

Big girl!

Snagged her!

We rode our bikes to the minimart for a special lunch at the Zoo and the girls walked around like they owned the place. Ellie does not understand that you can't fit everywhere like you usually do when you are wearing a helmet. 

We ended the weekend watching the Oscars and doing mani/pedis. 

xoxo Ainsley Jane

Sanity Shortcuts

Back in single mom mode I am looking for all possible sanity shortcuts. One that we do frequently is have lunch and dinner picnic style if it is about 60 degrees outside.  Minimal kitchen clean up with no floor sweeping, wiping down, or dinner plates because we go the paper plate route. The girls love the sunshine and talking with the neighbors. Another sanity shortcut I have found when the girls are wound up is to become Mommy Manicurist. They understand that if they want to have pretty nails that they have to sit like statues for awhile.  It is very rare that a two and four year old will sit still for 30 minutes at a time so I welcome this activity. It is a great bribe to hold them in line behavior wise all day. Another reward for "good weeks" have been going to get new nail polish colors of their choice.

 One of Ellie's rewards of becoming a "Big Girl" (being potty trained) is that she has graduated to manicures rather than just pedicures. She was thrilled.

What a great "statue"

 Girls excited about their new sparkle nail polish

 sweet little hands

Single Mommy loves statue time

Let's check in our friends at the ER....

The ER doctors greeted us by name this morning, now having seen us 3 times in 2 weeks.  Poor Ava had 2 days of diarrhea and staying up all night. This morning we finally thought we kicked it but then she woke up with this crazy rash all over her torso. We spent 4 hours in the ER waiting on all kinds of tests. Luckily, today they ruled out all the scary things by taking a blood test and urine test. They have concluded that it is an allergic reaction and I need to continue on with our regular doctor if the problem persists for testing.

The only bonus of the day was that BOTH girls took a nap at the same time in the house (usually this only happens in the car) and this hasn't occurred in six months. I would have been totally wiped out today if Greg hadn't come home this past weekend allowing me to get some extra rest in. This nap gave me time to read the book I'm currently devouring, "Divergent". 

The diarrhea has subsided for 24 hours and the rash looked significantly better after a few hours of Benadryll. It is true, the crazy stuff only happens when the guys are gone! I'm crossing my fingers the rash will be gone by tomorrow am so we don't have another week of quarantine and doctors appointments. It's true that only the crazy stuff happens when the guys are gone. As much as I would have loved his support and him entertaining Ellie, I am happy that this happened after he left so we still had our blissful family weekend. Our sensitive, fair, redheaded skin is just not liking this dry California environment!

Spring: the perfect Over the Counter Med

We were a bit emotional this morning having Daddy leave us and Ava had a fall again. Ava is having an especially rough time with him being gone so I figured we were in need of a big distraction. It was BEAUTIFUL outside today at 65 degrees so we decided to spend the entire day out. 

 picnic time for lunch

 We took our maiden voyage in the bike carrier and it was a great adventure. All of the neighborhoods and streets on base have sidewalks so it is perfect for beginners like us. We were so thankful Greg took the time last night to put this all together for us.

 The smiles came back!

 On base there are literally about 20 parks (several for each neighborhood and a few main ones). We decided that we would ride around the entire base and they could chose 3 of those park they had never been to and try them out. They are quite the daredevils.

The long ride knocked them both out and I was able to get in some exercise for the day. Spring and exercise did the trick and we were all in chipper moods when we got back.  

The best guest

This weekend was like a honeymoon for our family. The girls waited all morning by the front door keeping watch for Daddy's car. He was super dad and left Fallon, NV at 5 AM and got here at 11:30 AM. The girls and I ran out in the street to meet him. 

I took this picture right after he got here and we were all on cloud nine. This is the first time that he has come back and Ellie hasn't been shy- she even led the mad dash to his car! We had a very relaxed day and a half and went out to dinner, went to the park, took walks around the neighborhood, and Greg found time to complete his outrageously long honey do list. I was spoiled rotten with being able to take a nap, sleep in, go to Target and grocery shopping by myself, and have breakfast served to me. The girls were on their best behavior showing off for for Daddy and literally would wait outside the door during his bathroom breaks. They did not let him out of their sight.

Greg spent most of the afternoon being our bike shop mechanic. He was fixing everyone's bike, strollers, bike carrier's etc. The funny thing is that 2 of our bike pumps broke in the move so all we had was a small hand pump. It was quite the work out to get all those little tires full of air. 

The girls showing Daddy the neighborhood

Ava took a nasty spill on her bike and busted up her teeth (again). Thank goodness these aren't her permanent teeth yet! She was brave enough to get back on her bike again with Daddy and practice doing fast turns. 

Back on the saddle

One of the things on Greg's list that he got to late on Sunday night was to assemble the bike carrier (my Christmas present from Nanny and PopPops that I have been itching to use). He put it together in the house while we were catching up on the DVR and we realized it could not fit outside the front door. It took both of us heaving it to get it out. He tested out the bike and safety features with out crash test dummy pug. Penny Lane actually really enjoyed the ride

Taking it out on a late night test drive

It was hard to say Goodbye this morning but we just have 3 more weeks to get through. These small moments are the ones I will always cherish with our growing family.