New Baby Boy Bennett

First words out of Ava's mouth when she saw Bennett through the Nursery window: "Aww, I want to be nice to him!"

We Have A Toddler!

It seemed like it took forever but Ellie is finally walking at 15 months!

Messy Eater

How can Ellie be such a messy eater that I have to clean her armpits after lunch?

Gaseous Emission

Tonight Doni, Ava, and I went to see Shrek: Forever After while Ellie stayed home with a babysitter. Ava had been kinda gassy for whatever reason with little toots and flubs. However, with about 20 minutes left in the movie, Ava lets out this 8 second juicy-sounding wonder of a fart. If I'm not being clear enough, it wasn't subtle. Girl ripped it!

Doni and I were on either side of her laughing. In the span of that one fart Ava looked at each of us two or three times and said "What?" each time. That girl has some class!

As I'm writing this she just ripped one on the couch and said, "Dad, I tooted." I am not making this up.

Cupcakes and Cuties

We had pictures taken of Ava and Ellie. You can see some of them at our photographer's Blog.

Carpenter Photography & Design

Almost One

I don't really have any updated information about Ellie so I thought I would upload some pictures. We are very excited for her first birthday! Though, Ava may try to over shadow her.

Earrings

We went to get Ava's ears pierced yesterday. She's been talking about it for a while, but we weren't sure if she'd actually go through with it or not. Yesterday we thought we'd give it a try.

We went to Claire's at the Castleton Mall because, well, where else would you go? That's the only place we could think of. It turns out there is a Piercing Pagoda right outside their entrance, but we came for Claire's, so we went to Claire's.

She sat up in the stool without any problem. They were busy enough that they wouldn't have two workers to do both ears at the same time. I was thinking there was a fair chance we'd be walking out of there with only one ear pierced. You see, Ava doesn't take pain well. A stiff breeze could brush against her knee and she needs a "Ban-Dan" (aka Band-Aid). In all likelihood she only have one ear pierced until she was 16 and then she'd go hog-wild and get her ears, eyebrows, lips, nose, tongue, belly-button, biceps, knuckles, calves, and finger-nails pierced. (Somebody get me a stiff drink.... I just thought of Ava at 16.)

She took it like a trooper though. I had Doni get a compact from one of the racks so that we could show Ava her new earring right after it was put in. The worker got the gun lined up, gave a countdown, squeezed..... and Doni passed out (just kidding). The earring went in and Ava gave a face that said, "Ow OW OOWWW!", but as soon as she saw the earring in place she was game to get the second one in. The worker helped out by moving fast too. No sooner was the first one in than she was getting the second earlobe ready to go. One, two three... and the second one was in. She looked in the mirror and said "They're beautiful!"

Not only did she get earrings, but she also got a couple of suckers and a Build-A-Bear out of the deal. She loves those earrings. However, this morning she woke up tearful saying, "My earrings are messy. (Boo-hoo) They won't sparkle." Apparently she had a bad dream that her earrings went bad or something. I had to have her look in the mirror before she would believe me that they looked as beautiful and sparkly as ever. Take a look for yourself.

Prim & Proper

The other night we went to dinner at some friends' house. After dinner, the adults played Euchre while the kids did what kids do (make messes in the loudest way possible). About mid-way through the game Ava went up to one of our hosts and said, "Excuse me, can I please have an orange?" This floored us. We've tried to be really good about getting Ava to say please and thank you, but its usually something that's after the fact, like "What do you say?"... "oh yeah, Please". This came out of nowhere and with such good sentence structure and manners that it took us by surprise. I don't have a clue where she learned to say "Excuse me" because we haven't been working on that.

This weekend my Dad and his girlfriend, Rhonda, came down to visit. Coincidentally, we were sitting at the table about to play Euchre when Ava came up to Rhonda and said, "Excuse me, can you please help me?" She wanted Rhonda to go play Barbies with her or something like that.

So it must not be a fluke. Either she's truly turning into a polite young lady or she only does so when we play Euchre. I knew that game was awesome.

10 Months

I can't believe we only have 2 more months and I will a a one year old and a four year old. Ellie is growing so fast and I am the luckiest mom in the world to have such wonderful girls. Here are some things Ellie likes to do:

• Laugh - Daddy gets the biggest laughs when he kisses her under her chin.
• Crawl - She is finally going forward and tries a couple times on her knees before she goes back to army crawling.
• Baths - I like the sink bath but she would prefer the tub with all the toys.

• Babbling - She says dada, mama and is working on uh-oh.
• Taking pictures - She loves the camera
• Pointing - She points at everyone and everything.
• Rolling - when all else fails and she can't figure out the crawling, she rolls
• Sitting up - She started sitting up from laying on her belly. We think it's pretty impressive.
• Teeth - She still only has 2 teeth but is eating like she has 6!

Her hair has started to curl out on the sides. You can just about tell in this picture. She just keeps getting cuter!

9 Months Down, 3 To Go

Last week I took Ellie to her 9 month wellness visit. She weighed in at 20 lbs 6 oz and 28 inches long. The doctor says she looks great, but we already knew that. At her last check up there was one vaccination that they had run out of so she had to get it this time. She did great. Only cried for a few seconds and once the band-aid was on she was fine. Ava on the other hand, was very upset that she was NOT getting a shot. The nurse agreed that since she was being such a big help to her she could have a sticker anyway. When the doctor came in and asked how Ava was doing she answered with, "My ears hurt!" He looked at me and I shooked my head. She only wanted him to look in her ears so he agreed. She hopped up on the table and laid down. Even turned her head so he could have a better angle. He said there were only monkeys in there and she was fine. Ava was not pleased but hopped off the table so Ellie could have her turn.

Here are some things Ellie has been doing/working on:

• Belly crawls and scoots backwards
• Says Mama even more
• Is starting to wave
• Only has 2 teeth, on the bottom
• loves to eat teething biscuits and rice wafers
• Laughs at Ava no matter what
• Loves to play with anything that makes noise
• Loves to get beard kisses from daddy
• Still loves peek-a-boo with mommy
• Starting to pull herself up
• Likes to feed herself (and wishes I would let her have the baby food with no help)

Since Christmas Ava has been counting down until her birthday. I can't say the same for Ellie but Ava is excited enough for both of them. I can't believe it will be a year in just a few months. Ellie has been such a blessing and a wonderful addition to our family. We can't wait to see her grow even more.

It's Been a While

I know, I know it's been a couple of months since we've posted anything. I have a feeling no one reads this anymore because no one has bothered to remind us. Anyway, here goes the update.

NOVEMBER

In November Jeremy and I decided to take a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving. All month long we told Ava that we were going to go see "The Castle." She knew this to mean Cinderella's castle but that was it. She also mentioned Snow White almost every day. Other then the very chilly weather, we had a great time and are planning another trip some time in the fall of 2010. We spent most of our time there standing in lines waiting to meet characters. Our first character was Ariel, the little mermaid. Standing in line, Ava was singing along to the songs from the movie. We kept slowly moving forward in line asking her if she was ready to see Ariel. She kept saying yes and jumping up and down. When we rounded the corner and she SAW Ariel, I think she almost had a slight panic attack. She was not expecting to see the actual person. After this though she was great with the rest. We did have some difficulty with the other princesses though. We were the last ones before their break and the only ones left in the room with them. As we were saying good bye to Cinderella, Aurora and Belle, Ava started crying saying, "I'm don't want to leave! I'm not done!" The ladies felt so bad that they all tried to console Ava and Belle even gave her an extra hug. It was very sweet.

DECEMBER

Most of you know we now have a cat. Ava has been asking for one for months and after Jeremy saw how she acted around Nicole's cat he agreed we could get one for Christmas. Ava asked Santa and now we have a cat, Steve. We named HER after our favorite comedic actor, Steve Carrell. For the most part she is a great cat. She has had a few accidents but now she is well trained to use the liter box. She is very social and she seems to love all of us, even Sassy at times. They are starting to play together some but Sassy is very jealous and feels the need to protect both her food and Steve's.

Christmas was great. We spent a weekend in Michigan with Jeremy's family and then the Sunday after Christmas my family came to us. The girls got lots of great gifts and outfits. Jeremy and I asked both sides of our families to only get one toy gift and as many outfits as they wanted. Some people respected our request and others didn't. After Seeing Ava's confused look to why her cousins were getting more toys Jeremy and I decided that they are too young to get more clothes then toys. We are not going to request this next Christmas or for their birthday. I will just have to purge more toys from the toy room.

Ava Update

When we went to Florida I forgot to pack pull-ups. Ava was having lots of poopy accidents and both Jeremy and I were very nervous but didn't want to go out and buy any. She had one wet accident and no dirty accidents. She hasn't had a accident since we left for Florida. We are so proud and relieved. She still insists on wearing a pull-up to bed but she has not been wet yet. We are just going to tell her we don't have any more when we run out.

Ellie Update

Ellie still has only 2 teeth, on the bottom. She isn't crawling yet but rolls ALL over the house as if she were. She says mama and dada but for the most part it is just gibberish. She loves peek-a-boo and will cover her own eyes until you say, "Where's Ellie?" Then she pulls them down and you say, "There she is!" Followed by squeals. I love it!

Trick-Or-Treat

It was a cold one this year but Ava had fun. We made it around the block and through a few cul-de-sacs before she announced to our neighbor Caden that it was over. Once we warmed up inside she was all about passing out candy. Our last trick-or-treater was a small Spider Man who said to Jeremy, "I like your daughter!" It was as if she were a prop to go along with Jeremy's costume (which was just his normal clothes). It was pretty cute.

Snow White and our baby leopard (who doesn't know what is going on)

Thomas the Train joined the fun!

Ava is announcing what kind of candy she just got.

Weekend In Chesterton

This weekend we went to visit my family in Chesterton. It was a long weekend but only because the girls didn't have their beds to sleep in and their schedules were off. We got to visit some friends and catch up before the Holidays get here. We also went out and bought a new camera so here are some pictures of the weekend.

Ellie and Papa at church.

Daddy tickling Ava.

My friend Courteney and Ellie

Ava and her cousin Morgan eating bread sticks.

Cowgirl Ellie! Yee-haw!!

6 Month Check Up

Ellie is 6 months and a week. Her original appointment was on the 5th but she developed croup and could not receive her vaccinations, so I made them for this Monday. She has an ear infection but she could still get her vaccines. She now weighs 18 lbs and 6 oz. She is in the 75th percentile for height and 80th for weight. If you remember, Ava was always in the high 90's. Ellie took her shots like a pro too. She cried for about 3 seconds and then as soon as the band aids went on she was all smiles. The doctor said she looks perfect, which I already knew. I would love to include a picture here but our camera broke and I am not sure when we will get a new one. I may have to dig out my old 35 mm. How retro.

Scare Crows

We took some pictures at the pumpkin patch today, but Ava and Ellie didn't seem too excited.

Half A Year Old

Today Ellie is 6 months old and I really can't believe it. She is getting so big and doing so much. She laughs all the time, rolls all the time, is constantly trying to sit up and smiles like crazy. She loves her parents but I think she loves her big sister more. Ava looks at Ellie and she is all smiles. Today Ava was playing with her and Ellie kept laughing. I was able to get some footage.



Here are some more 6 month photos from today. Don't feel bad if you notice that she looks nothing like me. If she didn't look so much like her dad I would have thought I brought home the wrong baby.
Here are some pictures from our trip to McCormick Creek State Park. We did have fun even though I did complain a little on Facebook. Ava got to ride a pony named Freckles and we took a walk to their 'Falls.' It was suppose to be a water fall but it wasn't anything too fancy.

Poor Bee

The other day I was loading the girls into the car for a trip to the grocery store. While taking some stuff out of the trunk I noticed that there were two bees flying around the rear of the car. I knocked them out of the air and then stepped on them before they could get back in the air. Ava was not impressed. She said, "DAAAaaaaD! They just want to fly!" She gave me a hard time for the next several minutes and even told on me to Doni when she came out to the car.

When we got back home I started unloading the back of the car. Ava went looking for the bees that I had mercilessly killed. When she found one, she bent over it and said, "Aww, poor bee." After a moment of reflection, she stood up straight, lifted her right leg high into the air, and STOMPED the smithereens out of the bee's carcass. I'm don't think she understood why I spent the next several minutes laughing.

Night-time Prayers

When we lay Ava down for bed we have a routine. First, we'll say the whole "Now I lay me down to sleep" prayer. Then, we'll all say "God bless..." and Ava will give a name. We'll repeat it, and then go back to "God bless". For some reason Mommy always gets the first God Bless. Second usually comes "Schwimmin" (aka swimming). Somewhere after that comes Ellie, Sassy, and Daddy. "Ava!" always comes last and is said with more excitement and gumption.

Tonight when we were going through our God Bless-es Ava improvised. Right on cue after "God Bless" she farted really loud and said "THAT WAS ME!" Somehow we were able to stop laughing, pull it together, and get the rest of the way through our prayer. Ava may look just like her mother, but sometimes she acts just like her father.

New Computer

We finally broke down and bought a new computer so here are a bunch of pictures to catch you up.When Ava makes it to the potty for number 2 she gets a present and this time it was Disney princess fingernails.I was trying to take Ellie's 4 month picture and Sassy wanted in the shot. Sunday hats!
Ellie loves her peaches! She started eating cereal after her 4 month checkup. She hated the stuff but once we started introducing foods the icky face went away and she is all smiles.

She also loves her sweet potatoes. The girls watching TV. I couldn't get them both to look but I could get them to watch TV at the same time.

Lastly, Ellie's learned how to roll!

Computer Problems

I know the Fisk's are known for long time spans between posts but I was really trying to stay on top of updates on the kids. Jeremy was trying to download almost two months of pictures onto his computer and the computer refused to read the picture card. So, he tried to release some memory thinking that was the problem and it didn't work. Therefore, I am going to do some updates minus the pictures and I promise when we figure this out you will all get your picture fix.

Last week Jeremy and I celebrated six years of marriage! We went out for amazing Italian and a movie. It was wonderful to have a night out with just us and remember how it all happened. Next month we will have been together for 9 years! Time flies when your in love!!!!

Ellie is now eating cereal and 1st step foods. So far she loves everything we feed her. She wasn't too crazy about plain cereal but once we mixed something with it she wolfs it down. She is also rolling over, all the time. I put her in the middle of the floor and in about 3 minutes she is all over the place. I wanted her to roll over so bad and now I am thinking that I liked it when she stayed in one place. Crawling is next!

Ava is doing great at the new sitter. She is making lots of friends and is learning their names slowly. She rarely has an accident anymore (number 1) and is starting to make more of an effort with getting to the potty for number 2. She loves her baby sister and I think she really enjoys that they go to the same sitter.

School is going great for me. I have two great new friends that work with me in kindergarten and I love all my students. I really enjoy having two classes and my school is great all around. Really, really, really happy right now. All I can do is wait until November for out Florida trip!

Life

A lot has happened since we were in St. Louis. We drove a little longer and spent a couple of days in Kansas City then went back home through St. Louis and saw The Arch. Jeremy had gone when he was very young and didn't remember it and I have never been as far as I know. It was quite amazing. Here are some pictures.

The Arch

Us minus Ava in the capsule to the top.
Ava on the other side of our capsule.The family looking out the viewing portals at the top of The Arch.

My husband is awesome. Ava walks so slow and it took forever to get to The Arch so Jeremy put her on his back on our way to the car. He walked all the way to the car like this. It took a third of the time. He had tons of people staring probably thinking, "Why don't those people just get a stroller?"

Well, we got back to Noblesville Sunday evening and we were beat. Plus I had tons of laundry and just regular cleaning to do. We also had four messages one being from the man in charge of hiring for the school district that I work for. When you are already hired you still don't want a call from this guy. I tried calling him that night and had to leave a message and he did not call me until Monday morning. He wanted to meet with me some time Monday. So, I asked him if I could meet after Ellie's four month appointment with both girls. He said it was fine and we headed out.

Ellie's appointment went great. She weighs 14 lbs 5 oz and is 25 inches long now. The doctor said we could start feeding her cereal and she really isn't a fan. She also got her four month vaccinations and she did well but was very sore the next 3 days. She looks so much like Jeremy I now know what he has been going through the last 3 years with Ava hearing how she looks so much like me. This isn't the best picture of Ellie but it was the only one we took on her 4 month birthday.

We met with the man in charge and he explained that numbers had dropped at several schools and there would be nine teachers moving to different schools. He said that my name came up as a great candidate to move to a new school since I have done it before and I would be professional about the move. They decided on placing me at Stony Creek teaching kindergarten. This is my third school in the four years I have been in Noblesville. Initially I was in shock and just went into over drive. He asked me to take the girls and meet my new principal so she could give me the tour and show me my new room (which is very small for kindergarten and has very little storage). After all of that on Monday I was exhausted. Jeremy came home and our neighbors watched the girls for a little bit and we packed all of my stuff at the old school. On Tuesday they took my stuff to the new school for me and I've been spending the rest of the week getting my room ready for school on Monday. I am finally ready (with help from Jeremy and Nicole) and excited to be back in kindergarten. I think this is going to be a great year! Ava and Ellie will also be going to a different sitter and we are looking into Ava going to a preschool three times a week. I know God has great things in store for our family with these new changes. I can't wait!

I almost forgot, on Tuesday I had a dental cleaning. I was feeling very confident that I wouldn't have any cavities because I took extra calcium with Ellie and I have been flossing! I was wrong. I had three cavities. I spent 2 1/2 hours with the dentist on Tuesday right after hearing that I was moving. Not Fun.

Baby Was M.I.A.

This Tuesday we headed out for a road trip to Kansas City with a pit stop in St. Louis. While there we heard they had a great, free zoo and went to check it out. It was really great and being free seemed like a giant perk. The weather was great too. It was 80 degrees with a cool breeze and it just made the day so perfect. Along the way we saw some snakes...


... and giraffes along with many other exciting animals.


We even let the girls pick a souvenir toy.


After visiting the gift shop we had one more section of the zoo and then we had seen it all. So, an hour later we were at the car loading 2 sleeping girls into their seats. A drowsy Ava woke up and asked for her baby. I looked at Jeremy and he looked at me and we knew baby was still enjoying the zoo. For those of you who don't know, this "baby" goes EVERYWHERE with Ava. She usually stays in the car when we leave the house, but occasionally we allow Ava to carry her with the promise that she doesn't ask us to carry her. When I had to look in my three-year-old's eyes and tell her that her beloved baby was gone, possibly for good, I almost lost it. We handed her another doll that she had brought and got in the car. I looked at Jeremy trying not to cry for my daughter's loss and said that the last time I saw the baby was in the gift shop. Jeremy checked the map and found that we needed to go the the North Entrance to find the same gift shop. I told him it was worth a try and he could drop me off and drive around as I went searching. As soon we got to the doors Ava said she had to go potty so I said I would take her. Before we left Jeremy said he last remembered seeing baby by the stuffed snakes. We went into the gift shop, made a right at the t-shirts and I saw the snakes. Right before the snakes was a table of random items that I wasn't even looking at when I heard, "Baby!" Right in front, behind a shark mask was baby, patiently waiting for Ava to pick her back up. I almost started crying again. I was more excited than Ava. I don't think she realized that baby was gone for good. In her mind baby was sitting somewhere waiting for Ava to come get her. I just hope baby doesn't get lost before Ava can show her to her own daughter someday.