Family Fun

First things first. Reese is not the latest baby model. Oh well...we still think she's one cute baby.

We've been busy with family this past week. Grandma Di came down for her second visit last Wednesday and just left this morning. Auntie Julie also dropped in for a whirlwind over the weekend. We had a lot of fun and kept really busy in between lots and lots of food consumption.

Hanging out in our "repartment", as Ava calls it...



Saturday was a busy day. In the morning, Scot, Julie, Di & Ava headed to downtown Atlanta to check out some sites. Reese and I stayed home so we both could catch some zzzzs. She STILL isn't sleeping well at night and it is getting really old! And since Scot and I had already gone down there a few weeks ago, sleep won out for me. Anyway, the gang hit the Coke Museum first.
Getting ready to watch the 4D movie

Ava pointing out a Vikings collector pin (blah)

Then over to Centennial Park (site of the 1996 Olympics). I thought Ava would have LOVED the Olympic Rings water fountain, but I was wrong.

Then they headed over to the CNN building for lunch. Here's Scot and his girlfriend Robin Meade.

Everyone napped when they got home and then we went off to The Melting Pot for dinner. It is a fondue restaurant and it is amazing.





After dinner, we stuffed ourselves into our swimsuits and headed to the pool.





So, yeah, that was all one day! On the other days, we spent more time at the pool (it's been in the mid 90s, no rain), played Wii, played cards, kept eating and had a really nice time together. I had to work a few of the days, so Grandma got some extra quiet time with Reese while Ava was at daycare.

Scot's training is going well and quickly coming to an end! He only has 3 flights left and, if the weather cooperates, he could be done next Thursday already (July 2) which would be a week early. We'll see what happens! This has all been quite an adventure and I am a little sad to see it come to an end. BUT, I am really excited to see my kitties, our friends & family, and just be "home".

Lights, Camera, Reese.

So, the casting call was this morning. I elected to drop Ava off at daycare while Reese and I went on this escapade. I gave lots of second thoughts to this, as Ava was being well-behaved and cooperative for the morning. But I also have enough experience (3 years, 7 months, 2 days in fact) to know that things can change fast. Not knowing what to expect at a casting call, I decided not to brave it.

Reese and I arrived at Fratelli Studios a little after 9am.

We signed in, I filled out a short form. Is she wearing a white onesie? Yes. On to the next area. There were a few other moms and one dad ahead of us, all hopeful, and each toting a baby between 4 and 12 months.

When it was our turn, Stacey from the waterpark came over and said, "Don't tell me...{looks at baby]...this is Reese from the waterpark!" We went over to the photographer and set Reese down in an infant seat. 3 pictures and we were done. The third was the money shot - big smile, big eyes. Stacey said if they were shooting for that particular product it would be the picture on the box for sure. She may say something along those lines to every contender, who knows. So then we were done. She asked me to email her again when I got home so she made sure she had my contact info, so I did. She responded a little while ago and said "Reese did GREAT. I'll be in touch."

By the time we left, there must have been at least 30-40 babies on the sign-in sheet with over an hour to go. So, the odds really aren't that great...but we will just wait and see. I would expect I'd hear something soon since the actual photo shoot is scheduled to take place sometime around June 24th. Either way, it was a fun little experience, certainly something I wouldn't have sought out on my own.

Modeling is exhausting.

A happier and more alert Reese from 2 days ago.

Her newest trick! (She really needs to start slowing down on these things)

And for comparison...here is Ava at 5 1/2 months. Yikes.


I took Ava to get her haircut last week and they took off about 4 inches - it's a lot easier to manage!


And Scot...he had a busy week too. He flew Monday and Tuesday, had a checkride flight on Wednesday (which he passed with flying colors), ground training Thursday, and flew a formation flight today. If everything goes as planned we will be out of here in 4 weeks, which seems crazy. It has really gone by quickly! No plans yet for the weekend, just looking forward to a little R & R. Oh wait, we have Ava here. Umm...

America's Next Top Model...

could be Reese ;-)

Soon after we settled in at a waterpark this morning, Reese and I were approached by a very nice woman who fawned over Reese and then asked if we would be interested in going to a casting call on Friday. Apparently she is a baby modeling scout for print ads and such for companies like Baby Einstein and Boppy. She said that Reese has just the right amount of hair and nice big eyes and eyelashes. So, what do we have to lose? We'll probably check it out on Friday - if Reese "gets the job" the actual photo shoot would be later in June. Kind of fun! Whatever happens, I still think Reese is the cutest baby around :-)

Busy Busy

Hopefully my 2 week blogging hiatus didn't result in too much twitching from my fans...LOL. Right. Well, I'm sure my mom has desperately missed my fascinating updates, but she's probably the only one...;-)It's been a busy few weeks with many highlights! We had a wonderful visit with Grandma Di from May 20-27. Unfortunately, it rained pretty much the entire time she was here. People keep telling me that the Twin Cities is in the midst of a major drought. It's most definitely not the case here as we had nearly 6 inches of rain in May. Yes, May, when I was not working and home with the kids 24/7. Frickin rain.

Despite the rain, we had a great time while she was here and still managed to get out and about quite a bit. Here's a little taste of some of the fun things we did!

Hanging out in Marietta Square - a quaint little city block with cute shops & restaurants.


Hanging out at the Guard Base - we came upon these very friendly ducks and geese so Scot drove over to the BX for some bread that we could feed them. Ava had so much fun!

Later in the week, we headed out to the Guard base again and got to ride in the C-130 flight simulator. I even landed the plane twice ;-) Here's Ava and Scot at the controls. And some pictures of us outside.





What else? We did A LOT of Wii bowling after the kiddos went to bed each night and all managed to break 200 at least once. We went REAL bowling later in the week and didn't fare as well (though I was fairly satisfied with my 146-145 combo). Ava pulled in a 56 and then opted out of the 2nd game so she could color instead. We checked out the Atlanta Children's Museum, which Ava really enjoyed. Reese enjoyed it too from what she considers the best "seat" in every house - the Baby Bjorn. We went to a great big park in Kennesaw that I try to take Ava to at least a few times a week, we hit Monkey Joe's (the indoor inflatable place), we did a lot of coloring and activity book pages. We made it to the pool ONCE in 7 days. On Memorial Day, the sun peeked out for about 2 or 3 hours so we took advantage of it. It's a shame the weather wasn't better, but we still had a great time.

And here's a quick summary of what we've all been up to...
I am back to work. I started on Monday, June 1st and will be working Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays for the rest of our time here. I had mixed feelings about it, but I wasn't nearly as depressed as if I would have had to go back full time and actually into an office. Working from home part time is a very sweet deal. I got into the thick of things right away as I had to write and deliver 6 performance reviews by the end of the day today...but now they're all done and I can really enjoy my long weekend!

REESE is almost 5 months old (what???) and has hit 2 major milestones in the last 2 weeks - she is rolling over ALL the time and weaned herself of swaddling as a result. Yay! She accomplished these feats over a month before Ava did, so I was pleasantly surprised. She is a tummy sleeper now, but there's not much I can do about it - she is very capable of rolling herself back over so I'm trying not to worry. Her sleeping is still hit or miss, but usually hit. She got herself on a pretty good napping schedule the last few weeks of May (2 hours in the morning and 2 hours in the afternoon) so she was then sleeping pretty well at night, sleeping through the whole night or just waking up once. The transition to daycare has messed up her sleep a little bit - she hasn't been napping very well there, so she has taken to falling asleep in her carseat on the way home and waking up a little more often at night. Hopefully a routine will emerge soon...you know, just in time for us to shake things up and go back to MN. The first day at daycare was especially hard on her, as she didn't want anything to do with the bottle. I was ready to drop in and feed her myself, but she eventually gave in around noon and had another bottle in the afternoon. She ate like a champ the next 2 days she was there, so hopefully that continues. The daycare ladies love her - she smiles at them all the time and rarely fusses. Oh, and her new favorite thing is to stick out her tongue and make zerbet noises. Video on this to come.

AVA is still our intense little princess-loving, full of drama, chatterbox. She has really taken to coloring in the last few weeks and is doing a really good job of coloring pieces of the picture different colors. She really likes doing projects and crafty things. I also just bought her Uno, which she is getting the hang of pretty well - we have to get her started on her card games! I threaten to cut her hair on a daily basis, because she throws an absolute fit every time I try to brush and/or style it. Now I know why I had a mullet at age 5...I'm often reminded of a nursery rhyme in my dealings with Ava. You know, the one that goes like this...There was a little girl, who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead. When she was good, she was very very good, and when she bad she was horrid. Yeah, that's Ava. Her teachers at daycare have nothing but good things to say about her - she's so sweet, she's such a great helper, etc, etc. Sustaining that degree of goodness has apparently been very hard on her because she has been a nightmare at home this week. I have to cut her some slack, though - it's a big deal for her to go through all of the changes she's had over the past 6 weeks. I hope she falls into a routine soon too.

SCOT has completed the classroom portion of his training which included polishing his knowledge of aircraft systems, emergency procedures, and executing types of missions (airdrops, assault landings, etc). He took about 8 tests, which he all got 100% on. After the classroom training, they moved on to sims - he did about 12 of those with a partner where they took turns in the copilot and pilot seats. Now all he has to do is actually fly the airplane. :-) He starts "flight line" tomorrow, which is a basic introduction, and then he will be flying a couple of times a week for the rest of our time here. All in all it's been a pretty relaxed pace for training (well, that's easy for me to say since I'm not the one doing it!) But it is a lot less intense than his initial training was in Mississippi. So, it's nice to be here as a family and have a fair amount of free time to explore the great South. Yesterday we both had the day off, so we enjoyed a relaxing day in downtown Atlanta (I say relaxing because Ava was in daycare). Reese joined in on the fun - we started with a tour of CNN in the morning, then we hung out in Centennial Park (site of the 1996 Olympics), and toured the Coca-Cola museum in the afternoon. It was a lovely day!

Ahh...it's taken me awhile to write this entry, I will try not to go so long again!