Introducing McKinley Zuri

Wow... That's what I have to say right now. I knew bringing McKinley home was going to take some adjustments, but I really wasn't expecting how it would affect the family mainly Ava. I have been lucky that John was able to take 5 weeks off and enjoy this time of adjustment with me. If I had to do it alone I think it would have taken years off my life. 

Ava loves her little sister so much, she loves to hold her and kiss her, she has been super gentle for the most part. I  think they will grow up to be great friends.

Ava on the other hand has had some issues adjusting to not having all the attention. She has gotten very demanding, and emotional over everything. We are constantly reminding her to talk politely and use her words instead of whining about it. I really do have to be thankful for the little things such as how gentile and loving she is with McKinley. Things are leveling out now, but next week will be a whole new adventure with John going back to work. Ava has gotten VERY use to Papa's attention every moment of the day. 

I just keep reminding myself that everything is a phase, soon this will be gone and I will miss it. 

I am truly lucky to have such a beautiful healthy family! 

First days at home, Ava loves holding McKinley!

Shout out to Marcie again for great pictures!! I love them!!

My little one at two weeks old.

Little one at three weeks old.

Little one at the ripe old age of one month old.

Life is beautiful!

The Start and the Finish

So much exciting stuff had happened since my last post 5 months ago... I'm coming up to the end of my pregnancy, literally tomorrow is my due date. This pregnancy has felt much different than my first, not sure if it's because all of my time is spent chasing a 2 year old around, or the fact that my two year old is a strong willed stubborn little red headed firecracker, and I'm constantly asking myself what the hell was I thinking having another one right now. Either way we are ready and very excited to meet the newest addition to our family. 

Winter 2012-2013

This is the first year that Ava has been able to really enjoy playing in the snow. We have been lucky enough to be able to spend many weekends camping at Hoodoo. We had a great start to the season Ava was beyond stoked to try skiing and snowboarding. We put her on skis one of the first weekends we spent up at the lodge, and she seemed to really like it, besides one small detail... Ski boots are terribly uncomfortable. So ever since it has been a battle to get her back in the boots. She talks about skiing when we are home, but once faced with the opportunity to put the boots on we have a total melt down. So it has been a slow go at it so far, we plan on getting her a snowboard for next winter and practicing some in the house over the summer. I am sure we will have a little snowboarder dare devil in no time, so for this year we were happy with giggles and shrieks on the sledding hill.

Getting ready for the season to come... She has some growing to do to fit into Uncle T's boots :)

One of the many Blue Bird days we had this season at Hoodoo

Our beautiful family!

Baby Love!!

Ava has always had a soft spot for babies, and since the wonderful addition of Miss Olivia to our lives she has been in Heaven! She has loved holding and caring for Olivia, which is Amber and Cole Pritchards daughter, since the first time they meet. They have grown to be good buds, and I am sure they are planning to torture Amber and I as we did our mothers... But for now we just bask in the glory of our adorable innocent daughters.

Ava giving Olivia some sweet love, I think Ava might be in for it in a few months when Olivia starts to walk.

Ava showing Olivia that they have matching owl hats.

The greatest swim play date ever!

Time flies when you least expect it too!

We have some great friends that have some older children, and they are constantly telling John and I to pay attention because time flies when you have little ones. I personally have taken that to heart, I know each moment is the last moment things will be exactly as they are now. I rarely hope for the hard phases to pass, because I'm never sure if the next phase will be any better. I try my dardest to enjoy every moment as it is happening, for what it is.  Here are a few photos I found that prove that time goes so fast!!
Our first bounty geo hunting! 

 My cool baby!

 Ava loving the bunny at Lucy's house.

Deuce and Jamie in their finest form

Some of my favorite pictures are of Johnny Boy getting put to sleep by the girls.

Good-Bye Facebook, Hello Blog!

Well heading into a new term of Nursing school I have committed myself to deleting my Facebook page. I think this will be good for me, my grades and my family... Not so much for my sanity. I think of Facebook like my little smoke break for a non smoker. Mainly I will miss not being able to see what close friends are up too, and family and friends from afar watching Ava grow into the amazing young girl she is. So here is our solution. I am going to try and keep up on my blog, hell it's here why not use it. This way you can follow my blog (some how, if you don't know how to email me and I will look into it) and then you can get updates on how the small beast in my house is growing, and other great family adventures. I think my first post will be on Wednesday of next week, because this weekend will be the FIRST time Ava will ski. I am very excited and nervous all at the same time. She is a little dare devil so it should go well. So... there you have it, follow my blog if you want to keep up with the happenings in the Frantz Family Home! It will be great stories starting with the terrible twos that are among us now. Please leave comments as you would like, hearing from you guys will be a treat since I will no longer be stalking you on Facebook. :(

What a wonderful day!!

So... My mother and I have been selling our crafts at local craft bazaars now for a few years. This year has by far been the worst year so far. Besides that I get to spend some quality time with my mom and we get to see everyone else’s crafts and best of all we get to barter with other people.

Today I got an alpaca teddy bear for Ava, I feel a little bad that it was made out of real Alpaca fur... BUT it was from Peru and they eat Alpacas down there so I felt a little bit better. I also barter some of my photography for some felted Alpaca balls for Ava to play with, but since we have been home the dogs keep stealing them.  In our rounds at the bazaar this lady handmade baby dresses and there was one that was Ava's size and it was BEAUTIFUL, but I was being a good crafter and not spending the money I didn't have. As we were packing up to leave the lady walks up with a black bag and hand it to me. She said that she wanted my daughter to have this dress, and that she knew she would look beautiful in it. I was so blown away, and she insisted that I have the beautiful dress. My mom took her a pair of earrings as a thank you gift. Then the ladies across from us gave Ava a handmade tutu, she is quite the charmer :)

So the moral of my story is that people even in hard time are incredibly generous and we are very thankful for the wonderful gifts!

I hope everyone else is enjoying the wonderful Holiday Season!!!

 Cheers,

Candace