AbbyNolanMaxAva: I've lost my mind. Can you help me find it?

Last week we went to Pizza Hut. We had been inside for maybe 10 minutes when a guy came up to me and asked me if I owned the Honda Odyssey outside. (Uhh, yes.) My side door was open. (MAX! He's been getting out lately and not closing the door.) So, while I read Max the riot act, Abby went to shut the door. And then informed me it was Ava's door that was open. Whoops! I guess that was my fault. (A little sheepish.)

Today we were at McDonald's, and I let the kids play for awhile. We were probably there for an hour and a half. Not really a big deal, until I got back out to the van, and realized not only did I leave the keys in the van, but I LEFT THE VAN RUNNING! Aye aye aye. But they're cute mind destroyers, aren't they?

Maybe the moral of the story is I should just stop going to fast food places. But then I might go even more crazy! After McDonald's today, I took the van to get the oil changed. I went to a place I don't normally go to because they had a special for 4 oil changes for $39.95. Not a bad deal. I pull in, and they start to change the oil. But then, 40 minutes later, they're still not done. Finally, the guy tells me my oil plug is stripped and they don't have a new one. Great. So, they sent someone to CarQuest and will put in a new one. Ok. But meanwhile, I have 4 kids in the car and I can't go anywhere. Thank goodness for movies in the van! That was good for about an hour, but after that they were literally running and tackling each other IN THE VAN! That lasted for 10 minutes until I went crazy and then they watched a new movie. And inbetween all that, Abby said about 20 times, "But I just realllly want to go home." Oh, well, ok. Since you really want to.

I may have showed the pictures of Abby climbing the wall already? I don't remember. But now Nolan is doing it. And they have their standing-on-everything-audience, otherwise known as Ava, cheering them on.

Last weekend, we celebrated the last of Max's birthday, the first of Ava's birthday, my niece Erin's birthday and my dad's birthday. It was great weather for birthday celebrations, and we congregated at my mom and dad's house for a cookout.

Here's one of the birthday girls. You can tell she thinks she's special, can't you? Well, she IS!

Mark and Dave doing what they do best... Dave with beer in hand.

Ok, this wasn't from the party, but a cute picture anyway of the two girls! It must have been awhile ago, because this outfit on Ava is long sleeves and long pants. And given it's been HOT HOT HOT here for, well, forever, I'm not sure when I took this.

Back to the party... Ava enjoying her new bath toys in the little pool all by herself.

Oops! Abby and Ava again.

And back to the party... Grumpy manning the grill. Check out those legs!

I really, really thought I put pictures in order, but apparently not. And given my less than stellar record of updating the blog lately, I'm not willing to reorder all of my pictures. SO, here's Abby and Nolan, with Ava looking on, creating various marble runs and doing just some fun, regular summertime fun stuff.

And the party continues...

One of Max's gifts was a guitar. And prior to the party, we got Karaoke for the Wii. So, here's the band. Nolan on drums, Max on guitar, Abby doing vocals. I'm guessing they're singing Taylor Swift's Love Story. Unless, of course, they're singing, ahem, I Kissed a Girl. No, I'm sure it's Love Story.

And the other birthday girl, Erin turned 4!

Chad and Abby, not celebrating birthdays, watched from the "big" pool.

Ava lovin' all the wrappings.

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you...

And here... is the pinata! Abby worked super hard on these. There were two pinatas, actually, made out of diaper boxes. Then they were covered with construction paper--one colored with butterflies for Erin, and one colored with sports for Max. When Abby asked me to get candy to put in them, I really, really wanted to just buy new pinatas. But she worked so hard on them, and they were so original. So I bought the candy. And you know what? The kids loved them! Here's the kids (and Uncle Mark) in line.

The booty!

The pinatas actually broke open before Abby and Chad got a chance to hit them, so we put some candy back in the box, taped it up, and let Abby have at it. Chad didn't want to hit the pinata, he just wanted to destroy the box. So, he got a box and went to town!