Remember when shopping used to be FUN?...

So, funny story...

Last Friday I thought it would be a good idea to make a trip out to IKEA with the girls. They carry a "hanging chair" that I wanted to buy for the play room in hopes that Avery might take to that instead of trying to climb into the swing with Julia. It hangs from the ceiling (pretty cool!) and let's face it, why wouldn't she want to crawl into the swing with her sister when it looks so comfortable in there? I'll be honest... I'm tempted to do it myself some days. So since this hanging chair provides the same swinging sensation but is more age appropriate for Avery, it sounded like a good idea to make the short trip out there to grab one of those for the play room and come home. Simple plan, right? (Unfortunately they don't offer this particular item for purchase online. I checked.)

After navigating through the massive traffic on the tollway at 4:30 on a Friday, and surviving a bit of a screaming fit thrown by Julia in the car probably caused by the sun being in her eyes, we finally arrived at the big blue box in Frisco.

The next 30 minutes went like this: Park car, get stroller out, get Avery into stroller, get Julia into stroller, get purse and diaper bag out of car and secured in stroller, give Avery her water, try to figure out why Julia's screaming, try to give Julia her pacifier as she screams, run after Avery's water sippy cup she's thrown down that's now rolling across parking lot, put sippy in purse, begin pushing stroller towards IKEA entrance, Julia stops screaming, "Did I lock the car?... where are my keys... Did I lock my KEYS in the car?!... oh here they are," lock jeep remotely, keep walking, enter store, Julia resumes screaming, head to the nearest family restroom to feed Julia, Avery's pushing up out of the stroller seat and asking to get out and walk... You get the idea... shopping with two babies is never simple.

After feeding one and changing both, we emerged from the bathroom in hunt of the hanging chair. Found the childrens' section of the store and spotted the display model of the hanging chair! Whew... at last! "Grab one and GET OUT," I think to myself. But much to my dismay, there was an empty shelf underneath the hanging chair display. I searched eagerly hoping that I would find one mistakingly left behind, buried underneath other boxes... no luck. I found a sales associate and asked, but she only helped to confirm that those were out of stock. OUT OF STOCK?! This store was the size of some major airports and somehow they were sold out of the ONE THING we came for. Seriously?!

Fortunately, while I had been feeding Julia in the family restroom earlier, Avery was entertained by a toy train they had out on a table in there. (Relax... I washed her hands after she played with the "germ train" in the bathroom.) They had PLENTY of train sets in stock and after everything we had gone through I was NOT leaving empty handed. We grabbed a train and headed for the exit.

Next time I'll call before making the trip, confirm they do have the item I'm shopping for and have them set one aside for me. Sigh.....

Oh, shopping, my old friend... our relationship may never be the same.

Tomato Tracker!

They're growing!... :) Avery's backyard tomatoes are looking yummier by the minute! We have 4 total, but only one is beginning to ripen. With the tomato scare going on right now, I guess it's a good fruit to be growing on our own! We'll keep watering them in hopes of having some fresh salad toppings to eat this Summer. And... like it or not... you know we'll keep you posted on their growth! :)

Playtime!!

Poor Julia... Avery used to spend hours in this thing just kicking around and playing, and she didn't have anyone trying to climb in with her. (Except maybe Howie on occasion...) But our sweet 2nd child spends more of her days up on tabletops inside her bouncy seat to keep her out of arms-reach for Avery than she does on the floor like typical 2-month-olds. We're trying to teach Avery to coexist with her better, but she just loves her baby "YaYa" so much that if she has access to her she's going to try and hug, kiss, smother, etc.

Jules will just have to learn to play quickly when she's on the floor! ...Or throw a few elbows to keep Avery out of her play gym! :)

Dallas Zoo!

Last Saturday, Avery got to monkey around with Collin, Nana, Uncle Josh, Aunt Melanie & cousin Ian at the Dallas Zoo! (Julia and I stayed home to avoid the heat, but we got to hang out with everyone afterwards at our house over some brownies and ice cream!)

What a fun day it was... We're so happy they were all in town for the weekend.

A Memorable Memorial Day!

Sunday at White Rock Lake

Going "incognito" :)

Friends, family & blog-stalkers... ;)

Just wanted to do a quick post and let you all know that our blog will soon become an "invitation-only" blog for many reasons. If you would like to continue to keep up with our family by reading the blog, please e-mail me at stephanie_poage@hotmail.com and let me know. We will gladly extend an invitation to anyone we know personally.

I would also like to say a big THANK YOU to all of our "blog-stalkers" out there... (I say this jokingly, as I myself am a fervent reader of random blogs of families I don't know personally...) But for anyone who may have found our blog through the world wide web, or through friends-of-friends, we truly appreciate your interest in our family and we hope you'll understand that we need to limit our viewers at this point for the protection of our kiddos.

We hope you'll want to continue checking in on us from time to time, so please e-mail soon!

Many hugs--
The Poages

My little optimist...

I guess I could have also called this the "will perform for bubbles" video. Avery FINALLY let me capture her saying all her favorite phrases on video. She was going strong for a while and then clearly told me it was time to put the camera away and do bubbles. You'll see what I mean...

Welcome, Summer!!

It's hot... it's humid... it's sunny... it's Summer!

Even with the temperatures soaring to triple digits and the dreaded mosquitoes lurking around every door just waiting for someone to walk outside, there's still something kind of magical about this time of year. It's time for watermelon and backyard barbeques... Time for swimsuits and sunscreen... Time for flip-flops and tank tops... Time for seashells and sandy toes, Snow cones and brain-freezes. Time to watch butterflies in the mornings and fireflies at night... Time to wish you were at the beach, but be content with just running through the sprinklers.

It's that time of year. Welcome, Summer.

(A slideshow of some of the fun events of Summer so far... We're growing tomatoes and blowing LOTS of bubbles! Any chance we get to go down to the neighborhood swings or spray park, we take it. A few random snapshots...)

One Month Old! :)

I can't believe how quickly the time is passing! Julia turned one month old yesterday, and it literally feels like we just got her home from the hospital. Amazing. We'll BLINK and they'll both be graduating high school...

Happy 1 month, JuJu Bean! We love you!

My favorite Mother's Day gift...

What a wonderful 2nd Mother's Day I had!

My Mom & Dad, and Jennifer, Andrew & Drew were all in town from Friday afternoon through Sunday evening, and we had so much fun getting to celebrate Mother's Day in a few different ways throughout the weekend. After family headed back home on Sunday, my precious Collin presented me with two wonderful gifts and this piece of pink paper folded in half with the words, "To mommy" scribbled on the front. (A team-effort between Avery, Julia and Collin... Avery colored all by herself, but Collin actually put the crayons in each of their little hands and helped them sign their names! I love it! A three-week old signing her name with the help of Daddy... Ha!)

The gifts I got to unwrap are wonderful, but this is absolutely priceless...

To: Mommy

We're not able to say thank you yet, so we asked Daddy if we could write to say thank you for being such a great mom, for all the times you've washed dishes in the middle of the night, all the cold meals, or skipped meals, all of the dirty diapers, all the times I've cried in the dark and you rocked and sang me back to sleep, all the stuff you've had to miss because you were taking care of us, and for the great example of a mom you are so that we'll know how to be moms some day. Until we can say it ourselves, this will have to do.

Happy Mother's Day!
-Avery -Julia

Thank you, honey, for helping the girls give me such a memorable Mother's Day. It's amazing how one little scribbled-on piece of paper with a simple message of thanks can become a woman's most prized possession... Must be a Mom thing. :)

Coffee for TWO! :)

After two weeks with two kids, we took two hours (on May 2nd!) to spend some time together... Just the two of us! :) Avery had gone to bed for the night and Julia was between feedings, so Gram volunteered to babysit and we were able to sneak away to the nearest Starbucks for some quality time together.

Mmmmm... Coffee & time alone with Collin... Does it get any better?

Really, really, ridiculously good looking...

Not sure why, but Avery started making this face last week... It's her new "thing." We think it's hilarious, and thanks to Aunt Kendra we have pictures documenting the new look!

**For any of my blog-readers who may not be Ben Stiller fans, the title to this post is in reference to the movie Zoolander... I don't want all of Avery's Grandmothers' friends thinking I was being serious, so there's my disclaimer.** :)

What's up, Cuz? :)

Aunt Jen & cousin Drew came in town for a visit! (I LOVE stay-home-Mom-Jen!) It was a fun playgroup, even though Drew and Julia are still too little to party. Soon enough we'll have three full-blown toddlers and life will be CRAZY. We should have snapped more pictures because once they're ALL mobile it'll be tougher to get all three of them in one snapshot.

Thanks for visiting us, Bossens! We love you guys!

The Girls...

Good clean fun!... Avery and Gram wash her blocks before she plays with them.




Watering her tomato plants... with style!


Jules sleeps away the afternoon! (Why doesn't she sleep like this at night?!)