Sock Hops and Sheet Games

This is how the Lockett girls eat Nutella.  If you're too cool to eat it straight out of the jar - and trust me, you're not - try this amazing recipe:

Our Favorite Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
3 T granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 T vanilla
1 3/4 cups all-purpose, non-bleached flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ t baking soda
½ t salt
1½ cups milk chocolate chips

*½ cup Nutella

 Preheat oven to 300.

Mix butter through vanilla, sift together dry ingredients. Blend all together.  Add chocolate chips.

*At the very last second add Nutella and barely stir, batter will look marbleized.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet for 12-20 minutes depending on desired texture.

Do not plan to have leftovers.

What do you do when the weather is too perfect not to be outside, but you have a sewing project?

We even had backyard entertainment.

A few weeks ago OWC hosted a Sock Hop.  It was loads of fun.  Here were Ava and Stacy's darling costumes.

 My attempt at a mother/daughter shot.  I'm sure someone in her line of sight was breaking a rule, very typical Ava face.  (By the way, we scavenged for our outfits.  We all agreed not to tell Ava that hers wasn't exactly 50's.)

Our favorite soon-to-be Turks.  Follow their amazing journey here.

Selling root beer floats for camp money, oh youth ministry.

Checkin' her email.

Blurry but just too stinkin' cute not to include.  The Facebook face recognition program tried to tag Ava as Aunt Jaryn in this picture.  One can only hope she grows up to be as stunning as her Sparkly aunt.

Group Just Dance on the Wii.  More fun to watch than participate I'd say.

Another pretty typical Ava face, though she is not allowed to cover her ears if an adult is speaking to her.  It was pretty loud in the church.

Ava and I were planning to head to Texas for a few days while HLS endured round 1 of finals.  I worked to get the house in tip top shape before we left, no mess distractions for Josh.  As I scurry from room to room cleaning, I almost always have a shadow.  She is handy though.  Some of her jobs include: "feeding" the vacuum (using the hose attachment like an elephant trunk), wrapping its cord when we're done, fetching cleaning supplies and hauling them upstairs, straightening books, making beds with help, arranging pillows, turning off lights, and anything else I think she might be able to handle.  Not sure she'll always be this eager to help around the house, or spend so much time with her old mom.

After all our hard work we had to play outside a little.

We loved spending some time in Texas with my family.  Nolan was gracious enough to show off his favorite game, Sheets.

Rules of Sheets:

Place adorable kiddo in the middle of the bed, gently drape a sheet over the top of them,

 watch them wiggle and giggle underneath,

lather rinse repeat.

These two

 just adore

one another.

It's so fun to watch them begin to play together.  I can't wait for the day when we can just let them loose in the backyard.  

{Actually, that's never going to happen.  Am I right Sarah, Nate, Cory, and Becca'?  How did we all five survive the woods and our adventures?  One of us will have to tag along in case BBB comes after them.}

After Nolan went to sleep Baba and Ava played games and read books.  These two are going to keep Baba and Pops on their toes.

Uncle Nate happened to be in town too.  We won't disclose our location in this photograph, but it was fantastic to hang out with him.  Hoping to see lots more of you in the summer and fall.

Baba, Ava, and Nolan played a little baseball to pass the afternoon.

Eventually Nolan joined me in the cheering section.

A little baseball time with Pops

Later MLML and PLPL came over for dinner.  Ava whisked MLML away on a 'haycorn' hunting adventure.

Loving the shady backyard at Baba and Pops new house

Since Baba was stuck at school all week, we brought her lunch one day and stayed to visit.  Look at these happy three.

The previous week's storms left many large branches down in the backyard, so Pops and Uncle Brandon made a huge fire.

When I'm in town, I love to stop by the school where I taught and see my friends.  They're always so kind to let me in and acknowledge my existence as they shamelessly dote upon Ava James.  They've all watched her grow from a tiny bump to this big girl who is almost as tall as Ms. Tammy.  We'll be seeing them all again at a dear friend's retirement luncheon soon.

Ava and I had a wonderful time in Texas.  We'll be heading back in a week with HLS (ahem, HLS THE 3L) for a little R&R in Frost before our crazy summer begins.  And if you think a summer of nannying, summer school, externships,  youth ministry, and camp sounds insane just wait until you hear about our plans for the fall!