Happy 2009!

We spent New Year's Eve with some old friends of Ryan's, which are our family friends, and had a blast playing games and Guitar Hero on Wii.
Loving my mommy and daddy. Can you tell she's kind of going through a phase of "mommy's girl"? Daddy is a ROCK STAR! Ava's a ROCK STAR too! She loves to sing now!
Some of the NYE band members. Note daddy in the background. Eating our traditional New Year's black-eyed peas and sausage balls. Ava loved them!We wish everyone a HEALTHY new year!!

Playing Christmas Catch-up!

We loved visiting with friends and family over the holidays, here are some pictures of the highlights of our travels.

We let Ava open an early Christmas present, on our own little family Christmas before we left. Thanks grandma for the blocks! Ava's imagination is blowing up and these really help me. As you can see, I made a birthday cake all by myself for mommy.

Our first stop was to Oklahoma to see "Nano", Austin, and Rach, Si, and Rylee but I forgot the camera. Then we went to Tulsa to spend some much needed time with Aunt Gretchen and Grandma and Hoppy. We then came back down to Texas to see Gigi, Poppy, and uncle Aaron. Check out the new tricycle uncle Aaron got Ava. It's perfect because we can steer it from behind with the handle. All decked in Elmo slippers, riding a trike. What more does a girl need?

Ava's favorite person to snuggle with, Poppy. Christmas morning, checking out all the presents........was a little overwhelming. Practicing the trike again with uncle Aaron, who Ava loves!Our Family of three.
We finally made it home and talked about how thankful we are to be surrounded by so much family and friends who love us. We got the last round of Holiday cards in the mail so we could show off our lovely Christmas tree. Our "todder proof" decorations included decorating the Christmas tree with the cards we received from family and friends. It was perfect. Ava looked forward to checking the mail and putting them on the tree each day. She was free to take them off and look at them whenever she pleased. Easy decorations that mean so much (and easy clean-up too).

Sitting With Santa THIS Year

Don't laugh too hard. Despite the over-exaggarated smiles on Ryan's and my faces, it was a rough experience. Although not one that was super surprising. You see, we had tried to see Santa earlier this month at our friend's Carissa and Charlotte's friend's French Litigation Museum and Ava was having NONE of him. I didn't push it because I knew I wanted to try again.

We hyped him up.... talked, sang, watched, listened, everything SANTA for the past month. She was never thrilled about seeing him since her first encounter, but she would talk about sitting on his lap. Well, the moment she saw him, she clung to daddy and said "door". Mommy tried to show her how friendly Santa is by sitting on his lap herself. Santa insisted Daddy come over as well and well, there you have it. What was supposed to be a peaceful Ava sitting on Santa's lap with awe and glee, turned out to be a family portrait with Mommy and Daddy smiling as happy as can be and a VERY upset little girl.

Oh Well, there's always next year.

Wordless Wednesday: One Year Ago

A girl and her kitty cat

Ava likes to jump in the crib when she sees "Boo" (Eli, we just call him boo) in there and it aggravates him so much. As it should! It's not his crib, but since he has done no harm as of yet (won't last too much longer, I'm sure it's coming) so it's no big deal. In fact, Ava LOVES to see him in it and says "Silly, Booooooo".

Boo looks WAY too comfortable.

Ava covered him up with BB's and gave him baby dolls. She's walking a thin line. Ope, all done! Boos says, "I'm out". Ohhhh, but Boo, I love you, "mmmmmhuah". Hugs and Kisses.

A cute story

Well, we've been sick over here for the past week and still can't shake it. Hopefully we are nearing the end soon.

A few nights ago, Ava woke up 3 times in a matter of a couple of hours, so when settled her into bed with us. She had a slight fever and we all know the best medicine for being sick is to sleep with mommy and daddy.

So we're laying there and she's on her tummy all huddled up and I notice that she is ever-so-slightly rocking back and forth. (I do this still to this day). But she was singing along with it. It took me a second to hear what she was singing but it was obviously a song she knows from music class. It's a song to that you sing in rounds and we pretend we are on a boat or canoe b/c the song talks about paddles. In class we move back and forth like in a boat and use our paddles. So she is laying there going back and forth singing "dip, dip and swing" "dip, dip and swing", which is one of the rounds of the song. It was so cute and random! We don't listen to that one much (it's not one of my personal faves and since I'm the dj in the car, well, it only comes on every once in awhile).

But she was singing and singing until I joined in with the other round and there we were, rowing in bed in the middle of the night.

She then woke up singing her ABC's. She is all about singing, this girl.

10 things I LOVE about Ava at 21 months

Oh my, she is just delicious this month, such a little girl!

1. I love when she grabs her purse or bag and steers her grocery cart to the grocery store (or so she pretends). "Bye-bye" she calls out, "get eggs."

2. I love her pretend play. I think I've written about it before but it is getting much more imaginative and cute! Anything from cooking, setting up, and eating an entire fake meal with me, complete with "yummm, yummm, gooooood broccoli".

3. I love her sense of humor! Oh my goodness, it makes me laugh out loud. The other day she was eating a rice cake and a chunk of it got stuck on her top lip. She saw herself in the oven door's reflection and said, "ho, ho, ho".

4. I love her opinions. I was lying on the couch the other day with a blanket and this clearly was not something I should have been doing according to her. "No tired" she exclaimed, as she pulled the blanket off of me.

5. I love her sense of adventure. My oh my, she is a brave one. The way she fully JUMPS on the bed with no fear, meanwhile Ryan and I are about to have a heart attack, or the way she jumps off the couch head first into a pile of pillows. We fully expect to visit the emergency room here shortly.

6. I love that she is starting to take note of things that are sweet. She saw some baby animals in a book the other day and said, "Awwww".

7. I love her understanding of some emotions. She is starting to understand when she feels happy, sad, angry, silly and excited. What was it the other day? I can't remember what made her excited, but she literally bounced up and down and told me "Ava excited!"

8. I love that she sings songs with me. We were walking out of the store the other day and I was just casually singing "You are My Sunshine" as we walked through the parking lot and low and behold, she was singing right along with me! We sang it again for daddy that night. Some other favorites are "Twinkle, Twinkle", "ABC's", "I Love You (Barney)" and "Happy and You Know It".

9. I love it when she talks in 3rd person. It might not be gramatically correct or something that bugs other parents (b/c Elmo does it) but it is developmental and I LOVE it! Her current trademark is "Ava do it!"

10. I love when we do something during the day that obviously makes an impact on her and she says "Daddy all about it". She wants to tell Daddy all about what happened. It's mostly when she rides the horses (mini carousel) at the grocery store or when we go to the park. She can't wait for daddy to get home so she can tell him all about.

I love that it took me no time at all to compile this list because there are so many wonderful that I love about Ava right now and always.

Wordless Wednesday: Getting ready for Santa!

We are thankful for cousins and friends!

A letter from Ava:

Dear (little) family and friends,

As my mommy scrolled through my pictures in my 21st month, she realized what a HUGE part of my life you all are. I am so so lucky to be surrounded by cousins and friends who are all little like me. We all learn so much from each other. Even if I teach you to throw a sippy or I learn how to yell (Mimi and Aves tricks they've 'taught' each other) we are constantly learning. Afterall, isn't that what this whole toddler experience is all about? You are teaching me to learn boundaries and how to have social skills. What an AMAZING opportunity that is!

Thank you for being a very important part of my life. I will forever be impacted by you being my friend.

I love you all so much (you should hear when I tell my mommy and daddy all about you!)

Love,

Ava

Aves and Mimi- share a bond like no other!

Hannah- She and Ava share a lot of the same personality characteristics, food being one of them and Colin- Happy 2nd birthday, look at those curls! Ava and Paisley, est. 2006- our mommies went through pregnancy together. Miss Charlotte-she built this tower all on her own! It was taller than her! She teaches us all how to be a lady.

Price, Colin, and Ava- Aves loves to hang with these two boys.

Ava's Dear Cousins, Abigail and Maddy- She still can't stop talking about the beach vacation and how much fun she had! Since Abigail's the oldest, Ava learns a lot from her.

And baby cousin Emery, Ava loves to love on her.

Having an impromptu playdate with Mimi and Abby.

Making new friends with Madison and Austin, we had so much fun that day!

Meeting her 2nd Cousins, Austin and Bailey- since they live in Japan, Ava has so much to learn from these two.

"It's Pawty Time"

So I'm sitting at the computer doing whatever it is that I do on the computer and Ava comes up to me saying three little words that I could make out but didn't really compute.

"It's Pawty Time" she kept saying.

I thought maybe she was ready to go in the big girl potty again and said "Yay, it's potty time!". She was not having that for an interpretation of what she was saying! "PAWTY time" she insisted. It was clear that I was not understanding her and so I said "Show me".


She takes me to the hallway and we go around the corner and there sitting in the hallway, she set up three little "plates" and some cups and "food" for us to have a PARTY! Oh my goodness, I melted. So cute that she was ready to party with daddy and I. Ahem, remember the tea party? This must have been connected to that. So we sat and we ate and we drank and we had a PAWTY! Woo-hoo!

We bit the bullet

And took Ava to get her first haircut. Eeek! This was so big for both of us because we fought it for as long as we could. We have waited a LONG time for this hair and to cut it seemed so wrong. However, as you will see from the pictures, it turned out adorable!! Or so we think. It is such a difference in our eyes, though others may not see it, but Ryan especially was so excited about it and went on and on about what a difference it made.

As you'll see, Ava did a great job, almost eerily good. She was so still. I think she was just unsure of what was going on and wanted the lollipop so badly.

Here she is before with whispies and uneven hair all over the place.See what I mean? She was so still. She looks so serious. During the haircut (which lasted all of 3 minutes, lol).

And after. Look at that little bob! So cute!

The lollipop made it all worth it!Her official "First Haircut Certificate"Some pieces of her little baby hair. The final product.

Thankful for....

Creative Expression.... ....at appropriate times.

In this instance, however, the couch was used as a drawing board.

So not appropriate.

Thankful Photo: Day 3

I am most certainly thankful for books. Books have helped me learn so much, specifically, and most importantly about parenting and children (both my own and students). I probably got a little too much information because I read books on both ends of the spectrum when it comes to parenting, but nonetheless, it's useful information.

Since books mean so much to us, today we decided to buy a book for 2 children in need this Christmas. We go to the bookstore every Wednesday anyway, so it just needed to happen. We've been doing something holiday/christmas related on our "Countdown to Christmas" and this was today's event. We sure hope that these books will bring as much joy and adventure to these children's lives as books have brought to ours.

Thankful Photo #2

Yesterday was the love of my life, today....

The light of my life.

A Photo a Day to show my thanks

I saw this on a blog, I don't remember which, and she took a picture a day to show what she is thankful for. I can't promise I'll POST one everyday, but I'll do my best.

Today's thanks goes to....

Ryan! The best husband and daddy in the world. We are so thankful for you and all that you do for our family.

Obsessions

There is a word we use a lot around here....

OBSESSED!

Ava is obsessed with this or Ava is obsessed with that. I've said it a lot here on my blog as well. So how perfect that I was "tagged" by Kelly with listing my obsessions (and I'll add Miss Ava's as well).

Ava's latest Obsessions, at 21 months old:

1. Playdough- she loves pulling off little pieces of it and putting it in one container after another. I have to watch her though, because she'll pop a piece in her mouth every once in awhile. YUCK! Mommy is not up for making the homemade kind right now.

2. Animals- she loves watching the Baby Einstein Animals DVD (in the car, I'm embarrassed to admit that I use it as blackmail every once in awhile). She also loves puzzles, songs, and books all about animals. Specifically, good ole "Old McDonald Had a Farm".

3. Dinosaurs- she loves her books, How Do Dinasaurs Say Goodnight and How Do Dinosaurs Eat Their Food, as well as playing with her stuffed animal dinosaurs and giving them kisses and hugs.

4. FOOD- real or fake, she is OBSESSED with food. Luckily, she'll eat "good" stuff too, but once she has something "special", she'll want more and more. The fake food that she plays with in her kitchen is a staple in our house.

5. Blankies- also known as her "bee-bee's" must be with her when she is in the car and in her crib or else we hear all about it.

Mommies obsessions:

1. Ava- let's be honest, I've devoted a whole blog to my girl, I have to be just a little bit obsessed.

2. Peppermint Mocha Twist from Starbucks- a special treat I get a few times a month.

3. Taking pictures- Let's face it, I've had a camera around my neck for more than 21 months now.

4. Christmas music- I have it playing on my TV right now and have 95.5 set on my radio in the car.

5. Blogging- Although I've slacked recently, I love updating and catching up on others blogs.

There. Now that I've been tagged, I'll tag the following to tell us about your obesessions:

Cindy (Sean's mommy), Jenny (Acadia's mommy), Stacie (Hudson's mommy), Anna (Maddy and Austin's mommy), and Misha (Austin and Bailey's mommy). Good luck girls!