Our First Few Days in Frisco

There is definitely not a shortage of kid-friendly things to do here. Each week is a new adventure as we find our way around, meet new people, discover new areas and parks, and explore our new surroundings. We are both loving it.

A popular request from Ava is just to be able to go walk around the mall because, much to our surprise, there is a carousel! She thought that was just the neatest thing.

We have also attended a puppet show, "The Tortoise and the Hare" along with "The Princess and the Pea".

The library, which is in Frisco square by "downtown Frisco" is another frequent stop on our weekly outings. Not only is it beautiful, they provide story time (3x a week) and a great kids area. When we went to our first storytime, I think we were both a little overwhelmed. It's not like our typical, quaint little local library storytime. It's get your ticket before they run out and listen to the librarians while they are on their microphones! Yes, they have microphones attached! Ava really enjoys it and it's our usual Friday outing. It's also neat to see how she understands borrowing books and tells me what she wants to find and check out the next week. We've done everything from her new favorite, "Pinkalicious" and "Fancy Nancy" to books on being a big sister, to kitty cats and doggies.

Organizing Old Pictures-Ava's 3rd BirthDAY

We woke up singing "Happy Birthday" to our birthday girl with surprise balloons all over the living room floor (thanks for the idea Parents mag). We wanted to do bedroom floor, but since she is up to potty most nights, we didn't want her to trip or see them early. She loved it!

Her presents included a new big girl scooter, some really neat blocks and a gardening set. I love the picture of her digging in the dirt with a leotard and tutu on...typical Aves.

Happy 3rd Birthday....again...my baby girl!

Organizing Old Pictures-Park Day

I'm going through my point and shoot and found these gems from a day back in February at the park. It was such a beautiful day that day and true to Texas weather, it snowed the very next day.

These pictures make me smile.

Silly Sayings

As we were taking a walk to the park last week....

Ava: "What's that?"

Mommy: "It looks like someone's garden statue."

Ava: "No, I think it's an angel"

Mommy: "Oh, I see the wings. You're right."

Ava: "That's probably God's girlfriend".

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While swinging the other day....

Ava: "I'm going so high, I'm going to kick the clouds!"

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At the grocery store today....

Ava: "Mom, I appreciate it if we could get this cereal"

Whoa, Nelly!

Naps are so few and far between these days, that I'll let my child sleep on the stairs if that gets her some zzzzz's.

Bad mommy.

In my defense, I had no idea that she was there until about 30 minutes before she woke up.

After typing that out, I'm not sure it makes it any better, lol.

Quiet Rainy Day Puddle Play

Easter!

This year's Easter was a bit chaotic (although Ava wouldn't have known it) since we had just moved the day before into our new home, but it was sure something special to wake up our first morning in our new home and see that the Easter bunny had visited! Despite the spacey look, Ava was THRILLED! So thrilled, in fact, that she slept all night in her own room, in her own bed, in her new house.

The Easter bunny was kind, as usual, and left a basket filled with a jump rope, a recorder (flute), a paint-your-own-tea-set, and some gummy bears and jelly beans. Ava enjoyed having jelly beans for the first time.

We did our annual egg hunt in another location this year. The weekend prior to Easter, we hunted eggs at Gigi and Poppy's church. It was a brisk, early morning (hence the hat that Aves insisted on wearing), but rewarding no doubt. When Ava discovered the eggs had something special inside (gasp!), she was on a roll! She LOVED the Easter bunny this year. This was actually her second time seeing him/her/it this year. The first time, we were at the mall and she raced over, on her own terms, and sat and chatted with the bunny.

Daddy and Ava were strategizing on how to get the best and most eggs. Mommy and Daddy are both SKILLED Easter egg hunters, so we have a lot of inside tips to offer.

Daddy's tip: run to the far edge, away from the crowd of kids to collect the outside eggs first, while the others are fighting for the inside eggs.

WAIT! COME BACK!

Actually, she understood and was successful! I did think she was going to go past the roped area, though, which made me laugh.

Disclaimer: We aren't really that serious about "the hunt", just one of our favorite pasttimes as children (and adults) :)

Busy bee, collecting those egss.

So proud of her loot and her new fuzzy bunny, Abby.

Ready to eat the special treats.

This had to be its own post...

Just doing her prenatal yoga. She'll actually ask to do it, it's too funny!

Recap on our last days in Austin

As I'm looking through the last couple months pics, I see some that I never got around to posting. We had a wild winter, weather-wise, in Texas and saw snow on a few occasions. We built our first snowman too! So I had to include those in this long-pictured-post, that would have normally been saved for its' own post, instead I'm just combining a lot of pictures.

Ava is just being Ava in these pics and I just adore her quirky, creative style. Here she is reading with daddy on top of mattresses she slept on for a few weeks (with sheets of course), sporting a cowgirl hat, her brothers bib and "underwear" like daddy.

We had the pleasure of hanging out with our long-time playgroup friends before we left. We still talk about you girls DAILY.

Posing in her last dance class with Miss Adele.

Her first snowman with lemon eyes and a carrot nose.

Dancing with Daddy all fancy.
Smiling in the snow.
Going grocery shopping and being silly.

Class picture from school.
Helping daddy on the ladder before the move.
What FUN times we had in Austin! As we get acclimated to our new home, we find ourselves talking about places, people, and memories that we shared with Ava for her first 3 years in Austin. She loves talking about "Austin, Texas", but is really enjoying her time here in Frisco so much also. She is a trooper, I tell ya, and makes the most of her days just filling all of us with SUCH JOY!

We made it!!

So we made it to the big D! Geesh, after the stomach bug decided to work it's way through the family, let's just say it was a lot of work. Ava had been sick the entire week and weekend of the move. Then, wouldn't you know, the stomach "birus" got passed onto me the night before the move. Since I'm not physically up for moving, I prided myself that I could be a packer. I pulled as much energy as I could muster and forced myself to get it done. Ryan was the go-to guy and did everything! He and Aves would go out to lunch, come home, pack, move, organize, etc. We knew the job would get done... It had to despite the movers being 4 hours late, which is a whole different story,

anyway, despite my whining, we are here! And I have to say that Ava has been AMAZING! She is adjusting so well. She totally gets what is going on, too. The other day in the car she had Ryan and I astonished at what she understands. When learning that her friend Mimi was coming to visit in Dallas, she said,

"Mimi lives in Austin, Texas. She is just here in Dallas for a little bit. I won't go back to Austin, texas, but Mimi will go back." she said it so matter of factly, like she had to explain it to us.

Tonight she couldn't quite get that we will be living in a new home besides living with Gigi and poppy. When I tried to explain that we would be moving into the house that she played in the playroom and enjoyed it so much, she adamently said, " no, that was that little girls house." after further explaining that we were buying that house from the little girl and her family, she got so excited that she would be obtaining a variety of new toys! Ummm, not so much.

She has us all cracking up lately!! I mean the things that come out of her mouth are hilarious. The other day, Gigi made turkey bacon for she and Ava when Ava asked daddy for more. She came up with a cheer, rolling her hands around, chanting. "makin, makin, need more bacon!" Where in the world did that come from??

This past week has been so much better than expected. Something developmentally and/ or cognitively is going on in Avas little mind and she just blows us away. The conversations that we engage in are interesting and thought-provoking...concepts such as roller coaster drawings with explanations of how it goes faster with air blowing it from underneath, or to hear her say "isn't that the truth?" like a little person we are having a discussion with.

Long post, but I really am trying to document our crazy life right now with some of the neat updates on our three year old. THREE year old!!!

What It's Like Being THREEEEEE!

Stats:
Weight: 30 lbs. 4 oz.

Height: Don't know for sure until well-visit, but I'd guess around 38-40 inches

Interests:
-Having tea parties
-Pretend play
-Using her imagination
-Animals -specifically doggies and kitty cats
-B.B. (her blanket)
-Digging in the dirt-she calls it "gardening"
-Playing outside
-Anything messy
-Arts and Crafts (specifically loves drawing and using a pen)
-Playing dress-up-- it's the first thing she does when we go play at friends houses and at Center Time at school, her teachers tell me. At home she is always wearing something, it's almost just our "normal" for her to be a princess or a cowgirl.
-Cooking-she loves helping mommy cook

Favorites-as told by Ava:
Color: Green
Food: Bunny cereal
Clothes: Ballerina shirt
Word: Nothing (isn't that the truth?)
Book: Princesses
Song: B-i-n-g-o

Current Events:
-Ava is FULLY potty-trained! She didn't like wearing her pull-up at night and asked to wear panties, so we went with it. It took a few nights of accidents and sheet changes in the middle of the night and now she'll get up and use her little potty all on her own. It's been about 6 weeks now.

-We are about to MOVE! We are moving to be closer to both sets of grandparents and are excited, but sad to leave our friends, aunt/uncle and cousins. Although we will only be 3 hours away. Ava is a little skeptical because she doesn't quite grasp it all, but remains excited.

-Ava is battling the stomach virus that is going around. The vomiting only lasted about 6 hours, in the middle of the night on Tuesday, but fever hasn't broke yet.

-We had our last days of dance and pre-school, to which Ava was sad. We are still trying to decide which activities we want to try when we move. On Ava's top list are karate and gymnastics, sounds pretty suitable don't you think?

Sleeping:
Ava wakes around 7:00-7:30 a.m. Naps are hit or miss-averaging 2-3 naps a week. On days that Ava naps for about 1 1/2 hours, she goes to bed around 8:00-8:30 and falls asleep by about 9:00 pm. This isn't very desirable for mommy and daddy, the late bedtimes. On days she doesn't nap, she is asleep by 7:00-7:30, that seems to work well for us all.

Eating:
Like naps, food seems to be hit or miss, depending on the day. One day she can eat helping upon helping of soybeans and the next, barely touch a cracker. Overall, she is a fantastic eater and is willing to at least try something, before deeming "Yuck" and then it's her favorite the next day. I'm really trying to steer clear of afternoon snacks because she won't eat as much as dinner.


Summary:
Overall, being THREE is a lot different than being TWO. She is entirely able to express her needs, er....wants, and is very adament about it. Also, mix in a little sass and attitude and we are headed for quite a year. As with every year thus far, it will be a learning curve for us all. I can't wait to see what THREE brings....if it's anything as wonderful as the past years have been!

A CHEESY Birthday Party!

CHUCK E. Cheese that is!

Ava chose CEC for her 3rd birthday party and had a BLAST! They did a wonderful job of making her feel special: a birthday crown, medal, songs, dancing and even a meet-n-greet with Mr. Chuck himself. She couldn't stop talking about how much fun she had. Thanks to all our friends and family who helped us celebrate the big 3!

Eating her Ariel cupcake cake that she picked out.

Family photo with Chuck.

A letter to my daughter on her 3rd birthday

My dear Ava,

Tomorrow you turn three years old and not a day passes by without me telling you just how much I love you, "I love you sooooo much, SO MUCH", I whisper in your ear. I fall more in love with you each day. You never miss a beat and are constantly asking me, "Why you do that, Mommy?" or "Why are you laughing, Mommy?" or "Why you say that Mommy?" when you notice things I do or say. That just makes me smile bigger and laugh harder because you are just so darn cute I am in love with you, my little girl. You make my heart laugh out loud.

You are positively one-of-a-kind and just so truly the daughter that I always dreamed of having. You are smart, kind, ornery, adventurous, daring, loving, creative, intuitive, imaginative, strong-willed, relentless, determined, and beautiful, both inside and out.

You love.... dancing, animals, dolls, building, sorting, princesses, dress-up, sweets, head fives, 'nastics, tea parties, adventures, forts, games, and being outside. You tell me you want to be on the radio when you grow up or be a doctor. More and more as you get older, I can see that you truly have limitless possibilities and I will be there for you every step of the way....watching you; supporting you; loving you; reassuring you; facilitating you; motivating you; being with you my sweet angel princess.

I love you to the crescent moon. And back. A million times.

Forever yours,

Mommy