Celebrating Halloween through Music

Well, I think by the time we are done with Halloween, Ava will have worn her bee costume 4 times! We definitely got our money's worth (For Future Reference: Not all things are "worth" getting your money's worth! Aves, don't worry about getting your money's worth out of your wedding dress, however, 4 times....not so much!)

Anyway, just wanted to share our costume day in music class. The costume stayed on a whole 10 minutes, as you'll see.

Dancing with the scarves.
Making music with my friend, Charlotte (the kitty cat). My friend, Hannah (the giraffe), making music.By friend, Paisley (the punky princess) just hanging out.

All set for Halloween!

Each week this month, we've tried to do a craft that is Halloween related. Our first one was the pumpkins, bats, and skeletons that mommy cut and Ava colored and helped hang. She loves pointing them out one by one, "putt-nin, batttt, and skey-ton".

Materials: orange, black and white construction paper, glue stick, scissors, crayons

We borrowed this next idea from kelly and hannah-thanks!. So simple and cute! We cut a trash bag in half and cut strips. Easy! They are hanging in our doorways. These were a hit for the first few weeks!

Materials: trash bag, scissors, tape (to hang)Next, we borrowed this one from Ava's favorite Barney Halloween Video. We folded a black piece of paper in half and traced her hand, wrist on fold. We cut out the hand and cut off the thumbs and voila! A Spider!

Materials: black construction paper, wiggly eyes, white crayon, scissors, glue

Then we made silly ghosts! We took a piece of kleenex and stuffed another piece inside it to form the head. Took some dental floss and tied it around the neck, leaving enough left over to hang. I remember making these when I was little, so that was so neat to do with Ava.

Materials: Kleenex, dental floss

We are all spooked out and ready for Halloween 2008! Woo Hoo!

Wordless Wednesday: Oh, the DRAMA!

Pumpkin Patch Then and Now

Then- October, 2007

7.5 months old

Now- October, 2008

19.5 months old

This year at the Pumpkin Patch

We went to a little church down the street to find our pumpkins, like we did last year. Ava was so excited to see all the pumpkins! She just ran and ran, hence no real good picture of her "posing" with the pumpkins.

This is what she picked out for herself. The lone dark green squash pumpin. I guess she didn't want to hurt its feelings for being so different b/c that's what she wanted.

She was such a big help putting them outside on the front porch, as you can see. She is learning heavy and light and went over to one, tried to lift it and said "heavy". So smart!

Ava's First Halloween Party

We went to our first Halloween party and had TONS of fun! When we got in the car and were driving home, out of nowhere, Ava said "FUN!"

Thanks to Charlotte and her parents for hosting such a cute event. They had stations set up for all the children; pumpkin painting, decorating pumpkins with tissue paper and stickers and Ava's favorite.....playdough!

Here are some pics of our big day.

Getting "made up" for the Halloween party. Mommy took off the make-up before the party because she was worried that Ava might get it on the hostess' couch.

Practicing flying like a bumble bee. The cute bumblebee clip came from LiliBug Boutique on Etsy.

Decorating a pumpkin with tissue paper, Ava liked this. Her friend, Paisley the princess, liked it as well. Charlotte's G-mama was so helpful. All serious with playdough.All the children at the party. Charlotte, Ava's friend and the hostess, was a cute bumble bee as well. Lots of insects and princesses, huh? Ava's friend Mia is the adorable lady bug. And her other friend, Paisley was a pretty princess. So much fun! Thanks again Charlotte and Carissa!

Why I can't cut her hair yet....

Boomer Sooner!

I have to preface this by saying that my pride runs so deep for my alma mater, that it doesn't matter what happens on a football, basketball, or soccer field for that matter; I am Sooner Born and Sooner Bred!

Ryan and I went to visit Norman this past weekend to go to the OU vs. Kansas game. We had so much fun! We met my freshmen year at OU and have been together ever since. I can't tell you how much it means to me that we share that bond! We walked around campus and reminisced about our college years; looking at the buildings we had classes in, seeing his fraternity and my (former) sorority house right across the street from one another, seeing our old dorms, and just basically realizing how much we took college for granted and didn't truly appreciate it while we were there.

If you've never been to the University of Oklahoma campus, I think you should go-rather than to make assumptions. It truly is one of the most beautiful, friendliest universities I've been to. With it's historic buildings, IMPECCABLE landscaping, and devoted sooner fans, it felt like I was home. I wish I would have taken more pictures of the campus. Oh well.

Here are a few from the game. It happened to be Homecoming Weekend, ironic huh. We tailgated with a few of Uncle Aaron's friends, because he and Taryn went up with us. Ryan's brother, Aaron, also went to OU, as did, my sister Jill and her husband, but they didn't make it this trip.

We had so much fun at the football game, which is what we went for, but surprisingly I took away so much from being back home in Norman and visiting the OU campus, that the game was sort of overshadowed.

We met up and stayed with Ashley and her boyfriend, Matt, and it was great to see her again (it's been almost a year). Since the trip was sooo short, we didn't get to see everyone that we should have. But, I promise there will be a next time.

So, I need to incorporate Ava into the post, I feel like. As we were driving home I kept thinking, "I so hope she goes to OU", but if she doesn't, I hope she will go to a school that has as much pride and tradition as my school does. Somewhere that she won't be lost in the crowd or not have fun. Although college is about getting an education, it's nice to be in a community setting that makes you feel like your home away from home.

Here are my Top 5 Reasons that Ava should go to OU:

1. It's obviously in your lineage. Do your parents proud!

2. Academic excellence.

3. It has SUCH a community spirit and Norman is a great place to be. It's not the largest public university, right off of I-35, like some places I know.

4. The die-hard pride and tradition that encompasses the school and alumni.

5. Your Out-of-state college fund has already been started. So you better use every bit of it.

Disclaimer: I am obviously biased in my opinions and want Ava to go wherever her heart desires. Seriously.

What I LOVE about my 19 month old

1. I love to hear your new words everyday, but the ones in particular that make me smile are "putt-nin" (pumpkin) and "ope-nin" (open).

2. I love how you've got the art of negotiation all figured out and everything is "1 more time" with a finger held up.

3. I love seeing you in leggings. You look like such a big girl.

4. I love when you look in the mirror and say "pitty" when you brush your hair.

5. I love when you shake your booty when asking for veggie booty.

6. I love how you shake your booty when you dance. You've got some moves!

7. I love how friendly and outgoing you are when we are out in public, saying "hi" and waving to everyone you see. Unless they say it first, you try to act shy, which you are not.

8. I love how self-expressive you have become. Running, screaming, wowing, pointing, hugging, kissing, greeting, dancing, choosing, mischiefing, and opinioning (I'm aware some of these are not words, but just wanted to get my point across). We are both trying to understand you, while you explore your feelings and get a feel for who you are. It's fun and challenging for both of us.

9. I love that when you get out of the bath you like to see your wet footprints on the rug and point them out, every night.

10. I love that you are a rock collector. Checking the mail, which could be a 10 minute endeavor, turns into a 30 minute adventure because we are on Ava's time; stopping to collect each and every rock along the way. Somehow, each day, along the same path, there are new rocks. I don't know how because I would have sworn that you picked them all up on the previous days. You are so observant and have a love for those sharp, bumpy, tiny, smooth, or large rocks.

Wordless Wednesday: Cookie? What cookie?

Oh, you can see our homemade halloween decor that Ava and I made last week. Eeek! I love this season.

Mommy and Me Monday!

Oh, hi daddy! We're just monkey-ing around.
I love my mommy and my mommy loves me!
I'm all done with mommy. Time to read.
Much better.

A Day at the Duck Pond

What do you get when you mix a beautiful day with a beautiful girl?

Beautiful Pictures.

Here is our Friday at the duck pond.

Looking (a little too) innocent, but oh so sweet. Throwing just a little bit of bread to the ducks. She wasn't fond of sharing with them.
Frollicking in the gravel path. Watching the ducks.
She got so excited to see the ducks get into the water and swim.
This is what she was pointing at.
Hording the bread so as to make sure the ducks didn't get more than she did.

This duck stayed close by and even snuck some right out of her hand. She thought it was funny. So excited!
I have never seen a duck with a head of hair before!
"Here ducky, ducky."
And she had to take one last rest on the park bench. Tired of me taking pictures, she insisted, "mommy sit".