A beautiful weekend and thoughts from the kitchen table

Sunday, after church we stopped for a quick lunch and then headed home to make a quick change of clothes to have pictures with Adam's family. Saturday and Sunday were such beautiful days that neither Adam nor myself wanted to spend time indoors. After the pictures with Adam's family we headed to the beach.

It had been a while since Ava last visited the beach. The last time we went she was just starting to get into the whole "playing with sand" thing. This time, when I first put her down she was a little hesitant. I think it was the uneveness of the ground, but she quickly warmed up to it and absolutely loved playing in it.

Last year it was almost a hassel to take her to the beach because of everything she had to have. This year will be much easier and with the way she reacted to the beach I see many many many beach trips in our future.

It has been such an unusal winter and even though I am a huge fan of the cold weather I utterly adored these two days of sunshine and warmth. Saturday, Adam had to finish up installing some things at the store, so Ava and I played outside. She was a dirty little girl by the time we came in to get a bath and eat dinner. We also put up a birdfeeder outside so she can watch the birds.

There hasn't been much other exciting news on the homefront. We bought a new kitchen table and I love it! It is so comfortable and we love sitting at it (which is nice because now I can talk Adam into sitting at it and talking to me while I fix or clean up dinner- haha!) We have also been studying a series at church called Balanced and its all about money managment. One of the messages in the series was strictly about giving. During our small group that week we talked about becoming more giving families. Our family sponsors a child through Compassion and we plan on sponsoring another one when Ava turns 3 (thats the youngest they can be when you "adopt" them) so she and this little girl can grow up together, but another thing I had mentioned was how I would like to become more thoughtful to the random person (ie. paying for a family next to us when eating out). One of the couples said they had friends who budgeted a set amount each month and they would let their kids decide who and how to give that money each month. Ava is still young for that, but Adam and I both really liked that idea. We talked about (when she is able) to allow her to choose who to give the money to and unless it is for something we do not believe in, we will not question her judgement. What an impact this has the ability to make both in her life and in someone elses!

Happy V-Day; A week late and a Pez short

Valentines Day hasn't ever been a huge deal to me and Adam- however, since Ava has come along- her daddy sees to it that she knows she is his valentine :)

As I mentioned, we haven't ever bought into the hoopla of v-day. Flowers are overpriced, restaurants are crazy and we would just rather celebrate another day. We still give each other gifts, just very low key, but oh-by-the-way Adam did great this year.

Plus, Adam MUST know how much I love him since we had to watch a forever-long-race-that-controlled-my-tv-until-I-thought-I-was-going-to-go-crazy! Yes, the race started at 1:00, and let me just interject right here that I hate racing- no offense to anyone who likes it- I'm married to one- but I think it has to be the dumbest "sport" there is- Ask me how I feel about it another day ;) I just don't understand the draw to watch people drive around a track in circles for 500 miles??? Anyways, where was I? Oh yes, the race started at 1:00 and due to some issues with the track, it didn't end until around 7:30- OMG!!!!!!! If that isn't showing unconditional love- I don't know what else would. Did I ever tell you about the time we went to the Daytona 500 last year and sat next to Marlboro and his cousin Winston? No? That is another post for another day!

Ava received some Pez dispensers, both from her Gammie and Poppa and Mommy and Daddy- because every child needs 4 pez dispensers.... As I was opening one package, I asked Adam if he wanted a piece of the candy before I put them all in the dispenser and said he had never had a pez dispenser- STOP THE WORLD FROM TURNING!!!! I immediately looked up and said, "You've NEVER had a pez dispenser?!" Again he said he hadn't. I got up and walked over to the couch and gave him a hug and said I was sorry he had been so deprived as a child and that I would make it right. I went out the next chance I could and found this:

The world is spinning again and my husband can no longer say he has never had a pez dispenser- and he can stop trying to eat all of Ava's ;) I also figured it was a little more manly to have a Cars pez dispenser than a Mickey Mouse dispenser.

We also had these for breakfast on Valentines morning- yes, they are homemade from scratch and D.LISH.US. I don't know about you, but fresh-from-scratch-cinnamon-rolls spells L.O.V.E to me.

A Snowy Adventure

Snow in Florida is a rare occurance, and by rare I mean it has only snowed (and stuck) once in my lifetime. Last night it was supposed to snow just north of here in South Georgia. Since having Ava we haven't been very spontaneous- its hard to be spontaneous with a baby around- Its a totally different spectrum than when it was just the 2 of us- so much more to take into consideration. However, yesterday Adam said after work he wanted to head north- so we grabbed our coats and a hat and gloves for Ava and headed off, destination unknown other than "North".

When we were about 45 mins into our trip we had the sudden thought of heading to Atlanta and staying the night at my Aunt's house and then heading back on Saturday- even though we had no clothes, no diapers (other than the 2 in Ava's bag)...we were really pushing the spontaneous boundaries :) After checking the weather forecast, we thought would continue heading towards Atlanta and see where the snow started, then make our decision. We stopped to eat dinner about an hour away from home, which would kill a little more time before the snow would start to come down.

After eating we continued our trek northward and within 15 minutes began seeing the snow fall, and let me tell you, it fell hard! I have been in plenty of snow and I can say without a doubt this was some of the hardest/fastest falling snow I have seen. (I'm not counting blown snow/whiteout snow conditions on the top of a moutain/or the blizzard we were caught in while skiing in W.V.) I stepped out to take a couple of pictures and just within a minute I was covered in snow.

We continued to drive about another hour before stopping to take pictures and let Ava out to play. We decided that we would head back home since all we really wanted to do was play in the snow and with the amount of snow that had fallen, we were able to do just that.

This snow was "wet" snow, perfect for building snowmen and snowballs- we threw a few at each other and had a good time. The last time Ava saw snow was a year ago, she was 5 months old. She couldn't really experience it, but this year was quite a bit different and I know that next year will be even better.


I had to take a picture of this- Palm trees covered in snow!

It was all for the ice

I have this profound love for what I affectionately deem "the good ice". You know the crushed ice that makes your drink taste soooo much better, and then many places go a step further and put it in styrofoam cups....mmmmm, heaven! If we are anywhere in the vicinity of a restaurant that serves their drinks this way I am automatically drawn to them- forget the food, I want the ice.

One of our (mine and Ava's) favorite highlights during a work week is when we get to see Daddy during lunch. Ava and I decided to ride over and meet him for lunch. This little girl might play hard to get sometimes, but she loves her Daddy and was very excited to see him. We have missed having him work right next to us, it was too easy to pop over and see him, so now it is extra sweet when we get to see him. Of course the downside was we had to tell Daddy bye-bye and head back to work.

But you all know the real reason we ventured over to the island- it wasn't to see our favorite guy- that was just the decoy ;)

My baby isn't a baby anymore

I didnt want to say anything for fear of jinxing ourselves, but I think its safe to say we are officially pacifier free. About a month ago (the weekend after my cousins wedding) we decided that it was time to loose the pacifier. I didn't give it much thought, just decided to do it and I knew the longer I waited the worse it could possibly be. This has probably been the hardest thing we have had to do. She would cry and cry and cry (did I mention cry?) at night when it was bed time. When she stayed with other people she wouldn't give them a hard time- just when she was with her mommy.

We also stopped it in the middle of her 15th and 16th teeth coming in, which did not work in our favor, but we pushed through. There were so many days when I almost gave in, but told myself I had come too far to turn back. It took about two to two-and-a-half weeks before she seemd to forget about it. Until she found one at my office, that before I handed it to her I had snipped of the end so she couldn't suck on it. She didn't like it and cried and would hand it up to me, almost as if to say "fix it mommy", after walking around with it for about 15 minutes, she handed it off and hasn't seemed to need one since.

Since we have lost the pacifier and now that the initial shock is gone, she falls asleep within a matter of minutes at night and for nap time. I realize now that my baby girl is more of a little girl than she is a baby. She weaned herself off her bottle around 12 months old and now she doesn't have the pacifier. She is growing up way too fast for me. Even though I am glad we are over the pacifier and I don't have to fight with her in the future...this picture, the last picture taken of her with her paci is precious and dear- we will not ever have this again. Its a great remind to live in the moment and never take them for granted.

I'm the Boss

Adam had been working on some stuff at the store and spent a good part of the weekend installing things a few weekends ago. That Sunday after church he went back up to try and finish it. After playing at home for a little while, we decided to pay him a visit. Ava plays at the store every morning while I work. She absolutely LOVES the store. I don't think it has a bit to do with the fact she is showered with so much attention while she is there....*insert rolling eyes here* This particular day, since the store was closed, she was able to roam freely (or so she thought). She rearranged so many different things- I know the employees came back on Monday with some eyebrows raised. We tried to fix whatever she mixed up, but when you have thousands and thousands of small parts...it can be pretty impossible to figure what she rearranged. *Note: Anyone who buys a nut, bolt, or screw- you may want to double check the size. Same holds true for anyone purchasing a drill bit :)



This child knows she is the true boss of the place. She *thinks* everything there is for her pleasure. When we bought this shopping cart a few years back- we had no idea the amount of ue it would get in the coming years. She knows exactly where it is and heads straight for it when she walks out on the floor. Unless she is with her Poppa, then she heads to the coke machine- she likes to walk with him to get his drink.


After we visited Daddy we came home so Ava and her baby could ride their horsee :-)

Party Time

I've been in somewhat of a blogging funk. I have thought about sitting down to blog several times, but just never wanted to put forth the energy to actually write out a post. These days all my energy is being exerted at work, running, chasing after a 1 year old, cooking, cleaning...the list could go on...so when I actually sit down the last thing I want to do is write! I also have a couple of books that are waiting on me and I just haven't wanted to dive in- I am being lazy- with a capital "L". A few weeks ago we went to a birthday party of a son of a couple in our small group. Their little boy was turning 5. They are a very sweet family :)



Ava was so cute in her party attire! She had a great time playing with this little toy- even though she has a similar one at home and she rarely played with it. We walked in and she saw a little boy playing with it and after watching for a few minutes, she joined in on the fun. Since this party, her toy has brough on a new meaning.


Still playing....really, all the commotion going on and all the kids running around, she was just as content playing with this toy.

Their youngest son, who is about 6 months older than Ava, was driving his car- Ava was wishing it was a two-seater :)