Ava Elisabeth

New Blog Address

2011-09-01T11:02:00.002-04:00

My New Blog Address:

http://www.shouldbefoldinglaundry.com

Make sure to change this in your blog feed so you can see the updates!

Go Jags

2011-08-26T06:31:00.000-04:00

The Jaguars had their first preseason game and we decided to make it a family trip and invite Adam’s parents to use Mike & Christi’s tickets they had given us. Ava and I don’t usually go to preseason games, but I knew some of her buddies would be there, so we decided to go.

There is a boy and his dad who sit beside us and they are some of the nicest people, we are lucky to sit around a good group of people. The little boy just loves to talk and will make good company for Ava

It’s amazing to think how much she has grown and changed in the past 8.5 months. I have a feeling as much as she has loved the games the past 3 years, she is going to love them that much more! She had a great time!

My parents went and since we were all there we decided to go out to eat before the game and then head to the game. It was hot, but it wasn’t unbearable, I’m just hoping it cools off A LOT in the next few weeks, but that probably isn’t a realistic thought.

Brody, Trevor, and Baylie were all at the game. They all had such a good time together, but trying to get a picture of the four of them- well, it was an ordeal…..

Aren’t they cute?!

Oh! I should also mention that I will have to eat my words about Ava not making the jumbotron. She finally made it- twice! Both times were only for a split second and her daddy didn’t see it either time, nor did I have a chance to get a picture, but she finally made it- haha!

My Little Ballerina

2011-08-25T06:04:00.000-04:00

Ava started tap and ballet classes Thursday. She was so excited and after warming up to the teacher and her fellow ballerinas, she danced away to her little heart’s content. She dances 24/7, and doesn’t care who is watching! They practiced a few dance basics and had such a fun time. Between school 2 days a week and dance, this girl is quickly becoming very busy!

Interview with Ava

2011-08-24T06:39:00.000-04:00

I decided I’m going to start interview Ava once a month- I know that might seem a little excessive, but I am going to love seeing how her answers change (or don’t change). Here is her August interview:

What is your name? Ava –complete with the spelling- A-V-A – Elisabeth - “Ewisabeth”

How old are you? 2

What is your favorite color? Blue

Who is your best friend? Mommy *melt my heart!*

What is your favorite animal? giraffe

What do you want to be when you grow up? At first she said she didn’t want to grow up, but later said she wanted to be a Kitten and Daddy is going to be a wolf. She really enjoys the 3 Little Pigs story, but I’m afraid she doesn’t quite understand that the wolf is the bad guy….

What is your favorite move? “Punzel” aka Tangled

What is your favorite book? Who’s not sleepy? a Mickey Mouse book…. I was very surprised by this one and she was describing it to me and I thought I knew which book she was talking about, but wasn’t completely sure, so she went and brought it to me

What makes you happy? Chick-fil-a

What makes you sad? Starbucks- they were closed the other night when we went to get some…the next morning, as soon as she woke up she came and told me that Starbucks was open now because the sun was up! – So sweet!

What is your favorite food to eat? Macaroni & Cheese

What is your favorite song to sing? Twinkle Twinkle Little Star or “Holy” aka Bless your name

What games do you like to play? Jump Rope

Random

2011-08-23T06:28:00.000-04:00

Ava spent the day with my grandparents at the beach and I spent the afternoon shopping for birthday party supplies so I met them for dinner and Ava wanted her picture taken with the jaguar.

It was so humid outside that my camera lens fogged up since I had just walked out of the restaurant, so most of the pictures have that “dreamy” effect- haha! She had to show everyone how she could sit on his (her?) back and then sit on his neck.

Mason and Caroline came over to the house to swim and hang out with Ava and after swimming a little while, they came in and watched Tangled. Mason hadn’t ever seen the movie so Ava was only too happy to oblige :) She of course, had to show him her “punzel” doll. Adam came home from work for a few minutes before heading out to play basketball and almost didn’t want to leave because he wanted to finish the movie (ssshhhhh!!! don’t tell him I told on him!) haha!

Ava couldn’t decide if she wanted to sit beside Mason (or often almost on top of him) or lay down on her new “school” mat- They were so cute watching the movie together!

A couple Friday nights ago, the Jaguars open the stadium and allow fans in to watch a scrimmage. We went and took Ava. I’m so glad she still enjoys the games. She always gets so excited when we start heading towards the stadium.

Happy Birthday Gigi!

2011-08-22T06:08:00.000-04:00

My mom’s birthday was a few weeks ago so a bunch of girls got together and went out to eat to celebrate. Mom knew she was going to meet some of her friends for dinner, but we didn’t tell her who all was going to be there, she didn’t know that Ava and I were going to be there either. Of course, we pulled in at the same time, so she quickly figured it out.

Dad and Adam almost ruined it too when the mentioned something to her about eating out for her birthday…. leave to guys (I’m rolling my eyes here) Adam’s response when I said something: “You didn’t say it was surprise!” Well, no, but I also didn’t think you would say something to my mom about her birthday dinner either…. Oh well, she didn’t figure it out so we were still able to keep it a surprise until she saw us pull in.

Ava’s First Day

2011-08-16T22:10:00.000-04:00

Ava’s first day of “school” was today. She is going 2 days a week to a preschool/daycare and today was her first day. We had her backpack and lunchbox packed and had her mat, pillow, and blanket ready to go! She was so excited.

I had her lunch box filled with some of her favorites to help ensure a fantastic 1st day. She had cheese, grapes, yogurt, teddy grahams, and juice (plus even a little note from her mommy, that she could read :) )

I wasn’t really worried about how she would do, I knew she would be fine, ever since we got over the hump (you know, the one where they cry until you are out of sound range and then stop…) at church, she has loved going and playing. I knew she would think of school as the same way. She was a little hesitant at first, but she never lost her smile and almost as quick as she showed the hesitation she was off and hardly looked back. I joked with one of her teachers and said it really wasn’t Ava I was worried about….

My problem comes when I look at this picture and see such a big girl! Hard to believe almost 3 years ago she was just making an appearance into this world! I never cried, but I did have tears in my eyes as we drove to school- it truly is bittersweet- I made the comment to Adam, wondering what I am going to be like when she actually starts Kindergarten! When I picked her up, she didn’t want to leave, which of course is a good sign in my book- I’m glad she had a great time! Her biggest story of the day? She “rode a bike roundy thing and pedaled”. Oh, and “she fell on the swing”- she always says it with a laugh!

Daddy’s ‘Do’ a la Ava

2011-08-15T06:35:00.001-04:00

Since Ava (still) doesn’t have much hair, she likes to do others for them. A few days ago, she cornered her daddy and he sweetly obliged :) I couldn’t resist taking pictures!

Such precision and care that girl has! haha! I couldn’t help but think back as I was taking pictures to when I would do my own dad’s hair, complete with clips- such a good sport he was- and to a little girl playing ‘hair salon’ it meant the world! I’m certain Ava felt the same way!

She was so proud of her masterpiece that she completed thanks to her daddy’s thick head of hair! I know it probably wasn’t Adam’s proudest moment ;) but she thought it was pure perfection!

Atlanta Mart

2011-08-09T06:34:00.000-04:00

Our annual trip to Atlanta- such a fun time! We headed up Wednesday evening pulling into the Westin Peachtree a little before midnight. Its always a fun trip, but I’ll be honest- leaving Ava behind with her daddy left me feeling a little sad and guilty.

Our view out the window- you can see Olympic park and 2 of the 3 Americas Mart buildings (bottom right)

You could also see the Georgia aquarium and even though you can’t see any from the pictures, you could begin to see some of the mountains in the distance.

We got up early and headed to check in at the Mart and start shopping. We decided to get there a day before the temps opened and hoped the crowds would be less. It was one of the smartest decisions we made- we hit most of the children’s stores and walked through a lot of the Christmas showrooms and stopped in a few of the permanent jewelry stores and clothing stores.

A majority of the people at this are women, although they are a good number of guys- but the majority is still women and a large majority of that majority are southern, boutique owning women, there is just something about being around those “types” of ladies that makes everything fun…. I tried to explain it to Adam, but he doesn’t get it. Let me explain it this way, the southern hospitality is tried and true- you don’t have to worry about your bags getting stolen or someone bumping into you and not being apologetic or even someone trying to cut in front of you in a forever long line and of course- everyone is always more than willing to gab and offer any advice you ask for on what necklace looks best :) Now, saying all of that- you will occasionally see some interesting characters- as in blue haired- patched jeans guys…. sitting in a shabby chic style showroom- interesting combination!

In addition to interesting people, you will see these crazy outfits ;) I texted this to Adam and he responded back- ‘Get it!’ haha! Sorry hunny, but I’m not sure how crazy I’ll be about pins sticking in me :)

Of course later in the day, I texted Adam and said that Prince William proposed to which he responded, ‘Oh, that’s funny, because Kate just called’ – such love between us huh?!

It was a full day of shopping- we literally shopped from 8:30 to 6. The second day started on the 1st floor of building 3. This building is 13 floors full of pure goodness. The 13th floor isn’t anything but children’s clothing and accessories. Brand names such as Rosalina, Feltman Bros, Bailey Boys, Doodlebugs, Mom & Me, etc. You name it- its here- at wholesale prices! We spent a majority of the day on the first floor, however. It is all cash and carry with every piece of jewelry you could imagine. Plus a couple of clothing stores- and of course- crazy busy!

We finished most of our shopping on the 2nd day and had just a few things left for the 3rd day. Of course Caroline liked the huge flip-flop outside one of the stores :)

That night- Adam and Ava surprised me and showed up in Atlanta! ( I knew when they were on their way, but was still surprised they were coming- I figured Adam wouldn’t make the trip without me since he had Ava as well) We all ate at Durango’s which is just right around the corner from our hotel. It was nice staying downtown since everything was within walking distance.

She’s just too cute for words :) I missed her so much (and Adam too! ;) )

We at lunch on Saturday at the Hard Rock Cafe (again just around the corner) and that evening we headed to the Varsity and to the Braves game (you knew Adam had to have something in it for him to come, right?!)

Ava and her pink Braves bat

Marty, Caroline, Ava, and myself- I love these girls! We had such a great time- and shared so many funny moments, a lot that isn’t bloggable (Caroline!) It’s been a long time since I laughed as hard as I did with them. I can’t help but think ahead to these trips years from now when Ava joins us- although I don’t want to think to far ahead- I already complain about how she’s growing up too fast!

Ava and her tomahawk just like daddy’s

I tweeted that Ava had been to almost all of the Jaguar games since she was born, I think there are about 3 she hasn’t attended, but she hasn’t ever been on the jumbotron, but her second time to a Braves game, she makes it!

Ava and the top of Caroline’s head with the sweet family that sat behind us (the little boy’s name is Luke). Luckily I had my camera sitting in my lap and I guess it was just a reflex to grab my camera and take a picture- but I’m so glad I got it!

Happenings with Ava

2011-08-08T06:50:00.000-04:00

We have started making trips up to the local library every other week. Ava loves to go and pick out books. I hope she always loves the library. I loved the library as a little girl and would make numerous trips to the library each summer! I still love to read, but time just isn’t always on my side….

Ava has also gotten into playing games. She is definitely a mama’s girl. She loves books, puzzles, and games- all three of those scream me- Adam runs the other direction when he hears even the slightest mention of any of those words.

Grammy and Big Papa came over one night to visit. Big Papa swam with Ava and later Grammy and Ava played Candyland. She has really gotten to where she likes the game and does really well playing it the right way- and she usually wins- and I mean really wins- we don’t let her- she just always seems to draw the right card.

My parents had a nest that Ava has been watching. It had little tiny eggs and a couple weeks ago they hatched and lo and behold baby birds! Ava got to see the baby birds all snuggled up in the nest. They have since flown away, but she thought it was neat to see them.

My dad’s new “man cave” he calls a shed- but sorry- this isn’t a shed….

I just have to say that this trampoline is 20+ years old and my parents haven’t ever had to replace anything on it. I know a large reason is because it stays in the shade, but it is now on it’s second generation of jumpers! Ava loves to jump on it!

Space Shuttle

2011-08-05T06:34:00.000-04:00

We decided on a whim to see the final shuttle launch. We knew that NASA was retiring the space shuttle program to pursue a new program and had been saying for a while that we wanted to see one launch in person. We had tried to get tickets to the causeway, but we were never selected, so on the day of the final launch we decided to just get as close as we could.

We literally pulled into a parking spot 10 minutes before it was set to launch and jumped out of car to get a spot alongside the water. Pictures really don’t do it justice since I was more interested in seeing it than taking pictures. It also was extremely cloudy. I was pretty shocked they ended up going ahead with the launch.

Ava thought it was neat, especially since we had watched several of the launches on TV, she was able to see it in person. I have been told that the clouds muffled the rumble quite a bit, so it would have been much better if the weather had been on our side.

Would we do it again? Probably not. But we are really glad we went since it was the last one. I think it is really neat that Ava had the opportunity to see it.

Atlantis, the shuttle we saw, will come back to the Kennedy Space Center and be set up in a museum, so its even cooler that we will be able to take Ava back a while from now to see it up close and in person.

You can still see the smoke trail from the shuttle in the background.

We had a nice trip and it was especially nice that we didn’t spend hours waiting just to get a good spot. Plus, it truly was a once in a lifetime experience, there will never be another one!

July 4th

2011-08-04T06:10:00.000-04:00

Our July 4th weekend was pretty low-key. We had friends over on Friday night and Adam set up the projector and screen outside and the guys watched the race.

Ava, Trevor, and Brody swam a good part of the night, which as a parent- we all know what that means- a good nights sleep :)

I’m always amazed at how much boys love to get in the pink car :) Its so funny! At one point, Brody and Trevor tried to both sit in it!

Kyle had brought his drums over earlier and they had been playing- of course Adam is always ready and willing to play- so Ava, Brody, and Trevor decided to start a “Drums Only” band. I told Jason and Jenny they needed to get the boys a drum set for Christmas :)

All three of them had a good (and very loud) time playing- However, I am sure that everyone is glad they didn’t discover them until the night was almost over- haha!

Sunday we went to church and Monday, July 4th we relaxed in the pool. I would say by the pool, but with the Florida weather, the only way to stand it is to actually be in the pool.

Later in the day we headed to Coldstone in Fernandina for ice cream, but decided not to stick around for fireworks since Ava isn’t exactly crazy about them. So we headed home and did our set of sparklers.

We had to be very careful since it had been so dry and we really weren’t supposed to be doing any- but we stood right next to the pool so sparks wouldn’t be an issue. Ava enjoys these types of fireworks- but as soon as they start making loud noises- you can forget it.

It was a nice weekend and perfectly relaxing, which is such a nice way to spend a holiday when I feel like we are constantly running a rat race. I should also add that Adam made us watch 13 hours (not at once, but over the course of a week or so) of a documentary of the Revolutionary war. I learned quite a bit, but 13 hours? Come on Adam! :) There were several nights it put Ava to sleep – haha!

A few randoms from Ava

2011-07-21T13:35:00.001-04:00

My child keeps me laughing. Our house never has a dull moment and I wish I could capture everything she says or does on film, but as we all know- too often as soon as we break out the video camera they instantly stop! I have been writing down things for while that she says or does so I can remember them. I figured it needed to post it before it got too long and I will start another one :)

One of our favorite things to hear Ava say is “Snow White” which she actually calls “Snow Wipe”, I just can’t bring myself to correct her because it’s so darn cute.

Another cute thing she says is when she says Bathing Suit, which she actually calls, Bathing Soup, of course Adam and I think she just has wisdom beyond her years and knows that by August and September, our pool water temp is warm enough to be bath water, say maybe she is referring to that?! Ha!

Nothing like thinking your child is grown as she answers you with phrases such as, “Yes, I think so…” and “Of course!” No lie, she has used both phrases repeatedly.

Aunt Ro Ro bought Ava her first treat from the Ice Cream truck. She picked out a bugs bunny ice cream bar. I would just like to note that now, every time she hears the ice cream truck coming, she wants to get ice cream…thanks for that Auntie Ro Ro ;)

Speaking of ice cream, our new favorite activity is tea parties, we have even begun using water in our tea cups. How does this relate to ice cream? Well, Ava will ask you, after she pours the tea if you would like ice cream…can you figure it out? I couldn’t until she held up the creamer and sugar bowl- haha! She was asking if I wanted any cream or sugar :) I could see where she would get ice cream from that :)

The other day Ava was wearing her Cinderella jammies and insisting on Adam to play the piano. As soon as he began to play she ran to put on her “glass slippers” which are are light-up shoes that she has to wear with her cinderella dress. After a couple of minutes of dancing around while Adam played, she walked into the living room where I was and “somehow” her shoe came off and she told me that it came off on the step (which was apparently next to the couch) and said she needed the prince to put it on her, so she immediately picked it up and carried it to her daddy and said, “Put it on like the prince!” I think she did it no less than 10 times- haha!

A few weeks after she did this, we found out from one of her Waumba Land teachers that she had taken her shoes off and were running around one Sunday morning when they were cleaning up and getting ready for the parents to pick them up, Ava took her shoes over to her and asked her to put them on her- like the prince! Only my chid!

Another story from Waumba Land: One Sunday morning she picked up a toy guitar and made another little girl sit down and listen while she played for her- I wonder where she got that from?!

Adam was judging a talent show competition one night (that’s a whole other story for a whole other post-ha!) and Ava and I dropped him and we were going to run a few errands. This is how the conversation went down after he got out of the car:

Ava: I don’t feel good

Me: What’s wrong?

Ava: My eye hurts

Me: What happened?

Ava: I need Chic-fil-a to make me feel better……

We were riding in the car one afternoon heading into town and she said with such excitement, “mommy, mommy, I see Goofy” I was puzzled at first and after asking a few more questions, finally realized she was talking about the clouds. She saw Goofy’s shape in the cloud and then a few minutes later she saw Mickey- both of the characters Adam and I agreed could be seen if you gave it a little imagination :)

The other morning we were sitting on the couch before we left for work and she leaned back across my legs and said, “Ahhhh, this is the life…” (complete with the sigh mind you)

We experimented with makers on the legs….enough said….good thing we had hardwood floors put down after this photo!

Of course it wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t post Dad’s biker babe on the back of his motorcycle, complete with the bikini :)

Father’s Day

2011-07-14T06:31:00.000-04:00

**** I should have posted this before the swimming lessons, but it got lost in all of the posts!

Adam is such a good Daddy to Ava, we are so lucky to have him! :) I’m grateful to have someone who understands the importance of being involved in his daughter’s life. Adam was playing guitar at church, so Ava didn’t get to give him the card she picked out for him until we got back home that afternoon.

He had already gotten his father’s day present (a new 55” LED TV and a new driver for his clubs- since his other driver mysteriously broke…) so all that was left to give him was his card, which Ava picked out and signed all by herself. :)

It was a Minnie Mouse card- just in case you were wondering ;)

This year, Ava has understood a little more about Mother’s Day and Father’s Day and would say “Happy ‘Fodders’ Day, Daddy!” over and over! So sweet!

Swimming Lessons: Week 2

2011-07-13T06:43:00.000-04:00

Week 2 of swimming lessons started even better than the first week! I had the girls I teach at church (11 year olds) stay the night with me and we had a slumber party (with little slumber I might add) and when Ava saw them jump into the pool, that was all it took- you couldn’t get her to stop wanting to jump in! Too bad they weren’t there the first day! :)

She also mastered the swimming under the water and has been doing great ever since. We are now working on getting her to move her arms the correct way and she is really starting to get the hang of it.

You can’t keep her out of the water now. She wants to swim all of the time now and what’s great is that we are both confident enough for her to swim in the pool by herself (of course I am always very close by).

Ava and Bella with Minnie- I think if Bella had just one more week of lessons she would have been zooming all over the pool. She had come a long ways in overcoming her fear of going under :)

Ava has no fear of jumping in either- she loves it! It’s amazing the power of influence those 11 year old girls had on her :) And even more amazing that I wasn’t even trying to get her to do it, she just saw them and said she wanted to do it!

We have also been working on diving down under the water and retrieving things off the bottom. She can get stuff off even the deep end but still hasn’t quite figured out how to push herself down to the bottom, we usually have to push her and she will grab it and push herself back up.

Miss Lindsey showed her how to do a pencil dive and she tried to do it, but as soon as she jumped she would change her form- it was so cute watching her try!

I’m so proud of how far she came in 2 weeks time. I actually didn’t think she would be able to swim on her own at the end of her lessons, but boy did she surprise me, especially after her initial fear of being underwater!

The pool has become our new best friend, both mommy and Ava’s since a good time in the pool is followed by a good nap or better yet, a good night’s sleep! :)

Swimming Lessons: Week 1

2011-07-12T06:48:00.000-04:00

Our first day of swimming lessons started off great. I had been talking up the lessons to Ava. She doesn’t take quickly to anyone new and I wanted her to just absolutely love Miss Lindsey since I knew she would be the one to continuously push her under the water :)

Elijah, Bella, and Ava were all in a group together on day 1. They started with the basics, working on their kicking and floating.

Ava has always loved the pool, but has always been very timid around it. She was never a child I had to worry about jumping in when I wasn’t looking, which is great- execpt when you want them to jump in. She had such a fear of going under that she just wouldn’t relax and float, nor would she jump off the side. I had been working with her for a little while this summer and made her go under a few times, but she still wasn’t sure about the idea.

Since we have a pool, swimming lessons were a top priority this year. I didn’t want any type of floatation device to become a crutch for her. When we started the swimming lessons she would tread water like no one’s business, but the problem with treading water is, you don’t go anywhere, so eventually she would wear herself out and still not be any closer to the edge, something I didn’t want to keep happening.

We would laugh because towards the end of the week she was the only child who would be able to tread water and then stop and just float when she got tired, which was a little bit better than where we had started, but still not where I knew she could be.

She was so scared about going under that she couldn’t bring herself to lean forwards on her stomach to propel herself forward. However, if you had a hold of her, even with just 1 finger, she was doing exactly what she was supposed to do, but as soon as you moved that 1 finger, straight up and down she went. It was amazing!

Thanks to Uncle Brian for the goggles, they were a lifesaver and made all the difference in the water.

We would try to get Ava to jump in and she would push against the idea and I could pull her to the edge and make her jump, but she would always hold someone’s hand. On the second day after about 3 times, I got tired of hearing her whine and decided that she was going to do it or I was going to throw her in. Apparently she didn’t think I was serious, so I tossed her in the pool. Oh. My! You would have thought I was the meanest mom on earth- not by Ava, but her Gigi! My mom was there and couldn’t believe I had thrown her in, of course, Lindsey was right there and she cried after she came up and had stopped by the time she made the 5 foot length that it was to the steps. When I asked if she wanted to get out she looked at me and said, no- so I took it from that no harm was done and she realized it wasn’t so bad to jump in….

Elijah and Ava loved being in the pool and the idea of swimming, even if Ava didn’t like for her head to be under. Elijah had to opposite problem, he would swim with his head under and not come up for a breath, so they worked with him to try and get him to remember to breathe! Bella on the other hand- didn’t want anything to do with swimming. She was perfectly content playing on the top step of the pool and would cry anytime they pulled her out beyond it.

Elijah and Ava

I think one of Ava’s favorite people in the whole world is Hallie. She would always try to get Hallie to watch her and amazingly she did so much better if she thought Hallie was looking. We used that to our advantage often the first week!

Ava has this little Belle toy that floats on top of the water and all of the girls enjoyed playing with it, so I remembered seeing Princess dive sticks at Target and thought that maybe I could get Ava to put her head underwater (willingly) if she had to rescue the princesses! Haha! It worked, but for the first week it was only look at them on the top step, but at least she was putting her face in the water.

Ava’s favorite thing to do the first week of lessons was to sit on the step and kick and kick and kick.

Towards the end of the week she was gradually getting the concept of swimming on her belly, but she still didn’t want to swim with her head down in the water, which would be the best way for her to swim at this point.

She was still an excellent treader and probably has the strongest legs of any 2 year old girl from all the treading!

Ava would do great, as long as that finger was there underneath her- I guess it was her sense of security.

Hallie and Ava and their matching suits :)

Ava trying to show Hallie what to do! :)

At the end of week one she had done better than I had hoped as far as her willingness to participate. My main goal was for her to be able to jump in the pool and be able to swim to the side or steps in order to get out, she wasn’t quite there, but I felt confident with another week she would be close.

Swimming Lessons: Overview

2011-07-11T06:20:00.000-04:00

Day 1:

Day 2:

Day 3:

Day 4:

Day 5:

Day 6:

Day 7:

Day 8:

Graduating Class: (minus Bella and Hallie)

50th Birthday Party

2011-06-24T09:45:00.000-04:00

Adam’s mom turned 50 this year, so his dad came to me about having her a surprise party at our house. So of course, being the type of person I am, immediately began planning a party and of course, everything had to be the same theme. I begin working on Ava’s party details 6 months before her actual party, a lot of that has to do with July and August being so busy for me, but a big reason is that I like for all the little details to be in sync and that can’t happen with my schedule and personality if I wait until the last minute.

I decided to do a pink lemonade theme and everything be all about pink lemonade. We had cupcakes from Cami Cakes and they were delicious as always. I also made these pink lemondade cakes in a jar. They were so easy and I made the cakes part the night before and covered them so I didn’t have to worry with it on the day of the party. The whipped topping had melted down a little by the time I took this picture, but they did turn out cute. We also had pink lemonade to drink. Of course we had our master griller (Adam) grill hamburgers and hot dogs and coleslaw, baked beans, chips and dip. Your typical backyard bar-b-q food.

Kids swam (or played in girly toddler toys :) ) while all the adults socialized. I love having a pool. It makes it nice for everyone to be able to get together and an easy thing for the kids to do without any clean-up. Plus it allows the adults to have adult conversation and the kids end up going home tired from all the swimming.

We had asked Adam’s parents to “come eat” that night. Using the excuse that it was an early celebration for Father’s day and their birthdays since they are the 21st and 24th of June. (*Side note- We have Father’s day usually around the 20th of June- this year the 18th, Mrs. Karen’s birthday on the 21st, my dad’s birthday on the 22nd, and Mr. Mickey’s birthday on the 24th- geesh!) We have a wedding on Father’s day weekend and are pretty busy that following week- thru the weekend so we thought it really was a legit reason, apparently she bought it :)

Of course Ava had to help open the gifts- that’s her favorite thing to do- she doesn’t even care if it isn’t for her (although I know she would prefer it to be – haha!)

Adam, Myself, Ava, Brian, and Kristin all went in together and gave them a night away at a resort. We thought it was something they would enjoy, plus, I always view gifts as something you give someone they wouldn’t normally do for themselves, but would like to do and I thought this was perfect.

Before it was over, we decided to break out the Wii and Just Dance. Caroline had never done it before, so we had a lot of fun with it. Adam and I danced and then I took on Marty and Caroline and then Adam danced against Caroline. We all had a great time laughing, especially at Adam who makes the moves look like they hurt- haha!

I love how Ava is in the corner of the picture dancing away. She loves the dance games and does a pretty good job. She doesn’t hold the remote, but she tries her hardest to copy the moves. It’s so cute. She is usually a second or two behind the moves, but she’s doing them!

I love these kiddos- they are all growing up way to fast!

The party turned out nice and she was surprised, which we all thought prior to her arriving she already knew. Adam’s dad cannot keep secrets. Adam and Brian were actually taking bets before they arrived on whether or not she already knew. Everyone seemed to have a good time and the boys entertained Ava with their acrobatic flips into the pool :) Of course, this mama was thinking ‘I hope she doesn’t try to do any of those anytime soon!’ haha!

Jazz Fest

2011-06-23T06:55:00.000-04:00

Sunday, after Adam spent the day unloading the moving truck, he came home and said he still wanted to go and try to catch the last little bit of the Jazz Fest. For the past 3 years now, we have been to the jazz fest. This year was the first time we took Ava. Chris Botti, who is my all time favorite jazz fest musician wasn’t going to be there this year, so I could take it or leave it. We had been so busy and we were still very tired, I’m surprised Adam still wanted to go.

We loaded up with chairs and headed downtown. It ended up being a nice evening. It wasn’t hot at all and Ava danced all around us as they played. It probably ended up being a good thing we went since it was too early to go to bed and expect Ava to sleep until the next morning, meaning I would have been up before the sun came up, being at the jazz fest we just kind of chilled and listened to the music. We went and saw 3 jazz guitarists, so I know Adam was in heaven. Since it was Sunday, the jazz fest was over at like 8:00/8:30 so we left at 8:00, grabbed a quick bite to eat and headed home- all of us were worn out!

It was a good test to see how Ava acted at the jazz fest since I mentioned last year about how I thought she would enjoy it- turns out I was right and she did! I’m sure this will become a annual event for her- if nothing else but for the opportunity to dance. :)

Adam was off on Memorial Day (the next day), I had to work, but he was able to catch up on some sleep and just hang out around the house so it ended up all working out perfectly!

Moving + American Girl Doll Store

2011-06-22T06:26:00.000-04:00

While many families were taking it easy and relaxing over Memorial weekend, we were doing the exact opposite. Mom, Mrs. Dot, Ava, and myself headed up to Atlanta to move Aunt Ro Ro back to Jacksonville. We, being the girls that we are, stopped just south of Atlanta to visit the outlet malls and then continued on our way. We made it to Aunt Ro Ro’s about 11:00 and seeing how much was still left to be done got started packing. We eventually quit about 2:00 and went to bed.

Ava “baking cookies” with her Melissa & Doug cookie set that she got use in her little kitchen

Ava was such a trooper the entire trip. We woke up the next morning and started packing again. Fortunately, a guy from a local charity came by to pick up some things Aunt Robin was giving him and offered to help us. We were so grateful because we were beginning to wonder how we were going to do it all. The guys (my dad and Adam) drove up Friday evening, but even with their help factored in we were concerned.

Ava wearing her Uncle Jim’s Atlanta Braves hat.

We ended up getting quite a bit done with Mr. Jones’ help and decided to take a break that evening and take Ava over to the American Girl doll store. There aren’t many AG stores and the closest one to us is in Atlanta, so I was excited to take her. If you are or ever have been an AG doll fan, this is a must do. It had everything you could think of in this store, all the dolls and accessories. Ava was a little overwhelmed at first (being exhausted from all the packing and moving didn’t help) and she had a breakdown because I told her she couldn’t get a stroller that she wanted. She and mommy had a little cool down moment outside where she received the “If you EVER do that again….” speech and she wiped her tears and we went back in. I tried to cut her a little slack since I know she was tired.

We walked through and saw everything. They even have a doll salon where you can take your doll and pay to have the ‘stylists’ style their hair. Most of the 18” dolls were in cases with all of their accessories, but the Bitty Baby items were placed at kid level and kept telling Ava, becareful, becareful… and one of the sweet workers came up to me and said to let her play with them, that’s why they leave them out at their level, which is how we came to fall in love with the stroller- she pushed it all over the store with a baby in it.

Taking a picture with Kanani, the 2011 AG of the year.

They have this cute bistro in the back of the store where you can dine with your girl and her girl ;) I can’t wait to be able to take Ava.

Ava got to pick out a new doll to bring home with her. She picked out Kit which is good since has short hair and Ava has really gotten into doing her dolls hair, but the longer hair on the other dolls she has is a little too much to manager for her. Plus, she and I can watch the Kit movie together and she will have the doll :)

She also got a guitar for her dolls to play, a puppy, and a dress (complete with a headband) for herself and a matching one for her baby.

I’m a little partial to AG since I had the dolls growing up and now I have passed them down to Ava. Between the 2 of us, she now has Kit, Felicity, Kirsten, Look-alike Ava, Look-alike Stef, and the Bitty Baby. Her collection is growing quite a bit. I actually found out while we were at the store, Mattel bought out the American Girl company and now manages it.

I’m excited to take her back again of course my wallet has to recoup first ;)

Adam and Dad made it to the house about 30 minutes after we made it back home and we all went to bed shortly after that. We knew the next day was going to be fierce. The next morning Dad and Aunt Robin left to pick up the moving truck and came back and we started to load the truck. Our new friend, Mr. Jones came to help us again and brought his son. He and his son were a gift from God. I don’t know how we would have ever made it if they hadn’t been there to help. While they were loading the truck, Ava and I headed down to the playground in Aunt Ro Ro’s neighborhood to play. I thought it would give Ava a chance to run around and play before we had to drive back and it would keep her out of the way while they were moving a lot of the heavy stuff. The neighborhood has the coolest park, complete with a playground, pool (and kiddie water park), community garden, basketball courts, tennis courts, and clubhouse. Its really a nice area. We didn’t spend a lot of time there because we had some errands to run and had to get back to helping, but Ava did enjoy playing around for a little while.

We ended up needed to get two 27’ trucks, plus piling stuff in her car that we were pulling and everyone else’s vehicles. We put Aunt Robin on restriction from buying anything else –haha! After working all day packing and loading, we were finally on our way around 7:00 that evening. We drove all night and pulled into our driveway at 4:00 in the morning on Sunday morning. We all agreed, we didn’t think we could make it another hour if our lives depended on it. Plus, all the stuff was still on the trucks! Aunt Robin is staying at my grandparents house until she decides what she wants to do, so fortunately all that was left (except for the things she was taking to my grandparents) was to unload the trucks into storage. At least we didn’t have to unload AND unpack :)

Sunday morning, a group of people met to unload the trucks. Ava and I stayed home since there wouldn’t be a whole lot for us to do and Ava would have been in the way of all the moving. Adam went and helped so she and I slept and played until he made it back home.

To say we were exhausted would be an understatement- Moving is hard work, moving when you aren’t able to go back for another load- unbelievably hard! Aunt Robin said the next time she moved it would be 1. cooler and 2. with a lot less stuff! :)

Ava’s Dedication

2011-06-21T06:24:00.000-04:00

As if our week/weekend had been busy enough, Sunday, after our town’s celebration, we had Ava’s dedication. We had missed the last one and decided we needed to do this one no matter what since she was already 2 years old!

It was really a sweet dedication and a plus that Ava’s friend Jane was being dedicated that same day- so we had to get pictures of the girls dressed so pretty.

I had three different pictures and of the four of us and not a single one were both girls looking at the camera! I just love Jane’s look on this one though :)

Afterwards, our families all went to eat together at Bahama Breeze. We love that place and knew it would a great place for all of us to be able to sit together. We had a great time!

Ava and Luke stayed occupied by Aunt Stacey’s phone. Luckily she has added several games that both Ava and Luke enjoy. When we asked Luke to smile he did this funny look with his eye and kept raising his eyebrows like he was trying to get just the right look for the picture- we all busted out laughing- it was so cute! Its hard to believe that there is 2 years between the two of them!

It was a great day and Ava is very blessed to have so many people who care enough about her to be apart of her life and commit along with her Mama and Daddy to raise her up the way God wants her to be raised, which is the true emphasis behind the dedication service.

Callahan Centennial Celebration

2011-06-20T06:24:00.000-04:00

Our town celebrated it’s 100th birthday on May 27th. Adam and I were elected to put together a float for the store, so we spent pretty much every evening the week prior working on the float. It’s times like these I wish I wasn’t such a perfectionist- I wanted everything to look perfect, measurements had to be exact, bows had to look a certain way… when realistically, at the distance most people would see this cake you wouldn’t be able to tell- but it would bother me- so I probably spent more time than I should have make it ‘perfect’.

While we worked, Ava took a spin on the dolly. 20 years ago, this would have been me- I loved riding on these things!

The morning of the parade we spent a few hours (yes I said hours) blowing up balloons. We blew up over 200 balloons.

Adam and Kirsten carried some of the balloons around back to the float- this wasn’t even half of them- I didn’t want anything to do with balloons after we were done! haha!

We took our cousin Michael’s old car and had a sign made to look like the original delivery truck for the store. The big cake float followed the old car.

We asked Raeleigh if she wanted to ride with us on the float (with her mama’s permission of course ;) ) She and Ava looked so cute in their tutus. The certainly were ready for a party!

All of our hard work paid off and the float looked good- definitely fit for a birthday celebration. I didn’t want to see them tear it apart after the celebration was over!

Ava and I rode on the back of the truck with Raeleigh and Kirsten. We threw out candy to the parade viewers while Stacey and Maxx walked (or ran) behind the truck to hand out balloons to kids along the parade route.

Fortunately we had plenty of candy at our disposal to keep Raeleigh occupied if she started to get fussy or want to get down!

Both she and Ava were so cute sitting up there on the float. Growing up I was always on either the dance float or the store’s Christmas float for the town’s Christmas parade. There were a couple years I was event the jack-in-the-box that popped out with candy. I was so excited for Ava to be able to ride in the parade. Now, I just have to talk dad into bring the jack-in-the-box back for the Christmas parade.

After the parade, they kept the streets closed until 10:00 that night. It was really neat, they had a old car show at one end of the street and several vendors had booths set up and there was live music playing at the other end of the street. We met up with Marty and Neal and chatted with them for a little while.

We ran into the Singley’s and the Cruce’s and Ava immediately talked them into riding the McDonald’s train with her! They hopped on and rode around the ~~dirt circle~~ track for a couple times.

The parade was at 4:00 in the afternoon and the fireworks didn’t start until 9:00, so we had plenty of time to do whatever we wanted. The kids ended up dancing in the streets for a large majority of that time.

Ava and Baylie and Brody- I’m not quite sure what Brody is doing in the picture- haha! :)

They danced and danced and danced. Trevor was there as well, but every picture I had of him was blurry (imagine that, right Jenny?!) Brody and Baylie are so funny together- you can tell they spend a lot of time with each other. You can read here and here about Brody “proposing to Baylie”

It ended up being a nice celebration and we were able to talk and visit with a lot of people we knew. When the fireworks began, we were actually in Wendy’s with Tracy and Baylie getting something to drink and apparently neither Baylie or Ava are big fans of the fireworks (or rather, the noise that comes along with the fireworks) We walked outside Wendy’s and immediately turned around and headed back inside, Ava was just too scared- luckily, Baylie and Tracy were inside as well and we were all able to watch them through the windows.

By the time it was over and we had all made it home we were all exhausted, especially one little girl in a pink tutu :)

Kirsten & Ava

2011-06-17T06:05:00.000-04:00

Kirsten came and 'moved in’ with us over the weekend. She sent me and Adam on a date while she and Ava stayed home. We had been working on the Centennial float all week and we were determined to finish it that Friday night so we spent a majority of our date night working on the float- fun fun! ;0

We finished and decided we would at least drive over to Starbucks for a coffee, it helped that Kirsten was going to be spending the night, so we didn’t have to rush home.

When we left the house, both Kirsten and Ava were dressed in their pj’s and ready for bed, sometime between the time we left and came home a princess party went on. I found a few pictures of Ava in her princess dress :)

Ava loves Kirsten and I’m so thankful she is a super cousin and loves Ava just as much!

The Players

2011-06-16T06:25:00.000-04:00

For the past 4 years we have had the opportunity to go to The Players (thanks to our dear friends the Mahans). The first year I was 5 almost 6 months pregnant and Adam drug me around the course! I was sick as a dog and I was in a lot of pain from what I guess was my stomach stretching?! Needless to say I was miserable! (Adam now feels bad he made me walk the course with him…haha)

This year, after getting there and walking about 3-4 holes I started to feel sick- I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but I didn’t feel great, so I leaned over to Adam and told him I was going to grab me something to drink and I would meet up with him on the next hole. Well, as I was standing in line I started to feel very faint. I started to sway and everything started to close in on me. There has only been one other time I felt this way and it was right after I had my c-section and I was in my room with the nurse and I started to blackout- everything happens in slow motion… Anyway, I knew from the feeling that any second I might be on the ground. I managed to text ‘help’ to Adam and slowly make my way to a shaded spot to sit down. I didn’t know if I was going to make it- it has to be the worst feeling ever! Adam came running over and got me something to drink and sat with me until I started feeling better. We still don’t know what exactly happened, because while I was hot, I wasn’t the hottest I had ever been and I had eaten breakfast, so it was really weird. I told Adam to head on back and I would meet him at the turn and walk with him the rest of the way. I headed over to an area that was airconditioned and wanted to sit and make sure I felt good enough to start walking the course again before I actually did it. On the way, Adam texted me and said bad weather was headed our way, so I found a chair and table and made myself comfortable. The bad weather came and it FLOODED! it came hard and fast! Adam had just made it under the covered area when it let loose and since he hadn’t made it inside, when the wind blew, which was so hard the rain went horizontal, Adam got soaked! He finally made it inside and we just hung around for the next couple of hours. We eventually decided to call it a day and not wait around to see if and when they would start playing again. Luckily for us, the PGA tour allowed all Saturday tickets eligible for entry on Sunday.

After church on Sunday all 3 of us, including Ava, headed out to Sawgrass. We drove in a back way and it didn’t take us long to get there. Once we were in, we set up camp on the 17th hole. We had decided not to take the stroller in and Ava and I would hang out at the 17th hole while Adam walked around. I figured that Ava could be just about as loud as she wanted as long as we were at the 17th and it would also allow us to have a good seats for the next to last hole.

In the years past we haven’t been allowed to take our cell phones in, of course- you weren’t about to separate me from my child, so I always snuck mine in, but you definitely couldn’t get caught with it. This year, the PGA changed the rule and said you could take cell phones in as long as you kept them on silent, they even had designated cell phone areas that you were allowed to use them. Ours served the purpose of a camera (sssshhhh!!!)

Adam walked around most of the afternoon, but he would occasionally come and check back in with us. I had brought in a coloring book and some crayons so we could color, but we really just enjoyed watching more than anything. Especially people watching. There was a group in front of us that were definitely there for the party aspect of the game and they were having the best time (likewise we were enjoying laughing at them).

As awful as the weather had been on Saturday- Sunday was the exact opposite- it was absolutely beautiful and Ava had a good time just being outside.

If Ava did get so shy around new people (which I’m okay with, the less likely it would be for her to walk off with a stranger), she would have made tons of friends. Everyone would say hey to her and comment about how good she had been.

At one point during the day, she and I were both thirsty and I made the mistake of mentioning that as soon as daddy got back we would get something to drink. I didn’t want to risk losing our spot nor did I want to carry all of our stuff around, so after a few minutes and he still hadn’t made it back she put her shoes on (I had let her take them off while we were sitting on the hill) and stood up, looked at me and said with every ounce of confidence, “I’ll be right back” lol! I busted out laughing and asked her where she was going, she looked at me and said “to find daddy” and when I asked her where she said- looked around and then pointed to her right and said over there. I tried to keep a straight face because this child has never wandered off or come close to it when she is around a large group of people. I just looked at her as she walked a little further away and then turned around again and said, “I’ll be right back”. I guess she was looking for some sort of approval from me (which she wasn’t getting) so eventually I talked her out of it *wink wink and she sat back down. Luckily Adam arrived a few minutes later.

Adam nor I have ever been to the final round, so Adam was pretty excited. Little did we know we would have front row seats for a playoff! We met some interesting characters throughout the weekend. People from England, Canada, South Carolina, and New York….I would have never guessed that so many people from all over came to the tournament. I knew there was probably some, never would have guessed there were that many, I was especially surprised at the ones who would travel so far, but who wouldn’t want to come spend time in Florida in May, especially those from up north where its still cold. haha!

After the final group tee’d off on 17, Adam ran over to 18 to get a good view so he could watch them hit the last hole. Ava and I stayed put and when everyone else left the 17th hole, we gathered our stuff and moved closer to the walkway. I was pointing everything out to Ava from a little closer distance. Adam made his way back to us and said he wasn’t going to follow them thru the last hole, but we decided to make sure there wasn’t going to be a playoff before we headed out- well, imagine our surprise when there was and they were coming back to the 17th hole. We had been standing right next to the rope so we knew we had a great view. The golfers would ride and then walk right past us.

On our way out after the playoff, we received several texts and phone calls about people seeing us on tv- lol! We had made national tv! When the golfers walked by us on their way from the tee to the green they walked right in front of us and the cameras caught us as they walked by- we watched it and you can clearly see it was the 3 of us. I told Adam that Ava can now add TV star to her resume- haha!

We had such a good time, even though it was a little hot. Adam and I would love it if Ava enjoyed golf, and I think she is well on her way ;)

Mother’s Day

2011-06-15T06:26:00.000-04:00

Mother’s Day 2011 was perfect! It helps when you have a little one crawl up to you and say “Happy Modder’s Day! Mommy!” Melt. my. heart.

We, of course, headed to church that morning and stopped by my parent’s house to grab a quick lunch and tell her (and Nana) happy mother’s day. We headed home and Ava and Adam gave me the best gift I could have asked for- a nap! It wasn’t planned, but, all three of us ended up falling asleep and taking a good nap! We are usually so busy, even on Sundays that we don’t have time for a nap, or Ava falls asleep on the way home from church and will wake up as soon as we carry her into the house and you can kiss any other naptime good-bye. So it was a real treat for me to be able to take a good nap! (Funny how after you have kids your wish list changes and a nap jumps to the top of it! haha!)

After waking up from our naps, Adam mentioned wanting to ride up and see the fire that was burning in the Okefenokee Swamp. I’m such great wife to spend my mother’s day chasing fires ;) We loaded up and headed north and had a good time riding around.

We turned down one road and saw a helicopter flying around not too far above us and realized about 30 seconds later a forestry truck turned in behind us and so we decided rather than get into trouble for trespassing (since we were one of the service roads into the swamp) we would pretend we were lost and turning around- haha!

However, had we kept driving we would have been really close to the fire, so its probably a good thing we turned around.

We spent about 4 hours just driving around. We passed some interesting characters on the road, when we passed a few places we thought we heard a faint banjo playing- warning us to turn around- haha!

A few times I thought we might be lost, and of course out where we were riding around we didn’t have cell phone service. We had to drive over more than I can count wooden bridges. I don’t know about you, but that just doesn’t give me a good feeling as I’m driving over wooden planks without anything underneath them. I was glad to be back on paved roads when we headed home!

By the time we made it back home we were all tired and ready to get out of the car! We did have a good time and saw some breathtaking views of the fire. It was nice to just spend time together. Ava even enjoyed riding around looking at everything and it gave Adam and me a chance to talk, since when we are at home we are usually running around taking care of everything that needs to be done and playing with Ava.

Wedding on the Beach

2011-06-14T06:22:00.001-04:00

The day before Mother’s day, a friend of ours was getting married on the beach. Adam and I have lived near the beach our entire lives and yet, somehow, this was the first wedding we have ever been to that was actually on the beach- weird isn’t it?!

At the reception, Ava was dying to dance. She had asked her daddy repeatedly about dancing, but he kept telling her to wait, he didn’t want the be the first (and/or only) ones on the dance floor :)

Fortunately, Clint was there to the rescue and hoped up and took Ava to dance, she had a grand ole time and thought she was something else. We were actually all very surprised she went- sometimes she is so timid about stuff like that.

Not to be outdone :) , Adam took his girl out on the dance floor and twirled her around to her hearts content! She just had an absolute ball!

It was a very sweet wedding and we all had a great time! The bride was absolutely stunning and her dress was beautiful, and of course, Nathan was just as handsome as always.

When Nathan and Jessica were walking around talking to everyone at the different tables, Ava caught a glimpse of Jessica and I wish I had been able to get a picture of the expression on her face! It was priceless- it was pure awe with a little bit of a gasp! and then she looked at me and said- ‘The Princess!!’ haha! Perhaps we went a little overboard on the whole Royal Wedding thing… ;)

Disney Round 2

2011-05-26T06:37:00.001-04:00

As if we hadn’t been busy enough, we took off to Disney for the weekend. Call us CRAZY, I know, Easter, my birthday, Stacey’s pinning, now Disney….we were determined to drive ourselves to exhaustion! :)

We packed Friday night and woke up early Saturday morning. We actually put Ava in the car still in her jammies and headed to Disney. We had 2 more days on our tickets, so we decided to head to the Animal Kingdom since the last time we had been was when Ava was about 14 months old.

We had a great day and rode the safari, which Ava enjoyed seeing all of the animals. We also went and saw Finding Nemo, the musical, which she thoroughly enjoyed. While she took a short nap, we watched a show called “Flights of Wonder” and it was all about birds. I went in thinking I wouldn’t really enjoy it, but Adam really wanted to see it (which is a big surprise since he has this thing against birds!) We thought the show was excellent. They had all these different kinds of birds that would do different things on command- pretty amazing. Ava would have enjoyed it as well if she had been awake, but we knew she needed a nap!

Family picture in front of the Tree of Life- I just read where it is over 145 feet tall and carved with 325 reptiles, mammals, and birds in it’s trunk.

We left Animal Kingdom around 3:30 and went to check in to our hotel. We ended up staying at the Gaylord Palms. I hadn’t stayed at this hotel, but knew from others it was a nice hotel. We got a really great deal and decided we would try it out. Inside the hotel is a huge atrium and it has all kinds of really neat things. They also had a putt-putt course, that is free to guests, which Adam really wished we had made time for. We both said we could spend a day just playing around the hotel- we will remember for next time :) If we aren’t staying in Disney, this is the next best thing to it- it is literally across I-4 from Disney’s entrance and a very nice hotel- it’s a new favorite for us.

Ava liked looking at the waterfalls- I do wish we had spent more time checking it out- but we all know how Disney is and by the time we made it back to our rooms we were exhausted!

After we checked into our hotel and chilled out for a few minutes, we headed over to Hollywood Studios. It was the only park that was opened later. With Adam and Ava both having a fetish for Toy Story, the perfect place to eat was Pizza Planet in Hollywood Studios.

The main thing I wanted to do in Hollywood Studios was take Ava to see Beauty and the Beast. Her favorite princess at this moment is Belle and I knew she would just love seeing it. (It will be interesting to see if she sticks with Belle being her favorite since she just got Tangled on dvd). She loved the show and excitedly pointed out that the girls had ‘sprinkles’ on their dresses at the end of the show. (Just in case you couldn’t figure it out, she calls sparkles sprinkles.)

We waited around to see the water, lights, and fireworks show called Fantasmic!, both and and I (and Ava) wished we hadn’t waited. It was the most demonic thing we have ever seen. Ava sat with her eyes covered or her head buried in mine the entire time. Part of it was because the water would spray up into a fan shape and they would shine the lights on it like a movie screen, and the breeze would cause the water to spray on us (not anything near drenching, just enough to feel it). Of course, we understood that you can’t control the weather, so that isn’t what turned us off of it, but the storyline was that every single (and I mean EVERY) villan in the disney movies were out to get Mickey, which of course Ava didn’t like and it was scary, especially through a 2 year old’s eyes. We debated several times whether or not to leave in the middle of it (it was a 30 minute show), but both agreed that it might be best if Ava saw that Mickey was okay and saw the happy ending, rather than us leaving and her thinking something bad had happened. (Isn’t that just awful that we had to contemplate this at a Disney park?!)

We did buy her a light-up necklace that we hoped would ease her fears….

After the show, we both agreed, even as adults it wasn’t good, so kids that would be old enough to sit through it without being scared would think it was corny. In Disney’s defense, the pamphlet did say that it *May scare small children*. In my defense, I assumed it was talking about the noise the fireworks would make- not that the actual show would be scary! Oh well, we can now say, been there, done that and we won’t ever see it again!

We headed back to the hotel and quickly got showers since we had some visitors on the way. My Aunt Ann and Uncle Scott had traveled down to Kissimee to see my cousin Garrett. He was down for Spring Training and since they were in Florida for the week they headed down to see Garrett. All three of them came an visited us for a little while, which we enjoyed. We don't get to see each other as often as we would like, so we are grateful for the opportunities when we do have them. :)

The next morning we got up and headed to the Magic Kingdom. I have learned that the earlier you get there, the less crowded it is and you are able to do more things because the lines aren’t outrageous. I thought the parked open at 8, so when we stepped off the monorail at 8:15 and saw the gates still locked I thought it was odd. Well, apparently, upon further inspection, I saw that the park didn’t open until 9:00…oh well….

Time went by pretty fast and because we arrived earlier than it opened we were able to get a great park, like 3rd row great park! Plus, we were able to see them open the park- something I hadn’t ever seen or known about. A guy comes out and tells everyone the train is about to pull into the station to open the park. They select a family to help them (not sure how they select a family) and moments later, Mickey and all his gang as well as all the princes and princesses come in riding on the train. It was really neat.

The pictures don’t show all of the characters, but trust me, they were all there- all of them. So neat- Ava was excited so to see them.

Another plus to us getting there and being among the first to entire the park was that we were able to get into the first group for the Tangled characters greeting. During our last visit we had tried, but they were standing in line 2 hours early and we weren’t even guaranteed a spot in that one, so we decided to skip it. While we were standing out in front of the park, I had told Adam if we went straight there we might be able to get in, if we didn’t I wasn’t going to be upset, but I knew this would be our only chance, and the first time was 9:15, so it would work out perfectly- if it would work out at all.

We made it in and the kids were able to color some pictures and then after a few minutes Rapunzel and Flynn Rider came out. They both played their characters really well and Ava was excited to see them, until she started walking up to them… It was so funny, we had to keep telling her, just a sec, wait a minute, it isn’t our turn yet, we’re next…. because she was trying to walk up to them before it was our turn, well, as soon as it was our turn and she started to walk up to them she turned around and wanted me to hold her. So guess who got a picture with Rapunzel and Flynn- yep- mommy! ;)

They were both so good with her and I know this is their job, but even Flynn did very good with her, to me he did a great job acting as Flynn.

Our next stop, which Adam was probably most excited about, was the Tomorrowland Speedway- Ava isn’t tall enough to ride a lot of the bigger kid rides, but she can ride this, so Adam was excited to take her- she was a little hesitant to get in the car, but once she did, she loved it!

Riding the teacups!

The teacups are probably my favorite childhood ride, I remember riding it with my dad.

We also rode Cinderella’s Carousel and It’s A Small World, where we tried to take a family picture, but every time we cut Adam’s head off, no matter how we adjusted ourselves or the camera- haha!

I mentioned the last time we went to Disney that neither Adam nor I had ridden the Jungle Cruise (well I hadn’t in a very long time). We both loved it the last time we rode it- just a cute ride, so we jumped in line for it as well.

I tell ya, Ava is all girl! She covered her face when we were coming up on the waterfall, she was so afraid she was going to get wet!

After the Jungle Cruise, Ava and I rode Aladdin’s carpets. She loved this ride the last time we rode and I knew she wouldn’t want to miss it. She is still very timid about rides, but you can tell each time we have gone she has become a little braver about the rides.

The last ride we rode was Pirates of the Carribean- poor Ava, she hates this ride- she says she’s ‘fraid, mommy’, but Adam wanted to ride it, so off we went. She almost fell asleep right before we stepped on the boat, but she stayed awake through the ride and we told her we would get something to drink and snack as soon as it was over.

We ended up finding a spot that was shaded and took a breather while we all had a small snack and I checked the times for the shows in front of the castle. Ava liked watching the shows the last time and I knew we had ridden most everything she would have cared about so before we headed home I thought we should try to catch one of the shows and the parade. (Hoping she would nap in between). We had a great view and stood with only one other person between us and the bottom of the castle and Ava fell asleep- of course!

Adam and Ava found a cool spot to sit while Ava took a nap and I went on a search for a picture frame. Mom and I were both looking for a specific frame and neither of us had found what we were looking for, so I thought they might have what we wanted in one of the stores. I also took that time to buy Ava another charm for her Disney charm bracelet. She’s already got quite the collection, we counted it up the other day, she’s been to Disney 8 times in less that 3 years!

About 30 minutes before the parade was scheduled to start Adam found us a place to sit on the side walk, somewhat in the shade, and where we could feel a little of the AC coming out of one of the shops and we got some ice cream to keep us cool. The weather was actually great- the only time we were hot was when we were waiting on the parade.

Disney is always busy, but we didn’t use a single fast pass and we didn’t wait any longer than 20 minutes for anything we wanted to do- that is a successful day at the MK in my book. Since we were there when the park opened, by the time we watched the parade we had done everything we really wanted to do and we knew that the earlier we left, the earlier we would get home- and we both had to work on Monday. So, after the parade, we gave Ava her “princess card” which is really a Disney gift card, and let her pick something from the store to buy. She is so funny when she does this. She is very particular- she walks through the whole store and we limit her to buying only 1 thing. If she picks out 2 things, she studies them and decides which one she likes best and once she has decided- that’s it- she’s ready to pay for it and she knows just how to do that part as well!

We ended up pulling out of the park at 4:00 and made it home at a decent time, which made for a great ending to a great day! I’m sure it won’t be too long before we are back in the land of Disney, but we usually wait until the weather is a little cooler, which means the months of June-September are out! haha!

The Royal Wedding

2011-05-25T06:36:00.000-04:00

On April 29th, Prince William and the soon-to-be Princess Catharine were married in a grand royal wedding. We had set our dvr to record the pre-ceremony events that began at 4:00 a.m. our time (knowing full well I would fast forward through most of them!). We were up right at 6:00 and we buzzed through the arrivals of all the royal wedding attendees. Ava and I sat and watched a fairytale wedding together. (Adam actually watched it with us for a little while, but he wasn’t watching it for the same reasons we were, he was on his phone looking up who does what in England…..)

Ava loved the carriage and the Princess’ dress, she said was just like Cinderella’s! While I enjoyed watching the ceremony, I am very glad we were able to fast forward through a lot of it. I know that one day, years from now, this wedding will come up in a conversation and Ava will be able to say she watched it with her mommy.

Adam never could understand why I was so interested in watching the wedding. I told him that it isn’t everyday you can see a Princess be married.

And on April 29, 2011, I’m pretty sure another fairytale wedding dreamer was born! :)

Stacey’s Graduation

2011-05-24T06:27:00.000-04:00

My sister, Stacey, graduated from nursing school this semester so we all went to her pinning ceremony. It’s a smaller affair that is just for the nursing graduates and you aren’t limited on the number of people who can attend. The ceremony, we were told, was to be about an hour long….2, yes I said TWO, hours later we were heading toward the doors. Adam, myself, and Ava ended up sitting in the balcony, which proved to be a wise choice. Our family had saved seats downstairs at the very, very front…we ended up being 2 short and I quickly voted we go up stairs. Ava did very well for a 2 year old. She sat or stood and was for the most part quiet, but after 2 hours, anyone, including the adults, are ready to leave. We took her to the bathroom twice and then finally when there were about 15 minutes left (which we weren’t sure how long it would be since it was originally supposed to be an hour) Adam took Ava outside to let her walk around. I’m so glad that we were sitting downstairs causing a huge distraction, not to mention getting up and walking back and forth in front of everyone.

Oh, I will also have to add that this was the first time Adam has ever had to take Ava to the men’s restroom. They were about 15 people away from calling Stacey’s name and I knew that if I missed taking pictures of her I would be disowned by my family, so I told him he was going to have to take her….The look on his face was priceless! Then he said, I can’t take her to the women’s restroom…hahaha! I said, no, you have to take her to the men’s! He was mortified, but they made it through it and guess what, she wouldn’t even go! They actually made it back in time to see her being pinned and I took her to the women’s restroom ;) right after.

After the 2 hour (yes, I’m going to keep saying it- I want you to feel sympathetic) ceremony, we went to eat at Olive Garden and we actually celebrated both my sister’s graduation and my cousin’s. The graduation ceremonies were the following day, but we had graciously been excused- thank goodness for work, right?! ;)

Ava did so great and behaved so well- it was a long night of sitting quietly for a 2 year old. Congrats to Stacey and Meggie!

It’s My Birthday!

2011-05-23T06:37:00.000-04:00

My birthday was April 26th, so amidst everything else going that week, we had my birthday to celebrate as well. I turned 26 on the 26th (my aunt said this will be my year! ha!)

Of course, my best gift were the kisses I received from my girl! :)

For whatever reason I wasn’t happy about this birthday. I think it is because when I was younger and I would think about the age I wanted to be I always had 25-26 in my head, well, now I’m 26 and guess what, next year I will be 27…past the age I wanted to be….yuck! I really think turning 30 is going to be hard for me. Adam turns 30 this year, but guys usually don’t care about their age like girls do. I guess we have to wait 4 years to find out how I react!

My one request for my birthday was for Nana to make me a carrot cake. It’s my favorite cake. I told Adam a month earlier that I didn’t need any presents, I just wanted her carrot cake, so doing what a typical guy does, he waited until the Sunday before my birthday (which was on a Tuesday) and asked my Nana…such a guy! haha!

I don’t know what he would have done if she had said she couldn’t make it! When I took Ava to work she had it waiting on me and I took it and put it in my office- I wasn’t letting anyone get ahold of it! :)

That night my mom had everyone over to eat dinner and have cake and ice cream. My Aunt Ann and Uncle Scott, Aunt Robin, and Grammy and Big Papa were all in town just to celebrate my birthday, I felt so special! (They were really in town because of the graduations that would take place a few days later- ha!- but we can pretend right?!)

Ava was so excited about my birthday cake and candles. She plopped herself down right in front of the cake like it was her birthday! Of course I didn’t mind at all and was happy to share the spotlight with her :) Together we blew out the candles.

After dinner and cake, I opened a few presents and we sat around socializing. It was a good birthday, even if I was turning another year older ;)

Easter Lunch and Egg Hunt

2011-05-20T06:11:00.000-04:00

After church on Easter Sunday, we met up with my family out at the camp. It’s always nice out there, not necessarily the most luxurious, but its very easy going and the kids are able to play and run around. The “Big” kids are able to ride golf carts and four-wheelers and fish- very relaxing, or at least as relaxing as it can get with a 2 year old. I had read on a blog where a girl made these peeps by dipping them into chocolate and I thought it was such a cute idea. So we dipped the chicks into the chocolate and then into sprinkles. It was easy and cute!

For the bunny peeps we pushed a lollipop stick through the middle and covered them with chocolate and sprinkles. They actually tasted pretty good- especially the white chocolate ones, I love white chocolate. Ava enjoyed them and thought they looked “soooo pretty!” She is a confidence builder I tell ya!

We at some good food and sat around and socialized. My mom’s side of the family came out as well so it was nice they were able to see Ava on Easter.

Ava eating her peep, she couldn’t quite grasp the concept that it was okay to bite it, usually I tell her to lick the lollipop, this was a little odd to her.

Ava had been wanting Kirsten to take her on a ride since I told her we were going to see her! She was excited to be on the golf cart!

It was finally time for the egg hunt. There were only 3 kids hunting, the rest were too old, so Ava, Luke, and Emma hid in the back while they hid eggs. Ava had the best time looking for eggs.

Of course she had her entourage following her around helping her- at one point I think she had 3 different people calling her to “help” point out an egg.

Her older cousin Ryan was a big help in watching out for her- he guarded the eggs that were easier to see and kept the others from getting them. Although I think Ava would have been happy regardless- he was sweet in looking out for her.

She is growing up so fast- last year I remember having to explain that you pick up the egg and place it in the basket- she didn’t really understand. This year- you didn’t have to tell her twice!

She even found some above eye level ;)

Inside most of the eggs from Aunt Kay were little surprises and Ava had fun opening each one.

After the egg hunt, Aunt Kay had even more surprises. She brought out some toys for all 3 of the egg hunters. Ava spotted a jump rope and exclaimed, “Jump rope! I love jump rope!” Unbeknownst to any of us, we didn’t even realize she knew what a jump rope was, let alone use it.

To our surprise, she knew how to use it, it’s a little long for her, but she had the concept down and would throw it over her head and jump through. It was so funny.

Ava’s basket of eggs with several goodies.

They also had this Frisbee which Ava wanted to throw, so she and her Papa and Luke had a good time throwing things :)

We had a nice time and the weather was perfect, plus being able to spend it with my guy and my girl is all I need!

Easter Morning

2011-05-19T06:11:00.000-04:00

Easter morning we woke up and had breakfast together (which is a rarity in our house) and got ready for church. Before we got ready though, we sat down and opened the last egg in the Resurrection Eggs. Easter is very hard to explain to a 2 year old, even one who comprehends pretty well. We thought that even though the eggs might be a little over her head, they would definitely help when trying to explain the meaning behind Easter

Ava opened a couple each night and then we would read the verse and devotion that went along with it. I think it made it much more tangible this way. I don’t think she fully understands what it means for someone to die, which quite frankly, I’m happy with, but I wanted her to get a sense of what Jesus did for us.

She understood the part about people doing a bad thing and the sadness that people felt in the stories, but in her world, you give someone a hug and/or a kiss and it makes it all better. So, while we discussed the Easter story, I tried to help her understand the seriousness of the day(s) and help her to see the positive side of it and how Jesus did this for her! I didn’t dwell too much on the death, I didn’t feel it would be necessary to get the point across and she really wouldn’t understand it anyway. We did talk about Jesus dying on the cross and on Sunday morning when she opened the last egg, it was empty, we were able to tell her it was empty just like the tomb.

It worked out great that we had the bunny visit on Friday night, we enjoyed watching her play and open her gifts on Saturday and Sunday was all about Jesus, which is the way it should be anyways. I think this is a tradition we will keep for a long time.

Easter Bunny

2011-05-18T06:05:00.000-04:00

The Easter Bunny came to visit on Friday night, we felt that Sunday mornings are already really hectic and we were going to have a long day as it was, so to allow Ava the opportunity to actually play with her new gifts, Saturday morning would be ideal. Plus, we felt that this would allow Easter Sunday to be all about Jesus, which is the real reason anyways. I knew it was going to be a fun visit from the bunny, Ava is at a really fun age and there were a few gifts in her basket I was really excited about myself ;) The night before we colored a picture for the Easter Bunny and left it for him beside Ava’s basket.

Growing up, the Easter Bunny had always hidden our baskets and as we got older- it became more of a challenge to find them- we couldn’t wait to see where the newest hiding place was- it was almost as exciting as what was in the basket…almost…

Ava found hers, with a little help from Mommy and Daddy, in the guest bathroom. She was so excited :)

One of my favorite gifts in her basket was the movie Tangled. This was the first (and only so far) movie Ava saw in the theaters and it was such a cute movie- Adam even enjoyed it. I couldn’t wait to get it for Ava!

She also got a couple more movies, a sticker book that has reusable stickers, tons of candy, bath dropz, a singing Belle, a slick looking Ken, a Rapunzel charm for her bracelet, a couple of pool toys, a personalized book with stories from Cinderella, Auroa, and Ariel (its a super cute book and adds her name into the story- she loves it!) and a new bible.

We had bought her a toddler bible that was great for reading stories, but we bought one that was for more of the preschool age now that her attention span is growing. It has a little more detail in the stories- she likes reading about Jesus, as she says, before bed.

She also got this big chocolate bunny! It’s going to take her a while to eat all the candy she received! Oh and I must also add that the bunny left so powdered doughnuts for us to have for breakfast, notice the white powder around her mouth.

Adam received a nice basket from the bunny was well with candy and a steering wheel to use with the new nascar game for the wii, which would have been in the basket as well if it’s release date hadn’t been pushed back….

Easter Bunny (the Sequel)

2011-05-17T06:34:00.000-04:00

We are big Cosby Show fans, like really! We have seasons on DVD- Adam and I love the show and Ava will even sit and watch it with us (plus we don’t have to worry about her seeing something or hearing something she shouldn’t). There was an episode where Sondra was having the babies and the new Grandma’s were talking about how they didn’t look like grandmothers and were thinking of names to be called. One of them was ‘Mother the Sequel’. That has become my new name for all the doings of the grandmothers, great-grandmothers, and aunts!

Ava’s Mimi brought her a bag full of goodies for her to enjoy- and that she did!

Her Papa and Gigi brought over a new car (too bad it was kiddie size, right?!) There was a lot of debate over this thing. I had said she was too old and too big for it, but mom insisted that she would enjoy it. We ordered some vinyl stickers to customize it and she got her a trailor for her to put her baby dolls in and pull around.

It turned out really cute. Definitely fit for a princess!

She loved it- there were a few comments about how she could hardly fit in it and move her legs- haha! If you remember, Ava had gotten a mini-four wheeler for Christmas 2 years ago (she was about 15 months old) from her Aunt Stacey. We still have it and she plays on it quite a bit, but she doesn’t like making it go, she would rather push it or walk beside it and pull it- funniest thing. So it gave Mom the idea to get her this car that she could do at her own speed.

She apparently had the right idea, Ava loves it, she wheels it all over the place- she even gets in and locks the door- it’s so funny, because we haven’t ever told her to lock it, but she insists on doing it- every time!

Aunt Ro Ro brought Ava a ‘muffy’ basket as she calls it, full of goodies and a bowling set. Her favorite toy in all of it was this little bunny that you wind up and it hops along. It ended up breaking after using it couple of times, so Aunt Ro Ro being the great Aunt she is took it back to have it replaced. Ava loves the thing- she calls it her Hippity-Hop!

After all of these gifts we had still had a visit from the Easter Bunny coming- it’s like Christmas all over again!

Coloring Eggs

2011-05-16T06:05:00.000-04:00

Coloring eggs was much more fun this year, but also more challenging as she wanted to play in the water…. We actually spread the egg decorating over the course of 2 days. One day we dyed them and the second we decorated them with glitter.

Thank goodness I boiled them before hand- Ava loves to crack eggs when I am baking something, so she kept trying to crack these. I think we ended up with 2 less than we started due to her cracking them.

Adam is always trying to come up with different methods or ideas to do to the eggs. This project might turn into a daddy-daughter thing when Ava is a little older…..

Ava loved dropping the eggs down into the dye and trying to pull them out- I think her hands were stained for a couple of days. Thank goodness we did this the weekend before Easter!

She is so funny- she decided she wanted to pretend they were eyes…?!

The second day of our egg decorating we put ‘sprinkles’ on them as Ava calls anything that sparkles. :) And we gave a few of them the royal treatment and crowned them with tiaras.

Mr. Charlie’s 60th Birthday Party

2011-05-13T06:12:00.000-04:00

Mr. Charlie Gressman was turning 60 and he told Mrs. Linda he wanted a party and he wanted a band! Mrs. Linda called me to see if Adam and the guys would be interested in doing it. A couple weeks earlier, mom had gone to Washington D.C. to visit with her childhood best friend, Maria. They met up with her sister and all went shopping where Mrs. Cathy (Maria’s sister) bought Ava this cute-as-can-be outfit. I thought it was the perfect thing to wear to the party!

She absolutely loves to twirl in the skirt! She will stand in front of her mirror and twirl to her hearts content!

We took pictures of Hallie and Ava together- are they just two of the cutest girls you have ever seen?!

After several takes, we never could get them to look in the same direction- it’s hard enough to take pictures of a 2 year old and a 4 month old separately, let alone sticking 2 of them together.

Even if they aren’t both looking at the camera, they are still too cute!

Last one- I promise- they are just too adorable not to put on here!

Gigi and Ava

Baylie became Ava’s best little pal that night, she followed her everywhere. She and Ava started off taking pictures with Baylie’s camera, Ava has one similiar to Baylie’s and loves to use it around the house. I haven’t hooked it up to the computer yet to see what kind of pictures it takes, although I’m sure they aren’t the greatest, either way, she has fun taking pictures of other people. I’m sure it probably is since she is usually the one everyone is taking pictures of!

Mom and her date, Meggie- Dad was out of town

Now, about 99.9% of the people at this party were southern baptist church goers, so when they started dancing we were floored. 1) Baptists can’t dance and 2) Baptist don’t dance! Well, I have several pictures to prove otherwise, including some of the preachers wife- haha!!! :) Ava and Baylie jumped out there and tried their best to dance like everyone else! Everyone had a great time!

The guys played songs throughout the evening and I finally got them together for a picture- I couldn’t get a serious one out of them! Oh well…. at least you can see how they really act!

The party was a lot of fun and there were a lot of people whose lives Mr. Charlie and Mrs. Linda have touched. I hope he had as much fun celebrating his birthday as his friends and family did!

She’s A Natural

2011-05-12T06:58:00.000-04:00

Adam wanted to go to the driving range one evening before a tournament. It was a nice evening so Ava and I decided to accompany him. Secretly, Adam and I would love for Ava to learn and love golf. We both enjoy playing, even though I’m not competitive enough to keep up with my score, I still enjoy playing, and its something we can do together….so, we have somewhat encouraged her toward golf. (Although, if she hates it or doesn’t want anything to do with it we are okay…Adam says anything but cheerleading- haha!)

We took her clubs and golf balls and I helped her set up the proper way. She would watch her daddy hit it and try to do the same. It was so cute.

Funny thing- I would tell her to bend her knees and she would bend them but for some reason, she thought her knees had to touch when she was bending them- it made for some funny looking shots!

She had such a great time hitting golf balls, like Daddy.

She would concentrate really hard before each shot and try to set-up just right.

She even carted her own bag to and from the range.

We hope this is the start of a beautiful relationship :)

Drummer Girl

2011-05-11T06:38:00.000-04:00

The guys were playing at Mr. Charlie Gressman’s birthday party and I graciously allowed their musical instruments to overtake my front room. (I truly didn’t mind, but I was glad to see them go- haha!) Ava has played the piano and guitar, but decided to try her hand at the drums.

Clint had the full set-up and the next morning when she and I were the only ones home, she snuck over to them and not surprisingly knew to pull out the drum sticks and play! Fortunately she wasn’t really hard on them so they didn’t make that much noise. I think I’ve also become accustomed to the noise since between Ava and Adam, someone’s always playing an instrument.

She acted like she knew what she was doing and each morning, as soon as she got up she would want to play the drums. When she woke up and they weren’t there, she wanted to know why Mr. Clint took her drums and where did he take them. Maybe she can go to his house and play them….. :)

Pool Time

2011-05-10T06:32:00.000-04:00

Around April 15th, we were finally able to get into the pool….Let me rephrase that- Adam and Ava got into the pool- I laid out on top of it- on a float. :)

I was curious to see how Ava would do, last year she was very timid concerning the pool. She ended up warming up to it quite nicely and always loved it, but since it had been 6ish months since we had last been in it, I didn’t know how she would react.

She loved it and jumped right in. She and I had went to target earlier that week and picked out a float- of course hers was a princess float! She wanted to float all around the pool in it. She thought she was something else!

Of course, that was nothing compared to how she felt lounging on a float with Gigi in the pool! She has done so good with swimming all around the pool- its going to be a fun summer!

Daddy Hit Me…..

2011-05-09T06:13:00.000-04:00

Yep, that’s the story she started off with! We were doing a little spring cleaning on our pool deck and Adam was moving our patio furniture when he lifted the ottoman and turned to walk away while Ava wasn’t paying attention to where she was going – they collided. I saw it all happen in slow motion, but couldn’t react quick enough to stop it. She fell flat on her back and Adam felt awful. He went and bought her a milkshake to maker her feel better. Such a sweet daddy!

We were both surprised that it did the damage it did, I expected her to hurt more from the fall, but when I saw her eye, it was pitiful. This picture doesn’t show the worst of it, this was actually a couple days old, but I felt I needed to explain (and document) her first black eye, since there will be a few posts that you can clearly see something is wrong with it.

Now if you mention it, she proudly shows where it hurt (even though there isn’t a trace of it). Oh, and she did eventually change her story to say the table (ottoman) hit her- especially after she kept making her daddy feel bad when she would tell people her daddy hit her…Personally, I think she was trying to milk it for all she could ;)

Beach Time

2011-05-06T06:22:00.000-04:00

The weather was warming up nicely and the water was still too cold in the pool for us to get in, so we decided to take a trip or 2 to the beach.

Let me start by saying that I am not a beach person. I know, we live so close to the beach and there are so many people that would love to live at the beach, but I’m not a fan of all the sand and the stickiness that comes with the beach. I think since we have been married, I have gone to the beach about 1 (maybe 2 times) each year.

We met and surpassed that quota in the month of April. We ended up going just the 3 of us one Saturday and spent a few hours there. Ava played so good and the weather was absolutely wonderful. It was warm enough, but not to the point you sweated when sitting outside, especially with a nice breeze that came off the ocean.

Another Sunday afternoon, we went with my parents. Dad has always dug these holes for us growing up. I remember him digging one so deep I fit all the way in it- over my head! So he dug one for Ava.

At first she didn’t know what to think, usually you try to avoid holes, right?! But she quickly learned to like it.

He eventually dug another, smaller one, joining them together so she could have a seat in her hole. She liked throwing the sand back on her feet.

We also went back on another Saturday with my parents for a couple of hours. Ava isn’t crazy about the water, and she wouldn’t ever get closer than about 3 feet from the water line. She wanted to take the ‘surfboard’ out to the water, but changed her mind and started running back up to our chairs. She is a timid child :)

Adam took a fishing pole and bait- I know some people love fishing, but I hate it. There are too many other things I would rather be doing than sitting there waiting on something to happen- it’s just like hunting in my book (I know I’m in the minority around these parts- haha!) There was a little excitement on this particular day for Adam. He caught a shark! And here is the scary part, it was in about 3 foot water!

He and Dad ended up flipping it off the hook and letting him swim back in the water- maybe he will stay away from the shoreline?!

Getting Ready for Easter

2011-05-05T06:10:00.000-04:00

Ava is getting to the age where she LOVES to craft or do anything artistic. I’m excited to see this age! While I don’t ever want to wish any of my time with her away, I’m excited for all of the fun things we will be able to do together!

I had found this kit at Michaels and thought it looked like something that would be easy enough to do and something she would enjoy (she LOVES stickers)

So we crafted away and she was meticulous about where to place each sticker. She had such a great time and was so proud of her finished product.

We hung it on her bathroom door so everyone could see it! :)

Colors and Crafts

2011-04-08T05:40:00.000-04:00

We don’t do a lot for St. Patricks day, well actually, we don’t do anything for St. Patrick’s Day, you are lucky if you find green on us- haha! However, I figured it would be a good time to do some things with colors. Ava painted a really good rainbow- I was impressed with how great she did. I marked each line with a color and then she took it from there and painted it all in. I didn’t take a picture *gasp*, but it is hanging in her playroom :).

I also decided since we were working on colors I would let her “experiment” by mixing colors.

I had several glasses with different colors that I simply mixed water with food coloring and let her have fun. She thought she was something else being able to scoop the water and pour in to another bowl and then add a different color to see what “reaction” would happen.

I thought it was a great way to show her that by mixing two (or more) colors that you can create other colors in a very tangible way.

She just had an absolute ball- forget the fact that mom was hoping it was slightly educational! She played for-ev-er scooping and pouring. She did make a good amount of mess, but it was easy clean up!

I’ve always enjoyed crafts but I don’t have much time to do anything nowadays. I don’t think spare time is even in my vocabulary right now ;) The other day I came home and told Adam I was going to start doing some arts and crafts with Ava. She’s really getting to the age that she can do simple crafts on her own, without a lot of help from me. I thought we would work our way through the alphabet, focusing on a different letter each time.

She knows and recognizes a lot of the letters in the alphabet, especially the first several, but I still thought it would be fun to help he associate letters with words. Since “A” is obviously the first letter in the alphabet, we made an apple tree. She colored the trunk and painted the leaves and glued the apples on. She had such a great time doing it.

Now, if you ask her what Apple starts with she knows the answer is “A”!

Ava’s Buddy

2011-04-07T06:21:00.000-04:00

A while back Shelby and Raeleigh came over to play with us. We had such a great time! Adam and I had just set up a temporary sandbox for Ava and the girls played in it for a few minutes, but not surprising, the mosquitoes started to get the best of us, and we took them inside to get a bath.

Ava doesn’t have any other siblings to practice the “sharing” technique and she loves to have Raeleigh come over and play, but it’s inevitable at some point in the evening she is going to get mad because Raeleigh is playing with something of Ava’s…..

At the store, Ava has a box of toys and Raeleigh was coming up for a visit. When they told Ava she was coming, Ava took a few of her toys and put them in her Papa’s office, we knew she was thinking that Raeleigh wouldn’t find them in there. It was so funny! When Raeleigh got there, Ava was fine with her playing with the toys in the box, as long as she didn’t find the other toys. Eventually, Raeleigh did go in to my dad’s office and Ava promptly took the toys from there and put them in her Gigi’s office. It’s so funny that she had enough sense figure that out!

She loves Raeleigh and always gets excited to see her, but as any child does, she has her moments where she doesn’t like to share, so we are working on that. ;) She recently told all of us that Raeleigh is her buddy! Just yesterday, they were both at the store and walked around hand in hand- so cute!

Disney Part 2

2011-04-06T05:24:00.000-04:00

Our view from the balcony of our room featured this landmark- Ava absolutely loved being able to see the castle. I think one thing that sets Disney apart from other companies is their attention to detail. We would come back to our room and if they had cleaned the room you might find something special done with your things (as pictured)

We also would come back from being gone all day and they would have already stopped by for ‘turn down service’ and they would have Ava’s Minnie Mouse or her Rapunzel doll sitting on the bed, just waiting for her to come back and see it.

As we were heading out our last day, one of the maids stopped Ava and gave her this bear (made out of a towel and stickers). She absolutely loved it, I still can’t believe how much she cares for it.

If Disney didn’t do anything else right, they scored big in this little one’s heart by giving her a towel bear- if only we could all be so easy to please! (However, I’m fairly certain she had the time of her life all weekend- there wasn’t anything they could have done better!)

Another highlight of Ava’s trip was being able to ride the monorail. She loved riding it. She didn’t care where it was going, as long as she was able to ride it! We could see it go by from our balcony and she would always yell- Monorail!

Ava and her daddy both liked watching the boats in the lake from the balcony and the weather was wonderful. As I mentioned in my earlier post, luckily I grabbed a couple pairs of leggings and jackets, Ava ended up wearing leggings both days we were at the parks and she wore her jackets as well- of course we weren’t complaining in the least bit- the cooler the better- especially when you are walking all day!

One of the first things we did was ride the Buzz Lightyear ride, which is a lot like the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. There wasn’t a long wait and we knew it would jump up quick, so we hopped on. Ava and her daddy rode it together- they had a good time- I don’t think they did much shooting though ;)

Ava found ‘Bippidi-Boppidi-Boo’ as she has nicknamed the Fairy Godmother. She knows her name is Fairy Godmother, but insists on calling her otherwise. Of course I think its too cute, so I’m completely okay with it! :) She politely asked her as she was signing her autograph book, where Cinderella was, she didn’t think the Fairy Godmother could exist without Cinderella!

Mom and I were in a shop while Adam and Ava waited outside and Adam later told me they stood right next to Mary Poppins, no one was even in line, she had just come out. I asked him why he didn’t let her see her, he said that she kept calling her Miss Pattycake. A friend of ours let us borrow some movies that star Miss Pattycake, a lady who sings and teaches kids about God and Ava absolutely loves them, although she has seen bits and pieces of Mary Poppins, she is more familiar with Miss Pattycake (as that is more her age right now) and Mary Poppins does kind of look like Miss Pattycake.

I have this “parasol” that I have had for years and years and years. Why I kept it, I’m not really sure other than I can remember loving it and playing with it so many times, all these years later, Ava loves it just like I did. I had actually gotten mine from Dollywood and it had my name and a bear painted on it. We passed by a cart that sold these ~~umbrellas~~ parasols and I knew that I just HAD to get one for Ava. After we picked it up a couple hours later, she wanted so bad to carry it around the park open- Adam said we looked like tacky tourists! haha!

Ava loves the teacup ride, I guess it’s technically named The Mad Hatter’s Tea Party, I rode this same ride with my dad, time and time again! I’m pretty sure the tradition is being passed down to this father-daughter duo. This is one of Ava’s favorite rides.

We managed to do just about everything we wanted to do and after we watched the parade and rode the teacups, we decided to head home. We were all tired and we knew we still had a little bit of a drive ahead of us. While we were waiting for the car- Ava wanted to get a picture in the carriage outside the Grand Floridian.

We have 2 more days left on our tickets- thank goodness for the Florida residents discount- it makes this vacation so much more affordable!! We haven’t quite decided what park(s) we are going to visit, but I’m sure Ava will enjoy any decision we make- there isn’t anything Disney this girl doesn’t love!

Disney Part 1

2011-04-05T05:36:00.000-04:00

We haven’t taken Ava to an actual Disney Park since last May, so almost a year ago. This past October, we did take her to eat with Cinderella and Prince Charming and then eat breakfast with Mickey and his pals but we didn’t go into the park. We decided to take her this Spring. It’s way to hot to take her over the summer, especially when we have the opportunity to go any other time of the year. Starting in September we will have to pay for her a ticket, so we wanted to take advantage of the fact that she is still free ;)

My mom joined us and we all stayed at the Grand Floridian….yes- it was so nice!

After we checked into our room, we called my cousin, Garrett, who was in Kissimee for Spring Training and he met us at downtown Disney to eat. Our first stop in Disney was the World of Disney to let Ava pick out her princess outfit. She had been going back and forth between Belle and Rapunzel, so I just decided to wait and let her pick it out down there. (I also brought her Cinderella dress in case she decided she wanted to be Cinderella again!) While we were in World of Disney, Adam and Garrett were such good sports- they were in the middle of princess mania- haha! The were all out of the Rapunzel dresses, so it made Ava’s decision pretty easy, until we found out they didn’t have any of Belle’s shoes in her size. We checked a few other places with no luck, so she just wore her sparkly Cinderella shoes.

After getting Ava’s dress we headed to the Rainforest Cafe to eat dinner. We haven’t ever eaten here and Ava wasn’t too sure what to think when the animals started to make noise. We finally convinced her they were just trying to say hello to her and she seemed to do okay with that. She did think all the fish and rain were really neat though.

Saturday morning the extra magic hour was at Hollywood Studios and I haven’t ever been to there, even when it was MGM, so we thought we would go. I knew there were a few things Ava would enjoy there. Once we made it into the park we stopped to say hello to a few of Ava’s friends- Chip and Dale and Handy Manny

The good thing about being there early was we didn’t have to wait very long at all to see any of the characters.

It didn’t take any persuading to get her to see Handy Manny- I think it had something to do with the hardware in her blood-haha!

After seeing a few of the characters we made our way to the Toy Story Mania ride- wait time was like 15 minutes and we knew that it would only get longer so we jumped in line. Ava wanted to ride with my mom, so Adam and I had a little friendly competition and I had to take a picture to prove it- I won :)

As soon as we finished Toy Story Mania we headed over to Disney Junior Live! I knew Ava would love it since our mornings are all about Disney Junior. The show was cute and had Mickey and the Gang, Little Einsteins, and Ava’s new favorite show- Jake and the Never Land Pirates in the show. She had such a good time.

Didn’t have much time in Hollywood Studios since we had a lunch date with the princess at Epcot at 11:00, luckily its about a 20-30 minute walk from Hollywood Studios to Epcot. Before we left though, I stopped to get Ava a autograph book and pen. I still have my autograph book from Disney, they now make them where you can put pictures beside each autograph, which is really neat.

The weather on Saturday was actually pretty chilly. Luckily I had grabbed Ava a long sleeved shirt and leggings to wear under her princess dress- she would have froze otherwise. We ended up taking the leggings off at lunch, but she kept the shirt on.

After we made it over to Epcot, Adam separated from us and ran to get fast passes to Soarin’. Adam and I think this is the best ride- ever! We love it! (Well, I love it, since I can’t ride roller coasters, this is about as exciting as it gets for me! haha!) Ava had fallen asleep so we strolled over to the Banquet Hall where the Princess lunch was and let her sleep a little longer while we waited on Adam.

When it was time for us to be seated, we took Ava inside and saw Belle, who was taking pictures with each family- you would have thought Ava had died and gone to heaven- she was in awe! When Belle came out to greet her, she told Ava that they looked just alike and she didn’t think the Beast would be able to tell them apart- the look on Ava’s face was priceless- she knew she matched Belle, but for Belle to actually say that they matched- well that was a whole new level! That was probably the highlight of my weekend- seeing her with Belle.

She posed for her picture and really didn’t want to leave- I honestly think if we had left and gone home at this point she would have been just as happy! Belle has become her new favorite princess since Christmas when she received Beauty & the Beast. (I have a feeling Rapunzel will take over the favorite title when she get Tangled).

After saying good-bye to Belle, we went and sat down to eat and allow the princesses to come by and see Ava.

Ava and Aurora

Ava and Cinderella

Ava and Ariel

Ava and Snow White

I’m so glad I bought her the autograph book- she loved asking each of them to sign her book. (And now she loves look at the pictures in the book beside each signature). I was afraid she was a little too young for it, but apparently I was wrong ;)

At Epcot they have a place called The Character Spot that has Mickey, Minnie, Pluto, Goofy, and Donald all in a line and basically you wait in one line and get to see all of them- and it isn’t that bad of a wait, especially considering how long the line would be at the Magic Kingdom for each of the characters.

Ava and Mickey

Ava and Pluto

Ava and Minnie

Ava and Donald

Ava and Goofy

After seeing Mickey and his pals, we headed over to the Finding Nemo area and rode the finding Nemo ride that ended in the aquarium. Interesting fact- the aquarium was the largest in the world until Georgia opened their aquarium in Atlanta. We saw sea turtles, dolphins, all kinds of fish and sting rays. I read somewhere that the dolphins and sea turtles used to be in the same area, but the dolphins, being playful as they are, would barrel toward the sea turtles hitting them and although it didn’t harm the turtles, people didn’t really care for it. I would have enjoyed seeing that happen a time or two. We also saw the workers feeding the manatee. We eventually made our way over the waiting area for ‘Turtle talk with Crush’. I knew Adam would probably enjoy turtle talk more than anyone ;) It was really cute!

After the Nemo exhibit, we had to make a decision about whether or not to head back to Hollywood Studios or to stay at Epcot for a couple more hours so Adam and I could ride Soarin’. Our fast pass wasn’t until around 3:00 so we decided to get all get some ice cream and see what time it was when we finished. We were initially planning to head back to Hollywood Studios and let Ava see some of the shows they have that we knew she would enjoy, but after eating our ice cream, we decided to stay at Epcot and Adam and I could ride Soarin’ while mom sat with Ava.

We were actually going to try and sneak Ava in on the ride as well, she is 38” tall and the requirement is 40” so we thought that we might be able to get away with it. Plus, Adam and I have both been on the ride and knew that it wouldn’t be an issue for her to ride it. It’s not like it goes fast or slings you anywhere, but after seeing how carefully they were checking other kids that were taller than Ava, we knew we would be able to get her on :( Thankfully, Mom volunteered to sit with her so we could ride.

Ava loved wearing her Minnie Mouse backpack. She kept her sunglasses in it (plus it doubled both as a backpack and a stuffed animal!)

Epcot holds their annual flower festival this time of year, so all of the grounds are well maintained (even more than the usual maintenance) and there were all kinds of character topiaries around.

One of the nicest perks to staying at a Disney resort (especially one that is connected by monorail) is being able to hope on and get to the park in a matter of minutes. After we made it back to the room and took a short nap, we decided to take a quick trip over to the Magic Kingdom and let Ava see the castle. We ended up riding the teacups, the carousel, and It’s a Small World. The only part we didn’t think through was getting back out during the show they put on- it was unbelievably crazy. We actually had to be routed behind the scenes- we went out behind the stores on main street and exited out the front. We literally had to carry Ava and fold up the stroller in order to push our way through some of the people.

Ava didn’t seem to care- she was in heaven, enjoying every second being in the most magical place on earth!

2 1/2 Years Old

2011-03-30T14:17:00.001-04:00

Ava turned 2 1/2 and I never did a post about her milestones, so I am doing it now…I’m not sure why I haven’t seemed to have a spare second, it couldn’t possibly be because of a certain 2 1/2 year old……

The world of 2’s brought a lot of independence our way, and 6 months later, it’s only become stronger!

Ava wears mostly 2T clothes, but can still fit in most of her 24 month clothes and several 18 month clothes. We have started buying her 3T, but mostly because we need the length. She is 38” tall, and yes, everyone asks me do I think she is going to be tall, or at least make a comment about how tall she is. Do I think she is going to be tall? I’m not sure, she has height on her side from both her dad and my parents, but I was always very tall, until I stopped growing in about 8th grade. When we came back to school and started high school, everyone else kept growing, except for me…so we will see. My pediatrician told my mom I would be around 5’6” and I’m 5’6” (and a 1/4-ha!). Ava weighs 32 pounds and loves to eat! She snacks all day long and loves candy, (she and her Papa have this special bond over M&M’s), but she is really good about eating fruit and vegetables.

I absolutely LOVE this age. I think it is more tiring than even the newborn, stage because we are always busy, but she keeps us laughing. Her vocabulary has grown tremendously and it’s true what they say about little ears- she picks up on e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g. We will say something and it could be two-three weeks later and she will say a word, phrase, or mention something pertaining to what we said. Amazing!

She likes to tell us if the sun is out or not (Sun’s out or Sun’s not out) and just this morning she said, "Sun’s out- (as she is peeking out the blinds)- It’s a perfect day!” Where the child learned that I’m not sure!

She loves to sing and her favorite songs are, in no particular order: Tale as old as time (a.k.a. Beauty & the Beast), Twinkle Twinkle, Dreams come true (A Dream is a Wish Your Heart Makes- Cinderella), and Jesus Loves Me. Last weekend we were at the beach and I was laying down and she came over and asked if I was tired, (Is that really even a question to ask a mother of a 2 year old?) and I said yes. Being as sweet as she could, she sat down and started to sing ‘Jesus Loves Me’ which is what I will sing to put her to sleep.

Adam’s favorite phrase she says is: It’s Beautiful and I LOVE it! (a lot of emphasis on the word love).

She has become quite the guitarist and pianist! She will rock out to any tune and even though she doesn’t have the notes or strum patter right, she thinks she does and as parents who hope she learns to love the guitar and piano, we encourage it.

She loves to dance and will dance just about anywhere, especially if she has on an outfit that closely resembles an outfit a princess might wear.

She loves to tell us how to get places. We will get in the card to head to work, church, or someone’s house and she tells us which way to turn- and she has gotten good at knowing her left and right. She was riding the golf cart with my dad when they got to the end of their dirt road and she looked down the road and pointed, “What’s that? What’s that on the left?” (for the record, we think she was asking about a sign…)

The terrible 2’s are also fully thriving in our house! She has learned to argue…..not sure where she got that from…………

She will literally disagree with you, more than once, if she thinks she is right and I’m really worried that she has started this before her 3rd birthday, what in the world is she going to be like as a teenager!

She has also learned to pout- big time- She will drop down to her knees and hang her head- so being the fantastic parents we are- we ignore her! haha! When she starts to whine we tell her to dry it up or she is going to get a spankin’! It’s amazing how quickly they learn both what a spankin’ is and how to ‘dry it up’!

Ava has a really big heart and is very compassionate towards others. She doesn’t like for anyone to be upset! It bothers her to hear another child crying. If she thinks something is wrong, she is very quick to come over and rub your back and say, “It’s okay!”

Life with a 2 year old is pure insanity and we absolutely love it! I can promise you, there isn’t ever a dull moment around our house!

Valentines Day 2011

2011-02-17T08:09:00.000-05:00

We haven’t ever been really big into Valentine’s Day. (I know- isn’t Adam lucky! haha!) I just don’t get into all the hype that is involved with the love day- I would rather be treated good all the time, rather than just one day out of the year! I don’t want Adam buying flowers the week they mark them up extremely high, just because people are willing to to pay for it, so instead he buys me flowers every week (or every other week).

We do still do something small for each other- this year Adam brought me my two favorite treats- chocolate covered cherries from Peterbrooke and sea salt caramels from Sweet Pete’s. I’ve lost 50 pounds over the past 6 months and I’m about to gain it all right back in a week! The sea salt caramels are a little taste of heaven- they are so unbelievably good! I hadn’t had any in 6 months, but I had wanted them, so Adam knew exactly what to do to make my valentine’s day!

Ava’s Daddy was her valentine- he bought her a caboodle- do you all remember those?! and some play make-up so she can shimmer when she is playing dress up ;)

He also bought her a princess cupcake- Ava’s love language is cupcakes, especially princess cupcakes! When her Daddy handed her the cupcake she instantly became a daddy’s girl!

Instead of trying to go out to eat when everyone else is going out to eat the same night, Adam decided to take Ava on a date. They headed out to Ava’s favorite place- Chic-fil-a. I stayed at home and enjoyed some time to myself- I couldn’t have gotten a better v-day present!!

While they were out, he took her over to the pet store and let her pick out a fish- this was all Adam’s doings- and I will be really quick to remind him of that when it comes time to clean the aquarium! She was so excited about the newest addition to our family. They picked out the pink gravel (of course) and the purple plants (of course) and the fish’s home- a castle (of course).

Ava named the fish Nemo (how original right? I’m sure it didn’t have anything to do with the fact that as we were getting ready earlier that morning Finding Nemo was on….) I think Adam received the award for World’s Best Dad after a date like this one! She came home and told me all about it! Meanwhile he won the award for best husband by giving me a little time to myself – to enjoy my candy no less! :)

Ava’s Cheese

2011-02-16T08:42:00.001-05:00

Sunday Ava was looking so cute in her Valentine’s outfit that I wanted to get a picture with her, however, she is in that stage now where you tell her “Say Cheese!” and she does a scrunched up face with her eyes closed- but she sure is cheesing!!! Haha! I told her that I wanted a real smile and sometimes she cooperates.

Then other times, she gives me this look of, “Okay Mom, I’ll somewhat smile, but just know I’m tired of it!” haha! At least she doesn’t fight me to take pictures.

I actually looked at my camera the other day realized since Ava was about 3 months old (when I got my new camera) I have taken almost 10,000 pictures and with most of them, she has been the subject. Also think about how many pictures I took of her first 3 months- tons! Thank goodness for the digital age of cameras, I would have spent a small fortune in film and processing!

A Date to the Symphony

2011-02-15T08:09:00.000-05:00

Friday night Adam and I had a date! We went to the symphony to hear Tony DeSare sing all about love :) Neither of us had ever heard him, but anytime we go to the symphony we enjoy it! We always say we should come more often, but life gets busy and it slides to the backburner. Before leaving we decided to take a few pictures. Ava was wearing her pajamas already- but we put a bow in so she felt complete ;) haha!

I’ve realized that I don’t have many pictures of just myself and Adam, so I thought it would be nice to take one of just the two of us. Ava thought it was so funny that she wasn’t in the picture, since usually she is the primary subject of EVERY picture! She ‘snickering’ as she calls it!

We had seats on the 3rd row, which was great since Adam looked straight at the guitar player the entire performance! We kept trying to scheme up ways to smuggle the Steinway home with us. Who wouldn’t want that beauty sitting in their house?!My parents and cousins, Michael and Melissa, went as well. We enjoyed a nice dinner pre-concert and thoroughly enjoyed the concert. I think a lot of times it takes having a musical background (~~learning~~ trying to learn how to play an instrument) to truly appreciate the talent the symphony has on the stage.

Ava spent the night with her Nana (and of course the Kitties- who I’m sure were excited to see her leave the next morning! haha!) and Adam and I enjoyed being kid free for the night, since it was, after all, Valentine’s weekend….

Our Last Day in Boone

2011-02-14T20:12:00.000-05:00

Saturday evening we took a trip to the App State football field to see their facility they had built since we last visited. Big Papa had to give us the grand tour. We started at the very very top, the press box.

We worked our way down through the floors weaving in and out of the various rooms. We stopped in the chancellor’s box for Ava to pose for a few pictures- she is getting really good about posing ;) I think she thought she was something sitting in these seats right on the 50 yard line.

We were looking at all of the rooms they have for the players and coaches and happened to run into the head football coach himself. He talked to Ava a while about her green and white tights- little did he know she is as crazy about football as he is!

The facility is very nice, right down to the black and gold toilets with the App “A” engraved on them- no kidding! However, I think Ava was most fascinated with the players’ lounge area where a few of the coaches’ kids were playing- she made her self right at home!

We did manage to find her something pink in the place- a weight in the weight room of all places ;)

One of the most impressive rooms in the facility is the locker room (of course). It’s a beautiful room with stone walls and columns. Past players are able to pay for a locker and have their name and number on that locker. We found Big Papa’s and had Ava stand inside it.

They had a group of recruits visiting with their families and had some things set up on a table in the locker room. We grabbed one of the helmets and put it on Ava. We had to tell her to hold it since it was so heavy, I was afraid it might break her neck just to sit it on her head.

She didn’t know what to think- haha! It sure was funny looking- she didn’t leave it on for too long, I don’t think she liked not being able to see out of it very good.

Adam labeled her is future little linebacker and I said…Ummm….- NO! :)

After touring the stadium, which is by far the most beautiful facility I have ever seen, but then again, I haven’t seen many, so that may not be saying much…. (no, really it is beautiful) we headed to eat dinner at Big Papa’s favorite- Sagebrush. We knew Ava would enjoy the peanuts the have by the bucket! Before we went to eat Adam had been wanting to ride up Howard’s Knob. It’s a mountain that looks back over the city. The day before Adam and I had taken off on a mini road trip while Grammy and Ava stayed at the house. We were just sight-seeing and he tried to find Howard’s Knob without the map…big mistake, especially in the snow! We ended up in some ‘Mountain People’ areas and kept waiting for people to come chase us away with guns- haha! We turned on this one road and at that point I wasn’t sure we would ever make it home because it was covered- COVERED in snow and didn’t look like anyone had driven up or down it. Although I will say it provided for some beautiful scenery, especially as the sun was setting.

We obviously did make it back home safely and Saturday night before we went to eat, Big Papa showed us the way to Howard’s Knob. We climbed and climbed and climbed! We ended up on the back side of the mountain the roads were really dicey. We ended up deciding to turn around before we got into a situation we couldn’t get out of, especially since it was getting dark. Well, Adam turned into a drive way and went to back out of the driveway and ended up starting to slide. I think all the oxygen was sucked out from the gasp both Grammy and I made! haha! Poor Adam he had a car full of drivers that all knew how to do it better than he was. We ended up (after a little more sliding and several small backwards and forwards movements) getting turned back towards the bottom of the mountain and headed back into town. I told Adam later that I think he was meant to drive in the snow- especially with as calm as he was as we all tried to tell him how to drive ;0

Ava slept the entire time! She always misses the excitement, which is probably a good thing in these situations!

After eating and getting back home Ava was in the mood to dance. Fortunately for her, her great-grandparents are expert dancers. She was in heaven.

I’m pretty sure Grammy and Big Papa were ready to take a break from all the Princess movies Ava asked to watch whenever the tv was on. She wasn’t really into Big Papa’s westerns- haha!

We had a great time and wished we could have stayed longer- especially Ava! She wasn’t ready to leave and has asked to go back to Grammy’s house (or to see snow and ski) several times!

On the way home we pass through Columbia and called Elyse to see if she was free to meet up with us. We stopped and had a late lunch at a place called ‘Lizard’s Thicket’. Talk about an interesting name! It was southern cooking that was a good fit for all of us. Ava like sitting next to her sweet cousin. I think she was almost eating off Elyse’s plate by the time she was done she was sitting so close to her! Oh, and she has officially named her ‘Leesee’- so Elyse you should feel loved now that you have your official nickname ;)

We were ready to be home by the time we pulled into the garage at home, but we were already missing the mountains! Hopefully we will be able to visit more often now that Ava’s a little older and easier to travel with. A big thank you to Grammy and Big Papa for their wonderful hospitality.

A Visit to the Candy Barrel

2011-02-11T09:06:00.001-05:00

Other than the snow and the mountains, one of my favorite things about visiting Boone is getting to go to the Candy Barrel! Ever since I was a little girl this has been a memorable part of every trip. We hadn’t taken Ava since the last time we were in Boone she was only 5 months old- she wouldn’t have appreciated it. This time we were determined to take her. The child and her Daddy share a special bond over their candy- that’s probably true for just about any Daddy-Child relationship! Haha!

Step inside the Mast General Store/Candy Barrel and you are transported back into a different era. Dozens of wooden barrels line the store and are filled with every kind of candy you can think of. We told Ava to grab a basket and that is all we had to say, the girl knew exactly what to do!

There are 2 Master General Store locations (actually 3, but two of them are less than a 1/2 mile from each other…) There is one in downtown Boone, but it isn’t quite as authentic as the one in Valle Crucis. Adam was adamant that he wanted to take her to the more authentic one. The one with the larger Candy Barrel store in it is actually the Annex and the Original Mast General store is less than a 1/2 mile down the road. Adam hadn’t ever been to the original one, so we took him down there to show him around.

I should have taken a picture of the candy we bought, but I didn’t- shame on me! Ava thought she was something else being able to walk through and pick out the candy she wanted. I think she picked up mostly Smarties and a Candy Necklace and few other pieces here and there. I’m glad we don’t live close, we would spend way too much money on candy and I’m sure my waistline would suffer as well ;)

Besides candy, the mast general stores sells a little of everything, clothing, shoes, vintage toys. Adam wanted a bolo paddle…random, I know! and I bought Ava a couple of presents that she doesn’t know about (they’ve been hidden!). Grammy also bought her a coloring pad with a magic pen. She was so excited about it and couldn’t wait to get back to Grammy’s house to open it up!

I have a feeling this will become a place we must stop at every time we visit!

Ava Goes Skiing!

2011-02-10T08:28:00.000-05:00

To say I hoped Ava enjoys skiing would be the understatement of the year. As much as Adam and I enjoy skiing we truly hoped she would enjoy it as much as we do. Skiing is our favorite family vacation. We would much rather spend a week skiing in the mountains that we would at any beach or lake, sometimes I feel like I was born in the wrong state. I love the cold weather and even though I am partial to my reef flip flops, I’m sure I could make the switch to Uggs with no argument if I could negotiate cold weather in the trade.

As we were pulling out of the driveway on Thursday afternoon, I made the remark to Adam that I was plum giddy! I was so excited for Ava to be able to play in the snow and see how she would do skiing.

We owe Mr. Grady and Mrs. Reba Moretz so much for allowing us to ski for free. They set it up so we can park in the member’s parking area (right at the door- which means alot when you are walking in snow and/or ice!), give us free rentals of our skis and boots, and a locker so we can easily store our things (which also means alot when you have a 2 year old!). We like App Ski Mountian so much because it is easy to get to from my grandparents and very user friendly for beginning skiers- a great place for Ava to learn to ski. They also have a terrain park and its neat to watch skiers or snowboarders jump- but I will say sometimes it causes my heart to stop when it doesn’t look like they are going to complete the jump- we have seen some nasty falls!

There isn’t really any way to practice skiing, especially in Florida. After we put Ava’s boots on we showed her how to snap them into her ski, I knew it would be hard to do it out in the snow, and that was probably more challenging than anything! (I always hated for my skis to pop off because it meant I would have to snap them back on- ughh!)

By the way, are her skis and ski boots not the cutest things you have ever seen?! She was by far the cutest little skier on the mountain!

She was excited to get on the slope! I’ll be honest, I wasn’t expecting much for a 2 year old that isn’t ever around snow. I just wanted her to experience it- all the while crossing my fingers for her to absolutely love it. She didn’t have to be great at it- just love it!

By the time her Daddy finally got both ski boots snapped into the skis she and I were both ready to take off! We had decided before hand I would be the one to take her down the slope first and Adam would take pictures and video the whole experience.

Ava and I rode the ramp up to the top of the bunny slope and got ready to head down. I quickly realized that this was going to be a workout for me. Anyone who wants to get into shape just needs to ~~carry~~ slide a toddler down a bunny slope! Ava was so funny! She wanted to hold onto me with both hands and kept trying to lean back into me, which anyone who has ever been skiing knows that if you lean back and let your feet slide they are going to slide faster and faster. I kept trying to tell her to stand up straight.

Eventually I talked her into holding onto me with one hand instead of 2 to see if that would help, you can tell by the tongue sticking out of her mouth that she was concentrating so hard! Every so often we would stop and reset and I would tell her she needed to make a triangle with her skis and I would explain that was called snow-plowing and that it would slow her down. I know she didn’t grasp it because when I stood behind her and told her "Okay, make a triangle!”, she would make a triangle alright, but with her fingers instead of her skis!!

By the time we made it down the hill I was completely drained of any energy I had and sweating to death! I motioned for Adam that it was his turn the next time. I wasn’t sure if Ava was going to go up the hill again, but she said she had fun and wanted to go again.

Adam and Ava started riding the ramp up the hill and he was trying to once again explain the concept of snow-plowing. Because it was a Friday and not a holiday weekend, it wasn’t busy at all, there was no line to get on the ramp, which made it very nice.

Ava and her Daddy made their way down the slope and by the time he had made it down, he agree that it was a lot of physical work. In hindsight I should have gotten some of those straps that keep kids skis pointed in. Having the straps would have kept us from having to stop and point her skis in the right direction since they seemed to go every which way.

We had briefly talked about paying for lessons for her to learn, but I really liked the idea of teaching her myself. I haven’t ever had lessons and I taught Adam how to ski and while I wouldn’t say that I am a phenomenal skier, both Adam and I can handle black diamonds (East and West versions) pretty well, so I really wanted to be the one to teach her.

By the time we made it down a couple of times it was Noon and Ava was tired. I didn’t want to end the day of skiing on a bad note and since we hadn’t gotten a lot of sleep last night I knew she needed a good nap. We took her in and within seconds of taking her boots and jacket off she was asleep. Apparently it was a good workout for her as well!

Ava’s second day of skiing was quite warm, at least for snow skiing standards. It was also much more crowded. Even though it was Saturday, schools in the area were in session because they had missed so many days so far because the the crazy winter weather they have had. However, there were tons of groups who came and usually when you have groups there are tons of people on the bunny slope (at least for the first part of the day).

Since there was a line for the bunny slope ramp, Ava and I decided to perform some cross-country skiing to ski over to an area that was cleared, enough for Ava to ski. We had been talking to Ava about snow-plowing since the day before and she had finally gotten to the point when Adam or I would say “Triangle!” she would point her toes in, however, she seemed to forget what she was supposed to do as soon as she was out on the slope- haha! I think she was just excited and her legs might not have been strong enough to turn her skis inward. Of course, my argument was that I felt those same legs kick me in the ribs for weeks and felt as though every rib in my body was going to break while I was pregnant, there wasn’t any way I believed her legs weren’t strong enough! ;0

She seemed to enjoy the sections of the slopes that weren’t as steep. I think she felt more in control and since it was as steep she skied a lot slower. We did this a few times and even though she never skied without holding onto me- tightly- I think she had a good time.

Towards the end she started to have a meltdown, she was getting frustrated and I wanted to stop before she never wanted to ski again. I’m so glad we brought her and what makes me even happier is that if you ask her if she wants to go skiing again she says “Yeah!”. Although I’m not wishing for time to fly bye (or more than it already does-) I’m really looking forward to how much better she does next year!

We ended up taking Ava inside to sit with Grammy and watch all the skiers while Adam and I hit the slopes for a couple of hours and enjoyed being with each other!

The Moretz’s are always so gracious in allowing us to come whenever we like- Adam and I commented numerous times throughout the weekend how grateful we were for them- paying for lift tickets can get expensive, especially when you spend most of your time walking a toddler down the bunny slope- Ava might not have such a fabulous opportunity at such a young age if it wasn’t for their generosity!.

Snow, Snow, Snow, SNOW!

2011-02-09T09:03:00.001-05:00

It was around 11:00 when we made it to Grammy and Big Papa’s house and we were all ready to get out of the vehicle. There was snow all over the ground and I was excited about Ava seeing it the next morning. We ended up visiting with my grandparents and not getting to bed until 2:00 in the morning!

It was snowing when we woke up the next morning. Adam jumped up and took Ava over to the window to see the snow. When we made it upstairs Ava wanted to go outside so bad! We were all still in our jammies and it was obviously was very cold outside, but I also realized that she was so excited that she would be fine for just a few minutes. We put her jacket on her and some boots and walked outside.

There were 3 things that Ava said she wanted to do in the snow. 1)Ski 2)Make a snowball and 3)Make a snowman, like Frosty. I was determined to do all 3 with her!

We made several snowballs and she had a blast throwing them.

Ava has seen snow at least once a year- but at 5 months old I don’t think she really cared and last winter it was dark and we only stayed for a few minutes after driving 3 hours to see the south GA snow. This time there was quite a bit on the ground, it was daylight, and we were going to be spending the entire weekend in it.

She didn’t quite know what to think about it, she kept scooping it up and crumbling it through her fingers.

We also broke her off one of the icicles to let her hold. It didn’t last long before she threw it down. Snow is cold, but that icicle was even colder- haha!

She had asked to build a snowman and I wasn’t really dressed properly, I had on my pajamas and some shoes (no socks mind you) that I slipped on, but I was determined to make the girl a snowman! As cold as I was (and with Adam and Grammy watching from inside the warm house ;) ) Ava and I built her snowman.

Our snowman might go on record for the smallest snowman ever- but it did have 3 layers.

This picture (below) cracks me up- it’s almost as if you can read her mind- She’s thinking- this is what you call a snowman?! haha! After giving him the once over, she asked me where his corn cob pipe, button nose and coal eyes were….I could only laugh, next year she and her daddy will see if they can outdo my snowman, of course, they have to build it in their pajamas for it to be a fair competition!

All in all I think she had a good time playing in the snow. We were actually driving up the mountain one morning and out of the blue she said, ‘Look mama, it’s beautiful.’ (When I asked her what was she said the snow) Then she said, ‘I love it!’

I’m so glad she loved it since snow will be involved in many family vacations we take. After playing in the snow, we ate breakfast and got ready to head to the ski slopes with our little ski bunny!

Getting Ready to Go!

2011-02-08T08:28:00.000-05:00

A couple Saturdays ago, we brought out all of our ski stuff to begin going through it and start packing for upcoming trip to my grandparents house in NC. Ava was right in the thick of it wanting to try on everything! She ended up wearing this scarf and the goggles for much of the morning. To say she was excited to be around snow was an understatement.

I always try to leave my house as clean as possible when I am heading out of town, it is just so nice to come home to clean house, even if you end up bringing all your ~~junk~~ things from the trip in and piling them in the floor! I usually don’t mop the floors until Ava is asleep because as evidenced by the pictures, Ava insists on helping . Of course, I’m grateful for the help ;) but when I’m mopping I’m usually more interested in getting it done as quick as possible, especially right before a trip since my list is usually a mile long of the things that need to be done.

This particular night I wasn’t paying attention and didn’t realize she had grabbed the broom instead of the mop. She scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed, doing it the same way Mommy did! I’m thinking that maybe I should just give her the bucket of soapy water and let her work her magic the next time!

Splashin’ in the Rain

2011-02-07T08:28:00.000-05:00

We have Netflix (which is a streaming movie/tv show program that allows us to instantly watch movies or shows and we also have the dvd option so we can watch dvd’s that aren’t available to stream- I mention this so that in 20 years when I am reading the book I will remember what exactly Netflix was….)

I absolutely LOVE old movies, and by old I mean from the 50’s and 60’s era. There isn’t anything better than a Rock Hudson/Doris Day romantic comedy, in fact, one of my Christmas presents from Adam was a DVD of 2 RH/DD movies…pure bliss!

I also love musicals and always have. I’m probably going to affirm how much of a dork I am with this next statement, but when I was younger (and even when I was older and before I had Ava and cartoons consumed my tv time) on Saturdays I would watch whatever movies were on TCM or AMC. I really think actors/actresses were so much talented as a whole than they are now. Not only could they act, they could also sing and dance, all at the same time!!!

One thing I love about Netflix is the ability to watch all those old movies and musicals. Ava must take after me in regards to her tv watching preferences. She likes the old movies and especially musicals, she will try to mimic whatever dance they are doing on the tv. We don’t have time to watch full length movies very often, especially lately since we all seem to keep passing a virus amongst the three of us, all we want to do is sleep….however, I knew the next one in our queue would be one Ava would probably enjoy. We watched the infamous ‘Singin’ In the Rain’ musical and I think Ava took it to heart!

After work it had been raining and I had mentioned when I picked her up at mom’s that she could splash in the water puddle, well you didn’t need to tell the child twice. As soon as we got home she wanted to put on her raincoat and head back out. I didn’t want her to get soaking wet, so we put her boots on that her Aunt Ro-ro bought for her (she also bought her the raincoat) and she went out to find a puddle.

She was so excited. I think she splashed for a solid 30 minutes and only stopped because her Daddy came home and she was interested in what he was doing. I meanwhile, stayed dry right inside the garage, happily watching her play. Playing around in a water puddle probably didn’t help get rid of the colds we have been carrying around in the house, but it sure made for some afternoon fun!

Ava’s bow kept inching its way toward the front of her head with the hood of the coat on, it eventually fell off into the water :) Fortunately with the aid of the boots and rain coat she stayed dry, except for a little part of her leggings and she wasn’t muddy since she played in an area that was either concrete or lava rocks…mommy was happy about that!

There is a lot to be said about the fun of splashing in a water puddle!

Game Night

2011-02-04T08:44:00.000-05:00

Usually when I mention the word game I’m referring to something to do with the Jaguars ;) This time however, some friends of ours/Jaguar buddies, Jason and Jenny had us over for a game night and all the kids were invited to come. Ava quickly made herself at home, at one point she came around the corner carrying her doll, backpack, and a pair of binoculars and hard hat she had picked up from somewhere. I think she wore the binoculars the rest of the night!

Playrooms are extremely nice when you have a kids together! Jason and Jenny recently added on a playroom and it is so nice, and Ava didn’t mind at all that it was filled with boy toys ;) Brody and Trevor are both big fans of one of Ava’s favorite movies, Toy Story, and I think there were no less than 12 Buzz Lightyears lying around!

Baylie and Ava, the girls of the bunch- Baylie took good care of Ava and showed her how to take really good care of her Bitty Baby. Baylie is an expert since she herself has one ;)

I’m not sure what Ava was doing here, but I am bet that whatever it was she was being a tad dramatic- haha!! I think Trevor was wondering what she was doing as well!

Since the adults were all playing games, the kids wanted to feel grown up and play as well- so they broke out the wii games.

Ava had only had about a 20 minute nap this particular day, which is a lot shorter than her usual 2-3 hour nap, so I was ~~worried~~ curious to see how she would do being up late and around several kids. By the end of the night, I think she was the only who had managed not to cry- haha! After we got home it took about 5 minutes and she was gone! All that playing wore out!

As for the adults, we had so much fun playing games and telling stories! We didn’t manage to get Tracy to serenade us on Rock Band, but she has promised to next time :)

I’m good if I’m with my Daddy!

2011-02-03T09:26:00.001-05:00

Ava is becoming more and more of a Daddy’s girl. Recently, we were to have a hard freeze and she insisted that she walk around outside with her daddy while he checked on everything outside. We kept telling her it was really cold, but she didn’t care, so she put on her ski jacket and we zipped it up and put her hood on she could walk outside with her daddy. She thought she was something else!

By the time she made it back in the house (which was only a few minutes later) she was COLD, but she made sure her daddy was done outside before she would let us take her jacket off! We just said she was gearing up for her upcoming ski trip!

Good Friends

2011-01-28T09:16:00.000-05:00

There isn’t much I’m more thankful for in my life than good friends.

Especially those friends you can be real with, and laugh with.

And you know, I’m even thankful for the times they poke fun….

I’m thankful God allowed their paths to cross with ours, because there isn’t any other reason we should have ever known each other, we all know our lives would be a lot less interesting if we didn’t!

Dress-Up

2011-01-27T08:55:00.000-05:00

Ava is truly a girlie-girl! She loves all things girl and when her Daddy played dress up with her, you couldn’t have made her day any better even if you had tried. It wasn’t long before she came out with this ensemble on and twirled around for me! It was definitely a mix and match kind of outfit. The bow and tutu were part of her 1st birthday outfit…I can’t believe that has been a year and a half ago! The wings were from her Gigi and the slippers were under the tree from Santa this past Christmas.

***I should put in a disclaimer, that even though she is a girlie-girl, she is also growing up around a hardware store, it’s nothing to see her using tools to “build” something :)

I have to admit I love this princess stage, I’m dreading the day she will outgrow it. I know more and more girls (young- ages 5/6- maybe even younger) are trading in their princess attire for a more grown-up-girl-with-an-attitude look and I am going to try my hardest to keep that from happening as long as possible. I could get on a soapbox about all the things the world will throw at her as she grows up, all the lies and deception it will try to get her to believe, so I secretly hope she remembers how she feels at this point when she believes she is a princess and remembers that feeling when the world tries to tell her she doesn’t matter or that she isn’t good enough. We all know that growing up is hard and call me crazy, but I’m all for protecting my child from it as long as possible. I know there are some mom’s who aren’t too keen on the whole princess thing, and far be it from me to tell them otherwise, but there is something wholesome and innocent about girls wanting to be a princess waiting for their prince charming and what’s even more notable is that in every princess movie (at least the ones we have in this house) the princesses’ attitudes are always cheerful and kind. Why shouldn’t we raise our little girls to have the same type of attitudes?

We have had more tea parties than I can count and have danced like Cinderella (and now her new favorite, Belle) and Bippiddi-Boppiddi-Boo’d it until we were bippiddi’d out. Secretly, I’m most excited about seeing what she makes her daddy do as she gets older. I remember doing my dad’s hair and clipping every hairclip and bow in his hair…and I don’t remember how ridiculous he looked, all I recall is how much fun I had doing it. Ahh, Adam’s life is changing by the second thanks to his little girl.

Wordless Wednesday

2011-01-26T09:03:00.000-05:00

New Years

2011-01-25T09:11:00.000-05:00

What do you get when you heat an oven with an aluminum pan in it? Nothing! However, you get a big mess when you accidentally leave it sitting in the plastic top!!

This was the mess we walked into at my grandmother’s house on New Years Day! Too many women in the kitchen if you ask me :) I’m still not sure if she was able to get it off. It wouldn’t break off nor could you wipe it off when it hot because you couldn’t get close enough. We might be back next year and she still have remnants of plastic in her oven!!

Ava hadn’t been feeling very well, so we bathed her and put her in her jammies and headed over to Grammy’s at the beach. Since it was just a few of us eating we figured she would be more comfortable in her pjs. Of course she had to have a bow in her hair, a bow always makes a girl feel better, right?! haha! Ava never acts like she feels bad, if she ever does, you KNOW something is terribly wrong! She played cards and read books and played with a puzzle. Of course, being the youngest one there by 22 years makes you the center of attention and she eats. it. up.

Aunt Ro-Ro fixed the traditional New Years Day food, I ate my black eyed peas and greens. Adam didn’t eat any greens so I told him if I come into an enormous amount of money in 2011 he can’t have any ;) Meggie baked a cake that we ended up putting candles on to let her blow out since her birthday was December 3rd. Nothing like having to make your own cake, huh?! We had a nice time and headed home before it got too late since Adam had to be at the church early the next morning. Ava and I ended up staying home from church since she was running a fever. We did watch church online and she kept looking for her daddy on stage since I had told her he was playing (the live feed is from Northpoint in Alpharetta- so he obviously wasn’t playing on that particular stage). It ended up being a relaxing weekend and a nice way to bring in the new year, I just wish Ava had been feeling better.

Zoo

2011-01-24T09:10:00.000-05:00

We have annual passes to the zoo and it makes it so nice (and easy) to go whenever we feel like it. We decided to take Ava on New Year’s Eve, little did we know they had a HUGE party planned and they call it Noon Year’s Eve.

We had told Ava when we were on our way that there was a new baby giraffe, of course I didn’t give my child enough credit because I told Adam she probably won’t realize it is a baby since, you know, a baby giraffe doesn’t really look much smaller than an adult giraffe. She wanted to head to the giraffes as soon as we arrived and she spotted the “baby” immediately- I should have known better than to think she wouldn’t have figured it out- way to go mama!

We were able to see the lion really well. He was up walking around and got pretty close to where we were standing. Usually they are laying around and not really moving a whole lot.

Ava loves the elephants as well. She thinks they are funny since we went one time and they were splashing themselves with the water. This time they were eating and it had started to get crowded due to the party so we didn’t stay long.

The nicest part about our annual passes is that we don’t feel like spending an hour or two at the zoo and leaving is wasting money so there isn’t any pressure to see everything and spend all day there. Another nice thing is the ability to skip the ticket line, which was extremely long on this particular day!

Growing up my favorite animals to see at the zoo were the flamingos, which Ava calls “mingos”, she seems to like them, but it might be because I told her they were my favorite. Now everytime she sees them she says, “mommy’s favorite”.

We had promised her a ride on the “round-round”, fortunately, unlike the fair, parents can accompany their child for free, because you know at the fair I’m certainly riding for myself, and if I didn’t have a child I would still ride it, right? ha!

We ended up stopping by the party briefly- very briefly. We were glad we did since we ran into some very dear friends, but since most things were too old for Ava and we had already been there for a little while, we knew Ava was getting close to naptime we headed out. She did score this party hat that she insisted on wearing on the ride home!

That evening we had a fire in our firepit and set off a few small fireworks, but Ava had started feeling bad and was super clingy so we ended up going in and putting her to bed. I think we were all in bed by 9:30- haha! So much for seeing the ball drop!

Park

2011-01-21T09:08:00.000-05:00

One of the ways to speak my child’s love language is to spend time with her at a park- any park will do, just as long as it is a park. The weather had been so nice while we were off that we decided to take Ava and spend the afternoon with her there.

She loves the slides and had so much fun going up and down them. But more than the slides she loves to be around other kids. Since school was out for Christmas break, there were several kids running around, all of them older than her by a few years.

She would follow them back and forth between the playsets and try to do exactly what they did, which also made Adam and myself keep a close eye on her because they were much bigger than she was.

They have been doing a lot of work at the park and have added a few new things. We saw a trail that went through the woods so we decided to walk through it. Apparently they have some sort of low ropes course throughout the area and there was one particular part that had a low balance beam. We put Ava on it to see if she could walk across it. She was a little too nervous to take a step, she wouldn’t hardly stand on it without holding someone’s hand!

We spent about an hour to an hour and a half there, until Ava started to get sleepy and we headed home to let her take a nap.

I had taken Ava to the park a few times before and her grandparents have taken her, but Adam hasn’t ever been with us, I think she liked showing her daddy one of her favorite places to go!