Merry Christmas Everyone!

Yesterday we had Ava's Christmas party at her preschool, and it was adorable to say the least. They had lots of fun things planned for the kids along with a neat gift exchange. My personal favorite was when they lined up the two 2 yr old classes in the Chapel to sing the parents Christmas songs!!!! ADORABLE! That would melt any parents heart. Anyway, here is one clip of Ava singing.....wait for the ending!!!! Merry Christmas!

Great Weather!

We had awesome weather this weekend! On Sunday it was about 75 degrees (now it is 30 degrees!?!?!?!?!?!?) WHAT! Anyway, we played outside all day to enjoy the nice weather. Ava loves sidewalk chalk...almost as much as her daddy :) We had lots of fun drawing pictures and hopping our way through the hopscotch. Then off to the park for more outdoor fun!

Chocolate Milk ROCKS!!!

It is FREEZING outside today!!! I'm talking in the twenties people! We are hoping for snow later today, but in the meantime, Ava and I have been throwing an indoor party!!! Wohoo! We have been dressing up in LAyeRS of warm clothes, putting on the silliest hats we can find and then running outside to feel how COLD it is!!!! Ava thinks the cold weather is Silly FUN! So when lunch rolled around I decided that we should have some chocolate milk :) YES!!!! Chocolate milk is just the most amazing drink in my book. It has been forever since I have had any, so today was the perfect occasion! Ava has had chocolate milk only a few times, but understands the pure beauty of it. We sat at the table and just had a moment of silence while we both sipped on our wonderful milk :) Ahhhh....these are the things I will forever cherish!

Christmas!!!

I LOVE this time of year!!!! The cold weather, fireplaces, hot chocolate, Christmas music and all of the wonderful decorations!!! I LOVE IT! We got our tree up and finished decorating this past weekend, and boy is Ava excited about Christmas! This year is going to be so much fun with her. She is finally old enough to really get it, so you can imagine the excitement in her eyes when she looks up at the Christmas tree. She stares at the tree like it is the most spectacular thing she has ever seen. Watching her excitement brings back childhood memories for me. It's funny how much Christmas changes once you become a parent :) We have started some of our very own family traditions, and are looking forward to celebrating the birth of Jesus. Randomly throughout the day I hear Ava shout "Happy Birthday Jesus" and "Where is Santa Mommy?" It brings a smile to my face to see the joy in hers. Merry Christmas!

Food for Thought

This time of year is always filled with dreadful colds, flu's and grouchy Christmas shoppers! One way to spread God's name in a positive light is to say "God Bless You" whenever someone sneezes. I challenge everyone to do this every time you hear someone sneeze, especially strangers! In general it seems that when I am out running errands, I tend to hear God's name being used in vain, or to say "Holidays" instead of "Christmas." It is CRAZY!!!! So I think this is a small way for people to hear God's name being used in a positive way. I sometimes catch myself in a hurry and focused on what I am doing, and not able to acknowledge a strangers sneeze! I will do my best now to take this as a wonderful opportunity, and I encourage you to do the same :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble Gobble!

Good Friends, Good Times!

We had a great dinner over at a friends house tonight, thanks Becky! Aside from having a good time, watching all of our kids play together was absolutely entertaining to say the least. It is just the best to watch them in their own little world. At one point Ava and Jillian went back into Fletcher's room and got awfully quiet. I went back there to check on them and was shocked at what I had found. They both had crawled up into his bed with books and were just sitting next to each other reading!!!!! It was pretty CUTE! Now these are two year olds, so the fact that they were even sitting STILL was a shocker :) After they got caught being sneaky it turned into a PARTY!!! There was even a little kissing going on! Shhh don't tell Daddy...

HALLOWEEN!

This year Halloween was just the best! Ava is finally old enough to participate in trick or treating and LOVED it! It was so funny to watch her little mind put hings together after she went to the first few houses. She was absolutely amazed that every house she went to, she got candy!!! She started out slow, frequently checking her bag to make sure that her loot was still there....Heaven forbid anything happen to it. We went trick or treating with Dottie and Harry (two of my nieces and nephews) who are professional trick or treaters. They taught Ava everything she needed to know about the art of door bell ringing, and so much more! Thanks to Hannah Montana and Peter Pan, Ava is ready for next year! After about the third house she realized that the entire neighborhood was in on this! She ran down the street with her cousins shouting for joy and yelled, "So Much Fun!" This was definitely a Halloween that we will never forget.

Las Vegas!

Oh my my! Where to begin! Matt and I had a much needed weekend getaway last week to Las Vegas. It was absolutely fabulous to say the least. My mom and Kelley came to watch Ava, so we were kid free! Weeee! It was almost like a second honeymoon. We stayed at the Bellagio and had the most amazing room that overlooked the fountains. GORGEOUS! If we were in our room, we were glued to the window! The Bellagio Fountains are just insane! I attached a video of them from our room...but seeing them in person is a whole different boat! We rented a fun Pontiac Solstice convertible and drove down to Hoover Dam for the day. That was so neat. The construction, etc. of the Dam is really incredible. Riding in the car with the top down and music going was a vacation in its own! No carseats allowed and not a care in the world! We ate AMAZING food and really enjoyed our special weekend together. I feel revived and rested and hope that we can do an "us trip" every year!

PRECIOUS!

Today Ava wouldn't go down for her nap without her Bible. The girl LOVES her some Jesus! I let her bring it to bed with her, tucked her in, and off I went. A few seconds later I heard her screaming like she had just been shot and that her Nunny had been stolen! I was going to the bathroom at the time, so I couldn't exactly drop everything and run in there. I then heard that she was crying for her Bible...I assumed that maybe it fallen between her bed and the wall and was just out of sight. As soon as I finished using the restroom, I hurried into Ava's room to find her reaching out of her bed for her bible that was lying on the floor right beside her bed. Mind you this is a small toddler bed that sits about 12 inches off the ground...it was maybe one inch away from her fingers! Ha! She very easily could have gotten out of bed, grabbed it, and then jumped right back in bed! Instead she was crying like it had fallen off a cliff 100 feet to never be seen again. You know like in the movies when someone is reaching over a cliff trying to save someones life, and they just can't reach! HILARIOUS! After I realized that nobody was dying, I picked up her Bible and safely handed it to her. She was so relieved to have her Bible again (like it had been missing for months). She stuffed her Nunny into her mouth and rolled her tired eyes into the back of her head. This experience was clearly exhausting for her! She started saying "go night night, go night night" like everything was now okay to go to sleep. Here comes the cute part... she immediately laid down all nestled in like she always does, placed her Bible right in front of her, folded her little hands like she was praying on top of the Bible, and then fell fast asleep. PRECIOUS! While my eyes couldn't believe it, my heart just melted.

Makes me smile!

It is amazing how a child's laughter and silliness can just put a smile on any face. Ava does just that for me everyday. She is just so funny :) Her giggle is the most beautiful music to my ears. No matter what seems to be going on in our world, she is able to put a smile on our faces with just one look. We are so blessed to have such a sweet little girl, and the joy she brings us is priceless! Thank you for your silliness Ava... we love you!

A fun Weekend!

We had my sweet Niece, Claire, come and stay with us this past weekend!!! She is such a doll! We did lots of fun things and really had a blast with her. We played at the wooden Castle Park, went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch, painted fun picture frames, and so much more! It was sort of like "Claire Camp." I do have to say that one of my favorite moments was when I had my other Niece, Dottie, join us to make cupcakes! It was just the girls!!!! They were all so adorable in their cute aprons holding spatulas! I think we each ate our own body weight in icing that day, but it was so much fun :)

Big Girl Bed!

This past weekend we moved Ava into her big girl bed! What an exciting transition this is, but I must say that it was also kinda sad! Taking her crib and bedding and packing it all away :( My baby girl is no longer a baby girl!!!! Boy does time fly. The big girl bed is so fun and exciting, and Ava absolutely loves it. We sat down as a family and put it all together on Friday...it was pretty cute to watch Ava help her daddy with the screws and holding pieces together. I will never forget the excitement on her face when it was finished. I was sooooo nervous about her going to a big girl bed. She could now wander throughout the house in the middle of the night, or come and see me! Ahhhhh! So far so good...she has not gotten out of bed once. When she gets up in the morning she sings and plays in her crib and then after she is ready to get up, she calls for me. Is this for real?!!! It HAS to be only a matter of time before she is waking me up eye to eye, right? hmmmmm. Well as for now this is great! I can't help but peak in on her after she goes to sleep each night ...that little body in that sweet bed :) PRECIOUS!

The Zoo!

It has been a while since I have written a blog post, life has been a little crazy with my parents in town due to the hurricane. They suffered hardly any damage and now have electricity as of Friday evening!!! Wohoo! Anyway, last weekend we went to the Fort Worth Zoo and had a great time. There is nothing like cool weather and a day to play outside with your family. We saw lots of neat animals and took a fun little train ride! It is neat as an adult to see all of the different animals at the zoo, but the real joy comes from watching Ava's face as she sees all of these animals up close and in person. It is just awesome to see her reaction to them and then to hear what she thinks! So funny. Her favorite animal this trip was the Gorilla. She also loved feeding the birds and chased them all around, but I must say that the train ride is what really iced the cake! The girl LOVES trains!!! She choo choo'd to her hearts content and asked to do it over and over again. Another great trip to the zoo...