Halloween

Ava is in bed for the night and should sleep well. She's had a very busy last 5 days. Friday evening she went over to Maple Grove and "Grandma Terri" watched her while the rest of us went out for a delicious meaty dinner at Fogo de Chao. I was stuffed half way in, but made sure that I packed on the extra pounds with a giant piece of cheesecake for dessert. We picked up our sleeping beauty after dinner, headed home, and pulled into our driveway to find Uncle Brent, Aunt Lisa, & cousins Zack & Reece unloading their van in our driveway. Ava was so excited to see them that she stayed up for awhile before heading to bed WAY past her bedtime.

Saturday morning Daddy, Boppa, and Uncle Brent were up early to go down and tailgate. The rest of us went to the Fall Festival in Maple Grove. I was shocked at how busy it was. We got there at 10:00 and there were so many people out. The Fall Festival is where most of the stores on Main St. open their doors to trick-or-treaters. There is pumpkin decorating, photos taken, etc. The weather was beautiful and the kids had a great time seeing the other costumes and getting candy. When we were done we dropped Ava off at Grandma's while Lisa, Zack, Reece, and I went shopping in Albertville. I have to admit that I was kind of sad that we didn't go to the game. It was a beautiful day to be outside, and the gophers actually won. I had a Very happy husband (and a very distraut brother-in-law) that night, although he had no voice from all the yelling he did.

Sunday morning we went to church, hung out for awhile, and then gave our hugs & kisses good-bye to Lisa, Brent, and the boys. Ava had so much fun with them and she can't wait to see them again in a week and a half when we go back to IA to visit Grandma & Boppa Becker.

Monday Ava had her Halloween party at daycare. I picked her up and we went directly to pick Daddy up at the bus stop in Maple Grove. We made our stops at Grandma's, Grandma Terri's, Lauryn's, and then went to see Ryan, Andrea, & Uncle Wes. We had good intentions of being home by 7:00 to get Ava down to bed and then hand out candy. We ended up not getting home until after 8:00. By then most of the trick-or-treaters were done. So now we have a very large bag of candy in our pantry. Just what my butt/thighs Don't need!!!

Yesterday Ava was back to daycare. We rushed home, took a bath, ate dinner, and then off to music class we went. Ava did much better this week. She was much more engaged and seemed to actually enjoy it. She once again fell asleep on the way home.

Today she got to stay home with Lauryn. Lauryn taught her to say something new today...."Justin Bieber". Exactly what I want my 20 month old running around saying. :) Actually, she spent most of the evening running around the house singing her ABC's. I'm amazed that she knows the entire alphabet. She knows her colors, counts to ten, and now her ABC's...she's no longer a baby, but rather a little girl. Before storytime tonight we ended our day with a family game of "ring around the rosey". What a great end to the day!


Ava LOVED playing with cousins Zacky & Reece
Trick-or-treating at the Fall festival

Cousins Zacky, Reece, & Ava

Pretzels and a movie with a buddy...life doesn't get much better than this.

Ava's monkey face while modeling her new monkey pjs

This is how Ava looks all the time lately. She is attached to her blankie and has been spending a lot of time with that darn thumb in her mouth. I'm going to start calling her Linus.

Our little strawberry

Lauryn & Ava