Saturday, December 31, 2011

The 12 days of Christmas

So I just spent an hour writing a wonderful blog update, summarizing the past two weeks. I went to hit "publish" and it was gone. Now I'm a very unhappy woman who is mad that she wasted an hour that I could have been taking a nap while Ava was sleeping. So I apologize that this Christmas update is now lame, but I don't have the patience to do it all over again. Perhaps a more detailed update will come later.

With that being said, I wish you a wonderful New Years, and hope that 2012 brings you much love, laughter, health, & happiness.

(I also managed to download the pictures from newest to oldest. So, if you want to see them in chronological order please start at the bottom)
Ava with baby Tate. Congrats to Josh & Kate, we are so happy & excited for you!

Nate, Wes, me, & Janna wearing our new "gopher gloves" from Mema & Boppa
After church on Christmas Eve
Grandma & Grandpa with Ava (and Abigail, her new sidekick) after church
Ava checking out the baby goat before going in for a kiss
Giving the goat a hug
Trying to feed the baby goat
Grandpa holding the best gift ever
The Parr family
Grandma Great with all the grand kids (Ava being oh so cooperative)
Reece & Ava playing ring-around-the-rosey

Grandma, Grandpa, Santa, & Mrs. Claus with all the grand kids
The adults with Santa & Mrs. Claus
My immediate family (minus Uncle Rick)
Meeting Santa and opening gifts is exhausting
Listening to her new Frosty book from Grandma & Grandpa
Grandma getting Abigail's book out so they can read
Ava loved checking out everybody's stockings
By Monday she was a master at opening gifts.
Practicing her swing with her new golf set
Playing with Nana and her new puzzle

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Merry Christmas!!!

Wishing you a very Merry Christmas! We hope that you are able to spend this weekend with the ones that you love. Safe travels, and Merry Christmas!


Sunday, December 11, 2011

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

We had such a productive and fun filled weekend. As I mentioned in the last blog post, Daddy took Friday off and we went downtown to Macy's with Mema for the "A day in the life of an elf" exhibit. Neither Daddy nor I had been before...it was amazing! Ava loved it. Everything is animated and there was so much stuff to look at. You'll notice that Ava is not looking at the camera in any of the pictures. There was far to much fun stuff to look at. She was so well behaved and just amazed at everything. Well, I shouldn't say everything...was wasn't too impressed with Santa. You'll see those pictures below. After we were done we went up to the skyroom for lunch. Uncle Wes came towards the end of lunch and met up with us for a short bit.

On the way home from Macy's we stopped and picked up a Christmas tree. There was a big debate this year about whether we were going to get a real or artificial tree. We had decided upon an artificial. Well, we pulled into the driveway Friday afternoon with a fresh, short, fat Christmas tree strapped to the top of the Traverse. Perhaps we'll do artificial next year. The house smelled amazing the rest of the day.

We had a very busy Saturday. We started out at the gym and running errands. After lunch we headed over to the community center for "Cookies with Santa". Once again, Ava was not fond of Santa. She stated that she did not want to sit on his lap, but opted for a "high five" instead. I can't blame her. Santa was a bit scrawny looking, and Mrs. Clause...well she looked kind of slutty. She was far from plump, had dyed black hair, and wore a lovely "snug fitting" jumpsuit. Ava looked her up and down. I couldn't blame her, I had a hard time not staring. Ava spent some time running around in the gym, and Daddy helped her with her basketball skills. Back home we went and I did some baking while Ava took her nap. That evening we finally decorated the house. Ava loves the Christmas lights, and on our way up the stairs to bed she said, "good night Christmas tree". Oh I love that girl!

We finished our weekend at church this morning and then going over to Mema's. We did a bit of cookie decorating and eating. Then it was home to play for a bit and then off to bed. It's back to work tomorrow and I'm sure that another week will fly by before we know it.

We hope that you were able to enjoy this weekend, relax, and spend some time with your friends and/or family. Thanks for checking in with us!


Having a great time at Macy's on Friday
This would be when Ava was yelling "no, no, no"
Once she realized that Santa had something (a button) for her she was a little better. However, there was no way that we were going to get a smile out of her.
Daddy, Ava, & Uncle Wes after lunch on Friday
Our tree upon our new Traverse
Ava getting the tree stand ready for the Christmas tree
Decorating the tree

Trying on Daddy's gloves
Slam Dunk!!!
Ava loved climbing up on these mats and then jumping off over and over again
After church this morning
Ava & Mema checking out Mema's Christmas tree
Doing a little cookie decorating

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Long road trip

A "long road trip" is what we told Ava we were going on Friday morning. We packed up the car and hit the road for De Soto on Friday morning. Ava did a great job on the trip down. Unfortunately she slept at odd times in the car and didn't exactly want to take a nap that afternoon, which led to a slightly cranky little girl. Perhaps she was just too excited to play with Reece and Zacky, and all the new toys that she doesn't have at home. Friday we all picked Zack up after school and took him to bowling. Ava didn't seem to mind the bowling alley at first. But once Zack threw the ball and knocked down the pins she was Extremely distressed that "the pins fall down". After a healthy snack of french fries (which seemed to calm her down) I opted to take her to the grocery store next door to pick up a few things since she seemed so worried about the pins.

Saturday morning seemed to fly by. My sister and I spent the morning baking some of our favorite Christmas goodies while Ava played. I was also getting a few things put together for the baby shower that I was throwing for my best friend from high school. She and her husband Craig, who live in Kansas City, are expecting their first baby at the beginning of February and we are SO excited for them. The shower was low key and it was great to see Lisa, some of her family, and more of my high school friends that afternoon. I wish we all would have had more time to catch up. I have the greatest group of friends from high school and we just don't get a chance to see each other enough. Unfortunately I did not get any good pictures from the shower, which makes me sad.

Saturday evening Aunt Lori and Dave came over to play and have dinner. Ava had not seen them for months, so I'm so glad that they were able to make it over. Dave had spent the day smoking meat and brought Nate over a sample...it was delicious!!! Ava soaked up every ounce of attention that she got from Grandma, Grandmpa, Lori, Dave, Uncle Brent, Aunt Lisa, and Reece. She showed of by repeatedly singing her ABCs, and added a few more songs in there as well. Thanks Aunt Lori and Dave for spending the evening with us!

Sunday morning we went to church, came home and had lunch, and then hit the road for our "long road trip" back home. Ava was exhausted from all the attention and slept for about 3 hours. It was Fabulous!!! I even got a little snooze in since Daddy was driving. We stopped in Medford since I had to return something at the mall, and needed a bathroom break/diaper change before making it safely home that evening.

Tuesday evening Ava had her music class. She is really getting in to this class, and seems to look forward to it. Unfortunately there is only one class left. She was so cute on Tuesday evening; singing the words of the songs, doing the actions, playing her instruments. While getting ready for bed that night she was singing one of the new Christmas songs that we had learned that evening. She loves Ms. Kim, the teacher. I am planning on enrolling her in the same type of class in January in Mounds View. Unfortunately Ms. Kim only teaches classes in Plymouth and I would like something closer to home during the winter months when the roads aren't always in the best driving conditions. Hopefully she'll like the new teacher just as much.

This morning Ava and I will head to story time at the library, and Boppa is coming over this afternoon to watch Ava while I work an evening shift. Nate took vacation tomorrow so we can finally get a Christmas tree, decorate, and do some fun holiday stuff. We'll be going to the downtown Macy's store tomorrow with Ava to hopefully enjoy their Christmas display that they do every year, maybe a puppet show, and hopefully she'll sit on Santa's lap and not yell "no, no no". Cross your fingers! :) I'm looking forward to this weekend of relaxing, Christmas decorating and baking, and spending time with Daddy & Miss Ava.

I hope that you're all able to find some time to relax during this busy season. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!


Ava Loved this "bear-in-a-box". Every time that it popped out she would jump and squeal with delight. It probably helped that Zacky was playing it with her...she loves her cousin Zacky more than anyone can imagine!!!
Ava & Zacky at the bowling alley.
Ava & Aunt Lori playing the buckle game. One of Ava's favorite things to do is buckle things. Then she'll yell "out", meaning that she wants you to unbuckle whatever it is. We do this over and over and over.
Our smiley girl
Playing the piano with Aunt Lori

A little family photo

Ava & her buddy cousin Reece
There are always a lot of books being read when Grandma is around
Grandpa joined story time as well.
Ava wanting to make sure that she doesn't lose her blankie.