Christmas Day

Ava had a wonderful Christmas and so did we. It was cold outside and we were able to use the fireplace and spend a warm cozy Christmas morning watching doodle enjoy all of her gifts from Santa. The first thing she did was run straight to the elmo see and say from Aunt Brenda. Ran right past her car, but noticed that 2nd and wanted in immediately. Once she discovered how to get in and out of the car, she wanted to enjoy each present while sitting in the car. At one point she loaded up her drum and little piano and Steve said "our little musician is going on the road, she's packed up her instruments and taking off"

Christmas eve night we went to the church service at St. Lukes, had dinner at Pappa's seafood where Ava was a terror (that's what we get for no nap), and then off to Meme and paw paw's for a small get together. She has so much fun with her uncle Allen, something about him just fascinates her and she gets the biggest kick out of him.

On Christmas day we spent a cozy morning at home and then we were off to grandmother and granddad's for the day. Ava was sooo excited about her Elmo live doll she got from them. It sings, tells jokes, toots and tells stories. When it sings she gets down and boogies and has a good ole time. I was totally caught off guard today. Elmo was talking and singing and Ava was sitting next to me on the couch. Then Elmo said.. "elmo thinks it's a good time for a nap, bye bye" and Ava said "bye bye Elmo" I was totally surprised!!! First time I've heard her put two words together like that.

We were laughing all afternoon after we left Grandmother and Granddad's house. They have a little yorkie named Sassy and Ava calls her "Assy" so all day she would call "aaaaassy, aaaassy", now she knows we think it's funny so she does it all the time. We also found out that she has a name for Casper. We thought she had been saying Apple all this time, but she's saying "Appuh" for Casper. Little toot.

My mom (Meme) got Ava some crayons to play with in the tub and Ava is nuts over them. I have found her in the tub fully clothed coloring all over the shower walls and side of the tub. She's so funny, can't believe she was able to crawl in by herself. Also found her in the living room coloring on the coffee table, good thing they wipe right off!

Thank you to everyone for all of Ava's wonderful gifts. She loves each and every one of them.

Here are a few pictures of Ava's 2nd Christmas.

Shortly after Santa left

reading my elmo book in my new ride

little drummer girl

On her mini bed at Granddad's

Just opened Elmo live

Doodlebug in her bug

Went in to the bathroom looking for Ava and found she had crawled in the tub to color with her new tub crayons from Meme

Later in the day I found my bathroom looking like this

More Christmas Pictures

Ava is very special, she got the Calin doll from Gigi and Papi. This is the same doll that Suri Cruise and Violet Affleck tote around. Ava's mothering skills leave a little to be desired though.

Mungovan Christmas

Look Ava, look how well I can accessorize

Trent you would look so much more fashionable with this doily on your head

Look out ladies!

So excited for Christmas!

We are so excited for Christmas day this year. We can't wait for Ava to wake up and come see what Santa has brought her. She is going to be one happy little girl this year. Steve and I have such good memories of Christmas day from when we were little. My memaw and Grandaddy always made Christmas day so awesome for me and my aunt Pat. I would wake up before the sun came up and run to the living room and there would always be a ton of presents waiting for me under the tree. I could hardly sleep the night before because I was sooo excited to wake up and see if Santa had come. My most memorable Christmas is the first one I had with Memaw and Grandaddy. I got a bright light and some barbies. I was so excited about the bright light I could hardly stand it. Then as the years went by I remember almost every thing...rainbow bright, my first bike, smurf roller skates, pom poms, cabbage patch dolls, pound puppies etc.

Steve's best Christmas memory is the year his mom and dad or "santa" got him the entire star wars collection with every single star wars character action figure. You can see the joy on his face when he remembers back to that time.

We can't wait to make Christmas special for Ava and get the joy of sharing the fun and excitement with her. We also look forward to the Christmas worship service at church. They have this amazing family service that includes all of the children and wonderful music. We love it and I can't wait.

Miss Ava spent most of the day today playing outside. It's so funny how she hates to have dirt on her hands. If she gets dirt on her hands she runs up to us with her hand out saying "dut, dut" and wants us to wipe it off of her hands. She had so much fun rolling around in the leaves and just enjoying the weather. Yesterday she spent the day at Granddad and Grandmothers in Alvin and had a blast jumping on the trampoline and swinging on the big swing. They were laughing saying Ava was eating everything in sight! She kept running to the fridge wanting more food. Must be hitting a growth spurt!

She likes to get down & boogie

From 16 months

Elmo, Elmo and more Elmo

Like most other toddlers her age, Ava is absolutely in love with Elmo! We finally found a way to keep her calm in the car and that was put on an Elmo DVD. Last week I tivo'd Elmo's Christmas Countdown and we cuddled up in bed and watched it together. Now she is even more crazy for Elmo than she was before. She runs up to the TV shouting Elmo, Elmo! So naturally we have to turn Elmo on. She doesn't usually really watch it all, but likes to have it on in the background. I think she loves all of the music so she can dance around. At night time she has to have Elmo in bed with her so she can cuddle with him. Sometimes she likes to throw in a block or a toothbrush just to keep me on my toes.

Ava's teacher sure made us feel like proud parents a couple of weeks ago! She said Ava says a lot of words for her age and that she's the first talker in the class! I couldn't believe it! I have noticed that since she's started school I have had to remind her to use her signs and her words when she needs to communicate. She had started to slap her hand down and scream and point when she wanted something instead of just telling us like she used to. She's also just stopped saying words she used to say all the time like puppy, kitty and shoe. I guess she is just so over those words now that she has new words like Jacket, uh-oh and No. Some words she'll say all the time and then some you'll hear a few times and then never hear them again.

The teacher was amused because the first week of school Ava had already picked up the term "back-back" which is what they tell the kids before they open a door. They say "back-back Tyler" so that the kid doesn't get slammed in the face with the door. The teacher said every time they line up to go outside Ava says "back-back" and they always get a chuckle out of it.

Words Ava can say at 16 months:

No (of course)

Elmo

jacket (we were in gymboree the other day and she saw a coat and ran up to it and said Jack-et!)

uh-oh

mama

dada

biscuit

Magnum

yogurt

bananas (baba)

blueberries (bebe)

buggy juice

apple

cracker

cheese

chicken

back

bad

bye bye (all cars are bye byes)

shoe (new)

diaper

meme

gigi

papi

stinky

Winter Wonderland!

Thanksgiving

Daddy's Girl

Steve got home early from his hunt so he had the entire week to be home with Ava. Of course it didn't take long and she was daddy's girl all the way. She wanted daddy to put her to bed, daddy to put her down for naps, daddy to do bath time, and daddy to swing her. Mommy just wouldn't do. haha. Here are some pics of Steve and his mini me having some quality time together.

Goofin Off

A day in the life of Casper now that Ava's around

Casper is such a good sport. He is mean as heck to adults he doesn't like, but he has always been good with my niece and nephew Kennedee and Austin. We are so pleased to see that he is just as good with Ava. He will let this child do anything to him and he'll just sit there and take it. He's such a good sport! Here are some pictures of his day today with Ava (and these are just the ones we were able to snap!)

Hey you need to get out of that chair mister!

Daddy said "pet gently"

Open Wide!

Now he can't see me

Your turn..peekaboo!

Time for night night

Hey get out of that bag!

BIGGEST EASTERN CO BUCK of 2009 - 226

BIGGEST EASTERN CO BUCK of 2009 - 226″ Gross Nontypical!!!

Check out the link above! Steve is so proud :)

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bebe's, baba's and doe-doot!

In the mornings when Ava gets up I bring her into bed with me and turn her favorite Cartoons on while we have our morning cuddle time. This morning she cuddled for a little bit and then popped up and shouted "bebes, bebes, bebes" while crawling down from the bed as fast as she could. Then she hit the floor, started running for the kitchen shouting "baba, baba, baba" and as soon as she got to the kitchen she ran to the Fridge and tried to open it while saying "doe-doot, doe-doot". When I opened the fridge she reached for the yogurt and then ran to her high chair and started climbing like "up mommy!".

bebe = blueberries
baba = bananas
doe-doot = Yogurt

Her most favorite things in the world are blueberries, bananas and yogurt. She was so excited this morning that she couldn't decide which one she wanted most. Sometimes she runs to the freezer saying "wawfoo, wawfoo" (waffle). She definitely knows what she likes!

A Vegas Wedding

So Sara became Mrs. Keith Gould this weekend in Las Vegas. I was a bridesmaid and Ava was the flower girl. When Keith proposed to Sara he did it during the proposal scene of Rocky (his favorite movie) so naturally Sara walked down the aisle to the Rocky theme music. It was so cute! Anyway here are a few of the pictures taken this weekend.

A very early morning breakfast with a family of sickies

We've been sick bombed!

That's right our little princess has sick bombed us all. I knew when she started daycare that she would start bringing home illnesses, but Steve and I hardly EVER get sick and I was fortunate enough to make it through my entire pregnancy and year after with no illnesses. So a week ago when we started getting sick we were a little caught by surprise!

Ava, Steve and I all got sick at the exact same time. When we got to Vegas for Sara's wedding it got worse and worse. The dry air had our throats tore up and I couldn't even talk at the wedding. Everyone was making fun of me and telling me just to text them what I wanted to say. Needless to say we missed out on all of the fun pre-wedding partying and gambling AND the after wedding events. We spent our entire vacation holed up in our room with thera-flu and a humidifier. We never slept more than 5 hours a night. Despite being sick though, Ava was as happy as ever. Nothing is worse than teething and she was over that thank goodness!

Now we are all feeling better, but Steve and I are coughing our eyeballs out. Steve went to the doctor today and got something to help us get through this last part of the cold. Ava is all better now, just a small runny nose still.

I must say that now that her molars have cut through, she's adjusted to daycare AND she's coming off of this cold, I have my sweet sweet happy cuddly baby back! She's sleeping through the night again, going right down for bed on her own, and not fussing 24/7 like she was for a couple of weeks. Now when I drop her off at daycare she goes right to Miss Sue and doesn't make a fuss. She loves Miss Sue, so she just watches me leave like "okay mom I'll see you later" and when Steve picks her up instead of having a meltdown she just smiles, says "dada!" and runs to him with her arms up in the air. They say she is doing great during the day and that they are sure the bad part is over. yay for my sweet doodlebug!!!

A Doodlebug disquised as a Ladybug