Hide and seek!

Ava's latest favorite thing to do is play hide and seek. She covers her eyes and counts to 10 and says "Ready or not, here I come!" When she finds you, it's your turn to start counting.

This is Ava's hiding spot. She hides in the same spot every time. She has her head down and her little bum stuck up in the air so she cant see. She thinks that means you cant see her. :) She is so cute! Every time you find her, she smiles just as big as the time before, when you found her in the same spot....


Counting


I found you!!

Thanksgiving weekend

We are on top of it this year!! We spent all day on Saturday putting up Christmas decorations, and Rafael hung the lights on our house! I am so proud of us! It definitely helped us get into the Christmas spirit early!

Ava loves the Christmas tree. For now we just have a few ornaments hung. We wanted to see how she did with those before we decided to put up the glass ones. I think we are going to add those to the tree over the next few days. She does pretty good and she understands to not tug on the tree or it will fall over. :)

Grandma came down to watch Ava on Black Friday! Rafael and I NEVER go shopping on Black Friday. We thought it would be fun this year. The lines were CRAZY! We finished up our Christmas shopping for Ava and even picked up a few things for the baby. Then we hit the mall and split up to shop for each other. Both of us still feel like the few dollars you might save are not worth the crazy crowd. It was so nice to not have to worry about chasing Ava though! Rafael and I were walking around holding hands and it felt so weird!! One of us is usually chasing after Ava, so we don't get that opportunity very often! We went to lunch at Olive Garden, and just enjoyed the day together! Thank you Grandma!!

We found this art easel at IKEA for $14.99!!! What a steal! It wasn't on Ava's Christmas list, so we gave it to her early. She has spent a TON of time in her room coloring! The paper roll is already half gone!

Decorating the tree!

Thanksgiving

We went to my Mom's for Thanksgiving! It was only Rafael, Ava and I, and my brother. My other siblings had other things going on. I missed seeing everyone, but it was nice and quiet at my Mom's. The food was awesome! Thank you Momma!

My pie! YAY!! I don't like pie much, but I made one this year. It was actually really good, and I ate some!

My sister gave us this wood block nativity set she made. It is SO cute!! Ava LOVES to stack the blocks, and it has been nice to have it to explain to her who each person is.

Dress up!

We were trying on Ava's holiday dress. She wanted to look at herself in the mirror to see how she looked. She has seen her reflection a million times, but I have never put her on the counter so she was that close to herself. She got the biggest kick out of it! It totally cracked us up! She really liked herself. I don't blame her! She couldn't resist kissing that cute face staring back at her!






Yummy!

More snow fun!

So, it REALLY snowed today.

Today I had my glucose/diabetes test! I had to drink that orange drink and have my blood drawn. The drink actually tastes really good! I hear they used to taste pretty bad, but now it tastes like orange crush!

After that appointment, Ava and I headed up to Lowe's to get some tubing for one of the cords in her room. It had been snowing for a bit by that time and starting to stick. We went inside Lowe's and when we came out it was completely white!! It was dumping snow so hard and there was a TON of it on the ground! I went 5 mph almost the whole way home. There were cars all over the place in ditches and semi's that were jack knifed. It was insane!! I have never seen so much mayhem in the snow! Thank goodness for 4 wheel drive!

When we got home we went in the backyard and played! Ava has been really wanting to make a snowman. We made a little one. Later in the day when it started to melt, Ava was so concerned!!! She kept going to the back door and saying "Oh no! What happened to the snowman? He fell down."

I had a hard time convincing Ava to touch the snow. She loves to stomp around in it, but definitely did not want it on her hands.

Big girl bed!!

Our friends gave us their old twin box spring last week!  We have been getting closer and closer to making the jump to a big girl bed, but now it's done!  We picked up the rest of what we needed this weekend.  The mattress, sheets, bed rail, safety proofing stuff for Ava's room, pillows.... everything!!

Tonight is Ava's first night in her bed!  She has been super excited all day!  When I took her in her room and turned off the lights, she looked in the corner where her crib used to be and said "Nigh nigh is gone!"  I sang her a song and laid her down in her new bed.  She squirmed around a little, but didn't get out of bed!!  YAY!!  Unfortunately, we didn't like the camera placement in the room, so we had to go back in and fix it after she had been laying there for 10 minutes or so.  After we fixed the camera, we put her back down.  She got up a couple times and knocked on the door asking, "Mommy sing songs."  We had to put her back in her bed twice, then that was it!! :)  I wasn't too surprised that we had a few issues. Nap time will be a different story though I think.  The room will be lighter... she may not be so willing!  We will see tomorrow!

                                                                   Helping Daddy



                                                                     Trying it out

                                           This is Ava's (pretend like I am sleeping' face). :)


Every night when we lay her down, she covers her head with the blanket and sings herself to sleep.  She never tries to get up, or cries to get out of her crib.

Ava will spend 10 minutes here testing out each key and trying to find the one that fits. :) I love her concentrated scowl!

First snow of the winter!!

It snowed tonight!! It was so exciting!!!! It didn't snow here at all last year, and Ava was only 5 months old when it snowed last time, so I doubt she remembers. She was so excited to see it! We went outside and played in it for a bit. It didn't really stick, but Ava really loved to be out in it!

Sick!

We have been sick with a cold the past few days! Well, just Ava and I as usual. Rafael doesn't usually get sick.... lucky guy. It has been a lazy few days laying on the floor watching cartoons and taking it easy. Today was the first day that both Ava and I felt better. It seems to be going away now, so hopefully that was all of it!

Ava went on potty strike when she got sick. She still would tell me she needed to go, but when I would sit her down on the toilet she would get upset and say "I don't want it". Poor thing. It breaks my heart when she is sick.:( She did better today and went a whole bunch of times now that she is feeling better. I think we are going to give the pull-ups a week or two before we move to the panties.

I took these pictures on Monday. Sometimes she will grab the keys and head for the door and say "bye bye, I'm gonna go see Uncle Cade" or "Bye bye, I'm gonna go see Anna (Aunt Na)" .... Ok then!! Wow!


Gotta put on my lipstick before I go!

Check out this cute purse that Great Grandma Fischer sent!! Thank you Great Grandma Fischer!! :)

Eagle Scout!!

Congratulations Brandon!!

My Nephew is only 14 and already has his Eagle Scout! His Court of Honor was last Saturday night. What a great accomplishment! That is more than most adult men can say they have accomplished, and he has done it so early!! GREAT JOB BRANDON!!!

Ava was a goofball at the ceremony. She was all wound up from running around all over the place before the court of honor started. We had a hard time getting her to sit in the seat. As soon as they turned the lights off to do a slide show, it got really quiet and Ava looked over at Grandma and said "Hi Grandma" REALLY loud!! Then she decided to say "HI" to all her cousins that were sitting in front of us. Then she said (this is all in a very quiet room) "It's too dark! I can't see"!! Oh man, Rafael and I were laughing so hard we were crying. No more ceremonies for Ava for a long time!!!

GREAT job Brandon! I love being able to brag about my Nephew! :) Not to mention.... LOOK how handsome he is!!!!!!!

Big girl potty!!

Ava is almost potty trained!! 2 weeks of intensive training and getting no housework done. :) I am so proud of my girl! She caught on so fast and has loved going potty on the big girl potty! The first week and a half we had 45 minute sitting, reading and singing to pass the time. :) The last few days, as soon as she tells me she wants to go potty and sits down, she goes. SO much easier! Today she only had 2 wet diapers, and managed to keep her pull-ups dry other than that. We worked on pulling them up and down today and she has almost got that down by herself.
I went upstairs to take a shower tonight and Ava told Daddy she wanted to go potty. He sat her down and soon after, she asked for some toilet paper. When she stood up, there was poop!! WOW!!! It was like no big deal to her, and she didn't seem weirded out by it. I am so excited! I have heard from a lot of people that #2 is the hardest thing to get kids to do when you are potty training. I hope she does it again tomorrow!
We are probably going to try panties tomorrow or Tuesday. I can't decide if I should give her one more pull-ups day, or just try the underwear. We'll see. :)


Our sticker covered potty. I love it!

I love these next two pictures!! Ava in her little boy Thomas the Train jammies, wearing fairy wings and flying. :) She asked me yesterday morning if she could wear her "Lullafly costume". She LOVES Thomas the train, but over the last few weeks we have really seen her little girly side come out. Now instead of asking Mommy and Daddy to "play trains", she has been asking us to play tea party, play house, and play dollies. I caught her trying to put her socks on her doll the other day. She also likes to change the dolls diaper. It is so cute!!

A new music video!

Mommy Translator: Rock a bye baby, in the tree top. When the bow breaks...it's ok. When da da da da.... FALL (drops baby).

We are trying to teach her to not really drop the baby during that part.

I carry Ava like a baby and sing her that song and pretend like she is falling during that part. She loves it!

Update!

My Mom's friend Linda is retiring due to health issues, and offered to do an ultrasound for us before she left! We went on Friday. She confirmed that we are MOST DEFINITELY having a girl! :) She got a 'sitting on the camera' shot and said there is no doubt about it!
It was so much fun to see our angel again, and I feel so lucky to get to have these extra ultrasounds for fun!! :) She was moving around like crazy during the ultrasound. She was opening and closing her mouth, and you could even see her tongue moving as she would drink the amniotic fluid! Shortly after that, Linda showed us her belly and it was full. How cool that you can see all that happening!! :)
She did a measurement, and our little girl is measuring about 2 1/2 weeks ahead! :) That puts her in the 66th percentile right now. She said she is about 2 pounds and 16 or 17 inches long!
Aunt Betty came to see the ultrasound. She had never seen one before and was really surprised to see how much you can see. It really is amazing!
Ava knew right away what we were doing when we walked in to the room. She saw the computer and said "Look at the baby". During the ultrasound Ava said "Cute baby". It was so sweet!! I think she might actually understand a little what is going on. She told me the other night that she wanted her little sister to play trains with her. It might be a little while for that. :)

Foot

Face

We started seriously potty training last week! I started on Tuesday and I was frustrated by Wednesday. Ava really liked to sit on the potty, and would sit for long periods as we would read every story we have and sing every song I know! She seemed to hold her bladder until I would put the diaper back on her.
On Saturday we had success!!! I decided to fill her full of water and juice so she wouldn't be able to hold it. The first time she was really upset at me that I wouldn't put her diaper back on. I sat on a stool in front of her on the potty and just hugged her while she whined. Finally she peed a little and it scared her!! She jumped right off the potty and looked inside. When she saw the little drops she said, "what's that"? I got super excited and she did too.
The second time the same thing happened. She went a little more, but still was quick to hop off the potty mid-pee pee. The third time though, she looked down and watched all of the pee pee come out!! I gave her some toilet paper, she wiped, and then jumped off and went straight to flush it. I swear, I was the proudest Mommy ever!!!
Today was the same. She went potty twice!! We are just going to keep at this pace until she decides to tell me she needs to go. Right now it is just 40 minute potty sitting sessions until she has to go.
She gets a sticker each time she goes. Today she decided that the wanted the stickers to go on the toilet seat. I was ok with that. I figure it will be a reminder of what she will get if she uses the big girl potty.
YAY AVA!!!!!! Mommy and Daddy are SO PROUD of you!!

Sunshine!

Today was AMAZING!!! I swear if the weather everyday was like today, everyone would move to Washington! It was clear blue skies and warm, but still cool enough at the same time. Beautiful! I think September-Novemeber's rare sunny days are my favorite of the whole year.

Ava kept climbing up really high on this bar at the park and then say "Mommy, rescue me". :)

Going Platinum!!!

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow! And Twinkle twinkle little star. :)

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween!!

Ava was a lady bug. Her costume had wings so she thought she was a Lullafly. Either one works, I guess! :)

Grandma came over and we headed over to the community center. The police department did a little Halloween carnival for kids. It was so fun!! They had games for the kids to play and gave out lots of little prizes! It was packed FULL of people!

We headed home for dinner after that, and then went trick or treating!! Ava was really excited to go! She had been talking about it for a few days. We put on some warmer shoes for her and headed out! She was so cute! She had the knocking thing down quick! She knocked pretty lightly, but most of the time people heard her. When they would answer the door she would say "Trick or Treat" in a high pitched voice. Then she would say "Thank you" the same way. She even asked one lady to "Open it" when she gave her a sucker. Haha. She tried to go in to a few houses, but for the most part, she was pretty good!! We stayed out for about 45 min or so. She got a good amount of loot!

When we got home she started opening up her candy. She would take a few licks of suckers and then ask us "Mommy, hold it, Daddy hold it, Grandma hold it" so she could get another one out and open it. We just let her go through it and try whatever she wanted. :)

She asked a few times today if she could go trick or treat. I assume this will go on for a long time!! She still asks atleast once a day if she can 'go ride Thomas', and that was back in July!

So.... I took 183 pictures. WOW! I narrowed it down to 25. I know... 25!!!