Happy Birthday Ava!

Ava had the best birthday a one year old could ever have! All her friends and family came to play, eat and witness the cake mess and since pictures are worth 1000 words (and I don't want to type that many) here is a slide show of her birthday party!

Thank you to everyone who made it and I have to say I could not have pulled it off without Heather, Jay, Daniel, Darren, Jennifer, Mimi, and Grandma! You guys are the best and I will remember that next year when we get ready for Ava's 2nd birthday!

Ava traveled East

Oh my goodness where to begin?! Last Monday Ava and I took off to the Big-D to prepare for our trip to see Hayden, Chris and Jackson. We had errands to run and people to see so Ava was almost worn out by the time we were heading to the airport on Wednesday. I have to say I have no idea how single parents would ever travel by themselves! Heather was a GIGANTIC help and I am absolutely positively sure Ava and I would not have made it without her. To start the trip we had the stroller, car seat, 2 big check-in bags and 2 carry-on bags each. (Let's just say on the way home somehow our suitcases grew.)Ava was very interested in all the new people at the airport and enjoyed waving and talking to everyone. Thank goodness on the 1st flight we were able to save a whole row of seats so Ava could have her own. She enjoyed crawling back and forth between me and Heather so when we had to share our row she was not very excited. She liked looking out the window, but after a while the plane hummed her to sleep so the rides were pretty relaxing.

At both Aunt Heather's and Aunt Hayden's she had stairs to climb and boy she did. Every time you put her down she would run for the stairs! It was amazing how fast she got by the end of the trip. She would be up the stairs in seconds where as the first few times it took her a little bit. Ava loved Moto and Fat Lucy but I'm pretty sure they did not love her quite as much. Although Moto grew braver over the week she was still not convinced Ava was not going to hurt her. The cats were also the cause of so many trips up the stairs because they just thought they could hide from her under the bed, but I guess she's just too smart for them.

We tried to take Ava to the beach one day, but we happened to pick the day it rained. So instead we took her for a ride with a dinosaur. She loved it! We didn't even have to put quarters in it she just wanted to sit and steer. I don't think she wanted to share the car though because she kept trying to push the T-Rex out.

We had lots of fun in Delaware with baby Jackson and in a few years him and Ava will be into everything, but so far she was not real interested in him. She mostly just wanted to trade pacifiers and take his toys. Jackson does have some pretty cool toys though.

After all was said and done Aunt Hayden taught Ava a new dance and Aunt Heather had her sticking her tongue out at everyone on the plane. She grew a mile while we were gone and I'm told her hair is getting thicker although I can't really see it. I know we are both very glad to be home and even more happy Jackson is moving just 2 hours away! We can't wait!