Spider Sprout

Well October has come and gone with the wind. Texas Tech played some lousy football and we had a fantastic Halloween party! Hayden and Chris came down with Jackson to celebrate the fun weekend and he was possibly the cutest dinosaur ever in the whole wide world! I mean he was definitely the show stopper! Hayden and Chris dressed up as tourists with their matching attire from Hawaii, which I heard Chris insisted on buying. Mimi and Papa Keith were Little Red Riding Hood and The Big Bad Wolf. Owen came as the cutest pumpkin in the patch! Aubrey was a sweet bumble bee, Tyler was a mighty firefighter, and we can't forget Baby Trenton was an adorable little tiger. The kids won the contest by far but you have to admit Chris and I were pretty creative. Chris was a "stick in the mud" and I was a "babysitter." Pictures of the kids are below and pictures of the adults will soon follow.

Also, the 2nd photographer posted her preview of the wedding! Check them out! http://kandicerayphotography.blogspot.com/2009/11/chris-and-becky-autumn-wedding.html

Pumpkin Munchkin

We took Ava to the pumpkin patch in preparation for Halloween next week. They were so nice they gave her a little baby pumpkin to take home with her and she carried it around the whole time we were there. We had already bought pumpkins to carve but we spotted another golden egg in the bunch and couldn't resist. It is a monster of a pumpkin weighing in at more than 30 pounds! I can't wait to carve a giant Double-T in it so all our Texas neighbors can see. Ava will of course get another Ava pumpkin, but there is one more I'm not quite sure what to do with. Guess it will have to be a surprise. I also went out and bought candy to give away to all the Trick-or-Treaters and let's just say I hope we have lots of them because I went a little overboard.

Also awhile back we took Ava to the Brownwood Reunion and for those of you who don't know it's much like a fair. Fair food, fair rides, concerts, games and lots of vendor booths. One thing in particular they have, which I have personally never heard of, is the corn boxes. Very much like a sand box but with lots of dried corn instead. Ava was not a fan this year, but next year I think she will be swimming in it!

October already?!

The time has flown by and so many things have happened since our last blog! After getting Aunt Hayden and Uncle Chris moved down to Texas we were in a hurry to put Hayden to work on the wedding. There was shopping and creative madness for the last 2 weeks before the wedding and then it came. The wedding of the year! It was perfect and everything turned out better than imagined. It will take Chris awhile to get used to his new bling, but he hasn't taken it off since the day I put it on him. AVA however has not been allowed to have hers since then! Her wedding locket will be stored safely in my jewelry drawer until she is old enough to appreciate it and understand its meaning a little better. She did get to taste test it and said it was pretty good silver.

After the wedding when we came home there were boxes of presents and wedding decor everywhere! You better believe Ava was the first to jump at unpacking them and putting things together. You might be surprised that most everything she found in the boxes was a toy of some sort. (At least she thought so) One of them actually was for Sprouty, it came from Chris's boss and his wife (Scott and Terry). She even got to help her daddy put it together and that was probably more fun than trying to ride it. It's a John Deer Tractor tricycle which for now she just pushes around and walks behind, but sooner or later I can see her chasing her daddy through the yard fast as lightening!


Then just for fun here are some random riding in the car pictures since we have been doing plenty of that these past few weeks. I will also add pictures from the wedding as soon as I get them, but for now get a preview from the photographers at http://www.jacquelinereitzphotography.com/weddings/.

Utensil User

Ava is growing by the mile these days! Walking on Monday and eating with her fork on Wednesday! If anyone had told me she would be a baby one day and a toddler the next I wouldn't have believed it. Now seeing her go from my little swaddled screamer to my walking mess in just a week I'm amazed. I wish we could keep these days forever.

Time Flys and Summers Gone

So many things have happened since our last post. We went to the Gillespie Country Fair in Fredricksburg, visited Aunt Ludy in Santa Anna, helped Aunt Hayde and Uncle Chris move back to Texas and started walking! Well with her walker anyway, but that's walking!

So at the Gillespie County Fair Ava got to see roosters, pot belly pigs, sheep, goats, baby cows, and the biggest bull ever! She loved the animals but the merry-go-round was her favorite part so she rode it 3 times. There were also horse races which would have been more fun but it was very hot that day so we only saw one run. They went by so fast Ava hardly saw what they were but since the fair she knows exactly what a horsey says.

Sprouty also got to visit Aunt Ludy Jane in Santa Anna where she met her pet goat, Martha. Did we mention she loves animals?! Aunt Hayden of course brought Lucy and Moto the cats so Ava had a ball chasing them around the new house in Roundrock. Lucy actually gave in at one point and let Ava pet her! The cats weren't the only interesting thing in the house. Sprouty loves her little cousin Jack! She was very sweet and wanted to share her book with him. She also tried sharing her juice, her pacifier, toys and anything she could find on the floor. You can see she is Jackson's favorite cousin.

Then there was this walking business! One day she just up and took off! You can see in her video she is already moving at the speed of turtle so we all know what's next. RABBIT! Good thing Chris and I need some exercise because were going to be running for the next few years.

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!