Look who's turning 2

Ava will be two years old! I can not believe how much she has grown up and turned into this sweet little girl. She can count to 5 (when she wants to), knows all her colors and shapes, knows how to spell her name (can't write it, but will tell you A-V-A), knows pretty much every animal and noise, sings Itsy Bitsy Spider and Rock a bye Baby, and has just started saying "I love you!" She is talking up a storm and will tell anyone who listens anything they want to know. Her favorite sayings are:
"See you soon"
"How do that"
"What doing here"
"How about that"
"No thank you, I'm fine"
There are many more, but you will have to come to her birthday party to hear them! We will be celebrating at home in the backyard again this year. We have added to our water activities for the kids so bring swimsuits and towels. There will be a gourmet hot dog buffet for lunch and of course cake! Party starts at 11:30 on Saturday the 21st. Call or email me for directions or more information! Can't wait to see everyone here!

Dance Party!

We just got a new game for our Wii called Just Dance and at first Ava liked to just sit back and enjoy the entertainment. Just lately she has been begging everyday to play Dance Party (that's what she calls it). So Chris caught her in action striking a pose. There is much more to come!

Hoppin Down the Bunny Trail

Ava is growing like a weed these days. She is taller by the minute and talking like a 4 year old! She is using 2-3 word sentences most of the time, but her favorite phrase is "Thank You Mama." She loves eating chicken, steak and cheese but her favorite is berries of any sort. We are working on the potty training thing, but so far she has only used her potty once. She really did not like that it made a mess, which is another favorite phrase we hear often, "Oh no mess!" Since the weather is warming up we have been playing outside pretty much every day. She draws with sidewalk chalk, plays throw-catch the ball, and chases the dog around saying "Oh no mess!" We have also added another chore to her list. Now she checks the mail and then waters Mommy's plant. She also gets wheel barrel rides around the yard like we used to from Dandy and thinks that is too fun!

Yesterday was Ava's 2nd Easter but 1st egg hunt! It was a beautiful day, but pretty windy as you will hear in the videos. She absolutely loved running around outside finding the eggs! But when the eggs would accidentally open and spill she would pick up all the candy and put it back in the egg! The handle on her basket was also a little long so she would just drag it around behind her spilling eggs out along the way. It worked out pretty good though because then she would turn around and say "Oh look more!" I'm sure we probably could have just left the eggs empty and she would have been happy because she had more fun finding them then eating the candy. We plan to have a few more egg hunts this week in the backyard since she loved it so much.

We also had some time to venture around Papa Keith's place yesterday which Ava also LOVED! She is definitely an outdoor girl. She collected some rocks, she threw some rocks in the water, she helped Daddy skip some rocks, and got to jump on the trampoline. What a blast! She is just getting to do it all these days.

Love, Ducks and Snow

Ava celebrated Valentines day by taking her 4-wheeler for a spin and spending some quality time with her Mimi while Mom and Dad had a quiet dinner together. She may not seem like it from this picture but she really does love hugs. She is extremely cuddly and likes getting kisses and hugs from everyone. She is also an animal lover! Who could see that coming?!




We took her to Riverside Park here in Brownwood and she happened to make a new little furry friend. There was a squirrel who came right up to her and took bread from her little hand. Some of the ducks would too, but they made her nervous. The geese of course kept honking so she had a few face-offs with them and didn't care for all their racket. She also had a good time pulling Papa around by his little finger to show him those mean old geese! She actually drug him all the way to the creek bank to steal a dobber out of a fisherman's tackle box. Luckily he was kind enough to let her have it because I'm sure the sky would have fallen if she had to put it back.

Then within the week it suddenly snowed 6 inches! So we got another chance to run around and feel snow under our boots. This time was different though because she decided to taste it and then I couldn't get her to stop eating handfuls of snow!

Reading while in diapers

We made it home from our big trip North to Panhandle. It was quite a drive with Miss Ava telling you when to "go, go, go" at every stop. She was definitely a show-off while we were there! She sat and read a Dr. Seuss book to Jennifer, showed Grandma how to ride a 4-wheeler, showed Hayden how to feed and burp Jackson, told Murr & Dandy what coyotes say, and taught everyone her new dance moves! She had a ball playing in Panhandle and told us many times on the way home she missed her cousin Jack.

I'm very glad to be back home where Ava has all her things and bedtime is back to normal, but there is something different about Sprout. Before we left Ava only ever had one accident in the bathtub and since we've been home she has pooped in the tub every bath time! What happened up there?! I'm not sure what is going to happen now, but Chris threatened no more baths :) so if you smell a stink on 8th it's either the baby or the bath!

Let it Snow!

Today the snow started coming down in big chunky flakes so Ava and I decided to go play in it! She loved it until she fell down and she didn't like the cold on her hands at all! But before she had a chance to topple over I got some good shots of her.

Home for the Holiday

The holidays have really come and gone fast this year. Thanksgiving was an amazing mix of the families and an awesome turnout of 28 people. It could not have been more fun to see everyone and eat till we all were stuffed! I think I was a tad bit overboard on the menu because everyone ended up taking leftovers for the rest of the weekend as well as have leftovers for dinner that night. Then Christmas came and we did it all over again!

There were a few mishaps along the way, but we pulled off an amazing Christmas. Hayden, Chris and Jackson ended up staying home and coming to Brownwood because the weather up north was not letting them fly to Chicago. Then Heather and the boys ended up on the road for 8 hours instead of 3 because of ice, I cut my finger open, Grandma set her purse/Mimi's china cabinet on fire, Mimi burned her arm on the over rack, I hit Grandma in the face a few times, Grandma burned her fingers, I burned my hand but we made it alive!

Ava had a blast playing with all her new toys and spending time with her cousins. Santa brought her a kitchen for Christmas which she absolutely loves! She is already mixing things up and feeding Chris and I. I already can't wait till next year to see what she is doing then.

She has started feeding herself with a spoon, or trying to at least. She has already got the "I do it mine own self" attitude her Aunt Hayde had. She wants to be a big girl already! She is talking up a storm and always wants to call her Mimi or Daddy on the phone. Yesterday I was wanting to get a snack from the kitchen so I said to Ava "Do you know what mommy wants?" and she said "Daddy!" She is one smart cookie.