Go Jackets!!... Sting 'em

Ava is modeling her game day gear and her rain coat, which she loves! She thoroughly enjoyed cheering on the Yellow Jackets to victory over the Georgia Bulldogs today. What an exciting game- we can't wait for the Peach Bowl!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving was such a nice and relaxing reprieve from the holiday madness that has started at work! We had a very low-key and casual day- we got up and had a pancake breakfast, watched the Thanksgiving Day parade and started cooking. Jason was in charge of frying the turkey (which was the best one he's made so far!) and I always make a sweet potato souffle and pecan pie bites- yum! Alina and Tony came over early and Ava loved getting a chance to hang out with her aunt and uncle. Gigi and Grandma came over and we all sat down for dinner. Ava said the blessing all by herself for the first time- we were impressed she got all the words in- it's so cute! I'll have to catch it on video and post it soon.
This year, we have so much to be thankful for- our beautiful daughter, our loving family and friends, and each other! We are incredibly blessed and fortunate to live in this country and I hope that we never take any of these things in our life for granted.
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Alina showed Ava some pictures on the computer- Ava loves 'playing' with the laptop

Walking in Alina's high heel shoes

Tony the Turkey kept Ava laughing all day long

Twinkies

Jason and Ava met Jeremy and Isa at Monkey Joe's today. Ava had fun introducing Isa to all the fun things to do there. Without even knowing it, Jason and Jeremy dressed the girls in the same tops. Next time we'll have to call ahead to plan our outfits!

Birthday Parties Wear Me Out!

Today we drove down to Peachtree City to visit the Muchas for Dayton's 2nd Birthday. Unfortunately, I was busy chasing after little one and I didn't even take a picture while we were there- shame on me!! Ava had a blast playing with all of Dayton's boy toys and she really got the hang of throwing soccer balls, footballs and basketballs through Dayton's basketball hoop! It was fun to watch Ava and Dayton interact- they followed each other around and were only interested in playing and wanting what each other had. Typical two year olds!
We took this picture of Ava once we got home and carried her up to bed. What a sweet little face!

All Dressed Up, and No Place to Go

As Gigi and Grandma were getting ready to leave, Ava went ahead and put on her jacket also. We must have stood there talking for a while, because Ava went and drug her ladybug chair into the hallway and got a book. She gave us this classic look of annoyance when we finally asked her what she was doing. I have a feeling we will be seeing this look well into tweendom!

Great Grandma and Ava

On Sunday, Grandma and Gigi came over for dinner and Ava got some special one on one time with her great Grandma. Grandma let Ava try on her clip-on earrings and Ava thought that this was the best thing- she talked about it for days after and she was not happy that my pierced earrings didn't quite fit on her ears the same way Grandma's did.

Ava and Grandma deep in conversation

Special times together

Ava's First Haircut

Jason finally twisted my arm enough about getting Ava's hair cut (it was getting a tad long), so we took her to Pigtails and Crew Cuts. Pigtails and Crew Cuts is specifically a kids salon- they have a play room with tons of toys, a train table, movies playing, a table covered with paper to color on- it was perfect to keep Ava entertained. When our time finally came, Ava chose to sit in the airplane and Ms. Keisha, her stylist, was so sweet! Ava sat still for the whole time and wasn't even bothered by the hair dryer. It was a great experience- we'll definitely be back!

The first snip!

Driving the airplane

Being patient... almost done

All done! Ms. Keisha put Ava's barrette back in her hair

Picking out our prize for sitting so still

Monkey Joe's!

On Friday, Ava and I had a play date with Jen and Dylan at Monkey Joe's. The last time Ava saw Dylan was at his birthday party, so on our way to Monkey Joe's I asked Ava if she was going to have fun jumping with Dylan and she said "fun and birthday cake?" My cute little girl has her mommy's sweet tooth :)
She had lots of fun chasing Dylan up the stairs of the big slide- I was SO impressed, this was the first time she's gone up the ladder all by herself. Of course, when she got to the top of the slide she didn't want to come down. She would play at the top until I went up and slid down with her. I guess that will be our next milestone to aim for next time we go. As usual, we left Monkey Joe's with Ava exhausted and falling asleep in the car. What a fun morning!

Yea, jumpees!!

Dylan loved to stand on this big jumpee and jump off, thank goodness it's all soft-he's such a boy!

Ava was working on her own cool moves

Climbing the big slide all by herself!! I was so proud!

Jen and Dylan stop long enough to say cheese!


Taking a quick breather

We tried many times to get a picture of the two together-

unfortunately, this is as good as it gets :)

The Children's Museum

Today we met Nikki, Christian and Collin at The Children's Museum in Atlanta- this month there was a Bob the Builder exhibit. Ava left the museum saying "Yes, we can!" in Bob fashion. For a little while I wondered why Ava has never watched Bob the Builder before, and then I learned what his catch phrase was and I realized that maybe the Republican in me subconsciously never turned him on!
For those who have never been to the Children's Museum, it is an amazing place that has a stage and dress up clothes for dancing, a shadow box, a life size grocery store with a huge banana slide, a farm with a huge tractor, a water table with a waterfall, a tree house to climb and slide, a big table with moon sand and all sorts of other fun things for the kids to play with. Ava is still on the younger side to enjoy all of the exhibits, but that just means we'll get many more years of fun out of our visits! I've been told that a Curious George exhibit is coming soon and we will definitely make it a point to go and see it.
It was great to spend time with Nikki and the boys- Christian was a ball of energy, he was SO excited to see Bob the Builder and Collin has gotten so big! My apologies for all of the pics below, but I had a hard time choosing between them all.

Ava poking her head over to say hi!

Being silly

Playing at the sand table with Daddy- moon sand is the best, it wipes off so easily! We didn't take any sand home with us at all...

Christian and Nikki building really important things

Christian and Ava riding the tractor- I love the expression on Christian's face

Ava loved playing in this kitchen- she made sure all of the fruits and vegetables were thoroughly washed and then here she is putting them all into the dryer!

Jason has always wanted to teach Ava how to fish- I'm not sure this is what he had in mind...

This is my favorite picture from the trip- Jason was sharing all of his engineering knowledge with Ava on how to fix the sink and put all of the pipes together- doesn't she look like she is just soaking it all in??

Ava loved going down this slide- over and over and over again!

I only got this quick picture of sweet Collin- he slept almost the whole time we were there

"I want to go to the pool!"

Tonight, Ava went into her drawers and picked out her swimsuit (note: there were several in the drawer and she murmured to herself, "I like this one") and her hat. She put on her suit and hat herself- "I do it myself, Mommy"- and told Jason and I that she wanted to go to the pool.
All we need now is the sunscreen!

Truly a Mom...

Ava was feeling a bit under the weather all day on Halloween, but she was a trooper all day long. She went to bed an hour later than usual and slept without a peep until about midnight. At midnight she woke up crying and I had to rock her back down. Again at 2 am, she was up crying and I gave her some water and rocked her back down. At 4am, she was crying again and I picked her up out of her crib and was holding her trying to quiet her. She started gagging and then proceeded to throw up all over us not once, not twice, but 4 times!!!! YUCK! I know what you're thinking... Ava didn't even eat any candy! Poor little thing just had a 24 hour bug. One of the only thoughts that crossed my mind at 4 am was that at least she didn't get any on the carpet or in her crib for me to clean up. We both took a very early morning bath and I got Ava settled back down for the rest of the night.
When Ava was an infant, I got peed on and I got spit up on, but nothing quite prepares you for a moment like last night. When that little sweet face was looking at me with tears pouring down her face and I had throw up pooled in my t-shirt- all I could think about was making her feel better. I feel that last night was my official induction into the mom sorority and anything else somewhat gross that happened in the past 20 months was just hazing. Welcome to the club... :)