Dr. Ava

My mom just sent me this picture! :) Ava listening to Keegan's sweet heart. She says, "take a deep breath" then moves it to another place, "take a deep breath." :) Aren't they just perfect?!

Stay tuned- an update within 24 hours! Promise!

2 1/2 years old!!!

For those of you still following- I am SO sorry for the lack of existence! I cannot seem to find the energy to get on here and get an update up! I tried really hard to take the advice of a fellow friend and blogger, Carmen, and to do shorter, easier updates- but that didn't work either. So, here I am...with Ava at 2 1/2 years old....with an update! :)
So, I have totally spawned a monster! A cute, sweet, loving monster- but a monster none the less!! :) As she's gotten older and her personality has become more prevalent, we all have noticed something- she is TYPE A!!! She doesn't like to be dirty- her hands, her clothes, her shoes- nothing. She constantly asks for a wipe to clean her hands, mouth, etc. When she has a snack in the car, you better have a Wet-One ready for her when she's done...cause she wants CLEAN HANDS!

Every now and then, she'll get a treat of M&M's in a little bowl...well, she eats them in order according to their color. All the reds. Then all the yellows. Then all the greens. Don't even think about getting them out of order!

One of her favorite things to do is line up all her toys, animals, babies, etc....she puts them all in a line (sometimes stretching all across the entire room). It's usually a curvy line that goes all over....she calls is her "crazy line," and she's so proud of it! At nap and bedtime, she has a specific order in which she requires the blankets be laid on her. First her "taggie" (her version of a "blankie"- she sucks on the tag, though, which is why it's a "taggie"), then the big blanket (but "only cover my feet"- this blanket is not allowed above her waist, then the fuzzy one on top of them all. If they aren't in that order, just go ahead and start over again with the taggie! She's cute. Crazy cute. ;)

Everything else is pretty good...she's talking like crazy, although, at this point that's no surprise. In fact, she never really stops talking...or moving. The child is very busy. Sometimes I make phone calls when I'm driving home since it's really the only "free time" I have in my day- and almost everyone makes a comment about the fact that she's in the background just....talking. To herself. (Usually) Happily! She's usually pretty great in the car (thank GOODness!)- I keep a good pile of books in there for her, so she's entertained by those for quite a while!

She's got her favorite books recently- she loves all the Fancy Nancy books and is into a few of the Dr. Suess books as well (The Tooth Book, Green Eggs and Ham, and Honey Bunny Funnybunny). She can fill in any of the words to these stories. It's actually kinda amazing. Makes me realize how-many-times-we've-read-the-darn-things!! But, she loves them, so I just keep reading them- over and over and over! :)

I'd have to say her favorite toys are:
1) Her rubber duckies (she knows which ones are the mommies, babies, daddy, and grandpas)! She brings them into the bath with her, then at the end of bath time, she lines them up so they can dry. OCD?!?
2) Her babies/barbies/animals (treats them all like babies)- she is constantly putting them to nap time and covering them up. It's a little morbid since she covers their entire body (including their face), but she's very nurturing with them. It's super cute. She even puts them in time-out sometimes! :) Covered from head to toe...
3) Her dollhouse- she plays with her doll house and dollhouse family everyday. She talks to them and carries on complete conversations with them. She has quite an imagination!

School's going great. She moved up to the next class. She'll be in this class for about 6 months and will move up again at age 3. (OMG! Age three)!?!! We do very much miss her first teacher, Ms. Kristin. She was wonderful and kind and so soft spoken. Ava loved her (she even told her so)! There will never be another Ms. Kristin. It's bad when you start with the best. It's kinda like I know we'll never have anyone quite as special as April. (We miss you Loop)!
Well, she's still in the mommy phase. She pretty much wants me all the time. I'm still cool with that (...for the most part. Sometimes, I do want just a little break). :) Sometimes I try to get Patrick to do bedtime, and that works....until it's actually time to get in the bed. Then the tears start...until I get there. (Now, she's very smart, cause if I'm not there, then it's no problem...but if she knows I'm there...not a chance)! So, not much rest for the weary...but I signed up for this, right?! :)

Sweetness...peaking from behind the chair.


Her hair is getting pretty long. It's still semi-rat tail'ish, but I can't bring myself to cut it yet....then her ponytail wont look this cute!
So here's some cute stuff she's said:

A while ago, Ava and I talked about going to get pancakes at IHOP one day after church...but she didn't end up getting them. Well, the next day, she asked me for "canpakes!" I mean, come on! Freakin' cute!!

One morning, I went to get Ava up for school and she was still a little groggy- eyes kinda closed with tired face. When I was changing her diaper, (warning, graphic!) ...she farted. :) She didn't react at all and then a few seconds later (eyes still closed), she said, "I toot." I said, "Yep, you sure did." Then she said, "I a toot machine!" Now, WHO taught her that one?!?! Daddy??

We went to Waffle House one morning after church, and Ava got some toast. I asked her if she wanted jelly or butter, and she, (of course!), chose butter (she's a butter-holic! Thanks Grandpa Mike)! Well, the next day, we were driving in the car, and she said, "Mommy, I don't care for jelly." Huh!?! I mean, really?


I know there's so much more going on with Ava, but I don't want to overwhelm you! ;) I'm gonna try to post more smaller, more often updates. We'll see.....

I hope everyone is going great! I promise it will not be a month and a half before I update again!!

Whiskers

So, Ava and I were hanging out this morning and the sun was shinning through the windows....so, I laid down on the floor right where the sun was coming in to enjoy it's warmth. Ava came over and laid next to me and noticed something shimmering in the light.....

Ava: "Mommy, do you have hair right there?" (pointing to my upper lip).

Me: "Yeah, I have a little hair there."

Ava: "Mommy, you have whiskers!"

Guess it's time for a wax. :)


.

Merry Christmas!!!

I hope everyone had a wonderful and super fun Christmas!! Ours was great!! We went to Bobbi's for Christmas Eve and woke up there Christmas morning. Ava got to open a trillion presents from Santa and Bobbi/Grandpa Mike!

Then we went over to Michee and Pop's for the rest of Christmas Day!! Ava had so many toys/presents to open on Christmas that she ran out of juice when only a few were left!!!

Here she is making her way through the presents....
A princess may not open her gifts without her tiara.... (thanks to Michee for that one)!
Today- Patrick and I didn't waste any time taking our tree and the other Christmas decorations down...including the Nativity scene. Well....Ava notice I had put that away and was very concerned and said, "Mommy- where did God and Baby Jesus go??" :) I mean- could she be any cuter?!! I had to explain that I'd take them out again next Christmas and she seemed to be okay with that!

I forgot my camera- so these are the only pictures I have as my dad was kind enough to take a few and email them to me!

Anyway, I hope everyone's Christmas was great!!! Enjoy the rest of the year!!

PS. Other exciting news....I got my braces off!! Yay!!!

Candy Sticks and Jingle Bells

SANTA'S COMING!

Ava's reaction when she heard Santa would be coming to her house. :)


Well...ok, not really, but isn't it cute? My mom had some Christmas pictures taken of all the kids (Ava, Keegan, and Emery) and this is just one of them. The photographer was great, her name is Amie and is the owner of Amie J Ledford Photography. She was so great...and patient!!

Coffee, anyone?!?

Ava spends her Friday's with Michee. I bring Ava to work with me on Friday morning, and Michee picks her up and they always go to "Bucky's" (Michee's abbreviation of Starbucks) for breakfast. Ava usually gets oatmeal and chocolate milk. My mom always sends a picture of Ava from her iPhone....this is the one I got today with a headline of, "We start 'em young!"

Great! A coffee drinking 2 year old. Just perfect! ;)


HAPPY FRIDAY!

Happy Thanksween

So, it's been a while since I've updated...so, since Halloween AND Thanksgiving have now passed, I wanted to wish you all a Happy Thanksween! Not very creative, I know. But I tried.

Anyways, things are great! Life, somehow, is still super busy- but I think that's just the way it is now. Patrick being in school makes it seem busier too...since he's not around nearly as much and I generally have Ava by myself. But, it's great and I'm enjoying things!!

We had the chance to head up north to Burt's Pumkin Farm about a week before Halloween. We went with Ian, Booj, the kids, Michee, and Pop!! We had a great time- here are Keegan and Ava checking out this pumpkin.
It was a great day- cold but very sunny. They had a hay ride there- that's what I liked the best. Ava kept saying, "LOOK, a pumpkin" every time we saw one- which was a LOT! It was real cute. :) Here we all are- one big happy family! :)
The kids watching the tractor hay ride go by!

Halloween was fun minus the really crappy weather. We trick or treated in Bobbi's neighborhood. Ava did great- she walked up like an ol' pro with her very over sized candy bag (since I forgot her cute little Hello Kitty one that Michee got her) and said, "Trick or Treat!" Very cute. :) Then after the 5th house, she said, "Ava all done, go open candy." So, I jumped right on that and said, "Ok, great!! All done!" (For all you people who think I deprived her of her Halloween experience, if the weather wasn't so terrible, I probably would have encouraged her a little more...but it was terrible and I was cold and wet! So, that sounded great to me)! So, we went inside and had a piece of candy then ate dinner. Never mentioned her candy again after that night! That left 4 pieces for Patrick and me!! ;) Bobbi's neighborhood had a little party before- here are some pictures!


Our very serious Little MermaidThanksgiving was great too! Both families got together at Patrick's parent's house. It was a beautiful, sunny day which made it all that much better! I don't have any Thanksgiving pictures this year. Admittedly, I've been super slack with the picture taking (which Patrick has loved!). And I've also been really bad with remembering/writing down the funny phrases that Ava has been saying these days. Every time she opens her mouth- it's either funny or cute. Well...almost every time. ;)

Ava is almost 28 months now, and she's doing great. I'll just post some pictures here today...and I'll try to remember some cute stories to add at another post. Enjoy!!

Ava imitates EVERYTHING we do and say- and here she is studying just like Daddy.

Her hair doesn't weigh quite enough to avoid looking semi-ridiculous with pigtails, but I thought it was cute anyway! I think her hair somewhat resembles Shrek here! :) What do you think?? Just hanging out at her keyboard that Uncle Pat gave her. She sure does love that thing.

LOVE this profile shot. And the ponytail is the CUTEST!!
She loves to lay all over Catcher and Salsa. Catcher is generally very tolerant of her craziness. :) A sweet shot of her on Halloween night.

Here she is zooming around on the new deck at the lakehouse!Keegan spent the weekend with us a few weeks ago, and they really had so much fun together.
This was so funny- Ava pulled her rocking chair up to the fire place (which was on), got a book, and sat there reading it. Did this all by herself- we just looked over and saw this!!!
I've got a really cute video to put up very soon...so, come back soon. I promise it wont take me another 2 months to post! Here are a few more pics of Ava during the past few months if you're interested!

Is this what it would be like with twins?

Well, our first night with two 2-year-olds went really well! They have been playing very well together! Bath time was great. Bed time was slightly less smooth. :) But it was still good.

Patrick read them the first book, but after that they didn't want to read the same book! So, Keegan eventually climbed down, brought me a different book, and plopped down in my lap for me to read. So, then, we had two story times going on at the same time- Patrick in the rocker and me on the floor. Oh well! It worked!

Then, after I got them settled and tucked in...I left the room and almost immediately, I could hear Keegan talking to Ava...saying, "Hi, Ava, hi." Over and over. :) Every now and then I'd hear a giggle from Ava. It was pretty cute. But about 45 minutes after I left the room, they both were sleeping like babies. :) So, not bad.

I could totally handle twins. ;)

Happy Fall

My mom has the wonderful opportunity to watch ALL THREE GRANDBABIES today! That's two 2 year olds and one 1 year old!!! I imagine she's pretty busy! ;)

It's not the best picture (sent from a phone), but here are Ava and Keegan playing in the leaves at Michee's house. Aren't they just so freakin' cute!!? Two little red heads. :)

This weekend, Ian and Booj are out of town, and we're keeping Keegan! Ava's gonna love constantly having someone around to play with! My biggest challenge? I think it will be the sleeping arrangement. Keegan isn't in a crib anymore, but Ava is. I think we're gonna have Keegan sleep on a little mattress on the floor in Ava's room. It's the only bedroom (other than ours) that has a door on it! (He loves to open ALL doors)! So, we'll see how that goes. If they keep each other up, I may give Patrick the boot and have Keegan with me.

Patrick has his finals coming up this week, so I'm planning on him being mostly MIA. So, I think it'll just be me and the kids. Yay!! I'm looking forward to it. I'm sure I'll be exhausted by the end of the weekend, but right now, I'm ready! Thank goodness for the gorgeous weather!! We'll spend a lot of time at the park! Have a great weekend!!

PS. I promise, I'll post Halloween pictures soon...and an update!

Boo Gators!!

We're all getting ready for the big game this weekend against Florida!! Ava's ready too!!

GO DAWGS!!!

Ava 25 mos....well...almost 26 months! :)

So, I'm a huge blog slacker. I can't help it. I'm too busy for this thing anymore. Is anyone even still reading???

Ok, ok...well, so Ava is 25 months now...although, she's just about to be 26 months! Ooops! I know you're not supposed to do the whole "month" age thing past age 2...but I can't just say, "she's two" on every post for the next year!! So...I'm sticking with the months!

Anyway, we've had a super fun past couple of weeks. Although, things are CRAZY hectic. But, they're good...so I can't complain!

Ava's doing great! She's talking up a storm...in fact, I think she's finally starting to wear out her grand parents eardrums!! And her vocal chords! The child DOES NOT STOP TALKING!! Ever. Even random strangers out and about will comment on how much she just talks and talks and talks. Truly, my ears rarely get any peace. The very rare car ride sans child is about all I get! I guess it could be worse! We still haven't entered into the temper tantrum stage yet...although, I know SOMETHING is bound so come my way! Ava is a firecracker with an incredibly independent (and sometimes bossy!) personality! It can't just be all flowers and rainbows for too much longer! ;)

Ava's getting much more used to our new schedule...school included! She usually still cries a little either when I put her school clothes on in the morning and/or when we pull into the school parking lot saying, "no go to school." :( Even if she isn't crying when we get to her room, as soon as she sees it, she starts again. BUT, she usually stops crying even before I leave the room. She gets a report sent home with her everyday about what she did, what she ate, how she acted....and her favorite teacher, Ms. Kristen, has recently been writing things like, "Ava was very cheerful today!" I really love her teacher, and she seems to understand Ava's personality very well now. Ava talks about her all the time at home and even "God blesses" Ms. Kristen during our nightly prayers! So cute. One of her favorite parts of the day at school is music class...she really opens up in there and sings and dances away! On days that she doesn't have school...she KNOWS it! On Monday mornings, she'll say, "no Ava go to school on Monday! No mommy go to work on Monday!"

So, it's been raining a ton here...basically since we moved from Florida! So, we've had to be creative with inside play....or, a little puddle play where there's a break in the rain!But, on the rare ocassion that we've gotten some decent weather- we've hit the park several times. Ava really misses being able to be outside all the time. In Florida, we had a fenced in back yard that was just a step out the kitchen. She spent HOURS out there...almost daily! She hasn't gotten to do that much here..so, when we get to go to the park, she gets REALLY excited! Here are her and Keegan at the park together for the FIRST TIME EVER!!! It was just about to rain the entire time, but it held off! They had a great time together!!They've gotten to play together several more times at other various parks in the area. She loves going by herself, but she really loves it when she's got a buddy to play with! Here are some super sweet pics!
Keegan, wanna kiss?? :)They played in the mulch under the playground for like 30 minutes!


There was an charity softball event that Patrick played in (with my brothers Pat and Ian and a bunch of his baseball buddies from college), and we all went to the ballpark on Friday night. It was a blast! Ava had the best time! Can't wait 'til local ballparks are a part of our life on a regular basis (whether is be with one of my kids or Keegan)!! Here's Patrick and Ava having a blast!Patrick teaching Ava how to run the bases!
Patrick showing Ava how to run the bases!
Rounding third...almost home!!
Now what, mommy?After a forward roll. Loved playing in the grass!!
Sorry again for the delay...but that pretty much catches you up. Life is great! Here's more pictures of Ava at 25 months if you didn't get enough!! :)

SOLD!

Well....we sold our perfect little house in Florida.

I went down this past weekend to get the rest of our stuff moved out of the house. I flew down on Saturday, rented a moving van, and drove it back to Georgia on Sunday.

When I got there, I was reminded of one of the reasons I loved living there so much...the weather was awesome- hot and sunny- not a trace of rain! The house still looked like our house...when I went inside, I felt like I was home. It was a weird feeling because when I arrived there, I felt like I was going back home. I always used to say that I was "back home" when I got back to Georgia. Of course, I love Georgia. But, I really loved our life there, and I have so many wonderful memories.

So, farewell to our first home. We'll never forget you!

Bilingual Baby???

Isn't Dora great?! :)

Cantaloupe

A morning video for your viewing pleasure! :)

Sorry about the quality...I'm still getting the hang of this iMac!!