spring has sprung...

spring has sprung!!!! yaaaayyyyyyy!

so, sunday, we headed out to the dallas arobretum with ricky, christina, & the girls (along with some of their close friends)...minus daddy...he had to work. anyway, it was a beautiful day and the flowers were gorgeous! ava didn't get a nap before we left, so she was a bit of an emotional handful, but overall, did really well for walking around flowers for several hours. ricky and christina were so sweet and helped me with her and pushed the stroller a bit and really are just the best brother and sister in law i the whole world :) love them. this is their sweet family...

me and ava

maddy and sydney

sweet miss maddy

it was such a fun day and i am so gald it is finally feeling a bit spring-ish around here :)

Read more...

spring cleaning: beware...if you are a neat freak...you may avoid this post!

so, if you know me, you know that i do not have a neat freakish bone in my body...i have dreams to be organized, but the reality is i.am.not (and if you don't know me personally, please don't judge me by this post...please, please, please!)! well, i am organized, but in my own way...if you ask me where something is i can tell you exactly...now if you can get to it, that's another story :) anyway, i try to keep most the house tidy, but ever since we moved in a few years back, this office has always stayed the "catch all" for the crap in our lives! if we can't find a place for it...it ends up here...ugh! we also live in a very old house with very limited closet space, so that definitly doesn't help.
anyway, my mom came over last saturday to help get me started with this office clean up...it was just too big of an ordeal for me to tackle by myself...to overwhelming! since it is going to be the new baby's room, though, i figured i better get started...yes, i have five more months, but i just know that the longer i put it off, the harder it would be. so i am posting some before and after pics...i know, the befores are ugly! but honestly, after 5 hours of cleaning, sorting, dusing, vacuuming & one gigantic bag of garbage, i felt really good about where we decided to stop for the day. there is still a lot to be done, a lot to get rid of, a lot to shred, but it seems so much more manageable and i love that i can walk in this room now and not feel overwhelmed! thanks mama for coming to help me, you're the best! now...when we gonna get started on the rest ;)

before:

after:

Read more...

beautiful...

Read more...

every day

is a gift! this afternoon/ evening we spent over at grams and popo's house. ava always has so much fun over there, there is just so much to do and grams and popo are busybody's just like ava, so it works out so well! ava gets to give sam (the dog ) bones, feed macho (the cat), give the fish in the pond some food, water flowers, play in the pool, watch elmo (of course), play with the little neighbor boy who is a month younger than ava, ride in the wagon and visit the Drake's (special neighbors)...it is one busy place! anyway, here are a few pics from the day! it was ava's first day to wear piggy tails...i had been putting it off...i think they make her look like too much of a big girl, but they are so cute!

notice the hand on her hip...look familiar? she is already turning into her mother!

yep...that would be a twizzler...or as we call it "lick-o-wish" in ava's hand...my child does love candy...just another trait like her mama!

pushing the buggy...

petting "ma-chew"

how lucky are we to have all this wonderful family??? very lucky, i think!

Read more...

morning glory...

every morning after ava wakes up she actually has to have, what i call her "wake up time". we will sit on the couch together with her sippy full of milk and usually elmo or curious george will join us (on t.v. and in stuffed animal variety). this will last for 5-45 minutes...depends on the morning. and then out of nowhere, the girl will get a burst of energy and snuggle time is over and the busy girl is ready to go.and go.and go.and go....

this is one of my favorite times of the day, i am a snuggler, ava is usually not, so i just soak this up for as long as i can and hate to think of the day when she wakes up and doesn't need this time anymore...sniff, sniff....anyway, here is miss gorgeous drinkin' her milk, watching elmo, getting ready for a busy day!

this day, elmo and abby were being paleontologists and talking about dinosaurs!

Read more...

today was such a busy day for little missy ava! she left to spend the day with her nonna around 10 this morning and returned home around 4:30! nonna said they had such a great day and that ava played with her cousin dillon and spent the day having fun with them :) we love our every other monday "nonna day", it's such a treat for both of us, or i guess, all three of us :) then we headed to poppy and mimi's house. mimi called me earlier on in the day and asked if we wanted to come over for dinner and surprise poppy, i think he missed us! so we got there just in time for some yummy spaghetti and poppy said he was so suprised and i think he was happy to see us, especially the munchkin, crabby and all :) she didn't get a nap at nonna's, too much fun to miss for a stinky old nap, so she slept in the car for about 10 minutes on the way...made for a crabby baby girl. after we ate, poppy let ava help with the dishes and she loved every wet, soapy second of it! that poppy is the best! then mimi made some yummy strawberry shortcake with chocolate ice cream! YUMMY!!! such a treat! we had such a nice time and got home just in time to get ava in bed by her bedtime :) it was such a great day spent with so many special people :)

helpin' poppy with the dishes!

eating some yummy dessert :)

Read more...

mmmmmm...nachos!

just a few random things....

ava coloring...her face! yeah, she uses her crayons as lipstick sometimes, silly girl! good thing crayola wipes right off!


and for those of you that know me, and know me well, know that i really don't like to cook. well i watched oprah the other day and was inspired and left hungry when the show was over. so i actually tried a super easy recipe for some yummy nachos, my favorite! they actually turned out pretty good...the chips got a bit soggy...not sure what that's about, but you know, you load em up with sour cream and it's all good! hopefully i'll get the soggy chip thing figured out, i will be making these again, they were so good!

Read more...

mission accomplished!

so we made it to northpark and back! ava was such a good girl, it was such a long car ride and then i had promised her she would get to play, assuming that this huge fancy mall would have some sort of children's play area...ummmmm, this mall is too fancy for that! so, being a mom that has promised herself never to break a promise to her children, ava survived a long drive back to fort worth and we stopped in at ridgmar so she could play for a bit! and play did she! she was such a wild woman and just so happy. we have been cooped up too much this week because of the rain. it's so sad when your little one tries to crawl in her jogging stroller and says "wing" (swing) because we have gotten into such a habbit of walking to the park and swinging and we both love it and need it! so tonight she got to play and was such a happy girl! time actually flew and before i knew it, it was 7:30, so we got a quick bite to eat and then headed home. ava is in bed and crossing my fingers, asleep, getting her beauty sleep for tomorrows pics by my favorite local photographer, brandi, http://www.b4photography.blogspot.com/
you must check her out if you get a chance, i love what she does! so hopefully, ava will be all smiles and sunshine tomorrow for her pics and not running and saying "all done" like she does for me! always fun to see your baby through someone else's eyes :)

Read more...

dress envy...

so i saw this dress on another blog and fell.in.love. ava is having her easter pics done tomorrow and after calling and searching i have finally found it at northpark center....soooooo...we will be taking a long, long car ride, in the rain, to get the dress. i tried so hard to ignore the temptation...but have failed miserably (as usual)!

Read more...

happy first birthday little missy kaitlin!

we love you and hope you had a super fun day! wish we could have celebrated with you sweetheart! hugs and kisses!

xoxo,

auntie

Read more...

there's no place like home...

we had such a great time visiting dathan, amber, and kaitlin in colorado this past week. it was a quick trip, but sooooooo worth it and so much fun! we had beautiful weather, good company, and two adorable little girls...who could ask for more??!! anyway, ava and kaitlin had fun playing together...ava was a little bit of a toy hog...she kept climbing up on the couch with the toys she wanted because i guess she knew kaitlin coudln't get up there and get them...she can be such a stinker. it was really fun to see them interacting and having fun together. here are a few of the shots from the trip:

little missy kaitlin

she is a standing girl! with her favorite toy....socks :)
the girls playing

break time :)

playing is a lot of work!

i think kaitlin would agree!
more playing...

such a cutie pie!

i love this one of the girlies.

kaitlin says, "this big girl is driving me crazy!!!

baby update: i had a doctor appointment last friday after we got back and everything is still going really well with the pregnancy! we find out what it is on april 3rd :) can't wait!

Read more...

spring dresses...

so, i took ava today to do a little modeling for my friend crystal and her botique clothing line :) after she finished modeling the cute dress crystal made for her, i had to take a few pics of her in this sweet little dress that kay sent! i love it on her, it is going to be perfect for summer and it's reversible, so that's even better...like two dresses in one :) thanks so much for thinking of her kay, you're a sweetie :) anyway, i'll post some from the modeling shoot when i get them! but for now, ava in her sweet spring dress...

Read more...

words, words, words...

so, since ava is now speakingin sentences....i thought i would make a word list of all the words i can think of that she says.....

mama
daddy
grams (kind of growly)
popo
poppy
mimi
grandad (gandad)
grama (grammy joanne)
nonna
kiki (kristy)
nanny
pawpaw
elmo
abby
cookie
bird
gover (grover)
zoe (sounds like sorry)
please
thank you
welcome
potty
poo-poo
cheese
fish
bear
puppy
kitty
macho (grams & popo's kitty)
sam (grams & popo's puppy)
night night
bed
heart
circle
"g" - not a word, but she can recogize letter "g"
star
baby
bottle
cereal
waffle
strawberry
apple
banana (only she says "bananananananna")
soft
nice
no
yes
up
down
jew jew (her cousin jewelia)
madda (her cousin maddy)
sissy (her cousin sydney)
tina (her aunt christina....we are working on "christina")
wicky (her uncle ricky)
car
go
home
she asks the question "______ go?" (like, "where did daddy go?" and then she does the coordinating hand motion like she is asking a question)
outside
couch
george
monkey
book
hello
bye bye
eat
milk
spin
bath
bubble
bubba (our dog max)
foxie (our dog "roxie"...i think she has been renamed :) )
good girl (our dog roxie)
pants
hair
feet
hand
nose
ouch
i sorry (she has no idea when to say this...so she says it a lot...it is so sad!)
john (her cousin)
banket (blanket)
swing
come here (while trying to snap her fingers...that's how we call the dogs)
toon toon (her great aunt susan)
phil (her great uncle phil)
yee haw (is that even a real word?)
eye
ear
juice
water
diaper
"ilubyou"
more
yummy
mallow (marshmallow)
cracker
play
bird
efant (elephant)
cross
color
paper

hmmmm...that is all i can think of right now...i may have to add more, i'm sure i forgot some....

Read more...