Christmas 2011

Riding her jeep from Nana/Pawpaw

We had a blessed Christmas. Its just a blessing to have all of our family and be happy and healthy. Adam had to work pretty much all Christmas weekend so that put a spin on our Holidays. That's our life though so we just go with the flow. I pray in 2012 comes changes with his job schedule :) Friday afternoon me and Mom took Ava to Galaxy of Lights in Huntsville. It was a lot of fun and it always puts us in the Christmas spirit. We had a nice afternoon. We had to sneak in a few last minute gifts too. Christmas Eve we spent the day at moms. Ava got a Barbie Jeep from them so it was on.....we were outside most of the afternoon. Mom cooked a wonderful meal and Jeremy came in that afternoon. We exchanged more gifts which Ava thoroughly enjoyed. Saturday night we went to a Friends house that does a nice little open house on Christmas Eve. It was nice to just spend an evening with Friends and eat good food. Christmas Day we went to Grandmas and mom cooked a big meal. Again we missed Adam, and grandpa. He was in ICU due to infections. Santa came to visit Ava Monday morning :) We switched it up so Adam could enjoy it with us. He was off Monday. She got a ton more toys that she is really enjoying playing with. Adam got me a Kindle Fire and a GC to my favorite Spa. I can't wait to use it. :) I hit up some after Christmas sales Monday and spent some time with Jeremy before he went back home.

We are going to ATL this weekend to have Christmas with Adam's side of the family. It feels kind of weird having a Christmas event in January, but like I said we just go with the flow.

More Christmas pictures to come later...

Christmas Play

Despite this picture she really wasn't scared of him. She just happened to look away as I snapped it. She was so excited when Santa arrived. She did great. She did her role in the play pretty good for the most part. She was an angel in the nativity and a kid in the frosty play. She didn't do her special. Which was mainly just her saying "Merry Christmas" really cute. Oh well I wasn't going to force her to do anything. It went great. Oh and they did fake snow on the ceiling fans which was so magical when it was falling down on all the kids. Not so much when I was vacuuming it over and over and over.

Christmas Parade

We went to the Christmas Parade Thursday night. Yes in our small northern Alabama town we get excited over a few trucks with lights on them and music. :) Its a tradition and it just gets us in the Christmas spirit. I actually love it. Ava loved it this year too. She was yelling out the window at just normal lights on the way thinking everything was something to do with the parade. I thought it was so cute. It was in the 30s that night but we were all wrapped up good. I love being outside all bundled up when its that cold. I am a weirdo I know. Everyone else was like "I am freezing, I can't feel my toes". I was like, "I like it". Ava got plenty of candy and she loved seeing all the different things in the parade. She especially enjoyed seeing the Grinch. She loves that movie but she will say, "That Grinch is mean". Then she loved seeing the band play. She loves playing drums and dancing. Of course she saw the man of the hour...SANTA! She waved and said "Merry Christmas"!

Afterwards we grabbed some dinner with Friends. It was a fun night.

Our new Christmas tree!

This picture really doesn't do it justice. I love my new HUGE tree. Its so large that Adam can't even reach the top standing on a chair. I spent way more time decorating the tree this year. Mainly because it was new and MUCH larger than my old one. When I put all my decorations on it I realized quick it was going to need some major help. So I added the deco mesh, more ornaments, and here it is.

Notice my vary bare walls and windows in the background. I might not have curtains up but I got the Tree up :)

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First Christmas Events of the season

Ava playing at Pawpaws and Nanadetts

Giving me a sneaky look. She has been in the cookies up on the counter :)

Our Christmas festivities have started. Friday night mom kept Ava so me and Adam could go to a Christmas party with some of our best Friends. We had so much fun. I haven't laughed that hard in a while!!!

We woke up early Saturday morning and got ready and packed up for Atlanta. We headed down there for our first Christmas event with Adam's side of the family. We did some shopping and just hung out Saturday. Then Sunday we had a Christmas dinner with his Papa and family. We had good food and played dirty Santa. We had some good laughs out of that too!!

This whole week is full of Christmas stuff. We have play practice two nights and our local Christmas parade is set for Thursday (since it got rained out tonight).

I LOVE this time of year!!!

Our little girl is growing up

CHEESE!!! Taken by Ava

So fast too!!!! She is so hilarious. I wish I could write down every little funny thing she says and does but there is not enough time in the day!! The other morning we wake up and she says "Mom you are my buddy". I laugh as my heart melted. Little things like that just out of the blue make my day. Potty training is going great. She amazes me how fast she caught on, and the fact she actually wants to do it. I just have to share this too, even though she will kill me when she gets older. She was sitting on the potty trying to go poo. I thought she was done and she said "No mom its just gas". I was like does she even know what gas is??? I guess so.

Her favorite things to do now are play Barbie on my phone, take pictures of herself on my phone, and sing at the top of her lungs (as we all clap and praise her). The pictures up top are ones I found on my phone after she had been playing with it :) I found her the other day in the study sitting in a chair with a row of dolls/barbies in the floor. She was reading them a story. She says "Once upon a time.....". Her favorite movie now is the Princess and the Frog. We went to bed one night and she kissed me goodnight. She laid it on me!!!! She was moving her head back and forth. I said wow, what a kiss. She said "thats the Princess and the Frog". I lost it.

She is obsessed with gum. That kid will chew gum for hours and not swallow it. I was apprehensive about giving it to her because I thought she would swallow it. After many pieces later I realized she doesn't. :)

She is SO full of energy it amazes me. I love her sweet little sassy personality. She puts her hands on her hips and says NO!!!! Wonder where she gets that from?

Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving. Of course you know we ate too much and looked at Black Friday sales papers. That is tradition. Adam got off work so that was a nice surprise. He was scheduled to work. I had plans to go shopping early Friday morning but my body had different plans. I woke up sick as a dog through the night. I think it was something I ate because I was fine the following day. Anyhow, we didn't go shopping till later. I still got almost everything I wanted on my to do list. I also got a new Christmas tree for the new house. I LOVE it. When I get it all decorated I will take a picture. Saturday I put up my tree and stuff. Then we had to break and go watch the big game with Friends.. Well actually Adam watched the game. I didn't watch any of it :) That just isn't my thing.

It was a good Holiday break!!!!!!!!!! We have so much to be Thankful for!!

We closed!!

We closed last Wednesday on the house!!!! Yay! I can't even tell you how glad I am that its all over!!! It all worked out great and I am SO grateful. So the fun part began to move....UGH. Me and Adam decided to do it ourselves because the quote from Two Men and a Truck was CRAZY!!!! Let me just say it might have been worth it. I helped him move almost everything. There were some larger pieces that I didn't even attempt and a good Friend helped him with that. Thank God. My arms were like jello by the time the day was over. I haven't been that tired since childbirth. LOL Well maybe not that tired but you get my drift. So we moved the furniture and necessities Thursday. I worked Friday and I felt awful. Well we just blamed it on pushing myself too much moving. Well NO...Friday night the virus bug hit....hard. I felt like you had ran me over with a semi. So needless to say I was in bed all weekend. At least it was in my new house. :) I got really acquainted with my bedroom and bathroom!!!!! The worse part other than feeling awful was all the work I need to be doing to get moved and organized. Oh well I guess it will wait..right?
Hopefully I will post a picture soon of the outside. I want to wait until its not major chaos to post pics of the inside.

Gatlinburg 2011

Cousins.....Ava and Gabe's smiles are hilarious.

Posing!

At Dixie Stampede...Adam was saying something.

Ride the Carousel

With the lady at Dixie Stampede

Cheese!

We went to Gatlinburg November 4-7. It is an annual trip with Adam's side of the family. The weather was great, cool but not freezing. I love this time of year. This trip kind of fell in the middle of our craziness with the house. I wish it would have been another time so I could have enjoyed it more. Oh well it was nice to get away and be with family. Ava loved being with her cousins!!!!!!!!!

Halloween 2011

Here is Ava Monday night before we went Trick or Treating. I am not really sure what her costume was. A Friend gave it to me and it was so adorable I wanted her to wear it. Plus I didn't have time to go out and buy something.....nor did I want to spend $30 for something she would wear one time. She called the hat a train conductor hat. It did resemble it. We had a fun night. We went to a couple local churches that have trunk or treat. Then we hit up some family and Friends that had the kids special treats. By the end of the night Ava had the "Trick or Treat" down. It was so cute!!!!

Notice my poor pitiful pumpkin. This is the first year I can ever remember not carving my pumpkin or having just one. I just didn't have time this year. We have been SO busy with the house.

Which by the way we should be closing this week HOPEFULLY!!!!!! Please say a prayer for me. I feel like I might have ucler's before this is over. Its just so stressful.

Whats been going on

So what has been going on lately in our world.......potty training, last minute decisions on house stuff, and your basic work, etc.

Ava is doing great at potty training by the way....or at least I think so. She has learned to tell me more when she needs to go to the potty. Not always, but we are getting there slowly. I have learned to NOT rush her and try to let her wear panties to bed. She requested to wear them Sunday night so I am thinking why not? She must be ready. She did great and stayed dry the whole night. I on the other hand didn't get much sleep because every minute I was waking up making sure she hadn't peed. OH and yea she sleeps with us. I know, I know...bad right? That is another battle I will take up when we move. The second night she went the whole night again. I checked her when I woke up. Then by the time I had got ready for work she woke up and peed.....everywhere! So therefore I was busy that night washing loads and loads of laundry. SO she is back to a diaper at night until she will tell me she needs to go.

The house.....It is basically done. Roller coaster would be a good description of how I feel. I thought we would be done and closed by late Sept/First of October. Then I thought it would be second week in October. My builder was gone last week out of the country. So here we are at the end of October. I am really hoping we close next week. We have just been waiting on the rest of the vinyl to be complete. It is taking forever for these guys to get done.
I am SUPER excited to start moving stuff in. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have started packing a little.

Yeah, and my new addiction is Pinterest. My mind is full of ideas for this new house. It could be a good thing or really bad :) I think good. I used a recipe I found off it last weekend. I am obsessed with Nutella so I made Nutella no bake cookies. YUM!!! I even took out some sugar to make it healthier :) Go me.

Tate Farms 2011

Her new obsession..sticking her tongue out :(

Petting the rabbit

Hay ride!!

buried in corn!

Corn Train....she loves this.

Notice where Ava gets her solemn looks??

We had a good trip to Tate Farms yesterday. I took off work for half the afternoon and enjoyed my time with Adam and Ava. Ava loves it and of course we love taking her. All our Saturdays are either spent doing something with the house or Adam is working, so I just said I would take off work so we could all 3 go. I thought it was going to rain but it was just cloudy. It was the perfect time because it wasn't' crowded at all.

We grabbed dinner together and of course bought some stuff for the house! I can't make a trip to Huntsville without a mile long list of to dos.

Potty Training ...Take 2

Yes I am attempting it yet again. Last Wednesday I went and bought her big girl princess panties. She was VERY excited about them! So far she has done awesome. We have only had a few accidents. She doesn't always tell me, but I just take her to the bathroom very often. Like for instance last night at church I was very nervous. :) I took her like 3 times...LOL.
We even took a trip to Huntsville on Saturday to run some errands and she did great.
I am proud of her but kind of sad in the same way. She looks so big in her little panties.

Happy Birthday Adam...a little late

Saturday was Adam's birthday!!!! We celebrated by going to Chattanooga and meeting his brother and family. It was such a nice day. We enjoyed the park a bit, then had dinner. It was just a good day. Of course that morning started out with "house" stuff and one of a million trips to Home Depot (aka, my second house).
He had a good Birthday!!!

House

We are about a month from being complete!!!! That is if all goes as planned. I am SO excited. Its starting to really look like what I envisioned. I am not posting any pictures till its complete. I want to surprise you all :) I know, like you care....but really I don't have time to take pictures right now. If I did take a picture tomorrow it would look different. That is how fast things are progressing. I love progress!!!

As far as selling our current house.....Well thats not progressing as much as I hoped. We had a couple to look at it last night. They made an offer this morning but it was MUCH less than what we want. It was actually cheaper than what we paid for it. I have a lady coming tomorrow and I am just hoping and praying she likes it and makes a reasonable offer! I am not as stressed as I should be though. I know God is in control of all things. He knows exactly what we need!!!!

Have a GREAT weekend! I know ours will be busy. I am loving this cooler weather though!

Girls Trip Destin 2011

riding the Train

Look a Sandcastle!!

"Stop" in the name in love!

Clear water!

She loves her Nana

Her "Cheese" Face! Notice she closes her eyes.

We had such a fun girls trip to Destin. Thankfully we changed our dates and missed Storm Lee. The weather was SO amazing. I have never been down to Destin when the weather was so perfect. It was only in the 80s during the day. We didn't have any rain and the water was crystal clear. Ava did great on the trip. She LOVED the water and sand. All we heard the whole time was "I wanna go to the Beach". When she would wake up from naps she would yell that. I am so proud that she got to enjoy it. We spent most of our days relaxing on the beach. We would go from playing in the sand to splashing in the water. She even took a couple naps on the beach. I was able to read a whole book in 3 days!! Its been a long time since I can say I did that. I read Water For Elephants. I got some yummy seafood a few nights. Friday was moms birthday so we let her choose the place for dinner. She hates seafood so we had Italian. We did some shopping at night and ate a bunch of ice cream. :)
Oh and we saw 3 sand sharks. I was very close to one. I was playing in the water with Ava and one started swimming down the beach parallel to the shore line. We saw some dolphins too!

We had so much fun!!!!

Mother Nature

Oh Mother Nature!! You are so unpredictable and mysterious. You change our plans when we think we are going to do certain things at particular times. BUT thats life!

First of all right now I am suppose to be in Destin laying on the beach getting some sun.....BUT you thought otherwise. Me,Mom, and Ava were taking a girls beach trip. Thankfully last Thursday when we realized this tropical storm was going to affect the gulf I called, and the WONDERFUL reservation specialists let me change my dates without penalty. And I got some money back due to rates going down :) SO YEAH!!!!!!!! So far the forecast is pretty for the end of this week at the beach. So excited!!!!

We were planning on going to Art Sunday yesterday after church but it was raining all afternoon. OH well maybe next year. I would have probably spent too much money on unnecessary cute things anyways.

And for Labor Day.....normally this day is full of sun, grilled food, and Friends. So far I am still in my pjs at 11 and I don't see me getting out of them for a while. Actually I am enjoying this rainy day!!

That buggy scared me!!

Just a little funny I wanted to share. We went to Lowes Saturday and they had their Halloween stuff out. There was a HUGE blown up type spider on a top shelf. Adam walked around with Ava while I was shopping. They approached the HUGE spider and Adam just had to see what Ava would do so he was like "Run, the buggy (her term for any spider or bug of any sort) is gonna get us." He said her facial expression was priceless. She turned and started running with all her might. He of course laughed and laughed. I walked up about this time and saw them running. I started walking towards it to check it out. I love Halloween. Adam said "Oh no the buggy is gonna get mom". So poor Ava bursts into tears and starts yelling for me to stop. I have heard about that buggy ever since Saturday. The poor kid is traumatized. The funny part is the spider's head would turn and stuff. She says "That buggy looked at me"...and she whips her head around like it did. You just can't help but laugh.

Oh and now she tells everyone that she saved me from the buggy.

I sure hope she isn't terrified of everything Halloween come October!!!

Finally some brick and our weekend

Ava swimming with her role model, Kyndall.

The master bedroom windows and brick.

Side view of the house bricked

Back porch area, without steps

So I finally have some pictures to show progress of the outside of the house. The brickers do an amazing job when they show up. They bricked the front areas of the house Saturday but I took all these pictures Friday night. So hopefully my next post will show the front completed :) Yeah right.

We had a crazy weekend. There is just so much to do and think about. Anyways, we took a break Saturday afternoon for Ava to go to a swimming party. She had a blast!! She literally walked around all week holding the invitation. We would get it in the morning and she would take it to moms. Then we would bring it back home and place it on the fridge. I thought it was so cute that she was that excited. It was fun to see her get that excited.

Our Anniversary dinner....and a sick baby

Just to let everyone know we went to Ruths Chris for our Anniversary dinner. OH dear!!! Thats about all I can say. It was amazing and pricey. We really did enjoy it though!

We spent Saturday morning running errands for the house, followed by a birthday party for a friend of Ava's. Then we ate dinner with some friends.

Saturday night Ava started coughing and feeling bad. We had a rough night. Sunday me and her stayed in the house all day!!!! It was much needed though. She was running fever and coughing something awful. She slept way better last night, but her cough is still lingering today. I really do despise summer time colds.

Happy Anniversary Adam!

Happy Anniversary to my husband! 6 years ago to the exact day of the week today!!!!! Crazy how time flies!!!

We are going on a date night tonight. Ava is staying with mom/dad all night.
I have a feeling Adam is up to something. I asked him if we were going to Conners to eat...that is where we usually go. He said he didn't think so. I began to ask questions and he wouldn't induldge me. Who knows where we will end up.

We have a crazy weekend ahead. There is so much to pick out for the house, plus Ava has a birthday party tomorrow to go to. Just not enough time in our weekends.

Learn by example

Sometimes I forget how much Ava is paying attention to what I say and do. The last couple days I was reminded. Over the weekend I was getting ready in the bathroom and she was in there playing. She got the deodorant and started pulling off her top to put it under her arms. I had to just stop and laugh a minute. It was so cute. I am glad I am teaching her proper hygiene.

Then yesterday afternoon we were outside. I drew her a hopscotch on the driveway, and we were hopping and playing. She wanted Adam to join in the fun....so he did. He hopped through it and then walked over to the grass and spit (his dip addiction). Yes I know a horrible habit that I despise. Anyways, Ava hopped (ran) through the hopscotch then walked over to the grass and spit :) We both looked at each other and dying laughing.

I hope I am teaching her good things and she is ignoring my faults :) Wishful thinking, right?

Heavy Heart

My heart is hurting today! A very good friend of mine, her father passed away yesterday. Please keep them in your prayers! I can't imagine the devastation and heartache they are going through. He always treated me good! I spent many days in his home playing with his kids, and many nights at his dinner table. He had a pretty smile, so thats what I am thinking on today. :)

Progress!

Hanging out at the splash park.

Finally.......for SALE! I guess I should have took the picture from the road so you can see the house :)

I guess you were probably expecting a picture of the new house...Sorry!!! The inside is changing but the outside is pretty much the same. Sheetrock should be done today and hopefully they will start trim tomorrow. They are suppose to start brick this week but I heard that all last week.....so I am skeptical.

I have been so busy the last 2 weeks cleaning and organizing our current house. We FINALLY put up our for sale sign this weekend. I am so proud to get that done!!! I have been so busy cleaning baseboards, light fixtures, and random things you never think to clean. Or at least I never think to clean. My emotions are high. I am excited but at the same time nervous. I know not matter what God knows what we need. He has proved that to me too many times for me to doubt. I just am telling myself "if this house doesn't sale when I expect it too, that doesn't mean it won't sale at the right time". My interpretation of the "right" time is different than his. I know this!!

We had to take a break Saturday from the cleaning madness to go to the Splash Park! Yes Scottsboro actually has something cool. If this place would have been around when I was young you couldn't have kept me away! Its sooo neat. Ava is still a little scared of it. She gets more brave when she has little friends to play with.

PS....If you know of anyone in the Sboro area that needs a house send them my way!

3 Bedroom, 2 bath, 1500 Sq. feet, hardwoods, vaulted ceiling, etc.

We have a door!!

We finally have a door. Its starting to look like a house!!!

Don't you just love my photographic abilities where you can see myself, the neighbor house, and the tractor in the reflection?

OH well you get the idea. Yes the door is black....my obsession.

They have all the sheet rock up but it isn't finished. We are doing a lot of waiting this week. I am not so great at doing that. We are waiting on the sheet rock guys to come back to finish and the brickers to show up.

Funny kid

Ava is in such a fun, hilarious stage. She is learning new words and expressing herself through things. Its so much fun to watch!!!!!! Sometimes I really just sit back and watch her play because its amazing how her little mind operates.

Some funny things she has said/done lately:
Mom was aggravated at dad over taking too long to go pick up a pizza. Ava picks up her "play" cell phone and says "pawpaw, She's Mad"!!!! Me and mom both had to just stop talking and laugh.

Mom has been taking her to the park some mornings before it gets too unbearably hot. Mom takes a little cooler with drinks. The other morning mom said Ava was dragging the cooler out saying I wanna go to the park!!!! Funny how she associates the park with that cooler.

Back when the tornadoes came through we went to ATL to Adams parents. His mom took us to a breakfast place one morning, where there is a train that goes around the restaurant. Well this past weekend we went back to that place and the first thing Ava says is "I wanna see choo choo". I couldn't believe she remembered that from almost 3 months ago.

One day I was driving and Ava was pointing out the window saying "mon, mon". I was like what is she saying? Then I looked up in the sky and realize the moon was visible and she was talking about the moon. She always has to point it out now!

I bought her a play camera the other day in Walmart. Yes, I know like she needs another toy. When we were walking out she is taking pictures of everything. She points it at this guy in his car and takes a picture of him. I got tickeled because he started laughing!

Ok, done with my random post for the week. You know how some things just hit you and you want to share?.....well there!!!

fun with cousins

Last weekend we drove over to Guntersville to be with Adam's grandmother for her birthday party. Afterwards we went to Sante Fe to eat for Uncle Andy's birthday. The kids discovered the bull out in front. I mean how can you miss it?

We have been so busy with the house. It seems every free minute is spent doing something or going somewhere. Its fun though!!!!

They are insulating this week and hopefully hanging sheet rock.

Precious Moments

Last night me and Ava were sitting on the couch. She crawled over in my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck then said,..."Mom mom I wuv you". OH dear....talk about melting my heart. It was so sweet. One of those moments that make everything negative just go away!!! Then she realized my reaction and said it about 5 more times :)

Everyone have a great weekend!! We have a VERY busy one starting as soon as I leave work. House stuff coming out our ears!!!!!!! But its fun....

4th recap

We had a great 4th of July filled with fireworks, food, and fun!!!!! We spent the afternoon with Friends grilling out. It was so nice. The kids had so much fun. After dinner we all got around a fire and made smores (my idea because I am obsessed with them). They were so yummo. The fireworks ended a great day. The kids were a little scared but in time they all got settled and enjoyed them. Ava was clapping and saying "Stars"!!!