My girl...

Had to post this one - caught it today while she was hiding behind the curtains in the dining room. I think if I had to choose one picture that sums up the personality of daughter - this would have to be it. Mom and I took her to the mall yesterday and once we had her and our bags loaded in the car we both heaved a big sigh and looked at eachother and laughed. Where is all of that energy stored up in such a little body? She makes every day exhausting, but so much more fun!

Ava loves to dance!

Ava loves to dance. When? At 6:15 am this morning when we woke up and went downstairs. Or at 2:00 in the afternoon when she walked into the living room and remembered she could. Or at 8:00 at night when it was time to go up and take a bath... in fact, during the bath even seemed like a good time tonight. Anytime is really the answer to that question. To what? The "okey pokey" is a favorite... or wheel's on the bus... or Barney... or a commercial on the television. Anything will do! How? With every part of her body... every musle and bone moves, shakes, wiggles, jiggles and bounces. She has many moves and may decide to pull any one of them out at anytime. "da, da, da" does not mean daddy or dad... it means DANCE! and she means now!

Some Christmas moments....

Posing... she's moving out of the turning her head away from the camera phase and into the 'say cheese' phase. Can you tell?

Raggedy Ann doll from Granny and Papa (Greg's grandparents).

Kitchen set from Mama... with a frying pan the sizzles! I got this fantastic popcorn from Greg's parents and Ava, of course, helped herself to the peanut butter and jelly flavor. She would put in the pan and then fry it on the stove or cook it in the oven, yell "ready!' when it was done, and the blow on it to cool it off.

Mimi and Papa (mom and Eric, if you can't keep all the grandparent names straight - good luck!) got her a stroller and a baby doll that she can take in the bathtub. This picture was before she opened the baby doll for the bath - Raggedy Ann got one good ride. Once the other baby doll was opened Raggedy Ann was tossed on her head somewhere near the Christmas tree. Poor Raggedy!

Some Christmas moments...

Ava curiously watching the fire truck across the street and the fireman running like mad to hook up the fire hose. The neighbor boy was having a fit about his mom making him clean his room for company and knocked a night light of some kind off of his bookshelf and under a pile of clothes where it subsequently caught fire. Thankfully there was little damage ... his mom said she had to spend Christmas day washing all of his clothes and bedding as it all smelled like smoke. Thomas promised to clean his room calmly next time.

Papa, who is somewhere in the middle stages of alzeimer's, took a walk to have a 'sneaky' cigarette (he thinks none of us know he smokes) and got lost. A neighbor picked him up and drove him around the subdivision until he recognized our house.

Ava pretending to take a post Christmas dinner nap with her daddy. He was actually asleep... she was not.

Ava loves shoes... shocking, I know. She loves to trapse around the house in any pair of shoes that I leave laying around the house. Christmas eve day she realized that her baby dolls could wear her shoes - oh what fun!

Ho-ho-ho! Merry Christmas!!

Christmas cookies!

I know, I know, three blogs in one day is a lot, but I've taken a lot of pictures with us being holed up in the house with all this weather! So, to keep us busy in our house that is torn to smithereens because we are putting down flooring, Ava and I made Christmas cookies today. She is now napping in a sound sugar coma while I blog. I don't think it's necessary to write much about the experience however - as usual, the pictures tell the story!

The new floor and the snow

We have torn up our linoleum and we are putting down laminate. This was what I told Greg I wanted for Christmas. We have been talking about doing this for a long time and the time was finally right. As usual, Ava is always wanting to help... daddy loves that! So, I am getting my floor for Christmas and Greg is getting a sore back for Christmas. What a guy!!

COLD! Paige came over to play with Ava while we shoveled the driveway yesterday. It didn't take long for Ava to take her cues from Paige and hop right in. Greg is shoveling it for the second time right now. Most Christmas's I am praying that we get snow before the Holidays and usually it comes the week or two after. This year we've got plenty to make it a white Christmas.

The Crayola Catastrophe...

What is this a picture of you may ask? Well, it is the newly decorated inside of our dryer - compliments of Ava Grace and Crayola - it was a collaborative effort. 2 weeks worth of baby clothes have been destroyed. My husband, sweet man that he is, wiped the sweat from his brow Friday night as he carried a handful of crayons into the living room and announced, "Good thing I caught these in the bottom of the washer. Can't imagine what a mess it would have been if they had made it into the dryer!" Fast forward to an hour later when I hear words I don't feel comfortable typing out loud coming from the hallway. As I make my way down the hallway I have visions of her clothing with few blue and red spots on them - nothing a little stain stick can't get out I think to myself. I round the corner to see my husband leaning his forehead on his arm as his body sags against the wall. He is nearly in tears as I begin giggling to myself. This is what it's all about... all of these silly things that some day we will tell stories about. Remember the time... and we will wish she was 18 months again and waddling around sticking crayons in her pockets. So, the clothes are in a trash bag (minus a few I'm going to try and salvage) and we can't get to the store to buy the recommended substance for removing crayon from our dryer because our neighborhood hasn't been plowed yet and we have about 7 inches of snow. By the way, yes, there is a 'recommended substance' because suprisingly enough, we aren't the first people this has happened to.

Our trip to Chicago...

Myself, Tierny and Jaclyn - an ice storm can't keep us from a good time!

The Macy's counters dressed up for the holiday...

Entertainment all around the city...

Even in the windows...

Thanks to Jaclyn and Joshua for letting us crash their place for a weekend get away. The kids stayed at home with the grandparents and we spent the weekend wandering the slushy streets of Chicago, enjoying a quiet dinner, and staying up way past our bedtime.

More Chicago pics!

Jaclyn and Joshua - our great hosts!

Hubby and I feeling warm and festive!

Tierny and Matt (and baby #2 - in her belly) enjoying some hot (decaf) coffee and the city streets. ;)

The only way to get a picture of all of us - in 'the bean'.