sweet love...

Marriage is not easy and the addition of a child makes it just that much harder... and that much sweeter. No photo with this post, just a moment to make permanent how blessed I am because in the craziness that is my life right now, it can be difficult to take the time to do so. First, as most of you already know, we had an ultrasound on Wednesday that revealed I get to do a lot of shopping for the baby boy who will be joining our family in July. Despite Ava's first sentiments "I don't want it to be a boy, I want a baby girl" - she seems to be warming to the idea and picked out the name "fruit snack" for our coming arrival. She is fully aware of the fact that there is a baby in my belly and already sings and kisses on him. Although I am sure there will be some jealousy, I think she is going to be a great big sister. Greg had fully convinced himself it was a girl, but I am pretty certain his smile swallowed his face when the nurse said it was a baby boy. I have to admit, I am thrilled and though I hadn't gotten my hopes up, I had been rattling off baby boy names for weeks.

Now, to my sweet, sweet weekend. Greg surprised me Friday night with a dinner at Siam Square... Thai food. Yes, my husband eats Thai food - shocked me too! And it was wonderful! Life has a tendency to feel wrapped up in responsibility these days... parenting, teaching, coaching, homework, taking care of dad... doing something with my husband just for fun and not because we 'have to' was a feeling I have missed. It was a perfectly quiet evening just for us. Saturday I had a basketball tournament all day. Yes, I spent my Valentine's day coaching 8th grade girls to a tournament win in overtime. I have coached my girls in this tournament the past four years and we have come in second place every year. Because this is my last year coaching... and because I hate to lose... I was determined to go home with a trophy this year. My girls were incredible and I have never felt so proud in my whole life. They earned it and though I am sure it is mostly hormones, I cried. And then, to make the day even more incredible I came home to a daughter and husband who had spent the entire day cleaning the house, filling a vase with pink tipped white roses, and made lasagna and homemade blueberry pie. And after all that, my husband didn't even complain when I fell asleep on the couch at 8pm.

Some time soon, when my life is a little slower and probably when I am a little older, I will give back to my husband all the love he has, so unselfishly, given to me. My pathetic thank you's and proudly telling other people about it are not nearly enough. I love you, Greg and I hope that some day you know and feel just how much.

to see Santa...

So today we made the trip to the mall to see Santa. "I want a baby doll, a kitty, and a dump truck!" she stated proudly before she even got on his lap. Santa looked at me wide-eyed. "A dump truck, huh?" She climbed up, smiled for the picture, hopped off his lap and said thank you as he handed her a peppermint sucker. Sometimes I am amazed at how she does new things like she has done them every day of her life... without any hesitation. It is probably the same reason she spends 10-15 minutes of every day with her nose in the corner. :) It would never occur to her to be nervous or scared. She just does it! We sat down on a bench about 5 minutes after we had seen him and she looked at me with utter concern.

"Mommy, we have to go back to see Santa!"

"Why?"

"I forgot to tell him I love him!"

Oh, Ava, don't grow up! Don't ever grow up!

end of the night...

These are my last two favorites. I won't bore you with any more of this gushy stuff!

being silly...

I love this man!

Oh, look, he loves me too... even with this ridiculous look on my face!

love this shot of Tierny!

and this one of Matt!

a night out...

So, it was Matt's 30th birthday and we unloaded the kids with grandparents and headed downtown for a night out. We went to St. Elmo where we ate shrimp cocktail (world famous, according to the sign) that burned the nose hairs right out of my nose. Still now, sitting here thinking about it, my eyes start to water. Fantastic steak and even better was the company! Matt and Tierny are our closest friends with whom we probably spend an unhealthy amount of time. I'm certain to people who don't know us (or even people who do), our relationship is strange. Despite this, we feel completely comfortable spending time together and acting like idiots. Probably because we have been friends since before we had kids, before bills piled up, before jobs changed, and as life has become more and more complicated. We know the good and the bad and we still manage to laugh together... sometimes hysterically! So, we took the cameras and got a few crazy shots and enjoyed every second of our child free evening.

last of halloween...

I see you! With ALL of my eyes!

The candy bowl is out and the sugar high begins...

After a few pieces of candy, both girls were wired! Jumping, dancing, singing, wrestling... they were all over the place! What a fun night!

more halloween...

Quincie the Spider... too cute!

Can't wait until we get home... must have candy now!

This was our first house and I had to go to the door to drag Ava out. The sweet old lady who answered the door was trying to hold her out with her legs. Ava apparently did not understand we stay outside the houses... she thought we were going in for a party. Too funny!

Woman with an axe in her head and blood dripping down her face... no biggie... she's got candy!

Am I a little behind...

YES! Okay, so here is Cinderella at Halloween. We are going to post quite a few tonight so I am going to start with October and work to... yes, I know, it's December. We'll get to the reasons for my tardiness as we get a little further along. But for not, let's start with Halloween. Huge success this year! I was a little leary about all of the scary stuff being too much for her this year - ha! She is not afraid of anything. We started out the evening with a trip to see Grandpa. We always have to play the piano when we visit so I got a few shots of Cinderella and Grandpa at the keyboard before we headed back for trick-or-treating.

Cheese!

Cinderella and the Snow Princess. I LOVE this photo because it is such a perfect example of the relationship of Emme and Ava. I have no idea what Emme was explaining to her, but I love Ava's wide-eyed, open-mouthed expression. Whatever Emme says... goes!

the last of the pumpkin patch pictures...

more pumpkins...

Pumpkin picking with mommy's new camera...

Okay, so the camera didn't actually pick pumpkins... but it might as well have! Ahhhhhhhhh - i love it! Enjoy it's documentation of the day - what fun!

cute, but dangerous

"We had a bad day today." I love how Miss Trish always refers to Ava as we... like she played some part in Ava's decision to be a stinker. Although, the truth is that Miss Trish probably did have a bad day too because she had to deal with Ava and her shinanigans all day. Last week she threw a book at Colby's head. She also refused to keep her shoes on after Trish repeatedly asked her to leave them on. After the third time she was told to keep them on, Ava responded to Trish by saying "What? Are you going to tell my mother?" And to top the day off, when Miss Trish asked her why she was being so naughty she responded with "because I am cranky today!" I wish you could hear these statements in her high pitched minnie mouse voice as it is even more appalling. Where has my sweet baby gone? A couple of weeks ago, she said to me as serious as ever "mommy, we don't say crap." As I giggled inside, I very seriously and calmly responded "that's right, we don't" and left it at that. I wish I could remember all of the things she says. One minute she sounds like an innocent baby and the next like a thirteen year old. Today she leaned over the toilet with her hands on the seat and said, "I want to go potty like this mommy."

I told her "we don't potty like that."
"Colby does," she responded.
"Well, Colby is a boy."
"I want to be a boy. Why can't I peepee like that?"

hmmmmmm... I settled with "because you are a girl" and breathed a sigh of relief when that seemed to be enough of an answer for her.

She is not even 2 1/2 yet. I am in so much trouble.