Cutest Baby...At least I think so!

Oh, in other exciting news you can now vote for Ava as the Cutest Baby of the Year. It's a contest put on by our local newspaper. Now I know there are LOTS of cute babies, and in general I think all babies are cute, but as her mother...Ava IS the cutest!! If you would like to vote you can do so here; all donations go the Journal & Courier Lend-A-Hand Foundation. You could also just tell me she's cute too...we're not terribly concerned with winning, I already feel like I won with Ava.

Recent Happenings in Ava's World

I've been too busy to post lately, but not too busy to grab some pictures here and there. I'm trying to get our taxes done...a tiresome task since I am sometimes self employed. Oh yes, and I'm 34 weeks pregnant now (40 is full term in case you didn't know), so that is making me extra grouchy & uncomfortable. However, I did read somewhere that the baby has fully developed lungs now, so if he/she comes early then everything should be ok. One final ultrasound is scheduled next week....I'm very curious to see if this baby is as big as Ava, hopefully not! Anyway, here are some recent happenings...

We went to check out the new Sportmann store in town; too much hunting & fishing for me, but Ava was thrilled...her Daddy was too. She managed to get out the store with a new fishing pole (and sunglasses) from Grandma & Grandpa; we were lucky to escape without the dog hitch-cover and little camping cup she picked up along the way. I was also lucky to get out of there without the numerous tacky things my husband picked up....such as a camo bathrobe. Ava loves to watch Daddy cast the little fish around the house.

Ava asleep on Kelly, her babysitter. I am so lucky to be able to work and have Ava in the same place, my parents' home. My Dad has his own architecture business and I am working for him right now; I guess you could say I'm his associate...well I'm really the only associate in the office right now. Anyway, Kelly watches Ava for 10 hours and my mom watches her for another 10; it really is a great setup for me!! Oh, and somehow Kelly has the magical touch...Ava has not fallen asleep facing me like this since she was itty-bitty. Way to go, Kelly!!
Last weekend Ava and I went shopping with Grandpa, Grandma, Aunt Lisa & Great-Grandma Hester. Here Grandpa is treating Ava to a Merry-go-round ride; she does about 3 turns on this until we pry her off crying.
Oh, and I should point out the new boots she had to have, and the cute outfit from Granny & Papa.

More Valentine Goodies!

Granny + Papa also sent us some Valentine goodies. Here Ava is enjoying some animal crackers... Thanks Granny + Ba!!

Daddy's Valentine

My Valentine Puppy

Ava's babysitter, Kelly, brought her a special valentine yesterday... a puppy! Thanks Kelly, Ava loves it!

Happy Day-of-Jeff!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!! No, it's not Valentine's Day in our family, it's officially the "Day of Jeff". Sorry about the pink, girly cake, Daddy, but I have to get a little something in for V-Day. We love you!!

And since Daddy had to return to work today, even though we are under a "snow emergency" until noon, my sweet sister, Lisa, came over to shovel our drive. Thanks Lisa!!

Craft Day

So here is a picture of the "blizzard"; taken outside our front door sometime this afternoon. Lucky for me I don't work on Tuesdays, and school was cancelled for Jeff. Ava + I stayed in all day, but we had to send poor Daddy to get groceries...twice! Here Ava checks out the accumulation of snow. There's some inside our storm door!! She won't go near it.
Ava and Mommy busy themselves making homemade Valentines and getting ready for Daddy's birthday tomorrow.

Ava helps with the cake...
More or less; mostly she busied herself eating the leftover pieces.

I also wanted to point out that Ava got her first haircut this past weekend, you can kind of tell it's shorter in this picture. Actually, I only trimmed the back a bit, I had already trimmed the bangs a couple of weeks ago. I didn't want to draw too much attention to it in case I messed it up....it's hard trimming a moving head of hair! Next time we'll let a professional do it, but I don't think it turned out too bad.

Boat Show

Yes, we are snowed in...again! I'll take some pictures of the "blizzard" a bit later. In the meantime, here are some pictures from the sailboat show last weekend in Chicago. Daddy had to work, so Ava + I ventured up north with Grandma, Grandpa + Aunt Lisa. I didn't get too many shots, but Ava definitely had a good time, despite a bit of a head cold she was getting over. She says so many new words a day, I can hardly keep up; in Chicago she would point to the icy river and say "burrr". She also said "water" for the first time, however it sounded like "lorer"...so it took us a while to catch on.

Here she is at the show looking at the miniature sailboats with Grandma....however, she was more excited about the beach ball-markers in the pool than the boats. On Sunday we took her to the pool; I'm guessing that was really her highlight of the weekend. She loves the water!

Girly Girl Fix

Thanks to Aunt Jill & Uncle Robert, Ava's & my day just got a little brighter...or pinker. Just when we were moping around the house because it too cold to go anywhere, and right before lunch, we happened to check the mail and got a wonderful surprise....girly stuff! Thank you, Jill & Robert, for the pink boa and makeup; Ava had a blast dressing up, as you can see. She was so worn out after playing that she fell asleep eating lunch. Thanks again for the great surprise!

Time for a Change

We needed a new look for the blog....now if I could only make the whole thing hot pink. I'll keep working on it!

Playing at Home

We're officially snowed in right now, unfortunately it's too cold to go out and play. I think it's above zero, but the "windchill" is below zero. It's funny to think that when we lived in Vegas it felt cooler than it was in the summer because of the dry air....here it feels COLDER than it is in the winter. As Ava would say, "buuurrr"!

Here is a table her Daddy made her last month that I have been meaning to post. We saw it while looking at furniture stores; it wasn't actually something for sale, but a place for kids to play while parents shopped. Jeff sketched it up and built it, now I just have to decide how I want to paint it. Ava loves it! She carries her juice and snacks to it to eat, and plays for a while with the doll house on it. It's so cute. Maybe one day I'll have nice grown up designer furniture...HA! Not for a while I guess.