Christmas and No Camera

Man time slips away from me! I had wonderful intentions of keeping up with this blog and other stuff on the computer when Christmas break began and, as you can see from the date of the last post, I failed miserably. The two week break is WONDERFUL, but goes by way too fast!

Christmas was so much fun this year. We celebrate with family for 3 days, so it's a whirlwind and a little rough on Ava's routine, but she's a champ and did great (with the exception of one night). Here are some pictures from Christmas.

Playing with her new kitchen from Santa:I just like this one because she has her "deedee" and she looks like such a big girl!
Oh yeah, and Ava accidentally dropped our camera on Christmas Eve, so these pictures are from my mom and sister. We're looking at new cameras right now, because we'll need one before Samuel makes his debut in March. We're looking at the Nikon D40s, but if anyone has suggestions on good cameras, let me know!

baby bumps

Here's the latest picture of Emily and me. Now that my mom's decorations are up, we're gonna try to take the picture in front of the tree every week. In case you forgot, Emily is due 12 days behind me. So I'm 26 weeks in this picture and she's 24.

As you can plainly see, I'm A LOT bigger than Emily. She loves hearing that from people. :) Actually, Emily's done wonderful during this pregnancy. Her and her husband Joe had quite a scare at their 20 week ultrasound, but God answers prayers and their baby boy is doing great. If you want to read more about her journey, click here.

Prizes, Scrapbooking, and Ava

I'm trying to be better at updating my blog, and reading other blogs have started to be inspiration for me. I read MckMama's blog daily and love it! She has such a fresh approach to mothering and her stories are always entertaining. Her youngest child was born about a month ago, but had some complications during the pregnancy. For a while it was touch and go, but baby Stellan was born absolutely perfect! It was amazing to read about his progress, and MckMama's faith throughout the entire time. It was also amazing to watch how God answers prayers and listens when his children call out to him. Following Stellan's story has been a major blessing to me and to my family, because my mom also keeps up with this blog, and we told all of our family about it as well.
Anywho, MckMama has an awesome prize up for grabs right now! There's a link to it on my sidebar--it's called Rebel for a Cause. The prize is great--it's too many wonderful things for me to name on here! The main prize is a new camera. Click on the button to the right to get more information on how to enter. $10 gets you a raffle ticket with all proceeds going to some really wonderful charities!

Scrapbooking
I think I'm turning in to someone who starts projects and never finishes! I started Ava's scrapbook after she was born last April. I've already filled the book with the pages that came with it with shower pictures, and pictures from the hospital. I've had great intentions to buy more pages and supplies, and keep going. Well, I'm over a year behind! whoops :) While reading through blogs at work (when I should be working) I found a blog that's all about scrapbooking. Let me tell you, she has found her niche! Her pages are absolutely gorgeous. I'm letting them inspire me (hopefully) so I can get started on Ava's again over Christmas Break. It'll take some work, but my hope is to have hers caught up in time for Sam's arrival. That way I can start on Sam's book once he gets here.



Ava

Have I ever mentioned how blessed I am to have a precious girl like Ava?? Sure, there are times when I feel like pulling my hair out, or I get really frustrated because she's upset or telling me something and I can't figure out what she wants. But those times are few and far between. She's almost always in a great mood, she loves healthy food, and she's a wonderful sleeper. She's also getting very good with words. She's putting sentences together now, some even 3 and 4 words. Her favorite thing to say is "I get it!" She's turning in to a very independent little girl now. I'm amazed everyday at how much more she learns--and I don't think it's me at all! She stays with a lady from our church who is WONDERFUL! Her name's Jennifer and she has class with them everyday, plus tells them bible stories. I love it that Ava's getting such good one on one attention. I think that's the main reason she speaks so well and understands so much.

One other thing about Ava (I could actually go on all day): she has hair that I would die for! I dry it now because it's getting so long and thick that it would take forever to air dry. A few nights ago I dried her hair, and was green with envy. I wish I had hair like hers!!! She got my color and curls but Quay's texture. Quay's hair is so thick he has to keep it cut really short or he grows an afro! Here's a picture of the back of her hair after drying it. I don't think I've seen many19 month olds with this much hair.

We're having a...............

BOY!!! Quay, Ava, and I will be welcoming little Samuel sometime in mid-March!! We had our ultrasound today and everything looked great. Little Sam measured perfectly--dead on his estimated due date. The docs said he looks perfect! We are so very excited!! We told Ava, but she just looked at us funny. Poor thing, she doesn't know what's coming. Little Sam's profile picture looks just like Ava's picture from her 20 week visit. I mean, exactly the same! The only way we can tell them apart is the little date at the top of the picture.

I'm a little scared though--we don't have many boys born into our family. This will actually be the first boy on my mom's side in a LONG time. There have been four generations of just girls in our family. My grandpa has been waiting 50 years for a boy to be born in our family. I called him first after telling my parents, because I knew he'd be thrilled. Quay's also pretty proud of himself--he says he single handedly brought a boy into our family. I'm figuring I'm going to need lots of help at the beginning with rearing a boy--I think I've only changed two boy diapers my entire life. This should be fun!!! Here are some pictures of little Sam.

**Another new post below**

Pumpkins

Quay and I took Ava to Fisher's Farm in Greer to pick out her very own pumpkin this past weekend. She really could've done without the pumpkins, because the LOVED the animals. We spent most of our time looking at and trying to pet all of the farm animals they had. Fisher's Farm was so much fun and a really good deal!! Ava liked the "wabbits." Quay called them bunnies, and she looked at him real matter of factly and told him they were wabbits. It was cute as can be.

Her other favorite was the pig. This is her trying to call the pig. She just kept yelling "pig" at the poor thing. You can't see him in the picture, but you can see the hole he was digging with his nose at the bottom.

I thought this was the funniest picture! We were on the tractor ride, trying to show Ava the trees, apples, and the little things Fishers Farm had put out--pumpkins and little ghosts in the trees. She looked at them but didn't get too excited. Then all of a sudden, some birds flew out of the woods a little ways away. Ava loves birds, I mean LOVES birds. She can spot them anywhere and will quickly point them out to you. I think that comes from my dad always showing her birds and squirrels when she was younger. The funny thing about this picture is I look just as excited as she does!! It reminds me of pictures we used to take in high school. If people were posing for a shot, others would get in the background, one would point in some far off direction and the other would look that way. I have a few of those tucked away in my high school scrapbook. It looks like Ava and I are doing the same thing.

The family picture (plus baby in the belly) on the tractor ride. A nice couple offered to take this of us--it was our only picture with Ava looking at the camera. Funny she'll look for other people but not Quay or me. Oh well.

All in all, we had a great time! I can't wait to go back next year. Ava will be bigger and can understand it a little better, and we'll have baby #2 with us!!! woopee!!!

Church Pictures

Quay, Ava, and I had our first church pictures made together for a new directory. Ava did great! Thought I'd share a few photos with you. Enjoy!!

Jump Zone

Ava's cousin Anna Claire had her fourth birthday party at Jump Zone last Sunday. I wasn't sure at first if Ava would like the moonwalks and slides. Well, those thoughts vanished in the first few minutes. We let her start on the small moonwalks, where she could just run around on it. She just sat and watched the older children at first, but then she got the hang of it. This is Anna Claire jumping with Quay and Ava in the background.

After she was used to the big jumping toys, Quay, Joe, and my dad decided to take her on the slides. Emily and I couldn't slide because we're pregnant. :( Too bad. Well, she LOVED them!!! Every picture we took had her smiling with her mouth open as wide as it would go. She would get off the slide, and try to go back up it saying "me, me, please." I think we might be in for some crazy years if she already has no fear of big slides--she's already so active. We might have her party there next year since she liked it so much. All of the other children love it, too.

This is the last picture we took before opening presents. Ava walked over to her diaper bag, grabbed her blanket, and laid down on the floor. She wore herself out!!