Storytime

When we got back to the Friends' house, Ava wanted to have a storytime with Emily and asked her to come and sit on her lap. Then she showed her an Olivia book.  I think she is going to be a great big sister.

The girls posing for the camera.

Ian's Bday Party

For Ian's 5th birthday (where did the time go?!), they had a party at a place called Goin' Bonkers up in Lewisville.  It was an awesome place with these crazy 4 level playscape things that had slides, bridges, bouncy things etc.  Ava never wanted to go to far up in them b/c there so many people there but it was really awesome.  There was also an arcade there which of course Ava loved b/c she loves winning tickets.

Practicing her balancing skills:

Emily getting a great seat on Uncle Mike during the cake cutting:

The birthday boy blowing out the candles on his amazing Yoda cake:

 Ava on one of the bouncy things in the playscape:

Riding the teacups:

And playing her favorite thing (air hockey) with Darren:

Dallas

Today we headed up to Dallas (Lewisville to be exact) to visit the Friends and go to Ian's birthday party on Saturday.  Ava was so excited to see her cousins and from the moment we got there, things got a bit crazy.  Here is Ian, Emily & Ava all rolling around on her air mattress...apparently this is one great toy!

Play Time!

Today we took Ava to go see a stage production of "Click Clack Moo!"  It was based on the children's book and was really well done.  Ava thought it was awesome and there was even a little adult humor in there for me & Darren.  We took her to see 'Max & Ruby" last year at the same theater and will be taking her in Jan to see "Berenstain Bears."  I highly recommend it!

Ava on the stage before the play:

 Then after naptime, we decided to play outside in the front yard since the weather was so nice.  Here is Ava giving me a "stink-eye" of sorts while preparing to hit the ball.

 You can see how much fun Ava is having by the look on her face.  She really enjoyed playing softball once we set up bases and Darren tried to tag her.

A fun little Saturday was had by all!

Baby Photos

So here are some of the first photos of the baby.  These were taken yesterday at my 12 week check up and everything is looking good! Was really nervous after last year but things are moving along like they should so I feel it is okay to tell people about it and talk about it on here. Official due date is April 20th...man that seems like a long time away!!!

Baby's profile...looks just like me & Darren right? Ha!  I have to tell you that this baby is crazy active...moved the whole sonogram and most of the time looked like it was waving. Don't really remember Ava being that way but then again that was 4 years ago.

In other news, I am finally feeling better after being sick, literally, every day for more than a month.  That is not to say I never feel ill but for the most part I feel good! Yeah!  Glad that is behind me.  Not sure whether Darren or I ever want to go through that again.

School Photos

Ava was practicing for her school photos today and here is how she said she was going to pose. Will be interesting to see if she really did this for the photgrapher. LOL.

PS. Excuse the mess in the background...really need to hang that laundry up!

Yoakum

We headed to Yoakum for a little overnight trip to go to one of Darren's cousins weddings.  Ava of course was excited about the "dance party" and about staying in the "hotel house."  When we pulled up to the hotel, D's Uncle Gene & Rudy (aka Pops) were sitting outside in the desk chairs.  Ava had to hop on over there and show Uncle Gene her goody bag (from Chuck-e-Cheese).

 Ava wanted to get in this picture with some more of our family...these are Darren's 2nd cousins which make them 3rd cousins to Ava?  Not sure how that works.  Anyways Ava wanted to be one of the big girls.

Kristen, Alexa, Emily & Ava

I did not get many good photos from the actual reception but as usual Ava befriended the other little kids and had a blast running around/dancing for 5 hours straight.