Ava's 1st haircut

This afternoon we took Ava for her 1st haircut. I was a little nervous (not about the haircut) because she hates to have water in her face & she has started pitching little fits when I try to style her hair (she watches Ella throw huge hissy fits when I brush her hair so she tries to do EVERYTHING Ella does...good or bad). It was going good until she had to spray her hair & raise the chair up higher (she is afraid of heights) then she started getting antsy. I had to put her in my lap to let her start the cut. Then Andy came in and I had to get up cause she wanted daddy to hold her. When Jessica would touch her hair to start the cut she would say "oh, oh, oh" & tell her "no". She didn't cry at all, which was good, since she has a very good set of pipes. Ella also helped to keep her calm & did a great job. She is such a wonderful big sister. All in all it went ok.

before

big sister teaching her how to unlock my cell phone

and after....how cute is that ?

Fall pics.

We had the girls pics take a few week ago & they were AWESOME ! Renee did a great job with both of them. I was pleased to see that she got SO many good pics. Now the hard part is deciding on which pics to get. Check out her photography magic at www.kreneephotography.com and her blog at www.kreneephotography.blogspot.com . Thanks for ALL of the WONDERFUL pics. Renee !

just some random stuff

Not only is our Ava the queen of screaming she has also become a little chatter box. She has become VERY vocal lately. She thinks she is as big as Ella & tries to do and say everything Ella does. She loves to talk on the phone. When Andy or I are on the phone she will say "phone" to let us know she wants to talk (and gets mad if we don't let her). While she is on the phone she will say "uh huh" or "no" to every question. It's too funny ! She likes to call Ella "sissy", tells Hershey to "get back" when he is too close to her. She tells us "I bathroom" when she wants to go potty and says "Dora" when she wants to watch Dora. She has picked up so many words lately and loves to tell Ella what to do. Ella will ask me questions and Ava likes to answer them with "No" every time. She can be miss bossy sometimes. Other than that they are both doing great. Ava gets her 1st hair cut tomorrow & I hope it goes well. I will post pics of that then ♥

Miss chatter box

playing dress-up

can you see the 3 deer ? I was in the kitchen one morning and heard a gun shot and when I looked out the window I saw these deer running across the field behind our house ! Glad they escaped....

getting in some T.V. time

Tea anyone ?

The girls, Andy and I went to Miss Ellie's tea party today & it was such a blast. Ava our social butterfly was such a good girl...Ella on the other hand had to take a few to warm up then she LOVED the party. Ava ate and ate and ate & LOVED the apple cider. Ella told me me while she was eating her cupcake that she loved the coffee she was drinking [[I had to laugh about that]]. Kids say the funniest things sometimes. Ellie is such a sweet little girl & so is her family. After the party we headed up to my Pa Phillip's to have a cookout with the family and it was AWESOME. I LOVE spending time with my family. The girls were pooped by the time we left. Guess all that running pays off for us. They fell asleep on the way home & that made me glad cause Ella is a night owl & it takes her FOREVER to go to sleep. Hope everyone had a good weekend & enjoyed this BEAUTIFUL weather...I know we sure did ♥

18 month check-up

I took my little Ava bug for her 18 month check-up today and it went really well. She had to get 2 shots (she didn't like those at all...but who does ?) and is meeting every milestone she should plus more for her age. The little stinker weighs 26 pounds and is over 2 feet in her height. Ella went with me and was a GREAT big sister & big helper. While Ava was getting her shots Ella held her hand and told her "it's OK baby girl" then after the shots were over & Ava was screaming like a mashed cat (as Andy would say) Ella looked at her and said "it will be alright baby Ava, it will be alright little girl" It was so sweet. Ella is such a good big sister to Ava & tries to protect her as much as she can. Love those little girls to death. I'm glad my little bug is healthy as can be and I couldn't ask for more ♥

Happy Halloween

We have had a very sad week. My nanny passed away on Tuesday and today was her funeral. My dad, aunt & I were on our way to the hospital Tuesday morning after we were told she wasn't doing well and while only 30 minutes from Saint Thomas my sister called to tell us of her passing. I was so heartbroken that we didn't make it down in time :( This week has been very rough for our family. My heart aches for my Pa, dad, & aunts. It will be very hard for all of the family for some time, but with our family sticking together and praying for strength to make us stronger, we will make it through the heartache. Please remember our family in you prayers ♥

After a long and very exhausting week we finally had some time this evening to carve pumpkins with the girls. Well I should say Ava. Ella hates to stick her hands inside the pumpkins (or anything that will get her hands dirty) so she decided to draw faces on 2 of the small pumpkins. It was going really smooth until they needed a brownie break then I was left doing the rest of the work. Pumpkin carving is very time consuming & yucky but somebody had to finish the job. Next year I think I will take Ella's idea & just draw on them instead.

We had a pretty relaxing weekend. We had the girls pics. taken on Saturday and I was thrilled with the outcome of them. They really didn't want to cooperate too much & Ella told me when we arrived that she couldn't get out of the car because she was "shy". She has to warm up to people for a few minutes if she doesn't know them. Both girls are doing great as you can see from these pics. They like to have me take their pic. when they put on dresses. I have problems getting Ella to look at the camera when we do this (she wants to look everywhere else). That's about it other than the fact that they are getting excited about Halloween. When we get home in the afternoon they like to knock on the door & say "trick or treat"...it's so cute. I hope they do this on Halloween night. Guess we will see.......

Fall decorations

Here are the 2 fall decorations I did this year to spruce up the yard. The girls REALLY enjoyed helping me put this together. I absolutely LOVE the fall. It's my favorite time of the year. I love decorating for this season. I also want to thank my sweet daddy for always helping me every year with these little projects. He enjoys it just as much as I do. Love you bunches dad ♥

Street Fair & updates

We made our way to the street fair today and I was very impressed with the whole thing. Lots of booths & they had a bounce center set up for the kids to play at. After we walked around & shopped a little we spent the rest of the time bouncing. That was a good thing since it wears the little ones out. Here are some shots we got of the girls playing. Ava cracks me up at how she thinks she is as big as Ella. She can do just about anything Ella does.

Ava had to watch Ella 2 times to learn how to master this slide. Then we had to drag her off.




I was surprised that Ella went on this because she is afraid of heights :(

on to some updates....Ava likes to sit in the jeep when we pull into the garage everyday & turn on the radio. Lately when she has been getting into the jeep she has figured out that the silver square thing on the floor will make the jeep move. So now she likes to push the pedal. Needless to say she wants to drive this thing instead of ride. The past few days we have be playing outside she has been trying to drive & had been doing ok at it. With a little time she will have it mastered. She is learning so much these days. At her last Dr.'s visit he told me to start teaching her where her body parts are & pointing at things in books and asking her what sounds they make. She already knows where 10 of her body parts are located and when we ask her to show us things in books she knows exactly what to do & she knows what sounds go with what animals. We have a counting book she loves too and she can already count to 4. Ella was counting to 10 and could say part of the alphabet by this time. She follows directions very well when we ask her to do something but you better watch out cuz if she doesn't get her way (and this is ONLY at home) the tantrum starts. When I say only at home that's because she NEVER does this at daycare, church, or in front of most people. It's like we make this stuff up. We don't this child has a set if pipes on her that could crack all the windows in the house. Ella is also doing very good. For some odd reason her eating habits have slowed down but she is still growing well. She humors us with the things that come out of her mouth on a daily basis. She has picked up (from somewhere ) yes ma'am & yes sir. When we ask her to do something she will say "yes ma'am" ....uuummm ok ! Was my first thought when she said that. Both girls are learning & growing so much so fast. They make our cup overflow with joy everyday.

I did get my fall decorations up this week & they look so pretty. The girls loved helping with that. They were so excited. Ava calls everything that is round a ball. So all of the pumpkins to her is a ball. Ella told me that the mums were "beautiful & smelled so good". She really has a way with words. I did 2 fall scenery's this year. I did one out by the entrance of our driveway & the other in the front yard. We live so far off the road that you can't see the one in the front yard so that is the reason I decided to put one by the driveway this year. I will post pics. later.

IT'S ANOTHER GIVEAWAY !!!!! OH YEAH !

Elegant Celebrations and Designs is hosting another GIVEAWAY ! All you have to do is hop on over to her blog and follow a few steps to enter. The Jewelry she is giving away is SO beautiful. So click on this link http://tncakes.blogspot.com/ and get on over there. Don't forget to THANK Natasha for all of her hard work she puts into the designs she makes. She is such a WONDERFUL person ♥

New bling

I was thrilled to see this necklace. After months of trying to decided on how to get this necklace custom made I finally decided on this...


Natasha Vaughn at Elegant Celebrations and Designs made it for me and I'm VERY pleased with it. I'm a plain person so I was debating on putting charms on. That's what took me so long to make my decision. She is a wonderful person & VERY talented. She has also made cakes for both of my girls and they were AWESOME. You can visit her site at http://www.tncakes.blogspot.com or by clicking on the link on the left side of my page to go to her blog. THANKS again Natasha !

Just for Sarah

My sister says that Ava looks so much like me when I was a youngster that she had to dig up an old pic. and email it to me & have me compare. So here you go sis. I couldn't decided on pics. so I put up two & put me in the middle.

Warren Co. Fair & Willie turns 3

The Warren County fair was coming to an end this week and since Friday was finally rain free we decided to take the girls to the fair. There was so many rides for the little ones. We rode ride after ride after ride. They also have a petting zoo. The girls really enjoyed that as well. The only bad part about it was the petting zoo caused Ava's allergies to flair up & long story short, she ended up with the croup AGAIN. This marks the 3rd time. Maybe we should skip the petting zoo next time.?.? She is doing much better now since she has had medicine & is back to her sassy self. We attended Willie's birthday party today...he turned the big 3. It was pure delight. I love getting to spend time with my family & seeing the girls play with their cousins. My sister also came in for the event & I was happy to see her. That pretty much wraps up this weekend. Oh Andy started his new job Monday and absolutely LOVES it. I'm so happy for him. I also wanted to leave you with a little reading that I read from my friends facebook status. (It really got me to thinking about a lot of things) "A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future and accepts you today the way you are!!!"

wish my kids would look at the camera just one time

let me see your grill

Ava wanted in on the action

could this be future boyfriend material ?

Ella & the birthday boy

7 years & many many more to come

Happy anniversary Andy ! Need I say more....