Ava And A Christmas Tree

Ava loves looking at the lit Christmas tree and "helping" with the ornaments.  All the shatterproof ornaments are on the bottom!  She is so funny. She studies each ornament, takes it off the tree, puts it in her mouth, and then drops it on the floor and moves on to another one.

See, look at her study!

Leaving behind a trail of ornaments

Thanksgiving Day

We had a big group again this year.  Lots of yummy food and catching up with everyone.  Gorgeous weather too!  Avalyn enjoyed her first Thanksgiving "num nums."  She also enjoyed socializing with everyone and showing off her "Touch Down!"



Look everyone, TOUCH DOWN!



Ava's sweater dress with ruffle pants.  Jon said she looked like a hippie, but everyone thought she was adorable



Ava's new thing.  Walking with her hands behind her back.  "I'm the BOSS!"

The yummy sides

Home Made Pies.  THE. BEST. EVER!

Lets get the line started

Avalyn had a little of everything.  Her favorite was the cranberry!

Cousin Love

Ava and Lincoln in their hats.  A Pig and Dinosaur.  Handmade by a relative.  So cute!

The whole crew.  42.

Trip To Grandmas

We took a trip to NE for Thanksgiving.  Ava did SO good!  She didn't cry during the car ride there or home.  She also took her naps and went to bed right on que without any issues.  Whew!  As you can see by the pictures, she had a lot of fun as well.

I'm awake and ready to play

Visiting Aunt Kate

Hanging with cousin J

Flying with Uncle Rich

Helping Grandma unload the dishwasher

What is this thing?

COOL!

Stacking.  One of her favorite things to do

Happy Thanksgiving

Paradise Park

We had a lot of fun at our recent trip to Paradise Park's Children's Edutainment Center.  The focus is on hands on learning, discovery play, and exploration.

They had lots of fun rooms to play in including the soft block room, art room, water play, building blocks room, super market, cooking kitchen, and the ball pit/slides.


Ball pit



Shopping for Produce

The water play was a big hit

Splash!

SPLASH!

Of everything, they loved what the most?  The automatic sinks!

Happy National Adoption Day

National Adoption Day -  November 17, 2012

November is such a wonderful month for us.  Not only is it Thanksgiving and our Anniversary, but it's also National Adoption Month, National Adoption Day, and the anniversary of the date Avalyns adoption was finalized!

We celebrated National Adoption Day with a group of friends at Paradise Park.  Pictures to come.

Read our adoption story HERE

15 Months

You have been learning lots of new words. This month you started saying baby, puppy, socks, book, night night, and ball. You even said your first sentence, “hi cat!” 

You are a busy little girl. You walk backwards, run, and dance like crazy. You can climb on and into furniture and toy boxes. You can almost somersault all by yourself.  Sometimes when we carry you, you push, arch, and squirm because you want down to run and explore. You also like getting into drawers and closing doors. You grab and spill cups, make secret phone calls on mommy’s phone, and we’ve also found a couple stinky milk cups that you have hidden.

You weigh 23lbs 10oz and are 31 1/2 inches tall

I can almost somersault on my own!

You have EIGHT teeth! 4 in the front and 4 in the back. The back ones did cause you some pain and a few sleepless nights. But, overall you did really well.

You still like The Backyardigans but lately have started really enjoying Bubble Guppies and Doc McStuffins

Your favorite toys are the empty Kleenex box and an empty diaper wipes box. I ripped up some fabric and you love pulling it out of these 2 containers! You also still really like blocks, legos, books, bubbles, and playing outside.  You are gaining an interest in dolls and stuffed animals.  You like to give them hugs.

Teddy Love

You have a favorite blanket that you snuggle with at night. At bedtime you tuck your arms and knees under you and wiggle your butt while we sing! Then, you’ll lift your head and clap when we finish a song. When we sing “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star” you raise your arms high when we get to the “up above the world so high” part! Near bedtime/naptime, you get really cuddly. You like to just sit on our laps and lean your head on us. LOVE!

Some foods you love are: grilled chicken, chicken nuggets, hot dogs, lunch meat, beans, green beans, carrots, peas, string cheese, oatmeal, yogurt, graham crackers, plain cheerios, goldfish, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and apples. You still would rather feed yourself than be fed with a spoon.

You snub pasta. I’ve tried mac & cheese, spaghettios, ravioli, spaghetti, and just plain noodles. You’d just rather eat meat!

Firsts: train ride, bite of a 3 musketeers on Halloween

Until next month!