spitting and comedy - what's not to love?

now, its time to introduce you to the non-traditional ava. i certainly think she is super cute in these, but i will let you make up your own minds after you see them. ha ha

ava has learned how to make spitting sounds and loves to do it. its the first time i have seen drool coming down her chin. in case there is some of you reading this blog and you have not had the great honor of seeing a little child learn how to spit and scrunch up their face-prepare to laugh. ava literally makes me burst out laughing sometimes.

i also included some photos from a party last weekend at the mc'd house. it was a "comedy night" and i think we all laughed for about 2 hours straight. matt, way to go on that national anthem bro. im glad all the neighbors could get in on that with us. :)

scrunchy

showin off her new trick

in case any of you were still wondering if this kid was a rizzo... is that italian enough for you?

breathe. sean. breathe.

i loved this photo. captured the night.

what a cute kiddo colton is. him and ava were hanging out last weekend and watching him crawl over to her was so much fun. she would try to get away, but just couldn't.

suckerin suckatash.

seconds before this photo was taken, colton was looking at me and casey was sucking his thumb.
weird.

sunrise at the lake

here are a few more shots from our Christmas trip to florida to visit family.

my nana lives on the st. john's river and has a beautiful dock. each morning, teressa would so graciously wake me up when the first rays of light were born. i would jump out of bed and she would try to get a little more sleep. i saw lots of different colors as the sun rose over the river and it was such a blessing.

the 5 generations just having some fun together. ava just couldn't stop playin with granddad.

this is my grandparents boat.

my dad and i got to trim a bunch of branches that had grown too high above the house.

the girl has got good taste.

if ever there was a cheek i wanted to pinch.

peaceful

darkness is broken.

some photos from our "fake" Christmas morning

i was thinking about ava today and how quickly she is growing up. i can't believe that she is almost 8 months old. she is such a blessing to our lives though. thank you Jesus for your incredible mercy and kindness towards us.

i thought i would post a few photos from our fake Christmas morning. since we were going to spend Christmas with family this year, we had a little family Christmas morning on the saturday before. we slept by the Christmas tree, read the story of Christ's arrival, spent time in prayer, ate some cinnamon rolls teressa made, and all that good stuff. below are a few fun photos from ava opening a couple of presents.

we have learned how much ava likes music lately. once the tunes start up, her head starts swingin and her legs start moving. she is quality entertainment for sure.

we heard about this site - http://www.globalrichlist.com/. pretty interesting to see how blessed we are. sure gives me a grateful heart and makes me want to give more and complain less.

i also came across this site - http://iamsecond.com/. very cool site filled with testimonies from people who came from darkness to light. i am so glad our Lord isn't a respecter of persons and pursues each of us passionately.

ava enjoying the fire with her mama

dso you call this a stocking? i like it...

dr. suess lives on.

teething rings. always a winner.

a little Christmas elf.

when it comes to opening presents, can you be a natural?

tissue paper. baby. you insert your own caption.

go ahead. grab that ring. i dare ya.

Guess who's hiding under the couch!

Ava is drawn to the bottom of the couch like a magnet. She loves to scoot, roll and get up on her knees. But eventually, she finds herself under the couch more and more, til only a head and some waving arms are left free. She's always good for a laugh.

Her dada sat her up too quickly in bed this morning. She spit up on our blanket and I learned a valuable lesson. All kids, even young ones, may want to wait 20 minutes before playing after a meal. I remember learning that as a child. Can't believe I forgot so quickly.

So I was singing to Ava this morning, and I starting singing... "Bob Bob Bob, Bob Bob Moran..." I then proceeded to find out from Teressa that the real lyrics were "Barbara Ann"... wow, all these years I have been singing that song to the name of some old mechanic...

The conference in Florida went well. Got to talk with a bunch of pastors and I hope I was able to encourage them. Please pray for Teressa's Grandma Dottie - She is in the hospital and had surgery yesterday for her broken hip. We sure do love her and I hope Teressa and Ava have a great time with her when she comes up to visit soon.

Here are a few photos from this morning. I came in when Ava woke up from her nap. That's her giraffe in her crib with her. I bought that for her when she was just born, but were waiting for Ava to learn to talk so that she can name him herself. I also let her stand up and play with her cube for awhile. Enjoy the photos. If you look closely, you can see some of her teeth. She loves to show them off! She has 4 coming through now. I guess I better start teaching her how to brush those chompers.

my nana's river

these are a couple of shots from the river that runs past my nana's house in florida. i enjoyed getting up in the mornings while we were there and just spending time out on her dock as the sun came up.

it might be a few days til i post some more photos. im off to florida for a pastors conference for gfa. please pray for much grace and favor from the Lord.

ava enjoys spitting now. she sure has fun trying to copy us when we stick our tongue out at her. i need to post a photo of the hilarious face she makes when shes spitting with all her might.

and happy 95th birthday grammy!! we love you!!!!

a few photos from a florida Christmas

well, i think its about time to post a few photos from our trip to florida during Christmas time. It was a 20 hour drive, at least that was the plan. We left around 1pm on Christmas eve and we were making great time and it looked like we were going to arrive in palatka, florida, sometime Christmas morning. (ava did most of the driving - the photo of her and a monster drink will come soon.)

i will let teressa tell some more about how our car broke down Christmas morning and about the Christmas angel the Lord sent to help us. we had a great time with my grandparents and grandma there. my dad and step-mom beth also drove down from virginia to be there. we had 5 generations together and it was a great time! ava fell in love with her great great grandma, who will turn 95 in just a few more days. everytime that grammy would look at her or say something, ava would just start smiling and laughing. just seeing the two of them together made the entire trip worthwhile.

there are lots of photos to come. here are a few to get us started.

ava helene rizzo with her nana helene

the hands of five generations.
ava.tony.joe.helene.betty.

ava and her great great grammy

having fun on the porch

i'm in so much trouble for posting this one...hee hee...

watching the football game with granddad