Cupcakes, Snow and Handstands

Today was a fun family day. We have been especially busy this past week or two, so we spent some fun time together throughout the day and really enjoyed it. The weather here in Texas is so enjoyable right now.

Ava learned a little more how to steer her tricycle down the sidewalk. We still end up in the grass quite often, but she is getting the hang of it. But even the fun of pedaling can't compete with the glee she finds when she gets off, lifts up the seat, and begins to feel the "storage compartment" with leaves, sticks and acorns. I can't wait until she can apply those skills to organizing her room.

She is learning how to jump and hop. She saw her friend Esther doing it this past week and now she wants to do it more and more.

Let's ride.

Rock those sweat pants Ava.
On that cool cherry red motorcycle of yours.
I love you.

Her favorite part was driving past Madelyn and honking the horn. Madelyn was sitting in a Bumbo chair in the grass near the sidewalk. Ava would yell "wait, horn" as we passed. I would wait until she located the horn button. Soon, she'll learn to whistle.

Have I mentioned how much I look forward to this smile when I get home from work? It never fails. Every single day that I come home and look at Madelyn and smile, she gets this huge grin on her face. She is never too tired to return a smile. I love love love her.

Ava wanted to learn how to do a handstand when she saw me doing it.
I was actually very impressed. She was getting her feet up in the air without crashing down on her face.
The black bar on that photo wasn't really necessary.
But it's kinda funny, isn't it?

Madelyn is teething a lot right now.
No teeth have actually showed up yet, but they must be close.
She doesn't seem to be in much pain, which is nice.
But if your not watching your finger and it gets close.
Chomp.

I also got to teach Ava about climbing trees today.
Boy, did she have fun.
I could see that she had never even thought it was a possibility.
She is always picking up the leaves on the ground.
So the thought of picking them straight off the tree - even better.

We then went over to the neighboring city, Frisco, for their Christmas celebration.

Lot's of blue trees. One of Teressa's favorites.

Ava always enjoys light shows that coordinated to music.

Practically everything here was free. Lots of fun.
Even 7-eleven set up a booth and was giving out tons of free coffee and travel mugs.
I'll give them props for that. Really hit the spot.

They had a big Sledding Hill set up for kids.

Ava looked at me several times when the horses trotted by.
I think she was trying to figure out why they weren't free to run around like they are in the books she reads.

There was a really nice Balloon Glow going on tonight too!
I really enjoyed it.
I have been to several in the past, but they normally never let you close to the balloons.
Tonight, people could walk right up to the baskets and talk to people and look at the flame as it rose into the balloon.

They had a large model train village set up.

We did all decide to share a cupcake towards the end of the night.
For those of you who don't know, Teressa really enjoys making cupcakes.
And in my opinion, they are VERY good.
So we like to see what other shops are working on when we get a chance.
When it came to the end of the cupcake, there were two bites left.
Teressa offered a bite to Ava on a fork.
I could see Ava's mind working.
She then grabbed the empty fork.
Then grabbed the fork with the cake on it from Teressa's hand.
She had successfully figured out a way to get the second to last bit, as well as the last bite.
Well played young food lover.
Well played.


Okay, this may seem silly.
Especially to anyone from a "northern" state that is reading this.
But what brought us to Frisco tonight.
What really got us in the car and headed that direction.
Was the promise of FREE SNOW.
They have a couple of "snow" machines set up that sprinkle snow off of the top of the buildings every 15 minutes.
Is it kind of lame to dance around on the sidewalk with strangers as you stick your tongue out in the air hoping to catch some snowy-looking soap bubbles?
Yes.
Did we do it?
You betcha.

This is my snow-angel.
I would like to take credit and say I made her.
But that belongs to Jesus.

This is Ava helping "Hop" to enjoy the snow.
Hop is actually a deer.
Ava thinks he is a kangaroo for some reason.
And not just any kangaroo.
A kangaroo named Hop.

Catching Snow