Happy Memorial Day weekend everyone!

We're spending it at home. We thought about going camping or something but we've had a busy last few weeks and Tony was gone at a conference most of last week. So we're just hanging out here.

Last weekend Tony's dad, step-mom and his sister Danielle and her two kids came to town for his step-sisters Corrina's graduation from law school. We had a great time with them and I was really glad Danielle and Morgan and Adam were able to stay a couple of nights at our house. It was so fun. Many pictures are sure to come of that weekend. Some especially cute ones of Morgan, Adam and Ava all in their Redskins gear. Very adorable.

Weekend before that we went down to Austin for one night. We scored a 3 1/2 star hotel for 39 bucks. Can't beat that. We had a great time and great pictures of that weekend are long over due. Ava swam for the first time in the hotel pool, ate her first taste of ice cream and played in Barton Springs. She sat in the river and played with the rocks. She loved the river so much she screamed bloody murder when we took her out of the water and to get revenge on us, peed all over the back of the car while we were changing her out of her soggy river diaper. And then to get revenge back at her we held her up in her birthday suit in the middle of the parking lot and rinsed her off with a bottle of water. After that she gave up and decided she'd rather be warm and dry and eating cheerios in her car seat.

It's ridiculous how much she's growing up. She's turning into a little girl and I'm not ready for it yet. This past week she's been trying to brush her own hair with her comb, put on her shoes by herself and putting her toy bag over her shoulder like a purse. She can also walk only holding on to one of Dad's hands. Impressive.

I'm getting pretty excited for her first birthday party. I went to the dollar store last week and found some pretty cute butterfly and flower plates and streamers and such. So she's having a butterfly theme party. I think that's how the theme of all her parties will be determined-by whatever the dollar store has to offer. She almost had a dinosaur theme this year, but luckily I found a small stash of the butterfly stuff just in time. We're having a small party for her on the 6th, if you want to come and see her get all frostinged just let me know.

So today we got up and went to home depot to look for some ground cover for our flower beds in the back yard in which there are no flowers and we don't flowers because when it rains water pours into them and has drowned everything we've tried to plant there. Anyway, we all went and I wish we had a picture of Ava riding in the front of the cart just fully lounging with her arms up on the sides of the backrest. She looked like she just needed a cup of coffee in one hand. She's always leaning back lounging in the front of the cart when I take her shopping or if I take her in her stroller she always lays back and has her feet propped up on the cup holders. She does it for all the laughs she gets from the fellow shoppers. It's sort of her claim to fame at Kroger right now.

So we came home and did some yard work and then decided we'd go running after Ava's nap. Then Casey called to see if Tony could help him unload some bookshelves so we decided to run to their house, a little over a mile away. We headed out and noticed some gray clouds in the distance but we figured we could make it and if it did rain it didn't look like it would rain hard (You can probably see where this is headed, especially if you live in the area). We got about half way (or so we thought) and it started raining. We ran a little while in a light rain and then decided to wait in out under a tree. Mind you we had Ava with us and she was dressed only in a light sundress. Well we waited a few minutes and it started torrentially down pouring like it does sometimes here in Texas. We were soaked in about 10 seconds flat. So we decided we were probably closer to the Shorts than home and we'd just make a run for it. Unfortunately we were further from the Shorts than we realized and we kept coming up to street after street thinking that this must be there's ...but it wasn't. About 6 blocks worth of that, and running through a few backyards, finally we came to the church by their house. But we had to run across that big field in front of the church and in front of the whole line of Main Street traffic. CPS is probably getting all kinds of calls from people worried about that poor baby who's stupid parents had her out in a rainstorm (I have to say though that Ava did admirably well and after a first few whimpers when the rain started she didn't cry at all). By the time we made it to the Short's Ava was shivering and our cell phones were in a pool of water in her jogging stroller. Summer brought us towels, a space heater and a change of clothes for Ava so we were dried out in no time but we're still not sure about the phones. . .so yeah, it was kind of a fun adventure, but I don't think we'll go running when the horizon is gray ever again . . .

gretchen and ava

a few photos of ava and her grandma margie, while we were visiting ava. she sure can get ticklish. thats the giraffe that her dada bought her when she was first born. a very treasured possession indeed. she likes to sleep with it, bite it and talk to it. it used to be soft, now it's a bit crunchy.

this is what generally happens when we put a hat, sunglasses, or hair clip on her head.

here she is enjoying the hat that her aunt lizzie made her. i don't think she totally realizes its on her head yet. :)

pretty spring day.

learning to laugh.

oly.
long live earth tones.

some beautiful flowers down at the farmers market. we picked up some for margie's birthday.

our friends gretchen and sam leaving the church. i didn't snap many photos on the wedding day, because i mostly watched ava. don't they look excited?!

toast.

a beautiful bride.

how about some pretty pictures?

these were some flowers at the farmers market in olympia, washington

this is our friend gretchen and her father. she had a beautiful wedding.

some flowers in bloom during gretchen's wedding

trees. wrapped. pretty.

gretchen was a very excited bride! here she is walking down the isle during her rehearsal. i may post a few photos that i snapped during the wedding. i didn't get too many, since i was chasing ava all around the church that day. the night before, i had taught her how to climb stairs and she had become instantly addicted. so that day, she was like a magnet to anything that looked climbable.

daniel and laura. they played some music during the wedding and he is a pastor at cc oly. arn't they cute?

john and eli were always having fun together.

teressa and her sister megan. they helped prepare flowers for the wedding.

my good buddy eli.

i like this shot. looks dramatic.
thats jessica approving a bouquet, along with gretchen's mom in the background.

me and my beautiful stunning wife.

i took this shot while waiting in the airport. ava was crawling up to strangers and waving at them, staring at them, and occasionally wanting to steal their purse. she sure makes me laugh like no one else can. just look at that face. i think we may have a class clown on our hands.

teressa snapped this shot while ava and i were down at the harbour in oly. thats the washington capitol building behind us. this was one of those precious moments where ava cuddles with her daddy and wants to be tickled. i take em' whenever i can get em'.

i want a banana

we went to a local cider mill in oly while visiting with friends. while there, we ordered a few apple fritters, some cider, and a couple of donuts. i gave the lady my credit card and she started printing the receipt when i heard her say "oh no! oh no! i need that credit card back." when i asked her "why?" she said "I think I just charged you twelve thousand and thirteen dollars and fifty cents for your order." to which i replied, "uh, i dont think my credit limit is that high."

me playing some catch with jasper

Ava learning to walk

heres a couple of clips from last night, when ava decided she wants to start walking. i didn't know what i had done til today, when teressa informed me that ava just wanted to walk all day and it was hard to keep up with her. it's fun to watch her make anything into a walker to help her get around. she will use stools, chairs, boxes, toys, her high chair... pretty much anything that will slide. she's a crack up.

This and that

As you know from Tony's post yesterday, Ava is 11 months old now. Insane. I need/want to start planning her birthday party, but I can't settle in my mind what I want it to be like. I know, a very, very important decision that will no doubt effect the rest of her life. Any suggestions? I'm also a little lost on what kind of birthday cake to make her since she really hasn't had any sugar yet (other than the cornbread cake episode ;o) ). I guess I'll make her a special healthy kind and make everyone else a sugar laden one. . .

Our weekend was a little crazy, with some late nights for her and so her sleep pattern has been a bit off the last couple of nights. I don't know what's going on but she's been waking up a couple hours after we lay her down at night and been hungry. But it's actually been kind of fun because Tony doens't get to see her much during the week and so that hour or so she's up at around 9:00pm has been a fun play time. Last night he busted out this little walker we got for her several months back and she pushed it around like a pro in her bedroom and ours (the only carpeted rooms). She was very serious about it and also got very frustrated when a wall or piece of furniture got in her way. She was cute and also really steady on her feet. Uh-oh.

This past Saturday we gave away our dog Jackson. We just weren't being able to give him the time he deserved and we found a wonderful home for him. A family with 5 kids who lives near Lake Lewisville and they go camping and hiking and the mom goes running every day. He will be so happy with them and I doubt he's thought of us once since he left. We on the other hand have been missing him quite a bit. Especially Ava, who pulls herself up on the window sill 4 or 5 times a day looking for him. Sad.

11 months of diapers and laughter

i want to wish a very very happy 11 month birthday to my daughter ava today! wow... can't believe she is almost 1 year old. she sure does crack me up with laughter a lot.

more easter baskets and funny people

how about a few more photos from washington?

this is nick and mike. nick and i used to be roomates for a bit. he is one of the funniest guys i have ever met. i took a few photos of these guys, this is the one where mike is on tippy toes :)

me and my darling wife. ain't she cute?

teressa and jessica. it was so great to see her again. she did all the flowers for gretchen's wedding. and what a great job she did!

megan. hmm...don't really know what to say about this one. haha

liz and clint eastwood. clint was doing his tom rush impersonation.

john and megan looking awesome.

grannie margie with her hands full. after the wedding, she took ava, bonnie and eli back home with her. imagine three car seats, pack n plays, diaper bags, etc... she gets top honors.

ava learning to color.
funny... it seems so easy for her when she is eating and her tablet is my shirt...

ava and the g

eli, what have we done?

my cute daughter in a basket.
is she posing? or is it just me?

mommy helping ava go through another easter basket.
lucky little girl.
sorry for taking your chocolate ava. when you turn 10, i'll reimburse you.