Happy 2009...

I completely forgot to upload some pictures from New Years, so here is our 2nd blog for the day. And can I say, I hate when Blogger won't let you fix pictures. The first two pictures here are half the size of the rest...oh well. Guess thats just the perfectionist coming out in me (you don't see that side of me very often)

On New Years Eve we went over to Andrea & Nate's house to hang out with friends and to ring in 2009. They graciously opened there house to about 9 people (including Ava) and we all had such a wonderful time. I got to play some Mario while Nathan and quite a few of the others played Rock Band for hours on end. We also played some Catch Phrase and had lots of things to snack on... Heather made wonderful chocolate chip pancakes for us, what a treat! Meanwhile, Ava slept soundly upstairs in her pack n' play, and had no clue what fun she was missing.

We stayed until almost 1am and decided it was time to go home, we had about a half hour drive home, and it had been snowing the entire time we were there. Good thing the drive was mainly turnpike. When we went up to get Ava you would have thought we were on a SWAT mission. Andrea came up to help and she really made things go a lot quicker. I picked up the sleeping little one and passed her off to Andrea, then proceeded to help Nathan put away the pack n' play as quickly as possible, then we put Ava in her carrier and were off. Ava slept all the way home and didn't even fuss when I put her in bed.

So far 2009 has been wonderful, although a little busy. Nathan started class today, he is taking a a course in computer architecture, and we're both hoping it turns out to be just what he was looking for. This past Sunday Nathan started his rotation at church working with the computer during the service, and Ava went to the nursery for the 3rd time. Amazingly she has done pretty well so far, except when we were in Charleston and she screamed for 45 minutes because she was tired. It only took a second for her to fall asleep as soon as I got to her.

Ava had a doctor's appt. on Friday morning before we got on the road and our little girl sure is growing. She now weighs 14lbs - 9oz (75th percentile), which is 8lbs heavier than when she was born. And although that might seem heavy (everyone says she is sooo heavy....) she is 25-3/4" long (I think its actually 26" she wasn't stretched out all the way) which is the 91st percentile. Our little girl is going to be tall like her Daddy. Ava is starting to roll over and is also teething at the moment which has made for some fussy spells, but she is such a joy and we are looking forward to what 2009 has in store for her and us.

a tiny Nathan and Sarah

Sarah & Andrea - our hostess

our little present - her shirt says "Mommy & Daddy's best present ever!"

Oh how true.

Ava and Jon

Jon is getting his own little one in just a few short months

the girls!

Andrea, Val, & Sarah

all the girls!

Sarah & Ava, Andrea, Heather, & Val

back: Nate, Corey, Jon, Rick, Nathan

front: Heather, Andrea, Sarah, & Val

Happy New Year!

recap...

wow, its been pretty busy around here the past couple of weeks. We've been doing lots of traveling and visiting with family.

We had a very nice Christmas here at home and then headed out on Friday morning to see Nathan's parents. After a nice visit with them we continued south to Charleston. Waiting there for us was my Step-brother Jeremy and my Grandmother Virginia Ann, as well as Grandmommy & PawPaw (Mom & Roger). We had a wonderful time visiting with them and got to get outside and enjoy the amazing 70 degree weather.

We were glad to finally get home after being gone for a few days and we definitely came home with more than what we left with. Ava still has toys in Charleston that my Mom has to bring up because we couldn't fit them in our car.

its a tradition, my Mom put bows on my head too!

lots of traveling. Surprisingly Ava didn't mind her sunnies

After a bath with Great Grandma Virginia Ann

Four Generations

(my Mom is wearing shorts! It was 70 some degrees outside and beautiful)

relaxing.... my child loves TV.

This wasn't staged, I had the remote laying on the arm of the chair and Ava grabbed it.

Then this past weekend we went to Bridgeport on Friday to see my Dad and his family and then on Saturday morning, after watching my brother's basketball game, we headed to Philippi to see my Grandparents and the rest of the family. It was so good to see everyone, we don't get to see them enough, and of course Ava got some wonderful presents. Our child has a better wardrobe than either of us do.

Ava and Grampa Fred...aren't those smiles just amazing!

Grampa Fred, aunt Danielle, and uncles Jack & Andrew

Ellis meet Ava! Ellis is Grandma & Grandpa's kitten

this picture was taken moments before Ellis decided he needed a closer look and jumped in the carrier with Ava...scared us all to death!

with her Great Grandparents

Christmas Card...

This is our Christmas card for 2008. If you didn't get one, I'm sorry, its probably because we don't have your address!

Funny story about getting this picture, we took probably 20 picture trying to get Ava to look at the camera. She did great the first two pictures, she was looking straight ahead and smiling, it was wonderful! But even Nathan agreed we had to redo the picture, I looked about 30lbs heavier and all because I was sitting on the opposite side. It was so weird. But after about a half hour we gave up and chose this picture because we could at least see all of Ava's face. I hope you like it!

Merry Christmas

3 years...

Has it really been three years? I mean that in a good way, really I do. But I will say, it doesn't seem like its been three years. It actually seems that its been both shorter and longer than 3 years. Hard to imagine I know, but thats how my mind is working. In three years we've done a lot which makes it seem like a longer period of time has passed, yet at the same time it doesn't seem that long ago.

Three years ago, at this very moment (2:28 PM) I was standing in the lobby at Chestnut Ridge Church, waiting to walk down the aisle. I can remember being very calm until the moment before it was my turn, when I decided I needed to go to the bathroom....too late! (I do that when I get nervous.) With my Step-Dad at my side, I nodded to my sister (the flower girl) to go ahead, and then we walked down behind her. I don't remember seeing a single person in the crowd, only the smile on Nathan's face. Even the few moments it took to trade off my Step-Dad with my Dad, or when he told me to "scoot over" as I was apparently walking in the middle of the aisle (it was my day wasn't it? hehe) didn't take my gaze from my soon to be husband. Shoot, I didn't even get to hear my friend Juls' beautiful voice as she sang "Only Hope" as I walked to the front.

The ceremony was quick, and although we had a few little things happen, they were all quirks that added to the amazement of the day. (Okay, so I have to list a few of the little things: the aisle runner wasn't taped down and it was upside down - my Mom ended up standing on the end of it; my brother Jack got sick and about passed out - had to be escorted off the stage by Luke; the rolling slideshow wasn't turned off until after the ceremony started; the music at the end wasn't started soon enough; all our pictures are off center with the tree behind us; I about punched someone at our reception :o) ; and the list goes on! If you want all the info we'll talk later!)

The day turned out wonderfully, and although I don't remember a lot of it I'm thankful to have pictures to remember it by. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. And honestly, I still look back and think our wedding was one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to, I just loved it. I guess every bride says that though.

So its been exactly three years, and we have done a lot. We've moved from WV to VA, and from VA to PA, changed jobs several times, changed churches, bought a house and added to our family, and I don't mean Acey. We've done a lot in a short period of time, but like I said before, it doesn't feel like its been so short. Either way, short or long, its been wonderful. I couldn't ask for anything better.

Today we celebrate our 3rd anniversary. We won't do much as Nathan is still kind of sick, but just spending the time together with our daughter will be enough. I am looking forward to another 3 years, and many more than that.

Santa...

On Saturday we took part in that annual tradition and went to see Santa. Luckily my MOPS group was having a "Pajama Party with Santa" so we didn't have to go to the mall, added bonus we could take as many pictures with Santa as we wanted....as as time permitted. Plus, it was really snowy on Saturday and we live a good half hour from the mall, and only 10 minutes or so from the Clubhouse where Santa was.

We weren't quite sure how Ava would react, given many children find the big man in red quite scary, not to mention the fact that she is overwhelmingly a "Mommy's girl".... ask Nathan about my nights out at MOPS. (so far I haven't made it through a single one, and there has only been 3...well 2 that I made it to).

Anyway, we got Ava dressed in one of her many Christmas outfits and headed out in the snow. But of course we took a few pictures first.

wide eyes, she isn't too thrilled to be dressed up....my child hates, I mean HATES bulky clothes! She had a hate that matched, but we prefered the bow.

a picture with Daddy by the tree

(yes thats a random green ribbon on the tree, its there because Ace would have eaten it had I left it on the table and so I threw it on the tree expecting to take it down, but forgot)

Ava and Santa. This was picture #3 that we took, all the other Ava either had her hand in her face or was looking elsewhere. Just happens that Santa isn't looking at the camera in this pic.

The three of us, courtesy of Andrea (Santa's bouncer and our close friend! Thanks Andi)

We didn't stay at the party long as we were surrounded by preschoolers and they were WILD. I ate a cookie and then we ran out the door as fast as we could. We then headed over to Jon and Val's to hang out them and Nate until Andrea was done with her bouncer duties. We had a great time seeing Santa, and spending time with friends. Hope you had a great weekend yourselves.

the tree...

So far so good with our Christmas tree this year....at least the cats haven't torn it down yet. I thought I'd put up a couple of pictures. Enjoy!

I don't know if you can tell, but the majority of the lights are at the top as well as the ornaments because of the cats, they like to chew on things and pull things off the tree... shoot, they will even eat the tree!

Thanksgiving...

This Thanksgiving we decided it would be easier for us to stay at home, especially since we were heading to Morgantown to see Nathan's siblings on Saturday morning. So we got up nice and early on Thanksgiving day, I got the turkey started and then we hung out with Ava for a while. She was having a ball laying on the floor talking to her toys and getting Mommy & Daddy's full attention. It was really nice to have Nathan home for 4 days straight.





Eventually we went up and got Ava a bath and then dressed her in her Thanksgiving Day outfit courtesy of Andrea. Ava was actually the only one who got dressed on Thursday, Nathan and I stayed in our pjs... oh so nice.

she wasn't too happy about the pictures after about 10 of them

Then on Friday we got ready for the WVU vs. Pitt game. After Pitt's first touchdown I turned my attention to putting up the Christmas tree. Yes we actually put it up this year, hopefully it will last longer than 3 days. The cats have already started pulling the ornaments off, so I took off the lower branches and moved all the decorations up so they are about 3' off the ground. It looks funny, but we needed a tree for Ava's first Christmas.

Ava was a bit worried about WVU after the first half. We had hoped for a better game and were very disappointed at the outcome. Ava was not a happy camper and got really upset at the very end. Eventually she gave up and cried herself to sleep.....

we hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!!