enjoying the ADVENTURE

Friday, May 29, 2009

Lil' KidQuest & more...

Just a picture of our cutie having a snack

Wed., Thurs., & Firday of this week, Ava and I spent the mornings at North Boundary Park with about 170 preschoolers. Crazy right? Actually we had a ton of fun. We (all the adults) were so amazed at how well behaved the kids were. You see, this is the first year that Discovery, our church, has done a KidQuest for preschoolers. Usually in August there is a KQ for older kids. Since we had younger kids, our Director Stacie, had asked Dana and me to lead the music. Normally Ethan, our worship leader, would do it, but with the little kids, they felt a woman's voice might be better. So the month or so leading up to KQ we got together, learned the music and recorded a CD for the kids to practice with. (Man I hate hearing my own voice on a CD!)

Once KQ was here, we weren't too sure how things would go, but it was great. The kids LOVED the music and jumping around and doing motions to the songs. I jumped around with them and let me tell you, thats the most exercise I've gotten in a while :o) This Sunday the kids are going to come to church and sing two of their songs in front of the congregation.... and boy are they excited about it!

When I wasn't doing music, I helped out in the snack tent. We had a different snack each day; a teddy graham ring master and stand, a sugar cone clown, and a graham cracker animal cage with animal cookies. All of which were sugary sweet and messy!

Although Ava looks incredibly upset in this picture, she had a great time too. Every one kept commenting on how good she was. At this moment she had just finished her snack and wanted out of her stroller.... and of course I'm trying to take a picture. And while I was singing the Bice kids passed her around, and even a few others joined in to play with Ava. I seriously think if I would have let him, John Bice would have taken Ava home!

Ava posing in Mommy's t-shirt...my name tag is still attached

moving in this shirt is harder than it looks!

resting

here I come

And I thought I'd share a quick video of Ava crawling. I know it might be a while until we see some of you, and by then she could be walking.... AAAAAHHHHH!

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

moving forward...

For the past two months Ava has been up on her knees rocking back and forth, getting up on her toes in push up position (she can do a better push up than me!), balancing back and forth on each arm, and so on and so forth. She has been desperately trying to crawl, but just hasn't gotten it figured out. She isn't sedentary though, she can roll anywhere she wantes to go, do 360s on her tummy, pull herself across the floor with her arms, and even crawl backwards... just not forwards. Then this past Thursday after taking one crawling "step" and then stopping to rest on her stomach, she took off.... and hasn't stopped since!

playing with Mia and Hali at Daddy's soft ball game

what?

peek-a-boo

cheese!

"I'm coming to get you Mommy"

This past weekend we made a trip down to VA to see my Grandmother and suprise her for her birthday, she'll be 80 this week. Ava loved getting to be outside on the farm, seeing the animals and crawling anywhere her heart desired, that is until we stopped her. It was a short trip time wise, we were only there one night, but a long trip as we had to stretch the trip out over four days... it was exhausting, but nice to see family that we don't see often.

So now that we're back we're trying to get back to our routine, and I'm praying it doesn't take long. Ava isn't good when it comes to sleeping somewhere other than her own bed, I guess she gets it honestly as Nathan and I are the same way. So she slept horribly the whole trip, and I spent two nights sleeping on the couch with her so she wouldn't wake everyone else in the house. Unfortunately her first night back in her own crib wasn't as great as I thought (hoped) it would be. This morning she was up at 1am on her knees in her crib looking over the railing, crying/screaming. After about an hour and a half, she finally was so tired she passed out. (She'll sleep as long as I'm holding her, but the minute I put her down she is wide awake again... not fun). But so far, her naps have been pretty routine, which gives me hope for tonight.

We hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend!

taking it all in

here I go...but how to do this while holding the camera case?

oh so tired, I'll army crawl instead

breakfast - sitting in the "ancient" high chair - used by 4 generations

fairy princess with her wand

Monday, May 11, 2009

Happy Mother's Day

its a day late, but thats okay. This weekend was a really nice weekend for us. My Mom came up on Saturday so she could be with us on Sunday when Ava was dedicated at church. But since she was here on Saturday, we took the opportunity to get out of the house for a while, and to let Nathan have some alone time with his "toys" as I like to call them. Actually he is working on some personal engineering projects, and having a lot of fun doing it, but doesn't often get the time necessary to make any real progress.

Our shopping trip was short and sweet. We hit just a few stores like TJMaxx, Walmart, & Famous Footwear where I found some adorable shoes for Ava, but figured I should wait until she really needs them, (Kids shoes are expensive and they grow out of them soooo fast!) Finally we hit Kohls where I realized how much I missed that store.

Then that evening after dinner, Nathan and I headed out to a movie. It was great to get out for a while and we knew Ava was safe at home with a trusted babysitter. (we only have a couple people we trust to watch her.... there are many reasons, so please do not be offended if we don't ask you to babysit.) Anyway, we saw Star Trek, and even though I didn't ever watch the tv show as a kid, I really enjoyed the movie. I did come out thinking I might be deaf and seeing flashing lights for a while though.

Then on Sunday morning we headed to church. The dedication was pretty quick but nice, and we recieved a CD of the pictures they used as well as a child's bible. (I think we have 3 of the very same one... we'll be giving 2 away.) After church we headed to lunch with our dear friends the Spaniks and the Walkers, as well as Mom and Jon's Mom in tow. Once back at the house, we took a few pictures and then Mom headed home and Nathan and I did a few things around the house before relaxing for the evening.

It was a really nice Mother's Day. I hope I can make Father's Day just as special for Nathan.

the beautiful flowers Nathan gave me. Funny story to go with these, for Valentine's Day he also bought me flowers, but they never came! So when he said the flower guy was coming (he didn't want me to miss him, just in case) I laughed and said "are you sure?" My husband is so sweet.

our child dedication at church, Jon and Val also dedicated Hali.

by this point Ava was done with pictures... if you'll notice her headband is on the other side of her head, and Nathan kept trying to fix it for the picture but every time he did, Ava would just rub her face against my shoulder and mess it up again.

Happy Mother's Day

to all the mothers in our lives

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

the last month in pictures...

I decided to skip my shower this morning and upload as many pictures as I could while Ava was taking a nap (don't worry I'll get a shower later!)... well, Ava just woke up and so this is the best I could do. Enjoy!