Adventures...

Here are some pictures from our recent adventures.

Pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

Ava loved all the pumpkins... especially the BIG ones!

Happy Fall

sidenote: we forgot our stroller, this one was a lifesaver, although hard as all to steer, and a bit girly for our taste!

Ava got the chance to ride one her first kiddie rides at Kid Country. Despite the lack of smiling in these pictures she had a blast, and was a giggling smiling mess. Her favorite rides were the airplanes and swings.

Flying High

there's a smile

she loved the swings

the "Santa" look-a-like in the background was such a friendly gentleman. He kept trying to get Ava to smile for me by trying to grab Lambie from her... he succeeded once, and she knew instantly.

she had the pirate ship all to herself!

I think this was Ava's least favorite, but she wanted to try it.


mini ferris wheel

turn-a-bout

Mama and her girl

We even got the opportunity to hang out in the pool a little... can you tell she loves the water?

cheese!

"I'm foating, I'm foating!"

Ava loved having more freedom swimming around by herself

the arm floaty waddle before jumping in.

When Daddy is away...

the GIRLS WILL PLAY!

And what better way to play, than to get messy?

I love to bake. I hope I can pass that love on to Ava as well. So, for some time now I've been wanting to bake cookies with her, I even bought a bunch of cookie cutters. Yes, I knew it would be messy, she's 2. But I also knew she'd love it. So Friday afternoon after Ava's nap we got everything ready and had ourselves a little bit of fun and a lot of messy.

just up from her nap, but dressed and ready to go

wearing Daddy's grillin' apron, too cute!

sugar cookie dough rolled out, cookies cutters at work.

Ava chose the airplane for Joshua.

After the baking and cooling we got to icing. Ava wasn't nearly as fond of this stage until she realized what the icing was. I ended up icing the cookies while she licked the icing off her knife.
ooo, sprinkles

LOTS of sprinkles! Oops.

she needed to try the sprinkles to make sure they tasted good.

showing off her masterpiece

Finally sitting down to taste the goods.

They must be good.

We took Joshua's cookies over to him afterwards, in hopes it would make him feel better. He and his entire family, minus his Mommy, are sick. Yuck! But an airplane cookie should help for sure.

Our first baking experience was lots of fun. We'll definitely have to try this again... shoot we have 101 cookies cutters to experiment with!

videos...

Our chatter box has taken off again, and it's too funny. The other night at dinner Ava was raving about how she liked the pulled pork we were having, so we had to capture it on video. It's a bit choppy, but you can still understand her. (camera may not get fixed.... boo!)

birthday girl...

On Sunday we had a little backyard party with our neighbors. Literally, I yelled out to Dan and Casey as they drove into their driveway... "Cupcakes and Ice Cream!" Of course Joshua was there, as was his brother Noah, and Mom and Dad, Kristi and Shayne.
*Please excuse the fuzzy pics, our camera is acting up

There was no question, this year we HAD to have an Elmo cake.... cupcakes really!

I wasn't fast enough to stop her,

the finger went right into the icing.

after lighting the candle, Ava wasn't too sure

she did it!

she blew out the candle all by herself

(with Daddy's supporting hand)

they enjoyed playing in the icing more than eating it... thus the missing shirts

they were much more interested in the sprinkler

opening presents...

there are more pics, but they are 1/2 nakey ones,

so we opted not to share those

playing with her new magnadoodle!

and a family picture for Ava's 2 Year Album

2 Year Pics...

This morning Ava and I went and had her two year pictures taken. She did a great job, and even got a new Elmo video out of it. We hope you enjoy this preview!

I'm rotten, can you tell?

Uh Oh!

I'm TWO!

the next few were taken for Daddy... shhh, don't tell him, it's a surprise!