Fall...

Thanksgiving is in two days, and we haven't shared with you about Halloween.  This year we went back to Yeck Fams to get pumpkins.  We had been there two years ago, but last year we had some insane idea that it would be fun to go to Soregels instead.  WRONG!  It was not fun, it was packed, and the pumpkins were in bins...  there wasn't a patch or even an ability to see what our choices were.  So back to Yeck's we went and had a wonderful time.  

This girl just won't stop growing!

No, it's not a true pumpkin patch, but we like it and there are tons of options.  This year we got 3 larger pumpkins and a couple little ones to play with.

Isn't the wagon cute?  They have them there to put your pumpkins in so you won't have to try to carry everything.  Makes for a cute picture of Daddy and his girl.

Our own little pumpkin.  She truly enjoyed our trip to Yeck's...  she slept the whole time!

Ava loves the corn maze.  Thankfully she has a wonderful Daddy who makes the standard grid maze interesting.

This year we went on the hay ride, and Ava thought it was the coolest thing ever.  She still talks about it.  Along the way they have things to look at, like the painted hay bales below.  Unfortunately several of the things aren't executed very well.  Take for example the Wizard of Oz display...  Ava is correct when she called the one figure a bear...  it was supposed to be the Lion, but instead looked like a manikin with a bad bear costume on.  She mentions this about once a week.  When she is a little older I will let her watch the movie and then maybe she will understand why Nathan and I both laughed a little too hard when we saw it.

I'll be honest, Halloween was a bit of a let down this year. I made Ava's costume again, and I guess I wanted her to be able to wear it and enjoy it a bit more, but the rain pretty much ruined the evening.  Thankfully, Ava had a Halloween party at school so she got to wear her costume there.  We went out for about an hour, but after that it was so cold, windy, and rainy that we headed home.  Ava had a full bucket and didn't know any different, and she got some pretty good candy regardless.  I don't know about you, but I remember Halloween being different when I was younger.  In my memory it was always warmer...  I'm sure I'm wrong.

Anyway, on to what you really want to see, the costume.  So, can you tell what she is?  Jewel, from Rio, of course. that would be a Blue Macaw for those who have no clue.  (See Five for more Ava's Rio addiction.)

Ava took one of Hannah's headbands and thought it would be fun to dress Ace up...  I was lucky enough to catch a picture of it.

   

One of our many pumpkins, Ava wanted an owl.

Hannah seemed to enjoy her first Halloween.  

In one week...

We started the week of September 9th with Ava's first day of Pre-K.  I thought I'd be a cool mom and take some pictures of Ava with a little sign announcing her first day, and a few things about her at the age of 5.  

 Age: 5

Favorite Color:  Green

When I grow up I want to be:  a Veterinarian

This year I'm excited: to tell Miss Alyssa I can count to 100!

Then on Tuesday night, my water broke (although I didn't know it!)  And by Wednesday evening, we welcomed this little beauty into our family.

a little sun bathing to help with the jaundice.  

It's been over two months since that crazy week, and Hannah is growing like a weed.  It has been fun to see her change, and we can't believe she is almost 3 months old.

          

   

Five...

13 days after Ava's birthday, Miss Hannah made her debut which meant we didn't get to post about Ava's party.  Let me start by saying it was INSANE!  Everyone had a great time and I didn't have to do much of anything, but I think the fact that I wasn't in control made it feel that much more crazy.  Or maybe it was the fact we were at a place where the kids could safely run around by themselves and so we had 11 kids going in different directions.

Ava was born on a holiday weekend, and so we always have to plan her party for the week before or week after. This year we planned her party for the 25th of August at Fun Fore All and invited 10 of her close friends.  Fun Fore All is a local kids play place that has an indoor ball area, arcade games, outdoor rides (think carnival/boardwalk), and putt putt.  Almost everything was taken care of, but we decided to do the invites, cake, and thank yous ourselves.  (Fun Fore All actually gives you generic invites and thank yous if you want them.)  Because Ava wanted a Rio theme I wanted to incorporate that into everything I could.  (Read Crafter for more of what I tried to do.)

Here are several pictures from the party, and a few of Ava opening presents from us.  At Fun Fore All, our birthday package included two kid rides, and we let Ava pick which rides everyone would go on together.  The first was the train, which is a little like a roller coaster, and the second was a large swing.  We only had one little on who was terrified of both, everyone else has a blast.

Once back inside after after everyone ate dinner, Ava got a turn at the birthday wheel.  After two chances at spinning the wheel, trying to land in a red space, I realized we had one very sweet host who then gave Ava as many chances as she needed until it happened.  I'm thinking she had to spin 6 times. The prize was 200 extra tickets (think arcade or Chuck E. Cheese.)

We then had some free time in the arcade.  Ava loves driving games, and from the way she drives, we're glad she has 11 more years before she is able to drive!  Also, my little tom boy is turning into a girly girl (thanks for her girly girl friends.)  Check out that skirt and PINK hair bow!

We also had a pinata, the pull-string kind.  I have no idea how many kids were able to try, and unfortunately I only got this picture...

As I said before, I wanted to get the cake instead of getting a generic cake from Fun Fore All.  As I have done each year, I ordered the cake from Walmart.  We love their icing, and cup cake cakes are so much easier.  I had stopped by the bakery a good month in advance to look at options so when the time came to order I would know what I wanted.  I had ordered the Rio toys on EBay, they were old McDonald's toys from a few years ago, unopened of course.  And thankfully, we had a wonderful girl that decorated the cake exactly the way we wanted and the toys fit with it perfectly.

We are two months late, but...

HAPPY 5TH BIRTHDAY

 AVA REESE!!!

Family of 4...

Introducing 

Hannah Kate Berry Ann

As much as I would have liked to have been keeping up with the blog, it's the LAST thing on my mind these days, as you can imagine.  So we have a little catching up to do.  Lets start with Miss Hannah and her very unexpected and quick entry into this world.  

I went in for my 37 week check up on Tuesday, Sept. 10th.  There wasn't much going on and I went on my way and made plans for the next week.  I was planning to sing that weekend, to make more meals to put in the freezer, to get the guest room and bathroom cleaned up as well as the rest of the house. Then Ava and I spent the afternoon in the pool.  On a 90 degree day at 37 weeks, I didn't want to be anywhere else.  

 

That night at 3am, I woke up to a small gush feeling and realized my pants were wet.  (Caution TMI:) As many of you know things like that happen when you're pregnant so I went to the bathroom, changed my shorts and went back to bed.  About an hour and half later it happened again.  I still didn't think much of it when it happened for the 3 time either...  although looking back I have no idea why I didn't think something was up.  I was able to get back to sleep and when I got up I decided I should take a shower and get ready in case I needed to go to the doctor.  I told Nathan what was going on, but that I didn't think it was anything, and sent him on to work.  

Ava had Pre-K that afternoon at 1pm so we were hanging around the house, but I had a few contractions from 9-11, but nothing that hurt or increased over time.  After some convincing from my Mom, I called the doctor and they thought I should come in to be checked.  I quickly called daycare to see if I could get Ava in early, and thankfully the ladies there are wonderful and told me to bring her immediately and that they'd take care of lunch.  Once I found my car keys (that were in the garage on my car!) we took off.  

I got to my doctor's office around noon and they took me right in.  My doctor (I actually have 7!), talked to me and told me about the 3 tests that they would do.   As soon as I hopped up on the table, he said there wasn't any reason to do the tests, although he did one just to be 100%, but the he knew my water had broken...  apparently there was a lot more leaking than I thought.  I was in labor!

I called Nathan before I even left the room, but he didn't answer.  I then started calling all the other people I needed to tell (Mom, Dad, Ethan - I couldn't sing on Sunday, Jeanlynne, etc.)  I called Nathan again...  he still didn't answer.  I swung by the daycare to tell Ava what was going on so she didn't worry, and to let her know that Mimi was coming to get her.  Finally I called Nathan again and he answered.  To say he was shocked when I said I was in labor is an understatement.  He immediately left and started home.  I headed home and decided to do some laundry and the dishes.  So when Nathan got home and found me doing the dishes, he said "what are you doing?"  You see, I wasn't having contractions...  I felt great.  

This time around was so different from when we had Ava.  Our trip to the hospital wasn't rushed, I wasn't having contractions, and there weren't 8 other women in the ER in labor.   I was the only one there this time, and actually the only one on the labor and delivery floor as well.  And this time we got a nice large room unlike the triage closet where Ava was born.  

Once in the room, after answering a billion questions, they got me hooked up with pitocin.  The next couple of hours we relaxed, I read a book and Nathan napped.  Around 5:30pm I realized it was taking me longer to read each page and thought I'd go ahead and get my epidural.  I was told I could have it at any time and it wouldn't matter since I had the pitocin.  Do to an emergency in the ER I didn't get the epidural until 6pm.  Nathan had been sent out to get a cup or coffee and to call my Mom and to check on Ava.  At 6:19pm they gave me the first dose of medicine through the epidural.  Nothing happened.  Then started a series of tests to figure out if I was getting any of the medicine.  By 6:45pm the contractions were getting much closer and stronger as the pitocin spiked, I was around 8cm.  Fun stuff!  Around 6:50pm my doctor (different than the one who saw me that morning, but the same on that delivered Ava) asked where Nathan was...  he was MIA.

When Nathan finally came back, he walked into a crazy scene.  I was in incredible pain, as the epidural didn't take, and the doctor and nurses were trying to figure out why it wasn't working and watching my contractions on the monitor.  Shortly after 7pm  I couldn't stand it anymore and told them I needed to push, to which they told me I wasn't ready.  But Momma knows best...  When my body started pushing on it's own, my doctor checked me and had to make me stop pushing as she was there!  The medical staff ran around like crazy trying to get everything ready before my next contraction.  The next one hit, I gave one good push, and Hannah was here.  I had no plans to go without medicine, but I am very very glad that it went quickly.  I can't imagine how women labor for hours without it. 

Since then, it's been go, go go.  Life didn't stop when we got home like it did with Ava.  Instead I've had to keep up with Ava's schedule and try to figure out how to do everything that I need to do while juggling two girls and a 3-4 hour feeding schedule.  It's been fun, it's been challenging.  But I couldn't be happier, I'm home with my girls full time.  I'll try to share more photos each time I'm able to post, but these will have to do for now.  

 Day 1

 1 month already!