Team Cardwell

Summer Fun

2011-08-30T20:13:00.001-05:00

Here is a teeny tiny recap in pictures of our little summer. We did a little bit of everything…lounged around, swam a bit, had fun playgroup playdates, went to a Ranger’s game, watched some fireworks, shopped a little, danced a lot, bowled with friends, rode the carrousel, and pretty much just hung out as a little family of 4. We had a fun summer, but I think we’re all ready for some cooler temperatures. Come on with it fall…

Pre-K Hooray!

2011-08-22T20:32:00.000-05:00

My big 4 year old started Pre-K this year! I can’t believe she will be going to KINDERGARTEN next year! It blows my mind how fast time has gone! As I was reading everyone’s facebook posts about sending their babies off to kindergarten, I got a little teary knowing I will be doing just that next year! But for now, we are going to enjoy Pre-K!

FIRST DAY OF PRE-K - August 22, 2011

First day of school - August 2010

First Day of School - August 2009

She is growing up before my eyes! I cannot believe the difference 2 years makes!

8 Months

2011-08-17T20:57:00.001-05:00

My sweet baby love…how is it that you are already 8 months old?!? You sure are getting big! I am loving every minute of you and your sweet personality, Hudson! You are such a happy baby, and you only fuss if you are tired or hungry.

You are definitely a mover and a shaker…you never want to sit still or cuddle. The only time I can get you to sit a little still is while you’re having a bottle. You’ve gone from rolling to kind of scooting and any minute now you are going to be a full-on crawler!

Your laughter just melts my heart! You have the sweetest giggle and when you're really excited you make this crazy noise that I can’t even explain! I’ll definitely have to get it on film! Still no teeth, so I get to enjoy that precious gummy smile for a little bit longer!

You have developed quite a little personality and… I’m gonna go ahead and say it…a little temper. If we don’t get you your food fast enough, boy do we hear about it. You are still a great eater, and I’m afraid that we’re going to go broke when you’re a teenager!

Oh Huddy, you make me smile everyday. I love being your mommy and I love you!!

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7 months

2011-07-17T19:15:00.000-05:00

Hudson Cardwell, you are 7 months old…and growing by the minute! Please slow down just a little so I can cherish every moment!

You are such a happy smiley baby! You love to laugh and giggle at your sister! You also love to ‘talk’ to us and anyone who will listen. I’m not sure if it’s a trait you inherited from your mommy, or if it’s because you’re trying to be heard over Ava, but oh my are you LOUD! Your favorite thing to do is jump in your jumperoo and yell as loud as you can. It’s super cute…but super noisy. =) You are still rolling all over the place to get where you want to go. Daddy says you will be crawling any day now. Mommy wants you to take your time…I’m not quite ready for a crawler yet.

You started sleeping on your tummy this month, and the biggest thing is that mommy is no longer carrying you around in your infant carrier. You’re just too heavy! So now you sit in a highchair in restaurants and a cart in the stores. Thank goodness for the floppy seat (cart/highchair cover) because mommy is still somewhat of a germ-a-phob.

We’ve also been doing fun things with your little playgroup and look forward to seeing them every week or so.

Hudson, you are such a sweet baby and I’m so happy that I get to spend everyday with you and watch you grow. I love you so so much! Happy 7 months, little man!

6 month sweetie pie

2011-06-17T18:42:00.001-05:00

Oh Huddy Hud, you are 1/2 a year old! My how time is zooming by! This month brought some milestones for sure!

You started sitting up all by yourself this month…and are so excited about it! You also started eating solids this month. And, little man, you LOVE to eat! We started off with peas, and you were pretty unsure about it at first. But you quickly came around, and now you will pretty much eat anything and everything! Hopefully this means you won’t be a picky eater. =)

You celebrated your first Fourth of July and got to watch 2 fireworks shows! You also went to the lake for the first time. You are a water baby for sure…you absolutely love it!

My handsome little man, you are growing too fast and I love watching you grow and change everyday! I love you so much!

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Beautiful Girl

2011-06-16T16:58:00.000-05:00

My wonderful

Smart

Funny

Baby Girl

You make me smile everyday!

5 Months

2011-05-17T21:45:00.000-05:00

Sweet baby boy, you are 5 months old! This month you had some pretty important firsts! You celebrated your first Easter and sat through Church like a big boy! You also got to watch your very first Easter egg hunt…2 actually. =) Your big sissy is getting pretty good at hunting Easter Eggs…she said she would teach you how to do it next year! But your favorite “first” was having rice cereal for the very first time!

You weren’t quite sure about it at first…and you were pretty sleepy…but once you got the hang of it you LOVED it! And now, your a pro and don’t want to stop… even when it’s all gone!

You also went on your first “camping” trip. Now, what you need to know is that your mommy does. not. camp. I need electricity and running water… but our little trip down to Fossil Rim most definitely is the closest I ever hope to be to actually camping. And you were SUCH a good baby!

And on your 5 month birthday, you started babbling “mamama” and “dadadada” and “babababa.” It’s the dang cutest thing ever! You also figured out how to blow raspberries. =)

Wow, sweet little man…I can’t believe you’ve been on this earth a whole 5 months…yet, I truly can’t remember our lives without you. I love you so so much!!

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Fossil Rim

2011-05-05T23:29:00.000-05:00

At the end of April, our little group of friends decided to take a trip down to Glenrose so that we could take all the kids to Fossil Rim. We rented “cabins” that looked like tents and stayed on the actual safari grounds. There was definitely a fence separating us from the animals…but that was it. It was pretty cool….however….I don’t camp. We all know this. And this little “cabin” (I’m gonna go ahead and call it a tent) was entirely too close to an actual tent.

Yes, it had air conditioning, and a bathroom…but it also had spiders, and bugs, and just… nature. I will say that I most definitely enjoyed the company…and the overall experience wasn’t bad. I mean, it was beautiful and peaceful during the day. But at night there were mice, and huge raccoons and spiders…and did I mention the nature?

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On Sunday our group took a bus tour of the safari. And the weather was awful…about 30 (or more!) degrees colder than the day before and rainy. Not ideal safari weather. But the animals were great and the Giraffes were awesome! Made the whole safari worth it!

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Anyway, I’m glad we went…the kids definitely had fun! And Hudson was so good! If the weather had been amazing on Sunday (like it was on Saturday) the actual safari would have been so much fun. There’s always next time, right?!

Sweet sweet baby

2011-04-20T11:42:00.000-05:00

My sweet

Little

Baby Boy

You melt my heart =)

4 months

2011-04-17T20:55:00.000-05:00

My sweet sweet boy…these last four months have simply flown by. I know I say it every month, and I’ll keep saying it, but I just can’t believe how fast everything is going! This last month has been great. You have started doing so many new things. You just started rolling over from your tummy to your back. It takes you getting really mad about tummy time, but you can finally get yourself flipped over to your back. You also started laughing this month. It’s the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard! And your sister is the one who can get you to laugh the hardest. You are just as smitten with her as she is with you!

I’m still working on getting you to smile for the camera. The minute I pull it out, your smile disappears…but I’ll catch one…one of these days. =) Your dimples are to die for!

My sweet little love, you are the sweetest baby! You are totally making up for your early days (and weeks =/) that just about drove me over the edge. Everyone comments on what a happy baby you are! I love you so much!!

Beautiful Bluebonnets

2011-04-13T15:11:00.001-05:00

Last Friday I took the kids to a beautiful patch of bluebonnets to get some good pictures. Aaron was at work, so it was just me with both kids. I really didn't think it would be hard...I was wrong. We got there and everything was going pretty good. I got some cute pics with Ava and Hudson, and a sweet lady offered to take pictures for me so I could be in some. And she got a really good one!

But after that, things went downhill! Ava decided she had to go tee tee and I turned around to find her squatting in the bluebonnets with her skirt pulled down! What the heck!? And in that second, Hudson spit up ALL over himself...all over me...all over my camera...UGH! So I'm trying to balance Huddy, clean up the spit up and get Ava to pull her skirt back up...all the while praying the other people didn't see my daughter in all her glory. I finally got them both back in the car and told Ava she would have to hold it til we got home. Good grief. Our little photo shoot got cut short, and Ava really wanted to go back so she could show Aaron, so we waited until he got home, then we went back. I'm so glad we did because I got some of my favorite pictures ever!

Ava and Huddy

Sweet Big Sister with her Baby Brother

Thank you nice lady for taking a really good picture of my babies and me!!

That girl loves flowers!

Dancing in the bluebonnets

My absolute favorite picture of them...ever! I love every. single. thing. about this picture!

This is how most of our pictures go...Ava not looking at the camera, Hudson spitting up...and me just smiling away...just hoping that if we take enough, there will surely be 1 good one!

I love this one of Ava...and I LOVE her beautiful blue eyes!

3 months

2011-03-17T17:43:00.061-05:00

3 months already!?! Man, time is flying by! This has been the best month so far! Huddy Hud, you have started laughing and "talking" and cooing, and everytime I hear your sweet little voice, it melts my heart! You are starting to show us your personality, and I can tell you are going to be strong willed...just like your big sister. =)

Sweet boy...I want to thank you for finally sleeping through the night. The first 12 weeks were tough, and we all know how mama gets when she doesn't get enough sleep...so thank you so much for figuring out how to sleep through the night! You go down around 10 pm and sleep until about 7:30 or 8 am... which is awesome!! I have to admit, you were always wonderful about eating and going right back to sleep, but man it's nice to sleep 6-7 hours straight!

In honor of your Irish heritage you celebrated your 3 month birthday on St. Paddy's day. =)

And this is how you felt about not being able celebrate in true Irish style =)

Happy 3 months, Hudson. I can't believe how fast this time has gone, and I'm trying to cherish every minute because I know its just going to go faster and faster. I love you so much!

Hudson’s Baptism

2011-03-10T17:15:00.000-06:00

On March 6th, we had Hudson baptized at my parents’ church. This is the same church I grew up in, the church Aaron and I got married in, and the church where Ava was baptized. So, we thought it was special for us to have Hudson baptized there, too. Our family and friends joined us for this special day, and Hudson slept through the entire thing! Even when Pastor Grant poured water all over his head!

What a special day…one I will never forget.

My mom and dad had everyone over to their house for a little lunch and some cake to celebrate our sweet baby boy’s baptism.

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Thank you

2011-03-01T14:20:00.000-06:00

We are sooo incredibly grateful to the doctors who helped bring Hudson into this world. We love them so much and are so thankful for everything they have done for us. Anyone who knows us, knows what a hard time we had getting pregnant, and without Dr. Rodriguez and his amazing nurses, we wouldn’t have our precious miracle. They are without a doubt the best, most wonderful people, and I really miss seeing them every other day!! I took Hudson up there to meet everyone, and he got a little snuggle time with them.

Dr. Rodriguez and Huddy

Nurse Linda, Dr. Roddy and Hudson

Nurse Lorena…I think Huddy Hud has a crush =)

I can’t tell you how much I truly love them. They are so kind and so caring, and they really made this difficult journey so much better. We definitely had a rough road, but God brought these amazing people into our lives, and I am forever grateful!

And this is my WONDERFUL ob, Dr. MacDonald…I love him too!!! I definitely miss seeing him {and of course, Nurse Jackie} every week!

Nurse Jackie (who happens to be my IVF nurse, Linda’s daughter.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!

2 Months

2011-02-17T16:53:00.000-06:00

My sweet little man, my how time flies! Every month goes by faster than the last. In your 2nd month of life, you finally figured out how to be happy when you were awake…thank goodness!

The weather started to get warmer, and we were able to go on our first of many walks.

You precious little thing…you started smiling, which of course just melts my heart every time I see those sweet dimples!

And good grief, did you start to grow! At your 2 month check up you weighed 13 lbs 1 oz, which put you in the 81%! You were 23 inches long (54%) and your head circumference was 15.75 inches (52%). You are a big boy!!

You also experienced your first snow! Our winters have become more interesting lately. We used to be lucky if we got a dusting of snow, but this year we had about 6-8 inches of snow, lots of ice, and rolling black outs…fun.

You love to snuggle with your daddy! He keeps you warm. =)

And of course you adore your sissy…she’s pretty smitten with you, too.

2 months old

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January 2011

2011-01-31T15:56:00.000-06:00

Well, January was sort of a crazy month for Team Cardwell. On Hudson’s 3 week birthday, I went to the ER because I literally thought I was dying. Turns out it was my gallbladder, and the doctor said I needed to have surgery to remove it asap…not cool. I’m gonna go ahead and say that my recovery from my c-section wasn’t as painful as the gallbladder surgery. Even though the surgery is laparoscopic, I had 4 incisions that needed to heal. Ugh. Just what every mom with a 3 week old wants. Anyway, our month did get better and thanks to my gallbladder, we have met our out-of-pocket max for the year! Yay!

Here are some pictures from January:

Uncle Sean with his nephew

Carly

Mimi came to visit

Starting to get chubby cheeks

Aww, sweet family picture…and Hudson is screaming. That’s pretty much all he did when he was awake for the first 6-8 weeks or so.

Tired Daddy

1 month old

2011-01-17T16:16:00.000-06:00

It’s so true what they say…time goes even faster the second time around. Hudson’s first month flew by! Granted, it was an eventful first month with Christmas, New Years, and mommy’s gallbladder surgery, but it flew by nonetheless.

One week old:

One Month Old:

Sweetness

2011-01-03T13:53:00.000-06:00

The sweetest picture of all…she is so in love with her new brother

Reading to him…can’t start too early!

Christmas

2010-12-26T11:29:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas was extra special this year! Our sweet baby boy was a week old and we got to spend this Christmas as a family of 4!

Ava putting out the reindeer food

Pure excitement!

Santa did good!

Santa was not thinking when he brought Ava this piano. The ~~noise~~ music is just lovely…but it gets old pretty quick, especially with a newborn in the house.

Daddy and his Christmas present ;-)

Homeward Bound

2010-12-24T13:38:00.000-06:00

We spent 4 days in the hospital, and Monday, 4 days before Christmas, we brought our sweet baby boy home.

Getting ready in his little Christmas outfit

Getting in the car

Our first family photo…not my best look, but hey, I just had a baby

Hudson’s Birthday

2010-12-22T12:59:00.000-06:00

This pregnancy was so much different than mine with Ava. This one was {almost} routine, and had I not had a previous c-section, we could have done this one naturally {and when I say naturally, I mean “me pushing a baby out”…not “without drugs.” Give me that epidural!} Anyway, since Hudson’s due date was December 27th, we scheduled the c-section for December 17th…for many reasons.

Of course, this being my first “scheduled” c-section, I was anxious and excited and didn’t sleep a wink the night before. Not even 1 minute…and it didn’t help that I was having tons of contractions. We had to be at the hospital at 5:30 am for a 7:30 am surgery, so in true Cardwell form we left the house at 5:20 giving us 10 minutes to make a 15 minute drive. Thankfully we got there in time, and we got all set up in our little triage room.

my last few minutes being pregnant

Proud daddy

Dr. Mac (the best ob/gyn ever!) came in around 7 to say hi, and then my nurse took me back around 7:30. And at 7:55 am on December 17, 2010, Hudson Dempsey Cardwell was born!

He weighed 7 lbs 2 oz and was 18.5 inches long. (when he was measured at his pedi’s office 4 days later, he was 20 inches long, and I know he didn’t grow 1.5 inches in 4 days!)

Love at first sight

After we spent a little time in recovery, we were wheeled to our room where Hudson got to meet his family! The absolute sweetest, most wonderful moment of my life as a mommy was seeing Ava meet her baby brother for the first time.

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He's Here!!!

2010-12-21T12:13:00.004-06:00

Hudson Dempsey Cardwell was born on Friday, December 17th at 7:55 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs and 2 oz and is 18 1/2 inches long. We are so in love with him already...especially his big sister. She is the very definition of a Baby Hog...which is so incredibly adorable! He is truly an answered prayer and a miracle and we are so happy that God chose us to be his parents!

Here are a few of pictures I took with my phone. More to come soon...promise ;-)

Me…Preggo

2010-12-20T13:00:00.000-06:00

I had every intention of taking a weekly belly picture this pregnancy. Unfortunately, life got in the way, and I only took about 10…and only from 21 weeks on. =( {I tried to wear the same shirt each time, but of course that didn’t happen either!} I knew I would regret not taking the time to take a picture weekly… but at least I have a few. Anyway, since I didn’t blog weekly and post these pictures then, I’m posting them now. And this way, Hudson will know I actually did carry him in my belly!!

21 weeks – 8/17/10

22 weeks – 8/24/10

26 weeks – 9/18/10

28 weeks – 10/5/10

29 weeks – 10/12/10

33 weeks – 11/8/10

35 weeks – 11/22/10

36 weeks – 11/30/10

37 weeks – 12/6/10

38 weeks – 12/13/10

38 weeks 4 days…Delivery Day!! 12/17/10

November 2010

2010-11-30T22:46:00.000-06:00

Here I am…trying to catch up again. I went back through my blog last night, and it makes me so sad that I’ve neglected it for so long. I love being able to look back and see what we were up to in our little lives. And I feel terrible that I failed so miserable at documenting this past year (especially my pregnancy.) So, in order for there to be something from November 2010 for me to look back on, I’m back to posting highlights again…at least until I’m caught up. :-)

Our big event in November…Ava’s 4th Birthday!!

We had her birthday party at the Frontiers of Flight Museum in Dallas, and it was so much fun! It was the absolute coolest place, and everyone enjoyed it so much!

Ava’s Blue Angel Birthday Cake (remember the obsession!?)

There was a real Southwest airplane cockpit that you could explore.

Ava and her cousin River…the Pilot and Co-Pilot

Sweet Makayla and little sister Madison

Elle

My Baby Shower was also in November. Kate was sweet enough to give me a shower since we had zero boy things. She had it a the cutest little Tea Room in Historic Downtown Plano. It was so much fun and Hudson got so much loot!

And that was our November in a nutshell. =)

Ava’s first haircut

2010-11-08T18:19:00.001-06:00

Well…it only took 4 years, but it was finally time to actually get Ava’s hair cut. I cut off her sad little rattail curl a long time ago, but other than that no one has touched her hair with a pair of scissors. It was time to shape it up a little and get some layers. We’re still waiting on the sides of her hair to catch up with the rest, but put it down on the books…Ava’s first haircut was on her 4th birthday!

Before

here we go

the first snip

the finished product

(I know I’m not a photographer, but even I realize the lighting is awful…sorry.)

Blue Angels – Finally!

2010-11-08T17:48:00.001-06:00

Ava has been talking about…ok, obsessed with the Blue Angels since we saw them practice in Florida when we were there on vacation. When we got home, we looked up if and when they would come to Dallas/Ft. Worth to perform and found out they would be here October 30 & 31. If you’re 3 years old, you really have no concept of how long 4 months is….all Ava knew was that it was a long time to wait! Well, last weekend was the weekend…they were finally here (at Ft. Worth Alliance) and we finally got to go see the Blue Angels! Yay!

waiting patiently…impossible to conceal her excitement!

she could hear the engines starting up

The Blue Angels!

They are so incredibly cool!

They don’t look excited…but they were!

We had such a great time, and I’m pretty sure this is something we’ll do every year from now on.

Goblins in the Garden

2010-11-08T11:01:00.001-06:00

A couple of Sundays ago, Ava and I met my mom at the Arboretum for Goblins in the Garden. There was trick or treating and a pasta dinner for the Arboretum members, and we had a great time! Of course, Ava got to dress up in her costume, which was her favorite part of the evening.

I must say she’s the most beautiful Cinderella I’ve ever seen. =)

September 2010

2010-10-25T11:21:00.001-05:00

Apparently we didn’t take many pictures in September. Shocker. {And most of the ones we did take were with my cell phone.} Probably because I started back to work mid-month. But I’m almost caught up and because of my ocd tendencies, I have to blog about something in September before I can move on to the current month and actually start blogging again. {my hope is that Ava will appreciate this someday, and we can look back and see what we were up to when she was 3 1/2.}

Ava got her first little mani/pedi, and she loved it! Really the sweet lady just filed and painted her finger & toe nails, but Ava did sooo good! My little diva has been asking to go back ever since!

Love the Texas weather in September/October. {wish there was a sarcastic font.} Here we are taking cover in the closet under the stairs. The tornado sirens went off for at least 30 minutes that day.

Here’s a belly pic at 26 weeks. Poor baby boy….is this really the first belly pic we took? And Ava is so smitten with her little brother already. She loves to kiss my belly, and talks about him all the time! I can’t wait to see her in action when he gets here…she’s going to be such a good big sister!

Baby Boy’s room in progress. This room was floor to ceiling {and when I say ceiling, I mean INCLUDING the ceiling} pink when we moved in, so we definitely needed to change it up.

The crib and the bedding

And that’s it. That’s the nursery. Oh wait, we have a glider and ottoman in there, too. But, omg, as of today we have a little over 7 weeks to go, and this is what the nursery looks like…still! No dresser, no shelves, nothing on the wall. Again…poor baby boy.

July-August 2010

2010-10-24T15:09:00.001-05:00

July was spent at home. We didn’t do much, and that was actually nice. Ava took swimming lessons, and had a blast. We spent lots of time at our neighborhood pools…and that’s about it. I’m sure there was other stuff, but 3+ months later, I just don’t remember. :)

August was a big month for us. We took Ava to Disney World, we found out we were having a BOY, and Aaron and I got to go with my brother and his girlfriend to see Jack Johnson! Sooo fun! Here are some pics from August…be warned…its going to be picture overload from Disney.

Jack Johnson with my brother, Sean and his girlfriend Carly:

Disney World

Day 1: Magic Kingdom

Waiting patiently for our airplane

Woo hoo…we’re on our way!

On the shuttle from the hotel…on the way to Magic Kingdom. It was so fun to see her excitement!

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The absolute highlight of the entire trip was Ava getting to meet the Princesses. She was in such awe, and the look on her face was priceless.

Ariel and Prince Eric were awesome! They spent so much time with Ava…asking her questions and telling her how much they loved meeting her. She loved it!

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It rained on and off the whole day…which kept the temperature down. It also made Ava’s hair curl up into ringlets! So cute!

Day 2: Animal Kingdom

My #1 reason for choosing to go to Animal Kingdom was for the safari. What I didn’t know is that Expecting Mom’s can’t go on the safari…boooooo! I tried to get Aaron and Ava to go without me, but they didn’t want to. Had I known that little fact, we would have chosen a different park to visit on day 2. Oh well, live and learn. :)

The camera didn’t make it out too much that day. It was soooo humid and the lens would fog up every time I took the cap off, so there definitely aren’t as many pictures.

Waiting to go in to the Lion King Musical. It was hot, humid, my clothes were sticking to me, and I was getting sprayed by one of those huge fan/mister things. Good times.

Daddy and Ava watching the Lion King Musical (which was wicked awesome, by the way!)

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There you have it. I didn’t even post 1/3 of the pictures from that trip…and you’re welcome. We had fun, learned lots of lessons about what to do and not to do on a vacation like that, and made some good memories. :)

Oh yes, and when we got back, Miss Ava started her 2nd year of preschool.

Look at the difference…such a big girl now!

2010 2009

June 2010

2010-09-20T09:04:00.000-05:00

This summer we wanted to take Ava to the beach. She had never been and Aaron had Marriott points to use. :) So, we packed up the Tahoe and drove to Pensacola Beach, FL. It was so beautiful and we had soooo much fun! We made it just in time to miss the oil. Sadly, we heard that some washed up the week after we left. I’m hoping it didn’t do too much damage because that beach is just breathtaking, and I would love to make that a family beach vacation.

Ava’s first time to see the ocean:

The view from our balcony:

There’s a Naval Base in Pensacola, and the Blue Angels practice every Tuesday and Wednesday morning. It’s free to watch and there’s even a museum you can visit. We decided to go watch them on Wednesday morning and it was stinkin AWESOME! Ava has been obsessed with them ever since and has now decided that she’s going to be a Blue Angels Pilot when she grows up.

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In the museum, there were real airplanes that you could sit in. This was probably Ava’s favorite part of the whole trip.

The best pic we could get of Ava as a future Blue Angel Pilot

The rest of our beach vacation was spent just hanging out at the gorgeous beach. We had such a great time, and seriously can’t wait to go back!

May 2010

2010-09-17T09:21:00.000-05:00

Our May Highlights:

We went camping with our good friends…brrrrr. And, yes, I can call it camping. That was as close to camping as I ever want to get. Bugs {spiders and wasps} in the cabin, horrible bed and a definite gas leak from the 1950’s stove = camping to me. We {or maybe I} decided that camping in early May is no bueno. It was chilly to say the least, and the little kids were the only ones brave enough to get in the lake. But you know what…we still had fun! And I really do like our little tradition of a lake trip every year.

some of the other happy campers :)

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We also celebrated Mother’s Day, my mom’s birthday and my birthday this May.

For my birthday, we went to the Rangers game with my mom and dad. Yay! These were our seats….awesome!

We also got a little peek of the newest and tiniest member of Team Cardwell

April 2010

2010-09-13T10:57:00.000-05:00

Our April highlights:

Easter fun. We went to the Cusano’s for their Annual Easter Egg Hunt. Ava scored lots of goodies and lots of fun was had. We celebrated Easter with family. Ava scored lots of goodies and lots of fun was had. :-)

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A little bit of a tight squeeze there sweetie. :-)

Easter at Grammy and Poppy’s

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April was especially exciting for our little family because…after a very long and bumpy road… we found out that Ava was going to be a big sister!!! Yay!!

March 2010

2010-07-27T11:37:00.003-05:00

Well, I guess its time to catch up a bit. My last post was back in February, so these catch up posts will be highlights from March, April, May, and June. At first the reason for my lack of blogging was because our computer was on the verge of death. And every time we plugged the camera in to get the pics off, we didn't know if it would die. Well, finally it did and that was that. Now we have a MacBook, and while I absolutely LOVE it...I can't blog with Windows Live Writer...and I LOATHE blogger. So, I've been putting off any updates because I don't know what to blog with. Ugh. Okay...so on to the updates in the life of Ava Cardwell.

Our March highlights included going to see Disney on Ice...which Ava loved! She saw all of her favorite Princesses and Tinker Bell.

She hadn't seen Toy Story 1, 2 or 3 when we went to Disney on Ice. But now its absolutely one of her favorite movies!

The best picture we could get.

And there you have our March highlights.

My Little Snow Bunny

2010-02-16T21:56:00.001-06:00

Ava had so much fun playing in the snow last week. I’ve never seen her so excited about being outside. Of course she and Daddy built a snowman, and he taught her how to throw snowballs at mommy. She was in snow heaven!

Day 1 of SnowFest 2010:

Look at that pure joy! Love it!

throwin a snowball at mommy

I took this picture at like 10:15 pm…with no flash {excuse the blurriness.} It was so bright outside! I couldn’t get over it.

Day 2 of SnowFest 2010:

first we played outside in the backyard…since it was like 8 am, and we didn’t want to wake all the neighbors up.

then, when it was a little later, we moved our party to the front yard. look at those baby blues on my girl.

such a fun day…and memories that will last a lifetime.

Rain and Cold….GO AWAY!

2010-02-08T10:58:00.001-06:00

I am sooooo sick of this gross, cold, rainy weather. I’m DONE! I’m so looking forward to the warm (above 80) days and awesome summer evenings, you know when it doesn’t get dark until like 9pm. I can’t wait until we can sit outside at Cristina’s... or anywhere for that matter. Right now, if I had teleportation powers, I would teleport myself to Maui….

Just think, I could be sitting right there, on Ka’anapali beach, drinking a nice cold margarita. {Sigh} I guess I’ll just have to dream about it for now.

I want to blog…really I do…

2010-02-05T17:50:00.001-06:00

I’ve just had nothing to blog about lately. We’re pretty boring ‘round here at the Cardwell house. We’ve done a couple of home improvement projects…but they’re not completely done and won’t be until we get some new furniture. Ava’s big girl room is pretty close to being complete. There are just a couple of things I want to get for her walls…everything takes time. And money. For now I’ll share a little of what our little Miss Priss has been up to lately.

Ava is so stinkin tall! She’s at least 42 inches…probably 43. When I tell people how old she is, they don’t believe me. “NO WAY is she only 3!!” Why would I lie about my kid’s age, people?

She goes to Preschool 2 days a week and absolutely loves it. She has so much fun and is learning so much. She can count to 20…but somehow eleventeen is in there between sixteen and twenty. AND…I just found out this week that she can count to 10 in Spanish!? Not sure if I should thank her teacher or Dora. :-)

Speaking of…she loves her new teacher, Ms. Cheryl…and I love that she loves her teacher.

She repeats EVERYTHING she hears. The other day I said “oh jeez a lou” and now Ava goes around saying “Jesus Lou”. :/ Oops. I tried to explain that Jesus’ middle name isn’t Lou. She just laughed at me and said, “Oh mommy, Jesus Lou.”

Ava is obsessed with the movie UP. We took her to see it at the movies and she loved it. So, when it came out on DVD we got it for her and she’s watched it at LEAST once a day since then. I will say, I love it too. That dang montage of Ellie and Carl gets me Every. Time.

She is strong willed…to put it mildly. She will only do something if she thinks its her idea. And even then, she has to be convinced that its her idea. For example: Potty Training. I KNEW she could do it when she was about 2 1/2. I never forced anything when it came to potty time, and she totally picked up on the fact that SHE was in control of that. We tried stickers, m&m’s, prizes, potty dances…nothing worked. She would go for my mom, my aunt, my grandma, her teacher, ANYONE ELSE but me or Aaron. We would send her to school in a pull-up and she would stay dry all day. So finally, right before she turned 3, her teacher said to just start sending her to school in panties with lots of extra clothes, and she would just take her to the potty every 30 minutes. And guess, what…from day 1, it totally worked. Not one accident. It just took her being in panties with someone other than mommy or daddy, and she was literally potty trained in less than a week. Such a stubborn stinker. Reminds me of someone I might know…

I love that little girl so much, and I’m amazed at all of the new stuff she’s learning every day. I could go on and on, but instead, I’ll save something for another day. :-)

Our new Christmas Eve traditions

2010-01-15T15:34:00.001-06:00

This year we decided to start a couple of Christmas Eve traditions. When I was a kid, I left out milk and cookies for Santa…like most kids did. I loved waking up in the morning and running to the kitchen to see if Santa had eaten the cookies and drank the milk. He always did (of course) and he would even leave me a note. So this year on Christmas Eve, Ava and I made cookies for Santa and she put them out with a glass of milk. She had so much fun, and I loved every minute of it.

A new tradition for us is putting out reindeer food for Santa’s reindeer. Ava made reindeer food at preschool, and she and Daddy made sure to put it out so Santa and his reindeer wouldn’t miss our house.

I have to say, its so much fun reliving these fun traditions and seeing them for the first time through the eyes of my child. I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

Christmas Eve Celebration

2010-01-15T15:09:00.001-06:00

This year for Christmas Eve we had Aaron’s family over to celebrate. The kids had so much fun playing together and opening presents, and we had good family time.

Christmas Eve turned into a winter wonderland…and my hubby decided it would be a good time to bbq. :)

Here are the kiddos all excited about opening presents…

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…and here’s my kid, throwing a fit because…well, because she’s 3 and that’s what she does.

We finally convinced her to open her presents…and hey, whatdayaknow…she liked it.

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Even Benny had fun with one of Ava’s presents.

Planes, planes, planes

2010-01-15T14:26:00.001-06:00

My child absolutely loves airplanes. Every time there’s a plane in the sky, she stops and has to find it. I often find myself stopping and looking up when I hear a plane…even if I’m not with Ava. Anyway… Aaron has been promising her that we would take her to see planes for a while now. So, the day before Christmas we made good on that promise. It turned out to be the most beautiful day! It was sunny and warm…I think it was like 75 degrees. {of course it tuned into the frozen tundra the next day!} We had so much fun and Ava truly loved watching the planes take off and land. I’m sure we’ll go back…as soon as it warms back up.

Ava’s Christmas Program

2009-12-31T17:48:00.000-06:00

Ava had her first Christmas program at her preschool and we were so excited! Her teacher sent home a song list, and we practiced her songs with her for over a month. She knew all the words, and she was ready!

So, the big night rolls around and we get all seated and ready for Ava’s class to come out on stage. She came right out and was super excited…so much, that she ran to the front of the stage and someone had to get her to go back to where she needed to be. Well…that upset her and she cried for the rest of the time she was on stage. One of the teachers had to hold her to get her to stop crying and she didn’t get down the entire time. Oh well…maybe next year will be better.

Poppy, Grammy and Gee Gee came up for Ava’s stage debut.

There she is…in the middle…here come the water works

…yep full on crying. the other kids are like… “wha???”

only then did she stop crying…stinker

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-25T00:00:00.000-06:00

So many posts…so little time

2009-12-09T00:10:00.001-06:00

We’ve been somewhat busy here at Casa de Cardwell. And our computer has been on the verge of death for a couple of months now…hence the lack of blogging. I’ve been terrified of plugging my camera into the computer for fear of it completely crashing and us losing everything. But after 2 months of pictures, my camera’s memory was completely full… so we backed everything up, held our breath and plugged it in. Thank goodness the computer didn’t crash…and now I have pictures to go along with posts. So, if you really want to see what we’ve been up to the past 2 months, scroll on down. :-)

There’s a Party in My City

2009-12-04T00:05:00.000-06:00

Last weekend we went with 3 of the 4 Hinckley girls to Yo Gabba Gabba Live and it was AWESOME! This was Ava’s first time to do anything like this, and she had so much fun…we all did!

Emory and Ava getting ready to party. Ava wasn’t so thrilled with taking a picture.

Oh wow! Is that DJ Lance?

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It’s time for Biz’s Beat of the Day!

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Family Party

2009-11-21T23:51:00.000-06:00

the birthday girl

Ava and Aunt Sharon

Ava, Grammy, Mommy and the DELICIOUS chocolate cake Granny Sue made

cousins Brock, River and Cheyenne

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Party at Gymboree

2009-11-14T23:24:00.000-06:00

This year, we decided to do Ava’s birthday party at Gymboree. Ava’s been going to gymboree music class for almost 2 years now, and we absolutely love it. So, we knew it would be so much fun to have a party there! The kids had such a blast, and I would totally have another party there again! I didn’t have to clean my house (before or after the party!!) and all we had to bring was cake and pizza! Awesome!

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Halloween 2009

2009-11-08T23:04:00.000-06:00

We went to the Cusano house for Halloween this year. The kids had so much fun trick or treating, and the grown ups had fun hangin out and watching football.

Here are our little trick or treaters with all of their loot.

Snow White and Tinker Bell

the cutest little Nemo I’ve ever seen!

sweet Madison and Eli riding in the wagon

Probably the best costume of the night! :-)

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Sadly, this is the best picture I got of Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Wendy and Michael (or is it John?)

Happy Birthday Sweet Girl

2009-11-05T00:00:00.000-06:00

My sweet baby girl is 3 years old! My how time flies.

Ava Grace, Happy 3rd Birthday! I love you so very very much. You are such a sweet and beautiful girl, and I am so thankful to be your mommy. God truly blessed us when he brought you into our lives! You have grown so much in these 3 short years, and we are so very proud of you!

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Pumpkin Patch

2009-11-04T21:16:00.001-06:00

I love the Arboretum! I especially love when they have the pumpkin patch in October! Ava and I met my mom there one Sunday afternoon so that we could get some cute pictures. Unfortunately Ava is um, lets say… a little stubborn…when it comes to having her picture made these days. I swear I took at least 75 pictures, and I maybe got 3 or 4 good ones of her smiling. Toddlers! We had fun anyway…we played in the pumpkin patch {where we saw our friends Ashleigh, Will and Tyler!}, picked up pecans, toured the DeGolyer House & then ate lunch there. All in all, we had a good day…that is until it was time to leave. Wow, lets just say there was kicking, screaming, and people were staring. And I’m sure they were wondering why my kid was so well behaved and admiring my awesome parenting skills. Have I mentioned how much I just love this stage…

We actually got some smiles!! Yay!

but mostly, this is the look I got that day:

Between my mom and I, we did manage to get some cute pictures…and even more importantly, we had fun! :) I heart the Arboretum.

Homecoming 2009

2009-11-03T19:01:00.001-06:00

We’ve had lots going on here at the Cardwell house, so I do apologize for the lack of blogging. However, I am trying to make a better effort…starting, um soon! Unfortunately, my computer is on the fritz…okay, its almost dead. I can’t plug in my camera to get the pictures off because if I do, the computer will crash and we’ll lose everything. So, I think its definitely time to buy a new one. Anyone know of any money trees around these parts? I digress… Luckily, I was able to get all of the pictures leading up to Halloween, so I’m starting with Homecoming.

Okay, so a couple of weeks ago, we went up to Denton for UNT’s homecoming. And while we had lots of fun, I don’t feel like we saw as many of our old friends as we did last year. Hopefully, UNT won’t put homecoming on the same day as Texas / OU weekend next year…poor planning on their part! Here are some pics of our fun day at UNT. {I’ve decided that I also need to start taking more pictures.}

they get better every year!

2009-10-21T21:57:00.001-05:00

Last Friday, we met our wonderful photographer Terry for family pictures. {I can say she’s ‘ours’ right? I mean, she has been photographing our family since Ava was 6 months old! We just share her with the rest of North Dallas. :)} Anyway, we met her in downtown Frisco, by Babe’s and had a little shoot…and my oh my, the pictures turned out AWESOME! I love every. single. one. She’s amazing and we love her! Thank you, Terry, for the beautiful pictures. These days its hard to capture a smile from our crazy {almost} three year old, but you managed to do it…and very well!

Here are just a few of my favorites. Like I said…I really and truly love them all! {I have 2 absolute favorite family shots…and one is going to be on our Christmas card. But I haven’t decided which one, so I’m not going to show you those just yet. ;)}

Daddy’s little helper

2009-10-20T16:35:00.000-05:00

The other day, I walked out to find my sweet girl happily helping her daddy pull weeds. She was so cute and so excited to be “working” in the flowerbeds. Of course I had to capture the moment.

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A good reason to get all dressed up

2009-10-19T16:26:00.001-05:00

Waaaay back in September, we had the honor of attending the wedding of Aaron’s good friend, Mark Meyer, to the lovely Jackie Price….who we’ve gotten to know and love the past few years. The wedding was absolutely beautiful and the bride looked gorgeous! We had lots of fun celebrating with good friends, and of course didn’t take enough pictures. Congrats to the newlyweds…thank you for including us in your special day!

Jammi, Nicole, Jackie, Kate, Kelly, Erin

my sweet hubs and me

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Christy & Jason

some silliness with Mr. Rob

Birthday Party Season

2009-10-13T22:19:00.001-05:00

Ava has had the privilege of attending 2 birthday parties in the last couple of weeks. Coincidentally, they both had pony rides and petting zoos. Ava. Was. In. Heaven. She absolutely LOVES animals, so getting to be up close is so much fun for her!

First was Elle’s 3rd…THIRD!!!…birthday party. {I seriously can’t believe our babies are turning 3!}

so excited to be able to “hold” the bunny.

this picture cracks me up! that goat is too funny peeking up over her head.

Ava took many turns riding the pony. She didn’t stop talking about it for a week. Thankfully, there were more pony rides in her very near future. :)

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The Birthday Girl

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The next weekend was Jackson’s 5th birthday party. There was a petting zoo, pony rides and face painting.

Birthday boy Jackson…aka Lamby, Elle the Butterfly Princess, Caden as Spiderman, and Tucker as Batman

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Of course there wasn’t a thing on the planet I could bribe Ava with to get her to even consider having her face painted. Right before we left, she agreed to sit in the chair, and the sweet lady painted a couple of flowers on her hands.

One thing we didn’t have to talk her into was riding that pony… I’m seriously scared she’s going to ask for a pony for her birthday. Maybe not this birthday, but someday… its coming, I can feel it.

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a real live turkey… he gobbled and everything. :)

We had a great time at both birthday parties…next up is Ava’s!! I’m in denial that my ~~little baby~~ big girl will be 3 in less than a month!

7 Years Ago Today….

2009-09-21T18:42:00.001-05:00

I married my best friend! Happy Anniversary to my wonderful husband. Thank you for taking care of me and putting up with me. :) And thank you for being an amazing husband and father. Sometimes it seems like our wedding day was just yesterday…and others it seems like so very long ago. Either way, I am so thankful to have you as my husband. I love you so very much, and look forward to many many more anniversaries together!

My big girl

2009-08-25T12:20:00.001-05:00

Today I took Ava to her first day of preschool. I can’t believe my baby girl is big enough to go to preschool! Its only 2 days a week…but still! I know she will have so much fun, and when I go back to work I’ll be too busy to think about it…but right now I just miss my little munchkin pie. There are 5 kids in Ava’s class…all girls! And their names are: Ava, Ava, Ashley, Ashlyn and Sloan. Seriously? I really hope Ava won’t be “Ava C.” her whole life. Here are some pics of my ~~baby~~ big girl on her first day of school!

First of all, she wouldn’t look at me, and secondly, she was NOT happy about wearing her backpack. I think it was too heavy…oops.

nice, Ava

she liked holding her napmat much better!

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my sweet girl…ready for her first day!

pretty fingers & toes…

2009-08-19T22:45:00.000-05:00

After many battles and kicking and screaming…Ava finally let me paint her fingernails and toenails! Okay, so maybe I’m exaggerating about the battles…and the kicking…but definitely not the screaming. Every time I asked Ava if I could paint her nails, she would say {or scream} no. Its like she was scared it would hurt or something. So Monday, I decided to try again. I started with her fingernails {bc she wouldn’t let me near her toes} and when she realized it didn’t hurt, she let me do her toes too! Yay! You should see her prancing around with her newly painted nails…so stinkin cute!

now, unfortunately I only had red and burgundy, so her nails are red…BUT, I went to Target today and got some pink, so maybe tomorrow she’ll let me re-do them. :)

Good Friends = Good Times

2009-08-18T22:27:00.001-05:00

Saturday we had our good friends the Hinckleys and the Kanuths over for a little cook out. Altogether we have 5 little girls…and one precious boy :)…and as you can imagine, it was a princess, dress-up, screech filled evening…and soooo much fun! The best part was the “relay race” around the yard in the pink push car. The daddies took turns running around the yard, while pushing the girls in the pink car, and it was hilarious! And, somehow I didn’t get a picture of it! :( We had such a great time hanging out and catching up…thanks for coming over guys! It was a blast!

our little girly girls

sweet, out-numbered Eli

the boys…Eli, Rob, Aaron & Greg

eating the Hinckley girls’ homemade brownies…yum!

the girls:

Elle, Kate, Trinity, Addison, Katie, Emory, Ava & Me

it melts my heart…

2009-08-07T09:01:00.000-05:00

…when I come upstairs and see this:

Ava loves her daddy. :)

My Little Cowgirl

2009-08-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

Last Friday, my parents took Ava to the Mesquite Rodeo. Of course, a girl can’t go to the rodeo without cowboy boots, so my mom bought Ava an adorable outfit and the cutest little cowboy boots you’ve ever seen. She seriously looked so cute! And you know how my little princess LOVES shoes! So needless to say, she’s worn the boots everyday since Friday…with her jammies, her swimsuit, shorts, you name it!

Headed to the Rodeo with Poppy

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Curly Q

2009-08-06T08:48:00.001-05:00

I love that Ava’s hair is curly. But when its humid…its super curly!! I’ve never had a single curl to my hair {except for the time my grandma gave me a perm…but we won’t go there.} I now get excited about humid days, and take Ava outside in the 300% humidity just so her curls will spring up! I’m sure some day she’ll hate it…but for now, I love it!

Finally…some house pics

2009-07-29T12:29:00.000-05:00

Okay, so here are some pictures of our new house. I still have a LOT to do and I will welcome any decorating ideas…cuz let’s face it… I need ideas!

this is the entry way. the 1st picture is looking in from the front door. our office is on the immediate right and the living room/kitchen are straight ahead. the 2nd pic is standing in the hall, looking back towards the front door. i still have a mirror to hang over the little table and rugs to buy.

this is our dining room. i really like the color. its more of a deep red in person. i want to put up some curtains and of course something on the two walls.

here is our living room…and a little princess wanting to watch an Einstein dvd. i still need to hang up that thing above the fire place…or maybe find something that’s a little bigger…what do you think?

the kitchen. i really like our new kitchen, but it doesn’t have an island, which i really miss. i didn’t include a picture of our breakfast nook b/c its really boring right now. i have big plans for our breakfast nook, so stay tuned. :)

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our bedroom. right now its pretty empty. i have stuff to hang, but the ceiling is so tall i think i need some taller/bigger things. oh…and definitely some lamps for our night stands. eventually i would like to paint our room, but that can wait.

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and finally, the master bathroom. there’s not much to say about it…its a bathroom. i’m not crazy about the color, but again, that’s something that we’ll most likely change on down the line.

When we finish Ava’s “Big Girl Room” I’ll post pics of our upstairs. And, I didn’t include any pictures of the office because its a complete wreck. Its my nemesis. We had built-in shelves in our old house, so all of the stuff that was on those shelves is still in boxes. Plus, I really want to paint it and put up some curtains. So, again…stay tuned for more. :)

our little lake vacation

2009-07-28T21:45:00.001-05:00

Two weekends ago we went up to Oklahoma with 5 other families to Lake Tenkiller to go “camping.” Now when I say camping, I don’t really mean camping. If you know me at all, you know I do.not.camp. Camping and I just don’t get along...its just not my thing. So we did what was our version of camping, which was to rent condos and drive 10 minutes to the lake. And that, my friends, was so much fun!

We got there Friday around 6 pm and spent the weekend in the “wilderness” with our good friends. Saturday was spent at the lake, where we rented a pontoon boat and drove it to our own private island…yep, we had it all to ourselves. There was a fire pit already there, and a little beach area and lots of shade for us… so we had it made. We spent all day on that little island swimming, lounging, grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, and roasting marshmallows to make s’mores…yummy! The kids had a blast and the adults had fun too! It was a fun little trip, and I would totally do it again! “Camping” in condos is the only way to go!

Ava found ways to entertain herself on the 4 hour drive.

Our cabins…

“I’m on a Boat!” ~Andy Samberg {anyone? anyone?}

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my little water baby…this was her first boat ride and she looks so excited, doesn’t she?

our own little private island. the kids had sooo much fun!

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Me & Ava and Kate & Eli

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our awesome set up

Mark M. and Jen cooking up some s’mores…yummo

Ava wanted to be the captain of the awesome pontoon boat

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Tucker, Madison and Elle…Tucker was worn out!

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when we got back to the cabins, it was time for dinner…so, we set up outside and had a picnic. the weather was fantastic!

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I’m so sad that I missed out on story time! I laid down with Ava with every intention of getting up and joining the adults once she fell asleep. However, I was out the minute my head hit the pillow, and I didn’t wake up until 1:30 am. By then, everyone had gone to bed and I missed out on “story time.” Boo. :(

I ‘borrowed’ these pics from Jen

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we were strollin’ through the park one day…

2009-07-14T22:06:00.001-05:00

We are so enjoying our new house and neighborhood! One day last week…when the temperature wasn’t 100 degrees…we took Ava to the little playground. She had so much fun, and we were the only people there, so she had it all to herself!

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Pictures of our new house are coming soon! I feel like I need to have everything in its “place” before I put pictures up for everyone to see. Not that anyone really cares. :) But there’s so much I want to do…so maybe I’ll just put pictures up with disclaimers.

Our 4th of July Festivities

2009-07-07T16:01:00.001-05:00

I absolutely love the 4th of July…not only because we celebrate our freedom, but because I LOVE fireworks! I love everything about them…especially the loudness. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen a fireworks show every year since I can remember, but only a couple shows REALLY stand out. The first one was in 2002…the July before Aaron and I were married. He lived in Little Rock, and I went to visit, and we went down to the AR River to see the show…and, let me tell you it was AWESOME! They were right over our heads, so incredibly close that pieces of fireworks were landing around us. And of course they were wicked loud. The other memorable show was in Chicago in 2003…the July right after we were married. Aaron and I went to a rooftop party and saw a fireworks show from there…that was pretty amazing, too!

I don’t have any pictures of our Little Rock show, but I do have two pictures of our Chicago rooftop experience. They’re ~~a little~~ a lot blurry…but cool none the less.

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Anyway, enough reminiscing…

This year we had Aaron’s brother, Jacob, and his soon to be wife and daughter over to our house for some swimming and a 4th of July bbq. Of course, my one goal for the night was to get to Red, White and Boom to see the fireworks. I love sharing this fun experience with Ava…to see her face light up is just awesome. So after dinner, we went over to the Craig Ranch soccer complex to partake in the action.

Let’s go!

Ava pushing River…these 2 were too cute!

Dancing in the bubbles

we’re walking, we’re walking

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the hot air balloons were way cool…

of course the night wouldn’t be complete without some dancing

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the only picture i got of my munchkin and me

alas…the show begins… this is the only picture of any fireworks I could get. my camera is lacking in the “good picture taking ability” department.

Our parking spot just so happened to be the perfect spot for watching the show…and it did not disappoint! It was a great show, and we had so much fun! Yay…I can’t wait until next year!

Mahalo

2009-06-29T15:32:00.001-05:00

Saturday we went to the Cusano’s for a Luau…and it was so much fun! Mark got a pig…a whole pig…and cooked it in the ground, Hawaiian style. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little freaked out at the sight of a whole pig…but did I eat some? Absolutely! And it was good. There was swimming and trampoline jumping and bag toss for the big boys, and of course lots of amazing food and conversation! Now, since I had the good fortune of remembering my camera, you would think I would have taken lots of pictures. Well, you would be wrong. Thank goodness Jen was on top of it…I may have “borrowed” a few of her pics from facebook. :) ~~Thanks~~ Mahalo, Jen!!

my little hula girl

the pig…um, gross. but not really, cuz it was goo-ood

family fun

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Again, Mahalo, Cusanos for a wonderful time! Everything was fantastic and we had a blast!

T-Minus 2 Days

2009-06-17T14:42:00.001-05:00

That’s how long we have until we move into our new house. Ahhhh!!! I’m having a mixture of emotions these days. On one hand, I’m super excited about the new house. And on the other hand, I’m a little bit sad to leave our old one. It is (was) our first home, and we brought Ava home from the hospital to this house, and she took her first steps here, and so on and so on. And then I start thinking about how much I love the new house and the neighborhood and the community pools, and I get all excited again. But since we are down to exactly 47 hours until we close, my most prominent emotion right now is stressed! We have until 6 pm on Saturday to be completely out, so at least that gives us some time. And, its only supposed to be 99 on Friday and Saturday, so we’ve got that going for us. ;)

this is what “we” (read: “I”) have been up to these days

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OH…the most important and frustrating thing is that we won’t have cable OR internet until NEXT THURSDAY!!! OMG…seriously?!? What am I going to do?! Its like being back in the stone ages. I guess we’ll just have to go hang out at the pool… so if anyone wants to join us, come on with it! (I’m totally serious.)

I’ll try to do a post on Friday, but if you don’t hear from me until next Thursday because I’ve been cut off from the cyber world, I’ll see you on the flipped side. :)

Get Your "Whine" On

2009-06-11T22:32:00.002-05:00

Tuesday night I had the pleasure of attending my friend Cara's "Get Your Whine On" party. It was so much fun, and I hope we can do it again very soon!! Check out her post...she captured the evening perfectly.

No use crying over spilled…chips?

2009-06-05T15:22:00.000-05:00

Aaron might disagree. He’s a chip monger…is that even something one can be? Anyway, the other day, we had a brand new, just opened bag of Baked Lays on the table… waiting to be enjoyed. Ava decided that she needed a chip, and in the split second that I was turned around, she got the bag off of the table and decided that the easiest way to get some chips was to dump them all over the floor. Brand. New. Bag. Sooo…instead of enjoying any chips with our lunch, we just had sandwiches. Poor Aaron, he really does love chips…if only our floor wasn’t so disgusting, I probably would have picked them all up and put them right back in the bag. :) Lesson learned.

this little piggy

2009-06-04T14:17:00.003-05:00

How stinkin cute are Ava's little piggy tails! I love it! This might just be my new favorite do for her!

Fun in the Sun

2009-06-03T14:56:00.000-05:00

Last weekend the Cusano’s had everyone over for swimming and a fish fry. We got there a little late because of Miss Priss’s napping schedule…but we still had time for swimming! Ava loved the pool, but didn’t want to venture out of the floatie thing. I think she would have been a little more brave if we had remembered to bring her arm floaties…oh well, next time for sure!

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After the kids drank 6 gallons of pool water, it was time to get out and go play on the playground.

When it was time to wind down, Jen set up the frog tents and the munchkins watched a movie.

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Thanks for having us over, guys. We had so much fun! Can’t wait for the next get together ;)

my special day

2009-05-28T11:35:00.004-05:00

I was a little um, let's say sad about turning 30. Its such a big milestone...but I'm okay with it now. In fact I've decided to embrace it... life is what you make of it, right? ;) Anyway, my sweet hubby, knowing that I was having a little bit of a hard time with this new number, left a little message for me so that my day would start out nicely. Awwww...what a good husband!

He and Ava also got me roses with a sweet card.

For my birthday dinner, we met my mom and dad at Matt's Rancho Martinez in Dallas...one of my absolute favorite places to eat!! Ava was in rare form...I think it was a combo of being excited about seeing Grammy & Poppy and being excited that it was my birthday. Okay...so maybe she was just excited about seeing Grammy and Poppy. :) Thankfully Matt's is loud...because if we had been anywhere else, they might have just thrown our amazingly loud child out.

I'm pretty sure those are knives in her hand...

This is how she felt about her dinner. She's just a little picky....hmmmm, i wonder where she gets that???

This is the DELICIOUS chocolate cake my mom made from scratch! It was awesome! Thank you Mom! Oh, and she so graciously told our server we were celebrating my birthday, so the entire wait staff sang "Happy Birthday" to me. Not embarrassing at all.

This is the best picture of us we could get... notice the tops of our heads are cut off.

Grammy + Margarita = Bad Picture Taker ;)

Aww...the fam

Thank you Aaron, Ava, Mom & Dad for helping me celebrate my 30th bday! I love you guys!

Am I really 30?

2009-05-22T08:06:00.003-05:00

Well, today's the day I turn 30. Wow. 30. In honor of this momentous occasion, I thought I would share 30 interesting (or boring) things about myself. Here it goes...

I was incredibly shy as a kid...seriously shy.
I used to have a blanket (binkie) that I carried everywhere.
My mom read somewhere that if you cut a child's blanket smaller and smaller, it will be easier for the child to give up said blanket.
I still miss my binkie ;)
I'm incredibly clumsy.
My dad's nickname for me was Grace because I was (and still am) so clumsy.
My mom used to call me Lucy.
I had stitches twice by the time I was 2 years old.
I don't like being told what to do.
I usually do the opposite.
I used to think a napkin was "an ackin"
It drives me crazy when people say "supposably"...its supposedly!
It also drives me crazy when people use "I" when they should use "me" ex: this is a picture of Ava and I ....NO! Its Ava and ME!
I thought I wanted to major in English. That is, until I realized you can't do a whole heck of a lot with an English degree.
I majored in Sociology. *pause for laughter*
I'm a teacher.
I love being a teacher.
I love being a mommy even more!
Its the hardest job I've ever had.
Its the best job I've ever had!
Speaking of jobs, I was a credit card collector in college.
People spend money on dumb crap.
Aaron and I went on our first date almost 10 years...holy moly!
In our first 3 years of marriage, we moved 6 times.
I hate moving.
I hate change even more.
I'm a champion sleeper...or I used to be.
I used to think 30 was O-L-D!
I now know that EVERYTHING is relative!
I think I will enjoy my 30's even more than my 20's!

Thanks for indulging me on my birthday :)

It was time...

2009-05-21T09:59:00.004-05:00

Well, I finally did it. I finally cut off Ava’s baby curls…aka, her rattail. It was definitely time, so Tuesday night after her bath, we cut it. It looks cute, and I love her curls! I have never been a fan of the humidity…it makes my hair flat, flat, flat… but it makes Ava’s hair wicked curly, so bring it on!

Before

After

Enjoying her new do :)

Mother’s Day Rewind

2009-05-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

For mother’s day we went to my mom and dad’s for some family fun. We also celebrated my mom’s birthday and my birthday. Fun fun! After we did the cake, my dad brought out the bubba teeth…we crack ourselves up. Seriously…we think we’re hilarious! Of course the new family tradition is to play Wii bowling, so after my mom and I opened presents, we had an impromptu tournament. I did not win. But that doesn’t mean I was a bad sport…I’m trying to turn over a new leaf . I am, after all, turning 30. ;)

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Happy Birthday Mom!

2009-05-13T17:31:00.000-05:00

We hope your birthday was wonderful, Mom! Thank you for everything you do for us! WE LOVE YOU!!

I'm {almost} speechless

2009-05-03T22:50:00.007-05:00

Aaron has been asking me what I want for my 30th bday for awhile now...and mostly I've been telling him that I don't really care. Until....last week. Last week, I decided that I wanted to go to the Dave Matthews concert. You see, Aaron and I have been to many a Dave concert in our days as a couple. In fact, this concert would make our 5th time seeing him, and every year we have a great time! His shows are always awesome {Except for 2 years ago. I was disappointed with the play list, so we decided not to go last year. :( } Anyway, I mentioned to Aaron that I would really like to see Dave this year. I didn't think we would get tickets since the concert was only a week away...good tickets, that is.

Enter, Jen and Mark Cusano. I got a text from Jen last weekend asking if we were going to Dave. I said that we wanted to, but we didn't have tickets yet. Mark said he would see what he could find and try to get 4 together...and boy did he come through!!! Mark got 4 tickets to Saturday's concert in Row D...that's like the 5th row, people!!!! {Something about A not being row 1} Whatever, dude....I've never been to a concert and sat that close! IT WAS AMAZING! I can't even begin to describe how awesome it was. BEST. CONCERT. EVER. Honestly he could have played Old MacDonald Had a Farm and it would have been awesome. I'm forever spoiled, and now I can never again go see Dave unless we sit that close ;) Thank you Aaron for the best birthday present ever! I love you!! {And thank you Mark for finding those tickets so that Aaron could get me the best birthday present ever!}

I heart Dave....

Do you see how close we were!?!!!

AMAZING.

Let's see...where do I start?

2009-05-01T21:19:00.003-05:00

We've been so super busy around here lately, I don't even know where to begin. A few weeks ago, Aaron and I began the project of updating our bathroom (pictures soon, I promise!) After we completed the bathroom, we looked around and said, "Man, that was the last item on our list of things we wanted to do to our house. What now? Should we relax and enjoy it? Nah...let's clean it up and sell it."

In reality, we had many long discussions about what to do, but ultimately, we decided that this is the right time to make a move. So we spent a few days changing Ava's playroom back into a dining room {actually, we took everything out except for the couch, my zebra chair and Ava's little table and chairs, and staged it as a living area.}, cleaned the house from top to bottom, de-cluttered EVERYTHING and last Monday officially put our house on the market. Holy moly...what did we just do? We thought it might sell quickly...like maybe 3 or 4 weeks...but we had NO IDEA! We had one person come to look at it last Tuesday and another person on Wednesday...and Wednesday night we had 2 offers!! Our house sold in 2 DAYS!!! That's crazy! We've been so busy trying to get the house in shape, it wasn't until this last weekend, that I think we realized what had really happened. Now comes the task of finding a house to move into. We have until June 20, so that gives us a little time.

I'm a little sad to leave our first home. It's cute and cozy, and we've made many wonderful memories here. And I get a little teary when I think about leaving my new counter tops. But at the same time, I'm excited to move into a new home and make new wonderful memories. And...most of all, I'm excited that in the new house, we'll be able to get ice out of the refrigerator anytime we want, and not have to worry about waking up Ava!! :)

Easter...better late than never

2009-04-28T21:30:00.006-05:00

Easter seems like ages ago, but really it was just a couple of weeks. Our plan was to go to the Cusano's on Saturday for an Easter Egg hunt and then spend Sunday with my family down in Red Oak. Well...Friday night, Ava spiked a fever of 102. 3 and was sick sick sick. Thank goodness for Saturday hours at the pediatrician...and as a bonus, the on call doctor was not her regular pedi (long story...but just know that I have issues with him) but instead, it was Dr. Newton, who Ava and I LOVE!!! Anyway, turned out that Miss Priss had the croup and needed a steroid and sadly we weren't able to go to the Easter Egg hunt...boo. :(

Saturday night, we went down to my mom and dad's and spent the night which was nice, and Ava got some extra lovin from Grammy and Poppy. Sunday morning we went to Church and then had the family over to my parents house for lunch/dinner. And then the fun really began! The Easter Bunny made a visit to Red Oak and Ava got to hunt for eggs. And this year, she really "got it" and had the best time! Her basket was so heavy, she could barely carry it...but she did not want any help...it was too cute. After the hunt, we brought out the Wii and the whole family had a blast bowling for hours!! Who knew Wii bowling could be so much fun!!

Easter morning...Ava found her basket. E.B. hid it behind that curtain.

sweet family picture

let the egg hunting begin!

look at all those eggs!

"its heavy mommy"

Ava and Uncle Sean. If this were better quality, you could see how pale and sickly that poor baby looked.

snuggle time with Papa...it was Papa's bday, so Ava was helping him open his cards and presents. :)

So Far Behind

2009-04-23T21:37:00.002-05:00

I'm so far behind on blogging...the last couple of weeks have been crazy busy! Ava was sick for 2 weeks and then there was Easter, and Aaron and I (mostly Aaron) finished our master bathroom re-do...and I could go on and on, but I won't. Instead, I'll just be working on new posts...

til then :)

Huh-larious

2009-04-04T11:19:00.003-05:00

I love the McMommy Cronicles! She is so funny and her blog is addicting...in a great way! I find that when I read her blog, I'm either laughing out loud or yelling to Aaron to come over and read it too...and most of the time, its both! She does POW (post of the week) where you can link up your favorite post for that week, and this dad linked up his POW, The Night the Earth Stood Still. I swear, I haven't laughed that hard in a REALLY long time...and I mean, tears-streaming-down-my-face laughing! You have to go check it out... :)

Daddy/Daughter Day

2009-03-30T23:02:00.004-05:00

My weekend didn't exactly go as planned. I was supposed to fly to Amarillo with Miya, one of my friends from high school, to visit Jennifer, our bff from high school. {did that make any sense?} Anyway, Amarillo had a huge blizzard and all of the flights were cancelled..boo. So we stayed here in town and are now rescheduling our girls weekend for sometime in May...yay!

But that's not really the point of this post. The point is... Aaron and Ava were supposed to have a daddy/daughter weekend, and when Rob got wind of that, he scored 4 tickets to Saturday's Stars game and invited Aaron and Ava to join he and Elle. They had such a great time! Ava came home talking all about the zamboni (sp?) and the blimps and the "hocney." She had so much fun! Thank you so much Rob and Elle for inviting Aaron and Ava to the game! They loved every minute!

I sent the camera with Aaron so that he could capture Ava's first hockey game... I'm glad he took at least a couple :)

this one was taken by at&t

Um, is that... Garfield?

2009-03-26T22:47:00.005-05:00

You may or may not know about my fur child, Benny. He's the craziest cat I've ever had. He's needy, and loves to be held, and thinks he's human. And, every night he waits until I fall asleep, then sneaks up to sleep on my pillow. And I don't mean, curls up like a cat on my pillow...I mean, he sleeps with his head on the pillow and his body under the covers. Crazy, I tell you! Oh, and did I mention that he's 20 pounds?!

Anyway, he's recently discovered Ava's chair and has now claimed it as his own. She gets so mad at him and says, "Benny, no no!" and it cracks me up.

he even sits like a person

just call me crafty crafterson

2009-03-23T15:10:00.003-05:00

The other day, Ava and I were at Michael's...you know, just picking up some fun stuff...and we found ourselves in the aisle with the unfinished wood stuff. I was feelin a little crafty...not sure why...but I decided I was going to paint a picture frame. Again...not really sure why since I've never painted a frame before...but what the heck, right!? So I got the supplies I needed and headed home to create a masterpiece...or more like just a cute little frame. I think I did pretty good for my first time! :)

After I finished the frame, I got a little confident and decided that Ava needed a new bow holder. It seems like she has a new bow every time I turn around. Now don't get me wrong, I don't think a girl can have too many bows...but, her previous bow holder just wasn't cuttin it anymore. So, I got to work on making her a new one, and I actually like it. Its nothing fancy, but I love the pink leopard ribbon and it definitely holds more bows. Mission accomplished.

my little worker bees

2009-03-21T23:43:00.001-05:00

We've decided to re-do our bathroom...finally! Its the absolute last bit of wallpaper in our house, and I can't wait for it to be gone! It's going to look so much better when we're done, and we will finally be done with all of the big projects we set out to do when we moved in exactly 4 years ago! Crazy...I can't believe its been 4 years! Anyway, the first step is to get all of the lovely wallpaper off of the wall, so we enlisted Ava and her love of peeling to help out. Finally the perfect outlet for her crazy peeling habit.

2 peelers in a pod

Um, is that a Pinata?

2009-03-21T13:11:00.000-05:00

I've been hanging out with my little princess all week and haven't really gotten on the computer...but I definitely had to post about our fun time at the Kanuth's last Saturday. They invited everyone over for a fish fry {or chicken nuggets for the kids and me.} The kiddos had tons of fun playing together and the grown ups had fun talking...but the highlight of the evening was when Rob and James came back with a pinata and a ton of candy. An actual ton...okay not really, but close. The little kids each took turns hitting the poor donkey pinata and when it finally broke, the big kids {read: dads} scrambled to get the candy. It cracked me up seeing them stuff their children's pockets full of the sweet stuff.

Jackson was first up

then Caden

Tucker's turn

Go Ava

Elle got in some good hits

let the candy scramble begin

Baby Jack was in shock at the whole spectacle :)

mmmm...this is good

BFFs

Ava LOVED holding Eli. She didn't want to put him down. I think she's trying to tell us she's ready to be a big sister...

snuggle time with Mrs. Kate

chillin

Aaron wanted in on the action

Never. Again.

2009-03-20T22:18:00.007-05:00

Never again will I attempt to go to the Arboretum during spring break...ever. It was a mad house! Let's back up...

So, this week was spring break, and I was determined to do lots of fun stuff with Ava during our week off. So, Wednesday we planned a trip to the Arboretum with my mom and grandma. We had discussions on what time to get there...10 am seemed feasible...we are Dempsey women after all, and really, its hard to be anywhere too early...or on time. Its just a fact...there's either a crazy basset hound that decides to take a run along Red Oak Creek, or there's a crazy 2 year old who decides to spray her entire play room with a full sippy cup of milk {wall to wall, and I'm not exaggerating} while mommy's getting ready. You get the point...there's always something. Needless to say, we didn't get to the Arboretum until almost 11...big mistake. The parking lot was closed and we had to park in the overflow lot a couple of miles down the road and then wait for a shuttle to take us to the Arboretum. The line of people just waiting to get on the bus was at least a 1/2 mile long! No joke. Look...

the bus that's over there on the left...yep...broken down. awesome.

We stood in that line for 15 minutes, and no buses came...probably b/c they were all stuck in the line of cars trying to get to the lot. Anyway...we decided to go eat lunch, and then come back. It was a little better...we got on the 3rd bus and finally we were at the glorious Arboretum. Thank goodness we're members...that line was shorter. It was definitely worth it, the flowers were beautiful and the weather was perfect. {and um, we won't talk about how I forgot the sunscreen.}

We got some good pictures despite the fact that Ava didn't really want to smile or look at the camera...at all. She definitely had fun running around and smelling all of the "fowers," but I'll tell you right now...never again will we go during spring break. I heard the zoo and aquarium were just as bad...

this is either right before or right after the muchkin stepped in a huge puddle of mud. thank goodness it just squished between her toes and didn't get on her white pants...too much.

Grammy and Ava

the girls

Bob the horse trotted by as we were sitting on a bench and Ava got so excited! She ran up and down the sidewalk yelling to everyone about the Nay Nay.

We finally got her to look and semi-smile at the same time!

Ohhhhh-klahoma

2009-03-08T21:19:00.004-05:00

Last weekend we went up to Oklahoma to visit Aaron's grandparents for his Grandma McNeme's birthday. We picked up Jacob and his girlfriend Summer and Summer's little girl, River on the way. River and Ava are just about the same age, so they had lots of fun playing together...and a little difficulty sharing...but what 2 year olds don't? :) We had a good time visiting and Ava got some lovin from her great grandparents and from her Mimi! Happy Birthday, Granny Beth! We hope it was a good one!!

Aaron, Ava, Grandma & Grandpa

Jacob, Mimi, Ava, Aaron & Me

Ava and her Mimi

Ava and Summer

the bank

2009-03-06T15:50:00.007-06:00

Last Friday, Ava spent the night with my mom and dad so that Aaron and I could go to Tiffany's birthday dinner. She always has so much fun with Grammy and Poppy, and I love that they love hanging out with her! While she was there, she found this antique bank that belonged to my great grandfather. My grandmother played with it when she was little, and my mom tells me that when she was little, she and her Pop would play with it. And I remember my Papa Dempsey and I would spend what seemed like hours playing with it. And now, all these years later, Ava and her Poppy are enjoying the same bank. Now that is way cool!

You put a penny on the guy's rifle and press his foot, and it shoots the apple off of the little boys head into the bank.

Poppy showing Ava how to do it

it worked!

look at that face...pure excitement!

stuck on you

2009-03-05T07:32:00.000-06:00

Oh, how my child loves to peel things...and I mean everything! If she thinks it will come off, she'll peel it. She just noticed the silicone glue stuff underneath our counter tops and has been trying desperately to peel it! Seriously?! I've even, on occasion, found her lying underneath her little table peeling the factory stickers off of the bottom. The girl is crazy! Anyway, I digress...since my girl loves peeling so much, we've started getting her stickers. Its not as fun as peeling, I don't know, say... the decals off of her cozy coupe, but she does enjoy them for the short time they last! My sweet little peeler...

phrase of the day

2009-03-04T09:31:00.004-06:00

Last night, while we were eating dinner, Aaron said to Ava, "no, no sweetie...we don't fork the wall."

Dude...I laughed so hard I almost fell out of my chair.

Tiffany's 3oth Birthday

2009-03-04T00:00:00.000-06:00

Last week was my good friend, Tiffany's 30th birthday!! So to celebrate the fabulousness that is 30, we went to Simply Fondue in Dallas for dinner. We had a great time laughing and talking and laughing some more {my abs actually hurt the next day from laughing so hard!}...and of course the night wouldn't be complete without a little bit of reminiscing. Thanks for including us in your birthday celebration, Tiff...we had a blast!!

Aaron & me, Bo & Shannon, Tiffany & Mike

an example of just some of the laughter

enjoying our date night

Bo...this dude cracks me up!

about to devour the most delicious chocolate fondue

silliness in the bathroom

the shoes make the outfit

2009-03-03T16:29:00.004-06:00

My little shoe girl is at it again. She loves putting on mommy's heels, boots and even slippers and strutin her stuff around the house like she's the bomb.com. I love it! Hopefully some day we'll wear the same size and we can share!! Poor Aaron...I'm not sure if he knows what he's in for. ;)

hmmm...I haven't tried these shoes on before....

ah, a perfect fit!

daddy thinks I need help in these heels...

but, you know...i got it!

my little pony

2009-02-19T20:55:00.006-06:00

I'm afraid my sweet little angel has been rockin the mullet for quite sometime. Poor thing sort of inherited her mommy's hair...the thin-ness part, anyway. It's short on the sides, and longer on top and in the back {and contrary to my grandma's belief, I do not cut it that way.} And as you know, no mullet would be complete without a little rat tail. I just can't bring myself to cut any of it off though...I love her hair...so until the sides grow in, she'll just have a little mullet, and that is just fine with me! She does have some curl to her hair (from daddy, of course) and the back is finally long enough to pull into a tiny little ponytail. So little miss Ava has been sporting a little pony or "pomy" as she calls it...and I love that too!

Ava's little "pomy"

love the curl

mom, did you seriously say i had a mullet?!

dude, i'm outta here

Hobby Lobby, how do I love thee...

2009-02-12T20:24:00.004-06:00

let me count the ways:

1. I love thee for making my new and improved guest room so cute!

2. I love thee for this adorable picture now hanging in our guest bathroom. Now our guests have something to admire whilst doing their bidness.

3. I love thee for helping me to spice up the space above the windows in our breakfast nook. And now maybe I won't have to be crafty and make cornice boards.

4. I love thee for having lots of scrolly iron things to choose from, so that the wall above our doorway doesn't look so bare.

5. And I love thee for having this C to put on our wall...its almost as if you had it made just for Team Cardwell. {I must admit, I had seen this many times and almost bought it...and only after I saw it on my friend Cara's wall lookin so dog-gone cute, did I say to myself "i have to have it!" Thanks for the inspiration C Bo B!}

And most of all, Hobby Lobby...I love thee for always having some sort of 50% off sale so that I don't get in trouble for visiting you so often.