Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Carolina Christmas this year. The weather was nice (65 and sunny) and we really enjoyed our last big hurrah as a family of three. We kept Ava home most of the week which was fun. On Wednesday we went to Christmas Eve service at our church, then came home and opened one gift each. Ava got a baby doll crib and a newborn to go with it (prepping her for upcoming events.)

Christmas morning Ava was very excited to open all of her gifts, and boy did she get a lot of gifts! I'll admit we bought her too much, but it was really all the nice gifts from friends and family that blew us away. Everyone got her things she just loves!

We spent the day hanging out together, going to the dog park, and settling in to watch "Cars" after a yummy Christmas dinner at our friends' house. It was a wonderful day, and we couldn't feel more blessed.

Pics and video are posted on our family website. Enjoy! Happy New Year!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

So this morning was our neighborhood's annual kiddy Christmas party. Ava got to do arts and crafts (decorating a paper tree) before meeting the big man herself. I thought she'd totally freak out, cry, and not want to sit on his lap, but she proved me wrong! All I had to tell her was that Santa had a present for her if she sat on his lap. She knew that it was candy, and you can see from the picture she was more interested in getting her candy cane than really talking to Santa :)



Ava also got a new book from the Hopes for Christmas. It's a lift-the-flap Little People Christmas book and she loves it. Her favorite thing to find is the snowman. Too bad it's 68 here in Charlotte today. Poor, deprived child of ours.

Go Panthers!

What a weekend! We did a lot, but it was all worth it. Friday night I took Michelle with me to the Neil Diamond concert uptown. I got box seats through work, so I said "why not?" I was more excited to see my good friend Nathan's parents than Neil. I got to see his sweet Mom during the show (she came to our box), but unfortunately the tour cancelled the aftershow so I didn't get to see his Dad. They had to board a plane quickly and get on to the next gig. It was really cool to see him play onstage though (he's the drummer.) Michelle and I felt like we were in the twilight zone. Most of the fans were old enough to be our parents and were having such a ball. It was great people watching to say the least.

Saturday we got our Christmas tree. In the spirit of efficiency, we skipped the NC mountain trip and just went to Home Depot. She was fully decorated and ready to go by 3pm which was cool. I bought Ava her first annual ornament, which this year was a Hallmark Keepsake of Cinderella, who has quickly become one of her favorite princesses. She loves it!

Saturday night we had our friends the Cains over for dinner. Ava's obsessed with Baby Drew, their 6 month old son. I took a few pictures of them together on the couch. So cute. Maybe they can go to Purdue together, fall in love, and get married :)

Sunday was a big day as well. Jim acquired really good seats to the Panthers vs. Broncos game. We were on the 40 just ten rows up. It was nice and cold for once, and we had a really good time being there. See how close we were! Go Panthers!

In other news, Ava had her 2 1/2 year checkup last week. When we went at two years the doc was concerned she was too skinny (even though she eats anything and everything we put in front of her.) She was in the 8% for weight and 75% for height back in June. This time around she was 30% for both! She is a whopping 27 pounds and is 36" tall. I feel like she's tall for her age, but then I look at her friends at daycare and they're all about the same. Anyway, she is doing really well. She's really blossomed these last six months, is really talkative, and is pretty smart if I do say so myself. She can count to ten on her own and everything!

Tonight we had a good laugh. It's amazing what a baby monitor will do for entertainment. We put her to bed at 7:30 after reading two stories and saying our prayers. About five minutes later, she proceeds to crawl out of bed and, in the dark, go sit by her bookcase and pull about 20 of them off the shelf. We then listened to her read books to herself (she knows her favorites by heart) for the next 30 minutes. (I think she got this from me because when I was a kid I'd have a flashlight with me and go under the covers to read until my parents busted me and threatened to take away the flashlight.) Finally at 8pm Jim snuck up there and busted her. She looked at him and said 'bed, Daddy' and he put her back in bed. She went right to sleep. So sweet.

BTW, I'm hosting my lifegroup's Christmas social tomorrow night, so I'll try to take pics of the house before we mess it up again so you all can see them. We're loving living here!

All Moved In

So we're finally settled into the new house. What a whirlwind the last few weeks have been. We would have never made it to completion without the help of our parents. Mine packed the entire time we were in Italy, then Jim's came and packed the week of Thanksgiving right down to the wire.

Sunday was the day we moved out. I was sad to leave our first house in West Lafayette and this house was no different. After dinner Sunday Jim and I went back to pack up final items and clean. We finished up around 9pm and did a walk through... wow, was that emotional. It was really sad and I didn't expect that. I think it was because that was Ava's first home and we have so many wonderful memories from the past 2.5 years from the first day we brought our little 5 pound peanut home to her learning how to walk, to her swinging in the back yard... it's amazing all that can happen in just 30 months.

The good news is that now we're in the new house and the excitement and joy of it has replaced the sadness we felt leaving the old. Ava absolutely loves her new room and her pink big girl bed. Jim and I are really enjoying the openness and all of the nice details throughout the house. We definitely plan on being here for a long, long time and look forward to all the new memories we will create with both Ava and her little sibling.

As soon as we're done unpacking this weekend I'll try to post some pictures (that will be AFTER we get a Christmas tree trimmed!) Merry Christmas!