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!