A few pics of our weekend

Ava trying her first lemon. She loved it!

Jonathan's parents came down for the weekend to see our new house. They brought Ava her own little pumpkin.

We put Jonathan's dad to work by installing a new kitchen sink. Ava was there to oversee their project and to keep them in line.

We also went to the pumpkin fest in Franklin on Saturday. Unfortunately, this was the only picture we took at the fest, but probably one of Jonathan's favorites, even though Ava was very upset.

Happy Birthday Sophie!!

One of Ava's best friends turns one today. They had her birthday party this past Saturday. We had a great time, and as you can see, so did Sophie as she ate her cupcake.

She's still thinking about it...
And now she's excited about it.
Kristen holding Ava as Ava is sooo excited for Sophie to be eating a cupcake. She was just wondering where her cupcake was.

Sophie just wanted to share her cupcake with mommy and daddy.

And then while Sophie is getting all cleaned up...Ava was enjoying playing with Sophie's new toys...especially this new princess toy.

We love you, Sophie!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

We Moved!!

That's right, the Newells have moved. We are very excited to buy our first home. God has blessed us with the perfect home for our little family. Upon request, I have posted a picture of our new house. The above picture is of us standing in our Uhaul before we packed everything up. Now we are unpacking and trying to get settled. It's a little different unpacking with a 9 month old, but we are having fun.

Have a great week!!

Catching up

A few days ago, Ava and I met my former boss, Dr. Nancy Laden, for lunch. We had a great time catching up. As you can see in the picture, Ava FINALLY warmed up to her - which means that Ava finally let Dr. Laden hold her. It was sweet and I was glad that Dr. Laden got to enjoy her for a little bit. We enjoyed our time and hope to get together again soon!

(For the rest of the ladies at work, I will get up there one of these days...I promise!)

Cheekwood

Here are a few pictures of our free day at Cheekwood this past Saturday. It was such a beautiful day!

I'm it!

I've been tagged, by my friend Shai, in a blogging game...so here it goes.


1. What time did you get up this morning? My sweet husband let me sleep in this morning and I slept until 10. I love sleeping in, but it just doesn't happen very often anymore.

2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? The Dark Knight and boy was I scared!! (I didn't like the movie much at all - it was too dark!!)

4. What is your favorite TV show? The Office and Lost

5. What do you usually have for breakfast? Cereal or a breakfast bar

6. What is your middle name? Jill

7. What food do you dislike? Meatloaf...YUCK!

8. What is your favorite CD at moment? I honestly haven't listened to much music lately, so I couldn't even tell you.

9. What kind of car do you drive? Mitsubishi Outlander

10. Favorite Sandwich? Chick-Fil-A sandwhich...YUM YUM!!

11. What characteristic do you despise? When someone acts as though they are better than someone else.

12. Favorite item of clothing? I LOVE wearing pajama pants. I could buy those all the time!

13. If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go? Northern Ireland - I lived there for a few months and would love to go back with Jonathan and Ava.

14. Favorite brand of clothing? Gap & Banana Republic (They have great sale prices!)

15. Where would you retire to? Somewhere where we would live closer to family.

16. What was your most recent memorable birthday? When I turned 25 - my parents and twin sister, and her family, were able to come and celebrate together.

17. Favorite sport to watch? I love volleyball, but I don't get to watch that very often.

18. When is your birthday? April 28, 1981

19. Are you a morning person or night? Definitely a night person!!

20. What is your shoe size? 6.5 - 7

21. Pets? No

22. Any new and exciting news you would like to share with us? YES...We just bought our first house!! We close on the house in two days.

23. What did you want to be when you were little? a teacher

24. How are you today? Great...Today we enjoyed a free day at Cheekwood and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day.

25. What is your favorite candy? Snickers candy bar

26. What is your favorite flower? Gerbia Daisy

27. What is a day on your calendar you are looking forward to? October 17th - my cousins wedding. (My parents will be there too - I haven't seen them a few months.)

28. What is your full name? Amber Jill Newell

29. What are you listening to right now? A baseball game that my husband is watching on TV.

30. What was the last thing you ate? Spaghetti (yes, Catherine, I ate spaghetti!!)

31. Do you wish on stars? Ummm...NO

32. If you were a crayon what color would you be? Blue

33. How is the weather right now? Fall weather - I LOVE IT!

34. The first person you spoke to on the phone today? My mom

35. Favorite soft drink? Dr. Pepper

36. Favorite Restaurant? Pancho's...When I worked in Franklin our boss would take us to Pancho's every week. It's so yummy!!

37. Real Hair Color? Brown

38. What was your favorite toy as a child? I can't remember a favorite toy.

39. Summer or winter? Summer

40. Hugs or kisses? Hugs

41. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate

42. Coffee or tea? I like them both and don't drink one more than the other.

43. When was the last time you cried? I don't remember, but I cried for the first few months after I had Ava, so that should make up for the rest of my life!

44. What is under your bed? my keyboard

45. What did you do last night?Watched a movie with my hubby

46. What are you afraid of? Sad to say, I'm afraid of animals...especially cats! They are creepy and sneaky. (sorry Minx)

47. Salty or sweet? Both

48. How many keys on your key ring? I would say about 5

49. How many years at your current job? Ava is 9 months old, so 9 months now! (I'm a stay at home mom.)

50. Favorite day of the week? Sunday - We go to church and listen to the preaching of God's word, and enjoy the time with fellow believers.

51. How many places have you lived in? 9 different places...I don't think I've missed anything (Princeton, IN; Birminham, AL; Booneville, IN; Dale, IN; Santa Claus, IN; Bradley, WV; Portage, IN; Northern Ireland; Nashville, TN)

52. Do you make friends easy? Yeah, I would say so

Now I'm suppose to tag three people...Catherine, Nita, and Darbi. Have fun!!

9 months old

Ava turned 9 months yesterday. It's crazy how time is just flying by. She has grown up so much over the past few months. Ava loves to crawl wherever mommy goes. Ava will play by herself, but she has to keep at least one eye on mommy. As soon as I leave the room, Ava is right behind me. It's adorable, but not so much fun when we drop her off in the nursery at church. Or, if someone wants to play with her - she doesn't like stangers AT ALL! (which will be nice when she's older!) Ava loves to feed herself now. We started her on table foods, and since then, she hasn't wanted me to feed her baby food. She is definitely growing up too fast. Lately she has been able to stand by herself for a few seconds. She hasn't started walking yet, but I know that will be coming very soon. She has taken a few steps on her own recently, but not all the time. The first couple pictures are of Ava standing by herself. She went to the doctor yesterday and she weighs 16 lbs. 10 oz. (25th percentile) and she is 28" long (50th percentile). She hasn't really gained that much weight and it's probably because she is on the go ALL the time!

Ava is waiting on her daddy to come home from work. She loves to spend time with her daddy after a long day with mommy.