Ava & Sophie

Well, we are getting closer to D-Day and I keep thinking about everything we have to get done around here before this baby comes. We are getting very excited to meet this precious little one, but there is so much to do before he/she arrives and updating my blog hasn't been on the top of the list. But, I did get some cute pictures of Ava and her friend Sophie the other night. We were watching Sophie so her parents could enjoy a night out. I was getting them ready for bed and found out that Sophie has the same pajamas as Ava, so of course the camera comes out. They were so stinkin' cute together. They were cheesin' it up when the camera came out too.

Sophie & Ava

B.F.F.

There is really not much to update on the pregnancy. I am almost 33 weeks now, so we have 7 weeks left...unless this little one decides he/she wants to come early, then I'm okay with that. Ava felt the baby kick for the first time today and she just laughed for awhile. She thought it was so funny!

Pregnancy update and Baby Eli

I thought I would update you all first with a picture of how big I've gotten lately. This picture is actually a few weeks old. I'm 27 weeks pregnant here, and I'm almost 30 weeks now. But, I'm not so great at taking pictures 2nd time around. I'm getting to the uncomfortable stage, as I call it. That's when you know this baby is coming soon! We still have 10 weeks to go, but I'm really hoping we have this baby early because I'm not sure how much more I can grow. I had a check-up yesterday and everything is going really well. We still don't have a name picked out, which makes me a little nervous, mostly because we have to pick two names since we aren't finding out the gender. Any suggestions would be great!

Also, as most of you already know, my sister had her baby at the end of December. She did great and now has a precious baby boy, Eli Brock. He weighed 9 lbs. 5oz. HUGE! My sister was amazing and had him completely natural. I'm still not sure how she pulled that off. We went for a visit to meet our new nephew and Ava's new cousin a few weeks ago. I didn't get a chance to take as many pictures as I would've liked to, but here are a few.

We love you, Eli. You are precious and we can't wait to see you again soon!!

Ava's 2nd birthday

Ava turned two on New Years day. It's hard to believe my daughter is two now. The past two years has seem to fly by. Ava has brought so much joy and excitement into our home. And, if you know Jonathan, you wouldn't think we would've needed more excitement or enthusiasm in our home. She definitely has Jonathan's spunk. And she's becoming such a daddy's girl. She makes us laugh all the time with the new words she says, or the new things she'll do.

We had a little party for Ava and the theme was Curious George. Jonathan's parents bought her a monkey jacket, as Ava calls it, so we found it appropriate to put that on her for her birthday party. Also, Ava LOVES boots, so of course she had to wear her cowgirl boots on her birthday. She looked super cute and was really excited that some of her friends were coming over to play. Plus, she knew there was birthday cake!

Grandma Jo, me, Ava & Mama - this was a last minute trip for my family. We were so glad that they were able to make it!

Yummy food

Ava's monkey cake. Jonathan's mom made it. She did a great job. It was delish!!

Ava's friends: Sophie, Cate, Riley & Ava

Blowing out her birthday cake.

Ava opening up her presents. She was really excited and kept saying "Wow!".

She got a kitchen. She loves cooking with mommy now!

And all the kids loved the last gift - her puppy dog!

Cate, Sophie, Ava & Riley

I thought this was cute of Cate and Ava. A rare photo of two toddlers.

And already playing dress-up the next day.

Ava loved all of her gifts and had so much fun. We were so thankful to have friends and family to share Ava's special day with.

Christmas '09

Here are few Christmas pictures that I thought I would share. On Christmas Eve, once Ava woke up, we opened our presents with just the three of us. Ava woke up to this:

(Ava was dressed by her daddy really quick before opening presents. This is just a side note so you understand why she's not in her cute little pj's on Christmas morning!)
Opening one of her many gifts this year.
Here is Jonathan, still tired, but acting excited about his gift.

Once we opened presents and ate breakfast together, then we headed up to Indiana to Jonathan's family. Here are a few pictures that I took.

Ava was really into the gifts this year. It didn't matter what it was, she loved it all!

Concentrating on getting her present open!

Ava understood a little bit more about what was going on this year at Christmas. We all had a good time together.

I'm going to post some pictures of Ava's birthday party soon. My baby turned 2! I'm still in shock at how fast 2 years has gone by.

Merry Christmas

Ava and her two best friends, Sophie & Cate.


We had a great time at the Parks' house the other night at a Fondue party. Catherine did a great job preparing everything and making it very special for us. We put the girls Christmas dresses on so we could get a picture of just the three of them. They actually cooperated very well, which was surprising.

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Christmas Party

Last night we had our youth group's Christmas party. We had a delicious dinner prepared by the staff. The theme was, who can wear the tackiest sweater. So, I headed out to a thrift store the day of the party and found some sweaters. I even found one for Ava.

Ava wearing mommy's bow that Katie bought for our small group girls.

We played a few games. One of which was to decorate someone in your group as a Christmas tree. The staff chose Jonathan.

I didn't end up getting great photos of Jonathan because Ava was a little scared of her daddy at this point. She was holding onto mommy for dear life when we made it closer to daddy. Once everything was off of daddy, Ava said, "ALL DONE!". She didn't like daddy all dressed up, but everyone else seemed to enjoy it...even Jonathan enjoyed it a little too much.

We had a great time of fellowship with the youth and the staff!

Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving, Jonathan, Ava and I, went to my sister's house. We mostly relaxed, but one day we decided to venture out to Dollywood. We were given free tickets, so it was free for all of us to go. Our plan was to stay a few hours, but we ended up staying most of the day. It was fun, but very cold.

Here is my sister's neighbors inflatable turkey. The girls loved it.

At Dollywood

Ava's favorite ride...the carousel.

Ava loved Dollywood, but she could only take so much!

We (my sister and I) gave Ava her first hair cut. I knew this day was coming, but I have been in denial. Now I love the new do. It's super cute.

And finally, the last picture of the preggo twins before Annie has her baby. She is due in two weeks, but I'm guessing she only has a week left. Keep her in your prayers if you think of her!

Now on to Christmas!!

It's a....

well, I wish I could tell you the gender of our baby, but we didn't end up finding out. We are going to let this one be a surprise. We had our 20 week appointment this morning and it was so fun to see our baby again. Our baby is perfectly healthy. What a miracle the Lord has given us!

Well, I just wanted to update you on our latest news. I will post Thanksgiving pictures soon!!

Yee-Haw

Every year our church has a fall festival for Halloween. They have lots of booths set up to play games and to win candy. Ava enjoyed it a little more this year than she did last year. We decided to dress Ava up as a cowgirl, so Jonathan and I dressed up with her. We had a great time. We didn't end up with as much candy as I would've liked though! :)

The only picture I got of Ava and Sophie. They were both cowgirls.
Ava diving in for some candy. That's my girl!!

And this is how Ava's hat was worn most of the night...on daddy's head!

And I had to end with this picture. She loves her new pj's that Jonathan's parents got her. Can't you tell??