Weekend Recap...

Big News!

Ava Grace has enough hair for a bow!!!!

You know I have waited a LONG time for this day.  :-)  Thanks to a hint we got at the Bell Buckle Craft Fair from the hair bow lady, we have had bow success!  For all you moms out there with hairless babies, attach some of the nubby non-skid pads (the kind you can use to line drawers, under place mats, and under rugs) to the inside of the bow clip!  Mom sent me some strips of extra she had and we super glued a skinny strip to the each side of her alligator clip bow, and viola! The bow isn't going anywhere!

Now... on to weekend news.

This weekend was our craft weekend!!!!  This is our 4th craft day and it was so much fun!  I have to say, our craft days might be one of the best ideas we have ever had.  It allows us to really be together to and to visit and catch up much more than a dinner in a noisy restaurant or sitting together in silence in a movie would.  Props to Lena for hosting the first one and starting our tradition last holiday season - we missed you this time!

This time Moo was our hostess and she chose to meet at the Mill out in Readyville!  It was so charming and they had such great food!!  Then we headed back to her house for our craft!

Ava Grace was along for the ride and did lots of "helping" in the kitchen!  She sure enjoyed being with the gals!!  We made Peppermint Sugar Scrub!!!!  It smells so good!!!  I made a couple to give as gifts and now I am wanting to make some for myself.  They were so easy to make and turned out so cute!

It was an action packed Saturday and it wasn't long before we were back in the car and headed to the other side of town...

...to visit with friends and host Jessica's baby shower!

Jessica is Chris' niece, but she is more like a sister to him - they grew up together under the same roof!

Ava and Silas ignored each other for the most part, but they did visit some at first.  Ava was much more curious about Silas than he was about her, lol.

Lily was SOOO excited to play hostess and did a wonderful job setting up and giving instructions for the shower games we played!

Aunt Jan co-hosted, letting us have the shower at her home.  She got some cuddling and reading done before the shower started.

Ava Grace also had to spend some quality time with the necklace Mimi.

It was unseasonably warm and such a beautiful day for the shower.  Ava grace didn't even end up wearing the sweater that went with her dress. 

Here are the kiddos with Jessica!

Ava Grace was very much interested in the gifts!  I think Christmas this year is going to be SO. MUCH. FUN.

After the shower we were off to pick up the new-to-us car (more on that later in another post) and then back to Megan and Web's for a bon fire with several other families - so fun!!!  

Sunday brought a little Christmas decorating, a lot of resting, and a nice end to a busy busy busy, but fabulous weekend!

Phone Photos...

Just a few recent phone photos to share.

Napping after church.

Notice the super cute pack n play sheet that my mom made!  It fits MUCH better than the ones you can buy and my dad picked out the girly girl fabric!  love!

 Sippy cup PRO!

We had NO trouble with transitioning.

(does blogger do this to your photos sometimes?  Wondering if it is my computer or blogger that keeps doing this!)

 "What you lookin' at?"

Bed Head

LOVE this little outfit from Anne!

Sisters and Best Friends already!

 Ava Grace LOVES shopping as long as she can sit in the cart!  We LOVE our cart cover with harness!!!

Reading the book Grandmommy sewed with her new fancy schmancy machine and sent in the mail as a surprise! 

Bathtime baby!

"HI!"

I have waving down pat! 

Driving on the driveway with Grandmommy!

I love to read!!

(Note: another custom pack n play sheet made by Grandmommy... she picked the fabric for this one. love.)

One morning I walked in the living room to this!  Lily had heard Ava Grace, got her, and they were snuggling on the couch! lol  Love these girls!

Halloween Recap

Halloween is probably my least favorite holiday.  I don't really get into spooky stuff or the blood, guts, and gore that dominate some decorations.  I prefer to decorate for fall or Thanksgiving and other than the fun of trick-or-treating for the little ones, I could pretty much do without Halloween and be just fine.

We do celebrate it though, and make the best of the holiday with as little spooky as possible, lol.  This year was special because it was Ava Grace's first Halloween.  We dressed her as a cat on Halloween and at the Halloween party we went to.  We had been given two different cat costumes as gifts.  Lily changed her mind several times on her costume.  At the last minute as we were buying costumes, she found alien glasses and decided she had to be an Alien and wanted to make her own costume.  I was blown away - that is so out of character for her.  I loved, however, that she picked it all herself and it was unique!!

On Halloween we went to Courtney and Brian's house for soup, sandwiches, and cider!  Friends of theirs joined us as did one of Lily's friends from her girl scout troop!  It was a good little crowd to trick-or-treat with and we had so much fun despite the cold wind!  I worried about Ava Grace being cold... and she was... but she could have cared less.  She had the time of her life!  (note to self: get the child a wagon)  She and Ben rode in Courtney's wagon.  Ava Grace spent the entire time bouncing up and down excitedly waving her arms!  She was beyond excited!

She figured out pretty quick that people were putting stuff in her bucket (which barely survived the week... it had been carried around, sat on, squeezed, filled and emptied about 200 times throughout the week).  We eventually had to get her out and let her carry her bucket and hold it out for treats because she was so interested in getting things out of the bucket in the wagon.

Here are our Halloween girls!

They got A LOT of candy between the two of them.

We also went to a Halloween Party at Chris' sister's house last weekend.  It was fun seeing family and some close friends we haven't seen in a while!  Our family is growing and so there are a lot more kids these days!  It's fun to see them playing and having fun at family events.

 "Don't touch me sister, I'm a big girl... I can do this myself."

"This is Silas, right here."

"Let's keep watch Silas, I got this way, you keep an eye out the other way."

I am certain that the kids had as much fun as the grown ups.  As always, they had a spread of wonderful fall foods and sweets!  It was a great party!

The week before Halloween we met Aunt La and Aunt Moo for lunch one day!  I had to share this picture of Ava Grace and La.  You can't tell, but Ava Grace is wearing her pumpkin "boo" shirt!  :-)

I hope you all had as happy a Halloween as we did!

Now, down to the serious business of the Holidays I LOVE... Thanksgiving and Christmas!!!  :-)