Happy Halloweekend!

You're probably sick of hearing this by now, so for the last time... Matt and I love fall! The first official holiday (and one of our favorites) of the season has come and gone. Halloween! Here is a picture-filled recap of how we spent our Halloweekend.

Early on in the weekend, we went to a park near our house and used the fall foliage as a backdrop for our Fall Photo Shoot. Not all of the photos are ready to be posted yet. So for now, here is a sneak peek of the cuteness captured by our camera.

Saturday afternoon we took Ava to a pumpkin patch. You know the whole, 'Matt and I love fall' thing? Well, as a result of that, we have pumpkins all over our house. Ava loves them. She loves pointing at them, holding them, looking at them, etc. So you can imagine her excitement when we plopped her down in a field full of plumply, dumply pumpkins!

 Saturday night was quite eventful. First, we got Ava dressed up in her Halloween costume. She was The Caterpillar from Eric Carle's, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar."

After getting dressed, we swung by Gammy's house to have dinner and to let Gammy see Ava's costume. 

Then it was off to our church's Fall Spectacular. Candy, costumes, rides, games. Everyone had such a great time, both the young and the young at heart! Matt and I threw on our costumes well. Again, from the book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." (My wings are hard to see in this picture, but trust me they're back there. Unfortunately the wings were more of a weapon than a costume. Throughout the night my wings smacked several people in the face. My apologies if you are one of those people.)

This year, Ava was too small to play the games and ride most of the rides. She did get the chance to ride the train while cuddling with Mimi and Poppy. 

After all of the action at the Fall Spectacular, I expected Ava to crash when we got home. Instead, she crawled around the floor like a mad woman, with a toy frying pan in her mouth.

On to the main event... Halloween! Matt and I always enjoy carving our pumpkins every year. I really look forward to Ava being able to carve one in the years to come. Here is a picture of my pumpkin: 

 

And Matt's pumpkin:

After the pumpkin were carved, candles were lit, decorations were perfected and Matt's face paint was applied, it was time to pass out some candy. This is what the little trick-or-treaters saw as they approached our front porch.

A closer, darker and creepier look.

At first, Ava was not a fan of Daddy's face paint. After a while though, she let out a laugh or two. Can't wait to take our little pumpkin trick or treating next year!

We hope you had a fun, safe and HAPPY HALLOWEEN! :)

Weekend Wrap-up

Before I get into my blog today, Ava has something she wants to share with you:

WZZZZZZZZZZZZZZWZXZZEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESQXXXXXXZ23QW1qqz1`WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH3XEDDDWWDS2XAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

I'm not quite sure what it means, other than the fact that she was bound and determined to mimic what I was doing on the keyboard.

Now, on to the blog... My parents came for a visit with us this weekend. As always, we enjoyed their company and we were sad to see them leave. While they were here, we all went over to one of Ava's favorite places, Bur-Mil Park. As always, Ava enjoyed the swing and riding down the twisty slide on someone's lap. One of her new adventures at the park this time around, was going down the baby slide by herself. When I say by herself, I mean I would put her at the top of it, Ava would slide down, and my mom would catch her at the bottom. Apparently the slide was full of static electricity because after many rides down the slide, her hair looked like this:

After our fun at the park, we came back to the house where I pulled out my guitar and my dad played for Ava. My dad is very talented on the guitar. I grew up listening to and singing with my dad play the guitar on our many camping trips. I think Ava is already a fan...

 

Later Saturday night, our Life Journey Group (Sunday School Class) got together for a Costume Party. Our costumes were inspired by Eric Carle's, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar." Ava was The Caterpillar, I was The Butterfly and Matt was The Strawberry.

At some point during the night, Ava swapped her caterpillar hat for a mullet wig (one of our friends came dressed as Joe Dirt). Here is a view from the front...

The side....

And the back.... Some may say that this mullet is reminiscent of a hair style Aunt Erin had in her early years.

Somehow we managed to get all of the kids in a picture, together. From left to right: Izzy, Ethan, Ava, Tucker & Finn.

After all of the parents were done snapping photos, Ethan stuck around with his lady friends. He was actually a great sport because Ava kept grabbing his shirt...

And trying to take off his shoes...

Check back soon for pictures from Halloween and our Fall Photo Shoot! :)

Rocky.... I Mean, Appalachian Mountain High

Matt, Ava and I spent yesterday in the beautiful mountains of North Carolina. If you know Matt and I at all, you know that we LOVE fall. You may even say we're slightly obsessed with the colorful season. Either way, we were both itching to get to the mountains to enjoy the beautiful scenery.

We had no specific plan. We had no schedule to follow. We had no deadlines to make. We got in the car and drove wherever we wanted to go. It was wonderful. At some point during the day, we stopped at one of the many outlooks along The Blue Ridge Parkway. It was gorgeous. God's colorful artwork takes my breath away every autumn!

Here are my two favorite people in the world enjoying a walk along the mountainside.

Ava and I posed for a quick picture. Notice the mischievous grin on Ava's face? Care to know what she was thinking?

I will bet she was planning her attack on my earring... Because that is just what she did!

On our way back to the car, Ava grabbed a hold of my sunglasses. She loves her accessories.

After driving along The Blue Ridge Parkway a bit more, we stopped at Linville Falls. We took advantage of the beautiful backdrop to take a few pictures...

This picture was taken on the hike to the actual falls. We looked up and saw the sun shining through some gorgeous trees. Gorgeous trees. Cute baby. Perfect picture.

Once at the falls, a gentleman was kind enough to take a picture of the 3 of us.

Taking a seat on a cliff with roaring water below. Dare devils, I know. Really though, this picture doesn't do the waterfall justice. It may appear that Ava and I are merely sitting on a rock with a trickle of water in the background. We are in fact, sitting on a cliff, with roaring water below.

Same place, different parental unit.

We ended our mountain trip in Blowing Rock. We walked through the shops, Ava played at the playground and we at dinner at Pssghettis.

Wonderful day. Wonderful weather. Wonderful family. We can't wait to go back again!

Best Buds

Lately, Ava has taken an interest in Fergie's toys.... As if the girl doesn't have enough of her own (just take a look at the mountain of toys in the background of this video)! Here is Ava's latest attempt to deprive Fergie of one of the few joys left in her poor doggy life.

I will have you know that Dad came to the rescue... Yes, it looks like Ava is putting the bone in her mouth at the end of the video. And yes, she tried. As soon as I hit 'stop' on the camera, Matt came flying over my head and removed the bone from Ava's hands. Kinda makes me wish I had kept rolling! :)

The Great Outdoors

Ava's love for The Great Outdoors continues. Hallelujah! Matt and I are still thrilled that Ava seems to enjoy being outside more than she does being inside. Call us old fashioned (or just old, in Matt's case), but we will be throwing our kids in the backyard to play, instead of throwing them the remote. Sure, the TV catches Ava's attention every once in a while. She looks and stares at the TV for about 2 seconds and then she is on to something else.

Last week we enjoyed the unusually warm October weather and took Ava to the park. Ava has been down slides before, but none quite as fast or as twisty as the one seen below. I will have you know that the static electricity on this slide was in full swing. Had my head not been smashed against the roof of the slide in this picture, you would have seen my hair in it's electrified state.... 2 feet tall.

Yesterday was a fun filled day for all parties involved. Matt and I had the privilege of watching Tucker while his mom and dad were at an out-of-town wedding. Not having to care for a three year old boy on a regular basis led to some interesting scenarios throughout the day. You'll see what I mean...

Our first stop for the day was Triad Park. If you haven't been, you need to go. It's pretty awesome. As soon as we got out of the car, Tucker ran toward the slide....

Interesting Scenario #1: Tucker comes down the slide and says, "My pants are all wet... and COLD!" Did he have an accident in his pants? No. Absent-minded me didn't realize that there was a thin layer of dew covering the slide. That thin layer of dew soaked through the back of his pants on this particularly chilly morning. We quickly moved over to the swings (Ava's favorite), which were conveniently located in the warm sunshine. Not a drop of dew in sight.

 

Did I mention the swings are Ava's favorite?

 

After swinging and playing to our heart's content, we headed over to The Natural Science center. During our car ride, Tucker serenaded us with, "The B-I-B-L-E, that's the book for me. I stand alone on the word of God... the B-I-B-L-E!" Then, as if I hit 'shuffle' on an iPod, Tucker went from singing the Bible song to, "She wears high heels, I wear sneakers. She's cheer captain and I'm on the bleachers... Why can't you seeeeeeeeee, you belong with meeeeee?"  Me: Tucker, where did you learn that song? Tucker: My mom's computer. Busted! Actually, I'm a fan too... I guess having Taylor Swift on one's computer wouldn't be nearly as embarrassing as say, LFO. :)

Tucker and Ava loved looking at all of the animals. Here they are with a Wallaby named Jupiter. Jupiter was just inches away from Ava's stroller for several minutes. By the time I had the bright idea to take out my camera, he had hopped to the other side of the fence.

After only looking at most of the animals, it was time to touch some. Tucker was very gentile with the goats and sheep. He even took the time to brush them....

Interesting Scenario #2: After brushing the animals, Tucker was determined to feed them. He gingerly picked up several pieces of straw and placed them in front of the animal's mouths. After several unsuccessful attempts, Tucker decided to try and feed the animals something else. Poop. Yep, in the 2 seconds it took for me to turn around to look at Ava, Tucker had picked up a piece of goat poop. Petting Zoo complete. Thank the Lord for soap, hand sanitizer and more soap.

Interesting Scenario #3: I didn't capture any pictures of this scenario and after reading, you'll understand why. Let's just say after a hard day of play, we came back to Tucker's house where he needed to take care of some bathroom business. While Matt was supervising the situation, Tucker explained in detail, exactly what was going on. The brutal honestly of a 3 year old boy can be quite entertaining.

Lessons learned from our outdoor & babysitting adventures? 1. We are thankful for this beautiful world God created for us to enjoy. 2. Play hard, nap harder. 3 Tucker is hilarious. 4. Marc & Lauren may never again ask us to watch their son. :)

Busy, Busy, Busy!

We have been busy here in the Gardner household. Here are a few highlights from this past week:

My sister-in-law's friend contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I would be interested in purchasing her daughter's play kitchen set. The original plan was for my mom to buy the kitchen and put it in her house for Ava to play with when we visit. Well, the kitchen came, and it was much cuter than I had anticipated. It's pink. It's retro. It's awesome. My mom is still the one who purchased the kitchen set.... Only, she will be giving the kitchen set to Ava for Christmas since I have decided the kitchen will be staying at our house.

At some point, I am going to have to put the kitchen away until the morning of December 25th! Until then.... Ava has enjoyed testing out her new kitchen set. Of all of the gadgets this kitchen has to offer, Ava's favorite thing to play with is the sink. Maybe this means she will enjoy doing dishes in the years to come. Maybe this is just wishful thinking on my part.

This past Wednesday, we celebrated Matt's birthday! He probably wouldn't want me to mention how old he is (ahem, 32), so I will have to keep my lips sealed. I'm all for finding any excuse to eat cake/cupcakes/anything with chocolate, so I made a cupcake tower for the Birfday Boy.

  

Also this past week, Ava enjoyed playing with her best bud, Fergie.

Ava also enjoyed looking at her animal flash cards. She can point out the dog, bird, monkey and cat. When we show her the lion card, she makes a grunting sound that I can only assume is her attempt at a, "ROAR!" Take a look at the card she picked out of this pile.... That's right, frog. Atta girl!

Our little girl continues to grow up so fast. She is now able to put food in her mouth using her very own fork. Granted, one of us has to put the food on the fork for her, but in her mouth it goes!

This morning, Ava and I went to cheer on cousin Anna during her volleyball game. Anna is only 10 years old, and already, she is more athletically coordinated than I could ever hope to be. Great job today, Anna Banana!

While watching the volleyball action, Ava enjoyed being held by cousin, Owen. Thanks for keeping her occupied Owen, and for letting her play with your silly bands! :)

To finish off our day today, Ava and I went to cousin Leah's 2nd birthday party. Her shirt explains it all! :) What a cutie. Anyone care to venture a guess as to why Matt wasn't around much today? UNC Football. Need I say more? At least he didn't get sunburned this time.

 Matt and I love fall. We really love everything from now until New Year's Eve. We love the decorations, the weather, the excitement, the family, the get togethers, the celebrations... all of it! This year, things seem to be even sweeter since we get to share it all with our Little Pumpkin, our gift from God.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1

10: The number of months we have been blessed to have Ava in our lives.

9: (x 100) The number of objects Ava points to, and wants Matt or I to identify during the day.

8: (x 6) The number of objects Ava can point to when we ask her where they are.

7: The number of days every week that Matt and I can't believe how fast Ava is growing!

6: The number of teeth Ava currently has in her mouth.

5: The number of seconds it takes before Ava sits up (and plays) in her crib after Matt and I leave her room at night.

4: The current shoe size (and almost diaper size) of our baby girl.

3: The number of minutes it takes for Ava to inhale a blueberry waffle at breakfast.

2: The number of parents in this hosehold that are head over heels in love with Ava.

1: Praise to THE ONE who has given us all of these blessings... and so many more!