More Than Thankful

It is hard to believe that last year at Thanksgiving, Ava was one week away from being born. This year, Matt and I could not wait to celebrate Thanksgiving with Ava for the first time.

Does anyone else find it annoying that our society has been sweeping Thanksgiving under the rug for the past decade as retail stores make the jump from Halloween to Christmas? Well, here in the Gardner house, we choose to give Thanksgiving the pomp and circumstance it deserves. Now, understand, I love the decorations, the festivities, the family gatherings and food of Thanksgiving. But more important than all of that, is thanking God for all of His wonderful blessings. What a great reminder that we should show our thanks and gratitude every day of the year and not just the 4th Thursday in November.

This Thanksgiving was no exception when it came to being thankful for God's blessings in our lives. First and foremost, we are thankful that Jesus died on the cross so that we may live! There is nothing more amazing than that. Hands down. Of course we are also thankful for our health, family, friends and a million other wonderful blessings. Something else Matt and I are thankful for this year is that God provides for every single one of our needs and He meets us right where we are... everyday. This is a lesson that God has been teaching us lately. It may not be easy to learn and it might take us a while to see what His plans are for us... We know and trust that the Lord loves us and we are always excited to see what He has planned on the horizon, which always leaves us... More than thankful.

So here is a run down (literally) of what we did over the Thanksgiving break:

Thanksgiving morning, Matt, Ben (family friend) and I ran The Greensboro Gobbler. (My brother was supposed to run with us, but he deiced to catch a nasty chest cold just in time for the event!) The Greensboro Gobbler is a 5k through Country Park right here in town. Here is a picture of the three of us before the race. It's rather easy to tell it's before the race because, well, we're all smiling, not out of breath and we're not bent over in pain.

In case you're curious, our race times are as follows:

Ben: Excellent

Matt: Awesome

Me: At least I finished

I hope if you weren't running The Gobbler, that you were tucked in your warm bed Thanksgiving morning because it was COLD outside! Ava braved the chilly temps with Mimi and Poppy so that they could cheer us on as we crossed the finish line.

After running and getting cleaned up, we headed over to Matt's uncle Tim and aunt Kathy's house for lunch with family and friends. 

After eating, Ava discovered her cousin's bucket. She spent the next several minutes putting the bucket on her head, taking the bucket off her head, and repeating.

Ava and cousin Leah were by far the youngest people at lunch. I wanted nothing more than to get a cute picture of the two of them together and they wanted nothing more than to be uncooperative. After a lollipop bribe for Leah and everyone making funny faces for Ava, this is the best picture I got.

With full bellies and tryptophan pumping through our veins, we headed to my parent's house for round 2. The last time we were at my parent's house, Ava was not entirely mobile. This time, she was completely mobile and she spent the weekend exploring Oma and Opa's house. One of her favorite things to do was look down into the family room from the 2nd story balcony...

See what I mean?

I thought that Matt was downstairs, still taking pictures of Ava peeking through the banister. I was wrong. Instead, my sneaky husband came around to the front of the stairs, took a picture without my knowledge, and proved that my brother and I are more alike than I thought...

We do not have any baby gates in our house so Ava couldn't figure out why Fergie (and my parent's 2 dogs) were always on the other side of the gate.

The reason we do not have a baby gate at our house is because we do not have any stairs. Well, my parents do have stairs, and Ava found them quite intriguing. It took her a minute to figure out how to move her arms and legs the right way...

...But once she figured it out, she was a stair climbing machine and she made it to Oma's arms, every time!

We hope that you and your family had a Very Happy Thanksgiving!

A Little Bit of Drama

There is nothing, and I mean nothing, that can come between Ava and her night time cup of milk. This was tonight's scene while waiting for her precious sippy cup... And have no fear, this was nothing but drama on Ava's part. I'm not so mean that I would record and then share a video of Ava when she is truly hurt or in pain! (I bet you'll be able to tell when Daddy comes to the rescue and her drink is in sight)

Recently, Ava has started to show us her lovely developing attitude. Let me just say that what you saw in the video above, doesn't come close to the drama she displays on the changing table. :)

Every Last Minute...

Two weeks from today, Ava will turn ONE YEAR OLD. I can't believe it! Where has the time gone? Matt and I are beyond blessed to have Ava in our lives and we really make an effort to savor every minute God has given us as a family. Realizing that the time remaining until Ava turns one is limited, we are making more of an effort to burn this precious time to memory. We aren't sad that Ava is turning one... If anything, we are so excited to see what God has planned for her in the years to come. We just know that Ava will never again be this small and before we know it... we'll be sending her off to college. With that said, this blog post isn't about anything in particular. It is just a glimpse of how we are enjoying every last minute...

A few days ago, as I was getting breakfast ready for Ava, I opened up the blinds in our kitchen window. I couldn't believe how boldly beautiful the leaves were on the trees and the ground. This picture does God's artistry no justice... Plus, our dumpy integra is smack dab in the middle of the shot. Do me a favor and try to imagine this picture with colors 100 times brighter, and no integra ruining the view. :)

It is mornings like the one mentioned above that I adore right now. Ava loves standing up, holding on to the window sill and gazing outside. What a life, huh? At night, when I see that Matt is home from work (he drives the dumpy integra), I say, "Ava, Daddy is home!" Those 4 words put a huge smile on her face and she books it to the front door to watch him walk through the front yard. Love it!

If not the kitchen window, you will commonly find Ava looking out our side door...

I guess it is safe to say that Ava has seen Fergie go through the dog door one too many times. Ava hasn't gone through it yet, and trust me, I won't let her (for now, anyway). I think she is just trying to figure out where it is Fergie comes from and where she goes when she jumps through the big black hole. 

The other night while playing in her room, Ava decided to pull up on her changing table. At first I thought it was cute and then I realized that EVERYTHING on her changing table is stored in bins. Meaning, she had full access to every washcloth, hat, towel, pacifier, burp cloth, bib and blanket I had neatly tucked away. Her favorite bin to raid was her pacifier bin. The only time Ava ever uses a pacifier anymore is at night, when she is going to bed. Call it pacifier withdrawal, but the girl put all of her pacis in her mouth. Every. Single. One. She spent about 15 seconds with each paci before moving on to the next one. My goal is to have her off of her night-time paci in the next month or so. We'll see how that goes...

Also this past week we had a mini photo shoot to capture a picture for Ava's birthday card. (I will post details about the birthday theme and card later.) I ended up with about 50 pictures more than I had anticipated, as always, but here are a few of my favorites...

 And the one that captures Ava's personality the best...

First, Next, Then, Finally

If any of my former students (or parents) are reading this blog, this title is for you! Writing was one of my favorite things to teach to my sweet kindergartners. In an attempt to get my students to sequence their stories correctly, we used to sing a little song. "First, next, then... FINALLY!" Hand motions, snapping and a little bit of attitude were incorporated as well. :) My hope was that the song was effective in helping my students. Tonight, the song has been effective in getting stuck in my head. So here goes...

FIRST, my sister-in-law and 2 nephews came for a visit last week. We enjoyed spending time together, eating dinner, hosting a party, and of course letting the kids play together. While playing, Ava tried on Jack's glasses. Is she adorable, or what?

The switcheroo didn't last long. Jack couldn't see without his glasses, and Ava couldn't see with them. We are so thankful that Jack and Finn are exceptionally nice to Ava. They are always willing to share their toys with Ava, play with her, entertain her and make her smile. Thanks boys! Can't wait to see you again soon.

NEXT, Ava toyed with Fergie's emotions by taking her bone away and giving it back. Taking her bone away and giving it back. Taking her... you get the idea.

When Ava was done playing with Fergie, she moved on to her favorite thing in the world. Her books. See the look of excitement/mischief in her eyes? The excitement was because she knew books were in her immediate future...

The mischief was because she knew she was going to turn over every basket, pull out every book and leave no page unturned.

As a former teacher and lover of children's books, it warms my heart that Ava is so enthralled, interested, consumed and excited by books.

THEN, we went to Bounce U to celebrate Alex Wallace's 3rd birthday party. At first, I wasn't sure how Ava would do considering she was one of the smaller participants at the party. After putting her in one of the bounce houses, it became pretty clear that she was going to be just fine. 

Since birth, Matt and I have both thought that Ava has my fingers and toes. In other words, her fingers and toes are freakishly long... like mine. Due to my freakishly long fingers, I am able to palm a basketball, and a men's basketball at that. Well ladies and gentleman, she may not be palming a basketball, but Ava is on her way to following her mother's footsteps. Literally.

Even though Ava wasn't big enough to bounce by herself, she enjoyed being bounced by the bigger kids at the party. I would put her down in the middle of the bounce house, bigger kids would jump near her and she would crawl bounce around.

FINALLY, Ava wrapped up all of her fun with a dip in the tub. All we have to do is say the word, 'bath' and Ava will take off across the floor and head straight to the bathroom. The girl loves some bath time.

The following picture does no justice to Ava's splashing abilities. What you can't see are here legs rapidly thrashing through the water, her arms pumping up and down, her face plastered with elation and her mom and dad... soaking wet.

I couldn't resist. It was about time for another cute butt shot, don't you think?

Eleven Months

Eleven months old. How can this be possible? Didn't we bring Ava home from the hospital, like, 2 months ago? Sigh. Our little girl isn't so little anymore. As sad as it is to think about how fast she is growing up, we praise God for Ava's health, development and her presence in our lives.

Ok, so taking a picture with the bear was a challenge this month. The fact that I was able to get the bear in the same vicinity as Ava in the following picture is a miracle. Ava's not really into sitting and posing for pictures anymore... Or at least she wasn't this particular day.

I tried putting Ava down next to the bear, and this is what happened:

Which turned into this:

And finally this: ...Yup, she can pull herself to her feet now!

After spending some time climbing up and down the bars of her crib, she discovered the tabs on her diaper. Two words. Not. Good. It's hard to tell from this picture, but she figured out how to grasp the tab on the diaper and... pull.

Can you tell by Ava's face that she knew she was doing something wrong? Take notice of the diaper tab that has been pulled off.

Along with pulling up on her feet, another one of Ava's favorite things to do is choose her night-time grooves. When we lay Ava down in her crib at night (or for a nap), we turn on her mobile before leaving the room. It has become standard that Ava crawl over to said mobile and change the song before going to sleep (notice the 4 song options in the picture below). Sometimes it is a quick decision on her part and other times she'll play with the mobile for 30 minutes. Either way, she is clearly expressing her independence. She gets the final say in what song will lull her to sleep.