Oh Yes, It's Ladies Night!

Tonight I had the pleasure of hosting a ladies night at my house. No husbands. No kids. Just a good old girl's night with cookies, crafting, and of course... talking! It was a lot of fun, and it is such a blessing to get to spend time with such amazing women, moms, and friends.

Our main project of the night was making "Family Christmas Countdowns." My brother and I used to have a wooden plaque with a poem (that is far too long and complicated to remember) written on it as kids. Attached to the bottom of the plaque was a strand of Hershey Kisses... One for every day of December. I wanted to recreate this countdown for Ava, and perhaps start this tradition in the homes of my friends. Here is what the final product looked like:

Like I mentioned before, the poem on my childhood Christmas countdown was far too long and complicated to reproduce. So instead, I combined the Hershey Kiss Countdown with the creative paintings of my sister-in-law, and came up with this...

And this...

Ava loves starting her morning by eating a Hershey kiss off of her Christmas countdown.

Oh, Christmas Tree

This evening, Matt, Ava and I went to pick out our Christmas Tree. I can't believe that this is Ava's 3rd Christmas! Sigh. I vividly remember the first time we took Ava to get a tree... She was only 6 days old. Now she is on the verge of being 2 YEARS old. Where does the time go?

Matt and Ava posed for a quick picture with, "Big Santa."

Ava got brave enough to hug Big Santa all by herself.

Of course, Little Santa was not to be left out...

After Ava hugged all of the Santas, she ran through all of the trees.

We found the perfect tree and loaded it on top of the family-mobile.

While Matt and I decorated the tree, Ava played with the 'Thing We Use to Water the Tree.' Like my technical name for it?

Then Ava pretended to drink from it...

And finally, she attacked her Little People Nativity set with it.

After all was said and done, we picked and decorated one gorgeous tree!

We hope your family is taking the time to slow down, enjoy the season, and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas!

Just Because

Just because... This angel always makes me smile.

Just because... I love seeing how fast she is growing, and the new things she can do day after day.

Just because... I am beyond grateful that I get to spend my days at home with my best bud.

What Ever Happened To Thanksgiving?

I went shopping at Target on Halloween. I was looking for some sort of Halloween decoration for our house. I know it was at the last minute, but I expected to walk in, find what I needed, and walk out. I was mistaken. All of the Halloween items had been cleared out and put on clearance and in their place.... Christmas stuff!

I love all things Christmas just as much as the next person, but it really ruffles my feathers that our society has apparently forgotten about Thanksgiving. We go from Halloween (a holiday all about GETTING candy) to Christmas (a holiday that should be about Christ, but society places more emphasis on GETTING presents). 2 Holidays about getting, and we leave out the one about being thankful for everything we have.

I do not want Ava to grow up in a world, or at least a household, where Thanksgiving is just a day to be out of school/work and eat. This year, in an attempt to focus on Thanksgiving, we made a 'Thankful Tree.' On each leaf, I wrote one thing that Matt, Ava and I are thankful for.

First and foremost...

Along with our...

And, well....

Not only did we have a great time as a family writing down all of the things we are thankful for... But it really did make us realize how abundantly blessed we are!

After we had written on all of our leaves, I started hanging them on the branches. I didn't pay attention to where each leaf was hung. After all, each leaf represented something we are thankful for, big or small. Once all of the leaves were hung, I stood back to take a look at our tree. I couldn't help but think that God was looking down at our tree and smiling since 'God' and 'Pacifier' shared the same branch... As did 'Jesus' and 'Oatmeal.' :)

Bathtubs Are Bullies

Ava has had her fair share of bumps, bruises, scrapes and scratches. Now, thanks to our bathtub, she can add, 'black eye' to her list. A few days ago while taking a bath, Ava stood up, slipped, and fell right back down. Her left eye received quite a punch from the ledge of the tub.

Her eye skipped right over turning red, and went right to blue. Since then, her eye has turned every shade of blue, purple, green and yellow you can imagine. Most of the bruising is on her eyelid... Which is most noticeable when here eyes are "relaxed" and shut. Unfortunately, when I ask her to, 'shut her eyes' this is what she does: Not relaxed.

This picture kind of shows the purple hues on Ava's eyelids, but the camera flash really washed the color out.

And here, Ava looks like she is wearing purple and green eyeshadow.

It is definitely on the mend, and it doesn't seem to bother her one bit. Ava does however, know how to milk it for everything it's worth... She makes sure to point out her "boo boo eye" to everyone she runs into.

As for the tub, I've had a nice chat with it. Oh yeah, it knows I mean business if it ever decides to beat up on my little girl again.

This Is What Happens When Dad is in Charge

I can't even remember where I was this particular day, or what I was doing... All I know, is that Matt was in charge of Ava while I was away. And this is what I came home to:

A topless, pantless, crazy-haired, diaper-wearing, high-heel clicking (yes, those shoes have heels) beauty. In Matt's defense, Ava apparently demanded to be stripped down to her diaper and she specifically requested those shoes. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about letting Ava pick out what to wear. I guess if this ever happens again though, I'll have to put my foot down since this is clearly Ava choosing what NOT to wear. :)

A Picture Says A Thousand Words

Recently, my side of the family spent the afternoon walking around Fisher Park, and being photographed by the talented, Susan Anderson, of Forget Me Not Photography. Words, not even a thousand of them, can describe how thrilled I am at the final products and how happy I am to display them throughout our home.

Here are just a few of my favorites...

Matt, Ava, Me.

Opa & Oma (my dad and mom).

Opa (holding Ava), Oma, Kayla (my brother's girlfriend), Ryan (my brother), Me, Matt.