Obnoxious Mom...

Uncle Dave took a few pictures of Ava during her party. This is mostly for me as currently this blog is the only documentation of Ava's life...but I thought they were pretty cute. :)

Party!

We had Ava's family birthday party on Saturday... lots of fun! The men, however, were disappointed in how ladylike she was with the cake. I even got mostly white icing because of a previous run in with neon pink cupcakes. (pictures to be shared shortly) Anyway-we had a fun time even though she was clean!

525,600 minutes...

I realize that pretty much everyone in the world has had a child with a first birthday and that I am nothing new. But man, it's weird! All the stuff everyone says, can't believe, time flies, blah blah blah. So true. When I look at the first picture from a year ago, to the one where she is eating Garbanzo beans with cilantro for dinner-it kind of hits me! (she didn't complain and it was good protein)

We had such a fun day. Mark was home with us and we played, opened presents from Grandma and Grandpa and Oma and Opa, our cousins and Aunt Lindy came over, it was a great day. And, since it was Mark's half birthday, he got a little boat action in. :) I am so thankful for our precious girl. I'm praying she grows up to love Jesus and can't thank him enough for giving her to us to love. Happy Birthday sweet Ava!! (Way overtook pictures, wanted to squeeze them all in! She loved the rubber duckies from Oma and wanted one everywhere she could hold one! And thanks Grandma Judy for the cute birthday outfit!)

when mom's away...

Dad will go buy something to play with! Mark has wanted a radio controlled boat for as long as I've known him. This was the big weekend. The thing goes like 50 miles an hour. I don't really get it, but my nephew told me that's because I'm not a guy. Anyway-Mark was happy, so I am, too.

Could not pay me enough money to wade in that water that had snow on it 3 weeks ago!!

One boat rescue-thank goodness for our fancy canoe!

Ava LOVES living by her four boy cousins. They are so sweet to her! Luke, above-people have always said looks like me, so it's ok that Ava looks like her daddy. My face got stuck somewhere in the family. :)

She found a headband and spent the better part of 20 minutes trying to get it on her head. That's a girl for ya! I finally helped her out.

weekend away.......

Three cheers for Mark for staying with Ava for the weekend so I could go play with some friends! :) It was their first weekend alone...sadly-I think Mark did a better job than I do! I came home to a clean house and a happy baby. So much for my tales about how hard my job is! We got together to celebrate Beth's upcoming baby-Keller. (how cute are those cupcakes!)