Ava's Fort

Last week we got Ava a new car seat because she has outgrown her infant carrier. Hard to believe, huh? She is growing very fast. She has been wearing 12 month clothes, and I haven't wanted to try any of the 18 month outfits we have yet just because I don't want her to be that old yet! Well, today due to a lack of clean laundry, I put her in an 18 month outfit. It fit perfectly. So I guess we are wearing 12 and 18 month clothes now! Anyway, back to the car seat. The car seat comes in a huge box, and Ava thought that was the greatest thing ever. She has played in that box for days!





This is Ava eating scrambled eggs and drinking from her cup like a big girl. She's been on table food for a month or so, but she is actually getting most of it in her mouth now. She is very independent and likes to feed herself, which I'm am OK with!

Hunter's Baseball Game

While we were in Paris last weekend we were able to go to one of Hunter's baseball games. His team did great and won, making them undefeated. Here are a few pics from the game and some video of Hunter and Eli playing baseball.

Hunter on first


Ava enjoying the game


Eli wearing his special goggles


Hunter is the runner on second and Trey, his friend from church, is playing second



Click here to see video of Hunter and Eli.

Fun Day at Chisum!!

When you are a new teacher at a school, there's lots to learn about the everyday details and procedures of that school. You go to meetings and orientations that try to inform you about everything, but there is always tons of stuff that is left out. Everyone else knows it, so they just assume that you do, too. It can get frustrating for a new teacher. My first year at Chisum Elementary I was lucky to be in the same hallway as Mrs. Forrest, because she always filled me in on the details that others forgot about or just assumed you knew. For example, she's the one who let me know I needed to bring my purse and cell phone with me outside when we had fire drills. After reminding of this for the first two years, I think I finally got it my third year. There were lots of little things like this that she would tell me, and I was very grateful for it. Ava and I visited Chisum this week and Mrs. Forrest decided to teach Ava about one of the little things...cotton candy. At first, Ava wasn't too sure about it, but then she started grabbing the stuff by the handful! Thanks Mrs. Forrest for giving Ava her first cotton candy...we will think of you every time we eat it!!




When we visited Chisum it was Fun Day and the kids got to dunk the 4th and 5th grade teachers. I was dunked for two years. I got out of it last year because I was 8 months pregnant. I did let the kids give me a makeover and decided dunking may have been better. Here are my old teaching partners, Cindy and Crystal, getting dunked.

Poor Little Baby Girl

Last weekend Ava was sick with a virus. This was the worst she has felt so far. She just wanted to be held wanted to sit and rest with you, which is very unusual for her. There were moments of playfulness when the Tylenol kicked in, but they weren't very often. She's all better now and we are glad!

One of her playful moments. I usually don't let her do this, but that day I let her do whatever she wanted pretty much when she was actually doing something!


We had just woke up for the day, very early. She did not feel good and just wanted to sit and watch TV with me. I felt fine, though I look like the one who was sick in this picture!

Ava

Just a few pictures of the cutest baby in the world. Micah and I always knew that if we had an ugly baby we would be the first to admit it and not pretend she was cute. Lucky for us, we weren't faced with that issue.

Ava playing with Ol' Sarge Rubber Ducky



Ava with a bow. She thought it was really stupid, can't you tell?



Cheesin' for the camera. Her two bottom teeth are actually starting to come through, and I was trying to get a picture of that, but all I got was this sweet, banana covered, slimy smile!



Ava is now saying bye-bye and will cough when you cough. Here is a video of her. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuFkhecg67I

Snakes

So the other day Micah came home and found that we had two huge snakes hanging out by our garage. One was at least 5 feet long and the other about 3-4 feet. We aren't sure what kind they are, though from my research I think they are probably rat snakes. If you know what kind they are, let us know!!

You can see the video of Micah killing the snakes here: Snake Video The video is about 9 minutes long.

9 Months Old

Ava is now 9 months old. She is doing so many things. She has discovered that she can crawl all over the place, and she crawls fast! If you don't keep an eye on her, she is gone. The other day in church I set her on the floor to play. I leaned over to say something to Micah, and when I looked back at Ava she had already crawled under the pew and was at the feet of the lady sitting in front of us! She is also pulling up on everything and getting very steady. She will walk while holding on to something. We are pretty much off baby food and eating table food, but she doesn't like for me to feed her, she wants to feed herself. The problem is when she feeds herself, very little food actually makes it to her mouth. She is wearing 12 month clothes now and has been for about a month. I'm sure she will be in 18 months before the end of summer.