'Tis the Season.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, or so they say. I love Christmas with my kids, despite the inevitable stress that goes along with decorating and baking and shopping and gift-wrapping and holiday parties that seem endless, and as a result, I tend to go overboard with their gifts each year, despite my best efforts not to. Wanting them to grow up knowing the real reason for and spirit of the season, however, we make our best efforts each year to give back and turn our hearts and resources to others. For one of our giving experiences this year, we took a page from our own book a couple of years back and baked for our local firefighters, surprising them with muffins at the station!

The station was relatively quiet when we got there - always a good thing, considering what it means for them to be frantic - and so they took the time to give us a little tour and let the kiddos play in the firetrucks. One of the firemen had a similarly aged daughter, so he really went above and beyond to show her a good time in the trucks, and let her play with the headsets and lights and all. It was such a treat for them!

Christmas 2012.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas - we certainly did!

Despite not having previous plans to leave town, we decided last minute to head down towards Houston to spend the holidays with my in-laws, so we made a super quick (like, 36 hours leaving to arriving back home) trip Sunday evening to be with them. We're always torn between wanting to be with what little family we have in Texas and wanting to be at home for the holidays for ours and Ava's sake, but this year, family won out :)

As an added bonus, we also were able to visit one of David's best friends for twenty years and meet him and his wife's newest baby, a sweet little girl! Ava and their son are just a few months apart, so they were able to play while we caught up and chatted for a bit. And oh, that sweet baby. Be still, my ovaries!

The night before, she was able to open up a gift: books that centered around the first Christmas, and other titles like Snow What Fun! and The Twelve Days of Christmas. I opened them up to read them to her and start a new tradition, but halfway through the second, she was out cold:

She even missed setting out the cookies that we baked earlier that evening...

Ava, per usual, was spoiled with lots of lovely gifts that are currently keeping her busy, including a Hex bug (these things are awesome, particularly if you have pets to simultaneously amuse!), a Loving Family dollhouse, a Barbie beach house and Barbies (all she really asked for from Santa this year - ha!), a MobiGo 2 game system and game to go with, books, a couple outfits, and lots more awesome gifts! We've been so blessed with all our families contribute to ensure that Ava has all the toys she could possibly need!

After opening presents from Santa (whom our elf, Felix, was able to send a message to for him to bring the presents to G&G's house) and our own presents, we ate a hearty Christmas breakfast (whoa, carb coma!) and then hit the road back to our house to open the rest! 

It was a great trip, but so glad to be back home. Ava was kind of a mess once we got home, a likely mixture of overstimulation and the letdown of coming home from visiting grandparents, and hit the hay early so we could watch our annual Christmas movie marathon of Love Actually and Four Christmases. All in all, it was a sublime day.

Next up: Ava's birthday! 

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas, from our family to yours!

Catching Up: Holidays and Ava Turns Two!

Wow - it's been two and a half weeks since I last posted! OMG. That's a first around here. I wish that I could provide some reasonable excuse for my absence, aside from being out enjoying my abundant blessings! So much has been going on around here, so let's play a bit of quick catch up.



First and foremost (though not chronologically!), Ava turned TWO! Holy cow! How am I the mother of a two-year-old?!? It still blows my mind. We had a fantastic day with her on her birthday, but so much to say and so many pics to share about that, I'll need to write a separate post. Look for that in the next few days...

Also, David and I have been insanely lucky to both be off this entire week together! We've been having a crazy fun time together all week, knocking things off our to do list and just reveling in the opportunity to spend an entire week as a family of three. Ava has been loving it! So much so, actually, that three times this week she skipped her nap. Uh oh. Also, she's been sleeping in until 9am! Booyah! Happy vacation to mommy!




Another fun time that shouldn't be overlooked is Christmas! We had such a lovely, blessed Christmas. David's parents came up on Christmas Eve and we were able to spend the day with them, as well as Christmas morning. Ava loves her grandparents, grandpa especially, and so she was so happy to see her extended family!



She had such a fantastic Christmas - complete with her playscape (we built back over Thanksgiving), a wagon that I'll be reviewing after the first of the year, some amazing rainbow design blocks from nana, a Mickey Mouse that she's obsessed with, some wonderful Christmas books and a beautiful dress, and a train table, amongst other things. She also got some lovely gifts from the two families I work for, including a fabulous Dora dress-up outfit and a little V-tech laptop! We are so insanely blessed :) Ava was really, really into Santa this year, and we also got an elf visitor that came. We can't wait for him to come back next year!





Another extremely fun thing we've done since I last posted was that the D's took Ava and I for a girls afternoon at The Nutcracker, put on at the Long Center by Ballet Austin. I went two years ago when I was like 38 weeks pregnant - haha! - but I was more nervous about this show. Turns out, I worried for nothing. Ava was amazing. The production was 2.5 hours, with an intermission halfway through, and Ava sat fascinated and watched the whole thing. Now, when she sees a ballerina, she says "nutcracker!" Needless to say, it left an impression! One of her favorite parts had to be meeting the little mice from the ballet outside during intermission!




Alright, I'm off to prep for Ava's birthday party tomorrow! More posts on birthday fun, The Nutcracker, and her party to come! Also, I recently saw Dr. Jarod Carter of Carter Physiotherapy, and he worked wonders on my back, so I'll be talking about that and how he can help you as well!

Wordless Black Friday: Merry Christmas, Ava!

This is technically her Christmas and birthday present, but David's dad had to help him put it together, and they won't be back before Christmas. This bad boy right here? Took the two (sometimes three, when David's brother was still here yesterday) guys about 14 hours total! I'm so thankful for my fiancé - he's the best father ever :D

As for what Ava thinks of it, she keeps climbing up the ladder and then jumping up and down, yelling, "Happy! Happy!" I think she likes it!

O, Christmas Tree.

I let A do the honors and put her beautiful, personalized baby's first Christmas ornament that her great-grandma Wendy sent to her on the tree first:

Black Friday = Hell on Earth.

Actually, to clarify, the Black Friday shopping experience itself wasn't so bad, until you factor in my in-laws. JAY-SUS, they're impatient. I'm talking, five minutes into our trip to Walmart, they're like, "We'll be waiting for you guys in front." Now believe me when I say I step foot into Walmart as little as humanly possible, but when you're spending the holidays in a teeny tiny town and this is all they've got, you've still got a first birthday/Christmas shopping mission to complete, ya hear? And no, it wasn't due to the crowds or anything like that. That's just HOW THEY ARE. Seriously. Everyday. I HATE going anywhere with them looking for something, because I inevitably get rushed out the door and end up forgetting at least half of what I'm there for, and browsing? Looking for ideas? These are concepts completely unbeknownst to them. HELL.

Anyhow, aside from that little gem of crappiness, we actually had a very successful shopping experience. Most of Ava's Christmas shopping is done, and since we're all grasping at straws for ideas, I thought I'd share what we've gotten for her so far.

First off, this is her mega birthday present for this year, which she'll open on her birthday despite her party not being until January 8th:


That should help some of these gifts to make a bit more sense :)

Here's the Christmas loot thus far:








I'd still like to pick up a few things, but then again, I suppose we could leave some things for the relatives to get her? :)

Happy Black Friday, y'all!