Getting ready for Christmas!

We've had a couple of sweet little helpers decorating the house for Christmas this year!  Well, maybe just one little helper and one sweet little brother.  Ava is into ALL things Christmas this year.  Music, decor, movies, presents....she even tells us daily what she will be asking Santa for this year.  (But we'll see how that goes.)  We put our tree up last weekend so that we can work on our outside lights this weekend. 

Ava has her own little two foot tree this year.  She and Daddy worked hard making it beautiful for her room and she is SO proud of it.  She told me that my tree was as pretty as hers the other day :)

Sweet little brother.....

Checking out the tree.....Can't you just see the wheels turning in his head already?  

T-R-O-U-B-L-E

Yesterday after Thanksgiving lunch, we put up Ava's great Grandmama & Grandaddy's tree.  She had such a fun day with all of her cousins.

Garrett & Ava

Ava & Jackson

 

Presley & Keegan enjoying some 'food.'  Sweet Keegan has infections in both ears so yesterday was not as much fun for him.  He needed a little extra cheering up every now and then!

Family Pic - Thanksgiving 2011

Bring on December!  This family is ready for some Christmas fun!!

Thirty, Sixty and 8 months

Today is Jeff's 30th birthday!  Wow.....thirty!  I remember when that seemed really old.  We've had a busy weekend full of birthday parties.  Friday night I threw Jeff a surprise party which was really exciting for me because I have NEVER been able to surprise him with anything.  He has guessed every gift and special plan I've made for him the entire 8 years we've been together!  It was a great celebration with an awesome group of friends.

 Happy Birthday My Love!

Dad turns 60 tomorrow so Saturday night we threw Poppy a surprise 60th birthday party at Kara's house.  He was really surprised and excited to see cousins from out of town.  It was a really fun night celebrating with family.  Happy birthday Poppy.....you are the youngest 60 year old I know :-)

And Lastly, Keegan is 8 months old today! This month was definitely the most challenging time I've had trying to get his picture.  He does not sit still!  This boy is full of energy from morning till night.  He is pulling up on everything and scoots all over the house.  We've had to lower the crib twice because we were constantly walking in his room to find him standing up in his bed with arms dangling over the side. 

I have no idea what he weighs this month but he is still wearing a size 3 diaper and 6-9 or 6-12 months clothes.  His eyes are still so blue and his hair color has changed yet again back to a reddish blond.

He is still the happiest little guy!  He coos and laughs and talks to us all day.  We've experienced a little bit of separation anxiety the last two Sundays at church.  We haven't been paged but he cries most of the time we are gone and then smiles and chuckles when I pick him up and we are on our way out the door.  But he still does great with his grandparents so we are thankful for that!

He is napping twice a day and sleeping much better at night, although he still gets up at least twice.

He is absolutely crazy about his sister!  They laugh and play together every day making the sweetest noises I think I will ever here in my lifetime.  When he gets up first I see him look around the house for her and when she runs in the room his arms and legs go crazy and he squeals so loud.  She is constantly looking for ways to crack him up.

We are so in love with you little Keegan and you have blessed us more than you will ever know.  Happy 8 months sweet little man! 

 

Ava's Thanksgiving Tree

I am the least crafty person that I know but I came across this thankful tree online and it looked so easy and I had everything needed on hand so I thought we would give it a try.  Ninety-nine percent of Ava's prayers are thank-you prayers right now so I thought this would be fun for her.  We traced and cut out her little hands and she told me what to write on each little leaf on her tree. 

We are working on our Operation Christmas Child boxes for kids in third world countries so we've talked a lot about things that we have that we forget to be thankful for.  After she used the potty before bed a couple of weeks ago I told her that not all kids had running water and indoor potties at their home. Her prayers have included 'thank you for my potty' every night since!  I laughed the other night when I told Jeff that Mommy and Daddy fell between her potty and all the pretty rocks.  Ha!  I love this girl!

Halloween 2011

This year we took Minnie Mouse and Mickey Mouse out for Halloween!  We tried to fit as much fun into three hours as possible and I think these two really enjoyed their night out :-)

Ready for Candy!

Two Minnies and a Mickey :-)

Fun at our Church Fall Festival

Then on to trick or treating.  This was our first year to go door to door and Ava LOVED it!  There was not a shy bone in her body as she held up her pumpkin to say 'trick or treat!'  I think she would have danced for candy if she had to!  She strutted up and down our street as happy as could be.  She prefers m&ms and suckers so I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when a nice man on our street put skittles in her pumpkin and she took them out, handed them back and said 'I don't like these.'  I was mortified!  He kindly gave her a kit kat and I kindly gave her a lesson in etiquette!  In her defense she was a first timer :-)

Ava and her favorite neighbor Mr. Mike

Neighbors Cori, Brandon, Laci & Justin....We truly live on the best street!  Our neighbors are some of our best friends and we are so thankful to live here among them.

Ava & Daddy worked on their pumpkins Saturday night at Uncle Adam and Aunt Kara's house.  Daddy carved a Minnie Mouse pumpkin for our Minnie this year and Aunt Kara carved an awesome Elmo pumpkin upon request.  We had such a fun Halloween this year!

San Antonio Vacation 2011

Last week we took our second annual Fall San Antonio trip.  It was our first vacation as a family of four.  We did as much as we could in four days and I think it was the perfect time to be away.  We drove in late Saturday night and stayed in our pajamas all day on Sunday trying to recover!  It was so much fun and we were so proud of our little guy.  He was so great especially when we were out and about.  The drive home was the toughest part.  He was not having his car seat for 6 hours so we had to stop a few times.  But driving down there we only stopped once at Sonic for a quick snack and a potty break.  I guess everyone is always in a better mood driving to a vacation than on the drive back home.

Keegan took a car seat break to hang out with Daddy up front.

We took a chance on Priceline Tuesday night and searched for a hotel in the Downtown Riverwalk area for Wednesday night.  We weren't going to leave until Thursday but we were all so ready to go Tuesday night!  Pricleline selected the Emily Morgan Hotel downtown for less than half of its normal rate.  It was a great hotel next to the Alamo and we were so glad that we headed down a day early.  We took our time and arrived right at sundown.  This is a view from our room. There were rows of horses for carriage rides on the other side of the street.  Ava loved it!  She loves the city like her Mommy :-)

We took off after checking in and walked around downtown for a quick Alamo visit and ice cream.

Thursday Morning....Ready for a day on the town!

 Lunch on the river at Casa Rio

Ava loves this place because she can feed the ducks the whole time

The Children's Museum was great!  There were so many things to explore.  This is a photo from the post office/bank area.

Inside an airplane.....

And Ava's favorite part.....the grocery store!  We spent most of our time in this area as she shopped, checked out and cooked her 'food' for us in the cafe next door.

Keegan woke up for a little fun before we left :-)

I didn't pack his infant bath so Keegan took his first 'big boy bath' in San Antonio.  He's been sitting up for over a month now so it was time anyway.  He splashed around like I thought he would.  This is just one of about 20 pictures I took.  I think baby bath tub photos are adorable!

Friday Morning.....Ready for Sea World!  Ava picked up a brochure in the hotel lobby and studied it well before we left :-)

Sea World San Antonio 2011 (Our 5 year Wedding Anniversary)

The weather was absolutely perfect!  We headed for the new Sesame Street Bay of Play first.  It was a great new addition and Ava loved everything about it except the giant sesame street characters.  We tried her picture with Burt, Ernie and Big Bird and she ran every time.  I guess we only like them inside the television?

Dolphin Cove

At the Sea Lion Show

This was Ava's first time seeing Shamu because last year's show was at night.  Even Keegan sat still and watched the whole time.  It was an awesome show!

Ava, Keegan and her new penguin

On Saturday morning we headed for Bandera about 30 miles outside of San Antonio to meet our new baby cousin Kaylee Grace.  She is beautiful!  And so tiny.  She made Keegan seem like a toddler!

My cousin Lauren and our girls 

Lauren's dad (my Uncle Paul) said he could remember us playing dolls together like it was yesterday and now we are really mommies!  It makes me sad that we live so far away.  We grew up seeing each other several times a week and now only a couple of times a year.  But it was such a great time getting to see family and meet her precious new addition.

This is a view from their back deck overlooking the hill country.  It was a great visit and a great few days of vacation.  We are already excited about next year.  On the way home we talked about how Keegan will be running around Sea World with his big sister.  And it will be here way too soon!