Tea for Two

This poor blog has been neglected too long! We just returned from a missions trip and I am now determined to catch this thing up!! I'll post pictures of our trip later (so sorry!!) but really want to post a little of what we did before the craziness happened. Haleigh and I went to a ladies tea at our church several weeks ago. It was so elegant and fancy..exactly what Miss Haleigh likes! She and I borrowed some fun hats and gloves from a friend, and got all dolled up for our afternoon. To my surprise, Haleigh really likes tea! We also enjoyed some tiny sandwiches, chocolate covered strawberries and some cute desserts. The ladies went all out to make the afternoon special. And, to top it all off... I won a door prize! It was a beautiful basket of goodies, teas, a journal, book, and some sweet treats! The absolute best was spending some quality time with my big girl!!

Valentine's Day Catchup

We had more fun this year putting together Valentines for the kids than any other. Of course, last year, we had a little girl who was only 4 days old! This year, since we had a little more time on our hands because of being snowed in, we went a little more crafty. We used some ideas from Family Fun and got started a week before our party. Caleb chose, of all things, an IPOD valentine. I wasn't sure if the kids in his class would even know what one was...but they did!

Here's the fellas working on their valentines.

Voila! The finished product. We added our own favorite songs

about love to the playlist. Cute, huh? Oh, and the IPOD is made of a box of converstaion hearts and Reese's mini's as the earbuds.

Haleigh had her own special valentine's goodie bags to make. We used party hats, a little ribbon, tissue paper and stickers. These were super fun to make(except for the hot glue)!

A work in progress (she could do more on her own, yay!)

She was super excited to share these with her classmates!

Ava turns ONE

This past Thursday, Ava hit the huge milestone.... her first birthday! We were all very excited to celebrate (who doesn't love cake?) Ava was oblivious, of course, but she loved all of the attention and fuss we were making over her. She had the Peoples' traditional yellow cake and chocolate icing, and loved every bite! She got some new clothes from Mommy and Daddy, a new sorting toy from Haleigh, Caleb and Joshua and a bath boat with floating animals from Mimi and Granddaddy. We went to her one-year checkup on Friday and she is doing great! Her weight is 18 lbs. and she only had to get two shots. Some of Ava's favorite things are: babydolls, books, playing with big sis and big brothers, and scooting on her bottom to get places. She can say several words like, "uh-oh, mama, dada, bye-bye" and of course, "no". She loves to give hugs and pats on the back, and has such a sweet disposition. Happy First Birthday, Ava, we love you!!

Ava's about to dive in!

There's a striking resemblance when Ava has a icing beard!

SHE LOVES CAKE!!

Thanks for the bath toy, Mimi and Granddaddy!

Snow and sick days

The past week has been crazy for Ohio weather! We've had snow day after snow day (which doesn't effect us who home school!) But, it has cancelled many other things we are a part of. Being inside day after day can wear on your nerves. On top of it add a little stomach bug and it really gets fun. I thought I'd post some pics of what we've been doing to keep from going stir crazy! Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera any of the times we went snow sledding. By the way, today is Ava's first birthday! I'll post more of that tomorrow...or later.

The Birthday girl being cute and clapping!

This is the puzzle Caleb and I did while I was sick.

Getting ready for Valentine's party at our co-op (which was cancelled due to snow).Don't worry, we rescheduled for next week.I'll post some pics of these super cute valentine's.

Haleigh and Caleb picking "seeds" out of cotton when we studied

Eli Whitney and the cotton gin.

Joshua jammin' on the guitar. He was a born entertainer!

The Cookie Thief!

Well, this was about a month ago, but it was so cute, I needed to put it up! Ava is VERY mobile now, opting to scoot on her bottom as opposed to crawling. But, don't be fooled...she is FAST! One day, I turned around for what seemed like a minute or two, and didn't see her. Where did I find her? She had dumped out all the contents of her diaper bag, and found the cookie one of Shawn's b'ball players had put in there for him. I had to take a picture before getting it out of her little hands(for which, I was yelled at by this cute little one!) I'm sure they'll be more treasure hunting for cookies in the future :)

Christmas catch-up

For the first time in two years, we visited our TN family for Christmas. We celebrated Christmas here at home and the next day packed up for our two week trip. It was so great to see aunts and uncles and cousins that we haven't seen in two years! I think I'll just put up a few pics for you to enjoy and try to add some more later this week.

Ava learning how to play Haleigh's DS :)

This one cracks me up. Ava tackling Caleb.

Joshua loved his Vikings gear!

So did Caleb...

Haleigh finally has a closet for her dolls!

Ava: 10 months

This week, Ava turns 10 months old. She is doing lots of new things this month. She is scooting on her bottom in a sitting up position to get all over the house (mostly, the Christmas tree!) She is also saying several words, including "mama, dada, bye-bye", and most recently, "uh-oh". She is drinking all of her milk and juice from a sippy cup, and eating some "big girl" foods like yogurt, cheese, crackers, and avacado. She is still a super sweet little one and always has a big smile for people. Here are some recent pics of Ava Leilani.

Ava kept getting into the kid's stuff, and Haleigh suggested a baby gate. So, we improvised. This last about 30 seconds before she tipped it over.

Ava and her ponytail. There's only so much you can do with baby hair!