Life is Good

Here's Ava playing in the cute romper that Aunt Marie got her for her birthday. It's from Life is Good. I asked Josh to take some pictures of her and find a bow to match while I put Hayden to bed so I can't take any credit for her cute hairdo. LOL.

Hodge Podge

A little fashion show of one of the outfits from Pat and Jenn. She was really overtired so this was all we got. As you can see, she was pretty much done as soon as I started. I'm not sure what to do about the pants. They are huge and the length isn't really that long, but they can't be rolled up due to the detailing at the ankle.

Bear hug from Hayden

Ava wants to play too!

New landscaping of our front flower bed. We just slightly underestimated how much mulch we needed. It turned out really nice.

Sunday we went to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield for the afternoon. It's not a big zoo, but has enough animals to be entertaining plus who doesn't like feeding goats and giraffes? It was super hot and sticky and we had to make a stop under the misting station to cool off. Then we HAD to go to Red Robin-- Josh's favorite place to eat in Springfield. We usually alternate Red Robin and Outback (my favorite).


Ava had her check-up today and she is 19 lbs. 12 oz. and 28.5 inches long. She is in the 25% percentile for height and weight. Her Dr. said she wished all her patients were as good and sweet as Ava so she wouldn't get home so tired every night. :)

Ava's 1st Birthday Party

Ava's 1st Birthday Cake. We ordered the cake from Dino's 24 Karat Bakery. We did a red velvet on the top layer and the famous carrot cake on the bottom with a cream cheese frosting. So good. Dino is a well-known gospel singer. I'd never heard of him, but Josh's family knew who he was. People that don't usually like carrot cake will love this.

It's so hard to get a good picture with all the kids, but this one didn't turn out too bad.

Cousins Ava and Olivia

Emma and Olivia helped Ava open her gifts and held them up for everyone to see.

No more presents to open. Haha. No I just tried to catch some photos of her by herself. The day got away from me so I didn't get any before she changed to eat cake.

We got these personalized M&Ms as little favors. It really matched the original picture nicely. The other ones said, "Happy Birthday", "Ava is One", and "Sweet Ava".

Wearing her princess birthday hat

We got Ava changed in order for her to dive into her cake.

We didn't notice until we started to cut the cake that we put the candle in backwards. Oops! Haha.

Yummmmmmmmmmy! Ava really loved the carrot cake.

After eating cake we gave Ava a quick bath since the cake was all in her hair and changed her clothes.

Ava's 1st birthday party was a hit. We did a spread of tortilla wrap sandwiches, a cheese platter, and a veggie tray along with some chips and dip (decided at the last minute), plus cake. We had a small gathering of family to celebrate Ava's special day. After the party was over we let the kids play out in the yard and then later met back up at the resort to eat and swim. The kids are completely exhausted from the weekend. I'll post pictures later, but today we went to the zoo and even though Ava slept in the car she was overtired and had a rough time getting to sleep while Hayden was out in just a few minutes.

Happy 1st Birthday Sweet Ava

I cannot believe my little dolly is a year old. She is just the sweetest girl you could meet. Unless she is very tired she is in a good mood. She makes my heart melt with her smile and her expressive eyes. She is such a daddy's girl and she cannot wait for him to pick her up when he gets home from work. This year has gone by so fast it's hard to believe she is a year old already. It seems like yesterday we left for the hospital at 4:30 am excited to meet her. We are excited to get to share our lives with our special girl.

Ava loves to play with her big brother Hayden, gets a kick out of drinking from a sippy cup, and loves to be where the action is. Just a few nights ago she took 4 steps so it won't be long before she's off walking. She likes to play in the toy kitchen with Hayden, dance to Wubbzy and Backyardigans, and swing on the swingset.