Welcome to the Terrific TWO's!

We are just wrapping up our wonderful weekend with my family in town. Actually they all have left and just relaxing now. Ava turned 2 years old yesterday, what a fun day we had! This pic is of her and her cousin Kiera in their matching skirts, thanks to Aunt Shanda. They LOVED hanging out together, not that there weren't plenty of battles over toys, but Ava has been asking for her all night.

I think Ava's favorite gifts were the chair she is sitting in and the bottles to feed her Dolly. Kiera would sneak onto the chair everytime Ava got out of it. When Ava went to eat cake, I was told Kiera went straight to the chair!

Ava got a Little People's castle and lots of fun to go with it, even cousin Jessica loved it.

My Mom found a hat that was mine when I was Ava's age and gave it to her, she LOVES it! Especially when she can't see from under it...silly monkey!

We also celebrated my Gramps' 86th (Oct25) birthday and my nephew Kaels' 5th birthday (Nov 9th). I made Ava a Horse cake (which I must say is the cutest thing yet that I've made-I'm quite proud), Kael got a dirt/rock/worm cake and Gramps got a Pecan Pie (store-bought). Lots of goodies for all.

I'm sooooo very thankful for my sweet, crazy, silly, beautiful, funny, ACTIVE little Princess! She has brought lots of happiness and joy to our family. Her sweet little laugh melts my heart and makes me want to cry tears of love. Her kisses are so tender and heartfelt, she is very kind and loving. Always concerned when someone is sad and trys to cheer them up. She has Daddy all wrapped around her little fingers, he is her BEST friend! And Mommy is always needed when she gets an "oowie." Ava is quite the little Mommy herself, making sure her baby is sleeping and eating well and always snuggled in her blankie. What would my life be without this little Angel??? I don't like to think about it, just count my blessings and be thankful for what I've been given! Happy Birthday my big Girl Ava!!!

Random fun times!

Cute pic, for once I got a good smiling photo! Can't believe this gal will be 2 years old 5 days....

Yummy yum Pudding, had to take the shirt off for this! It pretty much became Body Art.

Fall is upon us, LOVE the color change of the trees and all the leaves on the ground (though they are a mess to clean up). We are getting rain on and off like usual for this time of year. Had to turn the heat on in the house the other day, getting chilly at night.

Daddy and Ava got a hold of the camera, they had some fun!

I posted a comment on Facebook last week about Ava LIKING football, it's just not right!!! But she likes to sit by her Daddy and watch when she can. I thought she looked all cute laying in front of the TV to watch it, though I can't stand to Sport.

We are getting ready for my parents & my oldest brother Brian and his 2 kids to come down this weekend, then on Saturday my Grandparents and Uncle & his clan will come over for Ava's party. Then the next week we have Jeremy's parents coming for about 4 days. We'll be a bit busy, but it's always good to see the family!

Construction completed!!!!

Our master bath is FINISHED!!! Only took about 3 months since Jeremy was out of town for a month...but it's done and looks fabulous! Here is the shower after I had a blast knocking tile off the wall. There was alot of mold in the drywall, which is the main reason it had to be done.

But it was also an UGLY bathroom and very outdated, so it needed done.

Ava wanted to be Daddy's little helper the whole time, so he had to work at night while she was sleeping. Jeremy did another awesome tile job and design in this bathroom. He's learned some good skills w/ all these projects.

Okay, that cabinet was supposed to go over the sink, but Jer installed the lights too low and the top of the cabinet blocked the light too much. So no there are 2 mirrors in the bathroom, oh well.

I'm loving the black, my favorite! And in this bathroom we did brushed Nickel fixtures, looks really good I think. I didn't get a good pic of the light fixture, but it's pretty fancy. The mirror is supposed to rotate up and down, but takes alot of effort for some reason, so it'll just stay in that position.

We were going to re-tile the bathroom, but ended up finding an insert that was a decent price and sooooo much easier to install and clean! We decided not to put a door back on like it used to have, they just get to grimmy, and cleaning bathrooms are not my favorite activity. So anything to make the job easier I'm all for it! It's hard to tell in the pics, but the wall color is called Pebble stone, like a light grey. I wanted something a little darker, but it matches the tile well and looks pretty good.

That SHOULD be our last major project in this house. I told Jer I'd stay here maybe 2-3 more years, then I want something a bit bigger. I already feel stuffed in here and if we add more kids to this family, we'll be crowded. But we've made this place look way better than what it was when we moved in 4 1/2 yrs ago. If we stayed much longer, I'd make Jer re-do the kitchen, but thats not going to happen. Now what do we do w/ all Jeremy's free time???

Should have been napping...

Yesterday, when Ava was supposed to be going to sleep, she decided it was more fun to JUMP in her crib. I was cleaning when I heard a thud and some fierce screaming begin...somehow she bit down or hit her mouth, either way she bit her lip pretty good. Once we cleaned up all the blood (and there was LOTS), she settled down to nap. But when she awoke I had to document this incident w/ a photo! Too cute :)

Thanks to my boss man taking off LOTS of time this year, and I mean lots, I got to spend most the week playing w/ Ava. So Monday we ventured to the Zoo to see the new exhibits, the Lions! Ava did not like this statue, I tried to get her to kiss it, not a chance Mommy...

Lazy Lions...but oh so cute! Ava kept "roaring" at them.

Lately Ava has really become a little Mommy. She's always loved babies and her Dolly, but recently Dolly comes w/ us everywhere and sleeps w/ her. If she doesn't sleep w/ her at night, Ava is asking about her the minute she gets up and runs to find her and squeals w/ joy "I find her!" Dolly has got some pretty bad hair, not much can be done about that.

Ava has also become good at making scary faces, somehow I think she got it from the song "If you're happy and you know it." Instead of pushing her lips up to make a smile, she pulls them down. Silly girl.

I soooo can't believe she'll be 2 in 2 1/2 weeks, that's just crazy to me! Of course it makes me sad to know my baby isn't a baby anymore and I may never have another baby again. I'm still holding out on a tiny piece of hope that it may just happen, but I'm not counting on it. In some weird way I just knew this last cycle wasn't going to work, I knew I'd get that call saying my embryos didn't make it, but I still had a little hope. I think maybe God was preparing me and I guess me not hoping too much made the let down a little easier to take. Sorry that I'm rambling on, I'm just missing my baby Ava, but I LOVE the big girl she is becoming. She makes me laugh everyday, like today at the library. She has to say hi to EVERYONE we pass when we are out. So at the quiet library, she is loudly saying Hi to everybody we walked by. Even if they weren't looking at her. She is such a sweet, silly little girl!

And it all comes to an end...

Okay, it doesn't ALL come to an end, just my chance of having another bio child (that's not to say that miracles don't happen, but I already have one named Ava!). This past Friday was my set day to transfer my 2 remaining embryos, well, they thawed out non-viable. I do appreciate all the prayers, fasting, & putting our names on temple rolls, but I guess the Lord has something else planned for us. I'm not up to putting myself through torturous treatments anymore (though I still need to convince Jeremy of that), so this route is over. I'm in need off a good break, some mind clearing and time to enjoy the blessings I do have in my life. Then we'll hop on the Adoption wagon when we are re-cooperated. Though I just scheduled us to go to an Adoption conference put on by the church in November, just for info though. Thanks again for all your love and prayers, families & friends are awesome!!!



Sweet moment: Of course when I got the news Friday morning, I poured out tears, which made Ava very concerned. She gave me LOTS of hugs and kept getting me tissues and wiping my eyes. She was already helping to mend my heart, I love that girl soooo much! Love to you all!

A GREAT day at the Beach......

So last Friday (11th) we were sitting around w/ some friends discussing how hot it was supposed to be the next day and how great the beach would be, the girls (me & my friend Diana) chimed in and said let's go! We headed to Cannon Beach-about an hour and 45 min drive-but of course when we got there it was foggy/cloudy. The sun peaked through around 2pm, but that didn't stop the fun on the beach.

Jeremy came prepared w/ his BIG shovel to dig some holes and build some castles, think he was digging to China....

Oh burr, that water is COLD, not recommended for swimming!

Needed to get a butt shot, though it would have been better w/ no diaper. Ava LOVED the sand and water, she was Daddy & Grayson's little helper. Though she'd rather smash all Grayson's castle. Haha!

Ava in the ditch & loving it!

Diana & Ava dancing in the water. We had a great day together, glad we went. The boys and Ava enjoyed getting to watch a movie the way there and back. I'm ALWAYS the driver, but I like to be in charge!!! I have to say I love my mini-van for the sole purpose of the DVD player/screen. Ava wants to watch a movie every time we go somewhere, lately she's fixated on Monster's Inc. When she tells me NO about going to Betsy's house (daycare), I just tell her that she can watch Monsters and she RUNS to the car, haha. She's a freaking cutie, especially when Daddy is around to do silly things with, I'm just boring old Mom. I can't believe she'll be 2 in a month and 3 days!!! That's so crazy to me, I miss my little baby!

Going to the Fair!

When the Oregon State Fair opened this year, I said we had to take Ava to her 1st fair. Though she was in my belly the 1st time we went to an OR State Fair. She had a blast!

Enjoying a snowcone, also had to have an elephant ear, caramel apple, hot dog, ice cream, etc....too many yummy foods that aren't great for you. But who cares!

Ava had to ride the Carousel 3 times, could have been more if we weren't bored of it. She'd wave to whichever one of us wasn't on it and blow kisses to the crowd, she's a diva!


HaHa...Jeremy thought she'd do okay on a ride alone, I was skeptical...needless to say, she looked TERRIFIED everytime the helicopter passed us. But didn't start crying till we got her out of it. Good one Dad!

But she did enjoy the Dumptruck ride w/ Dad and a little Rollercoaster.

And of course there were animals, she petted a few in the Petting Area and also checked out all the Prize winning cows & bulls & pigs & llamas. She LOVED the horse show competition, got some good video of her clapping like crazy and screaming woo-hoo w/ the crowd.

It turned out to be a GREAT family day for us. And Ava was quite the trooper not getting a nap till about 4:30pm on the way home. Perfect ending to our Fair Day!