Our Little Monster

Ava Grace got a bag of blocks from her Great Aunt Lila and family for her birthday. She loves the blocks - knocking them down, watching them fall like dominoes, and just tossing them out of the way. She also likes the bag that they came in - isn't that always the way it is!! Looking at these pictures, it actually reminds me of her Uncle Doug using bags, masks, and pantyhose to make crazy faces at me when I was a little girl. Remember that, Uncle Doug? It really is funny to watch her with this bag over her head - don't worry - it is mesh with many, many holes in it - she can breathe! She will come at you with her hands spread out wide like she is a monster trying to scare you. Of course the closer she gets, the more she laughs. So, we have more of a silly monster than a scary monster at our house.

Happy Birthday!

Ava Grace turned 1 year old last week!! She had a big day filled with lots of fun!! We were at the beach with all (and I mean ALL) of the Shaw family. My dad's family is HUGE, but they manage to all get along so well. They come to the beach for a week every summer and this year we decided that as a family would would go too. We had a great time!! Ava Grace rolled in the sand, even ate some of the sand, and loved jumping waves. She even got knocked on her bottom by a wave and just shook her head and started laughing. I guess she gets it honest....she is going to be a "beach girl". Luke and Ava Grace had a ball playing with each other. I think he was finally glad that she was old enough to actually play with him. Too cute!!

Ava Grace isn't a big fan of cake! After having two little birthday parties and behaving the same way, we have determined that she loves cake, but not the icing. I guess it is the healthier part of the dessert!! She took one little bite and then scraped the rest of the icing off to dive into the cake. She did have it all over her face, but not quite as messy as I thought she would be. She loves everything she has received for her birthday!! Thank you to everyone who sent her gifts!!

Ava Grace also had her 1 year doctor's appointment this week. Everything was great!! She is weighing in at 22 pounds and is 31 inches long. We have really noticed how tall she has gotten lately. The doctor said that her hips are looking better too - YEAH!! She is not quite walking yet, but we don't think it will be much longer before she takes off.

Helping Mommy at School

School started again this week! We have gone 2 days with kids, so I guess that means we have 178 to go!! I had to set up a new office this year at a different school. I had the best helper ever!! Ava Grace really was a good girl just playing and crawling in and out of the bookshelves. We are definitely going to have a climber on our hands!! I'm just glad she was having fun and I was able to get work done.

Happy 4th of July!

The 4th of July came and went quickly, but we did have some family fun. We took Ava Grace to the park for a little while. She loves to swing and the higher her Daddy pushed her, the harder she laughed. Don't worry it wasn't as high as we used to go when the whole swing set would move!! She also went down the slides for the first time. Of course, I had to practically crawl inside the first tube to get her to come down. When she saw me, she laughed and her Daddy gave her a push. She liked it, so we took turns catching her at the bottom. Don't worry again....we didn't really let her go down all by herself.

We went to Columbia to see Uncle Mark and Jessica for the 4th. There was a pool party at Aunt Marsha's house with the Bonnette's and the Sturkie's. Ava Grace had a good time floating around with Daddy and playing with her pool toys. Afterwards, we went back to Mark and Jessica's house for a cookout. Ava Grace again went swimming in the baby pool and as she was playing with her toys Boss (their dog) decided he would join her. She seems to love dogs and even though Boss is the biggest dog she has been around, she went right up to him to play. Too cute! The boys played corn hole (the girls weren't invited) while the girls sat on the porch and chatted.

It was a great weekend filled with lots of fun with friends. We hope everyone had a nice 4th of July with family and/or friends!

Family Fun in Florida

We had a great time in Flordia visiting and playing with our family (Tim's family really). There were 10 children ranging in age from 15 - 1. Ava Grace had a blast playing with all of them. It was the first time that they had met Ava Grace, so I think they were excited to meet their newest cousin/great niece/great grandchild. Ava Grace also met for the first time her great-grandmother. We stayed in a suite with Meme and Pop Pop as well as Great Grandma, so I am sure that they got their fill of crawling, getting into things, and chattering. Everyone stayed in the pool all day long. Ava Grace loved it!! She has become quite the little water bug. We were scared that she would have withdrawal once we got home, but so far so good. I know that she wonders where the "big water" and all of her family are. Of course you always wish that you could stay longer, but we are thankful for the time we got to spend with everyone and we hope it isn't too long before we see them again.

We had some other visitors too. Aunt Susan and Uncle Ray came up for a night. It was great!! They got to see Ava Grace (the first time Uncle Ray had met her) right before bedtime and then ate breakfast with us the next morning. They couldn't stay too long as they had a long drive and other business to attend to, but we are soooo glad that they could make it. Thank you for all of the UNH stuff!! Ava Grace loves her sippy cup!! Matt Colin also came to visit. He coaches at Wellington HS now which is outside of West Palm Beach. We haven't seen him in a few years, so it was good to visit. He, too, could not stay long, but hopefully we will see him again soon.

We have tons of pictures from the trip, but I am only going to post a few of them.

Fun with Elmo

Cece gave Ava Grace an early birthday present, so we decided to try it out yesterday. Cece found an Elmo sprinkler mat which was just perfect for a little one who is crawling everywhere! The water up here is cold, so she wasn't too crazy about it at first, but she got used to it and walked back and forth from her "Mama" and "Dada" several times. After a while she lost some interest in the mat and decided that crawling on the grass and concrete driveway was even more fun. She is into everything!!

11 months old

It is hard to believe that in less than 4 weeks Ava Grace will be a year old! This year has been one of the most wonderful years of our lives and we can't believe that such a big event is happening so soon. First though, we celebrated Ava Grace's 11 month birthday. She has learned new things in the last month although it is getting hard to decipher what she learns when. She has added a couple of new words to her vocabulary, she has gotten more teeth (we are up to 5 with 1 more getting ready to poke through), she eats anything we give her (all table food now) and I swear she has grown a foot!! We have started brushing her teeth and she loves it. As I get ready to put the paste on the brush at night, she opens her mouth and makes an "ahhh" sound. She is a busy little girl - trying to learn to take some steps on her own. She pulls up on everything and cruises around furniture right now. Can you guess where she gets her energy?