E Family 365

Day 365 - THE END!

2009-12-31T22:21:00.003-06:00

This little princess started her day at 4:00 a.m., and I believe she woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Instead of napping and getting happy, her day just continued to slide downhill and instead of celebrating the new year with friends, we had an intimate celebration with our family of 3. Part of having a child means doing what's best for them even when we might rather do something for ourselves. And that's ok. We were together and that's what matters.

Thank you so much to all of you who followed along with us this year. I have truly enjoyed doing this project and while I would love to continue it through 2010, my little subject avoids me and the camera like the plague! It's truly a challenge to get a good picture of her (and my non-Ava photos didn't seem to generate much interest). So, instead of making sure to get a picture a day, we will just continue to document important things and update our regular blog on a more regular basis. We hope you'll follow along with us there as well! (Adventures in Ava-Land)

Happy New Year! May 2010 be full of goodness and blessings for you and your family!

Day 364

2009-12-30T21:42:00.002-06:00

I couldn't decide so you get 3! :)

Day 363

2009-12-29T20:51:00.001-06:00

With all her new toys, she found a good way to entertain herself by wearing her stocking on her head. Oh the things she comes up with!

I can't believe we only have two more days of the 365! I hope you have enjoyed looking at it each day as much as I have enjoyed doing it!

Day 362

2009-12-28T20:19:00.002-06:00

A hard day of play in her jammies while home with Daddy today!

Day 361

2009-12-27T20:19:00.003-06:00

Helping Momma cook dinner but it doesn't look like she cared for the recipe!

Day 360

2009-12-26T21:56:00.001-06:00

Watching some Mickey Mouse in her new chair!!

Day 359

2009-12-25T20:59:00.002-06:00

Absolutely in awe at all these new things that magically appeared at her house!! ♥ it!!!

Day 358

2009-12-24T21:33:00.003-06:00

Ava is loving all the present opening! She is more interested in ripping the paper than what is inside, but at least she's having fun!!

And just because I don't know if I've ever seen a White Christmas, you get two photos tonight!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!

Day 357

2009-12-23T21:26:00.003-06:00

Zach's grandma records all the present hoopla at Christmas and Ava wanted to see the "bay-bee" on the camera!!

Day 356

2009-12-22T21:22:00.003-06:00

Ava playing on her computer on our way to our first round of Christmases!

Day 355

2009-12-21T20:07:00.002-06:00

Someone found a new place to sit! Smart kid we have!

Day 354

2009-12-20T19:59:00.000-06:00

Just having some Sunday night fun!

Day 353

2009-12-19T21:38:00.000-06:00

We've had some busy elves at our house tonight! Can't wait for Christmas morning!!

Day 352

2009-12-18T20:22:00.001-06:00

Somebody was incredibly tired tonight after a long day - pajama and pizza party at school, playing, and dinner out with her friends. What a day! (Mommy hopes that this means she will sleep extra late tomorrow!) :)

Day 351

2009-12-17T20:50:00.002-06:00

Since I was off work today for the funeral, I was able to pick up Ava a little early and we stopped by Sonic on our way home for happy hour! I got Ava her own small Cherry Limeade and boy did she love it! And boy was she ticked when I took it away after she drank half of it!

Day 350

2009-12-16T19:51:00.000-06:00

"Hey Mom! I'm eating a cookie!!"

Day 349

2009-12-15T20:44:00.002-06:00

She may look just like her Daddy but she did get a few things from her Mama - one of them being her love of talking! ;)

Day 348

2009-12-14T21:00:00.000-06:00

We went to the park to ride the holiday train and Ava was bundled up to go. She looks so excited, huh? (note the sarcasm) She did seem to have fun!

Day 347

2009-12-13T20:00:00.004-06:00

Ava's idea of helping me wrap presents was to try and open the boxes that they were in!

Day 346

2009-12-12T21:03:00.002-06:00

I am probably biased, but isn't she beautiful?? I LOVE this picture!

Day 345

2009-12-11T22:10:00.001-06:00

Is it just me or is she looking really different these days?

Day 344

2009-12-10T21:20:00.000-06:00

Looooooove this face! She makes life so much fun!!

Day 343

2009-12-09T22:05:00.001-06:00

She's always way too busy to look at her Momma. I went to school today for a few minutes b/c Santa was there for pictures and I knew Ava wouldn't do so hot (and I was right). I tried to get a picture of her playing and she was too busy driving off. Imagine that!

Day 342

2009-12-08T21:24:00.002-06:00

We are getting a special delivery tomorrow and my dad came to help Zach move the old out so we can make room. Stay tuned! Ava might be pretty shy when we go places but she's always pretty welcoming of company in her house.. guess it's because it's her territory!

Day 341

2009-12-07T21:33:00.001-06:00

When all else fails, a sleepy picture works! I can't believe we are winding the 365 down to its last days!!!!

Day 340

2009-12-06T20:06:00.001-06:00

WAHOO!!!!! She finally looked at me and posed for the camera!! This never happens!!

Day 339

2009-12-05T20:20:00.001-06:00

Is that not just adorable???

Day 338

2009-12-04T20:19:00.000-06:00

So incredibly sassy!!!!

Day 337

2009-12-03T20:40:00.001-06:00

Look at all that hair she's finally getting! It's about time!!!!

Day 336

2009-12-02T21:14:00.001-06:00

This is one of my most favorite Christmas ornaments! A guest at our wedding has a mother who hand paints ornaments and this was our wedding gift! It was perfect since we got married at the end of November. You can't see it in this picture, but there are a ton of intricate little details on this and I cherish this so much!

Day 335

2009-12-01T20:39:00.001-06:00

Today was Christmas picture day at school so Ava wore some Christmas clothes. She wasn't in the mood for a Christmas picture with her mom this morning!

Day 334

2009-11-30T20:23:00.003-06:00

Such a little diva! This is probably the closest picture I'll get of her by the tree - ha! She won't.sit.still.ever!

Day 333

2009-11-29T20:08:00.001-06:00

What a cutie pie!!

Day 332

2009-11-28T19:54:00.002-06:00

Someone had a really good time coloring this afternoon!! Good thing she had washable markers!

Day 331

2009-11-27T21:27:00.000-06:00

I'm a sucker for these big baby blues!!

Day 330

2009-11-26T19:14:00.000-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from this little turkey!!

Day 329

2009-11-25T20:49:00.000-06:00

This little girl played long and hard all day long! She was so busy she didn't even have time to nap!

Day 328

2009-11-24T20:55:00.003-06:00

Now that my Christmas stuff is out I wanted to show one of my favorite decorations - Santa holding a nativity scene!! Santa is such an iconic part of Christmas but I love how this Santa is holding Christ in the center, as Christ is the center of Christmas!

Day 327

2009-11-23T21:10:00.002-06:00

Looks a little mischievous to me!!!

Day 326

2009-11-22T19:50:00.003-06:00

"I'm ready for my bath so if you won't put me in I guess I'll just have to get in myself!!!!"

Day 325

2009-11-21T21:07:00.002-06:00

It appears as though it's going to be difficult to get a picture of Ava in front of the Christmas tree this year!

Day 324

2009-11-20T20:59:00.000-06:00

Sweet baby's way of telling Mom she was ready for bed!

Day 323

2009-11-19T20:12:00.002-06:00

Following last night's post, I figured it was only appropriate to show you that Ava found a way to get around the not seeing in the top drawer!

Day 322

2009-11-18T21:26:00.004-06:00

One of Ava's most favorite things to do right now is to open drawers and take out what's in them. In the ones she can't see in, she just stands on tippy-toes, and grabs whatever she can find. If she's satisfied with it, she takes it - if not, then it's tossed aside (as evidenced by the pile to her left). (And please excuse my dirty mirrors - sometimes before Ava's showers, I'll stand her on the counter to look in the mirror and she likes to touch!)

Day 321

2009-11-17T19:58:00.001-06:00

So innocent and sweet while she's sleeping. And do you see the pacifier stuck between her legs? ;)

Day 320

2009-11-16T20:03:00.003-06:00

I love me a baby in footed jammies!!! And it's finally cold enough to wear the fleecey fuzzy ones! Two days ago it was in the high 70s and tomorrow's high is only in the 30's!! Crazy! And can I just say I CANNOT believe there are only 45 days left in 2009!!!!! Where did the year go???

Day 319

2009-11-15T20:07:00.002-06:00

I pulled Ava's pajamas out of the dryer tonight and she took them and put them right back in there!

Day 318

2009-11-14T20:27:00.001-06:00

So sweet... little miss sitting in our bedroom eating cheerios for breakfast and watching Mickey Mouse while Mom got ready for the day!

Day 317

2009-11-13T21:21:00.001-06:00

Mad that her Mama told her no!!

Day 316

2009-11-12T20:48:00.000-06:00

We had to wait on Zach for a while tonight so Ava played with my glasses to entertain herself. Her toys weren't good enough so I had to dig through my purse - high maintenance little girl!

Day 315

2009-11-11T20:49:00.002-06:00

Ava carried around Daddy's shirt for a while tonight so I put it on her - she thought it was funny (even though her face doesn't convey it!)!

Day 314

2009-11-10T20:12:00.003-06:00

Zach had to judge some tryouts this evening and when I went to pick Ava up at Mom and Dad's, they invited us to stay for dinner since it was one of Ava's favs! She was about done and my mom picked up a fork to feed her a few more bites and when she set the fork down, Ava picked it up and actually got a bite in her mouth!!!! I guess it's time to try to teach her to eat with utensils and not her hands!

Day 313

2009-11-09T20:11:00.002-06:00

Ava is very into figuring out this toy. She is trying very hard to get the shapes back into the box. She's not there yet but she's got the concept down and will get there some day! I love watching her little mind learn!!

Day 312

2009-11-08T19:02:00.001-06:00

Fun picture of Daddy and Ava playing tonight while Daddy grilled dinner!

Day 311

2009-11-07T19:58:00.001-06:00

My pretty Razorback girl was proud of her Hogs today! She even did a little Hog callin' when she heard it on tv! :)

Day 310

2009-11-06T19:33:00.002-06:00

NO MORE CAST!!!!!! And look at that healed wrist in fine form throwing a ball while she enjoyed a bath with no bag on her arm!!!

Day 309

2009-11-05T20:51:00.001-06:00

Just for fun, I put Ava's binky in her little shirt pocket tonight and she couldn't get it out so she just stuck it in her mouth while it was still in the pocket. She's so resourceful!

Day 308

2009-11-04T20:39:00.003-06:00

We have an appointment on Friday to have Ava's wrist x-rayed without the cast to see how it's healing. I am sooooooooooooo hoping that she won't have to wear the cast any longer. I sure won't miss her banging on things as in the picture above!!! She bangs that dumb cast on everything!!!!!

Day 307

2009-11-03T19:45:00.002-06:00

It is such a struggle to change Ava's clothes these days. She almost looks like a criminal on the ground getting cuffed!

Day 306

2009-11-02T19:43:00.002-06:00

Spaghetti night = first class trip to the bath tub!!!

Day 305

2009-11-01T19:09:00.002-06:00

Whenever she hears it open, Ava comes from wherever she is to "help" with the dishwasher. She gets mad when we close it unless we trick her and tell her to help close it - then she doesn't mind!

Day 304

2009-10-31T20:12:00.004-05:00

Happy Halloween from our little elephant!!!!

Day 303

2009-10-30T20:17:00.002-05:00

Love her shirt someone gave us!!

Day 302

2009-10-29T20:06:00.003-05:00

Ava had a party at school today and got to bring home some treats. She decided tonight that she needed to throw them all out to find what she wanted! She's going trick or treating at school tomorrow so I'm sure she'll be bringing more junk home!

Day 301

2009-10-28T21:06:00.006-05:00

We purchased our Halloween candy tonight and the bag of variety M&M's had the mini ones and I wanted to see what Ava thought of them. She loved them! But the crazy teething that's going on is producing major excess drool so the colors were running out of her mouth! Here's the blue mouthed girl.
P.S. - Zach tried to bite his tongue and not say "I told you so" when Ava fought sleep for like an hour after we put her down... oops I guess she had a little too much chocolate!

Day 300

2009-10-27T19:50:00.003-05:00

Ava walked around for a half hour like this just giggling away. Does it make me a bad mom that I laughed when she walked straight into the entertainment center and banged her head? If it makes it better, she laughed too!

Day 299

2009-10-26T20:30:00.002-05:00

As hard as she tries, she just can't get her own jacket on yet.

Day 298

2009-10-25T19:58:00.003-05:00

I think it is so cute when Ava sits down by herself to "read" a book. She usually can't sit still long enough for me to read her a story but she likes to sit down and flip through the book several times by herself.

Day 297

2009-10-24T20:53:00.004-05:00

How cute is this dress? Thanks, Jill! We LOVE it! I'll give ya a better scoop tomorrow on the other blog! :)

Day 296

2009-10-23T19:51:00.004-05:00

Ava and Daddy didn't have school today so they hung out at home in their jammies (at least Ava did), and she walked around for quite some time with part of her stacking rings toy in her mouth. Such a goob!

Day 295

2009-10-22T20:30:00.002-05:00

Ava was letting me know it was time to go to school as she tried to open the door.

Day 294

2009-10-21T20:40:00.003-05:00

Guess who got a pretty pink cast today??

Day 293

2009-10-20T19:48:00.003-05:00

Some days I wish more than anything that Ava could talk and that she could explain to me why she does things - for instance, why did she feel the need to repeatedly kiss the floor tonight???

Day 292

2009-10-19T19:42:00.002-05:00

Oh the things Ava does

Day 291

2009-10-18T19:32:00.002-05:00

She looks like a zombie. Mommy feels the same way, Ava!

Day 290

2009-10-17T19:54:00.003-05:00

Ava was apparently on a very important phone call.

Day 289

2009-10-16T20:03:00.000-05:00

Gotta quench the thirst however you can!

Day 288

2009-10-15T21:30:00.002-05:00

Golf club? Microphone? Only Ava knows!

Day 287

2009-10-14T20:29:00.003-05:00

Today is just the sweet face of a sweet girl who has been such a trooper through a couple of tough confusing days! ♥ her so much!

Day 286

2009-10-13T19:53:00.003-05:00

Poor sweet baby with a her little broken wrist! What a day!

Day 285

2009-10-12T20:13:00.003-05:00

Mondays are Ava's days to be picked up early from school to go home with Grandma. I went to pick her up after work and she was SO happy and they said she'd been so sweet and happy all afternoon. She was apparently very generous with some slobbery kisses today and was all around sweet and happy. And she played so hard that we weren't two minutes on the way home and I looked back and found this! :)

Day 284

2009-10-11T19:48:00.001-05:00

Just a sweet picture of a little girl who's been sweet and happy all weekend!

Day 283

2009-10-10T21:15:00.002-05:00

Is any of that for me??????

Day 282

2009-10-09T21:24:00.001-05:00

Time to go to school on a cold, rainy morning! And since she's eating her jacket, I feel the need to defend ourselves and say that we do feed her breakfast!

Day 281

2009-10-08T20:55:00.003-05:00

While we were getting ready for school this morning, Ava spotted her pink shoes (which she is incredibly proud of) and sat down and tried to put them on! It was so cute! She tried for a while and couldn't figure it out, but she at least knows where they go! (And if you are wondering why she's wearing a hat, it's because she hates things on her head and I'm trying to get her used to it because she will be wearing them this winter!!)

Day 280

2009-10-07T20:46:00.002-05:00

Whoa! Gotta do some sit ups!

Day 279

2009-10-06T19:51:00.002-05:00

Ava is having a lot of fun hitting her golf balls lately. She should be ready to hit the course with her Daddy and Grandpa next summer!!

Day 278

2009-10-05T20:38:00.000-05:00

Ava is pretty impressed with Dancing with the Starts this season - she likes to watch and then clap! And in case you wondered, bouncy seats make great trampolines!!

Day 277

2009-10-04T20:45:00.002-05:00

Ava got a belated birthday gift from her uncle today.. her first little black dress from the Gap. Her leggings today just happened to go well with it!

Day 276

2009-10-03T21:32:00.003-05:00

Several things to note so we'll use a list:

This is Ava laughing at her Mom and Dad trying to teach her to call the Hogs
This is Ava playing with the cover that was on the top of the laptop. We got the new laptop in January and had managed to keep the plastic cover on to prevent lots of little fingerprints. Ava's been trying to get it off for months and succeeded tonight. She played with this thing for like 30 minutes until Zach was sick of the noise and threw it away. She even went to the trash can to try to get it out.
This is a deceiving picture of Ava as she has been a HOLY TERROR tonight. I do not know where our sweet girl has gone, but I pray she returns tomorrow - otherwise it will be a long day.

Day 275

2009-10-02T21:39:00.001-05:00

Mickey Mouse got some major smoochies from Miss Ava tonight!

Day 274

2009-10-01T19:42:00.002-05:00

Not only does she do the laundry and mow the lawn, she's now vacuuming! What a helpful little girl we have!

Day 273

2009-09-30T20:27:00.001-05:00

Even though she got gobs of new toys for her birthday, Ava's favorite toy remains her stacking rings!

P.S. - Jill, I thought of you when I put her in the polkie-dot shirt!! :)

Day 272

2009-09-29T21:05:00.002-05:00

Two fistin' it..

Do you think she has an attachment to her pacis???

Day 271

2009-09-28T20:41:00.003-05:00

Sometimes life is just so unfair!

Day 270

2009-09-27T20:39:00.001-05:00

Someone had spaghetti for the first time tonight and loved it!!

Day 269

2009-09-26T21:05:00.000-05:00

No time for pictures, Mom... gotta read some instructions for one of the many new toys I have!

Day 268

2009-09-25T21:06:00.001-05:00

Ava has lots of new push toys, but she prefers to pull them. She also likes to bite her sleeves now that she's wearing some long sleeve shirts. Nice.

Day 267

2009-09-24T21:31:00.001-05:00

After a very busy night on her social calendar, Miss Ava was very tired when we got home!

Day 266

2009-09-23T20:24:00.002-05:00

Ava has so many new toys to play with and she was so excited when she realized she could pull this little toy behind her!!