4th Quarter Recap... Long post

Here is our fourth quarter recap, which could also be called the longest post ever!
Ava was Barbie Rapunzel for Halloween. Or at least this is what she told us she wanted to be for Halloween, and the costume she wore to our church carnival. Steven and I were gone to El Dorado for my good friend Shep's wedding - so we missed most of the Halloween festivities. However, I was told that Ava was Tinkerbell for Haley's school carnival, and Supergirl for trick - or- treating.! I think her Rapunzel braid was to heavy for her to carry around! Ha! For those of you that know Ava - EVERYDAY is Halloween to her, she is a dress up girl, and is usually always naked by the time Steven gets home from work.

Peaches made Reece a cute Halloween dress - this was her costume! Since we were gone and she goes to be at the crack of dawn I did not get her a costume. Truth is, Halloween is not a big deal at our house, but Reece was still cute and still festive. My mom kept the girls while we were at the wedding and she said Reece loved the trick or treaters - she would get so excited when they came to the door!
This is one of my best friends Sarah Shepherd Rainwater - isn't she such a beautiful bride! This is how Steven and I spent our Halloween weekend and it was perfect. We had a great weekend in El Dorado!
Ava's school put on a darling Thanksgiving program. It was sooo cute. No surprise, but we could hear Ava singing over all the other kids! She is quite a mess - but a cute mess!

These were their Turkey Masks!

In December we went to our town's Christmas parade. It was sooo cold, but the girls really enjoyed themselves!

This is Ava's friend Ella - she is such a doll!

And Haley (my sister) and Ava made a very impressive gingerbread house. I am sorry I don't have a picture of the final product. It was very creative.
I just found these pictures of "Supergirl" trick or treating that my friend Jody had e-mailed to me. I don't know how to put them with the rest of the Halloween pics with out messing everything up!


Now I can move onto 2010! Finally!!!

Christmas Morning 2009!!

A lot has happened since the last time I blogged - then Reece was 8 months old - now she is 11months! So we have had Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years, etc... Everything has been wonderful. Life is just flying by so fast. Even though it's already February, one of my goals this year is to do a better job at documenting Ava and Reece's lives. This is something that I am so not good at - but hopefully by the end of 2010 I will be a pro! (and not posting Christmas pictures in Feb.) So for our families sake I wanted to go ahead and post some pictures of Christmas. It was a sweet time for our family. But I guess anytime you are celebrating the birth of Christ it's a sweet time!

Please notice the doll - that is Julie an American Girl Doll - Ava's life was complete when Santa brought her Julie. She is now a member of our family. In fact, I could do a post on her alone. It is very sweet how much Ava adores her!

8 Months!!!

Reece is 8 MONTHS old today!!! It is scary how fast these eight months have flown by. They went fast. When I was pregnant with Reece we prayed specifically for so many things for her, and the Lord was and has been so faithful. He answered each prayer - she is such a happy, healthy, content baby. Reece is a great eater and a great sleeper. She fits right in with our family, making the transistion to from a family of three to a family of four such a pleasant experience. I can't imagine life without her now. She keeps us laughing and brings so much joy to our lives. We thank the Lord for her everyday! She is truly a blessing to Steven and I.

Reece has a developed a few new things over the past few weeks:
-She can say Dada, Mama, Bye Bye, and has her own word for kitty. It sounds nothing like kitty, but it is what she says when she sees our cat.
- Reece LOVES to be outside. She likes to swing on the swing set, or sit in her exersaucer and watch Ava play outside.
- She is quite the little dancer - she sways from side to side and bounces up and down. It is super cute. She also does this thing with her head when she dances that looks like Stevie Wonder. It is too funny.

Here are a few pictures taken on her 8 month birthday!

I thought these pictures were too cute not to share - the girls were "playing" together for the first time in the playroom! It was a sweet moment that I had to capture!!

Reece Pics and Playdate!

I just realized that Reece has not been in several posts - so I wanted to add some updated pictures . She is growing up waaaayyyy too fast! Reece is 7 1/2 months old, and honestly is the sweetest, cutest, best baby ever. I know i'm her mom, but she is the best!!! So enjoyable!!
Here are few things Reece has been up to lately:
- Got her first two teeth. (on the bottom)
- Is a great eater - she eats three solid meals a day and usually has three bottles a day
- goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00 and wakes up around 7:30.
- Takes one long (usually 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours)
- sits up really well on own - Reece loves to take toys out of bowls and baskets
- love the exersaucer and jumperoo
- hates being on her belly and seems to have no interest in crawling
- is obsessed with Ava
- babbles and high pitch squeals a lot - She sounds like she are talking Chinese!
- can wave bye bye and give kisses



A few weeks ago, Reece and I went to El Dorado to meet some special friends! We met sweet Lottie Doddridge and Reece's future husband Eli Hurst. We had a great time just hanging out. Lottie's mommy Mary and Eli's mommy Amanda are college friends of mine - so it was great for our kids to meet! There is six months between each of the kids. I wish we could all get together more often. Eli and Lottie are two of the sweetest and cutest kids ever!

Thanks Mary for hosting the play date! Your house was sooo cute - I love it.

The Grape Festival

I am laughing at myself - because this was soooo long ago. But I am still attempting to catch up - It's going to be 2010 before I get everything from 2009 blogged about. Ugh well!

We met our good friends the Harris's at the Grape Festival - Ava and Natalie had a ball running from ride to ride. I was very proud of Ava, she was very brave. (Which is big for her) If I remember correctly our camera battery died after we had been there for about 15 minutes. It was a fun evening!

Carter - Man!!!!!!!!!!

Okay - so surprise, surprise - I have been a bad blogger lately!!! Somethings just don't change! I am so amazed at you all that blog everyday, or every week for that matter. Anyways, in an effort to catch up with everything I have to blog about I am starting back in July. Yes, I said July. I know it's October, but a lot has happened, so I am just going to start back in the summer.

In July, our good friends the Moss' came to visit. Bryson, Dee, and Carter used to live down the street from us. They were such great friends - the kind that you just walked into their house at any time, often unannounced. We miss them living down the street so much. They have since moved to Cincinnati, and we are still so sad about it. Ava and Carter became good friends fast, and I mean good friends. I don't know what it is about their little personalities, but they just click. They are too cute to watch, and even though we have only seen them like two or three times since they moved, A and C pick up right where they left off. They truly are great friends!! The Moss family has been gone for almost two years now and Ava still claims Carter, and only Carter, as her boyfriend!!! They are hoping to move back to Fayetteville one day so it will be neat to see Ava and Carter grow up together.
Here are a few pictures from their trip to Fayetteville this summer...