California Cousins

Amy, Paul, Taylor, Samantha, and Jackson came to visit for Thanksgiving and, needless to say, we had a really great time! Ava thought that Sam and Tay were both very funny and it seems she still thinks that Jack is a toy for her. She loved to be by him but we had to watch her fast little paws because they could be a little rough at times. I'm sure it won't be long and he'll get even. Neither Amy or I knew exactly what the babies weigh but they were matched up pretty close in weight. Taylor was excited to see Ava because she knew (and let us all know) that Ava had missed her. :) Sam might have been a little unsure of her role among all of the ruckus because she usually ended up asking someone to "hold me like a baby" or it was "Pretend I'm Ava." We played lots of pretend with Samantha, "Pretend we're cooking cupcakes" "Pretend this is a kitty" "Pretend this is our castle".

Cake!

We had a date with Ellen and her kids one afternoon a week or so ago and had lots of fun! Ellen and I got creative with scrapbook paper and the kids ran amok (mostly coloring and eating paper scraps that fell from our table). For a snack after lunch, everyone wanted cake so Bailey, Pete, and William lined up in the seats at the island and ate their cake. Not to be left out, Ava Reese was discovered catching any and all crumbs that fell from above. No one is going to keep the goodies away from her!! Seems as though someone inherited her mommy's sweet tooth...

Irish Tempers

Most everyone knows that Ava is usually very laid back and a generally content baby, right? Well, today she showed her momma that there is definitely some Irish temper behind that usually calm face. Up until now she hasn't really noticed the gate at the top of the stairs and we were happy because its not somewhere that we want her to play. I guess that today she saw me run down to the basement and thought that she needed to follow me and so was waiting at the top, hanging onto the top of the gate when I got back upstairs. I told her that she can't play there and moved her into the living room. Not what she wanted to hear, I guess, because she gave me the stink eye, hollered at me in her baby way, and made a beeline back to the top of the stairs. Again, I went over, told her no and brought her into the living room and showed her the toys she could play with there. This still wasn't what she wanted to hear and once again I am on the receiving end of her unhappy glare and lots of that Irish temper. I stepped back by the dining table to see what she would do and sure enough, she makes a speedy move across the living room floor, around the couch, and over to the top of the stairs and climbs up to look over the gate. This time when I went over to retrieve her, I hope that I hid the laugh in my voice because who knew such a tiny person could be so stubborn? :)

Shadow? What's that?

I'm pretty sure that I never posted this and its too cute not to post. Ava discovered her shadow on this sunny afternoon in early October. I'm not sure what made her notice it at first but soon she was waving her arms around and laughing as her shadow danced around.

Now this is fun!

It was time to try something more than pureed baby food so I bought Ava some "Biter Biscuits" yesterday and they were a hit! To me they look more like a doggie treat but she loved them. Here's one of the pictures (you know we took about 20 pictures of her 7 minutes gnawing on 1 cookie.) She's doing her new grin that involves a big smile and lots of snorting and bopping her head. I guess we're raising a baby dragon but isn't she so darn cute?

Ava goes farming

We had a wedding to go to this weekend in Orange City, IA and then spent the rest of our weekend "helping" Grandma and Grandpa on the farm. Here are some pictures of Ava farming. As you can see, she was thrilled. :) Okay, so it seemed like Grandpa and Dad were more excited about showing her the tractor and combine than Ava but what can we expect from an eight month old? We'll try again next year.

Ava & Aidan

We went to see our little cousin Aidan for his First Birthday a week or so ago and here are some pictures. They both thought that the other was pretty funny! We'll have to get together again soon for more baby wrestling fun!

Lots of Catching up to do!

Sorry about the lack of posts, I guess that I have some catching up to do! I thought I'd start with the Halloween costumes because that's probably the most fun. :) We've had Ava in a few costumes lately and here she is as a Lion, Chicken, and Superhero (that's her Superhero parents with her).