Our little ranch outing...

This past weekend we went to the ranch of one of daddy's co-workers for a friends & family day.  Ava had a BLAST!!!  There was a bounce house, a bluebonnet flower patch, a pond, plenty of open field to run and play, as well as a tractor ride - Ava even got to drive!

Below are some pictures from our outing :)

Our attempt at getting a shot of Ava in the bluebonnets... the ones by herself didn't really work, since she wouldn't sit still ;)  The ones with daddy turned out better, even though Ava was trying to escape...and there is only one with mommy, since daddy's not quick enough on the trigger ;)

Ava was all about the bounce house.  When she got to try it out, she was the only kid around, so she had total control over the whole thing!!  Of course daddy had to be the one to follow her in there, since mommy currently has a belly the size of a watermelon!!

She couldn't get enough of the slide, she thought it was SO fun!!!

And of course there was the pond, a perfect water destination for her!  Ava would take off running down the field towards the water and would really give daddy a good workout chasing after her...it's a good thing he can run pretty fast, otherwise she would have succeeded in getting in the water!

This is Ava coming back from her tractor ride where she got to drive.  She sat in daddy's co-worker's lap (who is a grandfather and used to little ones) and steered the tractor all over the property, she was so excited when she got done with her ride :)

I still can't believe what a big girl she is getting to be... in a few short weeks she will officially be a big sister :)

Looks like someone was tired!!

Normally it takes quite a bit to get Ava to calm down enough to fall asleep, considering she is just so busy all the time!  Well, while Mommy was working from home and just needed to finish up a couple of emails, Ava just couldn't hang in there anymore.  I came out of my office to find her sound asleep on the beanbag with her baby doll while watching a Baby Einstein video... poor thing, she was tired!!! 

She was just too cute, so I had to run down to get my camera before moving her to her bed. :)



Speech development continues...

Well, in no time at all, Ava has continued to increase her vocabulary, put together pretty long sentences, and say things that we didn't even know she knew!!

Some examples:
"I want to see Vovo make big bubbles outside"

"see smoke?" - when I was making waffles in the wafflemaker (nothing was actually burning, but she was right, there was some smoke/steam coming up from the machine).

"Mommy peel orange Ava?" - she does tend to omit most prepositions, but I didn't know she knew the word "peel".

Ava can sing most of the words to "Itsy, Bitsy spider", half of the ABC song, loves singing "Old MacDonald" and adds in all the animals she wants, and can make requests of all kinds of other songs by saying a short verse or humming the tune.  ...just amazing!

All of this speech development also comes with her own little sense of humor.  The other day we were on Skype with Vovo, and Vovo and I were telling Ava to say different little phrases in Portuguese.  Ava played along, but then decided to turn the tables on me and would say:  "Mommy, say 'ahbacatu dynemaka babu'" and smile - knowing she was saying things in her own language.  I, of course, complied and she would just giggle knowing that she was in charge of the game now. :)  This little game went on for a few minutes, and she was completely entertained!

The latest funny thing was leaving a voicemail message on Vovo's phone:
"Hi Vovo!  Call me back, beijo, tchau!" ... perfectly enunciated :)  I got that one on tape to post :)

35 weeks and counting...

Our little one is continuing to grow and make my belly expand!  Ava has found it to be quite a comfortable seat ;)  We got some good belly pictures while Ava and I played outside.   Considering there is another 5 weeks to go, I'm not really sure how much more room I can make in there!!!

Ava was loving having Mommy up in the fort with her

Yes, I realize how ridiculous I look going down the slide, but I love getting any little giggle from Ava :)

Ava, the monkey :)



Visit from Dallas family and a trip to the zoo!

Ava absolutely loved having her cousins Bridgette and Aiden in town for some fun.  The kids got to play outside on the swingset, run wild at Vovo and Vovo's house, and we all went to the zoo. 

The zoo was so much fun this year, since the girls knew the animal names, sounds, and seemed to have a lot of fun (even though as it got closer to nap time, they were all ready to go home).  Thanks to Bobby, Heather & the kids for coming in town to play!!!

Next time we see everybody will be on Easter weekend, when Ava is officially a big sister and has her little sibling at home! :)

Ava loved playing the drums!!!