So fresh and so clean!

My house is so organized right now I can hardly even stand it!!! Just thought I'd share some pics. Once I got my Christmas stuff put away, I was just in the mood to get things organized, and was in a PURGING mood! I finally came to the conclusion that I don't need (literally) 100 gift bags (a few of each type and size would be sufficient). I also don't need 15 extra copies of Ava's birth announcement. I've scrapped one and saved several...nor do I need 100 hangers...you know, the kind that comes on the clothing!! WhAt the HeCK????? This is how I ended up with about 10 bags of trash (and about 5 or so tubs with garage sale items!).

We are hoping to put our house up for sale SOON so I also wanted to get the staging process started. I think I did a pretty good job in about probably 20 hours of work time. I did it all by myself, including the rearranging of furniture. So...who needs P90X?? haha! I am anxious to talk to the bank again and a realtor, but I am HOPING it works out to put our house up for sale in March and try to sell by summer since it didn't happen last year. Then we can look for a new place. I am even willing to move into an apartment if we have to so we aren't rushed while looking but WE'LL see!!!!!!!!! I know that would be hard. Anyway, I am kind of a neat freak (though you wouldn't always know it...haha!). Now if only I didn't have to work, I think I could keep my house looking this way! (I wish I had taken before pics!)



Dining room. I moved the table at an angle instead of square. I moved the curio cabinet out of the corner and onto the one wall so I could hang the 3 boards there (2 cork and one magentic). I also switched Ava's little kitchen cabinet (made by my great-grandpa for my mom) and a wire shelf that you can't see.



New set up in the living room.


My office/play room...

I got new bins for my shelf a while back and the brown polka dot ones for Christmas.

This is the area right between the living room and dining room.

Back to regular decor on my shelves. I switched up just a few things.

Ladder shelf - I was debating what to do with this thing. I still like the shelf but was wanting to move it. Instead I just redecorated it as well and I LOVE IT!

IKEA is having a sale right now and I think we are heading up there this weekend as Travis got Texas de Brazil gift cards for Christmas and his mouth has been watering ever since. YAY for me, though, because this is just about the only way he agrees to go to IKEA. Not sure what the sale will have in store for me other than a dresser (can't fully finish our bedroom until I get one). We got a new flat screen TV for our bedroom for Christmas (our gift to each other) so we can get our huge one and stand out of there. I am in desperate need of a dresser!! I don't plan to buy much else since I don't want to put more furniture in our house if we are going to move soon!

Wish us luck!

Lastly, the only thing I need a solution for is WINTER COATS. Ick. I have a really cute shelf hanging right inside the door but I hate how cluttered it gets with all of our coats. My 'coat' closet is already filled with other coats. hmmmm...a sign I need to get rid of a few??? We'll see.

Ava update

Miss Ava is now 19 months old and still cracking us up! She is so fun and FUNNY!!! She is continuing to talk a LOT and repeat most everything so I have had to stop saying a *FEW* things (such as: Oh my God, What the heck, Crap, etc.). Luckily, that is about the worst of it. haha!

She is still into Dora right now. Thank you On Demand!! Although, there are only 4 episodes which have been there for a LONG time so I could probably say the whole episode word for word! Not that she watches THAT much Dora!!! And I did get smart and record a new episode!

She will say "show" and "movie" and when you turn on the TV, she will say "mote" for remote. (again, we don't just sit around and watch TV all the time!!) ha! We figured out that the reason she says "movie" when we get in the van is because of our sitter. She has to take the kids every day to pick up her daughter from school and I think they watch a movie when they go. The sitter mentioned it one day and though I would prefer she not watch movies EVERY time in the vehicle, oh well, I suppose!

She continues to put herself in timeout. She grabbed about 4 stuffed animals the other day and put them on the rug and said "mout" (time-out). haha!

She LOVES books and is learning new things all the time. We are working on colors and shapes right now. I think she knows a few colors and she knows what a star is!

Other words she says all the time: lotion, tissue, potty, pooping, OH NO!, color (crayons), book, "rosie" (ring around the rosie...she LOVES it!), baby, coat, glub for glove, hat, shoes (she can say it now), backpack (Dora), bash (bath), nigh-night, blanket, binky, LOUD!, shhhhhh, milk, bacelet (bracelet), belly, Coooookie!, "no, no, no, no (with a pointed finger)," get it (I often say, "I'll get it" or "Can you get it," right back, fishy (she still loves her fishies in her crib) and those are just a few. =) If you ask her, she can say just about anything. She hears me yell for Travis so she will imitate that so you'll hear her saying "Bab (her version of Trav), then Daddy..." I love it!!! Travis, not so much. haha! She has recently started saying "Bless you" when you sneeze and even "Thank you!" ***(adding this on...) Not sure how I could forget. She says On and Off but off is more like "asssss" with a short A sound, however. I think she has a British accent. She also says "eeeeeeelllllllllooooo for hello. haha! =)

Travis and I agree that she is a really good girl! (Wondering if that means she will be a terror at 2 or 3??? haha!). She is always a good shopper, loves people (says Hi and Bye to everyone anytime we are out), does well going out to eat and has been good at home, too. She doesn't throw too many fits and is easily distracted if she does start to get upset. We always remind her to "say" what she wants not scream it. She also uses her manners and says "please" for everything!! We are working on getting her to come to us when we say "come here."

We are still working on the whole potty thing. She will tell you she is pooping usually, but it's too late. A few times she has said "pooping" and I'll sit her on the potty but after about 10 mins and no poop, we just put the diaper back on (I'd prefer no more pooping on the floor!). I am still in no rush and know that I'll have all summer to work on it with her. I'm just continuing to keep her aware and try in the event she will actually go on the potty and then want to go more!

The Big 33

"The secret to staying young is to live honestly, eat slowly, and lie about your age."
-Lucille Ball

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a fun birthday! The night before my b'day I went to my Grandma's for a Bettis girls sleepover. (pics to come when I upload from my other camer). My cousin Anna was home from AZ, which was really why we were getting together. It just so happened to be around my b'day so my mom got me a DQ cake! MY FAVE!! YUM! We played games, did our nails, chatted ,and of course, ATE more yummy food!

The next day on my actual birthday, I went to lunch with my fellow art teacher friends because one of the past art teachers moved to Colorado and was in town. We went to Swingers and while it was yummy, I had a stomach ache most of the rest of the day so I had to skip the plans of going to dinner with Travis and Ava. Luckily I was feeling better just in time to go to a late movie. Nanci came over to watch Ava and Travis and I went to see Gulliver's Travels. It was pretty cute! =)

I had several other birthday celebrations, too! =) Kim, Annie, Katie and Bridget (friends from school) met me for dinner at CJ's - a yummy local place and friends Paula, Brooke, and Karen #2 (friends from Chiddix) met me at Reality Bites for dinner and drinks.

Here's to 33!

Word!

This is for you, Katie!!!!

"Word!!!!!!!!"

Ava has been copying us (on top of repeating everything we say!). If we have our arms crossed, she will totally cross hers so we started saying, "Word! (to your motha!)" and she will say it, too! Sooooooooo funny! It doesn't come out quite right, but we know what she is saying. Hilarious!

ps. Check out that morning "hair!" WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Random

This blogpost is going to be really random...I'll just tell you that up front! I am super excited that there are only 2 more days til BREAK! YAHOOOOOOOOOO! It will be awesome to have time with my little munchkin, a break from the kids (though I love em) and a chance for a fresh start in 2011! I am also super excited that my Christmas shopping is done! Travis has a few things to buy for his dad - he was in charge of that one, and I do have a few birthday presents to buy people that have December birthdays but otherwise, I've been done for a while! I am having shopping withdrawals, however!!!!!!!!!!!!! Feeling like I need to get out and buy something!

In other news...Miss Ava is cracking us up!!! She is almost 19 months old and so much fun!! I don't want to forget any of the cute little things she is saying and doing! She has been called a "parrot" by numerous people lately and she does REPEAT EVERYTHING!! Time to start watching what you are saying around the little birdie! She has so much emotion, can be pretty dramatic, and is always sooooooooooo happy! Love this child! She wakes up happy, loves books, animals, Dora and giving kisses! Her favorite things to say lately are: all the kids' names from daycare...Emersyn, Ethan, Izzy, Luke (Uke); moo-cow, gross (the sitter says this...LOL!), "Dori" for Dora, Backpack, Map, Kitty (still loves her furreal kitty), "mout" for time-out...(she even puts herself in time-out), "shhhhhh," baby, away (throw or put things away), walk (she likes to walk out to the car when I pick her up...), "bless you" when you sneeze (hehe!), she will repeat "honey" if we call each other or her honey, poopin...ha!, chair, man for snowman, elf, "outit" for outfit, tissue, lotion. Those are just a few!

Funny stories:
The other night, I had the movie, Elf, in the computer because I watched it while icing my sugar cookies in the kitchen. So, the next night I decided to turn it on while Ava and I were in the living room hanging out. It got to the part when the nun is putting the baby in the crib in the orphanage (at the very beginning) and Ava starts weeping a little (here comes the drama), and even seems to have a few tears, and was saying "night-night in a very sad voice. Then a few minutes later, she was messing with the computer and the movie popped out - so I restarted it and let it get to that part and she did the same thing! It was so funny and odd all at the same time. She loves going night-night and always goes to sleep on her own just fine so I have no idea why that scene was making her so sad!?

As I mentioned earlier, she puts herself in time-out. The other day she hit me (not like it hurt...haha!) and then immediately said "mout" for time-out and marched herself over to the rug where she sits in time-out. I joked that yeah, not sure what that is saying about her!!!

She is a little faker sometimes. If she is in trouble or in time-out, she will fake cry (yes, sometimes it's real though!) which then usually makes us laugh!

We aren't really potty-training yet but we have the potty and occassionally I'll try to put her on it in hopes she'll go - and then maybe she'll "GET" what she is supposed to do. She already says potty, poop and pee, but has yet to go on it. I am not concerned with it but like I said, I'd like to keep her aware and attempt it here and there. Well, the child is the most regular person I know (she eats, she poops, she eats, she poops...all day long!) so yesterday she had just eaten breakfast, we were playing and then she said "poopin" so I assumed she was either pooping or maybe just tooting (she gets the 2 confused!). We stripped her down after I checked and no poop yet, and I was having her sit on the potty. Well, she would get up, sit back down, get up, etc. and I was watching her *pretty* carefully in hopes I'd catch her if she started to and sit her on the potty. NOT A CHANCE! I was talking to my sister on the phone - which I'm sure didn't help...haha! but the child didn't squat or give any signs and WALAAAAAA---I see poop---ON THE FLOOR! I did kind of freak out, told my sister I'd call her back and quickly realized it was too late. This all took place in the living room, so I carried her upstairs (where more poop landed...), she somehow got poop on her foot, I threw her in the tub and she did NOT like that! She was screaming hysterically!!!! We finally got everything cleaned up and she calmed down so as long as I didn't traumatize her for life, we'll try again someday!!!!! Poor thing!

She also LOVES LOVES LOVES music! Her favorite song lately is "head, shoulders, knees and toes." It was on a baby einstein video we had watched in the van while traveling back home a while back and since then I've had it in my head. She LOVES it! If you sing it, she will sign and say "more, more, more" UNTIL you sing it again. She also loves music on TV, videos, shows, etc. and will say "more, more, more" so sometimes we'll rewind it so she can see it again. Now she will say "HEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAADDDDDD" meaning that she wants you to sing "head, shoulders, knees and toes." So cute! She loves to dance and attempts to snap, too!!

She will say "shhhhhhhhh, shhhhhhhh" anytime she hears a baby crying (or child) when we are out and about. It is hilarious! What is more hilarious is when she is crying, she will stop and "shhhhhh" herself!!! Then she'll cry some more usually!

More to come!!!!!!!!!!!

You Better Watch Out...

When we were little, my older sister, Tammy, used to ANTAGONIZE the crap out of me! She knew how to push my buttons and could make me CRY and POUT with the drop of a hat. Every holiday season, she would bug me and bug me and make me cry (as usual) and then she'd sing "You better watch out, you better not CRY, you better not POUT, I'm telling you why..." and I'd cry and POUT even more! Just a little story to go along with little Miss Ava's Santa pic from 2010. Her POUTY face cracked me up! She would NOT look at Santa but I was expecting some major freaking out so when she just sat there with her pouty face, I was super shocked!!!!!!! This WOULD have been an awesome Christmas card photo (I agree, Megan! =) but my card was already done. {Editing done at http://www.picnik.com/}

On that note....

Super excited about my Christmas Card this year! I used my Creative Memories digital scrapping software to make it and ordered them through http://www.winkflash.com/.

I got a great deal as the cards were on sale (and I was able to upload the card I created as my 'photo' into a blank template)...but it won't beat the deal at Sam's, I know! (100 cards for $15!). Oh well! Here's a SNEAK PEAK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't look if you want to be surprised!! HEHE!

I also loved how this photo turned out. It was just one I took of Ava by the tree and then edited on picnik as well. Love that site!

Don't you just love her cheeks!!!?? I could just EAT HER!! And trust me, I kiss those cheeks a million times a day!

Misc. from Nov!

I am soooooooo behind with blogging! Here a few pics from November!!!


Miss Ava snapping! She loves music! I can't wait to finally get her signed up for Kindermusik! This will be the BEST time to have her signed up anyway!!!! This was my 2nd attempt at her 18 month chair pics! Isn't that the CUTEST shirt/dress EVER!? I got it at Target for $2.88. I think it was on clearance because it is supposed to be a summer dress (it is a 12 mo size) but I paired it with some little black leggings and a long-sleeve shirt under it! >3


Happy Turkey Day 2010! This was taken the day after at Cousin Megan's house.


My garage sale $2 plate that came with the stand. =) Love that I can decorate it for each season. Since this photo, I've added a red strand of sparkly garland through the holes with a bow on top. *I just wrote "May Your Days Be Merry and Bright" with a dry-erase marker! =)

LOVED LOVED LOVED this bus stop in Chicago! Thanks Lori for taking some awesome photos of me there! (though I think my mom actually took this one with my camera).

We had a lot of fun in Chicago - as I said before, it was definitely an adventure!! (Long story short, we got caught up in the 2 million people there for the Christmas parade).