Miss Ava

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

{Dr. Seuss}

We have been so blessed with such a good girl...not to mention funny, goofy, silly, haha...She continues to crack us up every day. She does get her share of Time-Outs, though!!


Why, you say????? =)

This was me attempting to get her 2 year chair pics.


This was on her actual birthday. Per tradition (and until she can request the restaurant!), we took her to Chili's. They even have a FREE birthday Sundae...SCORE!! I think she liked it.

My little munchkin just chilling on the steps with her drink (probably "lemon-dade" if you ask her), a chip and her cool shades.

We went to friend Izzy's 2nd birthday party the first weekend in June and it.was.hot. We had lots of fun, though and I threw Ava's hair up in a ponytail and THIS is how it turned out. I hope her hair stays this adorable forever!!! People out and about everywhere ask me (DAILY!) if her hair is natural. It cracks me up because what I want to say is "No, I curl it every day." LOL. Am I mean????? =) ha. Just kiddin. They are just giving her a compliment, I know!


Yes, we enrolled her in etiquette classes early. 2 isn't that young!


Other randoms...
It is amazing how much difference just a few weeks (days!?) makes in Ava's vocabulary. Our pediatrician did say (or maybe I read it somewhere) that we would be amazed with the language she will gain from age 2 to 3. She is apparently listening even when we don't really think she is. For example, today we got out of the van and she said, "It's chilly outside." I just had to laugh. She has also started saying things like "didn't he" and "isn't it." I have a few Precious Moments figurines that I have on her dresser in her room and she loooooves the bunny one I have and likes to give it kisses at night and in the morning. Last night she said, "Bunnies, cute, aren't they?" Everything is "My do it." Her new thing in the last few days is "bring it wissss us?" (with us) when she wants to bring a toy with us in the van. She also is becoming more aware of her surroundings and says things like "kitchen, basement, living room, upstairs, back door, etc." She also says "my bringing it" and today even said "pretend" when she was putting her baby's bottle in her mouth and I told her we just pretend (and then I demonstrated). It was really cute. Oh and she has even upgraded "Stop that" to "YOU stop that!" hahahaha!
Not all words come out perfectly, of course.

I have been going to the chiropractor and the office is very kid-friendly and when I asked, they said to bring her with me so that is nice. I have been telling her we are going to the dr. to make mommy's back feel better. Now anytime I (or Travis) moan or groan about something or even yawn, she asks..."Dr.?? Feel better??"

I am hoping that our little excursions this summer will help with her shyness/timidness. She has done great at the chiro! The only thing that freaks her out is when the adjustment bed moves. One of the office staff ladies took her to her desk today to color. :)
Our most recent nursery visit also went a lot better and she ran around Trav's office today not afraid of ANYONE! She was giggling and showing off the whole time. HOWEVER, immediately after we went to lunch and she was fine and being social to others around (turning her head and saying "Hiiiiiiiiiiiii" to one of the waiters and THEN...she saw some regular guy sitting at a table about 15 feet away and FREAKED OUT! She cried and cried and wouldn't eat. I did get her out but only after telling her she had to stop crying (which she attempted to do) but you can see real tears and that she is really scared of something (not just whining!). So anyway, I get her out and she just sat on my lap and then when the guy and his buddy left, she said "all gone." I am not sure what to do about this! But for now we are just trying to Keep Calm and Carry On!

*KEEP SCROLLING!!!!!!! Don't Miss Ava's 2nd Birthday Party Blog Post!!!

C...is for Cookies!

I had sooooooooooooooooo much fun planning Ava's 2nd Birthday party! I chose the theme "Milk & Cookies" after browsing online for some cute/unique ideas. And WHO DOESN'T LOVE MILK & COOKIES!? I would say that 99% of my ideas came from the internet, so thank you fellow bloggers for some ADORABLE ideas!!!

The Milk & Cookies table

The table included a variety of cookies - almost all homemade! Chocolate chip by my mom, Snickerdoodles by my sis, No Bake by Ava's Daddy, Peanut Butter with Reeses Pieces by me (AKA, Ava's mommy!), Individually wrapped Sugar cookies with a "2" made again by me! (my tradition! And then we purchased 2 types of Oreos and "Raspberry filled Pillow Cookies" from our local Fresh Market (= YUM!!!).

We had paper sacks for guests to fill up with cookies to take home!

Oh and don't forget the varieties of flavored MILK!! My mom even found these cool flavored milk straws which we placed in old Starbucks Frappucino bottles and Snapple Tea bottles!









The Birthday girl in her birthday shirt painted by ME!! Ready to party!!





My Grandma has been making cakes since I was 2 (ha!) and graciously agreed to make Ava's 2nd birthday cake. I really didn't care what she did (they always taste yummy too!). We loved her "wafer" cookie cake!

She also made these cute cake pops!! THEY WERE AWESOME! :)



Happy Birthday Ava!!!

You can see more from my friend Katie's blog here. :) She got some great shots, and frankly, I wish you could upload more photos at a time so I'm being lazy!!

There were a few more things I would have liked to do for the party, but I told myself that whatever we got done, we would be happy with. The end of the school year is just CrAzY soooooo I think we did pretty well. :) And the weather could not have been more perfect especially with the chance for RAIN.

I made this sign and had people stick their heads in the holes. If nothing else, it was fun (funny!)

Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!

Dear Ava,
You are 2!!!!! It is hard to believe...
I want to capture every.single.moment with you right now as you are blossoming into your own little person so I'm writing you this letter. You are hilarious, expressive, shy, smart, dramatic at times, a good eater, and sweet. Right now you are into giving *hugs* and *kisses* especially when we leave in the morning. You have so many little expressions and are talking a mile a minute. There is really no way to keep track of what you say and you are talking in little sentences.

It is hard to figure you out sometimes. You are so social and love to say "HI" to everyone while we are out and about, for example, yet you get very shy around certain people and even CRY hysterically around some men. ?? You say "oooooowwwwwwww" a lot (especially when you get your hair combed) and will say "Kiss It" when you get hurt - no matter where/what it is that hurts. You love to be outside!! Your eyes are very sensitive to bright lights and the sun so we have little sunglasses for you that you actually keep on pretty well!

You can be a bit dramatic at times (LOL) and definitely test mommy and daddy often. You have to sit in "time-out" for hitting, throwing toys, saying "NO!!!!!!!" and crying for no reason but you are a really good girl. You don't have a mean bone in your body and are so sweet but You. Are. 2! :)
You are a happy little thing. You wake up in the morning as cheerful as can be and will play in your crib for quite a while. Usually we hear you in there giggling at yourself, saying "Mommmmmmmmyyyyyy, where are you??" or "Commmmeeeerrrre (come here)."

You are still a great sleeper but you often cry when mommy or daddy walk out of the room. It usually only lasts a few minutes or LESS. You have been waking up earlier than you used to (7am!!!!!!!! used to be more like 8 or 8:30) but it is still a little random.

One of my favorite times of the day is our "snuggle time." Our nighttime routine is dinner, play, bath, jammies, books, prayers and then snuggling. We usually rock for about 5 minutes or so. At this time, you looooove to be tickled and always say "more more." I just started giving you butterfly kisses and you just GIGGLE AND GIGGLE! We also sing. Your favorite right now is "Crinkle, Crinkle." (Twinkle, twinkle). We also sing "Jesus Loves Me, Hush Little Baby, and Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." We always ask who you want to snuggle with and lately it's been all mommy. You love your daddy for sure but you are definitely a momma's girl.

You love Kindermusik. You always request the CD to be on in the car. Soooooo, mommy and daddy know ALL the lyrics to every K musik song. :) We even listen to them in them in the car when you are not in the car before we realize we CAN change the channel.

You love to be outside!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You love the slide, going to the park and going for stroller rides. I am so excited I just got you a little slide at a garage sale for $5. :)

Funny things you've been saying/doing lately...

• 
  
  Stop it, or Stop that!



• Last night you put your bath toys (penguin, ducks) in time out on the edge of the tub. I was playing along and got in their faces and said, "Oh, why did you do that? You need to listen." You then said, "Why...do dat!?" Oh so cute!
  


• I do it!
  


• Where are you?
  


• What's that??? What's that??? What's that??? (x a million, LOL)
  


• Who's that?
  


• I eat it all
  


• awwww. Sweet. (about babies, birds, etc.)
  


• I hear it
  


• Luz you (love you)
  


• You mix up a few letters and I LOVE it. You say "sunny" for funny and "crinkle crinkle" for Twinkle, Twinkle. You also say "grink" for drink. WE LOVE IT!
  


• OH MY GOODNESS!
  


• Nothin' in there
  

Favorite foods:

• You still love cottage cheese. I swear, you could eat the whole container
  


• Regular cheese
  


• Yogurt
  


• Craisins
  


• Spaghetti
  


• Cereal
  


• Cookies!!!!!!!!
  


• Hamburgers with ketchup (lots...just like daddy).
  


• You will try just about anything. You don't like lettuce. :)
  

Favorite Books:

• Ten Little Babies. You call it "Sticky Babies" because on one page there are "8 sticky babies, in marmalade heaven."
  


• Pooh book from Aunt Bridgett. It was cousin Isabelle's favorite too!!! Pooh gets stuck in the door from eating too much honey. On the page where you see Pooh's "behind," you say "butt!" OOPS!
  


• Prayer Book
  

Your Friends:

• Kids at Tammy's, the sitter: Emersyn, Ethan, Lucas, Zachary, Annah and Seth (Sitter's kids)


• Holden and Hunter


• Izzy and Tyler


• Lauren and Luke


• Caroline who we see at Kindermusik, too


• Colin, Cade and Chase


• Your cousins, Belle and Livy and Jackson (we miss them tons!)


• Cousin Ella in MN who we also miss


• Cousin Redd:)
  


• I am excited for a summer of fun. We already have play dates and pool dates set up weekly. WHOHOO!

And as I said on facebook this morning, "2 years ago our lives changed (for the better obviously!). Sometimes I wish time would stand still, but I am loving watching you grow up. We love you more than anything in the world." Happy 2nd Birthday Ava!!!!! Love, Mommy and Daddy



ps. I apologize for all of the SPPPPPPAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCEEEEEEESSSSSSSSS in my blog text. It automatically enters it anytime I upload a photo, save a draft and then go back to edit it. ANNOYING!

Mother's Day

Happy MoThER's Day 2011

Me and my munchkin after church. She wasn't really into our photo session. :) I had to tickle her to get her to smile and avoid her wanting down! ha!




She reeeeeeeeeeally wanted to sit in her own chair! Ok...fine :)







My sis, mom, me









The Bettis MOMS!

Cunningham Fam

We had a nice Mother's Day. Got up early so we could make the 9:00 church service. I have been wanting to get to church so TODAY was the day! =) We attempted the nursery, but one of the ladies had to come get me. Apparently Ava didn't seem to notice too much that we were gone until "some big burly guy" dropped off his son. Oh and she said he stuck around to wipe noses, etc. LOL! I calmed her down, which took several minutes and snuck out again...but only to hear her crying before I got out of the cafeteria next to the nursery. I couldn't take it and I just took her back into the service with us. She sat quietly with her baby, bottle and blankie for the rest of the service. Just relaxing. She even shared her baby with the nice older man sitting next to me. Oh that girl! =) The ladies in the nursery had some great suggestions for the upcoming times so hopefully since we'll be making it a priority it will get better with time. I'll eventually have to let her cry I suppose...

Then we dropped by home to pick up our cheesy potatoes, change clothes, etc. and head to my aunts to have lunch with my mom's side of the family. It was great to see everyone. The weather was beautiful and I got to see my sister and nieces and nephew Jackson, too, WHO I MISS TONS! Of course, I got to see my mom, too, but I see her more often, I guess. =) It was fun.

*Ava even fell asleep on the way home! YAY! We were beginning to get worried as the last 2 times traveling have equaled NO NAP for her! She fought it, but finally fell asleep.*

Cutest Baby Boy in the WOrLd!

We ended the evening by playing outside, walking to Gene's for ice "tream" as Ava would say. Travis and I watched Due Date and had popcorn after putting her to bed.

I have an appointment tomorrow so no school for me! Can't say I'm too upset about it! It's MONDAY, ya know!!!!!!!!!!

Would you believe that this SWEET little blue-eyed girl threw a screaming, crying, temper tantrum for *almost* the ENTIRE 2 hour drive home on Easter Sunday?????

We had already driven 2 hours to Travis' parents that morning, had lunch, played, etc. then at around 3pm decided to head home. She hadn't napped yet and we assumed she would just nap in the car on the way home. NOT SO MUCH!

She has never done this before so not sure what the deal was. (This was also the first time riding an extended period in the car with no binky!) It started out that she wanted a movie on. She kept saying, "movie? movie?" When we said, "No, it's time to go night-night." that did not make her happy, LOL! We don't ALWAYS show her movies in the van. I've been kind of adament about it, however, I know our sitter does turn it on when they go pick her daughter up every single day from school. Granted, as my sitter said, it is only for a few minutes, but still. She said when she gets to the school and waits in the line to pick her daughter up, she turns the vehicle off, so no more movie.

Anyway, Ava started crying about the "NO MOVIE" and it just escalated and escalated. She continued to cry. Then she got really mad, and then wanted out, which made her more mad. We never gave in and turned on the movie, though.

We even tried her music cd. That didn't even really help. We tried ignoring her, turning the actual radio on and UP. She continued to cry. I even videod her on my phone and then made her watch it, at which time, she got VERY serious. But any time I took my phone away, she got mad again. Then she wanted to see Jackson. LOL.

We hoped she would eventually give in and fall asleep so we tried not to give her any toys, etc. That might have worked, who knows. She also kept throwing her blankie down and saying "I don't want it."

Oh the joys of having an *almost* 2 year old!!!!!!!!!?????????? =)

Have you ever experienced this with your child/children? What did you do? What would you do???? Like I said, we didnt want to give in and turn on a movie (even an educational one) but DANG...not sure who really got the punishment. We got home around 5 or so, had dinner, played a little, bath and then she went to bed at a little before 7pm! (an hour-ish early)

{STINKER}

Ava doesn't forget ANYTHING!

• Today while playing with a little plastic block that is green and is actually "grass" to go along with her Cinderella block castle I got her at a garage sale, she said "Broccoli?" So funny...it totally looked like it.



• She always plays with my bracelets and she recently found one that is cream in color and is made up of little rounded rectangles and she was going around going "Dominoes..." She loves to play with Dominoes at the sitter apparently. It was just funny!



• She knows all of her body parts - and let me say ALL of them. Apparently I've told her what a "booby" is because she for sure knows that. OOPS! Last night while rocking before bed (my FAVE time of day...we just "snuggle" and rock, sing, tickle, etc. then I lay her down. It has always been our routine...never rocking her to sleep, though). Anyway, last night while snuggling, she says (while poking my eyes out...), "two eyes!" I was like, "yes, thank you!" LOL. Then I asked her where her armpit was (and she knew), then her knees, shoulders, etc. She knows all of those due to singing "Head, shoulders, knees and toes..." Then I thought, ok, what other areas can I ask her about so we learned elbow, eyebrows, eyelashes, etc. she's a funny little booger!



• Other funnies...



• She is into everything being kissed right now. The other day apparently she hurt her butt because she said..."kiss it...(then...) butt" I never thought my almost 2 year old would tell me to KISS HER BUTT! LOL



• She is really understanding so much and has started talking in sentences and even answering questions appropriately. SOMETIMES...LOL. Some of her new little phrases lately are: "What happened?" "I hear it!" "What is this?" "Are you all right?" "I don't like it" "I don't "wan" it" "I LIKE IT!!!" "Morning!!!" "I "luz" you" (melts my heart!) Oh, I know there are tons more.


• She also says "Mines" for "mine" Cracks us up. I guess because there is an "s" on YOURS, she thinks there should be one on the end of MINE.


• Last night while playing with her "letters" (which she loves!!), she plain as day picked up the S and screamed "S!!!!!!!!" I was surprised. I know she knows "A" considering it is her letter and the first letter of the alphabet. LOL. =)


• She is still counting randomly. She usually counts by twos. HA!


• We have a little prayer book (Thanks Megan!) and it sits on the little nightstand table and each night she grabs it and says "Amen?" I feel like a horrible parent sometimes because we haven't been going to church regularly, but I am still trying to instill in her a love for Jesus. My goal is to start going this summer and I am really hoping I can stick to that. I know summer sometimes is even more crazy than during the school year. Unfortunately every Sunday since January has been devoted to finalizing my homework. Not a good excuse, I know. But life has been crazy! Again not a good excuse but with getting our house ready to sell and keeping it up for possible showings (which there have been NONE so far), weekends are TOO SHORT! It is truly a goal for me/us, though and like I said, am hoping we can make it a priority this summer or even before. Wish us luck.

Things have literally been CRAZY! And I don't think they are going to get any less CRAZY so...I'm looking forward to summer. =) I apologize if I haven't been able to comment on your blogs - I have barely had time to look at them, let alone comment but I'm always peeking to see who has posted something new and love to see what you are blogging about! Our house is FOR SALE! YAY!!!! Now, to get it SOLD is the task. You should see us every morning...running around crazy like chickens with our heads cut off....make the bed, get the towels in the hamper, no dishes out, open the blinds, fluff the pillows...you get the idea! Things are winding down (well, if you want to call it that) with my class. Only 2 more Monday night classes to go! But with that comes a LOT of reading and a 10 page paper to write. I CAN DO IT. I CAN DO IT! Since I have no idea what our house situation will be, I am leaning toward not taking any classes this summer. I can't imagine trying to look for a house, pack, move, unpack, deal with the end of the year school stuff, take care of Ava, AND TAKE A CLASS! At least I wouldn't be also working (if it happens in the summer) - like most people out there, hee hee!! - but I would like to enjoy summer. I have no real goals of WHEN I HAVE to finish my masters sooooooo....with that being said, I am going to take the summer off...most likely. I still haven't completely decided on whether I want to stick with a Masters in Reading or switch to Special Education either. Oh, I will also be potty training the lil one. JOY! Please send positive vibes our way that our house sells FAST...and that we can find a house that we can afford, where we want to live! I recently found out that taxes where we want to move are more than I thought they were going to be (about double what we pay now and $1500 more than I thought they would be!!!!!!!) and that changes what our monthly payment would be considerably. EEK! Thankfully Travis just got that 10% raise! Hopefully he will continue to get raises as well, since his job description/duties are continuing to change. I also have to keep in mind that our debt is also constantly going down as we are getting some things paid off finally! We've went to a few Open Houses and I hope to be able to keep looking so we have an idea but not get our hopes up too high since we won't buy til our house sells. Next week we will be celebrating Travis' birthday (the big 2-9!...can you believe my hubby isn't even 30 yet???) by going to Chicago to a Cubs game and then staying overnight. My mom will be at our house to watch Ava. I took a personal day on Wednesday, we have an Institute Day on Thursday, and Friday - No School due to Good Friday! Woot woot! I think it's going to be a good week. Too bad it's only Tuesday of this week...