Christmas Time

Well, I can't believe it is December. Oh the joys of Christmas and Christmas outfits for little kids, I love it! Apparently Ava loves her new Christmas outfit too....



(This was after she got in trouble for touching Christmas decorations - it is going to be a long month.)

I don't know why but this week Ava has just started looking a lot older especially when I look at pictures from this time a year ago.



And then this year...




Here are a few shots with Mom and Dad before leaving for our Christmas Party



And as you can tell Santa was the highlight of our Christmas season.

Play Time

Earlier this week we had a sweet friend come over to spend some time with me and Ava. It makes me so sad to see these pictures because this precious girl was Ava's age when we moved here and now she will be in kindergarten next year. She is so sweet to Ava and Ava had a great time with her and I always love when other people come to exhaust my child because 10 minutes after she left Ava was out for almost 3 hours. It was fantastic!




She pulled Ava around the yard in the wagon.



She pushed Ava in the swing and Ava thought it was absolutely hilarious. They had a great time together and I am sure her poor little arms were sore when she left!

Less is more

Apparently at the ripe old age of 17 months, my child who loves accessories needs a little lesson on how Less is more... I did not set this up she picked out all of these bows and handed them to me to put in her hair at the same time. She thought she looked great and I thought it was pretty funny and cute too!






In case you can't see them all there are 5 bows in her hair and yes she did wear them around for quite awhile.

Rock and Roll

Well, I know all of my posts involve the child but tonight this is a post about pain and agony. Yesterday I completed the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in San Antonio. Why, did I choose to do this - out of pure peer pressure and at mile 10 yesterday I was hating everyone who talked me into this and hating myself for choosing to put myself in this much pain. There was a large group of us that went (check out Life at the Bowden Household to see the whole group I somehow didn't end up with a group pic on my camera). We have all been training since August for this thing.

Most of you that know me, know I despise running. Honestly I don't really love running now but it keeps the clothes fitting a little better and it is always nice to have the "You have lost weight" comment.

We had a great trip and road with two couples down there. Here are the girls on the way down there don't we look happy and pain free.


Here are the guys at the Expo on Saturday after we checked in.


Here are the girls at 5:30 a.m. on race day and yes it was 35 degrees. Our toes were numb when we started this thing.


Here are the girls after the race, I honestly don't know how I am even standing. I seriously have never been in so much pain.


Here are the guys after the race. A little background Heath and KW (in the middle) did not do one bit of training for this thing, they just decided they would just walk it and if you know these two this is not shocking at all. They are absolutely hysterical together and we laughed so hard on the way there and back and in fact the guy in the middle bought a hat, that he wore in the race, that says "In my dreams, I am a Kenyon". He even wore the bright green shirt in case he passed out people would find him in the ditch! The guy on the right, JD, trained hard for this and ran a great race!


And this is what 13.1 miles will do to a person. I know she looks like she is talking but seriously she fell asleep on the way back to the hotel from dinner. I am not talking a light sleep, she was out!


The picture below is a special one of me and my running partner LD we have been friends since we moved here but there is just something about running for weeks on end that you just form a bond and one I wouldn't trade for the world. When we started training for this thing she could run 2 minutes before she was breathing hard - this picture was after we completed 13.1 miles. Each time we trained for this she was so bitter about getting up in the morning and if it was cold just forget it, she was mad at the world. However, come race day I didn't even know who this girl was. She was happy, ran the best she has ever ran, was Ms. Chatty to all the random people cheering us on. She looked at the 10K sign and was like "Oh, I can totally do a 10K no prob." We did a total role reversal I was the one at mile 10 when someone asked How are ya'll doing? My response was "I have no skin on the bottom of my feet, my knees and and hips ache with every step I take and at this point I just want to amputate the bottom half of my body but other than that I feel great." You go LD, I am so proud of you!!!!


All in all the trip was fun despite the aching body and all the times we were lost (which was just about everytime we got in the car). I seriously could barely walk last night and I am still hurting tonight but for all the laughs we had on the way there, while we were there and on the way back you just can't trade those great times with friends.

Accessories

Lately Ava has been obsessed with accessories. She used to just rip glasses, hats and jewelry off. However, now if I put something on her and say "Oh, pretty Ava" she just opens her mouth really big and you can tell she truly thinks she hung the moon and just walks around the house smiling at whatever it is. In the picture, she was playing in the doctor's kit and got these glasses out and brought them to me to put on her. I did and I of course went on and on at how pretty she looked and she left them on forever. They don't have lenses so she loved that she could touch her eyes through the glasses and here she is just chillin' in her glasses.

We have also received a huge bag of the biggest bows ever. It will be awhile before she has enough hair to hold the bows, but lately she has been getting these bows out for me to put in her hair. It is hilarious there are times where we have three or more bows in her hair and she thinks she looks great! I haven't had a chance to capture a picture but maybe by the time I do my next post I will have it.

Let's go to the hop

Isn't this trick-or-treator as scary as they get? Ava had a blast on Halloween and truly loved her costume. She clapped when she got to wear it and loved looking at herself in it. I don't know how some of you parents get these adorable pictures it is impossible to get one of Ava standing and smiling because if you are standing you should be moving, right?



Above, she is groovin' to a little Lights, Camera, Action before we head out for loads of fun. Below I was just trying to get a picture of her smiling at the camera and she just smiled at her Daddy instead, so precious.



It was actually kind of funny how much Ava loved Halloween. In our neighborhood they mark off some streets where trick-or-treating is only allowed at those homes and only golf carts are allowed as a means of transportation besides walking. So, some people really got into their decorations and the scarier it was the more Ava loved it. I am not kidding you she watched some thing take its head off five times. Then there was this guy dressed in a really scary costume that would just walk around his driveway while all other children screamed and ran for their mothers, mine ran for him waving hello with a big smile on her face. Then stood perfectly still for my sister to take a picture of him with Ava. Crazy and I haven't decided if I should be concerned about this or not. In fact, if the people didn't have a dog or some sort of decoration she would just sit in their driveway, like what fun is this? Below is the picture of how excited her Aunt Haley and Ava were to receive a couple of Dum Dum suckers!!! Fun times! (My sister has a lot more pictures of this night captured on her camera especially how excited a little girl gets at the first taste ever of a Dum Dum sucker.)

Ava's new hiding spot

So, I have been on a little dry spell from blogging. I don't know why, I guess time. I would like to say I have been cleaning my house but now that the tazmanian devil lives with us, my house never looks clean. I feel like all I do is pick up, pick up and I turn around and the taz hits another room. Awww the joys of motherhood and I know all you mothers out there are saying it won't get better or wait till you have more than one and I personally want to thank you for your encouraging words.

But really, Ava has been sick for a month I think and for two weeks now we are finally well and my child is back to her happy self. Along with the wellness, she has decided to catch up on a month of eating. She is slowing down a little but last week the girl could not get full anything you put in front of her she ate and ate and ate. One night last week Heath was not going to be home for dinner and my mom was like well good you don't have to cook and I was like oh we have forgotten about little Miss Piggy and I did have to fix a meal for her (a roasted chicken thigh, almost an entire can of green beans, two huge spoonfuls of mashed potatoes and rainbow sherbet for dessert).

Today she has started the funniest thing. She just left the playroom and walked into her bedroom and it was so quite in there. Well, she was hiding in between the wall and the crib. She was so perfectly quiet and just sitting there that when I found her she just smiled and waved. Tonight when we got home from church she went to her little spot and again just sat there and would just poke her head around and say Boo and smile, she thought she was hilarious and I finally had the opportunity to take some good smiling pics of the little one.

Peek-a-boo sweet girl!


Don't I look like I get into some major trouble!


Although some days I just want to think what else can you get into to, she is so much fun and has so much fun playing, dancing, saying new things, praising herself for anything, jumping on our bed and just all kinds of fun things - she definitely keeps us laughing.

West Texas again

This last weekend was Heath's 10 year college reunion at good ol' ACU. It was so fun and we got to see lots of people I haven't seen since I left. We had a great time hanging out with the Paty's all day. Friday night of course we went to see my parents and it was the big Snyder Tigers vs. Sweetwater Mustangs high school football game. Some good friends of ours had us over before the game for dinner. We had a great time visiting with our family friends and here is a picture of our little munchkins. My child of course decided she no longer likes grass so this is the only picture she is in and not crying and notice the Princess is standing while all the other children are sitting.



Here is my little Snyder Tiger before the game. Of course her Gree made sure she was going to sport her Tiger colors. No picture is complete without something in our mouth. I rarely get smiley pictures anymore because we have to know what everything tastes like and I do mean everything! Her auntie made her a matching bling, bling pacifier holder - it is super cute and she has started her own little side business so if you are interested let me know.



I don't have any pictures from homecoming seeing as how I left the child with her grandparents so I didn't feel as though there would be tons of picture opportunities since all of our pictures consist of the child. Someone asked if I missed having her there and I said do I miss pushing a stroller, hauling a diaper bag, dealing with her schedule or lack there of on that day - ummm, simple answer no!!!!! It was a fun day Patys' - loved catching up and due to Ginger's persuasion I may start looking at starting Face Book apparently all the cool kids do it and I sure don't want to be left out!

Weekend in Talty

A few weeks ago we went out to visit Heath's family. We went to celebrate the September birthdays (just a month late). We went and ate at Gloria's and did some shopping at The Harbor in Rockwall. We had lots of fun with the cousins and Ava of course was on the move constantly.

Noni (Heath's mother) wanted to have some pictures of Ava in this witch hat she had. She is holding onto Heath's leg like save me would ya!



But then after getting some attention she decided she might like the hat and then began posing.



Here are the cousins getting ready for some yummy food at Glorias'.


Nothing to top off the weekend like a little ice cream from Cold Stone.

Tagged

Well, I have been tagged by Mrs. Leslye Roberts. This is a picture from my sixth folder and the sixth picture in that folder.



This picture was from our family vacation in 2006 at Estes Park, CO and this is Calypso Falls in Rocky Mountain National Park. Ava wasn't even around during this vacation. We went with our family friends we vacationed with every year while growing up and the little boy in the picture is their son. Anyway, it was fun times. We love Estes Park and try to go annually in the summer it is just gorgeous!

I tag Lindsay Shuttlesworth (maybe you will come back to blogland) and Heather Blevins.

Is my child spoiled or what

Most of you who know my child, know the answer to this question and if you don't it is yes!!! She is my parents first grandchild and she has been with them for four days. I left my camera with them and these are the pictures I had


Is it her birthday you might ask, because when else would any sane adult allow such a mess. No, Gree and Grandpa decided she needed some Oreo cookies for dessert one day. I think she liked them in fact they said she was clapping out of pure joy and stuffing one in right after the other.



I think Elvis entered the building on this one.

And no weekend would be complete without chillin' with Grandpa and watching none other than The Wiggles!!!

West Texas

Well folks, we headed out to West Texas last weekend to my parents house. Ava just got back from West Texas tonight so yes my house has been in one piece for four solid days - ahh the little things I appreciate now that I have a child. Heath and I have had a lot of fun this week but we were ready for the munchkin to return.

We did not know we were in for such a treat it was the big motorcycle rally for White Buffalo Days that weekend (this rally is ranked 6th in the nation!) We started off the rally on Friday night with a motorcycle parade. At first, I thought are you kidding me but it was my kind of parade it was at night so it was cool and it only lasted 15 minutes and we got to see a lot of cool bikes. Saturday morning my sis and I went for an 8 mile run and met the rest of the family at the soccer fields because some of our favorite kiddos were playing (Jax in the yellow, Jadan in the
green)...


Ava enjoyed the games and thought she needed in on the action.

Then, for lunch we headed down to the square to see what the vendors had to offer for White Buffalo Days and there wasn't much, but as in any small town got to visit with some people I hadn't seen in awhile. So, we had some lunch laid around all day because if you saw above I ran 8 miles I really couldn't do much of anything just because I was in pure pain!!! Then, for the main reason we went was for a big birthday celebration. On my mom's side of the family all 10 of us cousins were pretty much born and raised in West Texas and grew up like brothers and sisters. Some of us are married with children so the family is growing at a rapid pace. My brilliant cousin Lauren came up with the idea to do three birthdays a year for the great grandchildren and they will just be combined birthdays which is great because it gives us all a reason to get together at least that many times a year. So, we kicked off the first birthday celebration. Here Ava is enjoying one of her favorite things about birthday parties balloons.

Here are two of our little girls Mallerie and Tymrie showing Ava some love, I don't know if you can find Ava in there because Mallerie really had the love going on


Then here are all the little ones in their shining glory it is impossible to get a dazzling picture of this many kids but this is the best I can get. And that's not all, yes we are missing two - Steeley and CJ weren't able to be with us this time around and we missed ya'll!!!



I did have a little better picture but this one so adequately shows most of their personalities...
I am going to have to jot them down just so we don't forget what all these precious kids are like
Starting at the right...
Mallerie - This girl is so skinny and eats everything in sight you can't really tell but she is looking at this cake and smiling and she so did take her big piece of chocolate cake and sat ate it while the other kids played - she never misses dessert

Tymrie - She is usually a total ham for the camera (just like her mother) but in this instance I honestly think she thinking this is like my 4th or 5th party can we just get on with it.

Jax - Sweet Jax is probably just watching to make sure everyone is included and helping each other, he is always concerned for others.

Jagger - Happy baby Jagger with a smile that can melt your heart. In this picture he is being a total third child and just going with the flow like whatever let's move on with this.

Ava - She was nearing the breaking point of enough already

Micah - She is beside Ava and was the first great grandchild. She is growing up to be a beautiful little girl and this is total her she never misses a minute to pose in front of the camera.

Stryker - He is above Ava and it was his first birthday, he is usually a very happy baby but he was pretty much done at this point, poor guy.

Taylor - Taylor isn't facing the camera because his sweet spirit is making sure Stryker is ok. We are very blessed to have such sweet boys. Taylor is always the first one to run in and hug every person in the room and doesn't leave until he has hugged everyone goodbye.

That concluded our weekend. Everyone laughs about how much I love going to West TX and with this kind of entertainment I know you are all jealous you can't enjoy the beauty of pure flat land without a tree in sight for miles. Although I really do think it is beautiful we love to go see family when we are altogether it is fun to catch up and just watch the kiddos play (even though some might mistake it for a three ring circus), it is loud and crazy and I could go on and on about all the memories but I am so glad we all have these memories and so look forward to sharing many more. Oh yeah, if you want to know more about White Buffalo Days because you are thinking about taking your next family vacation to it, just google it to learn its purpose - I know you can't wait to go!!!

There's a first time for everything

I know you are thinking from the title of this post this is surely about Ava and while it is, it is about a first time for myself. This weekend our class activity with our Bible class was camping. My friends, this was the first time in my life that I have ever been camping. I know some of you are thinking spoiled brat but honestly I love air conditioning and electricity and a bathroom within a few feet of my bed, call me crazy but those are things I enjoy in life! I simply went out of peer pressure and it was fun. So, the reason for no blogging lately is I have been making list after list of things for this two night trip. Below you can see the car packed to the top and I promise everything in here was a necessity - we just happen to require a lot more things than most people there that had two or three kids! (And, all meals were provided so there is no food in this car!)



Below was our crib for the weekend. We found this jewel at Sam's for $75, what a deal. I mean if I was going to do this, I wanted space and I had space. In fact, we had the second biggest tent of anyone there, it so kindly became known as the Taj Mahal seeing as how every tent around us that was much smaller than ours held families with two and three kids and we had one but c'mon people I had a pack -n -play.



Ava did great! This was her means of transportation around the campground, she had so much fun.



There was a playground right by our campsites so that was entertaining here she is with her Daddy going down the slide she could have done that all day I think.



And of course no camping trip is complete without her mother's friends feeding her full of cheese puffs and covering herself in orange that then took like 10 wipes to get off of our face and hands. This was probably the only thing she sat down and ate, the rest of the time if her eyes were open she was on the move because she might miss something if she fell asleep and we wouldn't want that now would we.



Overall, I would say we survived our first camping trip and we will definitely make sure this is an annual thing. I can definitely appreciate that people enjoy camping. Is it going to be the next family vacation - I am afraid not seeing as how I looked at Ava as we were both in the shower and I am trying to not let her slip off the handicap bench and a butterfly decided to join in on the fun as well as a few other small creatures I just said next time we are on a vacation I think it will be at a hotel!!!!!

Thanks to Alisha for a wonderful first time experience in the world of camping. You did a great job of planning the trip and the meals were awesome.

American Girl in the making

Honestly, I can't believe my 14 month child has already been to the American Girl store, this wasn't planned for a few years down the road but this was a special occasion. The sweet girl with Ava is Jessica she and her family are missionaries in England. They were in the states for a visit and she has a doll so while her parents were taking care of business in Houston my mom took her to the American Girl store so of course Ava got to go. When we got Ava's stroller out of the car Jessica asked if this was her push chair. I was like sure we call it a stroller but push chair makes sense too.


I can't believe they have so much stuff for dolls, it was insane but so much fun. The pic below is of Jessica and her doll Kirsten. I know, I know bad pic but we were seated by a window. If you haven't been to this store before your doll gets to sit with you at the Bistro and has her own doll sized menu.


And here is a pic of Ava with the doll the Bistro kindly let us borrow. In this picture Ava is demonstrating some of her aggressive affection. She is obsessed with dolls with blinky eyes (she has one at home) and all she wants to do is poke their eyes out. I try to work on this by saying Oh, sweet baby. Well, a few weeks ago someone was holding a real baby and I said Oh, sweet baby and Ava poked his eye. So, warning to mom with newborns and if Ava is in sight !!!!

Of course, no dining experience is complete without a milkshake!


All in all the trip was a success Jessica ended up with some outfits for her doll. The best part about it was listening to Jessica tell her mom about the whole experience in her English accent. It was so sweet and funny at the same time.