Baking with Ava

Last night after dinner Ava wanted cookies.  I have been trying not to have cookies in the house because I like to eat them to much but I did have a package of chocolate chip and walnut cookie mix.  Just add butter and an egg, mix and bake and you have some yummy cookies.  Ava enjoyed helping me mix and put the mixture on the cookie sheet.  What a great helper I have!!!!  Maybe one day we will make some from scratch.

Ta-da!!!!

Trying to say cheese with a full mouth. I better work on her manners!

First Day of Pre-School

My baby is growing up.  It's hard to believe she is already 2 1/2 years old!  This year we enrolled Ava in a Mom's Day out program at a local church.  They will be spending the day doing crafts, activities, music, and play.  This year they said they are going to focus on learning first and last names, shapes, colors, letters and letter recognition.  This program will be so good for her and Mommy too!

Check out Ava's new short hair cut.  She wouldn't sit still so Mark just kept cutting away. I think it turned out cute!

She did so well on her first day!  Neither one of us cried which was good but she did want to hang on to her lunch box instead of putting it on her hook.  

The school had a "Boo Hoo" Brunch for all of the parents complete with yummy food and a "survival kit" with chocolate and tissues.  On my way out I was able to see Ava come out to the playground in a line and play for a little bit.  

I got Ava a little gift to celebrate her first day at pre-school complete with stickers and a movie.  She had a blast!  The teacher said she had an excellent first day and was the "mother hen" of the class taking care of everyone.  That's my girl!!!!

Daddy's Helper

This past weekend Mark washed my car for me.  Ava was right out there in the mix trying to help.  Of course I had to snap a couple of pictures.  She is just so darn cute!!!

One Crazy Week!

All I can say is TGIF!!!  This week has been crazy busy coming back from a trip and all of the other activities going on this week expected and unexpected.  I am so glad this week is over!

Starting next week Ava will start pre-school! I am so excited for her and myself.  I think she will gain so much from what they can teach her and from having other kids to interact with. We had her orientation on Wednesday and got to meet her teachers and see some of the other kids.  The girls were definitely out numbered by boys !!! While we were there Ava got dolled up in an entire princess dress.  Wish I would have brought my camera!!!

Being that this week was so crazy it was all work and no play so I didn't very many fun pics.  I do however have a few random pics from our drive home last week to share and a couple of Ava from this week.

Aunt Natalie and Uncle Jaime got Ava this adorable dog and vet set.  Ava took care of her  puppy on the way home.  Today I asked her what the puppy's name was and she said Hershey.  It made me sad that Hershey didn't stick around a little bit longer for Ava to get to know.  They would have been best buds!

I snapped this pic of Mark while he was driving.  He is actually smiling in a picture I can't believe it!!!

As soon as we got home Ava got all dolled up in her pencess (Princess) outfit.  She started dancing around like a ballerina too.  I think it is time to sign up her for ballet!

We had ice cream the other night after dinner and Ava wanted chocolate in a cone.  I think some ended up in her mouth too!!

Celebrating Mary's Graduation

Our good friend Mary graduated from Austin Peay University in Clarksville this past weekend.  She had already had her degree from Romania but it was not recognized in the states so for the last few years she has been working on her degree.  To celebrate her and her husband planned a great night out for everyone.  13 of the 19 people drove down in a large van from Clarksville to Nashville.  It looks like they had a blast for their trip down.

Since Mark and I were already in Nashville for our Anniversary we just met everyone there.  I am so glad it worked out for us to join in on the celebration!!!  Here is all of the ladies posing for a pic at Lime.  Lime is trendy bar/restaurant in West End Nashville that serves great Lain food.  

The beautiful graduate Mary and I before dinner

They had us set up in a large room all to ourselves.  It's a good thing too because we got a little loud and of course took alot of pictures.  

Lisa, Mary, Kelly, and Liz

Regan, Mary, and Erin

Keith giving a toast to Mary.  You could see how proud he was of his wife!!

Keith, Mark and Daniel

Daniel and Erin

Jenae and Steven

Thanks Mary for including us in your special day. We had so much fun and are so happy for all of your accomplishments. Congratulations!

Our 10 year Anniversary!

Time sure does fly when your having fun!  It's hard to believe that Mark and I have been married for 10 years and together for 11.  We started dating in College at Western Kentucky University and Mark took me on my first date out on the town in Nashville so it was the perfect idea to spend out Anniversary in Bowling Green and Nashville!!!  We started the week back home in E-town to visit family and then spent Thursday August 12th (our actual anniversary) in Bowling green.  We took Ava to campus and showed her where Mommy and Daddy went to school and lived.

The tall building in the back ground is the dorm I lived in my first year at WKU

 Daddy even pointed out the exact spot where he first saw me walking on campus a few weeks before he asked me out.  We also took her to buy some WKU shirts and acessories.

Looks like we need a few family members to make this picture complete.  All I had was my camera phone so picture quality is not the greatest!

Friday after my sister got off work early we headed to Nashville for two nights to ourselves.  We first had to check into the hotel and get ready for dinner.  We stayed at Union Station Hotel which started out as a train station and first opened in October 1900.  The hotel was so beautiful with a mix of restored history and modern flair.  Our room was awesome with a beautiful view of downtown Nashville.  Mark would not give me any details on where we were going for dinner so I had not idea what was in store.  We drove just a short trip down to West end to Bound'ry.  Bound'ry was a very artsy place with wonderful service and fabulous food.  They even gave us an anniversary card signed by all of the staff and were seated in a very private secluded area by a fire place.  I wanted to take pictures but Mark was too embarrassed so this is the only two I got.

This was how they served our bread.  The two tall sticks are actually bread sticks.  It was all so yummy!

Afterwards we headed back to the hotel to exchange gifts.  I made Mark a scrap book which told the story of our 10 years together.  We had so much fun looking at all of the pictures from the pass and remembering all of the great memories.  I also gave him some new Oakley Sunglasses.  This is what Mark gave me...

I was so excited!  It is truly a gift that keeps on giving.  The pictures are so amazing.  Check out the difference:  

This is a picture of the hotel lobby with my old digital point at shoot camera:

This is also taken in the lobby but of the other side with my new camera:

The difference is amazing!  After this I started going crazy taking pictures of the beautiful hotel.  The architecture was perfect for picture taking!

This picture of the spiraling stair case was one of my favorites!  

We had an amazing time in Nashville and sure do miss living in the area.  Great memories from the past added to the new memories of celebrating our 10 year Anniversary!

Final Race of the Season

This past weekend we traveled to Fontana, NC for Mark's last race of the season.  I had been to the Smokey Mountains before but never on the North Carolina side.  The drive up was amazing with all of the pretty trees, view of the river and the mountain sides.  I wish we would have had more time to stop at the scenic stops along the way to take pictures.  We stayed at Fontana Village which had several activities for families to enjoy.  There was a lodge with a pool, cabins, ball fields, putt put, another pool with a lazy river, game room, several restaurants, and scheduled actives throughout the day like yoga, and jewelry making classes.  Next year we are going to stay longer so that we can enjoy more of these fun activities.

This time we only had time for the race and a little swimming.  It was so nice to be able to stay within walking distance of where the race was taking place!  However, everything was up hill so I got a workout.

Good luck kiss and knuckles!

Lining up to start the race

And they are off!

Waiting for Mark to pass at the midway point with her camera.

1/2 way done

Heading to the finish line and smiling at Ava

Since Mark hasn't been able to practice in weeks due to his surgery he didn't do as well as he had wanted.  Plus this course was brutal with mostly uphill climbs and longer than other races he has been in.  Also being the good sport that he is a friend that he has met while racing was hurting about midway through the race so Mark stuck with him and encouraged him to make sure he was able to finish the race.  As the military trains you, never leave a man behind!! He ended up finishing 8th in the race and 6th overall in the South East Region.  Ava and I are so proud of him!!!

Afterwards they had a banquet but unfortunately we had to miss it to get back on the road.  Mark plans on racing some in Florida in the next few months as practice for next year which will start in March.