Shower for Karen and baby Avery

Sweet Baby Avery was born December 18th to our friends Karen and Jay.  Avery is their 3rd child and second little girl but we couldn't resist in having her a shower.  We decided to have the shower after Avery was born because Karen and Jay didn't find out the sex of the baby.  That way we could shower her with all of the pink stuff a baby girl needs!  We also went in as a group and got Karen a gift certificate for a message.  Every mother needs a pampering day to herself every once in awhile!

All of the girls arrived around 6:30 and we ate, talked and ooohed and ahhhed over the babies.  Brooke brought baby Zac with her too so Avery had a playmate. They are so cute together!  It was so nice for us to all get together and catch up and celebrate the birth of Avery.  All three of the ladies will be moving this summer so I need to take advantage of the time I have with them.  Brooke and Tyler will be moving in April to Virginia, Karen and Jay are still not sure yet but it will probably happen this Summer and Maria and Clay will be leaving in July after her baby is born to move to Nabraska.  I have known these ladies since my days at Campbell so it will be sad to have my closest friends move away again.  Hopefully the Army will bring us together again some day.

I took a few pictures at the shower but just realized I didn't take any of Karen opening her gifts.

Check out my Tissue paper Pom Pom's.  I got the idea from my friend Erin who made them for a shower back in November.  With the help of Brooke we made the chandelier, center piece and bouquet for the gift table.

The bouquet of cupcakes and Brooke and I made

Avery and Zac saying hello.  They were born a week apart.

Karen and Avery,  Brooke and Zac

Ava loves babies.  She is so good around them too.  Is she trying to tell us something?

They are so cute!!!

From left to right:  Maria, Karen, baby Avery, Me, baby Zac and Brooke

Random weekend activities

This weekend we spent mostly at the house.  It was a chilly cloudy weekend which made us all want to stay in doors.  The high was in the mid 40's today when we are used to it being in the 60's.  We shouldn't complain really since most people up north are freezing but I guess if it's going to be cold it might as well snow in our opinion.  Anyway,  we spent the weekend getting caught up on house hold chores.  Mark cleaned and rearranged the garage while I played with Ava and caught up on sewing.  My little business has been busier than usual lately.  Later on Saturday Mark went to a friends house to watch a UFC fight (boring) while I got to watch a chick flick.  Sunday was set aside for a little shopping for me and the Super Bowl for Mark.  I took a video of Ava while she was playing tonight so check it out at http://www.youtube.com?watch?v=YEy3KmDzquU . One of these days I will figure out how to add it on here. Here are some random pictures from the week and weekend.

A girl after my own heart! She loves shoes!!!!

Tea for two. Ava and Minnie enjoying a Saturday tea

Super Bowl food. Nothing like chips dipped in Ranch LOL! She loves to dip her food

no matter what it is.

February Frenzy

I feel like my head is spinning with all that is going on.  February started off busy with an all girls trip to Destin.  A bunch of the ladies that I have met through Mark's new job planned an all girls trip and invited me.  We stayed at the Sandestin Hilton Spa resort for two nights.  We enjoyed a relaxing time of no children, dinners with good conversation, lots of wine, and shopping! Some of the girls took advantage of the spa but I had my money set aside for SHOPPING! Now that we live in a small town and the fact that Ava is hard to shop with at times, shopping in peace was what I looked forward to the most.  I found some great deals for me and stocked up Ava with a new summer wardrobe.  This trip wouldn't be complete without a few mishaps like Barbara who planned the whole trip not feeling well, Christin getting a flat tire in the parking lot of the hotel, and bad choice picking a bar on a bad bad Karaoke night.  All in all we had a great time and are already planning our next trip.

This past week I have been super busy with play dates with Ava, trying to start a work out regiment, many sewing orders, planning a Southern Living Party and a Baby shower.  I am starting to go to Aerobics at a local church where I go to MOPS.  Two days a week they offer free aerobics classes and free child care.  It is awesome!  Now if I can only make myself a priority on those two days.  So far I have only made it once due to other events going on.  My Southern Living Party was a bust.  It was a bad night for everyone with illnesses, no child care and scheduling conflicts.  Oh well,  at least I had a great night catching up with some friends.  Next up is the Shower for my friend Karen on Monday.  It is just a few of her close friends here at my house for some food and cup cakes.  She had her baby girl Avery in December around Christmas so we decided to have her something after she arrived.  Avery is Karen's third child and 2nd little girl so she has most everything she needs but we just couldn't resist to do something!!!

Another highlight to the start of February was phone calls from two friends that I miss like crazy Regan and Erin.  It was so nice to catch up with them!  I can't wait until my trip there in a few months!!!

I have to admit with all that has gone on I didn't take any pictures.  I hope to get some at the shower on Monday so you guys can see how pretty baby Avery is!

Good Friends

I have a friend Karen who I have known now for 6 years.  We went through the first deployment at Fort Campbell and have been friends ever since.  When we moved here to Enterprise Karen, as always, was right there to help.  Watching Ava when I needed help, bringing food to us as the movers moved in our stuff, and listening when times were rough.  Karen has three children now.  Abby who is 3, Aidan who is a month younger than Ava, and Avery who is 6 weeks old.  They are such good playmates for Ava.  On Tuesday I watched all of the kids while Karen went to a doctors appointment.  The kids had a ball while baby Avery slept.  It's amazing how much babies sleep even during three giggling toddlers playing around.  Karen and I also share a Nanny 2 times a week.  They have such a good time together and so do Karen and I.  As you can see from the pictures Ava could pass for their sister.  Lately Ava calls everyone Abby, even herself!  When you ask her who is in a picture she says Abby (but it's really her).  You can ask her what her name is and it is Abby now not Ava.  She recognizes when we pass by their neighborhood and gets upset when we don't stop and play.  It is really going to be hard this summer when they have to move away. Saying goodbye is part of the Military life unfortunately .  It will be even harder now to have to watch Ava deal with this but hopefully she will adjust.  You never know we could end up located in the same place again with our dear friends.  This will be the third move we have been together so it could happen!  There is hope!


Sorry about the poor quality of the photos.  I took these with my phone

Playing dress up with Abby

Check out the earrings

Helping Mommy

Ava loves to help Mommy!  When she saw me in the kitchen today making a cake she wanted to help so I sat her on the counter to help me stir.  Mark's Birthday was Saturday but because I was sick and we went on a trip to Destin I didn't get his cake made.  Today I cooked a nice meal of Pot roast, potatoes and carrots and baked a cake as sort of a bleated Birthday dinner.  Better late than never I guess.

Weekend Getaway

Thanks to our friends Daniel and Erin we had a free two night stay in Sandestin Florida.  We headed down Saturday morning to spend Saturday and Sunday night.  This was also Marks Birthday weekend so we planned on celebrating.  Friday I got sick so my preparation for Mark's birthday and the trip did not happen so Saturday morning was pretty stressful.  I quickly wrapped Mark's gift (most had already been given to him early but I did have one for him to unwrap).  Ava and I sang Happy Birthday and Ava opened Daddy's gift for him.  We got him a bunch of Mountain Bike equipment he wanted and a two year subscription to Mountain Bike Action.  Mark plans on racing in the spring so he is getting his bikes ready to roll.

After the birthday festivities were over we finished packing up the SUV and headed to Destin.  When we arrived in Destin Ava was in need of a nap so thankfully the resort let us check in early.  Everyone there was so friendly and there were many activities there to have fun.  However the weather did not cooperate with us.  It was very cool and overcast on Saturday so we headed out for lunch and to a nearby playground that we knew of.  It started raining while we were at the playground so we headed to do some shopping.  Since it is the off season it was so nice shopping without all of the mobs of people who are usually there in the warmer months.  The evening we spent at the resort and took advantage of the free DVD service they had there.  I finally got to watch "7 Pounds"!  It was a very good movie but be prepared to cry!!!

The next morning we woke up to rain rain and more rain so we decided to go ahead and check out.  Most of the activities are for the outdoors and with the bad weather that wasn't happening.  It was nice to be able to get away for at least a night and do something different.  Thanks again to Erin and Daniel for letting us use your timeshare!!!!

I love this one!

She was saying "So big" here

She always has to say "Cheese"

She was having so much fun!

The Lonely Fans

Mark and I both graduated from Western Kentucky University almost 10 years ago.  When we saw that they were playing against Troy State University we decided we would go.  It's funny because for almost 6 years we lived only an hour from WKU and not once did we ever go to a basketball game.  Partly because Mark was gone all of the time!  I guess being even further from home anything that brings a piece of home back to you seems even more special.

Needless to say there were not too many WKU fans and to make matters worse we picked the student section to sit in!  However there were two other couples by us rooting for Western so we were our own little cheering section.  Also a professor at Troy sat right in front of us who had graduated from WKU in 1979.  Turns out he was in the same fraternity as Mark.  It is such a small world!

Western was ahead most of the game and has a better record than Troy but in the end they got beat.  I guess Troy had the home court advantage.  We still had a great time despite the outcome of the game!!!

At Half time WKU ahead

They lost Boooo!  The last quarter was hard to watch.  It was like they gave up!