Gymkata!

A simple deterrent

On the way home from church today, we saw a police car zoom by with his lights and siren on. Zach said he must have been chasing a robber or going to help somebody. Then he was quiet for a few moments and said "I wouldn't want to be a robber because I like to snuggle with Mommy".

Sigh, does it get any sweeter? And don't you wish they would always stay that innocent? :)

Preschool Christmas Fun

Zach and Ava are part of a home preschool which consists of four other children from our church. We meet every Tuesday and usually our teaching theme is a different letter each week. Well, this week, we focused on learning about Christmas and doing all sorts of Christmas activities. The kids decorated Christmas cookies, made some Christmas stockings and listened to two different stories. The first was called "Mortimer's Christmas Manger" which was a precious story about a little mouse who stumbles upon a nativity set and the other story, of course, was the birth of Jesus. To make it more interactive and fun, April (William's mommy) brought props and costumes for the kids to dress up. The kids had a ball and all the mom's were taking pictures since the kids looked ADORABLE!! Here are a few pictures from our fun day!

The kids had fun with their stocking craft

It's hard to get five kids to look and smile all at once! :)

William, Carter, Zach and Ava listen intently to "Mortimer's Christmas Manger"

The cutest little Joseph and Mary

Carter the "Wise Man"', Zach as "Joseph", Ava as "Mary", Chloe the "Angel" and William the "Shepherd"...how cute is this picture??

Chloe, Carter and Zach love hearing about baby Jesus

(Leanne, we missed you and Sam today, it wasn't the same without you guys there!!)

A Whole New World!!

Is she sassy or what?

We picked up Ava's glasses today! Besides looking very cute, she can see so much better! When she first got them on and we left the store, she just stared at the ground as we walked, studying the carpet...I think she could see so much more detail! She was very excited (we'll see how long that lasts!) and seemed to be amazed that she could see and focus on things. We did get two pair, with scratch resistant and non-glare lenses, and it will be interesting (and frustrating) to see how long they last. I am liking the non-glare, as you can see from the pictures, there is no reflection from the flash! So far, she has kept the glasses on all day and not complained but I know it's not going to be that easy, we are talking about Ava here! :) But isn't she adorable?

1 year old!!!

Today is Renee's birthday! My how the past year has flown! I can't believe it's already Christmas time again when it seems like just yesterday I went into labor with her while standing in line for pictures with Santa!

Renee is such a blessing to our family, we love her so much and she brings tons of joy to our household! She is a feisty one, if she doesn't like something or wants her way, she will let you know! She finally said her first words, "uh oh" and "da da" (although it sounds more like "duh duh"!), she can pull up and cruise all over the place and climbs all over things...she is a daredevil! She can walk with her walker too...but I think it will be awhile before she takes some solo steps (my guess is 16 months, she will be walking).

12 months old!

She just today drank out of a sippy cup (more than one sip!) and downed about half of it...now if she would stop being lazy and do a better job at holding her bottles and cups! She loves to wave and tries to blow kisses but doesn't quite get the hand motion down. She can also point to Daddy and Mommy's noses when we ask her to. Peekaboo is a favorite game, she loves to cover her face up but Zach and Ava are still her favorite toys.

Jeff and I have definitely noticed that she is more cuddly these days, she will actually lay her head on our shoulder when she is tired and let us rock her. She still loves her dolly and will immediately put her left thumb in her mouth if you give her a blanket. It's very cute!

We had a split birthday party on Thanksgiving (one at my brother's house and one at Jeff's parents house) but she was not interested at all, thank you very much! She did not like that cake in front of her and was pretty vocal about it. Oh well, we tried!

Sister tried to give her a taste

I can't wait to see what the next year holds for our youngest child, I know there are so many milestones she will reach! I am excited to hear her start talking more, hear what her voice will sound like, seeing her walk and also seeing what she will look like with more hair (will it be straight like Zach's or curly like Ava's?).

Playing in the leaves at Kennesaw Mountain

Happy Birthday Renee, we love you so much!!!