Silly things Ava does

This week is the kind I like - one that goes quickly! I'm ready for the weekend. Zach had his first day at his new job this week. Of course, the kids aren't there yet so he argued it wasn't his real first day, but I objected. So I made him pose for a picture!


Ava and I have been hanging out tonight while Zach was on the golf course. I caught some of her silly quirky traits on camera! She loves to crawl up to the TV for just a minute and see if she can grab whatever is in there! Her favorite thing to try and get is the logo for the local news in the bottom left corner - so cute! Tonight it was Mickey Mouse!


She has also mastered standing up on her own without holding on to anything. However, sometimes it just takes a little extra help!


One of Ava's favorite toys right now is this bucket where her blocks go. She plays with it and tries to do all kinds of things with it. She puts things in it, puts it up on her play 'n learn table, carries it around and has even put it up to her mouth thinking she could drink out of it!


I love this last picture - so precious!

Random Picture Post

I had some pictures that didn't really fit into a post so they get their own random post!

We went to visit Zach's family this weekend and his grandma lives on a lake and I caught a picture of the sunset with my phone:

Where's Ava?

So incredibly nosey!

Love this funny face!!

Sweet, little girl excited to try on Momma's necklace!

Hope you are having a fun-filled weekend!

Pure Randomness

It's just been another normal week here in the E household. Next week Zach starts his new job and while he is so excited about it, I'm a little sad. I won't get to see him or my girl when I come home for lunch anymore! I really enjoy that during the summer. I'm also going to miss Zach doing the grocery shopping during the day and keeping the house nice and clean! :) Thanks for your hard work this summer, hon!

Ava has taken a few more steps. She's not real sure of herself yet but she has taken about 4 in a row! She's getting there! She also rode in her big girl car seat for the first time tonight!


I ordered this about 3 months ago and haven't really needed it yet. We went with an infant seat that would hold her until she was 30 lbs. She still has a way to go on that but she was getting close to being too long for it so Zach wanted to give her new chair a try! I think she'll enjoy being able to see out the window better!

Speaking of being too long, I was looking at this picture and it amazes me about how long this girl's legs are! We've gotten lots of comments recently about how "tall" she is!


And finally, she loves crawling under here. It's like a hut or something to her! Silly girl!


Hope you are all having a good week! Thankfully we're two days away from the weekend!!

Giveaway winner!!

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway! Just so you know how I did this, for each person who left a comment, I assigned their number of entries in sequential order. For example, if the first commenter also follows and posted an entry, they would have entries 1-6. There were a total of 52 entries and the winner is:

#3 - HOLLI!!!!

Congrats, girl! Shoot me an email at EFamilyblog@gmail.com with your contact information so I can get your goodies to you! Thanks to everyone who entered! Keep coming back and hopefully there will be more giveaways in the future!

Giveaway - final chance!!

Just a quick reminder that the giveaway ends tomorrow at noon. You still have time to enter for a chance to win some various items and a Target gift card!

Go here to enter! The winner will be announced tomorrow night!

10 Months Old and First Steps!!!

I had not planned on doing a post marking Ava's 10 month birthday today! But then my big girl decided to take her first steps tonight!!!! For several weeks now, she's been "walking" while holding our hands or holding on to furniture or whatever would support her. Tonight we were cooking dinner and she took two steps. She was on the third when I got excited and said "YAY AVA!!!" and it startled her and she stopped. We got out the video camera and tried to coax her into doing it again but she wouldn't. I was just so glad I got to see it! I just knew she'd do it while I was at work and Zach would get to see it and I wouldn't! I was so happy to see her do it, even if it was just 3 steps! I'm sure in the coming days she's going to really figure it out and the rest will be history.

I thought I would also just document a few of facts about Miss Ava these days:

• She has 6 teeth
• When we finally found a sippy cup she liked, we had no problems transitioning from the bottle. Tonight she even had a sippy cup before bed instead of a bottle!
• She loves to try real food but hates the 3rd stages foods so we just quit trying.
  
• Even more so than baths, she loooves showers!
  
• She can semi-wave bye-bye - first she waves her arm and then she opens and closes her fist! She can also say bye-bye but she likes to whisper it.
• She will give me "kisses" - opens her mouth and puts it on my cheek but she won't kiss Zach.

I cannot believe that two months from today she will be 1! This year has flown by. We were looking at sale clothes for next summer and I could not believe how big they seem! It almost made me cry! My baby really isn't much of a baby anymore. I guess it was inevitable that she'd grow up!

Fun day and giveaway reminder!

We had such a fun day today. Our friends asked if we wanted to meet them because they were going to look at some golf clubs in a city that was halfway between us. Because it's so hard to find times where we're both free we thought it was a good idea! So we headed out this morning and met up with Chuck and Chenin. Chuck tried out some of his clubs while we played in a room where you could practice putting. Zach decided it was time to test Ava out for her first set of clubs.

She's a cutie with her pink clubs! She didn't get any today but I bet her Daddy will have her golfing before she's 2! I think she had a better time just playing with the golf balls like she was trying to get here.

After we finished up there and had lunch and chatted for a while, we set out for the next part of our day. We headed to NWA to do some shopping and meet up with another set of friends. Sandy and I are planning a shower and wanted to get together to finalize some of our plans and we decided to have dinner at Abuelo's. Yum!! It turns out that today was the end of their week long celebration of their 20th anniversary so when we left we got to spin a wheel to win various items. I won a free entree. They told Ava to spin and she won a free appetizer. And Zach spun and he won free queso for life!!!

All he has to do is take this foam golf ball in and he gets a free queso! How funny is that?

We had such a wonderful day seeing friends. I was also complimented tonight on how well behaved Ava was at dinner! This made me so proud! We drove a lot today and for her to behave so well after riding in the car and shopping was so great! That's not to say she didn't have her moments but I'm so thankful we have a baby who likes to go like we do!

And finally, don't forget about my giveaway! There's still time to enter and you have a great shot at winning! Click here for details and how to enter!!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Happy Blogoversary and a GIVEAWAY!!!!

It's my blogoversary!! WOO!! A year ago today I made my first post. And such an "exciting" post it was! Not really.. but I'd like to think they've gotten more interesting over the year! I really enjoy doing this blog as a record keeper of our life. I know that one day I won't remember all of the little things about Ava and I'll have this to look back on for details and I love that. Part of what makes writing so fun is hearing from the people who read it!

So, as a way to say THANK YOU!, I am hosting my first giveaway! I picked out some things that I enjoy and like having around and thought I'd share them with you! So here ya go:

You can never have too many picture frames!

I like having sets of notecards around because you never know when you might need to send something: a thank you, a note, an encouragement, or just a cute way to correspond with someone!

I love these! They are magnetic and I always have a lined one on my refrigerator. When we run out of something, that item goes on the list so that we don't forget about it when we are making the shopping list. I've never had the to-do list before, but it's magnetic as well and maybe my to-do list wouldn't be so blah on this brightly colored paper!

And I saved the best for last!!!!

That's right! If you win this, you will have $15 to buy whatever your little heart desires at Target! Sound good?

Ok, how to win:

1 Entry - Leave me a comment and tell me what you might use the gift card to buy (You don't have to have a blog to leave a comment or win. If you don't have one and want to enter, simply click on "Your Takes On It" enter your comment in the box, and then choose the Anonymous option.)

2 Additional Entries - Become a follower or tell me that you already are a follower

3 Additional Entries - Blog about this giveaway. Leave me a comment if you do so and post a link to the entry.

You may enter until Tuesday, July 21st, at noon (CST). I will select a winner no later than Wednesday evening! This is a great way to come out of hiding if you've been reading about us but haven't left a comment! We would love to know our readers so we can check you out too!

(This giveaway is limited to US residents only. Thanks)

Good luck!

Weekend fun!

We once again packed a lot into the weekend! Friday evening we met up with our friends for a yummy dinner at the Red Rooster! We'd heard from many different sources how good it was and finally got there to give it a try! It was delicious! They have homemade rolls for their burgers/sandwiches and it was awesome! They also had about 16 different choices for pie and the one I tried was fantastic! Their sweet daughter (who seems to have grown up overnight!) was so excited to finally meet Ava!


Saturday morning we decided to give Ava a treat for breakfast in place of her oatmeal. We made her a scrambled egg and she loved it! She gobbled it up! I'm so thankful that for the time being she doesn't seem to be a picky eater! I hope that will last for a long time!

I have some events coming up where I have to take something and I've been wanting to find some new recipes for things like this, but I don't like taking something I've never made before. What if I made it and it turned out disgusting?? Can't have that. So I decided to give a couple of Pioneer Woman's recipes a try this weekend! I made her Chile con Queso and Apple Dumplings!!

They were both really good! The queso did make a lot so I used PW's tip of putting it in baggies and freezing it! I definitely did not want that entire pan of dumplings at my house so I loaded up most of the pan and took them to my mom, dad and sister. I saved us a couple for dessert last night and I thought they were actually a little better after they had set out for a bit.

After church today, we met the Beaty's at one of our mutual favorite restaurants. After that, they invited us to go swimming with them at Emily's parents' house! It was a perfect afternoon for that b/c it was SO hot! Even though it cut into Ava's nap time, we let her swim for a while b/c she loves it so much!



The afternoon did wear her out though!


And finally, be checking back soon! My one year blogoversary is very close and I have a giveaway lined up for you guys and I'm very excited about it! Hope you all had a great weekend as well!

She's got skillz...

The morning after we returned to our trip, I went to get Ava out of her bed and found that she had learned a new skill... She had taken off one side of her diaper and it was hanging off of her! Fortunately there were no messes to be cleaned up (which was very fortunate b/c the diaper was wet and dirty!)! Zach called me later in the day to tell me she had done it again and once again, even though it was wet and dirty, there was no mess... We did catch her in the process of doing this last night.

Fast forward to this morning... Zach called me and I thought he was going to tell me he had dropped Ava off at school. Instead they were just on their way and he did not sound happy! Zach had put Ava down for her morning nap and went to get a shower. He went to get her out to finish getting her ready for school and said he came upon her sleeping, with her bare bottom up in the air and poop everywhere!!!!!! He said it was in the bed, on her hands, on her feet, on her legs! He had to do major clean up before they could leave! It appears that we can no longer leave Ava in just t-shirts! Back to onesies and pants on at all times for her! We have such a mischievous little girl! Obviously, I wasn't the one dealing with it but just the thought of it and Zach's displeasure had me cracking up! Oh, the joys of parenthood!

Trip to Atlanta

Last Wednesday we loaded up and headed out to Georgia! Our friends, Sally and Shon, moved out there last August. They live right outside of Atlanta and we thought the long weekend would be a fun time to visit them! We got in late Wednesday night and crashed. Thursday morning we got up and hung around the house. These two little kiddos are so precious and I was so glad to get to see them again!

Zach made some buddies really quickly - that or they just liked his phone! (Sally told me that K & W missed Ava and our phones!)

Thursday evening we headed to Stone Mountain - which is pretty much what it sounds like - a mountain of stone! Carved into the side of the mountain is a picture of Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Confederate President Jefferson Davis . It was pretty cool!

We had to wait until dark so we could see this awesome laser show on the side of the mountain! Also, since it was so close to the 4th, we got to enjoy fireworks too! While we waited, we hung out on the lawn and walked around part of the park to see some of the different attractions.

They had a section dedicated to each state that seceded from the union. Here we are with Arkansas!

I used to babysit little Miss K and she is my buddy!

On Friday we headed into Atlanta and took in the World of Coke! It was definitely a fun experience, although while we were there it was very busy and a little hectic!

I couldn't take pictures of it, but we saw a 4D movie and the experience was so fun! The movie was cheesy, but our seats moved and water sprayed on us and at one point something poked us in the back! It was hilarious! The tasting area was neat but was very crowded! It had Coke flavors from different countries and there were some that were definitely gross!

We all got to take a glass bottle of Coke home with us and we enjoyed them once they were nice and cold!

We went to their neighborhood pool for a while on the 4th and then just hung around while waiting for ribs to smoke and fireworks to start. We tried to get all three kiddos to cooperate for a picture and this was my best attempt!

Our little firecracker!

This little guy is a sweetheart - he gave Ava her first kiss! He liked her but I think he will probably be glad he doesn't have to share his toys anymore! :)

Shon and Sally's house was close enough to a lake that we were able to sit on their deck and see the fireworks show from the lake! It was so nice! We spent a lot of time just hanging out and visiting! We have definitely missed getting to see them on a regular basis and we had so much fun getting to catch up with them and see their new home! Shon and Sally, thank you both again for letting us invade your house for three days! We had a great time and loved getting to spend some time with your sweet family!!!