Snow much fun!

Well, school/work were not cancelled when we woke up this morning but by 11:00 Zach had called me to say his school was closing at 1:00. He and Ava made their way home and I got home a little early too. The snow is still coming down and it is absolutely beautiful!

We took Ava out for just a few minutes and she was mad when we came back in. She kept trying to open the door and go back out. Luckily she’s not tall enough to reach the lock (yet).

Trying to catch snowflakes on her tongue

And before you call the parent police, I promise she has gloves. They just come off as quickly as they go on. We were only out for like 5 minutes anyway.

I have a feeling we’re going to be home all day tomorrow and that’s just fine with me! It should be a relaxing weekend!

Cuteness!!!

With the impending rain and cold weather, I figured there’d be no outside play at school today, so I let Ava wear one of her dresses! During the summer she wore them all the time, but since it’s been colder, she usually only wears them to church on Sunday.

Seriously? How cute is this? She was so proud!!

But she’s not quite so good at being lady like… I guess we’ll need to work on that!

She was also pretty happy about the pair of shoes I found that I forgot we had. The girl loves it when she gets to wear new shoes and she kept bending over to inspect them.

It’s funny that some days I can’t get one single good picture of the girl and then others it’s picture overload!  

This picture is so goofy it’s kinda cute! :)

We currently have freezing rain going on. I can see the ice pellets on our driveway so who knows what it will be like come morning. I wouldn’t turn away a 3 day weekend! :) Good night!!

yuck.yuck.yuck.

This is what we’re looking at later this week – a fair amount of ice topped with several inches of snow. Lovely.

I’m all for snow and I know my hubs loves snow days, but I do not like the ice! It’s dangerous and if I have to go to work, just because I’m cautious doesn’t necessarily mean others will be! I also don’t want to have to deal with a power outage! Of course we’d be okay because we have our gas fireplace and Zach’s grill is gas as well, but being stuck in the house with no electricity for a few days with a rambunctious one year old could get ugly. Whatever. It is what it is. And if we’re iced in, I’ll just enjoy an extra day off.

And in other exciting news, I got the what for by an 88 year old lady today. I work for a utility company and our doors are not open to the public. I was leaving to head to our other location and she started waving her arms at me from the car as soon as I walked out the door. My first thought was, “Oh crap!”. And it was the right thought – ha! She wanted in to pay her bill and I explained she couldn’t do that and gave her several options to pay it, including driving around and putting the payment in the drop box. She then went on a tirade telling me how she was 88 and had been a customer for over 60 years and how she couldn’t believe I wouldn’t help her! I had to try not to laugh because after I’d given her several alternatives to pay, she finally just whipped her head away from me and mumbled some lovely things and then slammed her car door. It was funny because when I got back about 20 minutes later her car was still there and she was using one of my options. I better be careful or she might hunt me down since I was “so rude”! Gotta love angry customers!

XOXO and if you have any good stuck at home fun things to do, send them my way just in case!

Awesome giveaway!

It's the 2 year blogiversary for the McFamily! And in celebration, the talented Jen (of Jen Gets Fancy) is offering a custom blog makeover! She designed my current blog and many others you can see under her portfolio! She does incredible work, so check out her giveaway here! And good luck (except not really b/c I want to win!!)!!

Would you like to have a seat?

Remember this chair? Ya know, the one that probably cost too much nice one Santa Claus brought? Well, even though she likes it, the girl is obsessed with sitting in other places…. In fact, she pretty much sits anywhere that seems like a good idea…

And her old favorite – she plops her rear here anytime the door opens And yesterday I was playing with her and was laying on the ground and she sat down on my shoulder. Crazy kid!

Do you see how wide open the girl’s mouth is in this picture? We spend our days listening to a steady stream of chatter and screeching these days. The girl talks non-stop. I guess that shouldn’t really surprise me! :) Out of the words she is saying right now, my favorite is hello and yellow. So cute and probably the same word but she tries!

Ava has learned very early on the importance of gorgeous accessories. She’s armed and ready to go with her purse and bracelet. We’ll be in trouble in a few years if her taste gets more expensive!

And finally, I want to wish a very happy birthday to both of Ava’s grandmas! My mom’s birthday is today and my mother in law’s birthday is tomorrow. Happy birthday Mom and Nancy!

Hope you all have a great week!!

If you have an iPhone or an iPod Touch...

you have GOT to check out this new game, Words with Friends!!!!!



Emily told me about it and it is so much fun! There is a free version and you have to put up with ads, or you can buy it for $2.99 and not see an ad at the end of your turn. Basically, it's like playing a game of Scrabble but you can play with other people! Finally! You start a game with someone and it tells you when it's your turn. You just come back to it whenever you have a chance and it's ongoing! There is also a chat function on there that looks like you are sending text messages but it's within in the game. So much fun! So, if you'd like to play a game with me, leave me a comment with your user name, or look for me - my user name is Sarah825. Hope to play a game versus you! (Oh, and if you start a game with me, use the chat icon in the game to let me know who you are!) :) Happy Friday!!!!

Growing up before our eyes

I can.NOT believe how grown up Ava is looking in the picture on the left!!!!! Where in the world has my baby gone???? I really wish her hair would get longer on top. It’s getting long and curly in the back, but not so much on the top of her head. Maybe one day…. The little goofball on the right never ceases to make me laugh. She kept walking around tonight scrunching up her face but would never do it where I could catch it on camera!

I love me a sleepy little girl. We’ve also had no luck with the pacifier going bye-bye at bed time (not for lack of trying on my part). Not to point fingers or anything, but instead of trying to get her to sleep without it like I do, the other adult in this house usually just gives it to her at bed time….

I’m so glad tomorrow’s Wednesday! My weeks always slow way down after Wednesday so I’m glad when I see Wednesday gone! Hope you’re having a good week!

New obsessions

Ava has a new love…..

Ranch dressing..

She saw a dish of it Friday night and dipped her finger in and it was the end. I thought the next dip would be another finger and instead it was the whole hand….

I was trying to give her a little variety in some of her veggies and decided to give her a bowl of lettuce since she really seems to like it and thought I’d put a tiny dabble of Ranch on it and she went to town.

Some random pictures from tonight - I love how her blue clothes make her blue eyes pop!

It’s especially hard trying to climb up on a leather couch!

So Ava has a new obsession, and we do too: we’ve spent some time this weekend with these guys:

I’ve always heard how funny this show is, but I have this weird thing that I don’t like it when I don’t start shows/movies/etc from the beginning and have no idea what’s going on or don’t have all the back history. So, Jon & Emily let us borrow their DVDs of all the seasons and we are currently working our way through. We have laughed SO hard and can’t wait to see what we have to catch up on. I wish my everyday life had as many laugh-out-loud moments!

Things I don’t understand…

I don’t understand

• why Ava stands at my feet pulling on my pants saying “hi, hi, hi, hi” repeatedly while I’m on the phone, but when we see someone and I tell her to say hi, she just stares like she is a mute.
• why manners have gone out the window. I was on my way home tonight and got to an intersection where a guy in the left lane had tried to get way ahead of everyone couldn’t get over to turn right and I decided to be nice and let him in after several cars drove past him, and he didn’t even wave thank you! I dislike when people do that!
• why I want to stay in bed on weekdays but can never seem to sleep in on the weekends.
• why Kohl’s still hasn’t refunded my money for a coat I ordered for Ava on November 28th and never received! You’d think they’d just give it back to me so I’d quit calling!
• the Golden Rule doesn’t seem to exist anymore. I try really hard to treat others the way I’d like to be treated but feel that more often than not, I’m not given the same respect.
• how our daughter can make our house look like a tornado went through it in about 2.4 seconds.
• how my to do list at work never seems to be under 20 items. It’s like for each item I finish, I add 2-3 more in its place.
• why, with the exception of a select few, most of my close friends don’t live here.
• why Zach can hug and kiss Ava and tell her goodbye when he leaves, but I have to sneak out to avoid a breakdown.
• why the work week can’t be condensed to four days and the weekends extended to 3 days!
• why God has blessed me so abundantly.
• why Ava can be so extremely loud in church but when we take her to the back to settle down, she doesn’t make a peep.
• why growing up isn’t easy.
• how I got so lucky to get such a wonderful hubby who puts up with me and my craziness.
• how weekends seem to be over before they start.
• why Heidi felt the need to have all that plastic surgery – I think she looked better before.
• why cake and cheese dip can’t be healthy.

Ahhhh…… feels good to get that off my chest. :)

Wordless Wednesday

Sometimes there’s just no good title for a post…

Thanks for all the advice on the pacifier. I’d heard of some of the ideas, but just didn’t know if Ava was old enough to grasp a “binky fairy” or putting it in a bear. Oh well.. we’ll get through it!

Ava and Zach survived their first week back to school. Ava had gotten used to staying up past her bedtime over the break and quickly returned to it after her first day back. She was wiped. It’s been a quiet week and we’ve spent lots of time at home because it’s soooooo cold!

The trash can is a total object of fascination these days…. today she actually tried to take my yogurt container back out to lick it…… gross! (doesn’t she look like she’s been caught doing something wrong?.. probably trying to put her dishes in the trash)

♥ these two!!! (still using the paci the night this was taken)

This girl is Wii obsessed! She’s always liked it but now that she’s a little older she thinks she can play too.

She likes bowling and Super Mario, but especially loves Wii Fit Plus – and this game in particular:

She will stand next to us and flap her arms too to make the chicken fly – so cute!

What’s not so cute is when I’m down on the floor doing some of the strength training and she comes and sits on my stomach – makes it a little more difficult!

And finally, I’m looking for a little help. Two of my closest girl friends and I are currently trying to plan a long weekend getaway. One of the girls moved away a year and a half ago so it’s been forever since the three of us have been together. We’re all trying to come up with a great place to meet up, and we have a couple of ideas on the table, but maybe someone knows of some awesome place we have no clue about! So, I was wondering if anyone had any great suggestions for a girly getaway!

Too bad it’s not so easy to just jet off to one of these places for a weekend: Eiffel Tower – Paris, France

Vatican City – Rome, Italy

Think a little smaller scale for this trip! ;)

Help a Mom out!

When Ava had her 15 month check up a couple of weeks ago, one of the questions we had was when to take away the pacifier. He pretty much said get rid of it. He said that they recommend taking them away at a year old (nice to know three months later)(which makes me wonder why that wasn’t mentioned at her 1 year appointment, but whatever).

She had a bad habit of going and getting them out of her bag whenever she wanted one so we decided to stop that and put them all  away. However, we decided that she’s still pretty young so we’re still letting her have them at nap times and bed times or when her incessant whining when she’s tired, hungry or cranky gets on our nerves. She’s learned very well because if it’s still in her mouth when we get her from her crib, she either spits it our or takes it out and throws it down. We also keep it on standby just in case we need it in church. She’s actually done pretty well and hasn’t gotten too loud, thankfully!

That being said, for all you experienced parents (or even the nonexperienced ones) out there, when did you take it away from your child for good? Or if you haven’t taken it away, when do you plan to? Or did your kid just never take one – sometimes I wish she hadn’t but I think it’s a double edged sword! Anyway, obviously every child is different but it’d be nice to hear some different thoughts. Ava’s only really had an attachment to her blanket and pacifier but it’s not the blanket she wants when she needs to be soothed – she wants that binky!

STOP! Please don’t take it away!

So, thoughts? Suggestions?

Hope you’re staying warm!!! They say it’s going to be colder here in the next couple of days than it has been in the last 20 years!! Yikes!!

That thing you do

With time passing so quickly, I wanted to just jot down some of the things that Ava does that either make us laugh or are just so adorably cute! It won’t be long before some of them stop and I don’t want to ever forget her little doings!

Ava,

You are so spirited and so funny and these are things we love about you:

• When you have your binky in and we offer you a snack or a taste of food, you spit that thing right onto the floor.
• When you are “helping” me cook and I let you taste things, if you have something in your mouth and offer you something else, you spit out what’s in your mouth to get what’s new!
• If we ask if you are ready for a bath, you say “ba” and then start trying to take your clothes off.
• You will sometimes randomly just say “ba” and start taking off your clothes as if that will mean you really get a ba! Silly girl!

(Ba means bath or shower – makes no difference to her!)

• When we are on the phone, you run over and keep repeating hi until we let you talk.
• When you are constipated and we can tell you are trying to potty, we sit you on the toilet seat and that always helps you go in the potty! When you’re done, you always have to throw a piece of toilet paper in too!
• You can unlock Mom and Daddy’s iphones!
• You are quite the chatterbox these days and it’s so cute when you actually respond to us with the correct word!
• I love when you hear the garage door open and run to open the door to greet whoever is coming in!
• No matter where you are or what you are doing, when you hear the Hot Dog Song from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, you run to watch and dance.
• After watching Daddy do it, you sometimes randomly open the laundry room door, grab the little trash can and go empty it in the big trash can, and then put it back.

• When you want a snack, you open the pantry door and find your snacks and bring them to us.
• You randomly spin around so we started singing Ring Around the Rosie and now if we start singing it you automatically spin!
  

You are growing up so quickly and each day with you is special. I pray you never lose that incredible spunk you have! :) We love you!