Go, Go, Goers!

Scott, Ava, and I went to KC to visit my family for Thanksgiving. My aunt Stephanie flew in from NYC, and my great-aunt Doris joined us for dinner, as well. In addition to listening to family tales from the past and eating a fabulous home-cooked meal, we also decided to let Ava open her Christmas gifts from my parents and Steph. I've included a video from her first gift - once she got past the shiny ribbon, she just tore into the gifts! We're back home now, and looking forward to the next time we head south to KC! Enjoy the pictures! And gobble gobble! Dee, Ava and Gramma Karen - 3 generations of fabulous women! :) This was just too cute...Ava is so good at really studying the person who is holding her. In this case, it's Grampa Doug! Grampa Doug, Gramma Karen and Ava - after a great breakfast... This is nice - we don't have too many pictures of the three of us. What's this? Turkey legs on my shirt! Ava the Dragon Slayer! And a happy slayer to boot...! The Blackwood...

Ava's gotten really good at holding her own bottle, as you can see in this picture. However, the sippy cup is still in practice...at the end of this drinking session, I think there was more water on her bib than what went in her mouth! Here's a cute little video of her "playing" with Darla...notice Darla's pleading look to me at the end. Again, she is THE BEST dog ever. She has so much patience! I wrapped all of our Christmas gifts today...it's amazing how Ava had 3 times as many gifts as everyone else! It's so hard to stop buying things for her! Have a wonderful night!

Quick story of the week...my best friend, Angie, and I had an early Christmas dinner this past Thursday. We had a wonderful meal at La Grolla in the Cathedral Hill area in St. Paul - the ambiance at the restaurant is fabulous - very romantic (yea Ang!), with a Tuscan feeling to it. As I was opening her gift, we both realized that it was suddenly very bright at our table...the tissue paper in the gift had caught fire! Angie was trying to blow it out, I was waving it around, and finally, our waitress came to our rescue - she stomped it out on the mat by our table. The other patrons clapped, and we were even thanked for the excitement at the end our meal. Anyone who knows me knows that I do NOT like fire that's even the tiniest bit out of control...so, of course, this had to happen at our table. :) At least the cute sleeper that Angie gave Ava didn't get fried!

Here are the photos from our Girls Night in Stillwater last night. It was definitely good to get out, and have some adult female talk! At Whitey's: Corinne, Kristin, Lisa, Dee, and Tiff At Marx Wine Bar: Corinne, Dee, and Tiff Kristin and Lisa

Scott, Ava and I all came down with a nasty stomach bug this week, so we didn't have the best week ever. BUT, Ava and I did manage to squeeze in some fun yesterday while Scott was up north hunting. Ava and I joined Lisa & Dylan, Tiff & Isabel, and Corinne & Colin for a play date in River Falls. It was the first time all four of us had been together since January! Here's a cute pic of the kiddies (Isabel, Ava, Dylan, Colin): That night, we ditched the kids, and joined by Lisa's neighbor, Kristin, we went to Marx Wine Bar in Stillwater for a girls night. It was really fun catching up, and I can't wait to do it again sometime soon...I'll post pictures of that event later when our resident photographer (Lisa) sends her pics to us. Here's a few random pictures from this week... She looked like she was in jail and was trying to get out! Better late than never...the Halloween costume where you can actually SEE it! Curled up in a blankie, ready for a nap And...

Nothing too new on our lil' Peanut Butter, but I did get some cute shots this week. Scott's been hunting this weekend, so I've gotten a glimpse of what it would be like to be a single parent...and no thanks! It's been a lot of work for me. Yesterday we went Christmas shopping at Southdale, and Ava got lots of comments on her pretty blue eyes. That kid is going to get a big head if we're not careful. :) Hanging out with Daddy - and examining her fingers... Granted, it didn't snow THAT much on Friday, but I wanted to try out the lightweight snow suit for our 20 second walk to daycare! Rough night, Ava? Smiling at the dogs...she's been doing that a lot lately. She seems particularly taken with Spanky... Enough with the pictures, Mommy! I was catching up on my email this morning, and look who was cuddling together. Dar and Ava! Darla just kept wagging her tail the whole time - even when Ava was chewing on her ear. Yuck! Have a great week!

We had a great Halloween on Friday! We visited Scott's grandma for her birthday celebration, and then we went to the Greg Goers' house for some additional fun. Our little chicken was wiped out after a long evening of people holding her, cooing at her, and trying to feed her candy! It will be so much fun next year when she's walking and able to have a few pieces of candy. She's also discovered her yummy toes - whenever she can, she's trying to suck on them. It makes for a harder time changing her diaper, since her feet never leave her head! Daddy's been busy this weekend installing our new basement ceiling - next is the carpeting, and finally new furniture! It will be so nice to have an extra living space in our house. It's going to be a beautiful day here - enjoy that extra hour!