Ava's in Kindergarten Now!!

I still can't believe it! Some days she seems so big and others she still seems so little. How precious these years are!

Ava has been excited about kindergarten since the first day of K4 last year! On the final day of K4, she told the kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Krenkel, that she didn't want to have a summer and she was ready for kindergarten to start that very day! Mrs. Krenkel smiled and bent down to Ava and said, "That's sweet, honey, but Mrs. Krenkel needs a LITTLE break!" Ha!

Yes, I started to cry on the first day, but then reminded myself that I'm blessed to have Ava in a Kindergarten that is only half-days, so I didn't give myself permission to fuss anymore! Soooo, I will just cry a lot next year! :)

Oh, one more thing... on the third day of school I needed to go in with Ava to pass some flyers out to the teachers and Mrs. Krenkel says, "Ava likes bugs and frogs and things". I said, "Yes, she does". Mrs. Krenkel said, "Yesterday she was catching frogs on the playground and the boys wouldn't have anything to do with it". I laughed and Mrs. Krenkel said, "So you have a boy AND a girl." So true! Ava is as girly as it gets when it comes to clothes and pink and ponies and unicorns, etc., but as she says "I'll touch any kind of bug". Yes, she will, and let it crawl all over her hands and arms.

Ready for me to quit taking pictures so she can go in:)

She was so excited to give Mrs. Krenkel her little gift that I wasn't quite ready for the shot!

Daddy came down from work to see her new classroom, etc.

Just after this she gave me a sticker and said "this is to remember me by"! Like she was going to be gone for a year!

Mrs. Krenkel and most of the class at the end of the day

Catching Up!

Soooooooo, yeah, I've got a LOT of catching up to do! Just working part-time, being mom to Ava, managing my MOMS Bible Study group, and running my household was too much, so I decided to step back from my wonderful job. OK... so that's been a couple months ago and I'm ready to get back on track with our blog!

Ava and I have been having a fantastic summer! It's going by way too quickly already! She's really progressed in the pool this summer even though we haven't been swimming really all that much (if it were up to me, we'd go at least a few times a week!). She swims under water a few yards at a time and can go down and pick things up from the bottom of the shallow end now. She's having a blast trying new things in the pool this year. About a month ago Ava and I spent several days at my parents' house in La with my sister and her kids. Those cousins had a great time together:) We also had the privilege of mom and dad's neighbor, Gabby, coming over to join in the fun! I have a new favorite sound... Gabby's giggle! I wish I could can it and listen to it whenever I needed a smile! The week before last Ava struggled with a really bad case of strep throat, so last week was spent with her eating us out of house and home to catch up from eating hardly anything that entire week! Oh, and Ava got to spend a day with her GG and TomTom, who took her to the Chattanooga Aquarium and then she got to spend the night... more great memories made:)

We also had a yard sale, which went very well... most of all, I got rid of extra stuff! Yay!! Ava sold some toys and earned herself a new scooter, which she already rides like a pro! We are still so blessed to have little Brady next door to spend lots of outside time with. They LOVE picnics and request one at least a few times a week... well, last week Brady's uncle Dan made him a new picnic table so we've had the joy of using that nice gift! This past Saturday we were so blessed to get to enjoy an incredible marriage conference at the church, put on by Dale and Jena Forehand. If you ever have a chance to hear them, don't miss the opportunity!

The rest of the summer and fall proves to be busy and filled with fun! In a week, Shawn will be in Nashville for a training and Ava and I plan to join him for at least a few days. Then comes the start of soccer for Ava, a last summer trip to Louisiana (my parents house), the start of Kindergarten for Ava, the children's ministry consignment sale, the beginning of my MOMS group... and that's just August! September will bring Ava's birthday and a visit from my parents plus a trip to the beach:) And yet, we'll have plenty of time together in between. We're not big rushers... we like to spend lots of quality time together as a family so this is a busy schedule for us! But, we'll be sure to make lots of time for each other:)

Shawn has gotten even more new camera equipment and gained more knowledge and skills, so I will be posting some great new pics very soon. He also plans to referee high school football this fall, so he's really, really excited about that!

I'm sure I'll think of something later that I've forgotten, but this will have to do for now. I promise to keep future posts less wordy and to post pictures soon!

Here We Come, 2009!

The holidays have been GREAT! I have so enjoyed the extra time at home with Shawn and Ava and the extra time with extended family! My folks were "home alone" this Christmas with Lee and I both spending the holiday with our husbands' families and their own celebration with Dad's mom wasn't until the weekend after Christmas. But, they ended up at some dear friends' home on Christmas Day and had a great week getting some major projects done together!

2008 was a big year for us... we had great pains, great joys, and most of all, learned and gained so much in the process of it all! We hope that the Lord has just as much in store for us in 2009 and hope to 'see His face' more and more as well! God is so good!

Shawn got a new photography toy for Christmas and so enjoyed a little more practicing. It's too bad, though, that he doesn't have a beautiful and willing subject! Here are some examples!