Family Fun Day...Sort Of

We had been planning this past Saturday for a while now. We bought tickets for Disney On Ice as soon as they went on sale! Then this week Ava and I saw a commercial for a train ride with Santa at Pullen Park in Raleigh so we added that to the day. Then David decided he didn't have time on Friday to get a haircut so we made him an appointment for that on Saturday as well. We had it all planned out...Disney on Ice, shopping, lunch, haircut, more shopping, then to Pullen Park. I was pumped!!

Disney on Ice was a flop! I mean the show was great and all but when your child has just been to Disney World a few months ago she wants to HUG and KISS the characters...not see them from far away. Ava wanted nothing to do with it and wouldn't even sit still to eat popcorn...so we left soon after intermission. This is our second failed attempt at Disney on Ice so I think we will pass on this next year!

David trying his best to entertain Ava at Disney On Ice...

Then I gave it a try...
Next up we headed to get David's haircut. I was thinking Ava would be exhausted and just sleep in the car while we waited for David...no such luck! She was wide awake so we went to Dunkin Donuts for much needed coffee and a donut. (Secretly this was probably the best part of the whole day for me!)

Then we headed to Crabtree to try and finish our Christmas shopping. Seriously....I WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN ON A SATURDAY!! I have worked very hard this year to be joyful during the Christmas season and that hour and a half in that mall almost made me lose every bit of Christmas cheer I had gathered! :)

Someone had told David while getting his haircut that Pullen Park would be EXTREMELY crowded so to be prepared to wait in a long line for Santa. After the dreaded Crabtree experience none of us thought that would be a great idea. So we headed home, stopped for a very romantic dinner at Lonestar (haha) and then got more donuts at Krispy Kreme!

Ava always has a great time when there is food involved...

One highlight of the day is that Ava watched Elmo's Potty Time in the car so many times she has it memorized....praying for successful potty trips this week! :)

Breakfast With Santa

My mom took Ava to have breakfast with Santa this morning. My mom said Ava LOVED Santa! While the other kids were screaming in fear, Ava could not wait to get in Santa's lap to tell him what she wanted for Christmas.. a "Baba" (aka Barney) I am seriously amazed that Ava was not terrified of him but from the looks of the pictures she has a new best friend..

Thanksgiving 09

Somehow Thanksgiving has come and gone...seriously where has this year gone?? We had a great week! My sister and her family came in on Monday so we had a great time hanging out with them this week! Ava is finally a "kid" in Jay and Caroline's eyes and she LOVES playing with them! She even calls them "sissy" and "bubba"!

Thursday for lunch we ate with David's family and it was delicious!! Ava loves going over to Nana and Papa's! One of Ava's favorite people is in the background of this picture...She loves "Paaaaaul"! She is a southern belle for sure!Thursday for dinner we went to my Nana's and joined the 24 or so other family members who had gathered for Thanksgiving! I love being around family...I don't think there is anything I am more thankful for than a loving family! My favorite picture of the night...

Ava has spent a few mornings with my Nana and Pops and my cousin Matthew is sometimes there too. He has become Ava's buddy and she kept telling him "Matt-Matt 'moan" He let her watch Jojo YouTube videos for the longest time! Sad thing for me is it seems like yesterday Matthew was sitting in my lap on Thanksgiving! Wow I'm old!

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! In a second or so I will be blogging about Christmas! :)

YUCK!

One word can pretty much sum up this week in the Pitts house..YUCK! Ava has had a very weird and unpredicatable stomach virus that has lasted the entire week! I called the doctor on Tuesday and they told me to keep her on clear liquids for 24 hours. Pediatric nurses are so cute and sweet but seriously lady, try telling a 22 month old that they have to live on Gatorade and Pedialyte for an entire 24 hours...not happening! So Ava has lived on toast and crackers this week. She is usually fine during the day and then around 1:30am wakes up vomitting and just looking so pitiful! :( Strangely, David and I have felt fine all week so I'm not really sure what the deal is?? One thing that I know works without fail is prayer and we have been declaring healing in Jesus name all week!!

Ava's Funniest Moments

Ava is in a hilarious stage right now! She is talking up a storm and has picked up some very funny phrases! This morning we were all getting dressed and ready to go to Raleigh. I, as usual, was the last one ready and my little angel marched into the bathroom and said in the most southern voice possible... "Mama, 'moan" That is her version of "come on"! She says this a lot to the tv when she is waiting for a dvd to start... "Ba-ba 'moan" (that means Barney come on!)

A few weeks ago on the way home from church she dropped her pacifier and said "Awe man"! I laughed so hard I was crying!

She has recently started saying "scared" and crossing her arms and making the funniest face! I think she learned this from my mom but she says it about Santa Claus commercials, the sound of the train or loud cars outside, fake reindeer and just about anything else she sees. We laughed at her for the longest time at first but now we are trying to teach her that Jesus doesn't want us to be scared! Hopefully this will work because I really want to get her picture made with Santa this year....I won't hold my breath on that! :)

We are working on counting, animal sounds, shapes, and learning our ABC's. She loves to count but the only number I can understand that she is saying is "twoooo". She is a pro at animal sounds and knows the cow, dog, kitty cat, snake, lion (but she was saying that when she was 9 months old!) duck, and she pinches her nose for the skunk! Colors are a little more challenging because EVERYTHING is "pu-ple" to her but we will get it!

Have a great weekend everyone! I am going to try to convince David to let us decorate for Christmas tonight so if we do I'll share some pictures! That should interesting...

Welcome Judah!

Our dear, dear friends welcomed baby Judah to the world last night! Congratulations Pam and Gray! He is soooo handsome!! We can't wait to meet him!

Trick or Treat

Ava had a great time trick or treating last night! Thank goodness it was cooler than the last time she wore her Jojo costume! I had worked 12 hours Friday night so by the time "trick or treating" rolled around on Saturday night I was exhausted!! We took Ava to my Nana and Pops' house and also to my Aunt Lori's. Then David and Ava went over to his parent's house to trick or treat. Nana J gave Ava a huge princess bag full of treats! When they got back home I was still awake and heard Ava throwing a fit in the living room. I went in to see what was wrong and David told me that she wanted a lollipop but he wouldn't give it to her because it was so late. Now anyone who knows me would probably think I would be the stricter parent who would never feed my child candy at 8:30 at night...but they would be wrong! I sat on the couch with my little Jojo in my lap and we shared the biggest lollipop we could find! :) I told David that there would be very few Halloweens when she would WANT to sit in my lap sharing a lollipop and watching the halloween episode of the Backyardigans! Thank God for daylight savings time kicking in last night though because that extra hour of sleep was desperately needed! My theory right now is I'll sleep when my babies are grown...right now I plan on soaking in every second I can get!! :)