Oh, Addy Girl!

Yesterday I was at work just plugging away and an email came through. From Zhou with the subject line: Update. Oh, yes, we have new pictures! Isn't it crazy how much she has changed??? She has gained 5 lbs, too! Still only 25 lbs though. Little peanut. Check out these pictures! Ava asked "Why is she dressed like that?" Haha!

I printed out the pictures and added to our frames. I had to take this pictures. My girls! Not too much longer and she'll be home with us!

Happy Birthday, Sara!

Nope, not me! My awesome friend, Sara, turned 30 last week! And her mama and her wife planned a little surprise party for her. JHo and I dropped the girl off and headed to the party. It was great catching up with old friends and new. Some pictures from thr night. A big thanks to Betsy and Gina for including us! And a HUGE Happy Birthday to my love bug, Sara!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

We typically do not celebrate Valentine's. John and I like to travel so we don't celebrate too many of these holidays. We have always done a little something for Ava but that's it. Well, John kicked it off this year with the charms for my bracelet. He said he just wanted to do a little something. So, I wanted to do something for him. And long story short, we were able to obtain reservations at a cool restaurant (Thanks, Sarah!).

Ava woke up at 6:00 and asked for her present. I think she was more excited than Christmas! Haha! She was pretty stoked about her new Anna and Elsa dolls.

Isn't her bed head awesome???

Since Friday morning, I have had Frozen acted out for me along with the music about a bazillion times...

Off to school she went in her super cute shirt

She brought home a big bag of goodies and the cutest Valentine's ever. This was by far my favorite. I love the kids have even picked up on the Ava Kate thing...

We headed off to dinner and were able to squeeze two more people in and Nana and Jojo joined us!!! 

For not celebrating and last minutes plans, this was hands down the best Valentines! I love my family!!!

Confessional Friday

I confess! I have a crush on my husband. In honor of Valentine's Day, I have to share my most favorite pictures with this awesome guy! He is amazing and I couldn't imagine my life without him! I love you, JHO!!

Happenings

It's been a low key yet busy week. Monday I got to go out for dinner with my fabulous FCC friends. As fun as that always it, I came home to an amzing surprise! John and Ava had went shopping and bought me 4 new charms for my bracelet and made cards for me. It was seriously so sweet. Ava picked out the charms and I was cracking up! A baby carriage, a Christmas tree, a cuckoo clock, and a purse. Love that kid! Here are my cards. The black splotches on Ava's card are me jumping in muddy puddles (for all of you Peppa fans out there!).

Tuesday was spent going all over Northwest Ohio is seemed like! My car was finished. Yes, it was still in the shop. 22 days. So I had to coordinate rides, dropping off the rental, and picking up my car. Oh, and a stop to the grocery because we were literally out of toilet paper. Not what you want to be out of. After all of the running and a dinner with Nana, we headed home. And spent the rest of the night under a blanket. I was probably the most cold that I have been all year. I was convinced my toes would break off. Last night we spent the evening working on all of Ava's Valentine's. Since they party for two days everything had to go in today. However, while I was prepping this is what I saw.

Ava, What are you doing with Raphael?
He's getting surgery. So he stops biting.
Thank goodness they were toy knife and fork.

Ava's Valentines

We all did Descpicable Me that she wrote out to all of her friends. I think her teacher wanted me to have more gray hair. Haha!!

Ava's new spiderman jammies. A little big. They are a size 8. She doesn't seem to care although she falls every 2 seconds because she trips over the feet.

Oh, and we're down to 7 days until vacation. 



Sledding. UnCork The Artist, and More Snow

Ava had a fun long weekend! On Thursday she stayed home with Daddy and they went sledding! I'm so glad John enjoys this because it's not my thing. While it was pretty cold, they had a blast!

Friday night, my mom hosted her Bunco group at our house. So I shipped John and Ava down to the Man Cave to let these fun ladies relax after a long week. Ava was so excited for their "party"! She was all ready for when Daddy got home for work!

Daddy brought home a pizza and let Ava pick out a movie. I went down to snap a picture and they were watching a Flintstone Christmas Carol! Haha!

While scrolling on Facebook on Friday afternoon, I saw a post about a painting class for kids. We have this cool new place in Toledo called Uncork The Artist. It's mostly for adults, but she was offering a kids class. I called my friend Jen and asked if she wanted to bring her son, Gavin. They decided to join us and both kids had a blast!!

The whole group got together at the end with their pictures. It was so fun! If you have the chance, GO!

Today we had plans to go see The Lego Movie. But John called from work and said the roads were bad to hang tight if we could. So we stayed home and finished up the Valentines for her class. While we just got a couple of inches, we have this on our radar. I'm not going to lie. It's a countdown....

Social Worker and More Snow....

This is my view. Because we are snowed in again. Yes, another 10 inches. Ok, I'm over it. Next topic...

Yesterday out social worker did an in home visit because we need to update our immigration approval. It all went off without a hitch. Except for the following conversation.

John, myself, Ava, and the social worker are sitting at the table.

Ava: I'm hungry.
John gets her a Lunchable. She INHALES it.
Sara: You must have been hungry
Ava: Well, you didn't feed me breakfast.

And I didn't. The one day I forget. The one day she doesn't ask a bazillion times for her next meal. The one day our social worker is there.

Luckily she didn't remove Ava from our house and we still get to bring Addy home. Even though I don't feed my kids. But we passed. Vampire teeth and all....

Chinese New Year 2014 -- Year of The Horse!

We rocked it this year!!!

Thursday was prep night for school the next day. I had this amazing idea for treats since it was the year of the horse and they were nothing short of creepy!! Haha! Still yummy and still edible.

Ava was all about helping me until she asked me about a thousand times to lick the spoon. I kept telling her "not yet" and then she preceded to let John know I wouldn't let her help. Girl had no desire to help. She wanted the food. I did finally convince her to help a little. 

And yes, I let her lick the spoon, finally. 

Friday was so incredibly crazy. I didn't sleep well the night before because I had to be to work so early on Friday and I was afraid I would sleep through the alarm. Sigh. So after we got Ava dressed in her new shirt, I dropped off her and all of her goodies at school. 

My ride to work was super emotional. I passed the procession for one of the fallen firefighters and there were so many people lining the streets with flags. So emotional. Naturally, I bawled the entire way to work. :) Once I got to work, the craziness continued!  My boss was in charge of the quarterly recognition breakfast, which means I was in charge. Well, since it fell on January 31st, I had to do a Chinese New Year theme. It was awesome!! Here is a slide out of the presentation. 

We got so many compliments and people kept telling us how much they enjoyed it! Yea!!! I also received this sweet picture from Ava's teacher so I knew her day was going well.

The day continued craziness and ended on a sad note at work. I was mentally drained and needed some hardcore retail therapy. John got me a gift certificate to Target once we got matched with Addy so I could shop so Ava and I went shopping! We picked out a super soft blanket and a stuffed monkey for the new sweet girl. And also got Ava this awesome new shirt!

Ava was actually so fun at Target! She was a hoot!

Saturday was a fun day!!! We met a bunch of family and friends at a local Chinese restaurant to celebrate and have lunch! I brought a craft for them to do and they had a great time!

Thank you our friends and family who came out to celebrate!

After lunch we had some errands to run. Ava begged to go home with The Feather's. Everyone agreed and it was so nice to shop without someone asking me a gajillion times when I was going to be done. Haha! I went to go pick her up and this is what I found. My own little Asian Elsa. Haha!! I was cracking up!

Saturday night John had to work and I got a sitter for Ava and headed to The Bronze Boar with my mom and Tracy. It was so weird to be at a bar! I had two beers and was in bed by midnight. Perfection. I needed my beauty rest to gear up for our big Sunday celebration. Sunday we headed to Hong Kong, not that one, the restaurant. This was our big lunch with the other FCC families. Hands down, my most favorite day this year. The wonderful parents, the gorgeous kids, the fantastic company. Ava had a blast, we hardly saw her. If we did, she was dragging Emmett around by his hand. Although he didn't seem to mind. Every once in awhile, I would see her red hairbow flopping by! Haha!

Ava's pediatrician, Dr. Tracy, is also the Dr. for many of our FCC families. We decided this year to get a group shot of all of her kiddo's! How adorable is this??

Fascinated with the fish...

Two of my favorite little girls, Roz and Ella

We also had a great time playing with Connor and Katie!

Ava and Roz

And their true colors....Ha!

Another great new year in the books! Thanks to everyone from Ava's teachers to our awesome family and friends for helping us celebrate! Love you all!!!

A couple of updates:
1. Continued prayers for my dad. He is still having quite a bit of pain and Friday, they thought he may have a blood clot in his arm. They sent him home with instructions and what to watch for. So scary.

2. Grandma is home and still not right. She is so bruised (her shoulder is crazy!!) from her fall. She is still pretty sore.

3. And can I just say how awesome if felt to do things this weekend. We've put things off because it's always so cold or snowing thousands of inches. And I say this as we are supposed to get blasted again tomorrow. Haha!!

Have a great week!