Christmas 2012

We had a fantastic Christmas! We are so blessed with the family and friends!

We baked cookies for Santa







 And made a monster cookie with the leftover dough

 We had a free for all decorating!

 Gingerbread shaped sandwich for lunch

 Put out reindeer food

 Left cookies for Santa

 Rocked new Christmas jammies!

 Had major excitement on Christmas morning!!

 Loved her guitar!

 Aunt Emily and Tammy were stoked about their tickets to Carrie Underwood!

 Ava got a new horse sans jammies. Notice them laying to the side!

 Took family pictures in front of the tree

 Enjoyed an Italian feast! Yep, Chicago style pizza!

 She can even ride her new horse!

 The Christmas dress...which lasted 10 minutes

 Merry Christmas!!

 All the kids!

 Annual picture with Uncle Ryno!

 And wrapped up the evening with a sleepover with Livi and Morgan!!

We hope you had a fabulous holiday!!

Disney on Ice!

Saturday we took Ava to see Disney on Ice! She loved it!! Had TONS of questions but was such a good girl that Daddy bought her a sword and a Jessie hat before we left.

YMCA Winter Wonderland

I have lots to catch up on!! Whew...

On Wednesday before Christmas, the kids from Ava's school sang at the Winter Wonderland hosted by the YMCA. They had Santa and different crafts for the kids to do!

I'll Never Drive A Mini Van

As quoted by me for the last 30 years of my life. Well...I'm a mama now and soon to me a  mama to two beautiful China girls. And I need space. So...

I am now the owner of the nicest car I have ever driven. I love it!! And when I asked Ava if she liked it? "Mom, it's freaking awesome!" I'm thinking she likes the DVD player and headphones the best. :)

Happiness!

I can finally talk about it! I hate keeping secrets...But this one I had to keep. It was sooo hard!! But now I can share...

Remember Sara, my BFF? She just got married in September? Ava was the flower girl?

Yep, she's PREGNANT!!! Baby Smithers will be making an entrance sometime around July 3rd...So happy for Sara and Eric!

Special Mail

Ava received a special package in the mail on Tuesday...FROM SANTA!! Yep!!

Mama discovered this amazing website called Sealed By Santa and ordered a special package to send to our sweet girl! To say this kid was excited would be the understatement of the year! She has told everyone "I got mail from Santa".  The package consisted of a letter from Santa, his favorite mug, his favorite hot cocoa, a ornament, and a letter and a cookie cutter from Mrs. Claus with Santa's favorite cookie recipe. Adorable!!

 

 

Dinner with Roz!

Monday night we had dinner with special friends! The school that our friend, Rozalyn, attends was having a fundraiser at BW-3. Since Daddy was working nights, Ava, Uncle Nate, and I joined in to support. Ava and Roz were soooo adorable together. Walking around like they own the place, holding hands. So sweet!!

And even better?? I got to spend time Roz's mama, who is a pretty cool person!

The REAL Santa Claus

There are Santa's everywhere this time of year! But for some reason (don't ask me why), it's not the real deal until we see the Samta at Bass Pro. But if you know of this FREE session, you would also know it is the closest thing to craziness that exsists. You go to see Santa and they give you a pass to come back at another time. Could be a half hour, 2 hours, 3 hours....Well, we don't live super close so this year I got smart. Instead of getting our pass and walking the store for hours, buying unnecessary stuff (even I can find something at Bass Pro), I called my dad. Who lives 5 minutes from the store and had him go pick up the latest pass he could. The best part? He dropped it off to me. BONUS!! So, we got ready trekked over to Bass Pro, waited maybe 15 minutes, and then this...

This kid loves Santa this year. Oh, and you want to know what she asked for?? 3 iPads and 3 books. Really??? And then Uncle Nate snapped this gem...

Ahhhh....LOVE.

Ava's Christmas Program

Monday was Ava's Christmas program at school. She's in the four year old room now...and she didn't disappoint. She ROCKED it!

 

 

Ava and her fabulous teachers!! Miss Kelly and Miss Jamie

 

 

Aunt Emily came out!

 

Our attempt at a family picture...

 

When all she wanted to do was this...

 

The video is currently uploading on YouTube. I have the hardest time getting videos on here but I will try. But if we are friends on Facebook, I know I can post the link!