Gymboree Who?

So if you know me very well, you know I love to dress Miss Ava.  Well, maybe I love shopping for her as much or more than dressing her.  I never thought I would like shopping for anything more than clothes for myself until it was for the house and now for Miss Ava.  Poor Greg never got in the lineup.  I came to love Gymboree with the help of my friend, Tiffany.  She drug me in there every time we went to the mall.  It was not pretty.  I would fall in love with a line and then get many pieces from the line so we could mix and match.  It was my go to store.  Now don't get me wrong, I still love their clothes.  They hold up and I love the mix an match.  I am not sure if I am finding other brands because Ava is getting older, I am tired of Gymbo, or I have just found some new brands.  I have found so many new websites through friends, blogs, and Facebook.  A lot of these websites are having wonderful sales right now.  I have racked up and not spent much at all.  Check them out.  

www.hannahkateonline.com

www.flitandflitter.com

www.matildajane.com

www.chezami.com

www.julianneoriginals.com

Christmas Part Three

Here are a few pictures from Christmas night with Ava's cousins:  Preston, Maddie, and Christian.  We had lots of fun eating, playing card games, Pictionary Man, and just hanging out.

Christmas Part Two

We woke up and let Ava open her presents and see what Santa had brought.  Ava must have been a good girl as she got just about everything she asked for, of course.  We ate a yummy Christmas brunch, and then went on our annual walk in the wagon around the neighborhood.

Christmas Part One

We celebrated Christmas many times during the week of Christmas.  We went to Greg's parents house on Monday night.  We had Aunt Teresa over with my family on Christmas Eve.  We opened presents again on Christmas morning.  Then, we had Greg's entire family over on Christmas night.  We had a very busy week, but it was filled with family and fun.  All of these photos are from Christmas Eve. Santa called on Christmas Eve night and Ava thought it was just too funny that Santa would be calling instead of getting ready to bring the presents.  Ava was also very concerned that Santa would be coming down her chimney.   

Snow Day

It hardly ever snows here in the Nashville area for some crazy reason that Greg could explain in great detail.  It has something to do with a bowl and weather patterns.  Anyways... on a night I had a big girls' night out planned-it snowed.  We didn't end up having girls' night out so we decided to let Ava stay up late to play in the snow.  We figured it would be gone in the morning. Unfortunately for me, I was not gone.  Ava did not have school, and I didn't get my much needed Mommy time to finalize Christmas stuff.  Oh well.  We had fun in the snow and drinking hot chocolate afterwards.  Greg enjoyed shoveling the driveway with his snow shovel he gets to use every five years.  

The Morgan Family Comes to Visit

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              One of my best friends from high school is Janet Morgan.  She and I have known each other forever.  She lived beside my grandparents.  We played together when I visited my grandparents, went to middle school and high school together, were in the same high school social club and band, and reconnected at our ten year reunion.  Janet married a wonderful guy she met at UK named Jarett.  They have a precious little girl named Kate that is about 10 months older than Ava.  Ava and Kate love each other like sisters.  We visit each other as often as possible since they live in Knoxville.  We also go to Destin every year together.  Here are some pictures from their last visit to Nashville when the boys went to the Titans game and the girls went to the mall, of course.

 

Christmas Card Shoot

We decided to take our Christmas card picture on the beach while we were in Jacksonville.  WE wanted something special since we did not do cards last year due to our big move between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  The sun was super bright so we didn't have a lot to choose from it we wanted Greg's eyes to be open.  Here are some of the best ones.

Thanksgiving in Jacksonville

After we tortured Ava with our Christmas card shoot, we let her play on the playground at the beach.  She was bummed the big pool was closed for the day.  She tried to get in the baby pool, but it was freezing.

This picture was taken at Jacksonville Zoo.  Ava loved the sandbox, playground equipment, and the carousel.

Greg and Ava outside World Golf Village after we saw Madagascar II in imax.

This bird was at the zoo.  He was hysterical.  He stood there as long as we watched him in this crazy position.  He looked like a watch salesman on the streets of NYC.

We tried to feed the giraffes at the zoo.  Ava was too scared, but she loved watching them from afar.

We went to Jacksonville, Florida for Thanksgiving this year.  We had so much fun going to Ponte Vedre Beach, Jacksonville Zoo, World Golf Village, and St. Augustine.  We visited with my family and enjoyed the time catching up with everyone.  It was the second year to visit on Turkey Day.  I think it is our new tradition.  We hope you had a fabulous Thanksgiving too.

We dine with Cinderella every night.

Ava has been dressing up almost every night for months and months.  It started with a Pink ballet outfit complete with tutu that she wore every time we watched Dancing With the Stars.  Then, she was Belle for Halloween.  For Christmas, she got the Fancy Nancy dress and the Cinderella dress.  Cinderella is by far the her favorite at the moment.  She wears it almost every night to dinner.  As long as she eats, I have decided it is not a battle worth fighting.