It's all Special

At first I titled this blog "Nothing Special," because really there isn't a lot of exciting, new things going on in our home.  But then I thought about it, and really, it's all special, beautiful, and wonderful.  I have been cherishing every single moment with our girl, and I've had a lot of them lately with my easy attending schedule.  It has been one of those weeks where it seems like Ava is learning, doing, and saying everything new.  She does things and I think, "How does she know how to do that??!"  Yesterday we had her on speakerphone with Grandma Pasek and she waved and said "Hello" and then "Bye, Bye."  She tells her daddy "Nigh, Nigh" and waves as he hands her off to me to nurse before bed.  When I told her that it was time to go bye-bye she waved, picked up her shoes, walked me to the back door and pointed to the door knob.  Then she sat down and handed me her shoes, as if to say "Let's go, mom!"

And she is climbing, climbing everywhere: on the fireplace, up and down the stairs, in and out of the bathtub....wherever she can.  It's just amazing to me.  Wasn't she just my tiny newborn not even a year ago?  Where has the time gone?  How can she possibly be this grown up already?  Simply amazing.

This last weekend was our very first city-wide Trunk-or-Treating.  I dressed Ava up in her cute bee costume and off we went.  I expected that she would run wild for awhile, and then I would pick her up and walk to the different treat stations; and of course, my little onedecided that she could be a big girl and do it on her own.  She grabbed the orange pumpkin sack right out of my hands and off she went, walking up to each person, waiting for her special treat.  And after they placed it in her bag she opened it and looked down, as if to check and see that the treat made it safely into her bag.  Then off she went, to the next person, as everyone oooooh'd and aaaaaah'd over my cute little bumble bee.  And of course she walked away with a large stash of various treats!

That night we went to Josh's football game, the third game that we've made it to this year.  Ava loved it again!  She was so engrossed that she actually sat in my lap for a full two quarters.  My child will not sit still for anything, so this was impressive to say the least.  Josh's team won, so off to the play-offs it is.

While we were there, we totally dodged a bullet.  Miss Thing has taken to un-velcroing her shoes in the car.  We were running late for the game, and in the hopes that we would get to see Josh before it started, I grabbed her out of her carseat and made a mad-dash for the stadium.  By the time we made it to the top and sat down, I realized she had no shoes on!  As we left we checked in with security, and thankfully someone had turned them in.  Thank goodness, they are Ava's favorites!
Saturday we had a last-minute visit from Grandma and Grandpa Pasek.  Aren't those the best kind of visits?

I think that they were missing their Ava.  They spent time with their grandbaby while I spent a few wonderful hours with some dear Alpha Gam sisters celebrating Angie's baby-girl on the way.  What a beautiful baby shower on a beautiful October day!

Sunday it was off to church like usual where Ava had a wonderful surprise waiting....Amelia was in her classroom this week!
Yay to the little walkers!

Of course tonight was Ava's first time to trick-or-treat.  This girl seemed like a pro!  She grabbed that bag, walked up to the door and knocked (no joke), and when presented with a bowl of candy she picked her piece and placed it in her bag.  Simply hilarious.  What a big girl!  Big thanks, too, to Heidi for taking her to a local church for trick-or-treating, too. 

Our awesome neighbors, the Bunjers.

Give me that sack, dad!  I'll show you how it's done!

 And the award for this week's best new accomplishment by Miss A goes to....
going down to sleep on her own AND taking two hour naps!!!  YAY!

 Have a blessed week everyone!

Fabulous Fall Fun

Another great fall weekend.  For the last few weekends I have tried to get outside and enjoy every bit of the beautiful weather, worried that this weekend would be the last nice one of the year.  Thankfully, every weekend for the last month has proved me wrong!
Friday I picked up Ava from daycare and we headed over for our first Loose Park outing.  Beautiful!  It was simply gorgeous.  And even better - there were still some roses in the rose garden!  It smelled just wonderful.

Ducks!!

First stop, the pond and the ducks.  Of course Ava loved the ducks, and boy were they friendly!  I probably should have kept her in her stroller - the second I took her out she ran straight to the pond.  This child has no fear, and I chased after her for the next hour to make sure she did not jump right in the water.  I think she was ready to swim with the ducks, too.

Please forgive the less-than-cute outfit: of course, she got very messy eating macaroni with meat sauce at school that day.  I used to remember to bring a cute outfit if we were going somewhere afterwards...this time I forgot.  Oh well, at least everyone knows that she loves her daddy.... :)

 She ran back and forth across the bridge, stopping to check out the ducks swimming around in the pond.

 Next stop, the park.  Swings, slides, and lots of room to run. 

Next we were off to eat dinner at Chik-fil-a.  I LOVE that place - the perfect place to eat with a little one.  They are so friendly no matter which location we are at - they bring our food to us and even bring us a highchair.  Ava ate 2 chicken strips by herself and split the large fruit cup with me.  (I think we might be hitting another growth spurt.)  And even better, there is room to run and play when dinner is over!
Ava and I then spent some time picking out baby gifts for the multiple baby showers coming up.  They had little shopping carts for the kids, and Ava ran all over the store, pushing the cart and filling her basket.  So cute, and I can't believe that I didn't get a picture of it!  Darn!
Since we were in the neighborhood, we decided to surprise daddy at his football game.  Ava's little eyes lit up watching the band march and play, and the cheerleaders perform.  In fact, she couldn't keep her eyes off of those girls!  She clapped her hands right along with them, squealing with delight. 

Ready to head home from the game after a very long (and fun!) evening.

Whew, we packed it all into our Friday night....and Saturday we woke up and we were ready to go again!  The KC Pumpkin patch was calling our name.  The weather was perfect, and Ava was rested and ready to go.  We spent almost three hours there enjoying all it had to offer.  Hope you enjoy the pictures and feel like you were there, too!

After walking around for awhile and checking out all the fun activities, we headed over to the barn with the fun things for the smaller kids.  Once she found the white slide, we barely left the barn.  She was LOVED it!!

The corn box...

The super fun and exciting slide.

It was so much fun, let's do it again!

Jumping up after sliding down....

...and climbing back up....

....and ready to slide down it again!  And repeat!

Swinging

Found a sweet girl that wanted to go down the slide over, and over again.

The fun wooden train.

Playing on the playground equipment.

Going down yet another slide.

Petting zoo....she has her mama in her - fun to look but not to touch!

Off to check out the pumpkins.  She found four small ones that she didn't want to let go.  She finally decided on one before we left....

4 perfect little pumpkins...how will I ever decide?

I will take one of each, please...

...or this big one!

We spent the rest of our Saturday with dad.....

And today, Sunday, our day started out bright and early.  We had blueberry pancakes (an Ava fave) and eggs before heading to church.  After taking a two-and-a-half hour nap (!!!!!!), we headed to the Steffens house to celebrate the new Whetstine baby that should be here in about six weeks!  Another beautiful night, and wonderful friends to celebrate, too.  Ava wore her Halloween costume (sneak peek) - but I'm sad to say I forgot about pictures when it was time to eat dinner and then chase Ava all over the back yard! 

Beautiful, beautiful fall day at the Steffen home....