Splish Splash

It was raining this afternoon and Ava really wanted to go outside to play. I was explaining to her that it was raining and we couldn't go outside because we would get all wet. Then I remembered that Papa and Nana bought her a raincoat and we still haven't used it. I quickly went to get her some pants, shoes and her coat. She had the best time ever! It was so much fun. She really didn't want to come back inside but mommy and daddy were ready to get dry. :) We will definitely be doing this again....especially if she never forgets that "it's raining" isn't a good enough excuse to stay inside! :)

Ava all ready to go splashing in the puddles! Can you tell she's a little excited!?!
Splashing in the puddles. She doesn't quite know what to do yet.

Playing in the puddle.

" WOW!!! This is a blast! I can't believe they are letting me do this!"

Jumping in the puddles.

Sorry that the video is sideways. We forgot that we can't switch it once it is already recorded. OOPS! Hopefully you can still watch it.

THANK YOU PAPA AND NANA FOR MY WONDERFUL RAINCOAT!!!!

Our Silly Girl

Our Silly Girl...she would not let me put her shoes on this morning without putting these red socks on first! She did not want to wear the shoes without the socks. She thought she was the coolest kid around! :) It was funny. Luckily, she let me take them off before we left the house.

Our cute little girl all ready for church. We had to go out and buy her some new shoes. She is now in a size 5!!! Not even 2 months ago she was still wearing size 2 or 3. She grew fast! :) She is obsessed with shoes so this was a great day for her!

Long Time....

...No Blog! I'm so sorry to all of you that check our blog regularly. I've been slacking. :( The past 6 weeks, I have been feeling pretty sick majority of the time. Finally, now that I'm past the 12 week mark, I'm starting to feel much better. Because I haven't felt very good, I haven't taken too many pictures. But here is what I have taken. Ava is getting so big. She now says the following words all the time: uh-oh, wow, whoa, dog, ROAR!, moo moo, dada, mama, and we think a few others but it's hard to tell. She signs please, thank you, and more too. She doesn't really like us to carry her anywhere....she must walk! Which is a very good thing considering we have another one on the way. She likes to grab for your finger to take you somewhere or to help her with something. Ava is definitely a girly girl! We can't leave the house without her wanting to put a bow in her hair. She will pat her head just to check if she has her bow. She loves to cook! She has some of my pots, pans, and wooden spoons and she loves to pretend to cook. She will stir the food, put the lid on the pot, and sniff inside the pot to see if it smells good. Guess what she's getting for Christmas --- her very own kitchen!!! :) She loves to play with her dolls.
She is a joy to have around the house and we look forward to play with her. She can always put a smile on your face with her different expressions or actions. We can't believe how big she is getting.


Playing with her doll and cooking at the same time!

Sitting in her chair watching her favoritie show - Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

We went to an indoor play lounge. It has a bunch of toys and you can take your kids there to play while you relax and watch them play. You are not expected to pick up any of the toys so that was really nice! Ava loved it! This is her in the house. She lived in here pretty much the entire time we were there!

Carrying the stool into her house!

Bouncing on the trampoline and watching the other kids wanting to get on.

Just Having Fun!

Here are just some pictures that we took over the weekend of Ava doing some of her favorite things! Sitting on her chair (mine from Great-Grandpa!) She will carry this chair all over the house to sit on it. It's perfect for her! :)

Pushing her stroller with either Anna, Quentin or Buster or all of them sometimes!

Reading books! She is obsessed with reading books lately. She is constantly bringing us books to read to her but she doesn't want to sit still long enough for us to read them to her. She brings it to us, sits down on our lap for 1 page and then runs to get a new book. Silly Girl!

Kissing Shadow...she's usually hitting or sitting on Shadow so this is kind of unusual. Shadow has started to be afraid of Ava! I thought it would be the other way around! :)

Ava sitting in her Pottery Barn chair! Her other favorite place to sit!

Getting books WHILE holding onto her purse. This was my purse from when I was little and she loves it!

Another picture with her purse!

Ava with all of her shopping bags! She will find bags and put them on her stroller or carrying them all like she's shopping. She's definitely a girly girl!

Ava in her lovely apron. She got this for her birthday from her friend Gavin and it finally fits. She wore it all over the house yesterday and didn't want to take it off! (Oh, and she still has her purse!)

Shadow being sad because she isn't getting enough attention. Poor girl! She'll just have to get over that!!! :)

Ava Playing

Here are two videos that we took over the weekend. Ava is obsessed with taking care of her dolls. She will take them all over the house! She has even started to take care of them like we take care of her. If you watch closely in the video, you will see her patting Anna on the back. It's so cute! We tried to get a video of her tickling Anna or Daddy but she didn't want to perform! It's so cute! She's obsessed with tickling everyone and everything too! We'll keep trying!

Sea World

Our wonderful cousin Abby got us annual passes to Sea World! Thanks Abby! We went for the first time last Saturday and had a great time seeing Shamu! Today we went with some friends to see Elmo and Abby Caddabby. They are only there from Memorial Day through Labor Day and for special occasions/holidays. Ava loves Sesame Street so we had to take advantage of seeing Elmo for free! She loved the show but was terrified when she actually got to meet Elmo. After we saw Elmo, we went to the splash park and let the kids play before heading home. It was a great day!

Ava's Big Surprise!

Good Morning Everyone!

Ava has a very big announcement! She's going to be a big sister! Yes, we are expecting our second baby. I am about 8 1/2 weeks and the baby is due on April 13th, 2010. We've had an ultrasound already and saw the little peanut and the heartbeat. The baby is healthy and mommy has been struggling with morning sickness for the past week but, we are all very excited. Ava and the baby will be about 23 months apart and we can't wait! Ava plays mommy with all of her dolls and we know she will be great with a little baby in the house.

We can't wait for all of you to meet our little baby in April of 2010!

Love,
Curt, Tracie, and Ava

Brevard Zoo

During the month of August, the Brevard Zoo in Melbourne is offering free admission on Saturday nights from 5-9. So yesterday we decided to give it a try. We had a lot of fun and invited our friends John, Andrea, and Lucas to join us. Ava loved looking at all the animals. She saw all kinds of birds, fish, monkeys, pigs, giraffes, snakes, kangaroos, and many more animals. Her favorites were the pigs and the giraffes. She got about 1 foot away from the giraffes face and she was so excited. We didn't get a picture because there were too many people standing around. Maybe next time we go.


Ava and Daddy standing in front of the monkeys. If you look close, you can see the littl monkey in the top left corner on the rope.
Some weird animal that we saw. The vultures seemed to be waiting for something...we weren't sure what they were waiting for though!

Kindermusik Class

Last week, we went to a Kindermusik class where we listened, danced, and explored with music. Ava loved it and had a great time. Here are just a few pictures of her from the class.
Ava playing with one of the musical instruments. She didn't really know what to do with them but she loved looking and them and trying to figure it out.

Ava playing with another musical instrument. She's standing in front of a big drum and loved hitting it and making lots of noise.

Ava, my friend Nicole, and one of her friends, Lucas. She has 3 friends named Lucas. :)

Washington, D.C.

Emily all dressed up at Uncle Stephen and Aunt Ellen's house.

Aunt Katie and Ava at the National Zoo.

Emily and Ava having fun at Aunt Christie's house.

Aww! Emily giving Ava kisses. Ava likes to give kisses with an open mouth and Emily didn't really know what to do when Ava went to give her a kiss so Emily always went for her forhead.

Aunt Jenn and Ava.

Aunt Katie with the kids.

Best Friends/Sisters Forever!

Ava sitting on a bench at Aunt Katie's house.

Nelson, Jenn, Me and Curt. We had a great time together!

Best Buds!

The beautiful Zimmeran Girls!!! We Love you!

Curt and Emily.

Ava got a present from Aunt Christie. A beautiful Ecuadorian sweater.

Ava petting the lamb at Mount Vernon.

Aunt Katie and Ava playing in the grass at Mount Vernon. She watched Ava while Curt, Christie and I went through George Washington's Mansion.

Curt and I in front of George Washington's house at Mount Vernon.

Aunt Christie and Ava at Mount Vernon.

Our family in front of the White House.

Ava on the airplane. She insisted on playing on the floor even though there wasn't a lot of room!