Too many shoes, too little time.

I know. Can you believe it? Two days in a row! I have to confess that I find myself sitting here in front of my computer for a few reasons: #1) As you may remember me mentioning, we recieved a Nintendo Wii (and Wii Fit) from Keith's very very generous brother for Christmas. And as you may remember, Keith just had a birthday. So, my newly 32-year old husband is playing his brand new car racing game on the Wii. I love watching him concentrate. He's very serious. : ) So I sit here beside him in the "passenger seat" while he drives in our living room. #2) I just ran. Lordy, am I beat. I did some research on preparing for one's first 5k and I learned that while training I shouldn't shoot for a certain distance, but for a certain time. So that was a big adjustment for me. I ended up running an extra mile without knowing it because I had a towel draped over the screen on the treadmill. I don't write about my running endevours to impress you. Trust me. I'm dying. #3) Maestro has never ever been a real cuddle-bug. But lately, as soon as I sit down, he is by my side as close as he can get. He just curls up into a little ball (after I tell him 17 times to stop licking me). I love it. So, why not make the most of my time right now?

Today was a fun day. There is a brand newish library in Rockwall that just started story time for Ava's age group today. I have been so excited about this! As I said yesterday, Ava loves to read and loves to play so I was looking forward to story time and playtime afterward. Adrian and I took the girls together. I tell you, those girls are good buds. Ava chose to really enjoy her breakfast this morning and took a bite every 5 minutes or so. So I ran around like my pants were on fire trying to get ready, while she leisurely enjoyed her morning coffee and newspaper. Little monkey has no idea what it takes! Anyway, we made it on time to the library. There were about 8 or so other kids and their mommies. All the tots are supposed be between 12 and 24 months so it was a good mix. The girls sang, and danced, and listened to 2 stories....well 1 really. By story #2 most of the kids were checkin' out. But the leader of the story time expressed that she didn't at all expect them to stay quiet and still, so it took the pressure off of us all, I'm sure. Ava was really timid at first. She sorta stood in the doorway wondering if I was going to leave her or not. She eventually sat down in my lap. By the 3rd song, she started to dance and then everyone got to meet my Ava. Would you know it? Little Sassy was the one who wanted to pet (and take) the bunny puppet that was on the leaders little hand. "Buh? Buh?" She kept saying. And then when the nice young lady put the first book down, my little Ava was the one who wanted it as her prized possession. Then she danced. Ohhhh...that's my girl. Always making an impression. We had a blast...thanks Adrian! Can't wait until next Thursday!

I also joined a local mommies group today. Adrian and I were very kindly recruited at the library today by the mom who started it up. I am excited! Stay tuned!

We have been spoiled the last few days. Keith has stayed home to work because we have been iced in. Well, today he had to go in for a full day. Bummer. But when he got home he was eagerly greeted with the squealing apple of his eye. She always offers him something different when he comes home. Sort of a welcome home gift. Yesterday, it was a syrup bottle from her grocery cart. Today it was a shoe. His shoe. But he accepted it graciously as he always does. Little by little, she gathered every shoe she could get her hands on. And we learned to not help her...ohhhhh no! She's gotta do it or you'll pay. *sigh* Sign of wonderful things to come.

Thanks for reading.

Just Some Over-Due Rambling

Phew! So I guess I can always gauge how busy life is by the amount of time that passes in between blog entries. Keith can tell what kind of day I have had when we gets home and my coffee is in one of three places: still in the coffee pot, cold in a mug on the counter, or sitting in the microwave where it had been forgotten after it's 9th 45-second warm up cycle. I have to admit, I have been playing a lot with my little buddy and when she is taking her nap, I have been taking that time to get my run in. So, I haven't managed to find a balance that will allow me to get a lot of blogging time in. Ava is getting extremely active which I absolutely love. She is and has always been satisfied with playing in the house all day. Now that we don't have a morning nap anymore to break up the morning before lunch, I do try to get her out of the house every once in a while (otherwise Mommy can get a little tired). Every other Wednesday we do have MOPS at church. So we both look forward to that (I say "we", but Ava is the one that doesn't get to eat the awesome smorgasbord of MOPS breakfast goodness...so I can probably say that I look forward to those Wednesdays a little more than she does.) This week, story time starts on Thursdays at the library. I am really excited to bring her to that. My little bookworm loves to read. While I am cooking or cleaning in the kitchen, I often peak into the living room to see what trouble she is getting into. Silence is never a good thing (actually, Ava isn't very good at being sneaky...when she's getting into something, that something is usually accompanied by some sort of rip, bang, thump, pop, click, ouch, you name it.) Anyway, I will often find her quietly sitting in a pile of books, flipping the pages of her favorite pick of the moment. It's really cute. For a while she didn't care if the book was right side up or upside down. Now, she'll flip it so it's right. She's gotta read it, you know.

Fridays are my favorite. Fridays are our Galleria day. Some of my most cherished memories that I spent with my mom are a part of our shopping trips. It started with grade school clothes shopping trips and went all the way to just recently shopping for my graduate voice recital gown...oh, the memories. We would get up early in the morning, go to Willowbrook Mall, eat lunch, and shop till we dropped. Now, every Friday I take my little lady to the Galleria. She gets to play on their playground, I get to watch her play, and then we get lunch and eat together at the Mall. It is such precious time that I hope, as she grows older, she will love and cherish it as much as I do. I love hanging out with her. *Just a little sidenote -- Ava has now taken a liking to calling me. All of the sudden she has decided to practice melting my heart all over again. Multiple times throughout the day I will hear out of the blue "Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum, Mum." Oh, it's music to my ears. She can have anything she wants when she says that.

Well this last week we celebrated a birthday. Yes, Keith turned 32. He swears that he is 20 on the inside because the Wii Fit said so. And you know the Wii knows it's stuff. We spent his birthday in our quiet, calm, house (well, it turned that way around 7:30 when Sassy went to bed). There is a delicious new Italian restaurant in town, so I brought that home. It was nice to just kick back and relax in honor of his special day.

Keith's parents came into town this last weekend. I don't know what it is, maybe I am really really starting to get homesick, but it is getting harder and harder for me to let family go when they come to visit. We all just have such a good time. Thanks for coming Granna and Granddaddy -- thanks for spoiling our little girl (in doing that, you spoil us.) We love you!

I guess I am not feeling very witty tonight. Sorry if this is missing the entertainment factor. Here are a few pics to make up for it!

When I was little, I remember that I would love to run errands with my parents. I liked going with my Mom because she would always be out looking for something fun to buy. I liked going out with my Dad because we would always stop at a gas station and get a huge Diet Coke fountain drink. But I do remember going with my Dad to Lowes or Home Depot and I would sit on the tractors that were always out front. Here's our little Johanna Deer.

On Friday night Ava got to stay home and play with Granna and Granddaddy while Keith and I went on a date. I see they had lots of fun while we were gone. Keith and I went to the Studio Movie Grill in Plano and saw "Slumdog Millionaire." We even got to get some coffee afterwards! I laughed because while we were in the car I started to tell Keith what I wanted so he could go in and get it for me. It was at that point I realized I could actually get out of the car with him because we didn't have Ava in the backseat. Oh my, have times changed...

Finally...an updated picture of just the two of us. I sure do love him.

Thanks for reading my rambling.

Emily

Counting the Days

Okay! I must highlight 2 brand-new additions to my blog (see tickers to the right.) MAJ-OR events happenin'! And now, ladies and gentlemen, you are clued into my happenings! I know....yesssssssss!

Okay (deep breath)! Who gets giddy about running???? (*crickets chirping*) Is this mic on? Okay, well, pretend for a second so that you can feel my excitement. I mentioned previously about a rather (uh-hum) large purchase Keith and I made for our Christmas gift this past Christmas. Well, I'll have you know, my feet have been on that treadmill raisin' my pulse at least 4 times a week. And when I wasn't on that, I was doing strength training on our Wii Fit. Why am I torturing myself? Well, I have plans up my sleeve and a new "me" to achieve (haha, you like that? I just came up with it.) Now, it has not been without a major fight. And, I will be the first to tell you that I have yelled out the word "stupid" at my Wii Fit trainer a-many a-times. But for some reason, I feel like I need to prove it to myself that I can do this run. And I am looking at this 5k as a warm-up for longer runs to come (are you gettin' ready Momma?!). And I am way excited! And I just have to add, sidenote: The treadmill has literally become Ava's bowling alley. It's hysterical. She has a plastic bowling ball and pins -- earlier today, I put the treadmill at an incline so she could roll the ball down to knock down the pins. Each time, she would roll it down, knock down the pins, walk around the treadmill, get her ball, and start again. No offense to bowlers, but I thought she would take up tumbling before becoming a Queen-pin. Maybe not.

Now, the second countdown ticker is huge with a capital H. Keith and I have been blessed to take a nice trip every year since we met. The last 2 years, Ava has been our trip...and what a trip she's been! But the time has come. We are itching to go somewhere. Keith and I have always wanted to take a Pacific coast road trip from San Diego all the way up to the Napa Valley. There are so many things we want to see along the way. The top of Keith's priority list? He wants to see the Pacific coast through the windows of a Lotus (I don't think Enterprise rents those out...) My priority list? Hel-lo! I am going to The Price is Right! It is no secret to those of you who know me that it has been a childhood dreeeeam to go see The Price is Right. I didn't get a good night's sleep when my old dear friend Bob Barker left the show. But that's okay! Really! Because I am going to be on that show. Come October 21st, I might be hanging my head low and wiping away a few tears, but all I want is to get into that studio. The CBS angels will be singing gloriously! But, this trip will be bittersweet. My dear sweet Ava will be playing her little heart out with Gigi and Poppy and Granna and Granddaddy. Oh....surprise Granna and Grandaddy! : ) I do get a pain in the pit of my stomach when I think about leaving her for that long. And uh, grand-folks? She'll be freshly 2...are ya ready?!?! Get some good tennis shoes!

So there you have it. I'm just going to run my way to The Price is Right. Let me know if you have any good t-shirt ideas.

Thanks for reading.

Just Hangin' Out...

Yeah, yeah, I know....I couldn't resist the pun. For some reason, the urge to organize something hits me every once in awhile...throughout the day. It seems my biggest "do something" day is Sunday. Unlike someone we all know, Sunday is NOT my day to rest and look at what I created. It is a day to straighten! This past Sunday, I decided to tackle a project that I have been putting off for some time now. I *sniff* sniff* cleaned out my baby girl's closet. As noted on the hanger above, Ava had quite an assortment of clothing sizes in her closet and in her drawers. I keep it all close at hand just in case she'll fit into something again...I mean we have some really cute 0-3 dresses! Just kidding. I already boxed those up. While crying. Just kidding. Not really. But all I have to say is if we ever have a little boy, he is going to look SO cute in all of these clothes. Just kidding. Not really. But we are going to have a lot of shopping to do.

So anyway, as you can probably imagine, I had tons of hangers left over. In a mad dash to de-clutter the living room, I gathered all of the hangers and piled them on the recliner. As I was cooking dinner, Ava was going back and forth from the kitchen hugging on my leg desperate for food, to the living room stepping up and down on the Wii Fit board (which she thinks is equivalent to climbing Mount Everest so one needs to be ready to applaud for her). Then I see Keith charging for the camera. I didn't know what was happening! Was Ava doing somersaults? Was she tap dancing? Was she pushing the couch around the living room? And there she was, my little monster was making snow angels in my pile of hangers. She was having the time of her life doing it, too. And even though it made me a little uneasy, I left those hangers out for days. A couple of times throughout the day I would pile them up onto the recliner. And every single time, A few minutes later, Ava would knock them all down and have a little play date with her hangers. I love this child.

It was a gorgeous Sunday! Keith and I took Ava for a long walk in her stroller and we stopped by the park to play. She met some new friends. One was her age and was about to have a new baby sister (yikes!) The other little boy was about 4 and he wanted Ava to do everything he was doing. Of course she tried to. Her energy at 15 months just amazes me.

Ava, I look at Daddy like this all the time. It has no effect on him whatsoever.

And then there's Maestro. Poor, poor, Maestro. My friends, before Keith and I got married, Maestro was my baby. After Keith and I got married, Maestro became our baby. When Ava was born....Maestro became a dog. He has been so good. I really feel so badly that I have managed to neglect him. I promised him that I would make up for all of my wrong doings this year. He's already been in the car with Keith twice (which was always a rare treat!) Maestro (or "Bubba" as Ava always calls him) just lets Ava pick on him. And I tell you what, she thinks he hung the moon. He just looks at her and she breaks out in laughter. Who wouldn't? Have you ever looked at a pug face to face? They both get a kick out of all of the pillows being on the floor. Ava counts to three and takes a nose dive on top of Maestro who is simply trying to get comfortable, I pounce on Ava because I can't resist covering her in smooches because her laughter is infectious, Maestro gets up because he can't breathe, and I get covered in dog slobber because...well, that just what happens. Aaaaaand Keith gets it all on film, staying high and dry.

Now...go outside and make some snow angels...or if you are in Texas, make 'em in some hangers inside...the heat will kill ya.

Thanks for reading.