Visit from Grandma and Grandpa!

First of all, look at this happy baby...that little face, fat tummy, chubby thighs. We just eat her up.

A few weeks ago, Grandma and Grandpa came to visit! They had been to visit us before but had never been to our house. We had a fun weekend of visiting, playing cards, eating ice cream, and going to the Denver Botanic Gardens.

Here's Gma and Gpa at the gardens.

Ava was showing off all weekend by smiling almost constantly and being the the best baby.

She's been working on crawling. Apparently she has crawled at day care, and has even come home with her knees raw. We've seen a few bear crawls but nothing serious.

Time Flies

Do you want to know want to know why I haven't blogged lately? It's because our internet has been on the fritz. The last thing I want to do after working in front of a computer all day is fight internet connectivity at home. It's working right now, maybe it will last 10 minutes?


Ava is almost 7 months old. I can't believe she's that old. I don't even know what else to say-where did the time go?


Here she is looking sweet sitting in front of the garden for her 6mo pics.

Ava and I have beento a few of Marc's softball games lately. I love this picture of the two of them after a game a few weeks ago. Her little eyes peeking out above his hat must be the sweetest thing I've ever seen.

At the beginning of July I went to St. Louis and dropped Ava off with her Nana and Noly, and then I went to Louisville for the wedding of my good friend Sarah who I met in college. It was such a beautiful wedding, reception, and weekend. Her reception was held in the prettiest garden I've ever been to, and it was tons of fun. Sarah and Jay are a good looking couple, but I have to say all eyes were on her because she was a beautiful bride.

The weekend allowed some time for my college group to spend some time together.

Highlights include:

-Meeting Sarah's 3 week old baby (Mercedes), her husband (Rosendo), and her (really pretty) house

-Sharing a hotel room with Jordan, just like old times :). We had the funniest conversation one night-remember, J? It's not blog appropriate.

-Hilton Garden Inn after party with Ashley and her sweet husband Kyle who I just met for the first time. Kyle, I talked to my parents, you are welcome at their house anytime. I told my dad that I told you there's always something to kill, and I believe his response was, "If it's brown, it's down."

-Watching Brittany and Jay breaking it down on the dance floor at the reception...words cannot describe. Oh, and meeting her husband Sam and the reception post party at their pretty house (and crunch wrap supremes).

-And of course, being with Sarah during her wedding festivities as she gracefully went through the emotions of the very recent death of her little brother. There was a perfect balance of remembrance and celebration during all of the wedding events.

Top picture is "strike your favorite dance move" taken in college.

Bottom picture is the attempted reproduction at Sarah and Jay's wedding.

While I was away, Matt and Lindsey's tiny little girl, Madelyn Claire was born! I've only spent one evening with her and I can't wait to go visit her again! It's hard to believe Ava was ever as small as her. I'm just sure they'll be best friends.

Weekend BBQ

We had a few friends over for a little bbq this weekend. The weather was perfect and we had a great time enjoying delicious summer food and watching babies play.

This is what we had for dinner. Marc grilled hamburgers, Lisa brought yummy orzo salad, Tim and Lisa brought a delicious mix of red and yellow cherry tomatoes, avocado, corn, with lime juice and olive oil dressing, and salt and vinegar chips. YUM. I guess I just contributed chips...oh, and brownies for dessert!Edan came over looking his best in a cute green romper. Ava went with the sailor look, showing her patriotism.

Nobody loves babies more than Lisa! She was in heaven between both babies and the Delilah the three legged dog she was dog sitting. When a squirrel tried to jump over the fence we all learned how fast three legged dogs can run!

Thanks for coming over! Let's get together lots this summer!

PIT

Last weekend, Ava and I flew to Pittsburgh to see my cousin Ashley marry Chris! Tickets were not cheap so it was just the two of us, and it was an airport adventure (as flying with a baby always is).

Before sharing the details of the trip, I want to tell you about the shameless things I did while traveling, and then while I was there. You think you'll never be "that" person, but it turns out sometimes you are.

-Allowed several helpful strangers to hold Ava while I held up the DIA and PIT security lines trying to collapse the stupid stroller. Why won't it ever collapse??

-Dropped a pacifier on the tile floor in security line, cleaned it with my mouth, gave it back to Ava. Really gross.

-Pumped out in the open in the regular bathroom because there wasn't a family bathroom. I was cutting my time a little close when I started pumping so I was already stressed, then Ava started crying because she was hungry, and then they started paging me in the terminal. Sooooo that was a good 10 minutes.

-Changed Ava's diaper on the tray table because the guy on the outside of my row was passed out. I did put something over the tray table, but I'm just saying, those tables probably aren't that clean.

-Used the bathroom on the plane with Ava on my lap. What are you supposed to do??

Shameless.

Now for the trip details! Cousin Ashley and Chris on their wedding day!
I got to spend lots of time with brothers and Dad (Lucas, Dad, Jonas)...
...and with Mom, Jamie and Erin! Doesn't Jamie look great? She's pregnant with TWINS due in November! We're finding out tomorrow if they'll have boy boy, boy girl, or girl girl!
On Sunday Mom, Lucas, Jamie and I drove the hilly PA roads to the Frank Lloyd Wright house, Falling Water. Wright designed the house to sit over a waterfall! Its famous architect, unique design, gorgeous nature reserve property, and the fact that it sits over the waterfall make it a wonderful place to visit. Good thing I'd been before because Ava wasn't allowed in the house. We had a nice time exploring the grounds instead.
It's hard to tell in the picture below, but the stairs lead down into the stream and the waterfall drops off just behind the stairs. Can you imagine having all of those patios to enjoy?
Our bathroom remodel is almost finished! I can't wait to show you!

Hot Topics

I have a few hot topics to discuss.

First up, nail shellac. Mom and I had our nails shellacked for mother's day. I got a dark brown and she got a french. Mine was shiny and fresh for two weeks even after I did a lot of gardening (pics to come!). Mom's french lasted longer since she wasn't aggressively clawing at the ground planting rows of annuals. Grow out was a problem with the dark polish...clearly not a problem with the french.


Getting the shellac off took soaking them in 100% acetone for a few minutes and some picking.

Shellac is great. Why didn't someone invent it sooner?

Awhile ago Lisa and I went to the liquor store during lunch, oops. I really can't describe our excitement when we found Skinny Girl Margaritas right there at our local store! Bethenny definitely wiggled her way into my heart during Bethenny Getting Married and Bethenny Ever After. Now I feel like I'm friends with her, Jason, and baby Bryn. Lisa feels the same way, evidenced by the tweet she sent to Bethenny showing her product display at the store. Did she respond, Lisa???

Skinny Girl Margarita is a light marg created by Bethenny. I think it's just lime juice, agave nectar, tequila. It's delicious and low in cals! I'm pretty sure it's going to be my summer drink. Have any of you (non-pregnant) girls tried it?

Baby Jeggings. Ava's CUTE little friend Edan Crews brought her an outfit for Valentine's Day. It was a pretty white eyelet top and jeggings, just precious. Here she is wearing them, trendy girl. Aren't they so cute. They're perfect because they're soft like leggings, but styled like jeans. That Edan has good taste. Yes, I know they're pulled up too high and cutting her in half.

You can also see that I decided obnoxiously large baby flowers are a good idea.

Because everyone loves a naked baby...Taking baths with Ava is fun. I think she pees in the tub but I don't care.

Around the House and Mother's day

On the very last day of the warm weather tease of a month known as April, I ran the Cherry Creek Sneak. That sucker is 5 miles. It was a kind of cold day and Ava had decided to party all night before my run in the morning (she had her shots that day, poor thing). I beat my goal time, but not my secret goal time. All in all it went ok, and definitely not bad considering I'd only been able to run outside 4 times to prepare.This is a daddy who LOVES his baby girl. You see the construction pencil behind his ear? We've got a little project going on in the basement...

The old bathroom has been ripped out, new bathroom framed, and since this picture was taken the new bathroom has also been dry walled. Marc works on it in all of his "spare" time (he has about as much as I have).
On Mother's Day we had Ava's dedication. It was a nice service and mom and dad came out for it! Marc's parents and Matt were there too. We've been joking that by dedicating her we're giving her to Jesus to take raise (sort of joking, sort of serious). In this picture, I think she's asking the pastor if it will be Jesus who picks her up from daycare everyday. She rewore her Easter dress, she's not a celebrity you know. Sometimes she has to repeat an outfit.
Here we are on Mother's Day. We grilled fajitas and had a gorgeous day in the back yard.
All of the fun made this little puddin' tired so she took a nap in what I thought was the shade. I loved how she was sleeping-her little hand on her forehead like "it's all too much, life is exhausting".
She wore her new sunglasses like a good girl.
She was not in the shade for her nap and she got a little sun :(. It really wasn't that bad, not as bad as it looks in this picture. 4 months old, unbelievable. She discovered her voice this weekend and she's having a great time learning how to use it. Probably the sweetest little noises I've ever heard.

Do or Don't?

This is a fun little game I'd like to start playing on the blog-Do or Don't. I'm presenting a few controversial items and you can tell me if you think they're a do or don't. Mostly these are things I'm on the fence about. All opinions welcome, no offense intended or taken from comments.

Do or Don't: Giant platform wedges. I'm dipping my toe into this trend this season because I think I like it to a certain extent. I'm having a hard time committing to something as drastic as the example below. What do you think? Do or Don't?

Do or Don't: Tom's. I really hated Toms when they first made their way to the non-coastal states (I'm betting people on the coasts have been wearing them for 2 years by now). Now they're starting to grow on me, especially since they've started using pretty fabrics like shiny grosgrain.

I'm not sure I'm boho cool enough to pull off a pair, but I've heard they're extremely comfortable, and that would make my broken-ball-of-foot happy. Of course, I'm typically much more form over function, which is why I'm on the fence about these. It also seems like they might end up in the same rarely-worn shoe pile as my Sperry's because they're kind of in the same category. What do you think? Do or Don't?

Do or Don't: Giant baby hair bows. This is the most extreme example I could find. I have to tell you that I'm not on the fence about this. I'm into it. I even think the one below isn't that bad. I also love Derby hats and the hats the British Royals proudly wear. I think of this bow as more of a baby spectator hat than a bow. What do you think? Do or Don't?

Do or Don't: Giant flower on baby. I want to think this is ridiculous and do most of the time, but somehow as I was getting ready to write snide remarks about the baby below I started thinking she looked really cute. Again though, I'm thinking of the flower as more of a spectator than a headband. The thing I usually hate about these giant flowers is that they look really cheap like they came out of the Hobby Lobby clearance bin. If I found one in nice fabrics, I'm fairly confident it would end up on Ava's head (poor girl). Maybe you would all think she looked silly, I'm sure her daddy would :). What do you think? Do or Don't?

Please leave your answers in the comments. Do you have something I should poll the audience about? Let me know!