2010 in review : MAY : you say it's your BIRTHDAY

some sweet little girl turned FOUR years old!!!!!

and of course, got a little 'frosting' from her daddy ;)

which she obviously loved... :)

she was pretty excited for something else, too...

a purple elephant pool!

and then proceeded to dress up & dance & twirl - as customary on your birthday (who are we kidding, for her, it's everyday :)

and then the princess tired of having her picture taken...

but loved that she won the cake from the local radio station, again!

happy fourth birthday, tutu!

we also celebrated with a few close friends at the local gymnastics place!

bff's - SO SWEET!

and just a few days after little tutu turned four years old, we welcomed another precious girl...

zoey rochelle

may 15, 2010

7lbs. 2oz. 19.5"

because the more birthdays you have, the older you get.

oh yes, yes indeed.

dusty has turned the big 3-0!!!

he's not much on parties, so we celebrated with just a little cake & a few presents.

ava is singing 'happy birthday to you!' in the pic above - precious!

of course, anyone's birthday is automatically ava's birthday, too ;)

she had to help him blow out his candles.

he is pretty close to getting his AARP card, so it's a good thing she helped the old guy out.

we would hate for him to have gotten winded - which comes easily now that he's thirty.

i am in love with this pic of my loves.

it is so wonderful.

what?

what's that you say?!

didn't i have a birthday the day after dusty's big three-zero celebration??!!!

why, yes.

yes, i did.

however, since i'm so young and all - no one bothered to take pics of my on my twidley 27th.

and i'm really not complaining ;)

{this post is not intended to insult those above a certain age range. it is, however, to point out that when filling out any sort of form from now on, dusty will have to check an 'age-range' box that will take me many a few more years to get to. Lord willing.}

snow day(s) 2010

growing up, i can remember on a few occasions - not many, but a few - snow days. where there was enough of it that everyone scrambled to wal-mart at the same time for bread and milk, the buses refused to run, and i would put on 3 layers of clothes just to get out in it!

i cannot believe the amount of snow we got this winter & i am so - so - sooooo glad that we got to enjoy it with ava!!

here is matt pulling ava on the sled.

if you can't tell by the look on her face - she loved it!

throwing snowballs.

matt, emily & ava

snow day - 2010

tutu with the snowman that pawpaw built for her!

haha - she's not caught in the cross-fire here - she was throwing snowballs at mimi, too!

family pic with the snowmen that daddy & pawpaw made

(notice ava is armed in this pic - ha)

we enjoyed the day at D.Might's parents house with lots and lots of hot chocolate and chili!!

i took a spin on the sled, as well but of course no one got a pic of me!

it's better left to the imagination, i'm sure - me, a piece of plywood, and my dear FIL going as fast as he could on the rhino - haha!

after we left mimi & pawpaw's house, we headed a short ways over to poppop and gigi's!

poppop took us sledding in the field!

it looks like it was dark in this picture, but i assure you it was not too dark to sled in :)

poppop & ava with her purple sled!

even ashes got in on the festivities!!

we love ashes!

we finally went in and warmed up with some chicken pot pie biscuits and more homemade hot chocolate!

ava enjoyed horsey rides, as well :)

as for the next round of snow - we stayed at our house!

ava and dad getting a measurement - it says around 7 inches, but i know we got closer to 10!

holding onto her daddy for dear life!

he's laughing because she was clawing her way back down after being on his shoulders, ha!

that girl does not do heights.

on to snowman building!

requirement : must have pink shovel, rake, and bucket

{pause for an artistic photo op}

{make that two}

yay!

the snowman, errr snowperson, errr snowROCKETSHIP?! is finished!

and in case you didn't get the full effect at how tall it was...

it was so sweet watching the two of them play in the snow - this girl LOVES her daddy & from what i could tell, i think he's pretty fond of her, too ;)

contemplating their next move...

snow angels!

she loved it.

i went in to make some more homemade hot chocolate after this shot & thought i was in the clear...

obviously i was wrong.

after her hot chocolate - she was down for the count.

what a wonderful way to spend snow days!!

however - for the record - we are so over it now.

bring. on. spring!

{S.C. & Comet}

The weekend before Christmas, we went with Ashes & Gigi to Branson to finish up a little shopping {which for the record : we didn't even finish buying for everyone else - but we did find some fantastic stuff for ourselves!! Haha!}

It was SO COLD that it started snowing while we were waiting our turn to see a familiar face...

We couldn't believe that we ran into Santa & Comet while we were in Branson - we were all pretty excited!!

Poor Ava was freezing in this picture, so after we snapped a few shots, we headed to Starbucks & got a round of Hot Chocolates!

Such a fun girls day :)

{ ava's school christmas party }

Before Ava's school let out for the semester, they had a small Christmas Party to kick-off the Holidays!

Here she is ready to head to school with her goodies for her classmates & a book to exchange!

She picked out a Berenstain Bears book - they are some of her favorites :)

When I got there for the party - they were just about to test out the Gingerbread they had made that day!

Ava didn't eat hers, but she did come show it to me, ha!

They had a few small snacks, too - juice, fruit, gingerbread-men, & cookies.

She sat so nicely with her friends Brooklyn & Spencer {I can't see the little blonde boys face, so I can't tell who it is-ha!}.

After their snack, they exchanged books with each other!

Ava got a book about Zoo Animals from her friend Abbi!

I loved getting to see her interact with her teacher & her classmates - I'm so glad she is at a school that she loves!!

Hey, Slacker Much?!

I am seriously going to try to do better, seriously!!

I am soooo far behind in posting, I have a lot to catch up on - so here. we. go...

D.Might played some old man city league flag football again this year - taped hamstrings & all.

Unfortunately, the weather was not too wonderful, so Ava & I only made it to one game.

The last one to be exact.

I learned to not even ask him how the game was when he'd get home - I always got the same answer to my question...

Me: 'So, how'd it go?'

D: 'How do you think {aka: we lost}?'

Needless to say, we didn't expect much from the last game...

Who in their right mind would have guessed they would have won the only game Ava & I showed up to?!?!

Above are D.Might & Bart {his BFF, although he'll trip that I just typed that, HA!} with Ava & Kinley {Bart's little girl} - those girls were just the luck the team needed!!

Like those awesome Cookie Monster shirts weren't enough luck... pshaw y'all!

Ava was hollering for her Daddy & his friends the whole game - it was too cute!!

Of course, she got to play with her buddy, Kinley, too :)

These girls are sooo sweet!!

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PopPop came over one afternoon when the weather was nice to play outside with Ava!

It was a much needed break in the rain & they stayed outside all afternoon!

When I went outside to check the mail, this was the sight I saw & I just had to snap a pic...

Yes, PopPop is wearing Ava's hot pink headband like he's Hiawatha - haha!

He raised two girls... he's used to it...

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We celebrated National Chocolate Cupcake Day!

{fyi - it is a real holiday, not just something I made up just to eat cake... although we all know I'd so totally do that :) }

Ava is always such a good helper in the kitchen!

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One evening while D. was hunting {did I mention that started up again?? that's right - this 'deer widow' will be comforting herself & her child at Target more than likely :) } - anyways - while he was out hunting, Ava & I went with PopPop to New China for supper.

We. Love. New. China.

There was a couple seated next to us who were eating with chopsticks & when Ava saw them, she just had to have some, too...

I snapped this pic of her chowing down on her noodles while using her chopsticks because I have had a pic of me at a young age {not age 3 mind you, more like 3rd grade} eating with chopsticks while watching t.v. in our living room. Then it occurred to me it was at my parents house PF {Pre-Fire - I so totally just made that up ;)} so therefore, it is no more :( - but I DO remember the picture & my super short hair cut, too :)

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I just thought Ava looked cute one morning...

She wanted her hair pulled back so it wouldn't interfere with her oatmeal eating.

She loves her some oatmeal for breakfast!

Isn't her headband so screamin' cute?!

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Okay, y'all, most pics on here are of Ava & D.Might & such, because I'm the one always taking the pictures... but I had D. snap a pic of me before church one morning...

Did ya' see my shoes??!!

I MADE THEM!!!

Yessiree, I sure did - the night before, in fact.

I work best under pressure :)

I love going over to ...love maegan to see what she's wearing every day, not to mention she gives some fabulous DIY's & this was one of them!!

Love. Those. Shoes.

This little cutie wanted her picture taken, too...

In her sweet little cardigan {that I also altered the night before :)} & her little knee socks!

Precious - just precious!!

Okay - more to come later - I realized I hadn't even posted about Labor Day!!

I'm so behind...

Good thing I like 'ketchup' ;)!