A fun weekend!

We hope you all had a great weekend this past weekend!

We had a nice weekend. Friday night we went out for some Italian food and grocery shopping. When we got home I made a meal for a family at church that just had their second baby, to drop off on Saturday. Saturday we woke up and went with Mark and Amy Hoffman to three consignment sales in the area. They are expecting their first baby, a boy, on Christmas Day. Mark and Amy found some deals at the sales! We also found some great deals... Call me crazy, but I couldn't resist... We found Ava's very first Easy-Bake Oven. It was $2! What little girl's childhood could be considered complete without an Easy-Bake Oven? Okay, so it will be like eight years before she can actually use it, but it will be there, should she decide she has an interest in the culinary arts! :-) We found some great toys and clothes for good prices, too.

As Ava's dexterity seems to be becoming more developed, I try to get toys which require the use of her fingers / smaller hand movements. One toy we bought was a 12 month + toy, but she will grow into the toy. Why not expose her to it early, to see if she can get the hang of it? The day care says that they typically see kids doing what she is doing at 6+ months of age. Hard to believe she will be five months old next Monday.


She was able to demonstrate her head-grinding crawl / headstand to members of our small group. She is very vocal these days, blowing bubbles and jibber-jabbering at every chance. When she wakes up in the morning these days, she will roll around in her crib contently until we come get her. Still loving her sweet potatoes. Still rolling EVERYWHERE. It's interesting when thinking about when Ava will "crawl"; she doesn't technically crawl, but if she wants to get to a toy, she will find her way there, just not by using her arms in a "commando"crawl fashion. I guess she "scoots" wherever she needs to go.

Saturday afternoon we stopped by Brandon and Amy Schoper's to see their newest addition, Riley Addison Schoper! She is the sweetest little thing. Big brother Noah has been very good to his little sister. (He kisses her when his parents ask :-)). He is a sweetheart, himself. Riley is all of 7 lbs right now... It's hard to believe that Ava was once smaller than that. Hard to believe that Ava once fit in the preemie clothes I see in the store; they seem SO TINY! Both "little girls" were sleeping for the majority of our visit at the Schoper's. Little angels.

Sunday we were able to go to lunch with Sondra and Keith Alexander. They are a very sweet couple that go to church with us. They live in our neck of the woods, so it was nice to be able to go to lunch and catch up with them. Ava was a live-wire yesterday, but crashed in the nursery during church. She is such a BUSY baby!

There was a heavy downpour Sunday, which we really needed in these parts... Hopefully the weather is treating you fine and you're all doing well!

With love,
Shelly