No Ava, No Ava

This seems to be my mantra lately. I feel like this makes up the most part of my vocabulary everyday. Ava has gotten to a stage where she is very curious (more so than before if that is possible), and she just explores everything. Which is good, but also bad when it is things that are dangerous. Over the past few weeks she has pulled down a hot curling iron on herself, has taken to crawling up the stairs before you can catch her, takes the child lock off the DVD cabinet and unloads it, is very interested in the oven when I am cooking, and who can forget the Ralphie's ears fiasco? When I am home, she has kept me on my toes. Her vocabulary is improving every day and she now strings words together to form "Ava sentences." It is so funny because I totally get what she is saying!

For those of you wondering, the weather here was a little crazy today. We had to keep our students at school until almost 4 because of tornadoes and bad wind. I called Anne as soon as I heard there was a warning and she was headed down to the storm shelter with Ava. When I got home they were still in the shelter waiting until it was safe to come out. Ava was passed out on Anne's lap, but she had not been scared while down there. Can't believe it's just Jan. and the bad weather is already starting. Thanks Anne for making sure my baby was safe. My kids at school asked me if I was worried, and I said, "No. Ava is with her grandmother so I know she is as safe with her as if she were with me." Thanks for taking such good care of my little one. As far as damage gone, a town right outside of Dyersburg on the other end of the county sustained some damage, but I'm not sure how much.

Luckily the storm didn't interfere with "Bringing Home Baby" because it was so cool seeing Jeff, Signe, and Venice on TV. It will be rerunning so watch it on TLC if you get the chance!

So here are some recent pictures of the little princess and one cat (Zoe)!

This picture is funny because it reminds me of an old man with a pipe or a cigar.


Growing some hair!

These last ones were of me playing with my new lens. Can't wait to get it out in the sunshine (whenever that is!).

Bringing Home Baby

I got an e-mail from my cousin and he was excited to announce that he and his family are being featured in an upcoming episode of TLC's Bringing Home Baby. I have my TiVo set and I am ready to see Venice on the big screen. Here is the info from his episode:

Jan 08, 2008
3:00 pm
(30 minutes)
Bringing Home Baby Big World, Little Baby (Episode 356)TV-G Jeff and Signe approach life in different ways. Dad likes to be in control while mom tends to go with the flow. Once they bring home their newborn daughter, Venice, will this couple be able to ignore their differences and pull together as a team?

Tune in tomorrow!

Leah's Baby Shower

Leah and Nick's baby is scheduled to be taken by C-Section on Jan. 18 unless she goes into labor before that. Her family threw her a shower on Saturday in Livermore, KY at her grandmother's house. Here are a few pictures from the event.

And this last one was just a snapshot of Ava playing with Gramps.

Little Mommy

One of Ava's favorite things to do is Mommy her little babies. She got several new ones and a baby bed for Christmas. She will feed and take care of them, unless she's throwing a fot and then they tend to go airborn. She kisses them, sings to them (Rock A Bye Baby which just comes out as "Bye Baby"), and feeds them with their little bottles. It is so adorable watching her with them and enjoying the little girl she is becoming.

Over the weekend, Ava and I went to KY to visit family and Bradley stayed home with some sort of illness which involves lots of coughing. We visited with Mammaw at the rehab center, went to Leah's baby shower, and went to dinner with my mom and dad. I spent over 7 hours driving yesterday. On the way home Ava and I stopped in Mayfield so I could get a coffee and stretch because I was afraid I wouldn't make it home. So, I am officially a trashy mom with her pajama'd baby in a gas station! Hilarious! I will post pictures as soon as I get them loaded. Hope everyone had a great week!

New Year's Day

On New Year's, Joe and Anne had us over to eat traditional New Year's food. Joe cooked hog jowl (icky!), turnip greens, cabbage, black eyed peas, and fried potatoes. We had another birthday cake for desert. Follow that up with a game of Mexican Dominoes and you have one long, tiring day! Here are pictures:

New Blog

I have started a new blog in which I will attempt to blog 365 (okay, 366) pictures this year. Part of my New Year's Goals was to learn to use my camera properly. In an effort to do that, I am taking a fellow scrapbooker's challenge and working on the 365 challenge. I promise I will not neglect this blog, but the new blog will be more personal and more about me than Ava. So if you are stopping by to check on Ava, my 365 blog is probably not the place for you. I welcome you to check it out though and make a comment every now and then.

Here is my blog : http://tiffanyfreemanrogers.blogspot.com/

And here is the challenge link: http://scrappingangelsuk.typepad.com/365_days/

Here are 2 other photo sites that I think are cool: http://photojojo.com/content/tutorials/project-365-take-a-photo-a-day/

http://photojojo.com/content/guides/19-new-years-photo-resolutions

Anyway, enjoy and don't worry, I will still be posting Ava stuff HERE!

Happy New Year!

Hello to everyone. Hope you have had a great New Year and are getting back into the swing of things. I started back to work today for just a half day. Students return tomorrow and I all prepared and set up. Bradley also returned to work (they were off yesterday and half day NYE) and I know we are both exhausted. I tell you, the last 2 weeks have flown by too fast and I am more tired now than I was at the beginning of vacation!

Once again, we hosted a New Year's Eve party/Bradley's birthday party here at our house and just had a great time. Attending this year was Nana, Pop, Aunt Bethany, and our friends, Jonathan, Stacy, and JonThomas. We rang in the New Year with full stomachs, sparkling grape juice, and sparklers. Ava passed out at about 10:30 and being moody for quite a while. She has been struggling with a cold/fever/runny nose/a horrible cough, but on Monday, I bought a vaporizer for her room and her cough is almost gone. Ahhh, the power of vapor. We played Battle of the Sexes (which proved women are the superior sex!), Catchphrase (my personal fave), and Family Feud. Let's just say that I am not one to put on the Fast Money Round! Stacy baked Bradley a cake and my man is now 32 years old. Time is really flying! So here are some pictures from NYE! Hope yours were all fantastic!

Sausage Balls - recipe from Freeman Family Cookbook

Ava and Stacy

Squiggles

Joe and Anne (aka Nana and Pop)
Stacy, Jonathan, and JonThomas
Anne, Joe, and Bethany
Bradley and I
Here's to fresh starts!