Thursday, December 13, 2012

Christmas is Coming...

I knew I was long overdue for a post, but I didn't realize that my last post had been 4 months ago!!!  Yikes! All is well in the Hess household :)   The kids are growing by leaps and bounds, and time is just flying by...in a scary way!  

We had lots of fun on Halloween!  Ava was an elephant, and Christopher was a pirate.  They had a little Halloween party and parade at school, which was very cute to see.  We went trick-or-treating through the neighborhood, and Christopher got lots of candy :)  Ava didn't really enjoy it quite as much as Christopher did.  It was a chilly night, and she was a little cranky! 

We had a great Thanksgiving, too!  We had dinner with our friends, the Blandfords, and their 2 little girls Caroline and Mary.   The kids all love each other, and had a great time playing and eating dinner at their own little table.  Actually, I'm not sure much eating happened at that table, but they had LOTS of cookies and fun!  Christopher informed me on the way home that he ONLY had SIX cookies, which I'm pretty sure was correct since the cookies were gone in no time.  I guess that's what being a kid is all about :)

Christopher will be 3 years old in January.  It feels like just yesterday he was a screaming baby that would not sleep through the night!  Looking back, I'm not really sure how we made it, but it sure has been a fun journey.  He absolutely LOVES Angry Birds and pretty much has anything Angry Birds - Angry Bird underwear, Angry Bird t-shirts (which he is only allowed to wear to bed and Wal-Mart), Angry Bird stuffed animals (several ranging from 2 feet tall to 2 inches tall and they all have to be strategically lined up before bed), Angry Bird toys, Angry Bird gummy snacks, Angry Bird crackers, Angry Bird coloring books, Angry Bird stickers...I think you get the idea.  And his most favorite thing is Angry Birds on the iPad!  He is actually really good at it and several other games on there.  He can actually use the iPad better than I can.   The approach of Christmas has been very fun this year because he kind of  "gets" the whole idea of Santa and is very excited.  We've made a Christmas chain to count down the days, oh, and there is an Angry Birds game that counts down the days for you and opens a new board every day of December...of course.  We also bought the Elf on the Shelf this year, and Christopher has lots of fun every day finding Eli (our elf).   He can't wait to see what Santa will bring him :) 

Ava Bug is also doing very well.  She is 16 months old now, and is starting to become a real little person.  She has started talking saying things like Mom, Dad, hi, bye, tree, dog, a butchered version of Christopher's name :) , please thank you, and of course, MORE (as in more food)!  She doesn't get the idea of Christmas at all, but she loves the Christmas tree.  She loves the tree so much that the first 2 nights that it was up, she would not go to bed and would just cry and cry until we would come and get her, and then she would stand at the tree and smile and say, "tree, tree."  We finally figured out that if we turned the lights off on it and said good night to it before she went to bed, then that was ok.  Kids can be so strange!  She is such a little girly girl, too.  She loves her dolls, purse and shoes.  I'm not sure where she gets that from???  We got her little black dress shoes for Thanksgiving that were sparkly and had a rhinestone on the them, and she literally would not take them off for the next week.  She wore them with her pajamas and everything.  It is precious to watch her with her doll because she hugs and kisses it and is so loving with it.  She pushes the doll around in her stroller and pretends to feed it food. So interesting to watch and intriguing because it's funny how they just know what to do. 

We decided to stay here in Georgia for Christmas this year.  I think we are definitely planning a trip home to NY in the summer.  Christopher is already excited to fly on the airplane!  

 He can finally ride his bike on his own now!

Blue eyes :)

Love those chubby wrists and hands!

 Silly

Having some pumpkin fun

Once Ava saw Christopher in the tree, she wanted in there too!

Having so much fun!

One of his favorite games to play

Reading Christopher and his girlfriend a bedtime story :)

Wagon ride

 Arrrr Matey!

Dad and his trick-or-treaters

Elephant on the loose!

You can't catch me, Mom...

Excited to get started :)

Finally caught the elephant and are on our way

What's the big deal, Mom?


Christopher had so much fun building his gingerbread house!

Not long after we learned to walk

 Spelling MOM
Fun at Cagle Farm




Playing some football

The rougher Christopher is, the more fun she has.  Mom just cringes!

Digging for treasure

How much dirt can we bring inside?

Mr. Mischievous

Some brotherly love
 Having fun with Dad

 Snuggles

 Ready to go eat some turkey dinner!

 This is as close as they would get to each other without screaming

Happy Thanksgiving!


 Having so much fun with Caroline

 The munchkin Thanksgiving

Such concentration

Monday, August 13, 2012

1 Year Old!

Happy Birthday, Ava!  Ava turned 1 year old this past week - can you believe it???  Time has really flown by...it's crazy!  I started back to work last week, so the summer fun is over :(  I really enjoyed staying home with the kids these past couple of months, but it's back to work and back to daycare.  We switched to a new daycare and the kids seem to be doing really well there so far.  I hope it continues!

Ava had a great birthday, and lots of birthday festivities!  She was not a fan of her birthday cake, though.  She ate a little bit of it, but it was nothing like Christopher's first birthday cake.  I guess that is just the girl in her :)   Her nickname around the house is Ava Bug, and Christopher thinks that her full name is Ava Bug Grace and gets very upset if he hears me refer to her as Ava Hess (like while I'm on the phone with the doctor...).  Pretty funny!  She still isn't walking, but she did take about 4 steps yesterday, so we are definitely on our way - hopefully it will be soon.  It will make it much easier on Mom and Dad!  Ava is also quite the little dancer all of a sudden.  If she hears any music she will start dancing :)

Christopher is also doing really well and has really turned out to be a great big brother.  They get along really (as long as Ava doesn't touch the iPad), and he is very helpful.  Christopher's newest hobby is playing Angry Birds, and he is literally addicted!  I'm pretty sure he can navigate his way through the iPad better than I can.  He has Angry Bird stuffed animals, Angry Bird games, Angry Bird pillowcase, Angry Bird gummies, Angry Bird t-shirts, etc.  He is still working on his golf game - Dad has really high hopes for him and is hoping to have a golf buddy someday!

 Not so sure what to think of this cake stuff...

 Happy Birthday, Ava!  We love you!

 Opening up some presents!

 Our newest addition to the living room...

 Ava got to play on the iPad for a minute while Christopher wasn't looking :)

 Roasting his first marshmallow for a S'more

 This tastes pretty good!

 Chris teaching Christopher the perfect roasting technique

 I think the chocolate is the best part!

 Blue eyes

 Ava Bug Grace

 Christopher and his girlfriend, Caroline (or as he calls her, Carolion)

 Busted!

 Playing at the park

 This was one of the few things we weren't scared of

 Hey, Look at me!

 Happy girl :)

 Peek-a-boo

 Sliding with Dad

Higher!

Sweet girl :)

One of his favorite foods

 Being silly

 Ava loves the pool

 Pool fun!

 What a little munchkin <3 br="br">

Summer vacation with Mom

 Exploring the house

 Washing his bike

 Nothing like a little drink from the hose!

 Hi, Mom!

 Hard at work building something

 Look at what I found

 So serious

 Ava and her friend, Mary (Caroline's sister)

 Trying to get a family photo

Christopher was NOT going to sit still

 Putting practice with Dad

 Christopher and Carolion

 She loves her big brother <3 br="br">

Love the sleeping bum in the air :)

Hey, What are you doing??

 Playing outside

 Ava, Mary, Caroline and Christopher - what a crew they are!