It's about that time..

...to start potty training Ava.

We have a little potty for her and every day before bath time, while she is already naked I have her sit down on it and tell her to "go potty". She thinks it is so fun to sit on it like a big girl. But she never actually goes potty in it. I was just trying to introduce her to it so she knows it's hers and get comfortable with the concept.

Last night before her bath as usual I had her sit on it while I went to go grab her jammies for after her bath. While I was out she slammed the door shut, for privacy of course, and when I got back she was still sitting down with a worried look on her face. I asked her if she was all done and she stood up and pointed in her potty. I was pleasantly surprised to see she had gone pee pee in her potty. I mean not to be overly detailed but it was a full blatter amount in there. Which means she was holding it in until she got on her potty. Ava gave me a worried look like she wasn't sure if she did something naughty. Of course I was so proud of her and clapped and praised her for being such a big girl to go pee pee in the potty. This was her very first time. I didn't even realize she really understood the concept before last night but obviously she does and is ready to be done with diapers. I didn't realize until now what a pivotal time this is. She is no longer a baby, she is growing up. Sad but happy at the same time. So now I need to buckle down and jump full force into full on potty training my little Miss Ava. Wish me luck!
Any of you mommys out there have any advice for me? Suggestions?

8 Years

8 years ago today I married my best friend. I was so lucky to meet him and finally become his wife. Russell truely is an amazing person and we have so much fun together. We have traveled to different places, taken a million pictures and made amazing memories along the way. I wouldn't want to imagine my life any other way. I am so happy to call him my own. I love you Russy!




Russell surprized me with a dozen long stemmed red roses last night. Awww... he is so romantic :)

Aquarium

Saturday afternoon was a cold rainy day so what better to do then spend the afternoon at the aquarium. We had lots of fun! Ava loved all the fish...except for the Jellyfish, those freaked her out. Lately her favorite movie is Finding Nemo so I thought a trip to the aquarium would be in order.

She loved the big froggie.

And was so interested in all the fish.

She would point and tell us all about what she saw. It was funny.

Watching the penguins was probably my favorite part and the huge turtle was pretty amazing too. Ava found this stuffed penguin that she didn't want to part with.

These next bunch of pics were actually taken Friday afternoon playing in the backyard. It was overcast but pretty nice outside. Ava LOVES playing outside more that anything.

She found this little Junebug that she was so facinated by. She wouldn't touch it but would get really close. And would talk to and try and bring the toy cars over to it to play with (not realizing it would probably mush it) haha but I reminded her to be careful with the little bug.

One of A's favorite things to do is color or play with playdough. Here she is making her monkey face. She knows alot of animal sounds. Her favorites are monkey, horse, cat, and dog.

Happy Thoughts

Things that make me happy right now: it's the weekend(that ones a given), that my man doesn't have to work tomorrow, which means we can stay up late and have fun and sleep in.. well that is until Ava wakes up in the early am :), that tomorrow we can go somewhere fun and live up the weekend before our official anniversary, that my little girl is a TODDLER- which is by far the funnest age so far... we literally play and play all day and I love every second. She is my living doll- she is as girlie as they get and I love it.. Her favorite color is pink.. she begs me to put all her bracelets on her every day (but I only put on 2 cuz more than that looks weird) she sits so still for her hair to be done. She lets me round brush her hair and style it every morning. I mean how many 2 year olds would agree to that. She is SUCH a little pre-madonna. I adore my little miss A. I never imagined being a mommy would be this amazing. I feel so lucky!! I mean little kids are amazing and my little girl amazing! Life is good :)

Happy St. Patty's Day :)

Well the title says it all. We had a fun day and Miss A got a haircut. I have been wanting to cut her bangs for a while but didn't want them to look thin and bad. I found a cute haircut that I loved and showed our stylist to copy. It was Suri Cruise, Tom & Katie Cruise's little girl. She is a doll and I LOVE her hair. I am SOOOO happy with how her cut turned out.

This is before we headed over to the salon. I was trying to get a before shot of her hair. I am thinking of maybe having Ava get highlights this summer... is that crazy? I think blonde would be so cute on her.. but I don't know I am still deciding on that one.

Her hair is so long here in the front. This is the before obviously.

This was Ava's 2nd offical haircut. And she did great. I think the salon atmosphere helps. There is so much going on and all the mirrors has her kinda in awe and she holds really still. When she was little I tried doing haircuts just having her sit on the counter in my bathroom and she would swat me away and wouldn't hold still at all. So I now know what works and I am so glad she cooperates!

I sure do adore my little miss Ava. And I feel like she looks even more adorable with her new do!

What happens in Vegas...

A couple weeks ago Russell and I celebrated our 8 year anniversary in Las Vegas. We really had so much fun! It was nice to just have it be the 2 of us for a few days. Of course we missed our little Miss Ava a ton we knew she was in great hands trading off between both her grandparents. Russell surprised me with tickets to the Nascar Races at the Las Vegas Speedway and that was the reason for the last minute trip. We planned on going anyways but it was gonna be a few weeks later. We left our house around 4am in order to get to Vegas plenty early to fully soak in our first experience of the Nascar rush.

The races were awesome! SOOO loud wow it was like loud booms as they drove around the track. It is way different and more intense then how it appears on TV.

Along with watching the race it was also pretty entertaining to see some of the crazy people that attend the races. Wow you really get all sorts of characters. haha

Later that night heading out to walk the strip and soak in the Vegas life.

Right outside the new Vegas city center was this cool water wall at Aria. The whole atmosphere that night was amazing I will never forget it. Everything was just so perfect and it made me so happy and grateful to be sharing it with my lover boy.

The next day walking the strip doing some shopping over at the MGM.

I had to get a pic by the elephant. This was in the Rainforest cafe gift shop. All the animals moved and reacted to us. It was over the top, true Vegas hah!

While we were walking around we were giving a 2 for 1 for one of the Vegas shows the Cirque Du Solie show at the New York. So we randomly decided to go for it since neither of us have ever been to a headliner show. So we got all dressed up for our night out :)

It was so fun as we were walking the streets of New York to get to the theater. I love how you really feel like you are there. It was so romantic. It makes me want to go to NY for real someday. And the show there was incredible! Wow so over the top and acrobatics and the production was amazing. We were on the 3rd rows with amazing views and the actors would interact with the audience and since we were so close we got to some. I can't wait to go to another show next time in Vegas.

I loved my sparkly pink dress. It was so funny cuz as we are walking through the hotel everyone would double take. haha I think the color and sparkle just stood out. Russ was so sweet and kept complimenting me. That night was so amazing! Everyone was so cool to us. Before the show we went out for sushi. We found this amazing little place that we ended up going to a few times since it was so good.

The last day making our rounds one more time. We got Ava a car M&M dispenser that she loved!

Well that's all for now. What an amazing trip and it was great to have my hubby all to myself!

I love Vegas and the energy and excitement that surrounds it. Excited to go back in May for our friends wedding! See you then Vegas :)

Just a taste..

We went on a last minute trip to Vegas for the Nascar Cup and to celebrate our 8 year anniversary! We had an incredible time and took lots of pics. I'm not really in the mood right now to do a big ol' post so here is just a taste of the fun :)