Halloween 2013

This year for Halloween, Ava was a cowgirl and Gavin was a cow. We participated in several Halloween festivities, including BOO Night at the YMCA, two pumpkin patches, Boo at the Zoo at the Oakland Zoo, our ward Halloween party, the Halloween Story Time at the library, Halloween singing time and tomorrow we are going to an "Eats Before Treats" get together and then we will go trick or treating with a group of our friends.

Ava quickly caught on that somehow this little blue tutu and these brown boots have a strong correlation to getting her some candy. Gavin, of course, really has no idea what's going on other than his little cow costume seems to get in the way of his mouth if it's zipped up all the way. But they certainly do look as cute as can be, as evidenced by the pictures below (which honestly it was a miracle that even one picture came out not completely blurry because both of these little ones are constantly on the go, go, go).

I love these two OH so much!

 

Videos from Ava's 2nd Year

This is always such an overwhelming project 

- making ONE short video of the entire 2nd year of Ava's life. 

(We all know I take a million and a half pictures and videos of my kids on a weekly basis).

I have been working to organize this for a long time and finally I stayed up all night and finished it.

It's definitely not perfect and I'm sure I'm missing a few important videos 

(didn't find any videos of Christmas?!)

but it's still sweet, sweet, sweet!

I can't believe the difference in Ava from the first video to the last!

I realized while I was making this that I am the voice behind the camera 99% of the time unless my sister is with us and then she actually thinks to get me in the shot (thank you Kaitlyn!). :)
Also, the way the video uploaded on Vimeo makes the videos look really, really small and I'm too lazy to change it. haha Oh well. :)

I also added the video of Ava's birthday party and the 2nd year video we made to the end, so it's like 12 minutes long. 

Hopefully someday Ava will appreciate this!! :)

Ava 1-2 years old from Ashley Webster on Vimeo.

Phew, glad to have that project done!

Ava's 2nd Birthday Party

We celebrated Ava's 2nd birthday on Saturday, the day before her actual birthday. 

We did an "under the sea" ice-cream party. 

About 10 of Ava's little friends and their parents came, and each kid made homemade ice cream and then got to add toppings such as "sea pearls" (round sprinkles), "shell cookies" (nilla waffers), "octopus ink" (chocolate syrup) and "sea foam" (whipped cream). 

Here's a very short video of her party. She loved being the center of attention and eating her "cuh-cake." Now, every time she sees a cupcake or any kind of cake, she sings "Happy Birthday to Ava, Happy Birthday to you," pretends to blow out her candles. 

Ava's 2nd Birthday Party from Ashley Webster on Vimeo.

This is what Ava woke up to Saturday morning - it looked like Christmas morning! We let her open her family presents as soon as she woke up so she could play with them all day before her party. 

One of Ava's favorite presents was a ballet skirt and a ballerina from Grandma (Amma) and Grandpa Schooff. Ava has been dancing like a "ba-reena" constantly and asks for "ba-reena" skirt all the time haha. She also got a play grocery cart, a Little People doll house, a play vacuum, stroller for her baby doll, a Cabbage Patch doll, some very cute clothes and shoes, books, puzzles, coloring books and stickers, and a few more fun toys. This girl is officially sittin pretty when it comes to toys! We won't need any more toys for a while (at least not until Christmas haha).

Just a little bit of the aftermath - checking out all her presents. Thank you to everyone who made her day very, very special! :)

Happy Birthday Ava! :)

Gavin {7 months}

Dear Gavin,

Today you turned 7 months old! It's hard to believe you are closer to being ONE than you are to being a newborn! This month I really saw a big change in you - you have really become so BUSY! Gone are the days when I called you my "mellow boy." You are now wanting to wrap those tiny, chubby little fingers of yours on everything in your line of sight. And WIGGLY - you are incredibly squirmy these days, constantly trying to wriggle your way off my lap, off the couch, across the room, and anywhere else your little body will take you.

You are "almost" completely mobile. Not crawling yet, but ALMOST. You still roll, roll, roll from one side of the room to the other, but now you've added a whole new element some people like to call the "army crawl." But, your loving parents think it looks more like a "zombie crawl," as your drag your lifeless legs behind you, twisting your little body as you slowly inch your way forward. Whatever you'd like to call it, it actually does a pretty decent job of getting you from point A to point B in a fairly short amount of time. I KNOW the second you do start crawling, however, I'm in big, big trouble. I can tell you will be into E.V.E.R.Y.T.H.I.N.G. :) 

This month, your very first tooth popped through (6 months, 3 days) after a very long battle we call "teething." Let me just say, you do not handle teething very gracefully. Which, of course, is okay - I still love you, you know. But there were some very, very sleepless nights in our household until that little sucker finally made it's bright, white, jaggedy appearance. Now you have one tiny little tooth, with another one on the way (just visible below the gum line) and truly there is nothing cuter than one, sole, lonely tooth in a big, gummy smile.  

Once your tooth eventually popped through, I decided those sleepless nights had to stop (we are talking waking up every 2 hours, all night long mister). So we decided to give sleep training a go...again. And this time it seems to have worked and to be sticking. At night, we put you down in your crib between 7:30 and 8pm WIDE AWAKE. After a couple nights of crying yourself to sleep, you now happily sing yourself to sleep and sleep all night long (usually you wake up once between 5 and 6am to eat and go back to sleep until around 7:30 when you are up for the day). Same with naps. I put you down when I know you are tired, in your crib wide awake...and you simply roll over, close your eyes and fall asleep. You can imagine the look of bewilderment on my face watching you simply go to sleep on your own, and STAY asleep no less. I feel like a whole new woman! (And as much as I loved you before, it makes me love you even a tiny bit more for giving me some much-needed sleep).

You are now eating solid food once or twice a day. You like peaches, apples, sweet potatoes, oatmeal cereal, bananas, carrots, and well, pretty much anything else we give you. You've also tried tiny bits of black beans, avocado and banana from Mommy's plate (which is what your doctor recommended). I love the process of getting you ready to eat - the second you see your bib, your spoon, and a jar of baby food, you go nuts, twirling your ankles and wrists (that's what you do when you get excited), panting like a dog until finally, FINALLY that sweet, yummy goodness enters your mouth. 

Gavin, you are just my sweet, lovable, handsome son. I have loved getting to know your little personality, your likes and dislikes, what makes you happy and what makes you sad. I've learned that although, you are mostly quiet and you watch and observe your big sister all day long, when you get in a talkative mood, there is no stopping that endless chatter. I love listening to you squeal in absolute glee and babble on and on about who knows what. I've learned that you love your Daddy and get so excited every time you see him, that you are super ticklish, especially on your feet, and that you LOVE to take a bath and could sit in the bathtub for hours, splashing and playing with your bath toys. You are SO good and SO perfect for our family. We are incredibly blessed to have you in our lives, you do nothing but truly make each of our lives better and happier. Thank you for letting me be your Momma (although, fortunately for me, you have no actual say in that matter). :) 

I love you SOooOO much!

Love, 
Your Momma :)