Happy Halloween!!

This was the first year we really have participated in Halloween. Carli was only 4 weeks old on her first Halloween and then last year we were in Dallas telling family that Ava was on her way - so I guess you can say that Carli was dressed up as a Big Sister last year. But this year, we had a costume and even went to Trunk R Treat! Yeah us! Keith wasn't with us because he got to go to a once in a lifetime event - the World Series! Woohoo - Go Rangers!

Since Keith wasn't here, we recruited Grammy, Pa and Grandma to come spend Sunday afternoon with us and go to church and Trunk R Treat. Pa and Grandma actually watched Carli all afternoon while Grammy, Ava and I went shopping for some new clothes for the two weddings we are attending this month - then we all met at church and after service went to Trunk R Treat. It was a fun evening and we are very thankful for Grammy, Pa and Grandma coming with us!

Given Carli's recent obsession with Minnie Mouse, it was only fitting that that was what she would be for Halloween. I was pretty proud of the whole outfit! :)

Carli isn't too keen on being around a lot of ppl she doesn't know. But as we were getting started, her buddy Lizzie showed up - and that helped a lot. They started off hand in hand and that was enough to get Carli going...

Ava was our Green M&M. Keith and I bought this outfit back in May of 2008 when we went to NYC. We took Carli's 6 month pics in it - I think we will have to have Ava's done as well!

We found our friend Kenzie and Caril proceeded to do this the whole time...

I finally got close enough to hear her ask Kenzie where the slide was, Carli doesn't forget easily! I told her that we had to go Trick R Treating and find Kenzie before we could go down the slide...and I guess when she found Kenzie she thought the slide would be right there too!

Ha ha - my girls - Carli has a Pirate's Snarl! :) My once very photogenic child is not so much any more. That's okay, maybe Ava will fill in the void!

Here Carli is going to find Pa and Grandma to show them all she collected.

Ava has gotten pretty good at sitting up on her own - still not good enough that I would leave her on the floor unattended, but we are getting there!

And this was the best picture I got of them together - Carli was very cooperative!

We found our good buddy Riley before we headed home for the night.

She had to take Riley to show him her Grammy, Pa and Grandma - Riley didn't seem to mind.

All in all we had a good time and were very thankful for Grammy, Pa and Grandma's help! I even managed to give both girls a bath and get them in bed by myself! Not a bad day at all...now if the Rangers would just win....

Ava's New Spa

Ava loves to try to sit up now, but she can't quite do it all by herself as she has a tendency to throw herself backwards at random times! Carli has been asking for a while for Baby Ava to take a bath with her, but it kills her Momma's back to attempt to hold Ava in a sitting position while bathing her, plus Carli helping is another hurdle to overcome! We finally found a solution...yes, I found it on Craigslist for $15 and it is amazing!

Ava's new bath seat is a Safety First seat that they don't make any more. It is so awesome though. It attaches to the side of the tub, not to the bottom. And it swivels 360 degrees if you want it to. Ava sits up really well in it and Carli gets to "help" Momma too! This will make bath time at least feasible for Momma to do alone if the occasion arises!

(In case you couldn't tell by all the exclamation points...Momma really likes it!)

A Wedding Shower

A couple weekends ago we got to spend the entire weekend with Grammy. Daddy was having a boys weekend with Uncle Kevin, so we had another girls weekend and went down to Conroe for Cousin Dionna's wedding shower. The girls did really well on the drive and behaved extremely well at the shower. I have several ladies remark about how calm Carli was! I was proud!

Carli and Grandma had a good time looking at the birds.

It took a while, but Carli finally warmed up to being at someone else's house and proceeded to help Dionna open her gifts. Dionna said it didn't count if Carli broke a ribbon...for her sake, I hope she is right! Because Carli pulled off a lot of bows!

The hostess of the shower lived out on the lake and had a beautiful place. After all the gift opening was done, we took the girls out for a walk and got some pictures.

Here's Grammy and her girls!

Loving Ava's face!

Momma and her baby

A picture with the guest of honor!

Good Morning!

Holding hands, watching Minnie Mouse...pretty much how our mornings go now-a-days!

Hays Family Photos

While we were in Amarillo at the end of September, we got to have some family photos taken. Carli was a horrible little model when it came to posing. She was not interested in the least. We did finally get some good shots of her after all the family photos were done. Little stinker would be playing and suddenly turn and say, "CHEESE!" Bless the photographer who just played right along and got some awesome shots of her! Ava did really well and conked out halfway through. Here are a few of our favorites:

Carli and her Daddy

Carli and Uncle Kevin

Three Generations - I think Keith favors his Daddy and Grandpa Herb - Kevin favors Tessie side of the family.

Carli was pouting about posing again...

Pretty awesome pic of Pappy and Naggy

Family picture - we bribed Carli with a ball

Big Family Shot

Ava was down for the count

"CHEESE!"

Our most favorite picture

Playing Peek-A-Boo

"CHEESE!"

Her Daddy was so proud of the form of her throw - pointing to where she throws!
(Momma was pretty proud too!)

One of Ava's favorite spots...Pappy's too I am sure!

Girls Week

A couple of weeks ago, Naggy came to spend the whole week with us while Keith was out of town for work. We literally dropped Keith off at the airport and picked Naggy up! I was so very thankful for Naggy coming to help me out, I am not sure I could have survived without her! Ava had an awful week of sleeping at night, and with Naggy here, I was able to at least take a nap which is an impossible task when I am home alone with both girls! We also conquered both Sams and Walmart - went to Alto twice - took the girls on walks - and even stayed home a couple of days!

The girls and their new obsession: Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

I cooked and bless Naggy's heart, she cleaned up after me! :) Carli didn't let Naggy get out of her sight all day, and apparently she was tired on this night!

Ava's love for the outdoors continues to grow! This was her first time in the swing and she loved it!

This is actually Ava's tummy time mat, but Carli thought it made a perfect pillow for reading to us one morning.

Ava and one of her tummy time toys...she tolerates them for the most part. She would prefer to sit up and throw herself backwards.

After a night of no sleep, I fed Ava and brought her to Naggy and went back to bed. When I got up, Naggy's magic touch had worked again and Ava was sound asleep on her tummy in the middle of the living room floor!

The Saturday that Naggy had to go home, we made a quick trip to the pumpkin patch. Carli actually cooperated for her and gave her little sister a kiss before we left for our adventure.

Thanks Naggy for giving up a week to come spend with us! The girls are so very lucky to have such a wonderful Naggy and how blessed I am to have an amazing mother in law!

Ava's First Cereal

So, it turns out I have one baby that didn't want a thing to go in her mouth (Carli) and for this reason didn't even attempt to try to eat cereal or fruits until well into her 6th month and even then, she wasn't too happy with a spoon in her mouth. Ava on the other hand, loves to watch people eat and loves to put things in her mouth. So, last week we gave cereal a shot - secretly hoping it would help with the hourly wakings at night. Didn't so much help there, but found out Ava loves to eat! :) She was champ, no bib needed as she ate it all the first time around!

A few days later, we figured out that the cereal caused Ava to get stopped up - so upon the advice of the doc we switched to just doing fruits. Not sure why, but I could swear the doc told me to use applesauce, but after comments from other ppl and reading online apparently applesauce causes constipation too. Poor baby - so on to prunes and peaches!!

Prunes do require a bib as she has discovered blowing out when we put a spoon in front of her mouth makes stuff fly off of the spoon and amuses her!