Ava's ladybug birthday party

We celebrated Ava's first birthday last weekend with a super fun ladybug party!! Our little lady had so much fun and after several days of straight rain, the weather was perfect! Lots of family and friends were able to celebrate with us and we couldn't have asked for a better party. It started out with a yummy bbq by Daddy and ended up with lots of cake....everywhere!

All dressed up for the party.

Some of the guests and some of the decorations that Mommy and Grandma made.

More of the guests.

The kids helping with the presents. Ava had so much fun playing with the kids that came; Kate, Sophia, Josie and Ethan.

Opening presents, we finally had to put her in her highchair because she kept running away!

The adorable and tasty cakes. The little white one was her "smash" cake, and boy did she smash it up! =)

Going in for some cake. The kids at the party had so much fun watching her eat (well destroy) her cake!

She did a pretty good job smashing her cake! This was the first time she has really had any sugar and I was anticipating her getting sick, but she didn't and she loved it! What a great party. Thanks everyone for coming out and helping us celebrate our baby's first birthday!

Our baby is one!!

I can't believe a year has passed since our little princess arrived! What a fun and busy year it's been! She has been such a joy and a huge blessing to our lives. She's growing up so fast, walking/running, saying new words like "baby, hello, hi", pretending to talk on the cell phones, trying to put her own shoes and socks on and eating all kinds of new foods. Mom also got to celebrate her fisrt Mother's Day this year, although it included taking care of a sick baby and sick husband and making her own breakfast....but she wouldn't trade it for the world! Anyway, Happy Birthday Ava Jane! We love you!

Then....

And now. Wow, how things change in one year!!

Happy Easter

Ava's first Easter started out with an Easter egg hunt followed by a delicious brunch at Adrianne and Scott's house! And lots of family to enjoy it with. Anyway, here are some pictures of the festivities courtesy of Adrianne and her fancy camera.

Family photo

Dad helping find an egg.

I just love her sweet little face here!

Finding some more eggs. She was actually more interested in the sticks and leaves on the ground than she was with the eggs....

Cute Sophia showing off her egg. :)

Trying to open an egg she found.

Mom actually gave her a little bite of the candy inside, and she loved it!!

All in all, a great Easter!

And this was taken last week, our little baby bunny!

~Happy Easter~

Silly ghost!

Ava has been putting her blankets on her head and then walking around with them on there, it is so funny! She has been doing it all by herself and is obssesed with it lately. She will also put her jackets, our jackets or anything else she can find on her head and then cruise around. Definitely makes for some great entertainment! Silly little ghost!

And she's off!

Ava is walking everywhere now!! I can't believe it. At the end of the day yesterday, I realized that I hadn't seen her crawl all day, only walk. I keep asking, where has our baby gone?!! Anyway, here's a fun video of her cruising her bedroom with cousin Sophia standing by to watch.

Baby steps

Ava just started taking her first steps this weekend, and we were so excited!! She ended up taking 11 steps at one time and both Mommy and Daddy were there to witness. :) I can't believe she's getting so big, where has our baby gone! This is the only video I have gotten so far and it was in the very beginning when she only took a few steps, but it is so exciting and so cute, enjoy!

Yay!

I can stand up all by myself now!

She's been standing up by herself for a little while now, it's just been hard to capture it on camera. She used to need help getting to a standing position, now she just pops up all by herself, all the time now! She hasn't taken any steps yet, but you can tell she's thinking about it... ;)