Thanksgiving 2012

I am way late on writing about our Thanksgiving but better late than never, right?

Since we weren't able to go home for Thanksgiving, we celebrated with our friends here in Germany. I can't believe that this is our last year to celebrate the holidays in Germany! It makes me SO sad! I am really going to miss it here. 

We went to the McMinimy's house for the day and everyone brought a few dishes. We ate a lot, talked, played some games, and had a blast! I'm going to miss our friends! 

All the girls with their babies!

This is Charleston! We thought it would be fun to put Ava's bow on him. Is he not the cutest?

Me and my girl. A little blurry but its the only one I've got! 

Ava is 13 months old!

Ava turned 13 months on the 11th. Her personality has really come out lately.

 Ava, you weighed 16 pounds and 4 ounces (5%) at your 1 year appointment so I am sure you have gained a little since then. You are 28 inches(10%) tall and your head circumference is 17 inches(25%). YAY! We are out of the negative percentiles!!! You wear a size 2 shoe and size 3 diaper. You wear size 9-12 month clothing.

You are a great sleeper! You go to bed at 8pm and wake up around 7:30am to eat then go back down for another 1-2 hours. We got you down to one nap and you usually go down around 12:30 or 1pm and sleep for a good 2-(sometimes)3 hours. You eat 3 meals a day and snack throughout the day. You are always eating! Every time you see food or you see us eating, you say "moooore". You are still nursing 2-3 times a day. I am trying to wean you to cows milk but you prefer me.

You can walk but still prefer to crawl which is okay with me! When you are around older kids, you walk. When you are at home, you usually crawl.

You are a little stinker these days and into everything!! You like to open all my kitchen cabinets and play with the mixing bowls. You LOVE to push the kitchen chairs around the house.

You have started dancing this month every time you hear music. You will bob your head and bounce your legs. Cutest thing ever! You LOVE "The Office" theme song. We watch it almost everyday and every time you hear it, you clap your hands and get really excited!

You are a talker and try to repeat everything we say! You now know the sounds to a dog, cow, duck (your favorite- "kak kak"), horse, and snake. You can say "more", "cross", "trees", "car", "this" (sounds like "dis"), "that" (dat), "cracker" (cakcak), "cookie" (cookay), "nose" (no), "eye". There are lots more but I just can't think of them right now.

You are such a happy baby but you get shy around other people right now. You don't like for us to leave you in the nursery at church but hopefully you will get used to it soon! :)

You are a HOOT and I just love you to death!!! I love the little girl you are becoming!

Veteran's Day

Veteran's Day is a special day in our house. Its a day to remember Bryce and all the other service members for what they have done and all that they have sacrificed for our country. I always get choked up thinking about it. It used to never affect me. Maybe because I didn't have a huge appreciation for it and didn't know much about the military. Now that I am a wife to a military service member and am surrounded by the military life everyday, I have a HUGE appreciation for it. I am SO proud to have a husband that serves our country with pride. 

Thank you Bryce for all that you do! Love you!! 

Halloween 2012

I am so glad Halloween is over! I did enjoy dressing Ava up and taking her to get some candy but I am not a big fan of the holiday. This was MY first year EVER to go trick or treating. We just went on base so I knew it was pretty safe. But instead of trick or treating, they did trunk or treating. A bunch of cars lined up and decorated their trunks and passed out candy as the kids walked by. 

I dressed Ava as a little lamb this year! Its a tad bit small but I think it still turned out cute. She was dressed in layers because it was freezing outside! It had snowed the day before so I was worried it would be a yucky day but it ended up being a pretty night! Yeah, it was in the high 40's but that was warm compared to what it was the day before! :)

Bryce had to work on Halloween and didn't get off until 10pm so we ended up tagging along with some friends of ours. Aren't they cute?!?!

 Sweet Charleston! 

We attempted a group picture of the kids but the babies were NOT having it!

This is one of the trucks when we went trunk or treating! They went all out this year!

They served hot dogs and drinks! There were a TON of people there!! To the right of this picture, they had an outdoor movie for the kids! So fun!

I was SO sad Bryce missed out on all the fun! When we were done, we did take him some candy so I think that made up for it a little bit.

Birthday Party

We had a little birthday party for Ava yesterday. Two of our close friends and their kids came over for cake and pizza. I was worried it would be boring for the kids since our house is really small and don't have a yard for them to play in. They warmed up to our house very easily and before we knew it, they were off playing "house" in Ava's room! 

 I made the poof balls and the banner. I think it turned out pretty cute. The table is plain and simple.

She wasn't too sure about the cake at first. I helped her with a bite and after that, she dug right in! 

No holding back!

 She had a great support system! ;)

She devoured that thing! 

 Not the greatest picture but I kinda like it. 

She loved opening her presents! 

This is the best I could do!

Happy Birthday Ava Drew!! 

We had a great day with our friends! I wish I would have gotten a group picture of all the kids but it just slipped my mind. My camera was acting weird and taking blurry pictures. Not good for a first birthday party! :(

Ava is 1 year old!

Happy Birthday Ava Drew!!!! 

This year has been the fastest but by far the best year of my life. One year ago today, God blessed Bryce and I with a beautiful little girl, Ava Drew. The moment I saw her, I fell in love with her and my love for her has grown stronger. I never knew I could love someone so much!

October 11, 2011

Ava Drew Stringer

7 Ib 6oz

21 inches long

Born 2:21pm

Ava, you weigh 16 pounds and 4 oz (5%) and you are 28 inches tall (10%). You wear a size 1-2 shoe and a size 3 diaper. You wear mainly 6-9 month clothes.

You are still nursing 3-4 times a day and I don't plan on stopping until you are around 18 months...at least that's the plan for now. We definitely won't go past 2 years old though! :)

You eat oatmeal with strawberries for breakfast and a veggie, fruit, turkey, cheese and bread for lunch. For dinner, you usually have half of a jar of baby food (mixed veggie with turkey/beef/chicken), a veggie and a fruit. I don't like feeding you the baby food from the jar because it kind of grosses me out but you love it and its easy for me to fix! :)

You are an amazing sleeper! You go to bed at 8pm and wake up at around 7:30am to nurse then you go right back down to sleep and sleep until 9:30-10am.

You take 2 naps a day. Each range from 1 1/2-2 hours.

You have 6 teeth now!!!

You have really started talking a lot this month. You love to learn and always point to stuff and say "dis?" (this) so we can tell you what it is.

New Words: Trees (tees), car (caw), brr, more (first word besides "mama/dada"), this (dis), cross (cos), go. You try to say anything that we do! You want to talk so bad and you even try to have conversations with us! It's the cutest thing!!

Animal sounds: Bark (bawk), and moo. Every time you see or hear a dog, you say "bawk bawk bawk" over and over!

You are so close to walking but you are still too scared.

I just HAD to get a picture of you at 2:21pm today since that was the time when you were born. You weren't quite asleep yet so you saw me take a picture of you. (You started sleeping with your head on the bumper so I put a flat pillow in your bed and you love sleeping on it).

Here you are at 1,4,8 and 12 months old!

Today when Ava woke up, Bryce and I walked into her room with balloons and sang Happy Birthday. She was a little confused but I think she enjoyed it. Bryce gave her Chocolate Grits as a treat for breakfast! Ava was a little crankier than usually today and she slept a lot of the day. I think her teeth are bothering her. Poor girl.

I think I sang Happy Birthday 12 times to her today! I can't wait till she is a little older and I can make her day SUPER special! I want my child(ren) to feel extra special all the time and I want to go out of my way to make them feel loved. Especially on their birthday!

We love you Ava Drew!!!

Oktoberfest 2012

We went to Oktoberfest in Hannover, Germany last weekend. It was a good 5 hour drive for us. Looking back, we were crazy for taking a day trip. Ava did great the whole way. The only time she got fussy was about an hour before we got home. She was ready to get out of that car seat! I don't blame her!

We left our house around 10am and got there close to 4pm which was perfect because that was when everything was started to open up. When we got there, there was NO ONE there!! Turns out, it was family and stroller day! Perfect!!

The loves of my life!!

Attempting a family picture!

Love this little face and those tiny teeth!!

She was EATING up the attention! (FYI: The dress she has on is a German dress called a Dirndl. Most German women wear these to festivals.)