A Day in the Life

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life: A Day in the Life. I am really excited about this. I have been meaning to write a day in the life post but just haven't gotten around to it.

Every day is different at our house. We have MDO on Wed./Fri. and bible study on Thursdays and every other Monday is a MOPS day. I will blog about our Tuesdays since those are our non-busy days.Our afternoons are the same everyday. Its just the mornings that are different.

Ava usually gets up every morning around 8:30. Bryce doesn't go into work until 12 pm so he usually gets up with us and makes coffee and fixes us breakfast. Its usually eggs with turkey but sometimes he will do breakfast burritos. I know, he's a sweetie! ;)

We usually just hang out after breakfast. Sometimes, I will run a load of laundry and pick up a little. Around 11 am, I feed Ava lunch and help Bryce pack a lunch and dinner for work. Once he leaves at noon, I put Ava down for a nap and that's when I clean up from lunch, do another load of laundry, or catch up on some shows/internet browse.

Ava usually naps for about 2 hours. Once she wakes up, I usually find an excuse to go to Ramstein. We check the mail, go see Bryce at his post, or go to the grocery store. I hate being cooped up in the house all day. I love being a stay at home mom but I'm not so good at the staying home part! :)

We (Ava and I) are usually home in time to get dinner made and fed. We eat around 5 pm and then hang out until around 6:30(ish). That's when I give Ava her bath and ready for bed. The longest part of our day is after dinner until Ava goes to bed. She is the fussiest during this time. I put Ava to bed around 7:30/8 pm.

After I put her to bed, I pick up my house and try to clean a little bit. If I don't do it right after I put Ava to bed, it never gets done because I get distracted with t.v. shows or things on the internet.

Bryce gets home from work around 11 pm and we spend a little time together before bed. I am usually in bed by midnight. I've become an old lady... I used to stay up with Bryce until 2 am but I am just exhausted by the end of the day these days.

So that's our day in the life!

Ava: 16 Months!

I keep falling more and more behind on these monthly updates! 

Ava Drew, you are growing way too fast!! You are 29 inches long and weigh a whopping 18 1/2 pounds! Your head circumference is 44.5 cm. You are still in the >5% but you are gaining weight so that's all that matters! 

It is SO hard to get pictures of you these days. You won't sit still for nothin'! This is the best I got! 

 You sleep from 8pm-8am. You take a 2 (sometimes 3) hour nap after lunch. You wear mainly 9-12 month clothes and a size 4 diaper. You wear a size 3 shoe. You have finally started to grow some hair but not enough to where I can put a bow in.

You love love LOVE your baby dolls. That is pretty much the only "toy" you will play with these days. You will carry them around and say "shhew" and then you will get one of your clean diapers and try to change them. HA! It is SO SO funny! You love to rock them and try to get them to go "ni ni" (night night).

You are a complete daddy's girl and when he is around, you never leave his side. You are pretty happy most of the time but you definitely know how to throw a fit when you don't get your way.

You started going to MDO on Wednesdays from 9-12pm and you are doing really well. You cried the first couple of times I dropped you off in your room but lately, you haven't cried. The class that I teach in and your class go downstairs to play together and you don't even care that I am there. You play so well with the other kids. 

A sweet thing that I want to remember: When you were in the nursery at MOPS, your teacher told me that you were eating some cheerios from a baggy and the other kids were looking at you so you just started sharing your cheerios with everyone. They said it was the cutest thing they had ever seen. Not too many one year old's like to share their food! :)

Life Lately

Life has been so crazy around our house lately. I got a job working at our churches MDO program on Wednesdays and Fridays. Ava comes with me on Wednesdays and on Fridays, Bryce watches her. Its only from 8:30-12:30 but I HATE being gone from Ava for that long. I missed her SO much on Friday! I do not know how part/full time moms do it! I feel sorry for the women that I work with because they have to listen to me talk about Ava the whole time because she is ALL I can think about when I am away from her!

I go to a bible study on Thursday mornings with a close group of friends. We are studying the book of Mark and I am really enjoying the study.

We just got news about a week ago that we will be heading to F E Warren, Wyoming (close to Cheyenne) in May! I am SO excited about it. I am sad that we won't get to go to London but I am very excited to be in the states again after 3 years of living overseas.

I apologize for the quality of these pictures. I got an itouch for Christmas and the camera quality is horrible!

Our first (of many) tea parties! 

This girl LOVES purses!!! 

This sweetie refused a nap for two days in a row and I think it caught up to her! 

I went to get Ava up from her nap one day and this is what I found! 

I finally got my 2013 planner in the mail that was supposed to be a Christmas present! I LOVE it! 

This girl is a HOOT! When we go to the grocery store, Bryce lets her out of the cart so she can walk. She will go up to every item and kneel down to look at it and then go to the next. HA! 

SUYL: Soups

I am linking up with Kelly's Korner today for Show Us Your Life: Soups!

I am not much of a soup person but I do love me a good taco soup. Its something I grew up eating and it always takes me back to my childhood.

This is my granny's recipe and I hope you will enjoy it! :)

Taco Soup
2 lbs. ground meat
1 onion, chopped
1/2 tsp. salt and pepper
1 can chopped green chili's
1 pkg taco seasoning
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
2 cans Ranch style beans
1 can whole kernel corn
3 cans stewed tomatoes ( I use chopped)
1 can kidney beans
1 can jalapeno pinto beans (or just the regular if you don't want it spicy)
1 1/2 cup water- if needed

Brown meat and onion together. Drain. Bring all ingredients to a boil and simmer for 1 hour. Enjoy! :) Easy Peasy!!

Ava is 15 months old!

I am way behind on this post but its better late than never right? I can't believe how fast my baby girl is growing up! 

Ava Drew, at 15 months...

I am not sure your weight or height but we should find out at your appointment next week. You wear mainly 12 month clothes and a 3 or 4 diaper and size 3 shoe.

You are a great eater and eat all day long it seems like. You sleep from 7 or 8pm to about 8 or 9am. It just depends on how tired you are when we put you to bed.

You take one nap a day and it's usually 2 hours long. I think I have weaned you off nursing. Sometimes if you get up in the night, I will still nurse you back to sleep but that's about it.

Your vocabulary is expanding by the day! You can say so many words...I lost count. My favorite is "Luh you" (love you).

You love to say "bye bye" or "hi". You are SO sociable! You wave and say "hi" to everyone in the grocery store.

Your favorite thing to do now is play with your babies. You LOVE your babies. You will rock them and say "shh" and pat their back to try to get them to go to sleep. It's the sweetest thing! You love all things girly. You  love to play with my makeup brushes when I am getting ready in the morning. You also love purses! You always carry my purses around the house and say "bye bye" like you are about to leave. ha!

You LOVE listening to music. You always play with my itouch and can somehow get the music to turn on every time. You will sit so still and just listen to the music..and sometimes bob your head. ha!

You have been such a blessing to us, Ava Drew. I know I say it every time but I can not imagine our lives without you. You are our world and can't wait to see all the wonderful things that God has planned for your life.

Smock Swap

I am slow to getting around to posting some outfits that I want to sell.

Carriage Boutiques. Brand New with tags. Size 6 months. $28 SHIPPED. 

Friedknit Creations. Brand New with tags. Size 2T. $28 SHIPPED

 Petit Ami. Worn once. Comes with bloomers. Sorry for the wrinkles. Size 3 mo. $18 shipped. 

If you are interested in any of the items I posted, please post SOLD and leave your email address below in the comment section and I will invoice you through Paypal. If you have any questions, you can email me at elizabeth_estes16@yahoo.com.

Happy New Year!

What a long but great year 2012 was! I can't believe its already over! At the end of every year (or in this case, beginning of the new year), I like to blog about and reflect on the past year. Here is our year in review...

January 
I got a blog makeover by the amazing Leisha Shepperd.
We took a trip to Texas to introduce Ava Drew to our families for the first time. We stayed for a whole month. Two weeks in Amarillo and two weeks in Sherman. You can read more in Part 1 and Part 2.

February
The first couple of weeks were spent in Texas. Once we got back to Germany, we laid low and tried to get back into the swing of things...and get over jet lag.


March
Bryce put on Senior Airman, Bryce turned 23, and I took Ava on her first trip to the zoo.

April
We took a day trip to Trier, celebrated Easter with friends and enjoyed a great church service, took a day trip to Dinant, Belgium and Ava hit a milestone and started sitting up this month (6 mo. old).

May
Ava and I took another trip back to the states for my sisters wedding. Ava was the "flower girl" and I was a bridesmaid. We stayed for 2 weeks and Ava loved all the attention she got from family. I spent my first night away from Ava because I went to my sisters bachelorette party in Dallas. She got to stay with her Gigi (my mom) for the evening and I think she did pretty good! Her momma, on the other hand, was worried sick! That 30 minute drive back to Sherman took foorrreverrrr!

I also got to celebrate my first mothers day! I was in Sherman so Bryce had flowers sent to the house! Such a sweet man.

One of my best friends, Cassie, took some pictures of Ava! They turned out AMAZING!!! If you live in the Dallas area, get in touch with Cassie for pics! You will thank me! :)

June
Ava started crawling (71/2 mo. old).
I helped throw a few baby showers.
Celebrated my 23rd birthday on the 23rd (GOLDEN b-day!!) :)
Bryce surprised me with a trip to LONDON as a birthday present! Best. Present. Ever. Wonder how he is going to top it this year...;)

July
Celebrated the fourth of July at the huge 4th of July Bash on Ramstein. We ate some good food and watched the kids play on the bounce houses and then watched a great fireworks show.

We also went to LONDON and spent 5 days there. Best 5 days of my life. Okay, maybe I'm  being a little dramatic but I LOVED London and seriously want to live there one day. You can read about our trip in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, and Part 4! :)

August
We bought a Vitamix Mixer (best purchase ever because it ended up being free!)
Went to a Wine Fest.
Shopped at some Flea Markets.

September
Went to Bad Durkheim for their wine fest. Its the biggest wine fest in the world!

October
Celebrated Ava's first birthday on the 11th.
Went to Oktoberfest in Hannover, Germany.
Went Trunk or Treating on Ramstein.

November
Celebrated Veteran's Day.
Celebrated Thanksgiving with our friends here in Germany! Ate lots of food and played a fun game of Quelf!
Took our second trip to Brussels, Belgium.

December
December was such a busy month for us. It went by SO fast! We took a small trip to Brugge and Brussels for a few days. We attended a few Christmas parties. Went to Heidelberg Christmas market. Spent Christmas Eve in Brussels...again! Yes, we have been 4 times!! Celebrated Christmas at home as a family and skyped our families. Spent New Years Eve at home playing games and eating chocolate...life of having an infant! ;)

If you even made it to the end of this post, good job! ;)

It has been a great year to say the least. Can't wait to see what 2013 has in store. We will be moving in May back to the states (we find out where we are going in a couple of weeks) so I am really nervous about that. I hate moving..especially to a new city! I am really going to miss it here. I have grown to LOVE being here. If you told me 2 years ago I would miss it here, I would have laughed SO hard! I hated it here the first year or so. We have gotten to visit SO many places and created some great friends but we are also looking forward to meeting new friends and creating more memories!!