Daddy's Girl

Ava and her Daddy went fishing in the pond yesterday. To our dismay...she is not afraid of anything. She wanted to touch and hold this big catfish..even cried when I took her inside the house!

High Cotton....

We took a trip to the fields today. Ava loved running around on the farm. She took off between these rows of cotton and I almost could not catch up with her.

My Best Friend

My best friend recently celebrated her 40th birthday. We surprised her with a "pajama party" at my house. The biggest surprise of all was her Mom and Sister from Michigan! It was a wonderful night!

Beth's reaction upon seeing her sister Cathy!
Mom drying her tears of joy!
BFFs

My Masterpiece

Ok...I know it is not polite to brag! But, I am sooo impressed with myself and the cake a made for Father's Day. My Dad LOVES chocolate cake, so I decided to make the cake on the cover of Paula Deene's magazine. For those of you that know me well, you know how much I love to bake. However, I have only attempted a 6 layer cake a few times. This one was 6 layers with a mousse filling, chocolate fudge icing and chocolate shavings and curls as garnishment....YUM!

Ava's Birthday

Ava first birthday party was almost two months ago, but I just had to share pictures from the party. It was such a special day! I had been planning this party since she was 2 months old. I had in my mind the way I wanted things to turn out and other than the fact that it rained all day...everything was perfect! Jason and I worked very hard the morning of the party blowing up all the balloons AND moving the party to the shop because of the rain. I still cant believe Ava is 1 year old. It seems like just yesterday this house was so empty...

Ava's guests were treated to sand buckets filled with goodies..

Yes...its 3 tiers...and yes...its over the top...but I just could not help myself...

Ava's little "smash" cake.... Ava's smile while guests were singing "Happy Birthday"
She LOVED the cake!




The party ended with a balloon release...the perfect ending!

Father's Day

Father's day started out with Ava and her daddy snuggling Sunday morning. Then we cooked Jason breakfast. Ava surprised her daddy with a new "bug light" and tickets to OzzFest....yes OzzFest! Believe it or not, Jason likes heavy metal. Later, we spent the day at Ava's papaw's house swimming. We had a great Father's Day!

Stop taking our picture!

Ava and her Papaw.

Cowgirl!

Ava recently experienced her first Rodeo. The event started at 8:00 (her bedtime) so you can well imagine how cooperative she was.....but she stole the show with her little cowgirl outfit.

YeeHaw!

Ava and Rhett (my brother's son).

Forgive Me!!!!!

I am such a BAD blogger! I started out strong and then I totally dropped the ball. My only excuse is.....I was caught up in being a Mommy! Ava turned a year old on April 24th. She had a HUGE birthday party! She will never remember it, but she will see the pictures and realize how special that day was. She is walking, running, climbing and talking. Her vocabulary consist of Mommy, Dada, Mimi, Papaw, No No, Quack Quack, uh-oh, bye-bye and outside. She will imitate just about any sound we make (therefore, we now have a censor in the house)!!!! Here are a few recent photos

Ava in her "pigtails"

Getting ready to go eat pancakes and visit the zoo with Daddy and Mommy!

On Mother's Day Ava spent the day playing in the grass.

Ava's first time in the big pool at MiMi's house.