6 years

Saturday was Mikey and I's 6 year wedding anniversary. 6 years seems like such a long time ago but it has gone by so fast. I am now starting to feel old!

Our anniversary tradition is to eat at a new barbeque restaurant we have never been to. The reason we do this is because we had the most delicious barbeque at our wedding and thought it would be a fun tradition. Nothing beats some good bbq in my book! We went to a place called The Feed Store in Southlake, by recommendation from my friend Elizabeth from high school. It did not dissapoint!!! It was the perfect place for us to celebrate our anniversary. Good food, cold beer, country music, and a cute date....loved it!

Happy Anniversary sweetie! I love my life with you and I love you! Here's to 66 more years (I think we are going to run out of new BBQ restaurants by then)

New York

We are back from our family vacation to New York and had a great time! A lot of Mikey's family lives there so we met up with his mom's side of the family on Lake Chataqua near Jamestown, NY. It was a great way to relax and get to spend some more time with family that we don't get to see often. This was Ava's 1st big plane trip and all in all she did well considering the circumstances. I'll explain. We had two flights to catch each way. The first flight there was approx. 2 1/2 hours and the second only 40 minutes or so. We came totally prepared to keep our miss busy body entertained and happy on the plane. Our bag was packed with lots of new toys, snacks, and our laptop so she could watch a new Praise Baby DVD we bought her. She was awake the first flight and then slept the second flight. She did AMAZING and couldn't have acted any better! The flight home was a different story but I can't blame her. Our flights were flip flopped, shorter being first and longer one being second. Did great the first flight! We had a two and half hour layover at the airport before our next flight and she was already getting very tired and therefore cranky and not wanting to do anything mommy or daddy suggested. I just told myself that maybe she would sleep on the next flight but I should have known better. No sleeping for her, too much excitement! We still had some more tricks up our sleeves, new toys that she hadnt seen before, so we just tried to keep her busy and slowly bring out new toys when we needed them. By the time I was thinking (and praying) that we were about to land in Dallas the pilot told us that we couldnt land in Dallas because of weather and too many planes so we had to go out of the way to Oklahoma City airport (another 40 minutes) and refuel and then get back in the air. WHAT???????!!!!!!! I about lost it inside! Ava was beyond tired and I didnt think she was going to make it a single minute more being still and cooped up in a small airplane. What was supposed to be a 2 1/2 hour flight turned into 5!!! She fell asleep for maybe 20 minutes when we took off back to Dallas from Ok city but suddenly woke up, was confused at where we were, and started crying loudly. I didnt blame her! I wanted to cry too. I didnt care at that point if she was bothering other people on the plane because it just showed how ridiculous something like this is for a toddler and her parents to have to go through. It was the longest 5 hours of my entire life! I was so happy to be home, in Dallas. I dont think I want to fly for a really long time after this. Looking back Mikey and I are proud of Ava of how she did on the plane. The way home was tough but for a busy 1 year old I'd say she did just fine. Whew, that is our flying story! Now on to the rest of the trip! We took a ton of pictures so I included a lot of them and have captions to explain some of the things we did.

We greeted lots of people in the airport waiting for our flight and made some new friends (this is on our way to NY)

Killed some time in our stroller and ate snacks

I bought Ava some bugs from Dollar Tree (and a random bat was in the package too) and these were by far the best things we brought.

Being silly and covering her face with her blankie on the way to the lakehouse.

View from the back porch of the lakehouse

We were the first ones up each morning so we spent some time outside to not wake anyone. She adjusted very quickly to the time change, unfortunately, and was up with the sun (5 o'clock central time).

Ava met another second cousin, Cami.

Gigi made everyone fun shirts for the lake. Here is Ava in hers.

A fun activity while we were there was to pick up these tiny rocks and hand them to people.

Pretty snazzy shirts huh?!

Mikey, Me, Aunt Karen, Uncle Robert, Bpop (Ben), Gigi (Kate), Cousins Stephanie and Ethan and Cami

On Lake Chataqua they have an amazing place called The Institution where they are tons of beautiful homes, some turned into hotels, Museums, and Apitheaters where tons of people from around the world travel to to enjoy the arts and beautiful scenery.

The Anthenium Hotel at The Institution where presidents stay when they come to visit.

Gorgeous homes that have been turned into hotels

Gigi and Ava

The boys did lots of fly fishing from the pier

and caught tiny fish

Just the three of us

Great Aunt Karen and Ava

Great Grandpa and Ava looking at the boats

Ava's Daddy and Mommy

We bought Ava a pool while we were there so she could play in the water.

We put a few pool toys in there for her, a shot glass and margarita glass

Love that belly

We made somores one night with giant marshmellows, yummy! I promise it was evening when we did this. The sun was starting to go down so we thought it was time!

Mikey's uncle Robert brought his kayacks with him so we went kayacking. So fun! We pretended we were on a fun date like on the Bachelorette. haha too much reality tv for me!

Aunt Karen is retiring this week from nursing so we had a little retirement party for her and always creative Gigi made nurse's hats out of paper plates. :)

What a nice week it was for us to get away and for me to get to know Mikey's family a little better. We had a great time, ate great food, and had lots of laughs. Thanks for a fun time Hull Family!

15 Months Old

We were singing "1 little 2 little 3 little bumblebees" and she held up 1 finger for the first time which was fascinating to her.

We were also doing mommy's famous "creepy crawly" spider hand that tickles people. Anything to keep her still for pictures and get a smile.

15 Month Stats:

Length: 31 1/4 " long (75-90%)

Weight: 21 pounds 8.5 ounces (25%)

Head size: 18 3/4" (75-90%)

Dear Little Munchkin,

Happy 15 months old!! You are growing up right before my eyes! Although you are the size of a 15 month old you act more like you are two! You are tons of fun and as always am keeping me on my toes. Here is what you have been up to this month.

You are starting to talk a little more. You can now say "ba" (ball), "du" (duck), "do" (dog), "da" (daddy), "bu" (bug), "b b" (belly button), and "bu bi" (bye bye). With your limited vocabulary you are still able to communicate to us what you want by pointing, patting your belly, clapping, and grunting. You are very expressive and it makes me smile watching you act like a little cave woman!

Speaking of belly buttons and bugs those are two of your favorite things right now. You love to lift up mommy and daddy's shirts and stick your finger in our belly buttons. You even like to do it to your friends. Be careful though, not everyone is ok with you poking their belly button!

Since june bugs have started flying into our house you have become obsessed with bugs. You will squat down, point at them, and make little grunts until I pick it up and throw it out the door. If I leave them long enough you will pick them up on your own and squeeze them. Anytime we go outside in the front yard you go on a bug hunt and it is so cute. I am fine with you liking bugs, playing in dirt, and kicking balls but please remember your girly girl roots!

The activities that you have enjoyed the most this month are coloring and going on walks in your bob stroller. You prefer this stroller over any other and almost never squirm or try to get out of it. In fact, you try and climb into the stroller and buckle yourself in anytime it is in sight. You love to buckle things together and this has been a great distraction for you when you are sitting in the carts at the grocery store.

Your daddy attempted to walk you and Macy at the same time.

You love to be Mommy's helper around the house. You help me feed Macy, give her treats, throw things away, and vacuum. I like that you want to be so involved and learn how to do things on your own.

I might have said this before when you turned 14 months but you are THE BEST at vanishing from my sight and getting into things. Your daddy and I are convinced that it is your mission to try and be as far away from us as possible. If you are playing in the living room and we come and sit down on the floor you go to another room. Needless to say we dont sit for long in our house. We are constantly chasing you around the house. I don't know any other 15 month old that is as busy as you are. A little scary but I am embracing that inquisitive and independent side of your personality!

We are working on learning body parts and so far the ones you know for sure are head, eyes, nose, and belly.

I thought you were starting to transition to one nap because for awhile you only wanted to take one long nap in the late morning but over the past 2 weeks you have gone back to two naps. I am thinking that maybe teething might have been the reason for you not napping well in the afternoon.

You now have 10 teeth two of those being molars! Ouch! You have been such a trooper getting those new teeth in. I feel like every time I look in your mouth I am seeing a new tooth that is about to break the skin. Can you please tell your daddy that it is no longer necessary for us to cut your food up into the tiniest little pieces ever? If it were up to him I think you would still be eating baby food to make sure you dont choke! He is very protective over you, something I am sure you will find out in your teenage years. Watch out!

Someone asked me the other day what your personality was like and I told them that you were active, independent, brave, easy going, and happy all rolled into one. It will be interesting to see if you carry those characteristics with you as you grow up. I love all those things about you and watching you blossom into a little girl so full of life has made me so proud. I love you so so much sweet girl!

Love, your mommy

Im still alive....

It's been longer than usual since I last posted but bare with me. We just got back from vacationing in eastern New York for a week. Still to come, Ava's 15 month post and vacation pics.

And Happy Early Anniversary to my sweetie pie. Tomorrow marks our 6th wedding anniversary! I love that guy so much. I couldnt have asked for a better husband and father to my child. Ugh, LOVE him!

Aunt Sah's Wedding

This past weekend we went to my Aunt Kassandra's wedding and had a lot of fun. She had a simple but sweet ceremony full of very special touches! We were happy to be there on her very special day!

Dwight, Cousins Destin and Brittany, Aunt Sah, and Cousin Hayden

Exchanging rings

Miss A all dressed and ready to party

(for the third time that day! We had two 1st birthdays that we went to that afternoon)

Sharing snacks with her second cousin Aubrey

The fam

The ceremony was on a lake and Ava wanted to go in the water

Daddy and his little girl

Kisses

Aunt Alli hugs