And the gloves clothes come off!

Ava got a couple new pairs of pajamas in December that don't have the snap across the top to cover up the zipper. And she discovered that she can move the zipper up and down. She gets really excited about doing it while saying "up! doown! up! doown!" I try to distract her from doing it because I'm afraid with all that excitement we might see some skin end up in that zipper. Ouch! Each day I'm amazed at how much she' s learning even from the day before. And that goes for the zipper too because at first it was just little zip ups and downs and this morning it was this:

See the blue pile in the corner covered in yellow and white ducks? Those would be the jammies (without a snap to cover the zipper) that she was wearing when I put her in the bed. When I walked in to get her this morning she stood up and says "duckies. uh-oh." Uh-oh indeed. Good thing the winters aren't too harsh in Texas. LOL.

The Naughty Doll

So some of you read earlier that I was trying to do some homemade gifts for Christmas. Well, I decided to take my sewing machine to Oklahoma with me so I could try to squeeze in a few more. I got this cute ragdoll pattern from the owner of The Black Apple Etsy shop and decided that I could try it out so that Ava would have a handmade gift. I worked on it off and on throughout Christmas Eve and finished it up that night. And I thought it turned out pretty well. Here's a picture.
But apparently the doll was naughty when I wasn't looking because Ava saw it, ran up to it, picked it up and promptly put it face-first in the corner. And that's not something she learned from me either, we're still in the "no discipline" phase of our parenting. After a good solid three hours or so in the corner Ava returned and gave it some "hug-ees." I think it's been forgiven!

Count your blessings

Did you ever have that thought when you were in college (maybe high school) and you had so many really amazing friends that you couldn't imagine not always living near them and getting to hang out? And then of course life moves on and people go off to master's programs and people get married and start having kids and people get jobs and get transferred clear across the country. Now at least we have email/webcams/facebook/etc. so we can keep in better touch but sometimes when I read the things my friends are up to or on the rare occasion I get to speak to them on the phone I really wish I could live out my childhood fantasy that one day when I became a grown-up, I would live on a street where all my favorite people lived and our kids would grow up together and we'd have barbecues together in the summer and all of such fun things. But alas, such is not life so we go where we are called and we make friends along the way as best we can.

And then we get a phone call.

And find out that.............................................

One of our most FAVORITE friends in the entire world is moving. Where you ask is she moving? To a nice little town that is 15 minutes from where I live! Which is a big improvement seeing as now she lives in D.C. while I live in Dallas. I can hardly contain my excitment. Especially since she will be here so soon (February) along with her brand spankin new baby girl (4 weeks old when she gets here) for me to snuggle and snuggle. I can just see the play dates now! (My daughter is 18 months....think that will be a problem? *S*) Ah but this is an old friend, we'll never be as formal as calling them "playdates." This is a cried on my shoulder, offered her shoulder kinda friend. We used to have a secret word we could say that meant "It doesn't matter what you are doing right now or how cute that boy is that you are studying with or how early your test is in the morning, something serious is going on with me and I need you now!" She's one of those rare people you come across in your life that really "gets" you. Plus she's got a heart of gold.

I am truly blessed!

Good thing we live in Dallas.........

since as you will see by the pictures, apparently Ava isn't a fan of snow, at least snow made out of soap bubbles. I recently gave out these cute handsoaps as gifts to friends and neighbors. One of my friends absolutely loved them and jokingly said I could make her more if I wanted and reminded me that her birthday was coming up......in October! I had an extra container so I told her I could make her one more since I was putting a few together anyway. She was thrilled but insisted that she trade me for some snow pictures of Ava (she happens to be a professional photographer). Um, deal! Since we do live in Dallas and snow doesn't tend to fall during 70 degree weather, I took Ava to her studio where she had a snow-making machine. It was very cool and very loud. Ava was a little freaked out by the loud part. But despite the boo-hooing, we ended up with some darling winter/holiday pictures of the little monkey thanks to my awesome friend LE. That bottle of soap was the best return on investment I've had all year. And here are the pictures to prove it!






Once we turned off the snow, she was so relieved she even gave us a smile or two!

Ouch! There goes Christmas. (Previously titled: We're gonna be blacklisted!)

I love the library. Ever since I was a kid I've always felt a little sneaky walking out of there with 4 or 5 books in tow (that I didn't pay for). I can never believe I actually get to take home as many books as I want (I suppose they might draw the line somewhere though I've yet to see it) and it doesn't cost me a penny. It is FREE. I'm really a geeky bookworm at heart and the fact that someone has put all these adventures, mysteries, tragedies, celebrations, etc right at my fingertips with no money out of my pocket sometimes just makes me absolutely giddy. For a book lover like me, its like hitting the jackpot everytime I walk through those doors. It sometimes seems too good to be true. And I've marveled and thought surely there are strings attached.

There are.

I've recently discovered a few strings, a few very long, very expensive strings.

Let me introduce you to the world of chewed slightly manhandled torn to smithereens damaged books.

A few weeks ago Pumpkin and I went to the library and I picked out some books for her. I purposely picked out the board books so that none of her excited turning of the pages would bend or dishevel them in anyway. She was even so thrilled about one of them that I let her look at it on the drive home and she was very very quiet which is a treat. But then again it's hard to make a lot of noise when your mouth is full of cardboard.

When it was time to return the books I walked sheepishly to the counter and told them I assumed there was a fee associated with chewed up books unless of course they saw the charm associated with sweet little baby teeth marks in a book about babies (hey I tried). They didn't see the charm. They charged me $12.41 for a book I can buy in "very good" condition on Amazon for a penny (plus S&H.) Ouch! There goes Christmas.

But we got through it and I promised myself to never leave Pumpkin unsupervised again w/ library books. And I mostly kept the promise. Mostly. Pumpkin takes her daily bath in my bathtub because its just easier that way for me. I also take my nightly bath in that bathtub and typically leave my books in a pile on the side of the bathtub which has never been a problem................until now.

Tonight after the water and bubbles had drained from Pumpkins bath, I went in to clean out the toys so I could relax in my own bath and curl up and read. Here are the toys I found that needed cleaning up:
The big book you see, the hardcover (cha-ching) just happens to belong to a little place we like to call the library. Me: "But don't you see the charm in this? Now the book is wet and turned to mush and barely recognizable and the book is about viruses that make human bodies turn to mush and barely recognizable. Librarian: That will be 85 dollars and 13 cents please.

Ouch! There goes Christmas.

What am I missing?

So, I got inspired by this blog to make some homemade Christmas gifts. I love to try my hand at new things. One thing I've always wanted to try making is a sock monkey but since Ava is obsessed with elephants these days, I decided to make Ava this adorable sock elephant: Is that the cutest thing you've ever seen? Unfortunately, despite buying the book, I was having a bit of a struggle. Due to the fact that I mostly have taught myself how to sew, I often have a bit of a struggle. Here is what mine looks like:Hmmm, and there should be a couple more arm/legs somewhere. See what I mean? A struggle. So I came downstairs the other night and plopped myself on the couch next to Rob and said "Ugh, I"m so frustrated." Rob: "Why?" Me: "This sock monkey is so hard." Rob: "I thought you were making an elephant." Me: "I am." Rob: "Well, that's your problem. No wonder it's so hard." Hmmm, maybe that is my problem! Whatever it is, at the rate I"m going, Ava may be getting just plain old socks for Christmas, no elephant or monkey attached!!!

But just to prove that I'm not totally incompetent when it comes to crafting, here is the darling rag ball I finished for my cutie-patootie niece:
It even has a jingle bell inside! Now if I can just figure out that elephonkey!