I'm back....

So, after a 4 month hiatus (I know no one was counting except a certain someone) I finally got my act together and gathered some pictures to put up here. I have been spoiled with the ease of taking pictures from my I-phone. It is so much easier to put them on Facebook instead of transferring them to the computer and uploading them to the blog. Then my biggest obstacle, writing about each one. For those that know me, I am not concise and it takes me forever to write. So anyway, I spent a good hour uploading some pictures that get me through early January. I will give people a chance to catch up, then add some more of the more recent months soon. Don't forget to come back, we have her 1st birthday party, ski trip, and walking just around the corner! For now, scroll down to the bottom and enjoy,
~Gabby

More Maui and 1st Birthday

Bye Maui, I'll be back soon!

No, this is not Ava!
We captured this amazing shot from the condo of a humpback whale breaching out of the water. I could not believe how many whales we saw while in Maui. On our last day they were swimming just a few yards from the shore, they were so beautiful!

Ava's not so sure about this sand after all, especially the taste.

No, we did not send her out to sea-wow, she's such a drama queen!
But this did make for a great photo opportunity.

Ava was not a fan of the birthday hat, or maybe it's the barrette that's bothering her?

"Cake, what cake?"
That is the caption from 1 of my favorite birthday cards. Although it doesn't really apply here since you can see the big piece of cake on her plate-but still, I love it! Almost as much as Ava loved her cake and ice cream.

Happy Birthday Ava!
We can't believe you are 1, and by the look on your face you can't either?!

One of Ava's most favorite birthday gifts was from her cousin Lauren, she lived in this raft in the pool for a few days.

There were no bathtubs in Maui, only jacuzzi sinks-it really is the latest craze!

Maui

Sports Illustrated called and asked Ava to submit her best bathing suit shots for their swimsuit addition. This is what she sent them....

Ok, just kidding, but she did look pretty darn cute swimming around in Maui!

Merry Christmas

Auntie Fish knows how to cuddle

All I want for Christmas is an "Ava-tar"!

This was my favorite family photo of the bunch, but as you can tell Ava is not quite sure...

Happy Hanukkah!

There were a lot of "1st's" for Ava this year-she got to celebrate a special 1st Hanukkah with her family up in LA. If only mom had planned her outfit better...I blame dad on this one for sure!

Early December

We recently started taking Ava to this awesome park right up the street from us-Hilltop Park. She loves the bucket swings, and now she even goes down the slide.

She was mesmerized by Santa Claus. Good thing she went to visit him, I think she got everything she asked for, and more!

1st Thanksgiving

We are soooo thankful for Ava! Here is a fun shot of her with her Godmommy Patty at the Gershon parade!

Weekend with the Grandparents and Great-Grandparents

Ava was so happy to see her grandma and grandpa and grgrpa and grgrma that she got right to her feet!

Grandpa kept Ava happy while waiting for our table for dinner that night.

Great-Grandpa even got a kiss good-bye!

Some Recent Favorites

So I have not done such a great job of keeping up with this blog (obviously) and to catch up I will just post some of my favorite recent pictures of Ava. She is going to be 10 and a 1/2 months on Sunday and it's just so hard to believe she will be 1 soon! She has mastered crawling and I am pretty sure she can beat me in a race. Her favorite food is Yo-Yo baby, even dad tries to steal bites of this yummy stuff! Currently she loves to pull herself up on everything including her crib, coffee table, baby piano, and my personal favorite-the dishwasher.

Baby Mozart (yeah right, not with these parents!)

What were you thinking mom?


Special Delivery

Happy Halloween (and Happy Birthday Dad too)!

Poor Ava...because Mom likes turtles she is stuck with lots of turtle clothes, decorations, bath mats, and of course she had to be a turtle for Halloween too! Grandma Kuehn found a "Squirt" (Crush's sidekick from Finding Nemo) costume at Disneyland and Ava fit into it perfectly.

By the way, this was the best costume ever! It was designed so that the top was a zip-up jacket with a hood and pants, so Ava probably had no clue she was in a costume and could carry on-crawl-like normal!

Pumpkin Patch

Our neighbors invited us to go to a local pumpkin patch with them and I'm so glad we went. It was so nice to see our little pumpkin mixed in with all the rest!

First Trip to Disney Land

Ava took her first trip to Disneyland when some of her favorite cousins were visiting from Boston! She was completely mesmerized by all the new sights and sounds. Her first ride was "Buzz Lightyear" which she rode with Grandma Kuehn and Auntie Lyndsey. After that it was time for "It's a Small World," in which Ava looked like she could be one of the little people-she was just their size. I can't wait to take her to Disneyland as she gets older, it really is the happiest place on earth-as it keeps Ava very very happy and therefore Mommy very very happy!

New wheels!

Grandma Susan bought Ava her first car and she loves it! She will let you push her around in that all day long. She's such a natural, isn't she?

Where did we leave off? September updates

Wow, I am way behind here...a lot has happened over the past few months. Ava spent Labor Day weekend in Newport Beach with Grandma and Grandpa Susan. See below how she modeled at the Anthropologie store.
She also got some good time in with her Great Grandpa.
Then she took her first visit to the San Diego Zoo with mom and Auntie E (Dad was away in Vegas hanging out with some other animals). Where she had her portrait taken (she was all smiles over that one):
She went apes over being at the zoo and stuck her neck out to see everything!

Frozen Yogurt

It was so hot this past weekend that I thought it was the perfect time to introduce Ava to some sweet treats. We took her to Golden Spoon and we got her her own mini Vanilla frozen yogurt. I'm pretty sure she liked it, all 5 bites! Fortunately for Ava, mom had the rest before it melted. Something tells me ice cream is in our very near future...

New Hobbies!

This past weekend Ava explored her potential hobbies. The first one was reading, this is mom's favorite hobby. She got to read with Grandma and I am pretty sure they both enjoyed it. We'll see when she is able to start participating in book club with mom, I'm just not quite sure when "Good Night Moon" will make the list?


Then she gave playing cards a shot, this of course being dad's favorite hobby. Take a look at that poker face!?! I think the pacifier gives her away though.


In the end the card game wore her out, but I'm pretty sure there will be plenty more card games in the future!

Another sink shot

Ava's getting so big she can't fit into any of our sinks anymore. This may be the last time for a shot like this, good thing she made it worth it!

Time with the Family!

Ava was so lucky over the past few days to see some of her cousins. Here are some photos of her time with them, as well as a great shot of her with Uncle Night-Night. It's hard to tell whose happier?

Hanging Out!

Some of you might wonder what Ava does in her free time...well, she loves to lounge around with Coco. Coco barely notices Ava, but Ava adores Coco. She also catches up on her celebrity gossip with US Weekly. I know this will make her cousin Kerry very proud! Sometimes, she is just as happy sitting in her crib.