Brooke's Bargains 41

Yesterday, I went to a friend of my sister's house to look at girls' clothes she was selling. It was like a personal yard sale;) Here's what I found:

For Addison: Ralph Lauren dress, 3 sleepers, ladybug swimsuit with matching hat, terry cloth bubble, and boots.

For Ava: 2 pairs of flip flops, a pair of shoes for fall, Gap jeans, Old Navy shorts, a dress, and white shorts. 

At first she quoted me the low price of $10 for everything! Then I found the tiny swimsuit, so in the end I paid $12 for 14 items. Yay!

December 2011: Part II

• Ava and I went to see Jeanine and Baby Jilly. They live about 1.5 hours away, so we don't see each other as much as we'd like. It was so much fun to see Jeanine in action with her precious newborn and all of her beautiful Christmas decor. On the way home, we stopped at the mall to finish up a few Christmas gifts! Have you been to Ulta? I could have spent a fortune in there!
• Ron and I had attended his work's Christmas party. It was at his boss's home in the country-- so nice (His wife had decorated seven trees- whew! Makes me tired just thinking about it.) We ate dinner and played a hilarious game of Dirty Santa.
• I loved being out of school for a month!! One fun memory was Ron and I watching Home Alone (my fav), wrapping presents, putting Ava's gifts together, and surprising her:)
• Christmas with the Girls- Our 17th (I think) Annual Party was fun like always! I laughed until I hurt. We just pick up where we left off, and I love that. Dirty Santa is really fun because everyone brings great gifts:) This year was our first Tacky Christmas-themed party.
• Ava and I were "kidnapped" one night by friends from church, Lori & Kacie, to go see Christmas light. They were prepared with blankets and lots of snacks. Sweet!
• Christmas Eve Eve was spent at my grandpa's house with my aunt, uncle, mom, dad, sister, bro-in-law, nephew, and daughter (Ron had to work all day). It was a nice, laid back kinda of day. Then Ava and I spent the night with my parents.
• Christmas Eve was spent at my parents' home all day for the first time ever. Normally, we travel more that day, so it was wonderful to just be able to not rush. We all made yummy favorites including my two favs: Dad's fudge and Mom's cheese ball. We exchanged gifts, watched Ava & Reid play, and enjoyed visiting. Britt and I did a Christmas craft with the kiddos. Ron, Ava, & I spent the night:)
• On Christmas Day, the three of us went to our church for a beautiful service. I was so excited because Ava was asked to sing with the praise team (she goes to practice each week with Ron while I teach and LOVES to sing).
• The downside to the holidays were the horrible sinus infections that Ron and I both got! Mine lasted almost two weeks:( 
• I got into a cleaning/organizing/tossing stuff spree!
• I had a great doctor's appointment. Everything looks great, and Baby #2 is a GIRL!
• We spent New Year's weekend in Missouri with Ron's family. It was nice to get away and do something different for a few days.
• This time of year makes me stop and think about the blessings in my life. I looked at my family and felt such gratitude to have them. What a gift.
• I also took a few trips down memory lane. I had an emotional time of missing my grandmothers at Christmas and missing Ron's dad. And, Ron and I didn't exchange gifts this Christmas, but he surprised me with the sweetest letter that recounted memories in our dating relationship and marriage. The sweetest gift.

New Year's Eve with the Mayfields

My sweet girl who loves posing for the camera.

Jeanine & Jilly (courtesy of Ava's photography:)

Ava's Christmas presents from us

Who knew stick-on earrings could be so exciting?

Christmas with Old Friends! Love them!

Off to see Christmas lights

The getaway driver

My favorite two little ones in the world

Gift time

Cute pink Toms from Mimi & Papa (Ava calls them Tums)

Christmas with Ron's family

Thanks for the fireworks, Uncle Danny!

Our Christmas Card

December 2011: Part I

We've had some December fun this past few weeks!

• We met some friends, Shannon & her family, to watch the Southaven Christmas Parade, and the weather was great (last year we nearly froze). Ava loves her girls. And we were really proud of our church's float that earned the 1st Place Prize!

• Speaking of our church, the first annual Dream Team Gala was held as a thank you for all the people who help make everything run smoothly. It was a wonderful evening complete with great food, semi-formal attire, hilarious speaker, and "red carpet" pics.  Ava stayed with Aunt Brittany while we were there, but she begged to go saying, "I promise I can act fancy." Love it!

• Each year we have a Ladies' Christmas Banquet, and volunteers are assigned a table to host and decorate. I had so much fun sitting at Kristan's table! She is very creative and thoughtful. It's really neat to arrive a little early and see how the hostesses decorate. We had around 20 tables all uniquely designed.

• One of my childhood friends, Eren, has a daughter who is about Ava's age. We were invited to her birthday party which is next door to my grandpa's home. My dad decided he'd drive us down, so that he could visit with his dad while we partied. It was nice day to visit with family and friends. Ava had a blast at the party. Santa was there for a guest appearance, as well as a pony for riding and face-painting! 

• My mom spent the night this week, and we spent the next day shopping. Britt and Reid met up with us for a little while. I was so exhausted by the time I got back home!! I was so glad that I was able to mark lots off of my list though!

• I can't believe I'm saying that Ron and I celebrated our 9th Anniversary yesterday! I surprised Ron with a Keurig, and he LOVES it!  I looked back at my wedding pictures and at that young 21 year-old girl standing there! As my pastor's wife says, "Marriage is designed to get better and better." I agree. I truly love him more today than I did nine years ago.

•  Well, today the plan is to finish cleaning this place! Ugh, the dreaded laundry has piled up again! Also, Ava and I will make a quick run (hopefully;) to Wal-mart and cook dinner. Oh, and I still haven't ordered Christmas cards! That has to happen too!

Great friends: Jamie & Maria

We had so much fun at the Gala!

Krista's table was an antique, feminine theme so we all had some dress-up accessories to take home. Mine, of course, were hijacked by Ava as soon as I got home:)

Candy-cane theme

Jamie's Tiffany-inspired table

Maria's table had these pretty snowy branches...

I thought these owls were cute!

me, Beth, Maria, & Jamie

It must be a family tradition to take pictures on Mamaw Little's swing. Ava and Aunt Bobbie...

Random pic: Ava and I put this 300-piece puzzle together (not all at once!). We needed a pic before we tore it apart:)

We were surprised one morning with SNOW!

Ava with Santa

"Princess" face-painting

Emma & Ava

Thanksgiving 2011

We started our Thanksgiving week with our church's annual Evening with the Turkeys-- a wonderful dinner followed by comedy via volunteers from church- hilarious! Ron and I participated in two of the skits. It was a blast preparing for it.
The next day, I had a doctor's appointment (15 weeks) and got a great report! That afternoon the stomach virus, I think, hit hard. I had to cancel class and prayed that Ron and Ava would not be sick especially with Thanksgiving Day and out-of-town guests. Neither got sick. By Wednesday,  I felt so much better and had to hustle to get the house clean and my dishes made (sweet & sour green beans, potato salad, and ambrosia since Brittany nixed it from our Christmas Eve menu;).
Ron's family came into town Thursday morning, and his mom went to my parents' house with us for Thanksgiving dinner. My sister, brother-in-law, nephew, aunt, uncle, and grandpa came too. We had lots of delicious food including a deep-fried turkey from Ron's new cooker. Brittany and I took our kiddos on a walk- the weather was awesome. After lunch the ladies sat around looking at Black Friday ads and talking. (I could kick myself for not getting pictures of my parents or a family pic!)
Britt and I met at 11:30 PM at Target. It was fun, and I finished shopping for Ava. Unfortunately, I didn't get nearly as much accomplished as I did the previous two years, so I'll be probably shopping 'til the last minute this year.
Ron's brother and sister-in-law came over Friday and Saturday night to visit with us, and they all left Sunday morning. The three of us crashed after church Sunday-- while Ron and Ava napped, I finished reading the book that I started the night before. There's nothing like reading a good book on a cold, rainy holiday weekend:)

Aunt Bobbie with her great-niece & great nephew. She's the best!

Sweet Reid

My girl:)

Pretty Brittany with our kiddos

Papaw Little with the babies

Ron & Job were on a mission to cook the turkey;)

I had to include this one because this is usually how it goes... Ava tries to be little mommy.

Awwww....

Well, Britt and I cooperated...

Mammaw & Ava

Fall Scrapbook

2011

 Another long family post... 

My "scrapbook" editions are ways for me to remember our lives during this season. I need to do it more often! Just when I had gotten into a semi-good routine of blogging, the nausea hit and staring at the computer screen only made it worse! Thank goodness that stage is over, and I've spent lots of today procrastinating on all the grading I need to be doing by looking at Pinterest and catching up on blog reading. Oops.

As usual I found myself so busy-- to the point that I had to sit down and reevaluate my life. I tried not to be too hard on myself since the staying at home/working part-time is still really new to me. I guess I expected to automatically adjust to it. Reality is that I have to set boundaries for myself, or I'm more busy/chaotic/annoyed than working full-time and handling a side job! When I dreamed about this stage in my life, it looked like this: start a really deep Bible study, work-out everyday, keep the house perfect, have dinner cooked every night when Ron arrives home, and spend a ton of quality time with Ava. So, when I realized that those things were still sporadic despite cutting back 40 hours/week of work, I needed to change. I am rambling. On to our lives for the past few months...

• Kayla threw Danny a surprise 30th birthday party. I think he really was surprised especially since she did it in Mississippi instead of Missouri. We had a fun weekend hanging out with them!
• Ava & I had a mommy/daughter day at the Children's Museum of Memphis. It was great! She loved it. It brought back memories of the day my aunt Bobbie took Brittany and me. I think she liked the mini-Kroger as much as we did:)
• I began home-school preschool lessons with Ava in September. My goal for her as a 4-year old is to get in the 'groove' of sitting down with me and working on lessons. We have concentrated mostly on phonics, reading aloud, and some handwriting. She's a good student. She has some perfectionist tendencies, so I work with her not being too hard on herself. She also LOVES doing crafts. We include those as well as puzzles and games. 
• Our "Moms of Preschoolers" life group had a play date at the Tunica Aquatic Center. It's a great and very affordable place for families to hang out. We also met at church for breakfast and playtime a few weeks ago. 
• We had play dates with at Chick-fil-A with Tuesday and Emma, and one day Justus came over to play on the playground with Ava. We also went over to Mary Abbott & Niki's a few times for some fun!
• One day, Jamie, Greg, Pastor Jeff, and I went on a day trip to Huntsville, AL, to tour a church. Our church has worked with them on sharing ideas. Jamie and I were asked to go to check out their layout and design-- it was impressive! Too bad I was so nauseated! ;)
• Ron and I took Ava to the city park after church (complete with milkshakes & perfect weather:). 
• I had a 31 Gifts Party and got some great items for being a hostess. I love my stuff! It was a fun night with some of my favorite girls.
• I probably watched more football than ever this season. Ron has gotten more and more into college football the past few years. It's fun. And this is for him, "Roll Tide!" 
• Four of my high school/college friends had babies within about three weeks' time! I can't wait to see all of them in person. I've loved seeing their pics on Facebook! Welcome to the world, Harper, Noah, Jilly, & Lucas! 
• Ava and I went to the Homecoming Pep-rally in my hometown where I went to school and worked. It was really fun seeing my former students and co-workers. I miss them! We also got to have lunch with Mimi & Papa. 
• I went to see Twilight: Breaking Dawn with Meg, Anna, Christie, and Emily. What a fun night!
• My parents made a joint birthday lunch for Brittany and me. My mom was in the hospital on my birthday:(. They made a huge meal and hung balloons and banners for us:) Sweet! They gave me birthday money, so I ordered a North Face rain coat that I've wanted for a while.
• My mom has been recovering from being sick and hospitalized (I overheard Ava telling her friend that Mimi was in the hospital because she drinks too much Coke- ha!) so I decorated their house for Christmas one day. Too bad mine still isn't done- ha! Having all my Christmas decor in storage is annoying! 
• As a small part of teaching Ava the true meaning of Christmas, we participated in Operation Christmas Child. It was really neat when she picked out toys and candy for a child she doesn't know. 
• My nephew Reid turned ONE! He had an adorable birthday party. Brittany did a great job of decorating and planning. 
• One time, Niki told me that tucking your child into bed is so funny because it's when they have the urge to share things-- recently, when I was putting Ava to bed she told me that her toothpaste tastes like poison, and then she asked if she's ever had turquoise throw up. Random!

Lots of pictures... Even downloaded some from my phone...

Surprise!!

Danny with his nieces, Taylor & Ava

"Baby Ford" is so adorable!

Chili's with the in-laws

little shopper

She loved it! The cash register was her favorite part, except...

dressing up on the "Orpheum" stage... I always tell Ron that I can see her being in theater stuff. She's so expressive and likes to entertain.

"dentist office"

Ava and Kaley

Aquatic Center

Ava with the birthday boy!

On our way to Waffle House for family breakfast

Maria and me

Sweetness

Playing outside, waiting on "Mrs. Jeanine" to arrive.

My tired baby!

"Mommy, take a picture of my hair." :)

Ron had guy night for one of the games, so Ava and I went to Cracker Barrel to window shop and have dinner.

Princess Ava

at the church fall festival

Ava & "Toots"

"I want to do a serious face."

The Little Mermaid (Ava dressing up is a daily occurrence).

Mrs. Cindy's wig

At the Sam's Club holiday taste-testing with Mimi and me

Cinderella (we found this one at a consignment sale for $4)

at Old Navy

sipping hot chocolate & watching Polar Express