6 months old and Ava's bedroom

Yesterday Ava turned 6 months old. Where has all the time gone?!?! Seems like just the other day she was this tiny little baby. Her personality is really starting to show these days. So far she seems to be a fairly laid back kid, which I am so excited about. She is so sweet and will smile at anyone if they give her attention. Ava finally decided it was time to roll from her back to her tummy. She's been doing tummy to back for a while now but never would put forth the effort to roll back over again. She is slowly making progress at sitting on her own. She can do it for a second or two before toppling over. I'm sure it won't be long now and she'll have it mastered. We went to the Dr yesterday and she weighs 16lbs 10oz and is 27 1/4 in long. She has just about outgrown her baby carrier car seat, but we are going to continue to use it until after we move to Kansas (if possible). Here are a few pictures I took in honor of her 6 month birthday. Can't believe my girl is getting so big!

eating her first baby rice cracker....she liked it (in case you can't tell)

look at all the drool on that shirt!

sweet smile

I love those eyes

Ava's bedroom has been finished for a while but we recently had to put down new floors so I decided I should take pictures before we move and I have no proof of what her room looked like. Adam did such a good job on the flooring. I hate that we are going to have to leave this house now that it is finally becoming our own.

Randomness

Well there still isn't a whole lot going on around here. We are still waiting for an offer on the house and we are planning on leaving March 15. Sooo....if anyone wants to buy a house in northern NY please let me know :-) Everyone is doing just fine. Adam has been home a lot here lately since most of the unit is on leave so that's been nice. Below are just some random pictures from the last month or so. Enjoy!

Ava was NOT loving carrots this night, but she has since decided she likes them.

Andrew likes to read books at night before bed and this is how he fell asleep

just hanging out on the bed

she finally figured out how to sit up in her chair

LLook at me!!

such a big girl

playing with her baby doll

snowball fight!!

I love this shot

look out Andrew

Daddy's at it again!

The beginning of 2010

Wow it's odd typing 2010! There isn't much to report on with us at the moment. Adam is back at work and trying to get all of the paper work and what not together for us to move in a few months. We've had lots of people look at the house but so far no offers. The couple that came by yesterday really liked it and we are one of their top 2 so maybe they will put an offer in soon. We are getting close to crunch time and I am getting a little nervous about the house selling before we leave. In the mean time we will work on getting things packed up and ready for when it is time to leave.

Everyone seems to be settling in just fine now that Adam is home. In many ways it's like he never left. Granted we do have moments where he doesn't know or remember what to do or where things go, but I think part of that is just being a man :-)

Andrew and Ava are just fine. Andrew still loves school although he does have a few behavior issues we are working on. Ava is an over all happy baby and rarely gets upset, which is amazing for me. Below are a few random pictures from the past few weeks. Hope you enjoy!

Andrew playing Band Hero

showing off one of the shirts he got for Christmas

Ava showing off one of her new outfits too

she is FASCINATED by the screen saver on Adam's computer

Ava after trying her first bite of rice cereal

Christmas/New Years Eve

This year Andrew asked Santa if he would wait for Adam to get home before he delivered our presents. Since Santa is such a nice guy he did just that and delivered our presents while we were picking daddy up New Years Eve morning.

Andrew with his pile of presents including his bat cave from Santa

Ava checking out her pile of presents and her learn and grow farm from Santa

Andrew and daddy having their usual wrapping paper fight

sooo excited

This is the necklace Andrew bought for Ava at his school's Santa sale.

Ava on her play mat from Nana and Pawpaw. She LOVES it!!

Welcome Home Ceremony

Welcome Home Fort Drum 3rd Brigade 2-87 Infantry Battalion!!!

At 2:30am on December 31, 2009 Adam's battalion returned from their year long deployment to Afghanistan. The welcome home ceremony was at 6am that morning and while it was incredibly early, no one had problems waking up on time. The soldiers were all exhausted from traveling and being on an all night flight (as you can see in the pictures), but that did not diminish their excitement of being home. Here are some pictures from the ceremony and of our family being reunited again. I was so lucky to have a professional photographer, and friend, come with us to take the pictures for me.

The sign above lists just some of the missions Ft Drum has been a apart of.

The Ft Drum band. The sign above shows the starting date for Operation Enduring Freedom. This is the mission we are trying to accomplish in Afghanistan. Hopefully there will be a completion date added soon.

waiting on the ceremony to start (5:30am)

Ava showing off her shirt

Don't let Andrew's expression fool you. He was laughing and carrying on until he saw a camera pointed at him.

3rd Brigade 2-87 Infantry Battalion

Fort Drum's commander Major General James Terry

There he is!

Dismissed!!!

my 2 favorite boys

Andrew trying to show daddy the sign we made

reunited....FINALLY

lovin his baby girl

Now lets go home!