Our New House

We have officially "won" our house! Yes, I said won. These last few days have been very intense for us! Ok, so here's the fast version.... we found the neighborhood we want to live in...made an offer on a house and they said NO!- no counter offer at all...just flat no! SOOOO we go back to the neighborhood and there are no other options for us in there....Soooo two days later "this" house comes on the market...this is the house in the neighborhood that we drove by (BEFORE it was for sell!) and I said "that is the house I want...go knock on their door and ask them if they will sell it"....we laughed at how silly that was. WELL, it popped up for sell! THIS is THE house!!!!!!! coincidence???? yes! very weird! I know....so I looked at the pics...loved it....wanted to make an offer before I even saw it in person....but we didn't. So we drove to see just this house and loved it (by this point it had been on the market 6 days).....we decide to make an offer....SO DID SOMEONE ELSE! Long story short....after much worrying, thinking, stressing, praying, etc......we OUT BID the other people and won the house! Yes, this is a true story! Talk about stressful...oh my goodness! That was the most intense time ever! We literally made our counteroffer at 11:51 and it was due at midnight. Crazy crazy times! Who would have known a house would sell in less than a week????! too crazy!

Sooooo we are hoping this works out and this will be our new home. We are in the process of getting it inspected....it's not going that great as of now...but we are hopeful. Hopefully it will work out and be fine. We shall see. So anyway...as of now....this is our new house!

You can view additional pictures on
http://homescenes.com/_pgm/hs_IDXMain.cfm?PropertyID=56293&S=FMLS


Hopefully this will be the house AC grows up in.....

15 month doctor appt.

She had her 15 month doctor's visit today...the doctor said she is doing great and progressing faster than she should! She weighed in at 24 pounds and is 33 inches long! She is STILL in the 95th percentile for height....I started to worry so I asked the doctor just how tall she could end up being...she said that a 95th percentile adult woman is anywhere from 5'8" to 5'9"...so that's not too bad! I was worried she would be like 6 feet tall!! ha

She got 4 shots...and it was NO fun! Poor baby...she just sat so still and cried so pitifully. On the way home she would look down at her little leg, point to her band-aids, and whimper the most pitiful little whimper cry ever! It broke my heart. So I said "Ava Claire are you huritng?" She said "YES!" and pointed to her little thighs. pitiful. Shot days are soooo hard! However, she is caught up on ALL of her shots and shouldn't have to get anymore until she's 5! wow! She doesn't even have to go back to the doctor until she's 2! Wow! That's a long time.... and by then she will have another doctor! So we said goodbye to her doctor today and told her we were moving. We really did enjoy her...she was very sweet to AC!

So we made it home and she had some dinner....I gave her a french fry to help make her feel better--and of course--she wanted ketchup. So I gave her a big pile of her own so I didn't have to share with her. Well, in the meantime, she decided the ketchup tasted better than her ravioli....so I look over and she's eating it with her spoon! So basically, she had ketchup for dinner. When she was finished...she had it from her head to toe. I have a feeling we are entering an EXTREMELY MESSY phase...it seems like every day we just find something to mess in!

Every day is a new day. She just changes so fast and does so many new things daily. It truly is a miracle to just see her little brain growing and learning new things. We love every moment we have with her! She's our pride and joy! (Everytime I say "pride and joy" it reminds me of my Ma-maw...who carried around a picture of her "pride and joy" and it was seriously a pic of a bottle of pride and a bottle of joy! haha) If only my Ma-maw was here to see AC....she sure would have enjoyed her. Sometimes it just doesn't seem fair that things happen the way they do.... But as AC's new favorite book says "Life is good!"

I like hats!

She finally will wear a hat....she wanted to get one like her Papaw!

We are hoping she will continue to want to wear her hats this summer....we shall see! Right now she is loving any kind of hat...but that could be a different story tomorrow! She is all about making her own choices! It's fun to see! She is turning into a little girl so fast.

Come on daddy!!

The Easter bunny dropped something off a little early for AC today...she got a new car! She was so eager to ride her car...she just couldn't wait on daddy to get the wheels on it! She was too funny! She was right there being daddy's right-hand-man. She was just jabbering...trying to tell daddy how to do it! It was funny to watch. Daddy got the car put together and she played with it all night. It was raining again..so we couldn't take it outside...but she sure did have fun with it inside. She even put "kitty cat" in it and tried to buckle her in...then she "pushed" her around. She is just like a little sponge....doing everything we do and remembering it all!

Telling daddy what to do next!

Finished product!

Stuck in a Rut.....

seriously! Ava Claire was "stuck in a rut" and I mean physically. She was in the park playing...and it had rained the day before and it usually takes the park a few days to dry out because of the slope of the grass...well, a truck had left two ruts behind and she found it, sat down in it, and stayed there! She didn't know what to do....so needless to say..mommy rescued her- mud and all. It was really from her head to her toe! Soooooooo much mud!If I only I had my camera!

Warm weather gone...

Well the rain and cold is back! It was a yucky day...and poor AC could not understand why we couldn't go outside again. She stood at teh back door and just looked up (trying to open the door)..she can now reach the knob and tries to turn it--she's not there yet! But it won't be soon! yikes! She did discover that if she put her mouth on the glass and blew it would "fog" up...she giggled at that for the longest time. Then she ran into the kitchen, grabbed my hand, and brought me to watch. It was too cute! She was amazed..... she's a doll!

Warm weather fun!

Yesterday the weather was absolutely perfect! We had three house showings...so we had to be out of the house pretty much all day...so we just stayed outside ALL afternoon (6 hours to be exact!). It was perfect! Matt, Justin, Ava Claire, and myself started out in the green space across from our house...and in no time at all it turned into a party! Many of the neighborhood friends (and babies) came by and hung out. The babies were precious...all just playing in the grass. It was bittersweet for us because it reminded us that we will shortly be leaving the greatest neighborhood ever! It's just so awesome how many babies there are that are so close in age...we can't help but be sad to leave. I could soooo see AC growing up with these guys and being rascals together in kindergaten! However, we know the move is for the best....and have to remember that! We will just enjoy these last few months here even more! And really, it's not that far of a drive back and visit...so we can definitely come back!

Ava Claire really had a blast..she has scratches all over here little hands (I'm guessing from the sidewalks and steps)but those scratches didn't slow her down at all. She just kept on playing! She played really well with the "big girls". There was a 5 year-old and then some 4th graders playing too....and she LOVED having them hold her hand and walk her around. She just smiled and waved! I can't even describe how sweet it was to watch them all play! Too cute for words!

15 months old!!!

Such a sweet girl!

This is what you get when you tell AC to "fake smile!"

Doing a little dancing!!

Ready, set, smile!!!
It's hard to believe she's 15 months old...she is such fun! We are the luckiest people in the world! :)

Another House Hunting Trip

Well, we survived yet another trip to ATL to look for houses...it was another short trip...only in town for 3 days. We looked at houses everyday and sweet AC was wonderful again! She was such a trooper and did a great job....by the fourth morning, she did not want back in her carseat! I can't blame her! But we did make it home safely....and WE FOUND A NEIGHBORHOOD!!!! Yay! We haven't totally found a house, but we know which neighborhood we want to live in...so that's good news! We are hoping something will work out in there for us!

Now that we are back, it's Spring break and we are having so much fun! We are getting to see what it will be like next year when AC stays home with mommy...it will be a different kind of work- that's for sure! But it will be great!

AC turned 15 months old yesterday....it's soooo hard to believe! She is doing soooo many new things! She is running everywhere and definitely knows what she wants! Her new favorite thing is to "identify" everything....we can say where's Ava Claire? she points to herself, she can also find moma, daddy, her mouth, shoes, socks, belly, bottom, head, cup, Chloe, Amanda, Violet, pink bear (all of her little friends)...it's just amazing how much she is changing so fast! She's like a little sponge....I can read her a book and point out a few new things on the page (rainboots, umbrella, dog, etc) and she can instantly remember and find them the next time we look at the book...it's just crazy! We are loving every moment with this sweet baby!

It's finally warm here...so when she wakes up (late nap because we went shopping) we are going on a wagon ride. Hopefully we will see some of her friends at the park so she can play with them.

She can really "play" now...it was the cutest thing...we were at Gymboree this morning and she was back in the little kiddie section where the chairs and tv are located and there was another little boy back there (probably about 4 years old) and she was hiding behind things peek-a-boo-ing him. It was too cute! They were really interacting and playing...the cutest thing ever! She's going to have such a fun time with Blake this summer...I can't wait to see them together! She KEPT bringing me a pair of flip flops and she just most politely got a bracelet and put it on her arm (needless to say...we just HAD to get it!) She already LOVES jewelry! She will get alllllll 10 of her bracelets on one arm and her purse on the other and hold both arms up in the air (so the items don't fall off) and just go thru the house....it was quiet humorous to watch! She definitely has some personality! She's not a boring baby...that's for sure!

I could go on and on forever....but I'll spare ya. I'll try and get a few recent pics at the park this afternoon or tomorrow and upload them since it's been a while. Hope all is well with you guys!

AC's first skinned knee!

Poor baby...got her first skinned knee this weekend in Atlanta. We went on our first house hunting trip....and at our last house, she was just too excited that the looking was finally over...she started running down the driveway and fell down. I didn't realize at that time that she had a boo boo...it was later that night when she was getting ready for bed. Poor baby had her first scab!

She did sooooo good on our house hunting trip. We left Saturday morning when she woke up, drove there, met a realtor, and drove around all afternoon. We saw like 7 houses I think...and AC did great! She rode in her carseat like a champ and "looked" at all of the houses. Her favorite house had a baby room with a baby bed and she was soooooo ready to jump in the bed and rest! She kept trying to get in the bed! It was cute...yet sad....because that poor baby was soooo tired of "looking" at houses. We made it thru the day....but did NOT find a house. We found a few that are "ok" but nothing that we just love!

House hunting in ATL is definitely going to be a challenge...there are just sooooo many houses and so many different areas-- all of which we know nothing about! Soooo, we are trying to prepare ourselves for this to take a while...there is definitely nothing like our current neighborhood available there...which makes it even harder! We are just too spoiled because we honestly live in the "perfect" neighborhood...and our neighbors are great. I think it's going to be harder than we thought to leave.....

But it will work out...we will figure it out. Attached is AC's pic of her skinned knee. Poor baby!

Emily update

OK....so I know it hasn't been that long since I posted an update on Emily (the little girl who is a first grader at our school). Well, since the last posting---- things have changed drastically. This little girl and her family NEED your prayers! Please put them on every prayer list you have. This is what Emily's mom wrote on her caring bridge site a little while ago:

"We are currently 4 hours into surgery, but the surgeon and Dr Pressey have come to tell us there is LIVE ACTIVE tumor in her pelvis. This growth is probably very new, and means it has become resistant to the chemo she has been on. The new plan is to go through 2 more rounds of chemo then try to get to stem cell transplant. Dr Pressey says he is not ready to throw in the towel, but admits this will be very difficult to conquer. Thank you so much for all of your prayers. We are hurting deeply right now and can use all the prayers we can get."

Her website is
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/emilyknerr

Please think about this family and all they are going through right now. They need our thoughts now more than ever! I can't even imagine.....just think about them!

It's official........

It's official.....we have a sign in our front yard!!!! I have to admit...when the man was digging the hole....I got a little teary-eyed. It still hasn't really sunk in completely....

We are moving to Atlanta! Matt has been offered a position with his current company that we cannot turn down. Since he started working for Crawford...his goal has been to "make it to the home office". Well, he has fulfilled his goal! He will be working in the home office as the Director of Catastrophe Operations. This is a "big boy" job and Ava Claire is so proud of daddy! She's really excited because now that we are moving, she will get to stay home with mommy! I'm not sure how I feel about not working, but we will give it a try and see what happens.

When Matt first approached me with this decision...my initial thought was "move again???! are you crazy?!" But once we really starting discussing our options...we quickly realized that we didn't really have a choice. It was an opportunity that we had to take....so here we are----moving AGAIN!

We have lived in a few different places, but both have so many experiences that we wouldn't trade for anything. The places we have lived have helped us become who we are today. We have met some really good people on our journey and cherish our memories. Our Hoover friends are amazing....this neighborhood is BY FAR the best neighborhood in the world and we are sad that Ava Claire will not grow up with all of her friends here. We really will come back and visit though...I promise! It will be the perfect excuse to get to stay at the hotel!! Always looking a reason to go to Ross Bridge! My school friends here.....I will never be as lucky as I was here! I got placed on the greatest team on earth! Everyone of you have taught me things that will definitely help me in the future. I will for sure miss you guys....but again, promise to come visit! I'll even help y'all give F&P reading assesments! ha (That shows I really do love ya!)

Therefore, after MUCH deliberation and thinking...we have decided to go for it! Move one more time.

Again, to all of our friends here....we wish we could just take you with us! If you're ever in ATL or passing thru--you BETTER come visit!