It's that time of year again......for the blog to be neglected!

Happy November!! The craziness of October is finally behind us and we can start to get ready for one of my favorite times of the year!!

October has been a busy month in our house! Steve's school is in full force now and he is as busy as ever. With school and a full time job he has also taken on another roll at his school as Dean of Attendance. This will add an additional 20% to his already full time teaching job. This is a great opportunity for him to learn more about the administration side of things firsthand.

Ava and I are keeping busy between school, daycare, running, and still squeezing in some time at the park, play dates, and art class.  Lately we've been taking the jogging stroller down to the beach after I pick her up from daycare and going for a run along the beach. Even though the beach is only about 4 miles down the road, life gets busy and I tend to forget it is there. Ava's new love for the beach has helped remind me how much I love it too! For a tactile sensitive kid, she sure does love the sand!

Here are some pictures from this past month..........

These three are hilarious! They have known each other since birth and have come to be very close as they get older and start to interact with each other more. They love getting into trouble together!  Ava is trying to open up the door (that she is not suppose to open) while Claire and Asher distract the mommies with their cuteness! 

Making a masterpiece with Marc during Art class. 

Art class (more like an  hour of free play with lots of art materials) is Ava's new favorite activity. 

Carving and painting pumpkins! 

Playing on the sand after our afternoon run. 

She couldn't stand up and it was cracking her up. 

Sunglasses are a must at the beach. 

Just being cute!

Daycare sent me this picture of Ava talking to Mimi. She calls her every day at daycare! Thank goodness for facetime so we can not only call her every day, but also see her! 

Halloween at daycare. They paraded  around to all of the high school classrooms  the morning of halloween. I wanted to be there so bad to see it, but we had parent/teacher conferences that day and I was not able to take off.
Maybe next year! 

Heading out to go trick-or-treating. Yes, Steve is the man with the yellow hat, Ava is George, and I am myself.  Halloween is not my thing so I leave the costume wearing to Steve.

She was so excited to eat a banana in her monkey costume. She wouldn't touch her dinner and only wanted to eat bananas all night. 

Trick-or-treating with her friends Marc and Claire. They all caught on quickly that when they look cute, sound cute, and hold our their bags they get candy.

Ava and her best bud Claire. These two are hysterical together! 

First time on the Merry-Go-Round at the Santa Monica Pier. She did a lot better than I did. If that thing was going to keep spinning for any longer I was going to lose my mind!

Helping mommy find a new purse at TJ Maxx. She had a blast carrying around every purse she could get her hands on. 

Babies are still number one at daycare. 

So happy that have Mimi here for the week. 

Watching the sharks at the Long Beach Aquarium

Seal and Sea Lion show. Mimi and I really enjoyed it, but I think Ava was more into her snack than the show. I had no idea that seals did tricks and flips in the water! 

Hanging with the penguins. She loved watching the penguins and continued to waddle like they do after we got home. 

Playing at the park on Mimi's last day. 

Thanks for the new baby doll Mimi! 

Where did mommy go??

October is here already?????

Discovering your shadow is a very serious thing in the eyes of a toddler. She has been obsessed with finding it since then and screams, "Shadowwwwww," when she does find it! 

Taking monkey for a walk while mommy walks Bruce. If you've been to our house you know we live on a pretty busy street so come 4:30 when we are out walking the dog, there is bumper to bumper traffic along the street. I can hear people cracking up as Ava walks her monkey down the street, with her sunglasses of course. I'm glad I can provide some entertainment for people during rush hour traffic. 

Hanging with Grandma and Grandpa. Ava gets to stay home from daycare on Fridays and spends the day with her grandparents. They usually spend the day relaxing and taking long trips to the park which Ava loves!!

Our old neighbors were in town for a short visit. Ava loved playing with Lola and stayed up way past her bedtime! 

Steve also had a lot of fun playing with Lola and Ava. 

Ava had her ideal night last night. She got to spend the evening with Anna and her best buddy Claire. Anna watched both girls while we went out for Sara's birthday. The girls had a blast and so did we. We came home to a very exciting dance party going on. 

Sara and I ran our 2nd annual Santa Monica 5000 10K this morning. Ava gets to hang out by the beach waiting for me to cross the finish line.  Can you tell which picture is from last year? 

The girls ran up to us after the race. It was really cute! 

 What a difference a year makes! At least we both got to have a full nights sleep the night before the race, unlike last year when the girls were still getting up a few times a night. 

Steve sacrificed the first 1/2 hour of the Bears game to cheer me on, what a great hubby he is! 

September brings colder weather and busier lives........

Many of you probably already know that we are embarking on a new journey in our household this school year! Steve is going back to school for a second masters in administration. He is very excited to be advancing his career with this degree, but for the next year our lives will be very busy. The program is designed for full time teachers, so classes are held on the weekends. Every other weekend he has school all day Saturday and Sunday and then additional online and class work during the week. Needless to say, he is very busy and Ava and I are spending a lot of time just the two of us. Ava and I have been making the best of it and using those weekends to have special mommy and daughter time. We also make sure to enjoy every minute on the weekends Steve is home!

Even though it has been a busy start to the school year, it definitely has been a good one! I am really enjoying my new class this year and have taken on some leadership roles that have kept me busy, but in a very good way! Most importantly, Ava is in love with her new school and so am I! I was very nervous about daycare, even though I had heard nothing but amazing things about her school. I was more nervous for the change in her schedule as well as mine. I was used to having someone come to our home and not just someone, but the amazing Anna who Ava adores! I was nervous I wouldn't be able to get her out the door, make her meals every night, and leave school in time to pick her up by 4. My biggest fear was that she wouldn't be happy and I couldn't deal with tears every morning and afternoon. I am so grateful that it has been a smooth transition for both her and I. We have our routines down and they are working well for us. I have to leave work a little earlier than I am used to, but have been learning to make up the missed work by doing a little bit every night.

At 20 months she is changing daily and we can't even believe she will be 2 in 4 months!

Here are some things she is up to at 20 months......

- Eating like a champ! (So happy about that, we had a rough couple of months with eating)

- Sleeping about 11 - 12 hours a night. On the weekends she will sleep in until 7:45, but I have to wake her up at 7 during the week which she doesn't love.

- Talking more and more each day. She can say some 3 word phrases like "I see Mama" or "I don't know." She more consistently sticks to 2 word phrases.

- Counting (Not in order, but we don't care). She will say, 1, 2, 9......doesn't see a purpose for 3 through 8! :)

- Loves books and is remembering the patterns in many of them. She can repeat parts of "Brown Bear Brown Bear" and it is really adorable.


- Her hair is getting longer (finally), but she won't even let me brush it! I can foresee this being battle for many years to come.


Here are some pictures from this past month and daycare (Her wonderful teacher sends me pictures throughout the day and it always brightens up my day).

Cool Girl!

Practicing her math skills at daycare 

Feeding the babies is one of her favorite activities according to her teachers

Cutting and coloring.....all in a days work. 

Whole foods dinner date with my little lady. 

Hanging with cheerleaders while we wait in line at the LuluLemon Warehouse Sale. 

Still in line.....we waited 3 hours, but with the help of my friends, entertainment, music, and the ipad she was a champ! 

Ava loved the cheerleaders. They were so cute with her too! 

After a very long shopping trip Ava gets some quality time with her Anna. 

Beverley Hills Farmer's Market with Claire.......they have some serious kiddy entertainment here. 

A little naked reading before bath time. 

More reading at daycare

Taking care of those babies again.....

Having triplets is a lot of work!

She loves the bikes at daycare.

Cooking in the kitchen just like Mamma! 

Another school year begins (but this time for Ava too)!

School started about 5 weeks ago and not just for Steve and I, but for Ava too! Luckily, Mimi came out for a visit to help us all transition into life at daycare. Since Ava's first day was the same as mine I was not able to take off to help transition her into her new surroundings, so Mimi attended daycare with Ava for the first few days. Ava did so well Mimi was able to leave at lunchtime and have a few hours to relax before it was time to pick Ava up.

Ava had so much fun with her Mimi and still asks for her every day as well as Chicago Monkey who only comes to visit with Mimi. We were so busy that week we didn't take many pictures, but here are a few, mostly from her first few days at daycare.

Making tents with Mimi.....

Ava discovering lunch is more fun when your in a tent.

First day of daycare.....trying to get a good picture of her with her backpack, but as you can see it didn't workout so well. I want to be one of those moms that always captures the cutesy pictures with a sign reading, "First day of......," however, I have no clue how those moms find the time to do it!

Ava fit right into her new class....of course it helped to have Mimi there for security. 

Playing with her new friends.....second day went well too!

She eats so much at daycare and I love that! She has put on a few pounds in the past month, much needed pounds!