Cookies anyone?

Today on our first official Winter Break day, we decided to decorate our Christmas cookies. We are carrying on the Kuehne family tradition and making cookies and decorating with fancy icing! Ava chose to make purple icing - surprise, surprise! She did a great job of covering the whole cookie with frosting, but she still likes to empty the entire container of sprinkles on one cookie!!This was Ryan's first time decorating - Ava has one up on him. He has many more years of it to come!!

No School!!

Yesterday it was so icy outside that both Ryan and I had NO SCHOOL!! It was kind of nice because I had already taken the day off because Ava has been sick. I woke up this morning to a call saying that I again have no school. Ryan is just on a 2 hours delay. Ava has been dying to go outside and play. We don't own a sled and we didn't even have any snow, but everything was a sheet of ice. Ryan actually parked the car on the driveway and it just slid down it. Check out Ryan enjoying himself with the ice and taking Ava 'sledding' on his homemade sled (the side of a cardboard box!) He is so ghetto!!!

Too cute to be mad....

So yet another day of not napping. I think that she is not getting all of her energy out of her because she is trapped inside. This is going to be a LONG winter. At first I was really irritated with her, but it didn't last long. I went into her room to find her putting on her leotard. I asked her what she was doing and she replied that she was going to dance class. What a little dancer - I think she has a great future ahead of her!!!

I also managed to get her jumping off the ottoman.

Snow Fun!!

Today we had quite the busy day. We started the day off by shopping and visiting Santa. Liam was his normal laid back self and Ava was very good on his lap. Sometimes around strangers she clams up, but she actually told him a few things she wanted, then I had to finish for her. The best part was the candy cane ring pop that he gave her!!

Ava decided that she wasn't going to take a nap today, so we got our snow clothes on and went and played in the snow. Ava's favorite thing to do was to eat the snow. We tried making snow angels, but hers did not turn out too great. It is hard to get up off the snow when you are all bundled up!! I think Ryan and I had as much fun, if not more out there. We built a snow baby and were sliding down the yard. Check Ryan out doing his Pete Rose imitation!!

We even had time to do a family picture. Ava is not the best at letting me take her picture, so this is a rare occurance!!

Catch up.....

So a lot has happened in the Potter family in the past month. The kids have been keeping us really busy and entertained! Liam is now officially crawling. He actually got off his belly and started crawling on his 7 month birthday. He is starting to pull himself up on things, but is not too good at it. He comes home from the babysitters with war wounds almost daily. He has one tooth completely through, another one about ready to break through any minute, and his 2 top teeth coming in, so he has been pretty pleasant!!!

Not much is new with Ava. She thinks that she is so daring and loves to jump off of things. It started with her bed, now she LOVES to get on the ottoman and jump off of it. She is not enjoying Liam's freedom of crawling as much as he is. She realizes that they like to play with the same things. I can't wait until he is big enough to shove her out of the way. She has plenty of shoves due her way soon!

We have our Christmas decorations up. Ava had a wonderful time decorating the tree and is still enjoying decorating it by constantly taking ornaments on and off. Liam loves staring at the lights on the tree. I think this weekend we are going to attempt a trip to see Santa - that should be interesting!

As for Ryan and I.....not much. As always, waiting for our next break from school!

A beautiful start to November....

Unfortunately because we have not been feeling well, we had to bail out on the Ditty's on going to Bloomington today. So we decided to stay at home and get better. Today Ava decided she wanted to go out and ride her bike. Here she is on her bike. She rode all around the neighborhood today.....the longest we have ever gone. Check her out. She thinks she is hot stuff!

Trick-or-Treat

Today was an exciting day. I think a bug has been going through our family. Today Ryan was sick, so the kids and I ventured out for Trick-or Treating. Liam was content as could be and Ava wasn't into it as much as I thought she would be. She was ready to go home early. I really think it was because I told her to wait until we got home to eat her candy!

Pumpkin Funkin

Tonight we had so much fun carving pumpkins. Ava really got into it this year. She was digging the guts out and even trying to cut the pumpkin. She told Ryan everything she wanted - the shape of the eyes and nose and how many teeth. She is so proud of her pumpkin. Liam had to sit in his horse because he was trying to eat the seeds and when I moved him from there he began to eat the newspaper. I included a random picture of him so he didn't feel left out. So I have to edit this post because Ryan looked at it and I got in trouble because I didn't comment on how "totally awesome" his pumpkin is. In fact, it is pretty good...he did Frankenstein and I can even tell what it is. It really is neat Ry!

Catch Up Time

We have been really busy since September. Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch for 3 hours. Ava had such a good time there that we didn't even have time to go on the hayride. They had so much to do there. We rode a 'horse' and a tractor...pet some animals, and got lost in the corn maze with daddy! We promised her we would go back real soon!

On Friday, we went to the ZooBoo with Joe, Amanda, Jacob, and Addison. We all had a great time and were bummed that the night had to end early. We had such a good time with them, unfortunately we don't see them as often as we would like to.

The kids got to dress up in their halloween costumes and see the animals. There were a few people there handing out candy - which makes the zoo even better! We had a tough time figuring Ava's costume out this year. I figured she would want to be what all 2 year old girls want to be - a princess or something girly. Not my child - she wanted to be a tree!!! I am not crafty enough for her to be a tree, so we settled on a mouse because it had a tail! Liam was a lion - which he looked so handsome in!

Lookin' Good

Last night we went to a wedding. A girl I teach with got married, but if you talk to Shane and Nicole we were at Dwight Freeney's wedding. We decided to get a family picture because I don't think we have had a time where we were all dressed up since Liam's baptism. Both kids did a very good job behaving and Ava had a great time doing her chicken dance!

Fun Weekend Times!

We had a wonderful time playing outside yesterday.  It called for rain all weekend and it ended up being almost 90 degrees yesterday.  We started the day off going to Nathan's soccer game and then out to lunch with the Potters.  After nap time Ava wanted to paint some wood windmills that I brought home from school.  One for her, and one for Grandma Kathy because she is coming down for a couple of days!

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  We then took Liam on his first trailer bike ride.  He didn't have too much expression the whole time, but at least he didn't cry at all!

                                         

We rode our bikes to the park behind our neighborhood and had a great day.  We stayed there way too long, we didn't get home until bed time and we still needed to eat dinner!  Unfortunately today is raining, but at least Grandma is coming to hang!

Updates....

Liam is now 5 months old.  I 

didn't think that it sounded too bad, but then a girl that I work with informed me that next month he will be 1/2 a year!  Time to start thinking about #3!!!  Just kidding - we will enjoy what we have for a while.  Here is my 

handsome man on his 5 month b-day.

We have had a pretty low key weekend.  Ryan has pretty much been awaiting this day for months - Colts home opener.  Me, being the wonderful wife who hates football, dressed Ava up in her Colts gear.  This

 year her hair was long enough to put into pig tails so people hopefully won't mistake her for a boy this year.  Here are a few pictures taken today.  As much as I do not enjoy football, I must admit that she looks pretty adorable.  Liam doesn't look

 to shabby in his hat either!

Lastly, here is a video of her helping me feed Liam.  He has been on cereal for about a month now and LOVES it.  When he sees it, he starts kicking and opens his mouth wide.  Ava has recently started 'helping' me feed him.  She loves playing big sister and taking care of her little brother.  Although the clean up is a lot more now!

Under the weather

So school hasn't even been going on for 10 days and already Liam is sick. We are getting ready to go to the dr. but he was up crying all night with a 102 temp. and pulling at BOTH ears. This morning Ava was trying to doctor him up and take care of him. She put him in bed and tucked him in and stayed and watched him to make sure he would be okay. So sweet!

Long Time No See

So we have been enjoying our summer up at Long Lake, but that also means no internet, so I have not been able to post very often. Ava has become quitethe fish. It is so hard to keep her out of the water - she will swim to the end of the pier by herself, go down the slide, and jump in and go underwater!! Liam isn't doing that much, but he is rolling over both ways now! He is woken up EVERY morning by 7am by his lovely sister with a kiss on his cheek. I am so thankful that she loves him and enjoys him being around.

We just got back from a Potter Family vacation down to Orlando visiting Great Grandma and Grandpa Wally. We spent 2 days at SeaWorld, which Ava absolutely loved. We also went to a few different Disney pools which she loved, especially with the 100 degree weather. Liam also finally got to enjoy the water! We also went to Chef Mickey's for breakfast one morning. Ava got to meet Mickey and all of his friends. She was completely scared of Goofy and cried when he came to our table. She did love Mickey though!

We also went over to Cocoa Beach to visit Ryan's friend from Samford, Jay Speicher. We spent a couple of hours on the beach, and Ava had fun making sandcastles with Jay and making new friends on the beach. It got a little too hot for Liam, so we went back to Jay's parents and played in the pool.

We had a great time down there and it was good to see G-ma and G-pa Potter again!

2 Months!

Happy 2 Month Birthday Liam!!! Today he is 2 months old. I took a handsome picture of him and I am going to attempt to take a picture of him in a onesie and next to his dog blanket every month to see how he has grown. I have skipped month 1, but I will try to do it for the rest of the months. He is already getting so big!

Lovin' Life

We are enjoying our time up at the lake and at Grandma Kathy and G.G.'s. Ava and Liam have already been spending lots of time with their cousins and Ava is having some hard learning time of figuring out how to share. We all miss Ryan so here are a few pictures for him. WE LOVE AND MISS YOU!!! Thank you for letting us enjoy lake life. See you tomorrow!

Long Lake or Bust!

The kids and I have officially moved up to the lake for the summer. We packed up all our belongings and moved in. Ryan still has 2 more weeks of school yet, plus the state track meet, then he will be up with us. We had an eventful Memorial Day weekend. Ava LOVES the lake. The water is so cold, your body goes numb right away, but it didn't seem to phase her. We also opened up the sandbox which she could stay in all day. Liam took his first boat ride this weekend. He and his daddy took a long trip around the lakes. Ava can't get enough of Brando. She calls for him all day. She has now graduated to a big girl bed which she loves. She is getting so big! We are looking forward to the warm weather and the days of living in our bathing suits. I am sure we will have lots of pictures to share soon.

Do the Zoo....

Today we talked Ryan into taking the day off school, which wasn't very hard, to go to the zoo. We had a beautiful morning there and had a wonderful time. Ava got to see the Kodiak Bear, which was "HUGE" and the peacock for the first time. Here is a picture of Ryan and the kids having a good time there!

Say Cheese....

Liam started smiling this week! Check out what a happy boy he is.

Also....CONGRATULATIONS to Brooke and Brandon Maust. They welcomed a beautiful baby girl yesterday - Izabel Kay. We can't wait to meet her!

Baptised

On Sunday, May 4th, Liam was baptised. He is so lucky to have Uncle Bri Guy and Meg Meg as his Godparents!!

Welcome

After swearing that I would NEVER do this, I have apparently changed my mind. We are now officially bloggers. I am not sure how good I will be about keeping this up, but it is worth shot!