the "sum" of the "parts"...

that make me love this WHOLE little girl...with my WHOLE heart...

ava...you have definitely stolen our hearts!!!

'twas the night before christmas...

it was such a fun christmas...already filled with so many traditions...that my two oldest girlies L.o.V.e.!!!! i know that ava will love them just as much once she grows just a wee bit!!!! and while it was a fabulous christmas - i just didn't have it in me this year to document every moment with photos! i took about 50 on christmas eve and only SEVENTEEN on christmas day - i checked myself for fever...HA...i really just think i'm exhausted!!!!!!

christmas eve was filled with lots of fun memories! ella, maddie, & i made homemade oatmeal cookies for "santa", fed the reindeer, opened one gift (thanks aunt lori), and read the christmas story from the gospel of luke. the big girls wanted to sleep together (which is exactly what my sister and i used to do on christmas eve) and they were so excited to go to sleep...they really wanted to hit the hay at about 5:30!!!!

i had to take a picture of all three little girls all "snug in their beds"...gosh, i love these little people!!!!

the girls were up super early...and after a quick nurse...we headed out to see the fun surprises that were left...

the big girls got a doll house and sweet baby ava got a very much needed play mat!!! here is what i looked over and saw once she started "playing"...

pure innocence and sweetness. just looking at her makes you remember the reason for the season. i could literally eat her with a spoon!

mom and dayne, brooke, granny & "bd" came over for brunch and we just ate, visited, played, took naps, played some more, ate some more...and just enjoyed each other's company. it was such a special day spent with special people...and i am so thankful for so many things in my life.

***this holiday season has been filled with so many events, such as minor surgery for ella & nursing & such, and i intend to get to some "already started posts" (more for myself than anything)...but for now, i have a tiny baby that needs my attention...

i hope that each and every one of my friends and family had a blessed christmas...filled with memories that will last a lifetime.

the moms have nested...

their eggs have hatched...come on over to meet the precious new batch!!!!!

we were able to introduce ava, along with her friends cooper and frances, to lots of family and friends last friday at their "sip & see"! all the babies did so well and our sweet angel did not make a peep as she was passed around from person to person!

"tess", "honey", and "bebe" did a fantastic job of making everything look amazing...and the day was such a cozy, "holidayey" day...it even snowed a little bit right before the festivities!
as each day passes, i am more and more convinced that miss ava was exactly who we needed to join our family. she is such a doll and has such an angelic temperament. she smiles without fail if you just look her way...and those precious cheeks will make you smile in return. she is snuggly and loves to curl up into a tiny ball on your chest while she is sleeping. she smells scrumptious and has the most heart breaking cry (which we really don't get to hear all that often...unless of course, she is hot...which i guess comes along with the territory of being "well fed"!!!!!!) she had her 2 month check up yesterday and checked out a-ok! she weighs
11 lbs 7 oz and is 23 1/2 inches long...definitely the biggest price baby to date - which probably means she will be the tallest & thinnest one when she grows up!!!!!

i love you baby ava. there is no way to know if you will always be the baby...for now, you are...and i will treat you as such. i will try not to take one coo, one smile, one cry, one moment alone with you for granted. you are the best christmas gift we could have ever received...really, one of three greatest gifts we have ever received...ever.

when you hatched, my heart broke open even more...you are so, so loved!!!!!!

santa's woods...

jeffrey and i have gone to a tree farm every year since we have been married and there was no way that we were going to let 2009 be any different! it is truly one of our favorite things to do during the holiday season...so jeffrey strapped on his trusty dusty "googling" skills and found us a place in frierson, louisiana called santa's woods. they had some of the prettiest christmas trees that we have ever encountered...equipped with a hay ride, hot chocolate (even though it was in the 70's), and candy canes!

we decided to go out a couple days before thanksgiving to tag our tree...it makes me incredibly anxious to have to focus on picking out the "perfect" tree for us...while trying to keep up with my kiddos during all the commotion! we were the only people at the tree farm...so it was perfectly peaceful and the girls had a ball running around! the air is so clean at a tree farm and we always seem to hang around as long as we can!

we found our beauty...after lots of second guessing (another part of the tradition!!!)...took one last look...and told it we would be back with bells on the day after thanksgiving!

sweet baby ava slept the entire time...so we had to snap her picture for posterity's sake!!!

we spent a fun thanksgiving with family...the tucker family even joined us for the big day! we knew the boys would also enjoy the experience of the tree farm, so we somehow turned our suburban into a clown car, piled all five children and three adults in, and headed out on friday morning. but not before we attempted to take our christmas card pictures. there are no words to describe that debacle...so i won't even try. *sigh*

much to our delight, the farm wasn't busy and the day was gorgeous...so the kids ran and played and had such a good time being together! they are quite the little "duos"...and nate kept saying "my sister ella" when talking to the farm owners. they all play so well together and it is so sweet to watch them pretend...rows and rows of christmas trees set up the perfect playland!!!!

daddy cut down the tree while all the kiddos took 4-wheeler rides with the owner...and we loaded up on the hay ride to head back to the shop. after our tree was tied to the top of our "clown car", ava was hungry...so we plopped down to nurse while the foursome continued playing!

they were so sleepy on the way home...this is what they all looked like...

amy and i wanted to sneak in a few minutes of "black friday", so we somehow convinced daddy (aka uncle bubba) to keep all the kiddos while we snuck off! i suppose he let us go because he knew we couldn't be gone longer than two hours...since he can't nurse!!!!! we had fun taking part in the chaos...and it certainly got us in the christmas spirit!!!!

we managed to get the christmas tree lit in a jiffy...and then it had to wait! we didn't get to decorate until sunday evening...but it was worth every second of my almost 33 year long wait. i will have to say that this year was everything i have ever hoped for and more. the girls were so excited to get all the ornaments out and genuinely interested in the story behind them all. ever since jeffrey and i got married, i always find us an ornament on our travels and purchase ornaments that are symbolic of things that happened to us that year. it really makes for a special tree.

maddie said just tonight "mommy, i love our tree"! ella was beaming the whole time and felt like such a big girl because she was hanging the "breakable" ornaments. i know i will never forget our "2009 christmas tree decorating". it was the first holiday that seemed to really resonate with the girls...and that is what memories are made of. their sweet little faces seemed even more precious and hearing them talk of which ones were their favorites was so adorable. i can't even explain how fun it was to do that with them! sweet little ava, once again, slept through the whole thing!!!!!

it is probably the prettiest tree we have ever had...and that is no doubt linked to how special it was sharing this precious time with our daughters.

i love these little munchkins more than they will ever know...and being able to watch the wonder in their eyes...and experience christmas as a child again...is such a gift. and they don't even know it.

but rest assured, i will hold it in my heart...

and never let it go.

our little gingerbread house

i think our sweet little house looks so cozy this christmas...and the pics don't really do it justice!!! jeffrey did a fantastic job hanging all the icicle lights...it makes me giddy every time i drive up and see it all lit up!

thanks, honey, for all your hard work! it's beginning to look a lot like christmas...

do you hear what i hear?

mommy, can i have an orange? mommy, can i have a hershey kiss? mommy, will you come wipe me? mommy, where are my colors? mommy, where is my "na"? mommy, where are we going next? mommy, can i have a snack? if she could talk...mommy, will you please come nurse me or would someone please just look at me?!?! (bless her heart)

while all of this is absolute music to my ears...most of the time...it will also explain why i haven't been able to blog very often...huhmm...ever!!!!!!

life is zooming by but i definitely don't feel like i'm in the driver's seat...i'm the grasshopper on the hood holding on for dear life...trying not to lose my grip...whew, i look just plain tired!

because i'm SOOOO very behind, i will just have to catch up in "snippets"!!!!!

ella was adorable at her thanksgiving feast performance...as was maddie (our little dancing butterfly)...

they were both equally as adorable at kk & dodo's wedding (aka aunt kristin and uncle russell)...as were my precious nephews. ella debuted as one of her flower girls...and of course, "repeat" had to be an "honorary flower girl" in our eyes! in fact, maddie boo FINALLY got her first hair cut...and she loved every minute of it! she even told me the next day that she wanted to go back and get another one!!!! here's to hoping baby girl...grow hair grow!

we enjoyed having the tucker family join us for thanksgiving day...no five cousins could love each other more! they play so very well together...and it is so incredibly fun to watch them grow up together...taking care of each other at all costs! nate and caleb are certainly "seasoned" veterans at making sure their girls are safe...and of course, ella & maddie do their share of "mothering"! i can promise them...it will only get worse!!!!! all four of the big kids are 100% infatuated with "baby ava" and it is precious to see them dote on her!

and speaking of precious baby girl...she is growing by leaps and bounds...and i mean GROWING! she is one adorably chubby princess with the cutest leg rolls you have ever seen! she is definitely a big fan of "mommy's milk" and was perfectly happy to indulge on that for her thanksgiving feast! oh how we are thankful for this child...her tiny little smile melts my heart in a HUGE way!

goodness, i have left out so very much of our past few weeks...but i suppose that's just "our life" right now. snippets. better than nothing i suppose! i L.o.V.E. this time of year and feel so incredibly blessed to have what i have & do what i do!

but for now...do you hear what i hear?

that would be an incredibly hungry princess crying for mommy to quit blogging and tend...

and so it goes.

that is exactly what i will do.

my girl and me...

well...one of my three girls and me.


even after being a mommy for just about six years, it still touches me deep down in my heart that i can love someone so completely. i look at ava and can't fully comprehend how this special little girl could feel so much a part of our family already...and only be a mere 35 days old. she depends on me for her very life...and yet, somehow...she breathes life into me. she and her two big sisters. every thought in my head somehow impacts these precious children...from what are they going to eat for dinner - to what they are going to be when they grow up.

ava absolutely breaks my heart...in a beautiful way. she has the sweetest temperament and is simply content to be content. she is perfectly accepting of the crazy amounts of love she receives from the "two queen bees"...and let me assure you - it is CRAZY amounts of love.

she is just starting to coo a little bit and i so very much look forward to the way she will begin to interact with all of us more and more. although as i type those words, my heart sinks just a bit because i don't want her to grow up too fast. after all, for now, she is my baby. truth be told...

all three of them are my babies.

now and forever.

and it will always be...

my girl and me.

i just get to take my pick.

ava ashley is ONE month old!

it hardly seems possible that we have only been able to love on our sweet girl for just one month...and yet it seems like her life is already flying by. there are moments that i want to freeze time, just so that i can memorize every tiny feature...and then there is the desire for her to get bigger so that she can engage her sisters who love her so very much.

i stare at her eyelashes, her tiny fingernails, her beautiful lips, her soft feet, her dainty hands...and i'm so thankful she's ours. she's perfectly wonderful...and such a sweet addition to our family.

she is doing great. she likes to nurse every 3 -3.5 hours during the day and goes about 4-6 hours at night...and apparently she loves my breast milk...because she weighed in at 9 lbs 11 ozs!

she is being treated for some reflux although she exhibits no real signs that she is bothered by this ailment. she is truly a content baby...and rarely cries...except for some "fussy time" around 9:30ish at night.

we've gotten a few smiles...not sure whether they are real smiles...but nonetheless, P.r.E.C.i.O.u.S!!!! she is focusing more, following us more and more each day, and letting out a few tiny "coos" here and there. ella proclaimed today "mommy, mommy...ava said her first word...she said 'heh'"! she was so proud of her!!! ava definitely gets a floor show on a daily basis...and i can't wait for her to really notice those big fans!!!!

she has definitely won our hearts...just look at that sweet face!!!!!!!!