The Customary Santa Pics

Oh Santa, we really do love you.....but only from a distance.

Earlier this month, Santa came to visit Ava at school. As soon as we got to school, I went into where Santa was sitting and introduced Ava to him.  She was okay with him on a name only basis but when it came to sitting on his lap - it did not happen.  Santa could not even get within 3 feet of Ava. Thus no pictures were taken of Ava sitting on Santa's lap and I decided that I was not going to waste time at any store to get a funny Santa shot - just not worth it. Until.....

While out  with the Wilsons, 

there arose such a clatter 

and we all turned around to see what the matter. 

When, what to my wandering eyes would appear......

I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick!  

Sorry back to the story, by this time we had trimmed the tree and talked about Santa each and every day, so Ava called out to Santa to say hello.  Santa walked over to where we were to greet Ava and Grace and you can only imagine.  Immediately, Grace went under the table and politely told Santa to leave; Ava just stood in awe of the power she must of had to get Santa to walk over to her table. Adam was determined to get a pic of Ava with Santa so they stood up next to the jolly St. Nick and asked me to take a shot.  

The RESULT.....Of course it is a horrible picture where Adam is trying to distract Ava and Ava is crying like nobodies business.

 So we decided I would give it a good ole college try.....nope not going to happen.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!!

We are beginning our whirlwind Christmas trip to Del Rio this week, actually Ava left today to spend some time with Bubby before the hustle and bustle of Christmas sets in full force.  As we do each year, Adam and I will be tending to the store on Christmas Eve and then arriving in Del Rio around midnight. I know when we arrive, we will be welcomed with open arms to a bunch of Lowes playing games and laughing at everything. I am sure Ava will be right in the middle of the fun.

Sometimes I get sad that we can't join in on all the Christmas Eve festivities but do enjoy the excitement of the store and spending time with Adam.  Even though he only let's me stock the shelves and talk to people, I still enjoy being a part of it.

Busy October and November

Birthdays, Birthdays, Birthdays.....

Oh and Halloween & Thanksgiving were in there too!

This is a long entry full of tons of pics...but October and November are just busy months.  We started October out by celebrating two of our favorite people's birthday.  Cousin Connor and Uncle Harley are "Birthday Twins" so we all got together to celebrate in Austin.

 They may look harmless in these pics, but trust me they are going to be trouble as they get older!

 Happy Birthday Uncle Harley and Connor; we love you!!!

 I have tons of pics of these two running all over the place.  They are so much fun together

Then we moved on to Halloween.  

Growing up, one thing I loved about Halloween was going to all of my friends & families homes and getting tons of candy....I know that is what every kid loves, but in Spearman it was different.  Every one knew who you were and were expecting you to show up.  They had great candy ready for you and always invited you in from the cold to talk for a few minutes.

I wanted nothing more than to have that same wonderful experience for Ava as she grew up.  Well, God is good and has sent us to an amazing town where we have so many friends that treat us like we are family.  We set out with the Wilsons at 4:00 for Trick or Treating and by 8:00 we had made it to 7 homes and were pooped but so thankful for our great friends.

Levi is getting so big 

 Grace was the perfect Tinker Bell

And Ava was the sweetest Grape you have ever seen!

Let me tell you a little bit about our costume, at the first of October, Grace had the Halloween costumes planned.  Both she and Ava would be Tinkerbells and Levi was Peter Pan. Obviously that was not how the Halloween costumes ended up.....Ava was on the phone with Pancho and Tee and Pancho asked what she wanted to be for Halloween and she said purple.  By the end of the phone call, Pancho and Ava decided that a grape was the 2010 Halloween costume for Ava, and Tee was in charge of making it.  Tee did a great job with the costume and she had many compliments on her grape!

 The fairy and the grape ran around like Wild Indians until at 8:00 they were pooped and joined Stevie for some candy giving.

The funny part was that Ava & Grace were very selective on who they gave candy to.  They did not like the big kids so those guys only got one candy and it was the "bad ones."  No suckers or chocolate left there hands for a big kid, according to Grace.

November = Ava's Birthday!!!

This November we celebrated 3 birthdays for Ava; just like we did last year.  We started off the trilogy in Rockport with Pancho and Tee.  The Wilsons joined us down south and we had all these plans to watch the birds and collect seashells. BUT, of course the one weekend we go down to the beach it is freezing cold. Nonetheless, we attempted some sea shell collecting

And bird chasing

But in the end, took a quick picture and went to the local seashell shop and bought some seashells to remember the trip

While we were hunting the boys went fishing.  They had about the same luck as us and were quickly back at the house settled in for the big party!

Grace and Ava are so funny together. Grace will be 4 in January and tells everyone that Ava is her "sister," and these two act just like it. One minute they love eachother to death and the next minute they are at each others throat about something. 

When the car came out we had to do some negotiating on whose turn it was

But in the end we all enjoyed cake and ice cream

 Happy Birthday my sweet baby - I cannot believe you are two.  Time has passed so fast and I have loved every minute of it.

Birthday #2 - KK, Uncle Chunk, & Ava

Inside this envelope is the most annoying birthday card you have ever heard.  It plays the chicken song over and over again.  We probably listen and dance to the chicken song every night.  Thank you so much KK.

 Daddy just loves Ava's new rain coat and boots.....I, of course, fell in love with them the minute I saw them!

 KK bought Ava her own special tree for her room.  Ava turns it on every day and loves to just look at all of the pretty colors. I think Christmas will be so fun this year because Ava is starting to grasp what everything is. She might not understand the meaning of Christmas but she certainly understands who the major players are.

 After trimming the tree together, KK thought it would be fun to decorate a cake with Ava

 This was the sweetest cake you had ever tasted.  

 Happy Birthday to you again, my sweet baby.  

 Birthday #3

We went to Spearman for Thanksgiving and celebrated birthday #3 with my family.  Ava is the princess just about anywhere she goes but in Spearman I think Ava is the QUEEN.  She ruled the roost up there so a crown was very fitting.  Also, by this time celebrating Ava's birthday was expected by the Queen.  My mom had a banner in the dining room that said Happy Birthday.  Ava walked in there everyday and sang herself Happy Birthday.  

 Rosie had a great time playing beauty shop with Ava.....  

 and Ava loved her pretty fingernails too.

 I love this picture because of the memories I have with it.  My Uncle Peter made me this horse when I was two and mom brought it down from the attic for Ava to play with over Thanksgiving.  Ava loved it so much and affectionately named it Woody.  We might not be very creative but we are accurate.

 Oh Charli Brown you have grown up so very much since the last time we saw you.  I think this will be the last picture of Ava holding Ms. Brown.  Next time I think it will be the other way around.

Now this cake was delicious, but don't be deceived, Ava did not help decorate it. Grandma did this cake all by herself. :)  Love you mom - it really was good.  I am so glad you bought a new oven after Thanksgiving.

Uncle T-Bill, Aunt Rosie and the Birthday Girl

Finally, THANKSGIVING!
This was the best Thanksgiving in a very long time.  There was no rush and no expectations.  My dad had his knee replaced the Monday of Thanksgiving and Travis and Miranda came up early to tend to the farm and cook the Thanksgiving meal.  Tracy brought his very sweet girlfriend Kate in for the week and we got to take her out on an adventure ride with the horses.  Mom and I had every intention of making for sure the horses were dead tired before we put Kate on one, but in the end it brought back hilarious memories of Kasey and Jenn riding Charlie during high school. Adam and I drove through the night on Wednesday night and got in at noon on Thanksgiving day. We stayed until the Wednesday after Thanksgiving to help around the house, and I think we both enjoyed the time away. Adam even dusted off quite a few of his old cowboy skills.

Spearman has changed some since I left but the memories will never die; it was very nice to take a few days off to just be home.  I didn't get many shots of Thanksgiving but we all got together and for that I am so thankful.

Quick Trip to Abilene

Ava and I took a quick trip up to Abilene this past week and had a blast.  We enjoyed downtown Abilene's 2 museums Frontier Texas and the Grace Museum, we had a great lunch with Miranda's mom and sister, and then went out to Buffalo Gap and listened to some funny Texas "ghost" stories of long ago.  Oh we also met the newest addition of the Brown clan, Charlie, a boxer puppy that Travis and Miranda will be adding to their family. It was so much fun and full of a lot of laughs.

I think the Grace Museum is ranking right up there on my museums to go and see.  Travis and Miranda were married there 2 years ago and the boys were down in the Children's Museum and had told me how much fun it was. Well, they were right!

Miranda and I pulled a few pranks on my mom, which is customary, and of course competed on all of the little kids games, again customary.  And Ava, she had a great time too.  It is so funny how grandparents just decide to be the "fun" ones when they aren't the "parents" any more.  Pay backs, right.  At one point, Miranda was caught up in Abilene history, I was off in another part of the museum, and I hear my mom say, "Ava, I don't think you are supposed to be back there."  Ava had just walked behind the bars of one of the exhibits and was rearranging the exhibit to her liking.  Goodness.  I don't think that would have flown when I was Ava's age but with Grandma anything goes.

I was so sad that I forgot my camera at home because there was a lot of fun shots.  Thankfully I had my cell phone and Miranda (AKA Rosie) took a few shots with her phone also so a few grainy shots of the weekend.

Always stacking and sorting things.

A race to see who could travel across Texas the fastest

Ava and Charlie Brown

Mommy and Ava put on a dress up show for Rosie and Grandma

August and September

Well what seems to be a recurring theme with the Lowe family - time travels too fast.  Adam and I have been told by quite a few people that we are always gone, and well, we are.  We enjoy seeing friends and family way too much to stay at home, however as September rolled in we have certainly enjoyed being at home more.  Adam helps out with dove hunting around Hondo and in the world I live in, Gala season kicks off this month.  It makes for some long nights for me, but I am always up for a party!!!!   I think Adam enjoys the fact that Ava is a great excuse for him to get out of the whole gala thing anyway.

So now to the most important part, this months pics of Ava......

The Franke Birthday at the Little Gym of San Antonio

What a great time we had at the Franke double birthday with all of our friends

Especially Grace

While I do miss my friends from "home," we are truly blessed to have so many great friends down here in what is now OUR HOME!!!!

The Medina County Fair

Got our boots on for the Medina County Fair.  Also, this is my new favorite brand of clothing - Matilda Jane!!!!  It is a must for Fall don't you think?

Ava felt she needed to do the jumping gym maze like all of the big kids.

The Hondo Corn Maze

Fall is here and I am loving the weather, the clothes, and the decorations!!!

We had a great time at the corn maze on the "Corn Popper"

Playing with friends

AND......Getting lost in the corn maze

Finally, the latest naked shots of Ava and Connor in the bath........

Kisses for KK