Busy Times

Well, it has been such a long time since I posted anything other than pictures. I'll warn you ahead of time this is going to be a long post to get you up-to-date on everyone in the family.

Kyle

He has been staying busy with school and football. His football team has had an amazing season, so far they have won all of their games. Unfortunately, I have missed the last two games because we have been out of town. But I am looking forward to watching him this week and for the rest of the season. I will be sure to keep you posted on how the rest of the season goes.

As I have said many times on my blog, Kyle is growing up way to fast. The other day I was told that he has a girlfriend. Thankfully she is a very sweet girl, who we know quite well, but I'm still not quite ready for him to be girl crazy just yet.

Allicia

Allicia continues to stay busy with school and dance. This year we have decided to try something different with dance. We enrolled her in Just For Kix instead of Janet Lang. So far she has been very happy with her new dance studio and is looking forward to performing more than just a few times throughout the year.

Ava

Is getting busier and busier everyday. She has been crawling and pulling herself up on things for a long time now. She even crawls up the stairs if she is in the basement. Most recently she started to let go of things as she is standing next to them and is working on her balance. I'm sure it won't be long and we will have a little walker on our hands. I'm not sure our house or the rest of the family is ready for that just yet.

Other than that, I'm thinking she is about 20 pounds. I'm not sure on how tall she is, but all I know is it is a lot. She is definitely going to be a tall girl when she grows up. She is a big girl for her age. She has 2 teeth on the bottom, that she has had for quite some time. I have been waiting for the top two to pop through, but they just haven't done so yet. It's kind of funny to watch her eat because she tries to chew her food, but it doesn't work to well since she only has two teeth. As you can imagine, it is quite hilarious. Speaking of Ava's eating habits and hilarious...I've been meaning to post the video below of Ava eating baby food. She had never been a huge fan of baby food, which has concerned me, until most recently, when she has started to enjoy big people food. Miss independent you might say. As long as it is cut up into small chunks that she can feed herself, she is happy as a lark. Anyway, many times when we would try to feed her baby food she would gag and make the faces you see in the video below. Of course, the whole family would laugh at her because it was quite funny.

Ava Eating - Look how much she loved the food. from Theresa Freese on Vimeo.

As you can see she brings so much joy to our family. The kids absolutely love her to death, even when she gets into their things and is having a rough day. They are always willing to help out and do whatever we need them to do....even change a poopy diaper.

Dave
Dave has continued to stay busy at work and taking care of all of us. He plays chauffeur many nights but doesn't seem to complain...too often that is. :) Other than taking care of us, he does stay busy playing poker for fun, reading the news on the Internet, keeping up to date with Facebook, and watching many TV shows at once. He did manage to win a poker tournament in Vegas when we were there at the beginning of September...so at least some of these skills come in handy from time to time. :)

And last but not least....Me

As many of you probably already know, I most recently turned 30. It was a huge milestone that I'm still unsure if I am ok with. Honestly, I think I am ok with being 30 but it really does scare me that it means 40 is only 10 years away. With as fast as time goes...that day will probably be here before I know it and man...I just can't imagine turning 40. Not that 40 is that old, but I remember, as if it were yesterday, when my parents turned 40. Heck, I remember when my Mom turned 30....and now I am that old. Wow, I just can't believe it. I guess it just goes to say....life really is short and you need to take advantage of every second of it.

Anyway, for my 30th birthday Dave surprised me with a fun night out with my friends on Friday night. We had a nice supper at Newt's and then went to the Goonies Comedy Club, where many of our friends were there to have drinks and see the show. After the show we went out for drinks and dancing. We had a blast....I hadn't partied like that in a very long time.

Then on Sunday we entertained family, grilled out and watched the Vikings game.

Since Sunday was the actual day of my birthday that is when I got my presents and cards. Dave had another surprise in store....he started by giving me a card saying that for the next couple of days I would receive a card with a different clue about my gift. Then on Thursday I would receive the last card telling me what my gift was. The first clue he gave me way, "Things aren't as they seem to be." I was completely confused, but REALLY excited to see what he had in store. A couple of hours later Dave came to me with another card and said he had a change of plans, he decided he wasn't going to make me wait until Thursday to get my gift. Instead of getting a card everyday he decided he would give them all to my on Sunday, each an hour apart. I of course had NO complaints. :) A few hours later I had opened all of my cards to find my Birthday surprise was a trip to Boston, which was a gift from Dave and my Dear Friend Carolyn. She moved out there a few months ago and I have been missing her like crazy. I was beyond excited to hear that Dave and I were flying out on Friday to spend the weekend with her. And I was so impressed on how Dave had planned the whole thing without me even knowing. He even involved my friends at work because he had to make sure I had submitted my PTO in order to have time off to go. So instead of taking Friday off to go shopping with some of my co-workers, like we had planned, all of them were staying at work, while I was on my way to Boston. What a perfect 30th birthday present. So below are a few pictures from our trip.

We had an amazing time with so many adventures. BTW...I think I forgot to mention we did not take Ava on this trip. It was the first time we had left her so it was quite interesting. Especially because she is still breastfed. Thankfully I have a pump that I took with me and I had some breast milk in the freezer. She has had some formula in the past, so we did have that as a backup. She stayed with Dave's parents and had a good weekend for the most part. The first night was a bit hairy and she didn't sleep very well, but the second night was about normal. Normal for her would be getting up around 2 and then again around 4 or 5. Needless to say Grandma and Grandpa were very tired by the time we got home, but they loved every second they had with her while we were gone. Thanks again John and Nancy! :)

So...that is about it! I think I have written about everything that's been going on for the past couple weeks. Hopefully I won't get this far behind for a while.