Growing in the Lord

Recently in my Growth Group we were discussing different ways we have seen spiritual growth in our children. I shared the following story and wanted to make sure I blogged about it. Anthony's dad and my grandmother have both been in the hospital twice recently for several things including heart problems. We have been praying for both of them with Ava. My mom was driving with Ava in the back seat when Ava told my mom that Naunie was in the hospital for her heart. My mom heard Ava say the following "Will you play with me?" My mom responded "Will I play with you?" Ava replied, "No, will you pray with me?" Of course my mom joyfully said yes while Ava lead the pray for Jesus to help her heart and to get out of the hospital.
WOW! Typically she prays with me suggesting things like this to pray for. However, she did this on her own! She had the prayer request in her heart and lifted it up! WOW!!

Well tonight this was Ava's prayer:
"Dear Lord, Jesus, thank you for my momma. She is so nice. She lets me eat things and lets me play. Lord, please help me poo poo in the potty so I can get the poo poo bugs out of me. Help me learn to do this and not be scared. In your name Lord. A-Men."

This is the first time that she has asked for His help without me prompting. Again, I say WOW! I have seen her pray in gratitude and to help her obey (with my prompting).

There is not greater responsibility or privilege than to watch your child's relationship with Christ bloom. No matter how big or small, the process is so wonderful. So pure and innocent. There is no pretense.

"Unless you turn and become like little children, you will never inherit the kingdom of of heaven" Matthew 18:4.

Santa came to celebrate Jesus' birthday!

After a very long night of putting together a very beautiful dollhouse, Ava woke up! I got up from the couch to go the the ladies room and she was standing quietly in the hallway. She looked at me and said "Santa didn't come". I told her to walk into the room.....and the first thing she saw was her new play house from Papa & Gigi!

 This little gem took a lot of work....but her reaction was worth it! Check out the bed head!!

 Ava is very in to Scooby Doo. She got the mystery machine and the entire gang!

 Look who decided to join us! Merry Christmas Sissy!

 The girls having a blast in their play house! Sweet sister moment!

Christmas is by far my favorite holiday! The girls make it so special! I love the magic that comes with seeing Christmas through their eyes!

Christmas Eve 2010

We spent Christmas Eve at Papa & Gigi's house! It gets more fun each year as the girls get older! Here are some of the highlights!

 Sweet girl-not feeling 100% - I can see it in the eyes

 Someone is excited-bouncing all over the place!

 The joy of Christmas!

 Serious present checker!

 Happy, happy

Aubrey cleaning the floor.....she is really into cleaning these days!

Miss Kristin

The fabulous Miss Kristin has been watching our girls every Friday for several months now. It was truly a God send that she was available to watch the girls and she is AWESOME! The girls LOVE her and it gives my mom a break to be just Gigi instead of their grandma/care-giver/disciplinarian.

On this special day, we were able to give Miss Kristin a Christmas gift to let her know how special she is to our family. She was so sweet to get the girls some fun new toys! I was unable to get pictures of the gift opening as the girls couldn't wait, but I did get some pictures afterwards. The girls had just woke up so you will see some sleepy faces and crazy bed head!

We are so thankful for her!

Jumpy's Party!

For several months now, Ava has had two imaginary friends....Jumpy the Kangaroo and Dino the Dragon. We have had many fun experiences with them! They come to our house several times a week to join us for breakfast. They ride in the very back seat of the car and even buckle up their seat belts all by their selves. Jumpy was recently in the hospital to have a baby. We said some special prayers for her. The baby's name is.....well, Jumpy, too! Dino has jellybean teeth and will blow fire at you if you hurt Ava. I even heard Ava had a conversation with Dino about not liking school......Oh the adventures we have had!

On this very special day, it was Jumpy's birthday. Ava requested to dress up in her Christmas dress. She did her own hair with her special headband! She made lots of cupcakes to celebrate this occasion and a grand time was had by all!

Jumpy's present is in the maroon bag!

MDO Christmas Party

Ava's Mother's Day Out Class had their class Christmas Party. They decorated their very own Christmas tree out of an ice cream cone, icing and decorations. Ava's was very pretty!

Sister enjoyed the food and party. I did have to restrain her to her stroller as I learned my lesson the hard way from the Thanksgiving party. She was everywhere and into everything! She did get quite a few compliments on her hat....it was a big hit!

The class also had a book gift exchange. Ava was very excited about the Christmas book she received! I wish I would have gotten some pictures of some of her sweet friends, but I got distracted as I tried to keep up with Aubrey. So glad I work part-time so I can make these events!

5K Extreme

I ran my first 5K today! The 5K was a run for a boy name Blaine who went to heaven after suffering a head injury from a ski accident. His family donated his organs, so I thought this would be perfect for me to support as I am an organ recipient. The website stated "some cross country terrain." I thought, okay, we will be running on the grass.....um, I thought wrong. This was similar to mountain biking, except you were running. Running up and down hills, through the woods in uneven terrain. Anthony was running this with the girls in the running stroller. Not exactly what I had in mind. 1/2 mile into it, my heart was pumping and lungs were working overtime. Anthony and I had to stop as Aubrey was crying. I think after 2 1/2 miles of shaking, she had enough. Anthony pushed Ava, and I walked with Aubrey. We put Aubrey back in the stoller and ran the last 1/4 mile. I hated that we had to stop, but babies come first! We did complete the race because Diesch's aren't quitters!
I know that I can run it, because I can run 4 miles non-stop several times. We will do another one, but look for something without "cross country terrain."

Here are the pics from my first 5K or extreme running!

Bundled up before the race. A cold front was coming in and it was chilly! Notice Ava's running head band. She wanted to look like mommy!


Race is over, and layers are off!
Family protrait after a long hard run!

Happy Birthday Papa!

Today we celebrated my dad's birthday at Gloria's. I have never seen Ava so excited about celebrating some one's birthday. After the birthday she told us "Papa is such a nice Papa, he loved his presents and he told everyone thank you!" Ava had her first taste of Tres Leche cake and let me say, she was hopped up on sugar for sure. You can tell from the pictures!

Look at these scary, sugar filled eyes!
We offered to send Ava home with my parents in this sugar state, but they declined...can't imagine why! Happy Birthday Papa!

"Oh Christmas Tree"

After sissy went to bed, Daddy, Mommy and doodlebug decorated the tree. Just typing this posts puts a huge smile on my face! Ava was so excited and this by far, was the best tree decorating experience of my life! Anthony felt this way, too! To see the innocence, pure joy and excitement in Ava made me want to cry. We have a Christmas tree with animal ornaments which we refer to it as the "all things God created" tree. Ava would hang ornaments and exclaim "Look at all the wonderful things God made!" She was squealing in delight! One of the things I love, love about her is how demonstrative she is with her emotions. When she is happy, you know it because she is so vocal and expressive with her feelings! She would break out into song of "Oh Christmas Tree" or a song that she made up herself! I have some awesome video of her made up song. It talks about Jesus' birthday, Rudolph, Mommy, Daddy, Aubrey....full of the things that delight her heart. I wish the pictures fully captured this wonderful moment in time. I hope my memory will be able to hold it for a very long time because it truly makes my heart rejoice! Again, thank you Lord for all the blessings you pour out on our family. And to do it while we celebrate our Savior's birthday.....there are no words.

Tree is up! Ava is saying she loves the tree!

Let the tree decorating begin!

Santa's little helper! Look at the joy on her sweet face!

Posing under the tree! Our very first present, truly!

Can't wait for sissy to join us next year. I will be so looking forward to do this again!

It's a Wrap!

This Christmas has been so much fun as Ava has been able to help me with so many Christmas activities. She was very into wrapping presents this year. She would get some of her random things (stuffed animals, jewelry, etc...) and wrap them up. She would tell me if she wanted a gift bag or use wrapping paper. She would also pick out her ribbon and ask me to make curly-q's with my scissors. She wrapped presents for me, Daddy, Aubrey, Gigi, Papa, Harmony, Pepaw and of course Jumpy and Dino. I will be blogging about them very soon!

Wrapping Aubrey's present!

She even tried to wrap herself up which she thought was hilarious! I think she would be a great present!

Tis the Season

The birthday celebration for Jesus has officially begun. Harmony was in a cleaning mood and gave Ava a lot of her Christmas decorations. Thanks to Harmony, Ava got her very own tree this year. She decided she wanted it in the playroom. The lights are very nostalgic.....looney tunes lights from when Anthony was a kid. Additionally, most of the decorations are from when Anthony was young including some that he made. Ava thought that was really neat!

Remember this ornament? I made one just like this too! Ava thought it was funny that daddy made Rudolph this way! See the looney tunes lights in the background!

Ava excited about her very own tree!
/> Aubrey woke up from nap to inspect the tree!

I think it's a winner! She was pretty excited about it, too! Mom and Dad bought us our very first Nativity set! I've always wanted one. It is gorgeous!

Suprise Lunch

Ava has been behaving wonderfully and we have really enjoyed her these past few weeks. Anthony and I have noticed that she is maturing and hopefully waving goodbye to some of the toddler angst. We have also been potty training (again) and she has done really well so we wanted to reward her. We were running errands and Ava asked if she could eat at a restaurant. We said sure and we pulled into Chuck E Cheese. We have only been there once to have our initial potty party and she talks about it every time we pass by in on the "high road" (aka highway).

She had a great time and so did Aubrey. Aubrey road some rides independently showing us that she, too, is growing up!

Ava kept hugging her daddy and saying "thank you"!




Big girl Aubrey has been using a straw since mid November. She figured it out on the first try!
Aubrey thought Chuck E Cheese was pretty great, too!

I love these precious days with my family. Thank you, Lord. Our cups are truly full!

Give Thanks!

This Thanksgiving, Ava made this place mat for school. This is what she said she was thankful for..... I love that Jesus made the cut!

Here is Ava and Gigi at Thanksgiving dinner.

Aubrey was enjoying all of the festivities as well as the food. Trying to eat Thanksgiving dinner with her by my side was challenging! She is into everything and loving every minute of it!


Ava and Papa!

Happy Thanksgiving 2010!