May the Force Be with You

I'm a firm believer that one of your rights as a parent is that you get to dress up your baby in a ridiculous Halloween costume. So, without further ado....

Our little Princess Leia.

I bought the robe on Etsy and made the bun-headband using brown yarn, felt, and elastic. 

She was quite a spunky little Leia :). 

 Happy Halloween! May the Force be with you. 

Family Picnic at the Zoo

The law firm I work for hosted a "Family Picnic at the Zoo" yesterday, and we joined in on the fun.

It was a cold morning in Dallas, but Ava was all bundled up in her stroller. 

Before the lunch, we explored the "Wilds of Africa" section of the zoo. 

 Josh really wanted to see the gorillas, but they never showed. 

We heard something rustling around, but it turned out to be just this little squirrel enjoying its breakfast :). 

Hey, Timon!

It is crazy how close you can get to the giraffes.

Ava was really intrigued by Tuck the pony. 

I think he liked her as well. 

We had to take a picture of the "Titi Monkey" sign...hehehe. 

Then we headed to the picnic lunch. It was a great turnout, and Josh got to meet a lot of my colleagues.  And Ava slept through the whole thing :). 

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to take many pictures of the festivities, but it was such a fun day at the zoo.

Hopefully next time Ava will be awake for more of it. 

Ava's Six-Month Photo Shoot

I am a little late in posting these, but below are my favorite pics from Ava's six-month photo shoot...courtesy of the fabulous Jesse Leos Photography. 

I absolutely loved this round of photos. And I think they really show off Ava's personality!

A Day at the Fair

Last weekend, we spent a wonderful day at the State Fair with the Arnolds. 

It was Ava and Henry's first trip to the Fair, and unfortunately, they missed getting to meet Big Tex by one day. If you haven't heard, poor Big Tex met his untimely death by fire last Friday. 

We still took family pictures next to the spot where he used to tower over the fairgrounds. 

There was even a memorial set up for Big Tex...complete with a cowboy hat full of Fletcher's Corny Dogs. 

Speaking of corny dogs, we all definitely had some for breakfast. Beer and corny dogs....the breakfast of champions. 

Ava and Henry didn't get to enjoy the wonderfulness that is Fletcher's this year. They had to settle for bottles in the beer garden. 

But Ava didn't seem to mind :). 

It was also Lane's birthday, and he celebrated with lots of good Fair food. 

We noticed that all of his food items shared a certain...ahem...shape. 

Can you tell that Ava and Henry were really excited about their date to the Fair ;). 

We even made them pose for a picture behind one of the many wooden signs. This was the best of the bunch. 

Josh loved using his basketball skills in the midway. 

He even won Ava a stuffed dog and a sweet TCU basketball. Score!

So, Lolly decided to bust out her basketball skills as well. 

But she wasn't quite as successful with the carnie-controlled game :). 

Both of the babies were exhausted by the time we made it to the end of the midway. 

And Ava was definitely ready for a nap...which made for a classic picture with her daddy. 

Until next year...I can't wait to see the new and improved Big Tex and watch Ava enjoy her first Fair food.