Thursday, August 28, 2008

1-year Anniversary

Today, August 28th, marks Matt's, Ava's, and my 1-year anniversary of living in the US together. Can you believe it? We sure can't. It seems like it was just yesterday that we boarded that plane in Frankfurt and headed west. My belly seemed big at the time, but Ava was just a little squirt back then. We can still remember leaving Germany at 57 degrees and walking off the plane in Vegas and it being 106. Strangely enough, this year the temperature doesn't seem as hot as it did last year. Maybe it was because I was pregnant...or maybe it was because within the course of 12 hours, the temperature managed to almost double outside. Whatever the case, it isn't as miserable outside as we remember it being last year. But then again, we spend minimal time out in the sun these days. Only another month and we can go back outside before 8pm!
Now that we've been Stateside for a year, it really hits us that Ava is almost a year old. Boy, time flies. It's been a quick but eventful year and we have been very blessed. We miss our life in Germany so much, but can't complain about the sweet life we have here in Vegas. They always say that 'home is where the heart is,' but we see it as 'home is where Ava is.' She's made us a family and we can't imagine not having her in our lives. Speaking of...I'm beginning to hear 'mamamamamama' and 'dadadadadadadada' emerge from the hallway!

Here are a few pictures that we took 2 nights ago. They're of Ava 'fingerpainting' for the first time with some spilled pears on her high chair tray (we usually wipe the spills up before she can get pointer into them). Once the pears seemed to have lost their painting ability, we supplememented with some yogurt. Hence, the Hitler face Ava gave herself.

This one is for Matt's sister, Whitney. Apparently Ava has inheritied Whit's childhood hand squeeze as an outlet for her frustration and passive aggressive anger. It takes massive force to peel her fingers back to unfurl her fists. As you can see, she was mad at me because the pears were 'gone' and instead of getting her some more, I was taking her picture.

And lastly, the 'Yogurt Hitler face' that Ava gave herself...

...we're still laughing at Ava's unfortunate painting coincidence.

2 comments:

Casey Garrison said...

I can't believe how big she is and how many teeth she has! You know what's crazy? I see a lot of Micah in that first picture of her smiling in her high chair! Thanks for the update!

Whitney said...

Casey beat me to the comment but I think my jaw dropped when I saw the first picture. He reminds so much of Micah, it's amazing how sometimes she hardly looks Asian and looks like a carbon copy of my kids. She is so adorable and I am so sad we can't see her before Christmas. We love you all and thanks for the update. The RH coupon will be in the mail tomorrow.