Dreaming

Ms. Ava has been overheard giggling in her sleep several times over the past few nights. We're not sure what she's dreaming about, though we've asked. The world may never know.

Playing a little dress-up, she must be observing the gigantic-boot-trend among the cute undergrads on campus

Huevos Rancheros and fresh fruit for dinner, recipe to come soon on Cooking Pink.

After browsing the blog archives I realized we don't have any pictures of a typical HLS afternoon/evening/night. Well folks, here it is:

Looks like fun, huh?

On Tuesday morning a new friend joined us. Her mommy had a quick appointment in OKC so J2 (another J name, so we'll call her J2) played with Ava until a little after lunch.

Happy girls after Ava's gymnastics class. J2 was a great cheerleader!

Wednesday night turned into Family Night (aka: extract HLS from books for some face time).

We ended up

at

Sara Sara Cupcake!

Not the best family shot, but we'll take it.

Finger-lickin' good

Daddy offers a helping hand.

Oklahoma kiddos enjoyed a 4 day weekend Fall Break. On Thursday I took J, JK, and Ava to the OKC Zoo. The morning brought temperatures in the mid 40s with a brisk wind, but we were determined to have a fantastic day.

Fun with an elephant statue, the real ones are on loan to the Tulsa Zoo for now.

J was our navigator.

JK and Ava enjoy the lions.

Ready to see some native Oklahoma creatures, I caught these three first.

Bobcats

Deer (this one is for Pops, Ava "picked" it for you)

Cardinals

After leaving the native Oklahoma animals we found bears

and Bald Eagles

and some playful primates. Oh my!

This orangutan was particularly personable.

Buddies

Lots of helping hands

JK looks like a jungle princess.

Thanks to J for this great picture of us.

Getting ready for some lunch

Ava was amazed by the giant tortoises.

There's nothing like a carousel ride to end a delightful day at the zoo.

Such a smiley girl

Ava and I were thrilled to spend the weekend in Dallas with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Brandon!

Such a great morning

It wouldn't be a visit with Brandon and Sarah without a trip to Chuys.
Ava was STARVED in this picture so she wouldn't cooperate.

We *shopped 'til she dropped...and slept the whole way home.

*Shopped has a slightly different meaning when you are sisters with husbands in school. We mostly just looked at fun things and exclaimed, "Hurry up and graduate boys!" By the end of the day Ava was chanting the mantra with us.

Slenderella

Hot chocolate fun with JK and J.

When you wake up in the morning with angel hair and cute Halloween pajamas photoshoots are inevitable.

Sitting on the pumpkin was entirely her idea.

This was actually the first picture I took.
"Beware, my mama is crazy."

When Josh and I first began to consider living on campus I immediately thought of two people. Lindsay and Robyn.

Lindsay is an amazing cook, who rocked intense recipes Iron Chef style in a tiny apartment kitchen. My mantra was, "If Lindsay can do it, I can do it." I've been cooking from her kitchen blog for the past week, and my family is thrilled.

Robyn is that girl who could go to the dollar store and find a Tiffany lamp. She took a one bedroom apartment and made it cozy, chic, and comfortable. When she and Matt moved into their work-in-progress home I had no doubt that it would be the envy of every Bluebell loving Houston-ite who saw it. The past few times Josh and I visited them I admired the adorably shabby chic cookbook, Slenderella.

On Friday a mysterious package arrived from Brenham, Texas. I could not imagine what might be inside.

You guessed it.

With a sweet card that reinforced every wish that the Farmers lived closer, she sent me this perfect little book. It sits in a place of honor in my kitchen.

Although, if she's sending things I ogle in her home I'm expecting Ms. Arabelle any day now.

A cool Saturday morning

playing

and jumping in the leaves.

Lunch at Chic Fil A

Ready to play after lunch

Tuckered out after lunch and grocery shopping

Comfy girl

After her bath I blowdry Ava's clothes to warm them before dressing her and rub her with lotion in front of the little heater. No goosebumps for the princess.

Josh spent Sunday afternoon/evening at the law school.
It was cold and wet outside, so Ava and I had to be creative.

Pumpkin Babies, Bison & Wasabi Peas

Week two of gymnastics was loads of fun! Another law orphan joined the class, making our bleacher-watching-fan-club downright raucous. I also met a fellow former Red Raider AND ran into an OU Law wife survivor who I'd previously met at a park. Norman is turning out to be such a small town. It's so fun to run into people when I'm out and about, makes our new town feel like home.

I found this adorable leotard and tight set for Ava James at Target for practically nothing.
Sure it looks more like dancewear. Ask me if I care.

Pleasant little angel face and happy cereal tummy

JK and Ava slayed some dragons at the library.

While building with HLS in the floor Ava declared, "Look! I made your law school."

The farmers market is drawing painfully near to the end of their season. It's mostly pumpkins, gourds, and some peppers.

Hugging my gal amongst the pumpkins

Ava picked a big pumpkin for carving. I had to help her carry it to the car.

On our way to the car we found some buffalo meat* that will be perfect in the chili I'm planning to make on Sunday (the evening lows will be high 30's, low 40's). Of course we had to buckle in Mr. Pumpkin too.

*As I'm proofreading this post I realize that this sounds like I scraped some bloody bison off the front of someone's vehicle. Not the case. I bought it from a retired MD who sells all kinds of organic, free range, usually too expensive for us things. He's very helpful and even gave me some tips to help with Ava's allergies.

Mimi has been showering us with fun fall packages. Ava and Daddy opened the first one before her nap. As soon as she woke up she insisted on opening the second one.

Sleepy-eyed happy girl

Package booty

Calling Mimi and Coach to say thank you

Eating dinner on her new pumpkin plate

Grilled cheese sandwich and tomato basil soup, perfect rainy weather food

***Moment of Zen***

When Josh was still youth ministering and we were constantly surrounded by P&W (praise and worship) music, we would take random phrases from the songs and use them in completely random places. Yes, it's irreverent but that's how we survived. One of our favorite phrases was "__________ of wonders". Whatever we deemed fantastic would go in the blank. The phrase had been keeping the dust bunnies under our table company for a few years when I discovered these little beauties:

Wasabi Peas of Wonders

Flippin' fun

Since Ava and I have acclimated to our new schedule I decided it was time to find a place to take gymnastics. Ava had been attending Zero Gravity in Hewitt since she was 18 months old. She enjoyed the classes, and I adored the outfits. Also, she was beginning to use our couches and beds like trampolines and any stationary horizontal piece of metal as a gymnastics bar. It was time. We settled upon the Bart Conner Gymnastics program. Several of our friends were already taking classes there, so it made sense. Here she is, waiting patiently for class to start.

Practicing some "moves"

It's hard to wait when you're 2.

Gabby's daddy is in law school with Josh. We joined her class so Ava would have a friend.

Some warm-up laps in the waiting room

My little blond blur

Balancing

Swing-stepping skills

On Thursday evening Josh attended a dinner and fireside chat with Justice Kennedy. Can you spot Josh in this photo? One of his Constitutional Law classes was taught by the Supreme Court Justice! When Josh came home from class he had to get all dolled up for the dinner. Ava advised on the tying of the tie.

Only one tiny mirror in this joint.
(You should see me jumping up in the the air, trying to see if the shoes work with my outfit.)

Final adjustments, so serious

Ready to go

He left our humble abode and headed for the very swanky event.
Ava and I had a date with Pei Wei and laundry, very exciting stuff.

When I came inside from taking Josh's final picture this is where I found the girl.
See why we need gymnastics?

We entertained Gus and Theo on Saturday evening while their parents had a sushi date.
The big kids ate their dinner.

All three kiddos (and a happy caretaker)

Ava's first time to share her toys. She was actually very generous, only a few tears shed.

Theo was very concerned about the toy sharing, as you can tell.