I hope that everyone's Christmas was wonderful!  Hopefully, this weekend I'll be able to sit down and spend some time writing about my first blizzard experience which happen to occur on Christmas.  But to keep you interested, I have another quick Ava Moment.

The other day, Ava and my mom were playing downstairs when Ava decided that she needed to show Grammy, my mom, something upstairs.  For those of you who do not know, my mother is experiencing some serious knee pain and is having difficulties walking and using the stairs.  Ava kept encouraging Grammy to go upstairs and Grammy kept trying to explain to Ava that it hurt her knee too much to climb the stairs.  Ava looked up at her and said,  "I'll help you Grammy!  Take my hand!"  Little did Ava know that holding Grammy's hand would not help the pain of her knee, but the gesture was heartfelt.

A few days later, I asked Ava to pick up her room.  Much to my surprise, she agreed and raced upstairs to clean her room.  Within five minutes she was back down in the kitchen claiming that the room was cleaned.  I asked her if she "threw" her toys into her closet.  Ava looked at me and said, "No Mommy!  I gently laid my toys in the closet."

I hope that everyone has a safe and happy New Year's!

Last Sunday in church, our Pastor asked the children during the children's service, "What is this Thursday?"  The children responded with a chorus of "Thanksgiving!"  The Pastor continued by asking the children what they were thankful for.  They responded with the typical answers, "My sister", "My parents", "My friends", etc.  As I sat out in the pews listening, I realized that my response was "Life".

I'm sure that many of you would agree, that we are thankful for our family, spouses, children, and friends.  We are thankful for the food that we eat each day, for having a job, for having a roof over our heads.  In fact, many times we take all of these wonderful things for granite.  Usually, some kind of wake up call is needed to occur for us to, once again realize how full, rich, and blessed our lives really are.

This Fall, I have many of those moments.  Although, many of them small, each one served as a reminder that although I'm grateful for all of the things listed above, I'm most thankful for Life.  As I stated in an earlier blog, Emily broke her arm.  The break wasn't serous and in the end she was fine, but at that moment when I picked up the phone and heard, "Mrs. Price, this is the nurse at Rising Star and I have Emily in the office with me.", my mind began to race with all the reasons why Emily was in the nurses office.  The list began with the worst possible scenarios.  During this brief moment, my thoughts then turned to realization that even though my children test me on a daily basis, my life would be so empty without them.

A few weeks later when Grandpa was sent to the hospital with pneumonia and each day when I called Grandma or Grandpa to get an update, the prognosis was still the same.  He still had a fever, little energy, and a cough.  Unfortunately, over the past few years, both Grandma or Grandpa has spent time in the hospital for numerous reasons, but as the week progress, the realization that Grandpa might die from this battle with pneumonia grew stronger.  Once again, I realized how empty my life would be without my grandparents in it.  Although I know one day I will have to face that emptiness, luckily it is not right now.

Later in October, while running early one morning, I turned down a street that I normally don't.  I stepped on an acorn and rolled my ankle.  In those initial moments of pain, I thought to myself, "How will I make it back to the house?"  I knew that I wasn't seriously hurt, that I would survive this sprained ankle, but once again I began to think about Life.  "What would Kevin and the girls do if something serious did happen to me?"  I know that they would survive but did Kevin know that when Ava is sick, she likes for me to lay day next to her and rub her back, or that Emily can make her own breakfast now?  I know these things are really not important, but they're things that I know about my girls.

Well, last week my thoughts once again returned to the importance of Life.  Last Thursday, I dropped Emily off at school and took a right turn on 87th St., instead of my normal left, to take Ava to school.  As we turned onto 87th St., we both saw the flashing lights of a police car up ahead and a dark sedan perpendicular to the East/West flow of the street.  As we began to drive up the hill toward the accident, I saw that the sedan was a 4-door.  Knowing that this was one way Kevin drove to work, I began to worry.  However, I knew in my heart that the car was Kevin's.  Within moments, I was upon the accident, saw the Green Honda Accord and the policeman flagging me down.  Not once did I question why the policeman would know who I was and that it was my husband in the car accident.  The only thoughts that went through my mind were, "Where is Kevin?" and "Where is the other car?"  As I pulled to a stop, Kevin stepped out from behind another vehicle.  A sudden rush of relief flooded through me as I saw that he wasn't bleeding, but instead walking around and speaking coherently.  At that moment, I realized that I couldn't live my life without my husband being a part of it.  Before leaving the van, I said a quick prayer thanking God for watching over Kevin and the girls everyday and for reminding me about the importance of appreciating each moment, whether good or bad, of Life.

Kevin walked away from his accident where a teenage boy, late for school and driving in a car with fogged up windows, t-boned the Accord on the passenger side trying to make a left turn across traffic.  Thankfully, neither Kevin or the boy were seriously injured.  Kevin suffered from whiplash and a stiff back and has seen the chiropractor 4 times this week.  The Accord was totaled by the Insurance Adjustor or as Ava likes to say, "Daddy's car is dead."  We have spent the last week, with help from my Dad, looking for a new car.  The process is always tedious, but when you are on limited time and had no intentions of buying a new car anytime soon, the process becomes even worse.
   
Pictures of the "dead" car.

So as I sit down to my Thanksgiving dinner today and I think about what I'm thankful for, I will say that I'm thankful for Kevin, Emily, Ava, my parents, grandparents, brothers, and the rest of my family and friends.  I'll say that I'm thankful for my food, house, and job.  But I know that I'll be most thankful  for the Life of my family and friends and for the Life that I have with them.  And on that note, I'll leave you with the ending of one of our favorite Thanksgiving stories Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving written by Dav Pilkey, "So each one gave thanks, for love and for living, and they all had a wonderful, Happy Thanksgiving."

Happy Thanksgiving from the Price's!

It's been a very busy couple of weeks.  School started for me last Wednesday and I had the kids for the first time today which meant that Emily began First Grade today.


Here is a picture with Emily and her teacher, Mrs. Miramontez..  We caught her in the hall as I was walking Emily to Before School Care.  She was gracious enough to let me take a picture of her with Emily.  When I picked Emily up this afternoon she said that she had a great day and that she really liked her teacher.

This weekend the girls and I went to a Christian Music concert featuring my cousin Kelly's band.  Kelly's sister Kari made the trip in from Nashville for the concert so I was able to spend time with both of them.  Even though the time was short, I enjoyed it.  I'll take whatever I can get!  The concert was good.  I think I'm getting old because I couldn't understand the words but the music was great. 

From left to right: BreAnn, Kelly, and Bryan

While we were there, the girls played on some playground equipment.  Ava really enjoyed herself.


Here Ava is climbing up the ladder to go down the slide.  I showed the picture to Kari and she said that the picture encompassed Ava's personality.  I would have to agree with her.

Kevin has been trying to get his tomatoes to change from green to red this summer.  July was rather cool so needless to say we haven't had many ripe tomatoes.  The other day he looked at the plants and saw what he thought were three ripe tomatoes.  After closer inspection, he discovered that there was actually only one huge tomato that was ripe.  I took some pictures so show the enormous nature of this tomato. 

It wasn't super red but Kevin wanted to pick it before the squirrels decided to eat it.


I thought a size comparison was necessary.  I suppose I could have measured the circumference of the tomatoes but I do have two kids who keep me busy.  I felt lucky enough to just get a picture.  The tomato was very tasty and we enjoyed it on our BLT's.

One final note.  I was up by 5:00 a.m. this morning and in effort to beat the rain, I ran 20 minutes straight without stopping.  My first time doing that!  I'll have to see if I can repeat it again on Wednesday.

After enduring many long days and hectic schedules, Kevin and I were able to sneak away to Puerto Rico for a few days to celebrate our 10th anniversary and to also enjoy some rest and relaxation.  We began our trip flying into San Juan, renting a car, and driving to the east coast of the island to explore El Yunque, the rainforest.  Upon arrival in San Juan, we discovered that one of our bags did not complete the trip with us.  Of course, it was the bag with the majority of our clothes in it.  Luckily, I had packed a change of clothes in another bag, but needless to say, the lost bag put a damper on our trip.  By the next day when our bag had still not arrived, we drove to the local Wal-mart and picked up some new clothes, including new swimsuits.  By the time we got back to the hotel, we were in the middle of a horrible downpour so we never made it to the rainforest.


The view from our room.

On Monday, we packed our few belongings, and took a ferry to the island of Vieques.

The view of Vieques from the docks when we arrived.

Vieques is considered a part of Puerto Rico and it was once occupied by the U.S. Navy.  In 1941, the Navy sealed off the island and used the island for munition storage and target practice.  The islanders were moved to the center of the island and over the next 60 years there were constant protests to the Navy's presence there.  In 2003, the Navy withdrew from the island, but they continue to occupy about 100 acres of land for their radar system.  Driving around the island, there are constant reminders of the Navy's presence, including bunkers built during their time on the island.

Look closely and you can see three bunkers among the overgrown brush.

Today, the island is a friendly place to visit with some magnificent beaches, however the unemplyment rate is over 60% so it is very underdeveloped.  Many foreigners have come to the island, developing small guesthouses, restuarants, and stores which helps to promote tourism on the island.  We stayed at a beautiful guesthouse run by a very nice Canadian.  It was a two-bedroom, two bathroom condo with a small kitchen in which we cooked all but two meals.  It had a pool, overlooked the ocean, and it had a walking beach right outside the gate.

Looking at the picture, our condo was in the building to the left on the lower level.

In addition to the wonderful accomodations, we had the extra added feature of the owners dog, Mia, who would frequently visit us especially when we were cooking, eating, or returning from a trip.  She would always greet us with a wagging tail and a huge leaf in her mouth.


We spent the next 5 days, exploring the island, visiting beaches, snorkeling, and relaxing.




As we drove around the island, we always commented on the numerous cats, dogs, and horses roaming the streets and beaches.  We learned the since many people did not have the money to buy food for their pets, they allowed them to roam free to find their own food.  Then when the owners are ready to play with them or ride them, they find their animal or take one that is close by.  We were most intrigued by the horses.  Every house is gated so that the horses do not wander near the house.  The horses even rumage through the trash to find food.  It was amazing to drive down the road and share it with wild horses.  As you can imagine, accidents do happen and horses are killed by passing cars.  We saw one similar accident when returning to our condo from dinner one, dark evening.  They are beautiful creatures though!


We saw many other animals as well, including sand crabs and lizards.


While there, we took a tour of a bioluminescent bay.  Millions of microscopic dinoflagellates live in this bay and when distrubed, they release a chemical that reacts to oxygen which gives off light.  The tour is at night and we were able to swim in the bay illuminated by this dinoflagellates.  I wish we could have taken a picture to show you.  It was an amazing experience!  On our last night on Vieques we enjoyed a delightful dinner at a local resturant.

No, we did not plan our outfits.  These were the nicest clothes we had after losing our luggage.

On Saturday, we took the ferry back to Puerto Rico and spent the late afternoon and evening in Old San Juan.  We were able to see the Castillo San Felipe del Morro, which is the famous fortress overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.  It was built by the Spanish to defend the island and the U.S. used it as well when they inherited Puerto Rico after the Spanish-American War.  It is a beautiful and massive fortress.

Lookout towers


Lighthouse

We also explored the streets and stores of Old San Juan.  We found that it had a very European feel to it and reminded both of us of Italy.


On Sunday we flew home and were greeted by a very quiet house.  Within 30 minutes, the girls and Grammy and Gramps had returned from a birthday dinner for Great Papa.  We were not surprised to not find our missing bag waiting for us at home.  We are in the process of filing another claim, hopefully with postive results.  We are happy to be home but still long for the tranquility of Vieques.

After looking back over the last few blog entries, I realized that Emily got a lot of coverage.  Due to that discovery, I decided that this entry would be dedicated to Ava.

A few weeks ago, Ava had a haircut.  Before leaving for this trip, Kevin asked Ava if she was going to get a mohawk.  She giggled, said no, and we went on our way.  Of course, when we got to the hair salon, I relayed this story to Lisa, our hair stylist, and she took matters into her own hands.  When we left the salon, Ava had a ponytail mohawk just for Dad.


side view

back view

front view

Kevin laughed when he saw it and Ava enjoyed it so much, so wore it to school the next day.  I suppose this is just a sneak peak as to what we can expect from Ava in the years to come.

During that same week, Ava had an open gym session for gymnastics which allowed parents to come on the floor and take pictures.  I realize that their are many pictures, but the pure joy on Ava's face is priceless.

Ava jumping on the trampoline.

Ava walking the balance beam.  Notice how the tongue seems to help her keep her balance.

Ava on the bar.  At this point she needed help turning over but now she can do it herself.

The gym also has slides that the kids can play on during the last five minutes of lessons.  She loves the slides because they go super fast.

Ava resting after her hard work.

Ava has thoroughly enjoyed gymnastics and I'm so glad we decided to have her begin an activity even if it has meant that our Saturdays are more hectic. Seeing the girls participate in activities that they really enjoy makes those rough times just a little bit easier.