catching up over a cup of coffee

[Disclaimer: While I am not fond of writing blogs to make up for the lack of blogging ... many of you (ah hem) have mentioned that I need to "catch you up".  With that being said, I hope to re-commit myself to the blogging world so that I no longer have to write blogs with the purpose of "catching up". So grab a cup of coffee and without further ado...]

Life around the Stewart household as been hectic and crazy as usual.  And to add to the daily crazies (as many of you know and I mentioned in my last post) we got a puppy, Ellie.  I was all for getting a puppy for months years now!! And I will admit, when we met Ellie in person, I got a little nervous about what I was getting myself into.  But let me be the first to tell you, Ellie has been a wonderful addition.  Yes, it is crazy around our house every now and then ... but that is really nothing new :).  And for the most part, Ellie is pretty darn lazy.  She is also house trained (until it is rainy and she can't go outside because she is terrified of the rain, wet grass, and anything else that involves getting her hiney wet).

Anyway... enough about Ellie.  My little Ava is doing very well.  She is not at all interested in walking yet, but that is okay ... I am not in any hurry (although I know Ashley would like for her flower girl to walk down the aisle ... good thing she is one of four!).  The one time Ava showed interest in walking with her walker, I got so excited and screamed, screeched, whatever you want to call it ... YAYYYYY, scared her half to death and she has yet to try it again (way to go Mom, I know!). She has been to several birthday parties and if a sandbox is involved, you know where to find her! No matter if she is the littlest, the only girl, or wearing her Sunday best, give the girl some sand and she can play for hours. Speaking of birthdays ... the little munchkin is turning one this Saturday.  Can you believe it? Good grief!! We are having a birthday party for her this weekend but due to our very large families, we have decided to limit it to family this year. The theme is "Ava's Sweet Shoppe"! (I will post pictures of the party). I am very excited!!

William is doing well ... tired of school (well we both are). He is continuing his degree in History and is scheduled to graduate at the end of next Summer. Me?? I got into nursing school!! Whooo hoooo!!!! Which means I will begin nursing school in the fall and graduate December of 2012 (is it really that long).

Anyway, I am not sure what else you all have missed out on in our exciting lives ... but I hope this satisfies the craving of information for the time being.

In the mean time I am going to continue with the throat drops and cloraseptic spray ... apparently I have a viral infection (joy). When at the Dr while repeating his instructions I said, "okay, so cyanide spra..." ... until I caught my quite obvious mistake and realized the Dr was looking at me like I needed to be committed to a larger institution.