Gymnastics!

                                               Doing a forward roll down the wedge

                                              Getting ready to do a backbend

                                              Learning to do a split

                                               Waiting for class to begin

                                              My little gymnast

                                             Learning to do a forward roll

Today is Ava's first day of gymnastics!  It is a tumbling/cheer class for 3-5 year olds.  Ava had a blast, even though she was the youngest of the group.  She enjoyed "rolling" down the mat and jumping the best.  I am so glad that she had a great time.  Secretly, I hope that there is gymnastics and cheerleading in her future!

First Day of K3

                                         Ava getting into the car after a great first day

                                         Walking to the car like a big girl....sniff, sniff

                                               Putting her bag in her cubby

 
                           Picking up her heart of the door, to show she was here today

                                              Ready for the first day of school...K3

                                           The traditional "on the front steps" picture

Today was Ava's first day of K3!  I am not sure who was more nervous, she or I!  Okay, I was more nervous because she slept great last night and I didn't really go to be until way after midnight.  I was so nervous about her new teacher (who is wonderful), making new friends, going to the potty at school and the waiting and walking to my car at pick up time.  All of my worries have been set aside...well a little bit anyways.  She did great!  She walked right into class, said hello to her new friends and even followed the teacher's instructions perfectly.  At the end of the day, she walked confidently to my car carrying her little blue school bag.  I will have to admit that as I was sitting in car line and saw her walk out of the school building and wait for me to pull up, I got a little teary eyed.  How did she get so grown up all of a sudden.  I feel like I dropped off my little girl this morning and a few hours later, I picked up a big girl.  I am so very thankful for the wonderful preschool that Ava's attends and thankful that she had a wonderful first day!

Blues's Clues Day!

                                Finding her first clue, on her handy, dandy notebook

                                         Working on her writing clue

                                                      Finding clues

                                         Lining up all the clues she found throughout the day

                                     Mommy wore blue stripes...just like the host of the show

                                         Eating breakfast and watching Blues Clues

                                 Finding the clue it was time for reading and naptime

                                        Wearing stripes just like the host of the show!


It's Blues Clues, Blues Clues!!  The show Blues Clues is one of Ava's most favorite shows.  She even had me get her a notebook the other day at the store, like Blue has so that she can write down little "clues" throughout the day.  We really did not do anything out of the ordinary for our Blues Clues day, I just used Blues' paw prints to tell Ava what was the next thing on our agenda that day.  Ava LOVED running around the house and finding all the different clues and paw prints.  It was not a big deal, but I hope that it did make a memory for Ava and made her last day before K3 started, an extra special day!

Our 2nd child is a.........

                                                      Side view, showing spine

                             
                                                     Little foot

                                                    Little hand

                                          Profile view of that sweet face

                                                 
                                                      Close up view of face profile


The Cooler family is adding another girl to our family!!  Her full name is Annalynne Mincey Cooler, but we will call her Anna.  How did we choose that name?   Many people have asked and here is our reasoning for choosing her name.  First of all, since we are the "A" family we had to stick with the "A" theme, Adam, Abbey, Ava and now Anna!  Secondly, we wanted to have both Biblical and family significance in her name.  We chose the name Anna because is means GRACE.  First of all because it is only by God's grace, that we are saved, loved, justified and sanctified from our sins and made new through the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!  Second, it is only by God's amazing GRACE, mercy and favor was I able to become pregnant again!  Third, one of my most favorite women of the Bible is Anna. She was the first woman (other then Mary) that saw and held Jesus.  Her entire life she spent her time in the temple, worshiping and waiting for the Messiah.  Like Anna of the Bible, I want my daughter to have a strong, sincere, lifelong love of Jesus Christ.  The rest of Anna's name comes from my and Adam's moms.  Lynne is my mom's middle name and Mincey is Adam's mom's maiden name!  I know that is sort of a mouthful, but we really did take our time in deciding on this sweet little girl's name, just like we did with Ava's name!  We are so very thankful for this new little life that will be joining our family at the first of December.

I had another appointment today with the "high risk" doctor.   They spent almost an hour doing a very intensive ultrasound to check out every little part of Anna and also to make sure that I did not have any signs of problems with my pregnancy.  I was a little nervous at this visit because I know that because of my age and some family history, that our baby could be at risk.  After every picture the tech took, I seemed to relax more and more.  One funny thing that happened during the ultrasound, was that Anna decided to "talk" the whole time. Every time the tech would show me a picture of her face, her mouth was moving!!  I guess we have another talker in our family...shocker!!  At the end of the visit, the doctor came in and went through all the pictures with me and said that we had a very healthy baby girl, with no signs of complications in the baby or with my pregnancy. When the doctor said those words, I could do nothing but say, "Praise the Lord!"  On the drive home I could do nothing by sing, cry, and give praise to my God, who has shown such grace to me and my family!!  GOD IS GREAT AND GREATLY TO BE PRAISED!!