Sitting, waiting, hoping...

... for lots and lots of snow! I will regret this in just a few short months but I'm actually excited about the snow. I think it's because I want to see Ava all decked out in her winter coat and snow pants.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin and all of the Midwest are bracing for the first big storm of the year. It's supposed to start at about 2am. I stopped at Wal-Mart today and they were salting the parking lot! I came home and Joe was *testing* the snow blower. Our neighbors ain't got nothin' on Joe's Big Red. They may have a big and obnoxious inflatable snowman in their yard, but when the snow starts falling, they'll be green with envy when they see Joe outside tearing through the 10 inches of snow!!!

Miss Ava was a princess tonight. We went to Fazoli's for dinner... she had a few bites of pizza, some applesauce and some garlic bread. She was in heaven (and them some) when I gave her the chocolate milk that came with her meal. She finished her last sip with a "nummy"! We also went to Sam's Club and did a little Christmas shopping; she enjoyed running up the aisles and touching all the socks.

(Still no pictures... as soon as we got home from shopping, it was bath and bedtime. I hope to get some pictures of the snow and Ava playing in it tomorrow.)

It hasn't stopped raining...

This is like an ongoing Energizer Bunny commercial. It keeps raining and raining and raining. We may see some snow by early tomorrow morning... that might even look pretty after the last few dreary days.

Miss Ava had another good report from daycare. She slept for 2.5 hours and had some sort of chicken gumbo for lunch. Our daycare provider has never been shy about what to serve Ava for lunch. I think she was eating spinach there by 12 months! She had turkey, cheese and applesauce for dinner tonight.

She enjoyed the outdoor Christmas "yites" tonight. We haven't put up a tree yet but I know it would be quite facinating. Unfortunately, the ornaments may be too facinating. Thanks to the lessons learned from Ava's dear friend Lilly, we may save the tree until the week before Christmas.

Bedtime was easy tonight... no fussy and less than 20 minutes of singing ABC's and Twinkle Twinkle before she fell asleep. G'night sweetpea!

Rain, rain go away...

What a crappy day today... didn't see the sun at all. I swear everytime I stepped foot outside, it started pouring. Yuck! Tomorrow looks to be the same. Winter will officially be here by Thursday morning with highs in the upper 20's/lower 30's.

Ava was at daycare all day but had a good *report* sent home. She took a 3 hour nap and just fell asleep at 8:30pm. She had a decent dinner of green beans, turkey, cheesy pasta and oranges.

She's been acting like a dryer sheet lately and has been clinging to me every chance she gets. She freaked everytime I left the room this morning; makes for a difficult time trying to get ready for work. Sesame Street and Curious George have not been keeping her attention for very long in the morning.

Not much else to report in the Passante household tonight. The Packers lost to the Seahawks last night even after the 'Hawks had 4 turnovers in the first half. At least Joe won his fantasy football game this weekend... way to go baby!

Shopping with Mommy!!!

I normally have Wednesdays off but because our day care provider took today off, I had no choice but to as well. Ava and I took the opportunity to have a *girl's day out*. We headed to the new Bayshore (Mall) Town Center. It used to be an old (crappy) mall but now is a little city of many wonderful shops and eateries. It reminds me of Newport on the Levee, a place we visited a few years ago near my sister, Doreen, just south of Cincinnati. Anyway, it has so many wonderful new stores and restaurants that are new to Milwaukee. Trader Joe's is one... wow! Were we ever missing out. Their selection of food is top notch and the prices are dirt cheap. Ava enjoyed it so much she snuck an apple in the produce section when I was getting some bananas. I was about to put it back when she took a big bite out of it!

We also enjoyed some girl's time at McDonald's and Ava had a Happy Meal. She was most interested in the apple slices... she bypassed the fries, chicken nuggets and toy. I'm sure this won't last.

We were going to play outside for awhile as the unseasonable temps were still around today. By the time she got up from her nap, though, it was misty and a cold front was heading our way. I think winter will be officially here in the next few days.

Daddy just put her down for the night a few minutes ago... not much noise. I think the shopping (and excitement of Trader Joe's) wore her out!!!

(The picture with the *floating* duck was from this evening. Ava was throwing her rubber ball and ducky with daddy. I'm pleased to see she threw that with her left hand. She's learning quick. We'll be at the batting cages next week!)

New here!

Yeah! The Passantes' finally have a blog!!! I hope to be able to add something everyday here but I seem to say that often with many things and never follow through. Maybe this will be different.

We had a pretty lazy day here. The Packers don't play until tomorrow night and the sorry Browns game was not on TV here (thank god) but it seemed like football was on all day loooooooooong.

Ava went with daddy to Grandma Mary's house for a few hours and I got to put up most of the Christmas decorations. I found a few boxes of *extra* decorations that I continue to put back in the attic every year. Maybe it's time I just get rid of those as I'll never put them out. When Ava got home she napped for three hours... yeah! Once awake, she was amazed by the decorations. Unfortunately, one of the Santas hanging on the wall must look pretty scary because she whines and takes three steps back everytime she sees it in the hallway. I might have to get video of that. It's pretty funny!

Joe put up lights outside a few days ago and Ava loves to run to the window when they are on. She calls them "yites". It's precious. She now says "hi" and "bye" to many objects in the house. Today she was overheard saying "hi" to santa, yites, her green beans, socks and paci.

I didn't take any pictures today but here are a few from yesterday. She was watching daddy (a.ka. Griswald) add a few strands to house. Now that we have neighbors accross the street with their decorations out, Joe sees it as competition and is "taking it to the next level" as he told me today. :)

Notice her Milwaukee Bucks outfit? Didn't bring good luck. They lost last night... what's up with our sports teams?