Children's Day Art Park

What a SPECTACULAR event we attended this week! Aunt Jill has been taking Abigail to this the past several summers and we finally got a chance to experience it ourselves. It's called Children's Day Art Park coordinated by the Austin Symphony Orchestra. I'll let the website summarize exactly what it is:

"The Austin Symphony invites children and their parents to join in discovering the wonder and excitement that the performing arts can bring when they attend Children’s Day Art Park, an Austin tradition for more than 25 years. Wednesday mornings this June and July, Symphony Square will be transformed into a secret garden of cultural delights waiting for the youth of Austin and Central Texas to enjoy. An amphitheater teeming with balloons, bubbles, roving symphony musicians, magicians, mimes, arts & crafts, storytellers, clowns, smiling faces, and musical instruments await the imagination of the young and the young at heart. This summer at Symphony Square, come experience the magic for yourself!

During the morning festivities, musicians of the Austin Symphony Orchestra stroll through Symphony Square visiting with children, demonstrating their instruments and playing their favorite tunes. Kids can also visit the Instrument Petting Zoo to see, touch and play real orchestral instruments.

After the performance, a real Pied Piper leads everyone down the Lemonade Trail to the Magic Oak Tree for stories and fun in the Art Park “Big Top.” The myriad of available activities in which children can participate include having their faces painted and making craft projects."

Unfortunately, this was the last event for this summer, but fortunately we went and enjoyed every single bit of it. Ava really enjoys listening to instruments on the classical music station and was fascinated by the trombone player performing "Happy Birthday" for her.

Lemonade break. Aunt Jill demonstrating the trumpet (Ava's favorite instrument) with a little help from Aves, all during the "Instrument Petting Zoo".

The instruments all hung down and the name of each was displayed. P.S. Alcohol wipes were available for wiping the mouth pieces down.

Ava trying out the clarinet.

And the cello.

The cousins with Aunt Jill.

Quartet performance.

Face painting afterwards. Kiwi the clown is often talked about in our house after she came to Abigails 3rd Birthday party. Ava is not a fan of "typical" clowns, but she recognized Kiwi and actually let her paint her face. Ava picked out "look like a dog".

Kiwi is AWESOME! She did this in a matter of minutes. Ava was so exciting and running around barking like a "doe-gy"

Dancing to some live tunes.

Enjoying popsicles. They were huge and took them forever to eat. Everyone was a sweaty, but happy, mess by the end of it.

Thanks to Aunt Jill for showing us this exciting event! We had fun with cousins Abigail and Emery and our friends Evan and Avery, as well. Fun times were had by all!

On the way home, Ava wanted to listen to some "instruments" on the radio and kept "ooing and aweing" at the sounds she heard. How perfect is this...

"At Children’s Day Art Park learning about the arts happens naturally!"

Some Ava Stories

One day we were at the neighborhood swimming pool. As we were trying to leave, we were saying good-bye to everything.

Mommy: "Good-bye Pool"

Ava: "Pool don't have a mouth. Pool can't say good-bye"

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While snuggling on the floor and talking before Ava went night-night, she was asking me what people's names are.

Ava: "What's Grandma's name?"

Mommy: "Laurie"

Ava: "Laurie what?"

Mommy: "Laurie Burton"

Ava: "No, mommy. That's the lady with the guitar."

She was thinking of Laurie Berkner, a children's musician who plays catchy songs with her guitar.

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Gigi and Poppy got a new dog. Ava was listening to Gigi talk about it on the phone. As Ava heard more and more about the dog she grew more and more excited.

Gigi: "We got a new dog today."

Ava: listening

Gigi: "He's so cute. He's black and has a white paw."

Ava: "Yes."

Gigi: "He likes to cuddle, and lick, and fetch."

Ava: "We're on our way."

Well, we weren't on our way. Not 3 hours away. Sadly, I think Gigi believed this and thought we might surprise her.

So much to love at 2 years, 4 months

1. I love hearing words like "decorate", "observation", and "no thank you" come out of her mouth.

2. I love when Ava sees our house and says "there's our home" because that is what it feels like to me too.

3. I love listening to her play by herself and starting to play various roles. She'll say, "Here is your sister, baby" and baby says, "Hi sister"

4. I love when she sings songs and the look on her face when she figures out she can sing the whole thing. She'll sing "This old man he played four, he played knick-knack on his knee (yes, wrong part but it so doesn't matter) with a paddy-whack, give a dog a bone, this old man came rolling home"

5. I love when she does something and wants everyones attention, "Look at meeeeeee!" while she splashes through the fountain.

6. I love our nap routine, when it is just her and me, and when she wants to have "quiet time" and she'll lay her head down and say, "Goodnight mommy. I love you to the crescent moon and back", while I rub her back.

7. I love how her mind works. I learn from her everyday about how to see things from another perspective. For example, I'll show her an activity with buttons and she'll do it the way she wants to do it and it totally makes sense. She'll sort them into babies (small) and mommies (big) groups while I was thinking of sorting them by shape.

8. I love how she talks like such a little person. Her sentences and vocabulary are wonderful. "I just trying to figure out this shape sorter."

9. I love that she worked so hard today to catch a fish with a magnet at the toy store. Then turned around to the lady that was watching and said, "I did it! I didn't give up. I keep trying!"

10. I love that we are still potty training on her terms. She'll use the potty at home all day, but she is just not comfortable with going out in public. Who is? So we'll continue to take it slow.

What does 5 minutes every few days get you?

A 203 page book that documents the days, weeks, months and years of the "little things" that happen in our family's day-to-day life.

I finally had a blogbook printed of Ava's 2nd Year. I was working on one through another website that was recommended, but it was taking me FAR too long. Every detail was customized and when I'm given choices, I like perfection.

Then, one day as I was changing the background on my blog, through thecutestblogontheblock.com , I noticed an advertisement to print my book through them and sharedbook.com

I thought I was doing something wrong because it was almost too easy. I literally selected blogs to print from March 2008 through March 2009 and there it was....Ava's 2nd Year! Granted, I couldn't customize the font and text, but that turned out better for me in the long run because I was never going to finish the other one. There were some things that made it personal: the cover, the comments added to each blog (so cool!), the spine, the back, and a dedication page.

The quality is very good as well. I have a very thick book, as I said, 203 pages, and it is held together well. The pages are durable and the picture quality is good. The book itself is 8 1/2 x 11.

I am so pleased with it and thought I would share!

Tennesse Family Reunion

Earlier this month we had an exciting trip to Tennessee! When I was little, we used to gather in Tennessee almost every summer for annual family reunions. All of my cousins were close in age, to a varying degree, so we always had lots of fun together. Some of my best memories are of swimming, skiing, boating, eating grandma's surprises, and just overall hanging out at my grandma's house with my siblings and cousins. It was just as much fun to also go visit the Allen's, on my dad's side of the family. I always looked forward to playing in grandpa's garden and farm. Not to mention, eating a good old fashioned country meal.

We all got together again this year for a bittersweet reunion to memorialize my grandma and spread her ashes. It was the first time Ava got to meet my cousin's children and play like we used to. We were invited by Aunt Linda and Uncle Lee to stay at their home that they built on the same lake that my grandma lived. What a beautiful house it was! We were very grateful for their hospitality.

We had a lot of first experiences on this trip and Ava learned so much. She still talks about Tennessee. Here she is on her first plane ride. She did so well on the 3 hour flight, though didn't sleep a wink like her cousins, because she just couldn't miss a thing. Once we got to Tennessee, she immediately took it all in and headed for the great outdoors. It was a refreshing 77 degrees there and we felt rejuvinated, as we had come during a hot streak of 100+ degree temperature. She ran throughout the green grass, investigated all plants and bugs, and played on the canoe with her 1st and 2nd cousins. She got to swim in the lake for the first time. The same lake I swam in the summers, as a child.She took her first boat ride. Uncle Ty is helping Ava onto the boat. All buckled up and ready to go. She transitioned to sitting with daddy at the front of the boat shortly after we left. She absolutely loved riding on the boat and continued to ask to do it again the rest of the weekend. Side note, look how beautiful it is there!Visiting Grandpa Allen and Aunt Kay. We ate like no other and enjoyed every last bite. They were all impressed with how well Ava ate. Here is a plaque and tree planted in memory of my dad. Cousins.

The Allen's.

Grandpa's Garden.
Grandpa giving us the tour.

Cheese!

Eating tomatoes from Lee and Linda's Garden.

Happy 4th of July!

My Grandma's (former) house is back in there. So many wonderful memories there.

Feeding the fish.

Ava loved their dog, Tilly.

Ava fished for the first time. She didn't catch anything, but her cousin Abigail did!

Chasing Lightning Bugs. Another fun pasttime that I have fond memories of!

On a walk to pick wild blackberries. Ava enjoyed finding and eating them with Aunt Jill.

Playing with Words

Ava has been playing with sounds of letters and words. Random. I just cheerlead her as I listen and she comes up with some good ones!

"Ooooooooooooo U! That sounds like Barack Oooooooooooooooobama"

"Wow, Wow, Wubzy. They sound the same. Wow. Wow. Wubzy"

I love her observations because nothing is memorized, nothing is taught; it's purely her playing with her words.

Two Year Pictures

We had the pleasure of attending a photo shoot with our friends, Keri and Mia, to one of their friends studio. Ginny of GinnyBPhotography exceeded our expectations of capturing Ava's personality so perfectly and beautifully. How she managed to get these precious pictures is beyond me when my little toddler tornado was everywhere. In Ava's defense, she listened really well to Ginny's directions, but still, as those of you with toddlers know, she was everywhere.

Thank you so very much to Ginny for giving us a Father's Day gift for Ryan and a forever gift for our family. These photographs are absolutely amazing!

All photos taken by Ginny of GinnyBPhotography.com

My favorite. I just love her eyes and that innocent look while I rubbed her arm. She was so relaxed.

Ava wearing Daddy's shirt.