Salt Water Experiment

We've been talking and reading about oceans lately in anticipation for an upcoming trip to the beach with Grandma. One experiment that we did was talk about the difference between salt water and fresh water. Since I like to show, we conducted a little taste test.

Here is Ava very slowly taking a drink of salt water.

Her reaction. Gag!

Now taking a sip a fresh water.

After she digested (no pun intended) this new information, she thought the experiment was really funny. We now have a little joke when she asks for water, I'll ask if she wants salt or fresh water. And she says, "Moooooommy, fresh water!".

:.:.:HaPpy HaLLoWEen!:.:.:

Happy Halloween 2009!

Wow, this year was SO MUCH FUN! Ava really got into the whole trick or treating scene and was just so giddy with excitement. It filled me up with so much joy just to see her so happy. We started off the night with some great friends, the Sterns, and went ToTing with their awesome neighbors. Cute toddlers were EVERYWHERE!

Then we went back to our neighborhood to do some more ToTing and attend the Christian's Halloween get-together. I wish I had pictures of how AWESOME they decorated their house, but I forgot all pictures while we were there, so I'll just have to leave it at how SPOOK-tacular it was.

Here is Ava so happy to show our Jack-o-lantern. She was so not into pulling out the pulp and guts but enjoyed directing me on what shape the eyes, nose and mouth should be.

Getting into the ToTing with Mimi.

Aves and Mimi. The whole "Cat-in-caboodle" telling me to stop taking pictures. After we left (round 1) of Trick-or-Treating, she was on cloud 9! She kept saying, "I'm having SO much FUN!"

The family of animals. Mommy was a mouse, Ava a cat, and Daddy was a doggy.

Pfamily Pfun Pfestival

A few weeks ago we went to Ava's School's Pfamily Pfun Pfestival (in Pflugerville) and she had an absolute blast! She went "fishing" for prizes, did a cake walk, choose a lollipop from a lollipop tree, got a tattoo, got her face painted (her favorite-she loved the attention she received from it), cracked a confetti egg, and of course, picked out pumpkins.

It was fun for mommy too because she got to see some of her former students and her long-term leave maternity sub.

Here are a few pics from our fun family day!

Painting Ghostly Squash

This was another one of those perfect days that Ava and I had. We spent the day doing Halloween "stuff", decorating, cooking pumpkin bread, painting butternut squash pumpkins and eating lots of "special treats" that we couldn't resist picking up at the grocery store. The weather was "boo-tiful" and it was just such a happy day.

See our ghosts down on the porch? Thanks for the idea Cindy!
Oh, and Avas face is painting from a festival we went to that weekend. I'll post pics from that soon.

Oh Fiddlesticks!

I HAVE to write about Ava's "Rock Star" shirt pictured in a few posts I've written. Some dear friends of ours have started a business, Oh-Fiddlesticks!, designing and making these ADORABLE and UNIQUE shirts.

Like I said....ADORABLE, right? It's the unique element that has me in LOVE with them. They are so creative and come up w/ compound words that are hand-drawn and created to fashionably represent the cute "code" or word.

Everytime Ava wears her "Rock Star" shirt she always get compliments, so I just have to brag about Oh Fiddlesticks on here as well. Speaking of compliments, when Keri and I handed the shirts out as swag at the Boom Boom Room, they got OODLES of compliments from the celebs there!

One last series of pictures to show how appropriate Ava's "Rock Star" shirt is, as she set up an elaborate drum set to play. I had to sneak and take these pictures before I lost the essence of the true rock star playing her heart out.

Aspirations

"I want to learn how to dance." -Ava

"I want to learn how to sing." -Ava

"I'm going to learn how when I get big." -Ava

The Little Mermaid

A few weeks ago we went to The Scottish Rite Children's Theatre to see their production of The Little Mermaid. Ava is really into mermaids lately, so much so that was one of her choices for a Halloween costume-but it didn't make her final cut, so this was VERY appropriate.


What a cute play it was! She watched the entire show just mezmorized. We will definitely keep our eye out for future plays at the Scottish Rite Children's Theatre.

Watching very intently.

Wordless Wednesday: Slicing Bananas

Hello, Cupcake!

We attempted to get creative and make cupcakes. Our inspiration drew from a yummy package Grandma sent us filled with tons, TONS of candy and treats made especially for decorating cupcakes using the book Hello, Cupcake!

The pumpkins looked like a great "starter" decorating experiment. After we made them, all was easy peasy....icing, rolling in sugar, putting in the stems (Ava's favorite part) up until doing the piping of the lines on the pumpkin. It took me about 10 minutes to do just this one and we decided that they looked cute enough w/out the lines.

See?

Okay, so maybe her favorite, favorite part was eating them. See?

2 1/2 Year stats and stuff

The Stats:

I forgot to update her stats from her 2.5 year well visit in Sept.

Height: 35 inches
Weight: 28 lbs. 3 oz.

Meeting and exceeding all her milestones and just doing fantastic overall! We couldn't be happier with our healthy little girl!

The Stuff:

When Ava woke up the other day we were just laying around in her room reading books and talking. She then decided it was time to go see daddy in our room.

As I followed behind her into our room, I told her that Daddy already went to work and she opened the door and said,

::sniff, sniff:: "Then why does it still smell like daddy?"
After daddy showers and gets ready, we can smell his cologne and we love it!

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The other night when we were doing our night-night routine, Ava puts her arms around each of our necks and says,

"My mommy. My daddy. My angels."

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Another one, the other night I was scratching Ava's back before night-night and she says, "That tickles."

I say, "Oh, I'm sorry, I'll just rub."

She says, "It's okay, you don't need to say I'm sorry."

School Update

School is going GREAT now! We had a rough few weeks with drop-off, but on the third Thursday, something just clicked, and Ava just turned to give me a kiss and said "good-bye, mommy". I was elated!

If it weren't for the director and the other teachers in the office for calling me and telling me she was fine about 1 minute (sometimes less) after I left, then I don't know what I would do. They were so nurturing and caring. Mrs. Robin even took a picture of Ava right after I left one day just to show me how much fun she was having playing with shaving cream. It's so Aves!

Some other school news....

They have been learning about "Fall"; apples, pumpkins, leaves, etc and Ava tells me something new everyday. She loved making "leaf toast" the other day. They made all things apple and sampled some of each. They tried applesauce, fresh apples, apple juice and apple cider. On her sheet, it noted that Ava said "Apple Cider" is her favorite.

Next week they will be going to the pumpkin patch at school at she is of course looking forward to that.

Some funny conversations Ava has had with her teachers:

Mrs. Lauren: "It's a sunny day today"

Ava: "Actually, there are some clouds in the sky"

This one was told to me by a friend, Andi, who was touring the school that day and saw Ava on the playground.

Teachers: "What are those bumps on your legs?"

Ava: "They are ant spider bites" Um, no, they were actually mosquito bites, not that those are any better.

Mrs. Lauren: Discussing different foods and what is healthy vs. unhealthy food. They made a plate with cut-out food from a magazine.

Ava: "My mom gives me a healthy lunch everyday".

Duck Pond Days

One of our favorite destinations in our outing rotation is the duck pond.

So much to love at 2 years, 7 months

1. I love when you say a long, drawn-out "Thaaaaaaank You!" when you get something. It sounds awfully similar to how I say it.

2. I love when you create something out of nothing. A chalkboard eraser, some sequins, and some candles quickly become a birthday cake.

3. I love hearing you shout for the neighborhood stray cat when we go outside, "Captain Daaaaack!" (Jack)

4. I love when you respond to me when I say "You're the sweetest girl in the whole world", you'll say, "You're the sweetest mommy" (Boy, do I wish that was true).

5. I love when you hear daddy come home from work that you run and hide from him behind the couch cushions every single time. And what's more, I love how daddy acts so surprised every single time. You two are the cutest!

6. I love when you talk to "big kids" at the playground. You think you are their age and just chat it up with them. More times than not they'll appease you and chat right back. This makes you so happy. We still have to work on that personal space issue.

7. I love how wonderfully you talk. The other day you posed a thought that had a stranger come up to me and ask me how old you were because she couldn't believe how well you talked. It went something like this, "Hmm, I wonder why their are cows on the ceiling? Probably because the cow is going to come visit me and give me hugs and high fives. I liked when the cow gave me high fives. At first I was shy and then I gave him a high five. You 'member when the cow came and gave me high fives?"

8. I still love your hugs and kisses and now "I love you to the crescent moon and back" out of nowhere.

9. I love your daily itineraries and following your lead. On our free days, Wednesdays and Fridays, you'll tell me what you want to do. Some days you want to just stay home and do "arts and crafts" or "experiments" and some days you want to go to the pet store, book store, or park.

10. I loved watching you enjoy a performance this morning by Stacy Gray. At first you were a bit reserved, but quickly warmed up, and started singing dancing and bouncing up and down. I loved it so much because you reminded me of ME!

Aves Faves: A Top 10 List

1. Tea parties. Having them with daddy is extra special because I make him dress in a "fancy" shirt and give him scarves.
2. Dancing and gymnastics. Dance parties occur frequently at our home. Anyone see a future in break dancing?
3. Novelty anything. I happened to find these adorable Elmo slippers and wore them during my nap. I'm not so keen on having the camera flash in my eyes right after nap though.

4. Being silly. I took an apple slice and placed it over my mouth to make my mommy and daddy laugh. Just wait until orange slices and soccer games!

5. Playing Pretend. I love to role play and act out a scenario. My favorite is to be a "Wonder Pet" and save a baby animal, preferably a baby elephant.

6. Sleepovers. I came up with this idea one day at naptime and had my own little sleepover outside my bedroom door.

7. Being a Toddler Tornado. I am the BEST at finding multiple activities to do and leaving a room in complete disarray in a matter of minutes. How else would a pirate be able to play the guitar?

8. Cooking. My love for cooking grows day by day. I don't know if it's that I love to help or to taste the food, but it is definitely one of my faves. My mommy and I like to make homemade pizza.

9. Painting. Even if it's in the buff, painting is my outlet.

10. Putting on random outfits at naptime. On this particular day I decided to put on my gymnastics leotard coupled with my OU cheer skirt. Mommy is always so surprised to see what she'll find me in when she comes to get me from nap.