Wednesday, January 28, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
Happy Birthday Abigail!
Thanks for inviting us to your splendid Birthday party, Abs! We had so much fun seeing Kiwi the Clown painting faces and making, by far the best, balloon shapes and animals we had EVER seen!
It was a blast!
After a second of hesitation, Ava decided to get her face painted. As you can see, Kiwi the Clown can do anything from dramatic to simple. Ava thought she would just *try* it and see what happened. Well, it didn't hurt and it was short and sweet, so she decided to add a ladybug to her butterfly. What a fun party this was!
It was a blast!
After a second of hesitation, Ava decided to get her face painted. As you can see, Kiwi the Clown can do anything from dramatic to simple. Ava thought she would just *try* it and see what happened. Well, it didn't hurt and it was short and sweet, so she decided to add a ladybug to her butterfly. What a fun party this was!Monday, January 26, 2009
Friday, January 23, 2009
10 things I love about my 22 month old!
Wow, closer and closer to TWO! It makes me so sad and happy at the same time. Where has the time gone?
1. I love when you so innocently say "Oh well" over something that shouldn't be worried about like dropping a toy. You're right, there should be no worries.
2. I love how you describe objects now. It's not just a book it's a "heavy book"; Boo isn't just a cat, he's a "fuzzy cat"; that car over there isn't just a car, it's a "blue car".
3. I love when you sing "Where is Thumbkin?" and "Happy Birthday" and it's not monotone. Your voice inflection is so cute!
4. I love how you say LOOK! Your 'l' sounds like an 'n' almost...."NOOK!, NOOK! out the window!".
5. I love what a little helper you've become. It still takes some effort, but you are trying so hard.
6. I love that you compare things out of nowhere. "Little grape", "Big grape", as you lay them out side by side.
7. I love how tickled you get when Boo is in your crib. It seriously lights up your face.
8. I love that you truly have a mind of your own. It takes a little ( or a lot) of adjustment and patience on our part (which we are working on), but you are on your way to becoming an independent thinker and problem solver.
9. I love what a great eater you are, most days. Of course, as is typical with your age, it varies day by day. But on a good day, you'll eat anything from spinach salad to guacamole, and olives to soybeans. You'll at least try most things also.
10. I love when and how you re-cap your day for daddy when he gets home, telling about all the great things we did that day.
1. I love when you so innocently say "Oh well" over something that shouldn't be worried about like dropping a toy. You're right, there should be no worries.
2. I love how you describe objects now. It's not just a book it's a "heavy book"; Boo isn't just a cat, he's a "fuzzy cat"; that car over there isn't just a car, it's a "blue car".
3. I love when you sing "Where is Thumbkin?" and "Happy Birthday" and it's not monotone. Your voice inflection is so cute!
4. I love how you say LOOK! Your 'l' sounds like an 'n' almost...."NOOK!, NOOK! out the window!".
5. I love what a little helper you've become. It still takes some effort, but you are trying so hard.
6. I love that you compare things out of nowhere. "Little grape", "Big grape", as you lay them out side by side.
7. I love how tickled you get when Boo is in your crib. It seriously lights up your face.
8. I love that you truly have a mind of your own. It takes a little ( or a lot) of adjustment and patience on our part (which we are working on), but you are on your way to becoming an independent thinker and problem solver.
9. I love what a great eater you are, most days. Of course, as is typical with your age, it varies day by day. But on a good day, you'll eat anything from spinach salad to guacamole, and olives to soybeans. You'll at least try most things also.
10. I love when and how you re-cap your day for daddy when he gets home, telling about all the great things we did that day.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
The Kitchen Helper
Seriously, the best invention ever is Guidecraft's Kitchen Helper. Our days are much more easier with the help of this thing. Ava is able to see what I'm doing and help me cook. When I start to cook at the end of each day, Ava wants to "help you" and now she really can.
Here she is helping me chop carrots for chicken rice soup.
Her beautiful, approving smile.
And she even eats standing on it.
Three Cheers for the Kitchen Helper! Okay, a bit too cheesy, but I love this thing. Thank you Grandma for our beloved Kitchen Helper.
Here she is helping me chop carrots for chicken rice soup.
Her beautiful, approving smile.
And she even eats standing on it.
Three Cheers for the Kitchen Helper! Okay, a bit too cheesy, but I love this thing. Thank you Grandma for our beloved Kitchen Helper.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Painting Rocks
It was too beatiful of a day last week not to sit outside and do an activity. I'd seen this activity and wanted to try it, thanks Jenny! So we set out to paint rocks. There is no real story to this, but a fun afternoon with a 22 month old and her mom, sitting outside painting and talking. I love days like this.
Here is my beautiful little girl. Although the apron would have been an appropriate clothing-saver that I should have thought of, it was actually Ava who wanted to wear it, all. day. long.
Carefully painting her first rock.
Who needs a brush when you can finger paint? Yes, literally paint your fingers. 
Love those little hands. 
Here is my beautiful little girl. Although the apron would have been an appropriate clothing-saver that I should have thought of, it was actually Ava who wanted to wear it, all. day. long.
Carefully painting her first rock.Who needs a brush when you can finger paint? Yes, literally paint your fingers. Love those little hands. 
The finished product. We had to let them dry before we did the color sorting activity. She loved the sorting activity. Placing the red, yellow, and blue rocks in their appropriate places in the egg carton. 
Saturday, January 17, 2009
A late night convo with Ava
Aves was up last night and ended up sleeping with us....don't ask. But, after the 3rd failed attempt of mommy trying to put her down in her own bed, daddy went it to get her to bring her in bed with us. Only, Ava was specifically asking for "mommy come get you, mommy come get Ava", but it was daddy's turn, and she did NOT like it!
In a matter of 15 seconds, I kid you not, she had worked herself into such a tizzy that it took her almost 15 minutes to calm down and breathe normal. All because she wanted mommy to come pick her up.
So as I held her in bed and rubbed her back, her fit was dying down. And here is our conversation:
Mommy: "It's okay, mommy's here." ::rubs her back::
Ava: "Mommy's here."
Mommy: "Yes, remember that both mommy and daddy can come get you."
Ava: "Mommy snuggle."
Mommy: "Okay, but first, promise me that mommy and daddy will get an invite to the Oscar's when you win one day (for her dramatic performances)."
Ava: "Yeah."
Mommy: ::hmmm, wondering how she was so agreeable to going to the Oscar's when she has no idea what they are::
Silence for a moment
Ava: "And go to Elmo's too. And Cookie Monster too. And Big Bird."
Mommy: ::laughing because it's THAT Oscar!:: "Oh yes, and we'll see all of them too."
In a matter of 15 seconds, I kid you not, she had worked herself into such a tizzy that it took her almost 15 minutes to calm down and breathe normal. All because she wanted mommy to come pick her up.
So as I held her in bed and rubbed her back, her fit was dying down. And here is our conversation:
Mommy: "It's okay, mommy's here." ::rubs her back::
Ava: "Mommy's here."
Mommy: "Yes, remember that both mommy and daddy can come get you."
Ava: "Mommy snuggle."
Mommy: "Okay, but first, promise me that mommy and daddy will get an invite to the Oscar's when you win one day (for her dramatic performances)."
Ava: "Yeah."
Mommy: ::hmmm, wondering how she was so agreeable to going to the Oscar's when she has no idea what they are::
Silence for a moment
Ava: "And go to Elmo's too. And Cookie Monster too. And Big Bird."
Mommy: ::laughing because it's THAT Oscar!:: "Oh yes, and we'll see all of them too."
Friday, January 16, 2009
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
What a big girl!
Ava looks so big to me in these pictures. It was a series of pictures I took when she got herself dressed in mommy's shirt and added a necklace to match. Big huh?
Monday, January 5, 2009
A Girl and her Red Balloon
Ava was loving her red balloon from the grocery store. 
She loved letting it go and having me jump up and snag it. She thought that was hilarious. Until.........
......the red balloon went a little bit higher than Mommy could reach. Oops!
Oh well, she decided, I'll play with my hair bow that my pals Melissa and Paisley made for me. Thanks so much! We love it! 
And that's the short story of a girl and her red balloon.
She loved letting it go and having me jump up and snag it. She thought that was hilarious. Until.........
......the red balloon went a little bit higher than Mommy could reach. Oops!Oh well, she decided, I'll play with my hair bow that my pals Melissa and Paisley made for me. Thanks so much! We love it! And that's the short story of a girl and her red balloon.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Imagination, there's nothing quite like it!
I can't believe how much Ava is using her little imagination. It's growing by the day. It's mostly pretending to cook and eat different foods or playing baby (i.e. feeding, changing diapers, going for walks), but lately she has me cracking up.
We were in the car one day and she was eating some dried mango. She took a few bites and shouted "LION"! "ROAR"! I glanced back and she was holding up what was left of her mango with bites taken out of it and sure enough it looked like a lion's head with the mouth open! I didn't have a camera or I would have taken a picture of the mango.
She does this all the time now. Yesterday she took bites out of her mango and it happened to look like a "sip cup" and she pretended to drink from it.
Blows me away.
Today she drew a picture for me and as she drew each piece she told me what it was, with lots of detail, no prompting from me. You see, the right-side scribble image is a "water". Up in the left hand corner is a "bumble bee". Down at the bottom is a "frog reading a book". The oval shape over to the left is a "pear". Pretty impressive!
We were in the car one day and she was eating some dried mango. She took a few bites and shouted "LION"! "ROAR"! I glanced back and she was holding up what was left of her mango with bites taken out of it and sure enough it looked like a lion's head with the mouth open! I didn't have a camera or I would have taken a picture of the mango.
She does this all the time now. Yesterday she took bites out of her mango and it happened to look like a "sip cup" and she pretended to drink from it.
Blows me away.
Today she drew a picture for me and as she drew each piece she told me what it was, with lots of detail, no prompting from me. You see, the right-side scribble image is a "water". Up in the left hand corner is a "bumble bee". Down at the bottom is a "frog reading a book". The oval shape over to the left is a "pear". Pretty impressive!
She's very also very good at making a connection with stories we read or things we talk about with real-world situations. For example, the other day she was eating a clementine. I was watching her lay out each. piece. of. clementine. one. at. a. time. She was saying something every time she did, but I wasn't getting it. Finally, I heard what she was saying, as she'd put each piece out, she'd say....
"crescent moon" and point
"crescent moon" and point
"crescent moon" and point
I couldn't believe that she made that connection! She knows a lot of shapes, but to see it in the "baby oranges" as she calls them, was too cute!
Happy 2009!
We spent New Year's Eve with some old friends of Ryan's, which are our family friends, and had a blast playing games and Guitar Hero on Wii.
Loving my mommy and daddy. Can you tell she's kind of going through a phase of "mommy's girl"? 
Daddy is a ROCK STAR!
Ava's a ROCK STAR too! She loves to sing now!
Some of the NYE band members. Note daddy in the background.
Eating our traditional New Year's black-eyed peas and sausage balls. 
Ava loved them!
We wish everyone a HEALTHY new year!!
Loving my mommy and daddy. Can you tell she's kind of going through a phase of "mommy's girl"? Daddy is a ROCK STAR!
Ava's a ROCK STAR too! She loves to sing now!
Some of the NYE band members. Note daddy in the background.
Eating our traditional New Year's black-eyed peas and sausage balls. Ava loved them!We wish everyone a HEALTHY new year!!
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Playing Christmas Catch-up!
We loved visiting with friends and family over the holidays, here are some pictures of the highlights of our travels.
Our first stop was to Oklahoma to see "Nano", Austin, and Rach, Si, and Rylee but I forgot the camera. Then we went to Tulsa to spend some much needed time with Aunt Gretchen and Grandma and Hoppy. 
We then came back down to Texas to see Gigi, Poppy, and uncle Aaron. Check out the new tricycle uncle Aaron got Ava. It's perfect because we can steer it from behind with the handle. All decked in Elmo slippers, riding a trike. What more does a girl need?
Ava's favorite person to snuggle with, Poppy. 
Christmas morning, checking out all the presents....
....was a little overwhelming. 
Practicing the trike again with uncle Aaron, who Ava loves!
Our Family of three. 
We finally made it home and talked about how thankful we are to be surrounded by so much family and friends who love us. We got the last round of Holiday cards in the mail so we could show off our lovely Christmas tree. Our "todder proof" decorations included decorating the Christmas tree with the cards we received from family and friends. It was perfect. Ava looked forward to checking the mail and putting them on the tree each day. She was free to take them off and look at them whenever she pleased. Easy decorations that mean so much (and easy clean-up too).
We let Ava open an early Christmas present, on our own little family Christmas before we left. Thanks grandma for the blocks! Ava's imagination is blowing up and these really help me. As you can see, I made a birthday cake all by myself for mommy. 
We then came back down to Texas to see Gigi, Poppy, and uncle Aaron. Check out the new tricycle uncle Aaron got Ava. It's perfect because we can steer it from behind with the handle. All decked in Elmo slippers, riding a trike. What more does a girl need?Christmas morning, checking out all the presents........was a little overwhelming. Practicing the trike again with uncle Aaron, who Ava loves!Our Family of three. We finally made it home and talked about how thankful we are to be surrounded by so much family and friends who love us. We got the last round of Holiday cards in the mail so we could show off our lovely Christmas tree. Our "todder proof" decorations included decorating the Christmas tree with the cards we received from family and friends. It was perfect. Ava looked forward to checking the mail and putting them on the tree each day. She was free to take them off and look at them whenever she pleased. Easy decorations that mean so much (and easy clean-up too).
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