Bike riding and strolling

Saturday Mom took Sarah for a walk in the stroller and Ava rode her bike.

Swinging on a sunny day

We have had a really good week of sunny and warm weather. While Ava was at school Mom took Sarah out to the back yard for some swing time.

Rice cereal

Sarah has been showing some interest in eating. She reaches for food if Mom or Dad are holding her and eating. Thursday we decided to give Sarah her first "dinner". Ava fed her some rice cereal with milk, Mom and Dad helped feed her some too. Sarah kind of knew how to eat and even took the spoon and wouldn't let go. When the bowl was empty she cried and Mom had to give her more. Pretty soon maybe everybody will be eating at "family" dinner time.

Kiwi picking

After the hike at Ano Nuevo we stopped at the fruit farm to pick some kiwi! Mom was excited that you could pick kiwi without actually going to New Zealand! Ava found this long stick and said that it was a donkey that she was riding.

Ano Nuevo

Sunday we went on a hike at Ano Nuevo to see the elephant seals. They are there during Dec-Feb mating and giving birth. It was a super warm (70F) and sunny day for January. Ava was able to see the elephant seals up close, especially with her binoculars. She said that she "liked spotting things". The hike was about 3 miles and Ava did the whole hike in her new boots!

Magnet madness!

Ava got some princess magnets to play with!

Leapster

Now Ava has the complete Leapster setup including case and headphones! This will give her lots to do for car rides and airplane flights!

Bouncy House!

The big event for Saturday was getting out the bouncy house that Mimi and Papa gave Ava for her birthday. She had a big time with it and was outside several times during the day running, bouncing, and sliding!

Sarah & Simon

Sarah can roll over now from her back to her tummy. She started doing this all by herself on Saturday afternoon. She has been close for a while and Mom worked with showing her how to do it. So far she can do it by rolling to her right. Hopefully she can soon figure out how to roll from her tummy to her back. She was rolling later on Saturday and ended up rolling right next to Simon. He sat there pretty quiet for a while and then decided that he should go somewhere else and avoid all of the attention! Watch out Simon! You will have two girls chasing you pretty soon! When that happens we expect that we might only see him after dark when the girls go to bed.

Ava with her birthday presents

Ava after her birthday party with the presents that all of her friends gave to her. She received many nice gifts. She has a lot of thank you notes to write!

Smiles

Sarah is a happy baby. She likes to smile at Mom, Dad, and Big Sister Ava. Here she was on Saturday afternoon watching Mom and Ava play in the bouncy house.

Sunglasses

Ava with Dad's sunglasses.

Birthday at School!

Thurs Jan 13th at school Ava had her birthday celebration during circle time. Mom, Dad, and Sarah watched Ava be the helper. She led the prayers, pledge of allegiance, and songs. Ava also did the calendar and counted the days that they have been in school (89 days!). Finally she named the continents and months of the year and walked the earth (globe) around the sun (candle) five times. Then Ava served snacks to the class--blue cotton candy ice cream and graham cracker cookies.

Birthday party!

Sunday Jan 16th was Ava's 5th birthday party. The party was at Kids Park (an indoor play area) and 25 of her friends from school were the guests. All of the kids had a great time. They made party hats and did a parachute game and played for almost 2 hours. Mom made snacks for the kids and sandwiches for the Moms & Dads. Mom also made this huge "Hello Kitty" cake. It took three 13x9 cake sheet to make a "Hello Kitty" that was 16 inches wide and 26 inches long. Ava was quite proud of the cake and was happy to have all of her friends to play with. Her friends were very kind and gave her lots of nice presents. She is truly blessed.

Uvas Canyon hike

Last weekend the family went on a hike in Uvas Canyon. Was only about 20 miles from the house and there were lots of waterfalls all along the trail. Ava hiked on her own and Mom had Sarah in the carrier. We had lunch at the top of the canyon. It was a little cold so we all bundled up a bit and wore our hats.

Making pizza

Friday night Ava and Dad made pizza. Ava used her own knife to cut the peppers and mushrooms. She helped Dad roll out the crust and put the toppings on. The pizza was gluten-free and was better than others that we have found in stores. So the Ava & Dad Pizza Co. may be in business on Friday nights!

Happy 5th Birthday Ava!

Ava had a wonderful 5th Birthday! Thank you to Grandma & Grandpa, Mimi & Papa, and Aunti Tara for the beautiful gifts! Ava had a very special day and enjoyed opening presents all day long! If you ask her what her favorite gift is she will say "everything"!

Wiggling out

Sarah loves her bouncy seat. She will sit in it and move her left leg up and down in order to make it bounce. Lately she has started to push with both of her legs and try to wiggle out of it. Need to make sure that she is buckled in!

Computer

Ava has turned into quite the little computer bug. Mom found a couple of web sites that have reading games and Ava loves to play them. When she isn't playing on the computer she also likes to play her new leapster game. But she still loves here old favorite past times--dolls and stuffed animals playing house, and drawing and coloring and crafts.

Teething?

Not yet, but she loves to chew. This was an old blog from December that was never posted. This was when Sarah was starting to hold some things and chew on them. Now she will reach and grab at toys if you hold them up. Just the other night at dinner she was sitting on Dad's lap and reached out for something on the table and nearly knocked it on the floor!

Tip-up

Ava working on a "tip-up" with Mrs. Theresa. Basically she is trying to put her hands down and kick her feet up into a handstand and then back down. Probably a lot harder than it looks especially when you are only 5 years old, but she is trying.

Ava's commercial

Ava calls this her "commercial". She is quite a clown for the camera sometimes. This was on Christmas morning and she was pretty excited and couldn't stop talking, dancing, singing, etc.

Pansies loving the rain!

All of the rain so far this season in the Bay area has really helped the grass and plants. Even the pansies that Ava planted in October with Grandma look great!

Sisters at play

Mom found a baby swing that somebody was being given away. It is really nice and has heavy chains, kind of like playground quality. We put it up on our swingset in the backyard and the girls can swing together. There was just enough of a break in the rain on Sunday to give it a try. Sarah seems to love swinging about as much as Ava did when she was a baby.

Trampoline

Ava at her gymnastics lesson with Mrs. Theresa. In 30 minutes they manage to work on a little bit of everything. Here is Ava working on the trampoline. She listens really well and tries her best. Mrs. Theresa said that she is doing great and is really strong. Her favorite thing is practicing cart wheels.

Remembering Dena

Dena Marie
March 19, 1996 - January 5, 2011

Mom rescued Dena from the Shiawasee County Humane Society on March 19, 1998. We believe at that time she was 2 years old. She was with us for almost 13 years and will always be part of our family. She made us laugh and smile lots of times. Her favorite foods were any kind of raw meat, cheese, and milk. Dena would come into the kitchen when Mom was preparing dinner and look for food. Later she would come to the dinner table looking for food and Ava would spare one piece of her meat and give it to Dena. She loved going outside and drinking from water puddles. She had the softest fur and was a beautiful cat. This morning on her way to school Ava said "Na-na is my favorite kitty". She brought unconditional love and joy to Mom's heart every day. Dena will be sadly missed by our family.

Sarah's first swing

On the day after Christmas it was pretty sunny, but a little chilly. Everybody bundled up pretty warm and headed off for the park. Sarah got pushed in the baby swing for the first time. Ava did the best job pushing her little sister.