Pull-UpTown

The other day we bought a new box of pull-ups at Costco. She opened the box and put all 88 of them in a circle and called it "Pull-UpTown." First she pretended to do circle time with some of her guys and then moved on to something else. She even wrote her name on a few of them! Afterwards, she helped me pick them all up like a big girl!

Last night we put her to bed with one of these new pull-ups on. At 3am we were awakened by Ava screaming and crying. Apparently, she had taken off her pull up right after we put her to bed because it was itchy. She usually gets herself dressed for bed and I think it may have been a little twisted. Anyway, everything was soaked so we had to change her and take her into our bed. Of course, I had just washed the sheets the day before. Tonight I made her promise to never do that again.

Sunday Best

Last Sunday morning Ava picked out her clothes for church. She called it her "Sunday clothes". Arita told her it is actually called "Sunday best". Ava then asked if your Monday clothes are called your "Monday best". She looked cute in her fur coat and hot pink shoes compliments of Mimi.

This week she picked a navy blue striped dress and light pink leggings that Grandma got her. She also went to her first Sunday school. The priest asked all of the children to come up for a blessing, then the next thing we know they are walking them out of the church and into another room. We didn't know what would happen... maybe they would bring her back or something. She stayed for the whole thing and came back very excited with a picture story about Jesus and the blind man that she can color at home. Actually, she sprinted back to us and later we discovered that she took off her socks and tucked them into her leggings!

Canyon Heights Fall Kickoff

Last Saturday was the Fall Kickoff event at Ava's school. It was a really great time for the children and also gave Mom and Dad a chance to meet some of the other parents. Lots of great food too.

Ava enjoyed the bouncy house (see how high she can jump!) and bouncy slide. She also did her best to climb a rock wall. Ava did the cake walk twice (she loves cupcakes)! She also did some crafts and got her face painted like a cat. She had a great time!

Raspberry show!

Ava always has fruit at the end of breakfast. Sometimes it is raspberries. She puts them on her fingers and sings a song that she made up called "Raspberry show". It goes "5 little raspberry show", then she eats one and sings "4 little raspberry show". As you can imagine this continues until all of the raspberries are gone. I guess that this is her version of "99 bottles of beer on the wall".

Car wash

After the rain last week Mom decided that her car needed a wash. So Ava and Mom went to the quarter wash. Ava put the quarters in and Mom helped her do some spraying. But Ava was much more interested in running around the car and being sprayed. All the quarter wash did was rearrange the dirt on the car, but Ava came home more clean than the car. So at least Ava got a good wash out of it.

Rain, finally!

Sorry that it has been a while since the last entry. We will try to catch up. On Monday October 12th it rained pretty good here. It was the first really good rain in months and a sure sign that Fall has arrived. Ava was excited to see the rain and to play in it.

She loves wearing her boots and using her umbrella. She stomps around in the puddles and splashes everywhere.

A couple of days later it had rained again and there was a puddle. Ava and her friend Bridget thought it would be fun to play in the puddle. They thought it would be a good idea to put their hair in the puddle too! That was a bath night for sure.

Another thing that Ava likes about the rain is that they can't play outside at school, so they have to stay in and watch a DVD. We don't watch any TV during the day so this is really the only TV that she gets and really enjoys it.

Mornings with Ava

Ava and mommy have two different morning routines. One on school mornings and a different one on the off days. When Ava is not going to school she likes to sit on the couch and read. Lately it has been a little chilly in the mornings so she snuggles up under a blanket. On school mornings it can sometimes be a battle to get her to eat breakfast and get dressed so that she gets there on time. Friday she actually got up at 6am and played by herself until 7:30am when mom and dad got up. She had herself already half dressed. She also like to put pig tails and barrettes in her hair lately.

Rain or Snow?!??!

Ava is ready for anything! Rain or snow! Apparently after six straight months of nothing but sunshine she is ready for a change. She sometimes asks why it is cloudy and if it rains in October. A couple of times in the past week she has gotten some of her winter clothes out and said "I need these for the snow in Boston". Guess that we'll have to take her up into the mountains this winter so that she can play in the snow. Maybe Mom and Dad can even go skiing for the first time in three or four years! And yes Ava it will probably rain in October. We have already had a few pretty cloudy days already.

Playtime at Home

Ava was a busy girl over the weekend with her imaginative play. She held a circle time with her animals and she pretended to be the teacher. She sang songs and read them stories. It was really cute.

Last week at school they did a marble painting. It came out really good so I asked Ava if she could do another one at home for us. She set everything up herself- paper cups with different color paints and a marble and fork for each cup. She also told us that we needed a "litter box" to do it in. Thankfully she didn't go to the garage to get that. Instead, I took out one of our baking dishes. She then scooped the marble out of the paint with the fork and pushed it across the paper, making a beautiful design.

Ava also had a great time playing with her guys and dollhouse. She played quietly by herself for nearly an hour. She even told us that she didn't want us to disturb her. In her words, it was "Don't bother me, I'm playing by myself."

Lastly, on Sunday afternoon we went to the community center down the street to fly her kite. It was a windy day so perfect for kite flying. The kite flew as high as it could go (probably 100 feet) and Ava held on so tight all by herself. We were so proud of her. Then, Daddy thought he would take control of the kite to show Ava some diving tricks. After a few minutes of this, Dad got a little too confident and somehow let go of the handle. It took off high into the sky. Ava screamed and cried like she had just been severely injured. Daddy ran after the kite and dove, but to no avail. He then disappeared behind the buildings tracking the kite. When we caught up with him, the kite was stuck on one of the buildings and in a tree. He somehow managed to grap hold of part of the string. After another ten minutes, he got the kite down. He even has a cut around his eye to show for it.

Daddy's Weekend Away

With Daddy away, I went on a Marshalls shopping spree. In addition to some new shirts and pants, I also bought a new pair of shoes. I left the shoes by the front door. Later in the day, I heard a loud clunking noise. When I turned around, Ava had put them on and was walking around. When it comes to waking in heels I guess she is a natural... Just like Mimi!

Since it was just the two of us, I told Ava that she could pick what she wanted for dinner. Friday night she decided on pizza with broccoli, mushrooms and steak. We went to Trader Joes and bought some dough. Ava helped put the toppings on including the cheese which mostly disappeared into her mouth. She was quite proud of herself and I was really proud of her too. Saturday night she choose edamame, chicken and "bug" noodles.

Ava also decided that she wanted to get out the Halloween supplies. They were in Rich's garage so we had to go dig them out. Of course, they were right in the middle of the pile so I had to move several heavy boxes. Ava even tried to help me lift them. We found lights, pumpkins, window clings, a stuffed ghost and other decorations. She decorated the whole house. Afterwards, I carved a Tigger pumpkin. It took me over an hour, but she patiently waited. Hopefully it will make it to Halloween!

Moose Pajamas

Lately, Ava has been interested in moose. A few weeks ago we took a book out of the library that was all about moose. There were several interesting tidbits of information in there that I didn't know. For example, a moose's hair is hollow which allows the hair to trap air next to their body to keep them warm. The hollow hair also helps them float!
Anyway, when we were at Costco the other day, she spotted a pair of fleece footed pajamas with moose all over them. The feet even look like moose heads. The weather has been cooler lately so we found them just in time. They have been keeping Ava nice and snug at night and she is even sleeping 12 hours a night. They other night she asked to go to bed at about 7:30. Todd and I looked at each other, thinking she was fooling around, but then we realized that she was serious. Let's just say that we put her right to bed before she changed her mind. We think she has been sleeping so well because she is growing. She is constantly hungry and has grown nearly 2 1/2 inches in the past two months. I first noticed it when I buckled her into her car seat and it was too tight around her shoulders. I kept blaming Todd for tightening it too much and then I realized that she was the one who was growing!