Saturday, Saturday, Saturday!

We were all very grateful to have such a long weekend to spend together. With the hectic pace of life, work, and school it was great to have four days with nothing much to do. We told Ava that this week was Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Saturday, Saturday, and Sunday. She thought that was pretty funny and repeated it several times over the weekend.

The first "Saturday" (Thursday) of course was Thanksgiving. On the second "Saturday (Friday) we decorated the whole house for Christmas. Ava helped with everything, especially the lights and the trees. She was excited to see all of the ornaments for the tree. Her favorites were a silver bell that rings and a little painted ornament that has a Siamese cats head painted on it, she calls it the "Sishi" ornament.

On the third "Saturday" (really Saturday) we went to see the Monarch butterflies at Pacific Grove. There were hardly any there so the trip started out as kind of a disappointment. So instead of spending time watching butterflies we went to a playground in Pacific Grove followed by a trip down by the water. The day was beautiful but the water was freezing as you can imagine. The waves were very rough and Dad had to watch her closely or else she could have been swept away. There were a bunch of guys in wetsuits surfing. Ava didn't have a bathing suit and she managed to get pretty wet playing in the waves. She had to ride home in her "birthday suit". That is another expression that she recently learned, we explained why being naked is called your "birthday suit" and she completely understands. But we all suspect that Mommy was actually born in sweatpants.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving day was lots of fun for all of us and the weather was beautiful too. We started early in the morning with Mom doing lots of cooking and preparing in the kitchen. Dad stuffed the turkey. We called all Ava's grandparents and wished everybody a happy Thanksgiving.

Ava and Dad played outside in the backyard and the weather was so warm and sunny that Ava wanted to eat outside. We go the table all set and brought out the food and then the yellow jackets came. So we went back inside. Everything turned out really good. Ava liked the cranberry sauce and rolls. She also like the sparkling pomegranate juice. Desert was the best with Mom's from scratch homemade apple pie. We asked Ava what her favorite foods were and she said the Redi-wip (whipped cream) and ice cream. She liked it so much that she had two servings of it.

Happy Thanksgiving message from Ava

Happy Thanksgiving from Avahontas

In school for the past month Ava has been learning about the story of Thanksgiving. She knows how the Pilgrims took a long boat ride to get to Plymouth Rock and away from the mean King George. She has proudly told the class on several occasions that Plymouth Rock is in Massachusetts where she was born.

Wednesday Ava's school put on a Thanksgiving performance. Her class dressed up in Indian costumes and sang a couple of songs.

Swimming?

Today Dad washed the cars. Ava thought that it would be fun to play in the water, so she ran upstairs and got her bathing suit and rain boots on. But she also knew that it was cold outside so she put her winter hat and scarf on. She was so cute. Mom and Dad didn't let her go out like this though. She had to put on pants and a jacket over top of her bathing suit. Ava helped Dad wash Mom's car, then she played in the car with her stuffed animals and took turns putting them in her car seat.

Talent show!

Ava put on what she called a "talent show" in the garage today. Mom and Dad were the audience. Ava sang and spun an umbrella around. Then she rode her scooter and Dora car. She also rode her bicycle and managed to crash into a box and fall on the ground. She was not hurt though, instead she though it was quite funny. Since today was the UM v. Ohio State game we got out the Michigan car and Ava rode it around the garage. Finally, notice her hair cut. It is adorable and cut perfectly... and it should be, it only cost $30!!!

Ava helps at Mass

Every Friday at Ava's school is the Preschool and Kindergarten Mass. They pick three children to present flowers at this beginning of the mass. The children also get to extinguish the candles at the end. This past Friday was Ava's turn. She carried the flowers in at the beginning and the teacher helped her put them in the vase. Afterward Father Patrick called her name and she walked slowly to the front (they emphasize "slowly", she ran a little, but for Ava it was "slow"). She snuffed out the candle on the first try. Mom and Dad were quite proud.

All of this and she actually had a sick tummy. Dad gave her some Coke on the way to school to try and settle her stomach. But she still ended up having to come home from school early. No worries though, she is not sick or anything.

Moving on!

Last weekend we moved out of our old house and into a new house. We won't miss the old place too much, but it did have one thing that Ava really liked... the swing! Papa gave Ava a few final pushes on the swing. The new house has a whole swingset in the back yard, so the swing will soon be forgotten.

Ava helped a lot with the packing. She put lots of her toys, crafts, and clothes in boxes. She even got up on the ladder and watched Dad do some packing in the garage. She liked the view from up high. She also liked the fact that Dad was a little nervous about her standing up so high on the ladder. She is a little daredevil.

Saint Helena

Last Monday was All Saints day at Ava's school and it was also grandparents day! The school put on a special mass and performance by each class. Ava dressed up as Saint Helena who "discovered the true cross." Mom picked out Ava's costume and even did a modification to it by raising the hem a couple of inches. Papa and Dad made a cross that was perhaps a little too big for Ava to carry, but she liked it and carried it in the procession.

The mass was pretty long and Ava got a little tired. But she still did a great job when they went onto the stage to sing "I just want to be a sheep."

Afterwards Ava took Papa back to her school to show him some of the things that she does in the classroom. Ava had a great time and was happy that Papa could come.

More of our little trick-or-treat'er in action. At this house they didn't answer right away so she turned around with the "what am I supposed to do now?" look on her face.

One of the "tricks" that she got was a set of plastic vampire teeth. These were in one of her books from the library so she knew just what to do with them. I would have to say that she is the cutest little vampire that I have ever seen.

Halloween!

Catching up on some past blogs... Halloween was a lot of fun this year, and not just for Ava! She was very happy with her smiley face costume and was excited for Halloween for weeks. When the big day finally came she told us that she wanted to go to 48 houses. She got this idea from one of her books from the library.

Daddy asked her what he should be for Halloween and she said a ghost. Daddy tried making a clown mask instead, but Ava didn't like it and insisted on a ghost costume. As it turned out the ghost costume was a hit and even the other parents liked it.

At every house Ava would say "Knock. Knock. Trick or treat." When they came to the door she would say "I am a smiley face and I am a girl, my daddy is a ghost, and my mom is at home in case other kids come to the house." Probably more information than most people wanted, but it was cute. We did Halloween in two shifts. First was Ava with Daddy and Papa, then the next was Ava with Daddy and Mom. She did get to all 48 houses and got two full bags of candy. She is alredy pretty sure that next year she will be a smiley face again, or a ghost. And Daddy will be a.... ghost!