Camping along the Russian River

Camping! This past Memorial Day weekend we went camping along the Russian River. Our campground was called Schoolhouse Canyon. It was set back off the road in a grove of redwood trees. This was a stump that was at our campsite. It was so big that Ava could walk through it. Dad asked Ava what kind of trees these were and she said "redwoods". Dad always says "they are so tall and straight as a ..." and then Ava says "pencil". We pitched our tent right next to this stump. We camped Saturday and Sunday nights and left after breakfast on Monday morning. Ava had lots and lots of fun.

Balancing act

We don't know if this is an officially sanctioned job or not. But Ava made a little maze with the red sticks and then balanced something. She then proceeded to walk through the maze.

Baby chicks (part II)

The baby chicks are bigger now and the teachers took them out of the little pen and let the children touch them. Ava thought that this was pretty neat as you can see by the smile on her face!

Build-a-bear

Sunday was Lindsay's birthday party at Build-a-bear in Walnut Creek, CA. Ava made a Hello Kitty stuffed animal. The children pick out the animal that they want and then put a tiny red stuffed heart into it. Then one of the workers takes it to the stuffing machine and stuffs it and sews it up while the child watches. Ava named her stuffed animal "Cat". She really likes it and held it the whole car ride home and took it to bed too.

New nightgown

Ava insists on wearing her favorite pajamas every night. She picks a favorite and sticks with it for months before changing her mind to a new favorite. A while ago her favorite was Handy Manny, then it switched to a kitty nightgown, and last night it changed to the Disney princess nightgown that Mimi sent her. It is nice and long and warm as these spring nights in California are still a little chilly sometimes.

Princess party

Saturday was Amelia's birthday party. The theme was "Princess Party". Ava was happy to dress up in her princess dress and jewelry. Dad painted her nails blue sparkle to match her dress.

Teacher appreciation

Last week was teacher appreciation week at school. One of the days the children brought in flowers to their teachers. Ava picked out a bunch of nice flowers from our yard and brought them in for her two teachers. Actually Ava had the idea to bring in six flowers, one for each teacher including the other two classrooms, but there was some confusion and Ava's room mother didn't let her bring the flowers to the other teachers. So Ava's teachers wound up with all six flowers.

Breakfast smiley faces

Ava's favorite breakfast for months now has been pancakes. Mom buys her frozen pancakes from Trader Joes grocery store. Ava likes to have them decorated with butter in the shape of a smiley face. Every morning Mom or Dad meticulously cuts thin pieces of butter into eyes, nose, and mouth for the smiley faces. Ava loves butter as much as she loves the pancakes. She also has strawberries and sometimes a slice of swiss cheese.

Happy Birthday Auntie Tara and Papa

Here is a birthday wish from Ava!!!

Hoedown!

Sunday we went to a Hoedown. It was at San Jose History Park and was sponsored by Ava's classroom as part of the Canyon Heights auction event. There was a barbque cookout, music, face painting, bounce house, and even a little spring horse to ride. Ava really enjoyed that and yelled "wooohooo" as she rode!

Self portrait

Not sure what Ava was trying to do here. Maybe she was trying to take a picture of herself, or maybe of her makeup table. But anyways you can see how well she can hold and aim the camera. A regular little shutterbug!

New nightstand

Mom found the perfect nightstand for Ava. It has a drawer and matches the color of her bed. Ava helped Dad put it together. Then she put her water, kleenex, and a picture of Dena on it. She put her chapstick in the drawer. Finally the San Jose Giants handmit in the back. Here she is wearing her new favorite kitty pajamas. We also have a matching nightstand for her baby sister's room.

Lincoln logs

Ava, Mom, and Dad did some lincoln log building this weekend. Ava is really getting the hang of it and makes some little things on her own. Usually quite imaginative things like slides and a "popcorn stand". Then she gets her guys and makes up a little play.

Smell the roses

We have some really nice rose bushes in the backyard. Here is Ava smelling one of them.

Strawberries!

Strawberries are one of Mom's and Ava's favorite treats. Saturday we went to a farm in Watsonville and picked 7.5 pounds of strawberries. They were some of the biggest, reddest, and juiciest strawberries you have ever seen. Nothing grows like here in California. Ava was a pretty good little strawberry picker, she learned how to tell that they were ripe enough and how to hold them when picking them. Here she is with the bucket that she picked all by herself. Later we went home and made strawberry smoothies. Mom tried to snead a bananna in the smoothies but Ava could tell right away... she does not like banannas at all!

Go Giants!

San Jose Giants game on Friday night. Stayed out way past Ava's bedtime! Dad bought Ava a big orange SJ Giants handmit (it was all that she said that she wanted). Mom gave three tickets to Jake from Ava's class and his parents. Ava and Jake ran around and screamed and played for the whole time. Couldn't get both of them to stand still and look at the camera for a picture!

Cucina Bambina

Wednesday afternoon Ava went to a place called Cucina Bambina where children can make thier own pizza and cupcakes. This was an outing for children that was part of the auction that Ava's school had as a fundraiser. Miss Orta was one of the hostesses for the event. The children decorated their chef hats and wrote their names. Here you can see Ava mixing the pizza dough and Miss Orta behind her. Ava was very excited about this and there was a big smile on her face the whole time. She at almost the entire pizza that she made and of course the cupcake.

Baby chicks

The kindergarten boys class at Ava's school hatched some baby chicks. They had eggs under heat lamps and the other day the eggs hatched. Ava's class got to go in and look at the baby chicks just after they were hatched. Here are Ava and Ema looking at them. Ava was so excited that she came home and told Mom and Dad all about it. This was part of the zoology section that they are learning at school.

For Miss Orta

Ava's latest drawing. This is a drawing that Ava did for teacher's appreciation week. It is a picture of Ava and Miss Orta and the resemblences are pretty accurate.

Barrettes for my baby sister

Ava likes thinking about what her baby sister might need and the other day she imagined that her baby sister would need some barrettes for her hair and a comb. So Ava packed these into a little envelope and said "these are for my baby sister".

Swimming with Bridgette

Saturday Dad had to go to work so Mom and Ava went to Bridgette's Cabana Club for some swimming. It was a nice warm and sunny 70 degree day. Ava and Bridgette both used noodles and swam together with Bridgette's Dad Mr Kelly behind them in the water. Both of the girls were a little competitive and wanted to get to the other side of the pool first.

Library books

Saturday was a booksale at the library. Mom and Ava got there when the doors opened and got a bunch of good deals on books. Some were Ava's usual favorites like "Little Bear", but others were ones that she hadn't read before like the "Berenstein Bears". Her favorite of the new books is one called "Marsupial Sue" which is about a kangaroo. Here are Mom and Ava reading the new books. It would have been a great picture except Ava decided to make her frowny face to be funny.

Play ball!

Every month the school changes some of the jobs to create a theme for the month. The coming of Spring and the month of May must mean baseball season has arrived! Ava is doing a job here with little baseball figures and bats. Each green square has a number on it. The student must place players and bats on the square that equal the number. Ava always gets very excited about the new jobs and comes home and tells us all about the jobs and how to do them.

Scuba diving in the backyard

The 60" plastic pools finally arrived at Ace Hardware. Ava called Dad at work on Friday and had him come home early so that he could take her in the truck to get one. When she got the pool home she wasted no time in getting in to her bathing suit and new scuba gear, notice the flippers on her feet and the scuba mask. Hard to imagine scuba diving in a foot of water but Ava managed.

Daddy's pigtails

Dad got Ava ready for school on Tuesday and she decided that she wanted pigtails. Mom is the hair expert but Dad decided to give it a go. It pulled a little and Ava almost cried a little, but she let Dad finish. The pigtails came out pretty good and the teachers in the dropoff line were impressed. They said that they have seen many "bad Daddy hairdos" and that this one was pretty good. Maybe almost as good as Mom can do? Probably not.

Happy birthday Simon!

Simon turned 8 on May 4th. Mom has always told Ava that Simon likes chocolate ice cream and coffee. So Ava wanted to give Simon some chocolate ice cream for his birthday. But as the picture clearly shows the ice cream was really for Ava. She even held up the bowl and drank the melted ice cream! She was a little chocolate mess! Simon did have his own little bowl and took a couple of licks.

Puppet show

Ava put on a puppet show the other night before bed. There were several acts... Blue's Clues, Kitties, and Mickey and Goofy. Then Ava made Mom put on a short puppet show.

May Crowning

Monday was the May Crowning mass at Ava's school. In the morning Ava and Dad found the biggest White Lily in the front yard. It was about as big as Ava's head! She was so proud of the flower and the teachers were quite impressed in the drop-off line.