The random ways I spend my days

Here's her FIRST cheesy smile/pose for the camera!





She is a good mama...she puts all her babies to bed and gives them a little pat on the back. Sometimes she even asks them, "are you okay?" And, to ensure she doesn't call a baby by the wrong name...ALL of her babies are named baby Abby...


What a nice little family dinner she's made...


Nana's gettin her piggys


*HELPING* with the laundry


Distracted by the plant while trying on her new leotard...silly girl!

Reading to my friends

It's all "monkey see, monkey do" around here these days. Ava has watched her teachers at school and has brought home such a giving heart to share her books with her "friends". Of course, if you are looking for her friends at bedtime they are her "babies"...

Fun Day at the Pool

Summer is here and the best way we know of to cool off is to go to the POOL!

Ava has definitely learned to love the water and sunshine as much as her momma does... She even knows the difference between her plastic $10 pool that we put in the yard and the big pool. Wanna guess her preference?







We even got to share our fun pool with my friend, Emily, from graduate school! We're both all grown up now...she is an army wife and her husband is deployed so we got a fun week together. Thanks for sharing these pictures!

Ava LOVES the Zoo

Summer has brought a fair share of visitors our way. Nana, Melonie, and Brooke came to stay for the weekend. We showed them all over town...even managed to spend 8 hours at the zoo. I'm guessing it was a hit!



Brooke LOVES Ava...she takes such sweet time with her and treats her like a little sister. She was so careful to point things out to Ava and talk about all the different animals they saw.





Melonie and Brooke looking for some wild animals in BIG CAT COUNTRY


Getting ready to see the Stingray and Horseshoe crab exhibit. This was amazing. It was a little scary putting your hands in the water at first but once that first stingLESS stingray swam under your hand it was addictive.


It smelled very fishy around the pool and you could sometimes see left over shrimp in the water. The stingrays felt very smooth, majestic, and powerful in the water. It reminded me of how precious all creatures really are.









If we only did one thing at the zoo, it would have to be the train! Ava loves the trains, we could have spent the whole 8 hours on the train and she wouldn't have been happier...



The Carousel is always a hit. I love that she has started to be prepared for pictures; looking at and smiling for the camera! She is so fun to photograph now...as opposed to before when you just had to shoot lots and hope for a good one :)






On this visit to the zoo we actually saw the ELEPHANTS! Another of Ava's zoo favorites.

A little tumbling

Ava has recently discovered her love for "gym-astics". After spending some time with her cousin Brooke in the beginning of May, she quickly picked up the skill of doing "trips" {or flips as we would say}. So, her daddy and me decided to put her in a little summer session at the gym to see how well she really liked it...turns out she's a natural!! I only hope that she continues to grow and have FUN with it :)

The Magic House

Dave's request for Father's Day this year was to be together and do something as a family. He choose to go to the Magic House which is the Children's Museum. There are a lot of hands on fun things to do for children of ALL ages :)





Ava gave "PeePaw" a work out using all the different pulley systems. We learned with our own body weight that more pulleys = easier lifting!!



As if we don't spend enough time in the water...



They had a little house set up. Everything was just "Ava size". She had fun sitting at the table drinking her juice and making phone calls.





PeePaw taught Ava about electricity. She liked the ball but she LOVED turning all the knobs and watching the lights go on and off :)





Play time with balls and hoops. Ava knows just what to do with these.





MUSIC, MUSIC, MUSIC!!
We learned about all the different sections of an orchestra and got to hear each section isolated when we sat on different seats. It gave whole new meaning to musical chairs...





Ava made music with so many different things. She played a very large wooden piano, a huge guitar, and with Daddy's help turned a big wheel to make music with a baton.





Jack and the Beanstalk...
Ava climbed this indoor beanstalk.

She needed a little encouragement...

but soon had the whole climbing thing down pat. I think it took a bribe and snack to move on :)

Sweet sayings...

Some Ava originals-

Today we were riding in the car and we passed a house that had a barn. Ava looked out the window and said, "a red barn!" I said, "Yes, like Pawpaw's barn"...to which Ava responded, "it's the tractor's house."

While I was folding laundry Ava was playing with one of her puzzles, it has multiple shapes in different colors. She took one of the shapes and went over to the fireplace. She put one finger in the whole in the middle of the shape and then she put her finger on the fireplace...then she said "I painting"! Blooming quite an imagination :-)

We were recently on the highway when Ava saw a garbage truck in front of us...as we passed it she said "I catched the garbage truck!"

Everything she says has such excitement and energy. I am amazed at all the learning and growing she's doing. Even her memory is getting so sharp. When I put her to bed at night I tell her what she's gonna do the next day...she wakes up and asks if it's time! Too smart for me...

Glad I get to be her momma though...

Blowing Bubbles

Ava just grasped the concept of "blowing" so bubbles are her new favorite thing! Look at that messy spaghetti-o mouth...