Back home!

We are finally back home from our back to back vacations! Two weeks being gone is way too long. We had a blast with our families but we are glad to be back home. I'm too exhausted to upload pictures and we have a sick puppy dog I will be taking to the vet today (I think a combo of being stressed and exhausted from being boarded so long).....so stay tuned for more posts on our fun vacations.

Ordinary day

This video isn't anything special {well, ok I think it is because Ava is in it} but I am posting it because I want to do better at capturing everyday moments with her on video. Someday soon I want to do a "day in the life of Ava" post and just take the camera with me and take pictures of all the things we do on a typical day around the house. I heard from a friend recently that they knew of someone who hired a photographer to do this with their family. I love that idea! Those are the memories that I want to capture in a picture. These precious days that her and I get to spend together will way too soon become just memories. Is it wierd that I am already getting sad about her going to Kindergarten?! Geez!

*sidenote-letting Ava play in the bathroom sink while I get ready in the morning has been awesome! A little messy but at least I can keep an eye on her and she is entertained.

Rocks, Flowers, and Coloring

What do these things have in common? These are Ava's three interests, at least at the moment, that I want to remember and make a concious effort to focus some activities on. She likes a lot of things but it is amazing how much attention she gives to playing with, talking about, and noticing these things when we are out and about. For example:

Rocks-Anytime we are in the sandbox playing all she wants to do is use her little sifter toy and sift through the sand so she can find tiny rocks and put them in a little cup and talk about them. She could do this all day. She notices rocks at construction sites and rocks in the pavement. It makes me want to start a rock collection with her. I think she would love it and they might just become her most treasured possessions and travel with us everywhere we go.

Flowers- When we go on walks around the neighborhood she is on a mission to spot any and all flowers along the way. She would pick all the flowers in our neighbors yards if I let her. Now everytime we are on a walk or in the car and she sees flowers she says "Can't pick'em. Not ours." She has heard me say that enough that it comes out of her mouth immediately. This little phrase has also come in handy at Target when she sees something she wants because usually if I just say "We can't touch it. It's not ours" then she is cool with it and we are able to escape without a tantrum. I'm thinking since she loves flowers so much that that should be my excuse for buying fresh flowers for the house every week like we were able to afford when I was working. ;)

Coloring- Do I really need to touch on this topic? The girl is cRaZy obsessed with it and I love that about her, I truly do. Not a day goes by where we dont spend at least 10 minutes coloring together (whether its with me, daddy, or by herself). It' so cool to me that at such a young age I am already beginning to see the things that she is passionate about and is good at! Studying rocks and flower gazing definitely come second and third in line to coloring but I want to encourage all of these things because she loves them. I just wish I could encourage her NOT to want to color in the car because melted crayons on the seats and floorboards, which there have been a few already, are not going to be good for resale value!

Maybe someday my little Ava will become an Artist, Geologist, or Horticulturist and now I can show her this post and say "See, I knew when you were 2!". :)

Learning Time

My friend Melissa recently recommended a great book on learning activities to with your kids called Mommy Teach Me. I began reading it and my love for teaching started to emerge again. I had already been doing little things with Ava but after reading this book and then coming across this blog, thanks Cassie, I quickly went out to Dollar Tree and bought a few items to start incorporating "Learning Time" into our day.

We by no means do this every day but whenever we have some free time I will sit down with Ava and teach her something new or just let her explore new objects and let the teaching go from there. Our conversations have been amazing and she is already learning so many new things! I have been wanting to do things like this with her for some time because a) I want and need to spend more one on one time with her with no other distractions b) I want her to develop a love for learning and c) it makes our day a little more fun and productive.

One of the first things I did with her was let her play with all my buttons. I tell ya, they were and still are a HIT!! (In fact we have had our fair share of crying fits when we have to put them away) As she was playing with them we would talk about concepts such as big and small, same and different, shiny and dull, and also learn new colors like gold and silver. I tried to get her to sort them in this white muffin tin but she wasn't really interested in that just yet. Baby steps mom! I can't expect my 2 year old to do things that I did with my 1st graders!

I had these tongs out too to help her work on her fine motor skills but she could care less about those.

Here she is comparing two of the buttons. It is so cute and makes me proud to hear her say "Look Momma, same" :)


Last week our learning time was playing in some water tubs that I put together. At Dollar Tree I bought some sponges, some test tube shot glasses for pouring (ha!), and a baster for squirting. She loved playing with them and pouring or squirting the water (fine motor skills) from one container to the next. The Noah's Ark crew joined in the water fun too.

Looks kind of lame but she enjoyed it!




Macy also got a sponge bath!


And she figured out a very clever way to water our new flowers.






Midway through we had a popsicle break

Another idea I got from the Little Hands Big Work blog was I froze some buttons and army men in a muffin tin and then let her play with them in the water tub.

We talked about how the water was frozen and the toys were stuck inside the ice.

Until.....

the ice began to melt and turn back into water

and then they were completely out and we could touch them!

(and is my dog "draggin butt" in the grass in the background???!!! Busted Macy!)

I have a feeling someone is going to love preschool!

Best Friends Forever...at least I hope!

We see Brinley and Amy just about every day. I wouldn't have it any other way! I love this time that we get to share together and I love that the girls have truly become best friends.

Despite the fact that we see each other so much we haven't taken many pictures of the girls together until recently. You may recall their super cute popsicle and pink chair pictures but we also recently met up to play in the mall and have lunch.

This morning we went over to Amy and Brinley's house so the girls could play together in the baby pool and sprinklers, the first of many mornings like this I am sure!

We put the slide in the pool and the girls loved it!

After a picnic lunch, a popsicle, and some playtime inside we headed home and now my worn out munchkin is sleeping peacefully in her room. Ahhh!!!

We love you Brinley and Amy!!!

She's at it again

Vaune got such rave reviews from Amy over Ava's pictures that she asked her if she would take some of Brinley. Brinley is so photogenic, smiles on command, and will do what you ask her to do to get a great shot so Amy got some fabulous pictures of Brin! I came to watch Luke and Ava while they were taking pictures so Vaune took a few of Ava with her best buds. Beautiful kids + talented photographer= breathtaking pictures!! You have to go to my shutterfly site to see them though.

Memorial Day Weekend Fun

Our Memorial Day weekend was jam packed with fun activities! Papa and Gramielle came in town so we planned some fun outings to do with them and enjoy the beautiful weather.

On Saturday we went to the Ft. Worth Zoo

This baby monkey and it's mommy were my favorite

My little monkey had a great time pointing out all the animals. It had been a year since we had been to the zoo so she was a lot more interested.

We fed the birds and this white bird landed on her stick

On Sunday we went to the Arboretum. Ava got to ride in the hiking backpack again in preparation for our hiking trip with P & G in August. She loves that thing. Pretty sure I would too!

On Monday we went over to Alli and Greg's new house and Ava helped them plant flowers in their flower bed.

She had fun digging in the dirt with her shovels and pouring dirt on top of the flowers.

But the most fun was when Alli took out the hose...

These two have so much fun together!

Cute, cute, cute!!!!!!


Later that evening she helped us plant some flowers in our own yard. Well, maybe she just played in the dirt but she thought she was helping.

Love her!

Nothing makes me happier than doing things with her that I know she loves and makes her smile. Thanks Papa, Gramielle, Aunt Alli, and Greg for making this Memorial Day weekend so fun and memorable!

More pictures from our weekend on the Shutterfly site!