Little Diva - ReAdY for SuMMeR!!!

Well, we made it through the entire church service this past Sunday without having to go RESCUE Ava! YAY! She did cry the moment we walked in and I stayed with her for a few minutes but then she did great!! Whew...PRogReSS!

I am thoroughly enjoying my summer with her! It is going to go by WAY TOO FAST, as always...though I do believe I am a better mommy because I get to go to a job I love and it gives us a little separation time, too. And as I talked with some of my teacher friends recently, we've decided that we really don't think being a stay at home mom in the dreaded WINTER would be much fun!

She is at an age where she is really taking everything in, learning new things and retaining so much. She will say things and I'm like, "WOW, how does she know that!" It is so fun!!! She is a very perceptive and observant little thing. She notices the TINIEST things, for example the cow on her yogurt container that is literally the size of her pinky nail! The other day we were in the basement and she noticed that the little area of the basement floor where the paint had chipped and said "Puppy right there." Do you see it????



She was eating chips this day and said, "Boot?" I guess she might take after me a little bit and have an artistic eye! :)


She loves to sing and I'll be excited to get her back into Kindermusik in the fall. She can sing "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" It usually goes like this...
Twinkle, Twinkle (or Crinkle, Crinkle, sometimes)...Star How I wonder...Are Like a Diamond in the Sky

I think she knows it's cute and she usually sings it
repetitively at bedtime when we are snuggling. haha!

Our summer is pretty low-key.....which I LOVE!!!!!! I don't have her signed up for anything but we enjoy the Fun Run every Friday evening, going to the pool on Tues and Thurs with friends and Friday playdates. We also are signed up for both BLM and Normal Summer Reading programs and we usually go exchange our books on a rainy day - which has been a LOT lately. (BOO!). We also hit up garage sales on Thursday evenings, Friday mornings or Saturday mornings...and I do have to do go the chiropractor 3 times a week (and 2 times a week soon) and they are very kid-friendly. The girls there help keep her occupied or she can go into each area with me, as well. The only thing that really scares her is the adjustment bed which moves. She cries most days about that but there have been a few where she has been ok. The day I stopped for Starbucks and got her a cake pop - there were no tears!!! LOL
Dr. Steve does not scare her though, which is good and he is a tall guy! She will say hi to him and want to show him her snacks, etc. She even says "Dr. Steve?" when she plays with her little Dr. kit!



Ava's friends at the Fun Run...The Cunningham boys, Hobson boys, Corinne (who Ava will go to daycare with in August!) and some little boy I don't know. I am assuming he knows Holden or Colin, ha!




Ava LOVES her new water table! It is technically a sand and water table and we bought sand but haven't put it in yet. I like having it on the front porch and I don't want sand dumped out all over the porch =)

Miss Ava

Today was good. Today was fun. Tomorrow is another one.

{Dr. Seuss}

We have been so blessed with such a good girl...not to mention funny, goofy, silly, haha...She continues to crack us up every day. She does get her share of Time-Outs, though!!


Why, you say????? =)

This was me attempting to get her 2 year chair pics.


This was on her actual birthday. Per tradition (and until she can request the restaurant!), we took her to Chili's. They even have a FREE birthday Sundae...SCORE!! I think she liked it.

My little munchkin just chilling on the steps with her drink (probably "lemon-dade" if you ask her), a chip and her cool shades.

We went to friend Izzy's 2nd birthday party the first weekend in June and it.was.hot. We had lots of fun, though and I threw Ava's hair up in a ponytail and THIS is how it turned out. I hope her hair stays this adorable forever!!! People out and about everywhere ask me (DAILY!) if her hair is natural. It cracks me up because what I want to say is "No, I curl it every day." LOL. Am I mean????? =) ha. Just kiddin. They are just giving her a compliment, I know!


Yes, we enrolled her in etiquette classes early. 2 isn't that young!


Other randoms...
It is amazing how much difference just a few weeks (days!?) makes in Ava's vocabulary. Our pediatrician did say (or maybe I read it somewhere) that we would be amazed with the language she will gain from age 2 to 3. She is apparently listening even when we don't really think she is. For example, today we got out of the van and she said, "It's chilly outside." I just had to laugh. She has also started saying things like "didn't he" and "isn't it." I have a few Precious Moments figurines that I have on her dresser in her room and she loooooves the bunny one I have and likes to give it kisses at night and in the morning. Last night she said, "Bunnies, cute, aren't they?" Everything is "My do it." Her new thing in the last few days is "bring it wissss us?" (with us) when she wants to bring a toy with us in the van. She also is becoming more aware of her surroundings and says things like "kitchen, basement, living room, upstairs, back door, etc." She also says "my bringing it" and today even said "pretend" when she was putting her baby's bottle in her mouth and I told her we just pretend (and then I demonstrated). It was really cute. Oh and she has even upgraded "Stop that" to "YOU stop that!" hahahaha!
Not all words come out perfectly, of course.

I have been going to the chiropractor and the office is very kid-friendly and when I asked, they said to bring her with me so that is nice. I have been telling her we are going to the dr. to make mommy's back feel better. Now anytime I (or Travis) moan or groan about something or even yawn, she asks..."Dr.?? Feel better??"

I am hoping that our little excursions this summer will help with her shyness/timidness. She has done great at the chiro! The only thing that freaks her out is when the adjustment bed moves. One of the office staff ladies took her to her desk today to color. :)
Our most recent nursery visit also went a lot better and she ran around Trav's office today not afraid of ANYONE! She was giggling and showing off the whole time. HOWEVER, immediately after we went to lunch and she was fine and being social to others around (turning her head and saying "Hiiiiiiiiiiiii" to one of the waiters and THEN...she saw some regular guy sitting at a table about 15 feet away and FREAKED OUT! She cried and cried and wouldn't eat. I did get her out but only after telling her she had to stop crying (which she attempted to do) but you can see real tears and that she is really scared of something (not just whining!). So anyway, I get her out and she just sat on my lap and then when the guy and his buddy left, she said "all gone." I am not sure what to do about this! But for now we are just trying to Keep Calm and Carry On!

*KEEP SCROLLING!!!!!!! Don't Miss Ava's 2nd Birthday Party Blog Post!!!

C...is for Cookies!

I had sooooooooooooooooo much fun planning Ava's 2nd Birthday party! I chose the theme "Milk & Cookies" after browsing online for some cute/unique ideas. And WHO DOESN'T LOVE MILK & COOKIES!? I would say that 99% of my ideas came from the internet, so thank you fellow bloggers for some ADORABLE ideas!!!

The Milk & Cookies table

The table included a variety of cookies - almost all homemade! Chocolate chip by my mom, Snickerdoodles by my sis, No Bake by Ava's Daddy, Peanut Butter with Reeses Pieces by me (AKA, Ava's mommy!), Individually wrapped Sugar cookies with a "2" made again by me! (my tradition! And then we purchased 2 types of Oreos and "Raspberry filled Pillow Cookies" from our local Fresh Market (= YUM!!!).

We had paper sacks for guests to fill up with cookies to take home!

Oh and don't forget the varieties of flavored MILK!! My mom even found these cool flavored milk straws which we placed in old Starbucks Frappucino bottles and Snapple Tea bottles!









The Birthday girl in her birthday shirt painted by ME!! Ready to party!!





My Grandma has been making cakes since I was 2 (ha!) and graciously agreed to make Ava's 2nd birthday cake. I really didn't care what she did (they always taste yummy too!). We loved her "wafer" cookie cake!

She also made these cute cake pops!! THEY WERE AWESOME! :)



Happy Birthday Ava!!!

You can see more from my friend Katie's blog here. :) She got some great shots, and frankly, I wish you could upload more photos at a time so I'm being lazy!!

There were a few more things I would have liked to do for the party, but I told myself that whatever we got done, we would be happy with. The end of the school year is just CrAzY soooooo I think we did pretty well. :) And the weather could not have been more perfect especially with the chance for RAIN.

I made this sign and had people stick their heads in the holes. If nothing else, it was fun (funny!)