Thanksgiving

We headed North to celebrate Thanksgiving. Ava had a great time seeing all the family. She ran and ran and ran!

Waiting for Jemma

Yay Jemma's here!

Cousin love

Ava was super spoiled by Uncle Rich

Aunt Kate

Fun times catching up

Ava keeping entertained with coloring and stickers

Sticker Queen!

Time for lunch.  Avas favorite was rolls, mashed potatoes, and strawberry fluff.

Spinning with dad, and playing ring around the rosy with cousins.

Run run run!

These two were such little goofs.

Family pic Thanksgiving 2013

The whole crew, 40+ this year

Paradise Park

We went to Paradise Park for National Adoption Day and this kids had a great time. It was so fun to see how much they have changed in the last year.

The ball pit was a big hit. 

Shopping for goodies!

That will be $1,000 please

Pizza Date!

Water play

Face painting

Art room

All the kids and no one is screaming!  Yay!

National Adoption Day

The group met up again at Paradise Park and had a great time. Ava's adoption finalization was 11/23/11 which happened to fall on National Adoption Day this year!
 

Science City

My mom and I took Ava to Science City. It's a neat place. They have toddler areas with music, water, blocks, and animals. They also have older kid areas too, like a crime lab and weather room.

Ava in the music room.   DONG!!

Checking out the water table.  She liked watching the boats, balls, and rubber ducks float down

Playing in the blocks and puzzle room

Checking out the animals.  TURTLE!

Monkey Business

A little video from our recent trip to Monkey Business. Every time we go it's fun to see how much she's grown and how much more fun she can have here.

 

27 Months

You LOVE singing!  I would estimate you know at least 25 songs.  The first thing you do when you get home from school is turn on the radio or CD player.  You also love singing in the car to the songs on the radio.  On your school progress report your teacher wrote, “With Ava’s singing and joyous giggle there is never a dull moment.”

You still like pretend play.  You have your baby dolls asleep and tell them to, “Wake up!”  You also like to feed them and push them in the stroller.  You also love to play tea party.

You are becoming obsessed with books.  When we finish one you immediately want another one.  You also like looking at flash cards.

You have started telling us “secrets.”  It’s so cute when you whisper in our ears.

You always yell, “TRIPPLE HUG!”  Which is where you, mom and dad all hug each other at the same time.

Your “Peas mom peas?”  Get me EVERY time!  I can never say no when you say please. 

You love to pretend YOU are a baby!  I have to feed you cheerios one at a time and then give you a drink with the sippy cup like it’s a bottle.  

You are getting to be a big girl.  Drinking out of a regular cup, putting on (and taking off) your coat, socks and shoes.  You have also started pulling up your pants and washing your hands all by yourself.

You are learning your letters and colors.  You know A is for Ava, and so far you always recognize pink and purple.

You have went on the potty a few times and that is always exciting.  We are slowly working on getting more consistent.

We’ve had a fun 3 months. Swimming, ice cream dates, gymnastics, spending a whole week with grandma in Nebraska, Renfest, pumpkin patch, first amusement park ride, Halloween, Trunk or Treat, Monkey Business, Deanna Rose, shopping trips, first haircut, and your first day of preschool.

Mall

Ava is turning into my little shopping buddy. Now that it's getting dark earlier and getting colder sometimes if we are bored we'll just go shopping! Of course, if I have some serious shopping to do Ava does not come (like buying clothes or a full grocery trip).

Here's our trip to the mall.  We start with a ride on the carousal!  She enjoys it but I was surprised I did get some mild motion sickness/dizziness.  Maybe because I was standing and taking pictures while it was moving.

We go to the Toy Store, American Doll Store and the Disney Store.  After that we hit up our favorite Mommy/Daughter café, Panera Bread, lol. 

Of course, it's not a trip to the mall without climbing in and out of these 10 times each!

 

Besides the mall, we love Target!  Love browsing around, looking at the toys, and sometimes stopping at Starbucks.  Ava likes the freeze dried fruit and juice box. 

 

Oh, and cant forget PetSmart.  We look at the fish plus all the lizards and rodents.  If it's a weekend they usually have pet adoptions and she likes the cats and dogs.  But it's hard to get her to leave because she likes the animals!

Little Geek

Jon and I like to watch The Big Bang Theory and we usually have some reruns on the DVR. Ava is a big fan of the theme song and jumps up as soon as she hears it.

At first we were not sure what "Ashi Ashi" meant.  But, now we think she is saying "Ashes Ashes" from the song Ring Around The Rosy.  Especially since she is spinning in a circle when she's saying it.

We have no idea where she learned the "EEEE YA!"  Karate kick move

Deanna Rose - Take 2

Ava had her first field trip to Deanna Rose in April, and she didn't really like the animals that much. This time was much better!

Playing with the goats.  She liked talking to them and even fed them a bottle of milk.

Hand feeding the goats some food

I tricked her to look through this, lol.  I told her to look through and say peek a boo!

She loved the swing.  We both went swinging on it for 20 minutes!

Ok, this video is hilarious!  Ava is talking to a few lazy goats.  She tries to scare them by saying, "BOO!"  She says it three times!  When they don't respond to her she tells them to, "WAKE UP!!"