HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHRIS!

Happy 31st Birthday, Chris!

More Water Pics!

This little girl LOVES water - just like her momma. We went to OKC this past weekend to visit my Grandma Patty. We had a nice visit. We decided to let Ava "be a kid" and have fun playing in the sprinkler in her clothes. With it being over 100 degrees - I almost jumped in myself. Actually, I did jump through it a couple of times.
She kept trying to drink the water without it spraying her in the grill. She persevered.
Great Grandma brought Ava a dry fluffy towel that Daddy wrapped around her.
Ava is one smart cookie...funny too. She didn't know I was watching when she climbed up onto the recliner when one of her favorite shows Dragon Tales was on. She sat for a second and then jumped right back off, went and got the remote, and climbed back up again and started rocking. She already knows the symbolic power of the remote!

Now that we're home - it's back to my summer project list. Here's what I'm working on (or attempting or dreaming of working on)

1.) scrapbooking (a never-ending process it seems)
2.) organizing my family recipes (I'm compiling recipes from various members of my family. I got some great candy recipes from my Grandma while we were in OKC. I'm enjoying trying lots of various new recipes.
3.) journaling! (I keep a journal on my computer - thanks Camie for the idea)
4.) landscaping (also an on-going process and much more work than it seems. I'll post pics of my progress later)
5.) ebay auctions (I recently sold some stuff and was very pleased by the process. I'm ready to start listing more things)
6.) home improvements (re-caulking the kitchen and bathroom, polishing my woodwork ... the list goes on)
7.) animals for Ava (Ava loved this cute cutout of a cat at my Grandma's house so I'm going to buy some of those premade shapes they sell and paint some cute animals for her.)

I also have a list of FALL projects that will have to wait until it is not so darn hot!!!

More Backyard Critters!

Mr. Toad is doing fine. He continues to visit us at night.

We did have an unwelcome guest last night that freaked us out. Chris let the dogs out at night and Quartz started barking madly. Chris figured the neighbor dog was out but looked closer and saw that there was an opossum in the backyard! Quartz was backed up a little from it but they were both showing their teeth. Chris ran out there and scooped the dogs up.

He then went out and had to spray the opossum with the hose to get him out of there. Good thing Chris was watching because I guess opossums can carry rabies. Plus, chihuahua vs. opposum - As fierce as Quartz thinks she is, the opossum has the best chance of winning that battle.

New Game & Big OOPS!

Ava has this new GHOST game where she'll walk around with a blanket over her head. She can kind of see through it (I checked by putting it over my head of course ;), but still bumps into or trips over things. My mommy judgment will kick in and I'll take the blanket off and tell her we're all done. And what does she do? She does the "more" sign and begs for me to put the blanket over her head again. Everytime she does it she just giggles and laughs. So, I decided to keep doing it but just to keep a close eye on her. I decided that this didn't make me a negligent parent.

For my big OOPS! Today when I was unloading my sleeping child from the car, I set my stuff on the seat and picked her up, shut the door of the car and headed to my front door. OOPS! I didn't have any keys. And where were they? In the LOCKED car!!! What an idiot! Not to mention that it was over 100 degrees today. Luckily I did have my bag and cell phone. Thanks to Gaia for saving us! We spent the afternoon at her house watching Pirates of the Caribbean until Chris could pick us up. What a day. I'd like to say that this was the first time I've locked keys in the car - but it's not. It had been a long time however. We survived.

Ava's Portrait Sesson

We had Ava's pictures taken and wanted to share the results. (Hopefully I can get them done sometime when Kristi or Kelli come for a visit - but until then - we settled on Target). If you click on the link below and then enter my first and last name you should be able to then view the pictures. Let me know what you think! - Lori


https://www.thesmilestation.com/home.asp?AC=LTT89501071001TAR

Ava the Adventurous

Ava is pretty fearless when it comes to trying new things!

We were getting ready for an after-dinner walk when the rain started coming down. Ava was disappointed when she saw that we weren't going outside afterall. It was just sprinkling so I thought, "Why not?". So we went outside in the rain. (Of course this was the first shower yesterday and not the thunderstorm). I thought Ava would want to come right back in but boy was I wrong.
She loved playing in the rain! After a couple of minutes it started really pouring. I asked her if she wanting to go inside, or if she was done. She did the "more" sign and shook her head no. It was pretty fun. It was still pretty sunny and warm outside.

After SEVERAL minutes and a few times asking her if she wanted to go inside (everytime I asked she did the "more" sign), I finally picked her up and we went inside. (I know I was getting cold). Thankfully, Daddy had towels ready for us.

That was a fun experience. I figure it's not hurting anything and Ava had a great time - and so did I.

Mr. Toad

We have a new house (or yard really) guest. We've named him Mr. Toad. A couple of weeks ago Chris looked out the back patio door and noticed a toad hop out from a hiding spot and onto our patio. It came right up to the glass door and just sat there. The next night when letting the dogs out for their before bedtime potty ritual, we noticed him sitting in the little space between our back door and our screen door. I gave a little surprised scream because I didn't see him until I had let the dogs out. One hop and he would've been inside.

The next few nights we saw him again, right before bed, right up against our glass door. For the past couple of weeks we've seen him here and there.

Yesterday we put some the dogs' pillows and blankets that were covered with dog hair outside on the patio to sit until we were ready to wash them. We kind of forgot about them until we let the dogs out to potty. There was Mr. Toad, snuggled up between the pillows. It was raining so I guess it was a nicer spot for him. ?? I wonder if he thought we left them out there for him.

This morning as I was picking up the soggy stuff to be washed, I picked the blanket up and out hopped Mr. Toad. I almost apologized to him for the rude awakening.

Sorry if this is a boring post but we like our new little friend. He must like us too because he keeps coming back. It's fun to look for him at night.

Fourth Festivities

We're recovering from a long 4th of July weekend consisting of 2 firework shows, 1 pancake breakfast, 1 family bbq and a portrait session for our little one year old. On Sunday night we went to the Lake Perry fireworks show. It was really fun. We parked along the side of the road, along with lots of other people, and enjoyed the show. This was Ava's 1st time really watching fireworks so we weren't sure what to expect. She LOVED them. It was so cute to see her pointing, clapping. laughing, and oohing and aweing. (sp?). She was also trying to describe the fireworks using her signs - flower, light and ball.
On Tuesday morning we went to our Ward's Pancake Breakfast. The food was yummy and Ava had lots of fun playing on the park equipment. She spent a fair amount of time trying to climb up the small slide that led to more stuff. She would climb almost the whole way and then would slide back down...over and over again. When she finally made it to the slide she was so happy.
Ava had some help going down the slide. She rode with her friends William, Jasmine and Lydia. She even went down solo a couple of times. What a BIG girl!
We had a family bbq at Ava's granparents' house. She loves riding the rocking horse that her mommy used when she was a kid.
Here is Ava with her 2 cousins. (Grandkids 2, 3, & 4). All three of these kiddos were born within a year of each other.

Grandma made some strawberry pie. Ava scooted back to sit on Aunt Vanessa's lap once she saw her get a plate with pie. Aunt 'Nessa was kind enough to share.

We had a great, long weekend. Hope everyone enjoyed the holiday.

Language Acquisition

Ava's is really starting to communicate!

SIGNING: Here are the words she can sign using baby sign language(29):

baby, more, milk, done, wash/bath, eat, hat, cat, bunny, rain, fan, horse, binky, sleep/tired, bear, diaper, ball, eyes, nose, ears, mouth, teeth, hair, tongue, feet, (not sure if body parts count but she knows these ones!), where, dog, swim, light, shoes, soft/gentle, duck.


TALKING - Here are the words she can say(26):

hi, book, mama, dada, shoes, socks, off, out, pa/grandpa, kelly, william, kate, heidi, cat, hat, milk, done, bye-bye, up, duck, baby, eyes, ball, car,
car, yes, no, hot.


I probably left some out but this is what I can think of right now. One of her newest, favorite words is "No". She sure knows how to use it too.