Ladies & Gentlemen

A few videos of Ava's impromtu performance of a few songs.

First up, "The Ariel Wiggle Shake" (not even sure what this really is or where she came up with it)

"If You're Happy & You Know It"

"Dora the Explorer"

"Mary Had a Little Lamb"

Austin Zoo

Today we headed to the Austin Zoo with Jen, Sienna & Trey. It was a great time and we picked a perfect day to go since the "Got Milk?" team was there handing out free milk and snacks. Although the zoo is small, the girls had a blast and it was just the right amount of time to be out in the Hot Hot HEAT! It's not even June and we are already melting here!

Ava & Sienna: 2 stylish girls

Checking out the super friendly goats (who wanted us to feed them--too bad we already used all our food on the deer)

Sweet Berry Farm

Ava & I & our friends all piled into one big car and headed up to Marble Falls to Sweet Berry Farm. There was 7 of us (3 toddlers, 1 baby and 3 adults)...kind of like a clown car really.

For a small charge (the cost of fruit picked and basket), you can pick fresh fruit at Sweet Berry Farm. Right now, it is blackberry time!

Ava, Sienna & Sydnee getting ready to pick some berries.
Posing in front of a barn.

A blackberry!

Checking out the bucket of red new potatoes while we paid.

With their pickings.

We had a great time at the farm. The girls picked blackberries, dug up some potatoes, chased butterflies, fed the goats, and ate a picnic lunch. It was really fun! Definitely want to head back in the fall when they have pumpkins, hay rides, face painting etc. Next spring, I would like to make it in May when the strawberries are good for picking because I'm not the biggest fan of blackberries and the blackberry bushes had thorns! Something we apparently did not realize before we headed out. The girls did great with the exception of a few pricks.

Down by the Lake

Tonight we headed down to the Apache Shores boat launch to hang out with some friends. We ate some dinner, played in the water and did some paddle boarding/kayaking. Really fun!

Jen (holding Trey), Ava, Sienna, Dara & Sydnee playing by the water.
Eric & Sienna on the kayak.

Darren stand up paddle boarding (1st time!)

Dara & Ava in the kayak.

Last Day of School

Ava had her last day of preschool today and the end of year picnic.

Here is Sienna, Ava, Marc & Evan making funny faces (well most of them). Tried to get a nice photo but the kids all wanted to be silly so this is what we got. Typical 3 yr olds.

After the picnic, they went inside to "shake their wiggles" one last time. It was really fun for all of us parents to watch as we really had never seen it except maybe through the window in the door.

It's That Time Again...

Time for "What has Ava been saying."

1.While getting nails filed by Granny & listening to Pops read the LONG Cinderella books (like 5 minutes), Ava turns to me & Darren and says “Is Granny done yet?”

2. When asked "What do you want to be when you grow up?" responds, “A balloon girl.” (like the kind that makes balloon animals)

3. After waking up from nap, laying in our bed, she says, “I have energy now!”

4. Stalling for bedtime. “I don’t want to sleep with Grandpa or Bubbles (dolls).” We take them out & she still won't go lay down.
Darren asks her, “What's wrong now?”
Ava: “Ford & Zaphod peed in my bed.”
Darren: “Who told you that?”
Ava: “Grandpa.”
Dang that spanish speaking white haired doll...causing trouble. Thanks Pablo. :)

5. Ava talking in the car to me: “Remember when I was inside you? I fell out. You had pants with one, two holes in it.” LOL moment...really.

6. Ava talking about her sisters. Me: “You don’t have sisters. Who are you talking about?”
A: “Sawyer & Lexie. My cousins. My brother was sitting here.”
Me: “You don’t have a brother.”
Ava: “Ian is my brother. My cousin.”
Me: “Would you like a brother or sister?”
Ava: “Yes. Both.”
Me: “You know if you want a brother or sister, Mommy would have to have a baby first.”
Ava: “Yes a baby. I want baby.”
Later when asking her about this in front of Darren she says after this “When I am taller, I can push the stroller." I think she is giving us some STRONG hints.

7. On the way to school, Ava “Know what my sisters’ name is? Dorothy, Baker, Mala, Falla, Halla. My brother’s name is Bob.”
I did not know where she came up with these names until I was telling Darren and he realized it was Ava trying to say Pops’ sisters’ names & Granny’s brother’s name (which they had discussed when I was not around). Only names she got right were Dorothy & Bob.

8. And finally, Ava says this too much for me not to post it. "I took a strong pee." And really she does...think she waits until she really has to go. Funny way to describe it though if you ask me.

Smarty Pants

I'm impressed. I mean really impressed. Maybe this is standard for 3 year olds and maybe Ava has an easy name but tonight as she was making cards for me & Darren (for Mother's and Father's days), she wrote the letter A on Darren's card. Then after showing us, Darren asked if she could write her name. She went back to the table and drew a "v" and another "a". Uh, crazy right?

Check it out (this is not doctored and honestly is what she wrote herself). She can also write smiley faces complete with hair, ears, nose, eyes and mouth and hearts as well as rainbows. Like I said, impressed.

Ava & Caroline

After fishing, Ava saw Caroline over at her Grandma & Grandpa's house so they decided to play for a bit. I used my new lens for these shots so I don't know what they were saying (since they were so far away) but this is what I think.

Ava: "Hey Caroline, whatcha doing?" Caroline "Hanging out."

Caroline: "Look at my shirt. Isn't it cute?"

Ava: "So cute! Let's kick our feet so we look super cute."

Girls: "Ha ha ha ha. This is fun!"

Ava: "Caroline, I love you." Caroline "I think you are squeezing me too tight."

Ok not great dialogue but I am writing for 3 yr olds for heaven's sake! They really are too cute together.

Fishing

We were in Conroe (I say this a lot I realize) this weekend as Darren had some work training to do. After having a nice lunch and catching up with Rosemary, Ava & I headed back to Granny & Pops' house to do some fishing. Here are some photos using my new lens I got for Mother's Day (thanks Ava & Darren!). I finally can take some longer shots and zoom better...yeah!

Ava with her pole.

Granny & Ava practicing her casting.

Sweet black and white photo of Granny & granddaughter.

Pops showing Ava the worms we used for bait.

Ava with one of Pop's small catches. I caught 11 of these that day! I never catch anything so it was super fun! Of course I don't actually bait my hook or take them off the hook...I make Pops do that (and he of course makes fun of me and tries to make me touch the fish).

Stand Up Paddlin'

This weekend I decided to give Stand Up Paddle Boarding a try...my friend Dara has a board and after standing on it (not actually paddling on it) once for about 5 minutes, I decided I should do this little SUP Jam race Sat morning. I somehow convinced Trina to do it with me. Not that we wanted to win or anything, we just wanted to have some fun.

So Ava, Darren, Trina & I headed to Town Lake for the race.

Here I am carrying my rental board:

Trina & I paddling out to the start (me in green shirt, Trina to the left of me in red)

Ava, cheering us on.

It actually was not too bad except it was really windy so I ended up paddling more on one side then the other. It was a great experience and Darren & I talk about possibly buying a board as it is great exercise and it something fun and different. We'll see though.

Visitor

So last night, Smokey was outside for a VERY long time. We weren't sure why until Darren went outside to find him and found him over by this guy:


This little fox was just hanging out in our backyard...lounging. He sat there for awhile & Ava & I were able to go check him out and all he did was lift his head. We came back in to call animal control to come get him and when Darren went back out, the fox started acting a bit strange...like hissing at him and then running around in circles almost chasing it's tail.

An hour and a half later the animal control lady (yes lady--I was surprised!) came to get him. She had never caught a fox before and had Darren help her hold her flashlight since it was pitch black by this time. They checked him for rabies and he was negative.

Apparently our house enjoys visitors such as snakes, armadillos (that pesky pest - we never caught him), raccoons and the occasional rat (totally disgusting and you would rather not hear about the rat nest complete with baby rats--still gives me the creeps).

Ava was very concerned about this fox and kept asking about him and what happened to him. We had to assure her that "a nice lady came to take care of him"...not sure what that actually means but at least he won't be visiting (and scaring) us anytime soon.