Singing & Sayings

These are from awhile back but I finally got around to uploading them.

Ava singing "Boots" by the Laurie Berkner Band.  Everytime she sings this song, I crack up because she tries to sing the high notes. Usually she will go back to singing in a regular key but this time, she hit the high note and just kept right on singing in that high pitched voice.  So cute!

Ava also sings this song quite a bit..they learned it at school and the first time I heard it, I thought "She wants to put me in a box?!!"  But if you listen to the lyrics it is actually a cute song and pretty sweet.  A little weird because Mom, Dad & friends are all kept in a box but still sweet in a creepy way.

And I'll leave you with 2 things Ava said to me recently (as I probably won't post until after next week when we have the baby - 1 week to go!)

1. While in the car, Train's "Hey Soul Sister" comes on the radio and Ava says "My bottom cheeks are moving because I like this song." 

2. At drop off at school the other day, I hear Ava say "Davis, look at my mommy's tummy...it's GINORMOUS! There's a baby in there."  So happy she included the fact that I have a baby in there or I might have died of embarassment.  Not that people can't tell that I am pregnant.  I mean at 38 weeks, it's pretty obvious right?

One final thing...I just have to say that in this last week being pregnant, I am happy to say that I am not really swollen and look pretty good this time around (as good as you can look for having a huge basketball under you shirt!).  So much better than pregnancy #1.  And maybe this time I did not pass Darren's weight...maybe.  We won't ask him b/c I would prefer to think that I weigh less than him this time even if I don't (with all his running lately he probably has lost some).  Guess that's what you get when you marry a slim man...I thought they were supposed to have the sympathy weight gain?  He didn't get the memo.  See you when I am a mother of two!

Yardwork

As it is getting to be good weather here, Darren decided to finally clean out the sandbox so we could 1) move it to a shadier location 2) sod that portion of the yard since it is the only part without grass now and 3) get new clean sand.  He decided to have Ava help him since she loves being the "helper."

She got to put her new birthday shovel to good use and really had fun helping her Daddy.

 Here's the big crab shaped hole in our yard.

 And once the sandbox was moved, Ava was pleasantly surprise to see all the rollie pollies underneath it in the dirt.  She was excited and wanted to make a little "nest" for them.  We also saw a disgusting slimy earthworm and some spiders...think I can do without all the bugs!

Happy Birthday Ava!!!!

Ava turned 4 years old today!  Hard to believe that our little girl is getting so old...and soon will be a big sister.  We ended up celebrating her birthday a day early as Darren had to be out of town for work. But it really did not matter since Ava did not know which day it was actually on.  She got sung to at school and had chocolote chip cookies and then when Darren got home, we took her to Sonic (that's where she wanted to eat for her bday) and then came home to open presents.

Here she is waiting for us to get all her presents out (we tried not to go overboard with the presents but as usual we can't seem to stick to our plans; it's a bit ridiculous!).  This is by far my favorite photo of the day b/c even though she is pouty, she looks so cute!

 And now it's time to open the presents!!  Notice her tiara that she wanted to wear since she was the "Birthday Princess."

 Outside testing out some of her new stuff (check out the big box of sidewalk chalk Darren got her).  This year I picked out a few things for her that I wanted to get (clothes, pjs, sparkle shoes and books) and then Darren got her some fun things mainly for outdoor use (chair, rake/hoe/shovel set, chalk, scooter & a bean bag chair).  I really think we planned on getting her like 3 gifts and then went all crazy...we need to STOP!!  I think I am turning Darren into me...you know a shop-aholic (or maybe a buy-aholic).

 On her new Hello Kitty scooter...our driveway is a bit steep for this but she just needs to practice. When she uses in the garage, she is pretty good at it.

 And "reading" her new books with the Bugsby system...she literally spent 30 minutes doing this by herself...amazing!

Rodeo Time Again!

It's Ava's favorite time of year...Rodeo time!  Well maybe not the actual Rodeo but she loves the kid zone and the carnival and has been talking about it since last year's visit.

Once again we met up with the Gonczeruks but this time the daddies came too (since we went on a Saturday).  It was 4 hours of fun but maybe a little much for a 9 months pregnant person.  I was wiped out after and took a VERY long nap.

Daddy & Ava getting ready to go into the Rodeo

Riding the ponies (I totally lucked into this shot)

Dancing to the music

And of course Ava's fave thing this year, riding the carnival rides!  Last year she just watched Sienna go on them all but this year, she actually rode them with her.  They had a blast!  I was surprised that she rode the airplane ride below as it goes really high and I thought for sure Ava would freak out but she loved it!

Playing carnival games and more rides - apparently the  motorcycle ride was her favorite but she did not smile most of it and I think it is because it went on FOREVER...seriously it was like 10 minutes of them going round and round.

An expensive day at the Rodeo (what with all the rides, food, etc.) but well worth it as it was too much fun.  Maybe one day I'll get some photos of us adults there too.

Cousins

I decided to take a few photos of the cousins while they were here (trying to get some good ones for our family photo wall).  I managed to get a few good ones of Guthrie

 And although Griffin is super adorable (I mean these are good looking kids), I could not get one of her looking at me and smiling...she either had something in her mouth or would not smile.  In all fairness, she was super busy when she was here, playing with everything and can't say I blame her being too excited to pose for a photo.

Playtime with the McFaddens

Cortney, Jack & kids were in town for 3 weeks so we got to see them a little bit while they were here.  I wasn't as good at getting photos of the kids playing (especially when the Tilson cousins were also around) but I did manage to get a few when Griffin & Guthrie came to our house.

Ava loved seeing her cousins and was pretty good with 2 month old Guthrie...interested in him but more interested in playing with Griffin for sure.

The girls:

 Ava wanting to have a "sleep over" with Griffin on her floor (and yes she put on her pjs for it).  I love that almost every time I saw Griffin while here she was wearing something old of Ava's...Gabe & I finally pawned off all the girls' old clothes.

 Darren & Ava playing with Guthrie (notice the 40+ stuffed animals on Ava's bed -- they are always there!  Really need to get her to narrow it down to a few as they take up most of the bed) 

Birthday Party

Today we had Ava's birthday party at Rollie Pollies (it's one of those kid gym places with a foam pit, gymnastic stuff, bouncy house etc.).  We had it really early this year since I wanted to make sure that I would actually make it to her party and not be at the hospital having a baby.  As a result, it did not feel much like her birthday to me or Darren but Ava & her friends had a blast and it was time well spent.

Ava on her favorite thing: the trapeze swing.

 Ava trying out the trampoline before her guests arrived.  You'll notice the cute headband I made her for her party is on in a few photos and then about 10 minutes in, she took it off.  Oh well!

 Ava & Sydnee in the foam pit.

 Getting "Happy Birthday" sung to her...she picked out all the Hello Kitty decorations herself and after determining that it would cost a small fortune for the store to make HK cupcakes for her party, I ended up making 36 and putting those old school 80s hard icing decorations on top of them so they too would be HK.

I took a bunch of photos at her party but since the kids run around like crazy, a lot of them are bad, hence only 4 photos on the blog.  But they had fun and that's what's important!

Can't Sit Still

4.5 weeks to go!  And rather than sitting around, I keep finding more unnecessary projects to take on.  You can see all the stuff I've been doing over here: http://www.mokru.blogspot.com/.  They are all useful in some way, I just don't know if I need to be doing them right now. Case in point is the Hello Kitty painting I whipped up for Ava's room this weekend.  Maybe I feel bad that I have been doing too many baby projects, not sure but I just have to keep busy!

I need to upload some funny videos I have of Ava from a few weeks back of her singing some songs...but haven't gotten around to that either.  And now that my sister Cortney and fam are in town for 3 weeks, we'll see how much stuff gets updated..I can always find excuses.

No more photos for now, but I will leave you with another Ava story.  For the longest time we have called our niece baby Griffin b/c she was a baby and it helped Ava remember her since she lives in NYC and we don't see her too often.  Well now Griffin is almost 2 so "baby" doesn't fly so much now.  AND we have a new nephew who is indeed a baby...Guthrie.

So before Cort & Jack and their 2 kids came down for this visit, we told Ava not to call Griffin "baby" anymore.  So she has decided that her new name is "Fairy Griffin" because apparently just plain Griffin won't do.  Then she decided that Guthrie needed a cool name so he became "Racecar Guthrie."  She also decided that she was "Princess Ava," I'm "Superhero Mommy", Darren is "King Daddy", Me-Mommy is also fairy, and for some reason Cortney is "Spider Cortney" and Jack is "Ladybug Jack."  All of this was decided at dinner the other night.  Pretty funny.  I thought maybe she just mentioned this and would forget but today, she was correcting me in the car when I tried to call people by their real name. 

She definitely has an imagination!

Baby Shower aka "Sprinkle"

Two of my really good friends, Jen & Dara, wanted to throw me a baby shower.  I at first protested it since this is my second kid, but then they convinced me it would be a fun little "Sprinkle" instead. 

About 10 wonderful ladies come to the Sprinkle (my sisters, my mom, and a lot of my awesome mom friends).  It was a fun girl's brunch (kid-free!) complete with mimosas and yummy food.  A lot like our girls night outs but with less drinking and tamer discussions.

Dara made me an awesome diaper cake complete with cute little boy sandals.  As she said "the shoes are totally impractical but too cute to pass up."  I do think they are super cute and think Ryan will have to try them out this summer on our beach trip.

The hosts: Jen & Dara prepping the food.  Both ladies are awesome cooks and they really did an outstanding job.  I am so fortunate to have such amazing friends!

A shot of the delicious food!

That is all the photos I took..Dara took more later with camera so when I get those, I can post some that include my guests.  It was a lot of fun and I appreciate everyone who came and especially Dara & Jen for getting everything together!!

Mail

Awhile back, Sawyer mailed Ava some art that she had made.  Ava was very excited about receiving mail and quickly asked for tape to hang it on her wall.  Then, of course, she had to mail something back to her.

So today, I got a text from my friend Dara telling me that her daughter Sydnee had made some artwork and since they live in our neighborhood, insisted that Dara stop and put it in our mailbox for Ava.  When I told Ava, once again she was super excited and then she wanted to make some artwork for her in return...3 pieces!

Here is the artwork...Syd's work is the orange paper and the other 3 are Ava's.  They are both working on writing and did a pretty good job.

Darren got home right around this time and Ava wanted to go drop off Sydnee's mail right then so we all loaded up in the car to make our delivery.  Pretty funny actually.  Although I'm not sure if this is something I want to be starting...as long as it's not a daily occurence, I guess it is fine!

Ava in her excitement: