The Dells

Here I am again, a little behind. Let's rewind a week and a half ago to March 2nd. Ava and I started our day out a music class. We got home, had lunch, finished packing up the car, and headed to Minneapolis to pick Daddy up from work. We then hit the road for what Ava calls our "trip".

Ava did a great job on the drive which was about 3 1/2 hours. She sang, slept, and had a little snack. When we got there she was ready to go. We hit the water park Friday evening, all day Saturday, and again Sunday morning before we headed home. Ava had more fun in the water than I could have imagined. She even talked Auntie Kim (who is deathly afraid of water) into taking her down the water slides multiple times (thanks Kim for being such a trooper). They had a great area for small children that was only a foot and a half deep so Ava could go down the slides there, walk through the water, play with the fountains, etc. To my surprise, she even liked going down some of the bigger water slides with Nate and me. This girl loves the water! I am unsure however who had more fun...the kids or the grown men! The "boys" went down for a fun filled 2 hours on Saturday while the mommies and kids took a nap. We stayed at Chula Vista in a large condo. There were 5 couples with 4 kids ages 2 and under in this condo. It worked great. It was so nice to be able to take the kids back for a nap, be able to cook our own meals, and have a space where we could gather together to visit and let the kids play.

I went to college with this great group of people, and many years ago we started doing an annual Valleyfair trip. A few years ago we stopped doing it, and decided that this year we should start up the tradition again, only pick a different venue that's a little more family friendly for small children. It was so great to see everybody again, catch up, and see the kids. We are already looking forward to next year!

This isn't from the Dells, but it's one of Ava's new favorite things to do...drink her cereal milk.

Ava and Cora having a nice phone conversation

Ava LOVED going down the slides.

The whole gang; Kim, Eliott, me, Nate, Ava, Joe, Jackson, Amy, Bill, Riley, Miles, Mike, Kristi, & Cora

Luther's future: Cora, Jackson (only 4 1/2 months old and the only one smiling in the picture), Ava, & Miles

This is our exhausted little girl Monday morning when Daddy had to wake her up in order to go to day care.

The party

A week later I'm finally getting around to updating the blog. There were so many pictures taken last weekend it took me a while to sift through all of them. Ava had a wonderful birthday. Grandma & Grandpa arrived late Friday night so that they were here when she woke up Saturday morning. She started her day in their bed reading lots of stories. Later that morning Grandma Great, Aunt Lisa, Uncle Brent, Zacky, Reece, Kristin, & Luke all showed up. They all had a chance to read Ava lots of stories as well. Ava was in heaven!

After nap time we went over to Mema & Boppa's where the party was. We thank everybody who took time out of their weekend to help us celebrate our little girl, especially those who had to travel from IA. We were grateful that everybody had good driving weather. Ava is a very lucky girl to have so many people who love and support her. She had a great time at her party. She loved her Dora/Hello Kitty balloons, dominated the art of opening presents, and was absolutely beaming when everybody sang Happy Birthday to her. The cake and ice cream topped everything off.

Sunday morning Daddy made all of us omelets before we headed over to the hotel to go swimming with Uncle Brent, Aunt Lisa, Zacky, & Reece. Ava is still talking about swimming with them, Luke, & Grandma. She had so much fun in the water. Unfortunately, she did slip and fall on the pool deck. The poor thing got out of the pool, took a step and spun around onto the ground. It happened so quickly. I grabbed her to pick her up right away, and she instantly had a bruise on her cheek back to her ear. I had never seen anything like it. She cried for a minute, shook it off, and got back in the pool. The bruise has now faded and thankfully she no longer looks like we punched her in the face. I'm just grateful that it happened after her 2 yr pictures. :)

After swimming everybody came over for lunch before they headed back to IA. Ava must have been exhausted from all of the excitement...she slept for 2 1/2 hours. Again, we thank everybody who helped make Ava's day special. We are truly blessed to have you all in our lives!
Ava was Very excited to open the bracelet that she got from Grandma & Grandpa B. Look at that face!

A very happy birthday girl!

Doing a puzzle with Grandpa

Snuggling with Grandma

More story time with Daddy & Abigail

Ava had to feel Luke's whiskers. He spent a lot of time reading to Ava over the weekend. She is still talking about him. Watch out Kristin, she may be after your man.

Ava LOVED when everybody sang Happy Birthday to her.

Swimming with GrandmaLearning proper technique with Grandma & Aunt Lisa

Daddy & Ava enjoying the pool

This would be Zackery, Brent, Nate, & Luke...how lucky we are to have these amazing, mature men in our lives. :) (you should have seen the waves that they made)

Splashing and loving it

Reece, Ava, & Zacky

Ava finished the weekend off trying to use the potty while enjoying a nice Dora book, with no success. She did however it use once at daycare this past week. I was a little hopeful until yesterday. That was when I had her sit on the potty for about 10 minutes. After getting off she immediately walks out to the love seat and pees on the carpet. I think we'll be investing in diapers for awhile yet.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday to our sweet Ava-Bug. I can not believe that she is 2 years old today. The past year has flown by, and she has changed so much. I remember thinking how sad I was last year that she was no longer a "baby". However, I've realized that every day is the "perfect" age for her. Everyday brings something exciting or something new and funny. She's at the age now where we can go and do stuff together. She loves going to story time, and loves her music class even more. There is no better way to wake up in the morning than to hear that little voice on the monitor singing to her bears and telling them "good morning".

Ava brings so much love and laughter into our lives. We've been blessed with a happy and loving little girl. She is always concerned with other kids when they are upset, is constantly giving her stuffed animals and babies kisses, and when she drops Abigail on the floor she picks her up, gives her a kiss, and tells her "it's ok Abigail, you're ok". She truly is our sunshine. Happy Birthday to our little Peanut Pie!

Below are her two year pictures that we had taken yesterday. I had a hard time picking out my favorites.

Our little fashionista

Ava's closet has been full of cute, beautiful clothes from the day that she was born. She now likes to help pick out what she wears. This is what she opted for yesterday afternoon...legwarmers, mommy's slipper socks, and her all time favorite accessory...the hot pink lace thong necklace. She will dig through my underwear drawer almost daily just to find a pair of hot pink thong underwear to accessorize her outfit. Gotta love her!

Trying the slipper socks on as "mittens"

So much to celebrate

We've had so much to celebrate since our last update. Friday we got to go over to Mema & Boppa's to celebrate Boppa's birthday. We had some yummy chinese food (which Ava loves) and got to hang not only with Mema & Boppa, but also Uncle Wes and Janna. Ava had some cake, and now reminds me daily that "I love cake". Unfortunately I think that she got her mother's sweet tooth.

Saturday morning Ava and I hung out while Nate went to ref basketball. That afternoon we headed to Apple Valley to hang out with a group of Nate's high school friends. It was so nice to see everybody again, catch up, and meet "baby Catherine". Ava spent most of the time pooping. Yes, that's right. We were only at Liz & Eric's house for about 4 hours, and she went through 5 diapers in that time. She kept coming up to us and saying, "I pooped in my diaper". One would think that she's ready for potty training since she can tell us when she poops, and usually tells me every morning, "I'm wet, I need my diaper changed". We picked up some Dora "big girl undies" at Target on Sunday. She loves to look at them and try them on over her clothes. However, she has no desire to use the potty right now. So, I guess we hold off a bit longer rather than fight her on it.

Sunday morning we were off to church and then over to Mema & Boppa's. We headed home after nap so that we could do fun stuff, like cleaning the house. We found out that evening that my cousin Amanda got engaged...congrats to her and Mike. Then Monday evening Uncle Marc called us to tell us that he and Sara got engaged. I asked Ava if she knew what Uncle Marc gave Sara. Her eyes lit up and she answered, "a diamond". We are super excited for them. And look forward to all the celebrating.

Yesterday was Valentine's Day. Ava spent the day at daycare since both Nate and I worked. She took her valentines for her friends, along with some treats and had a party. It was a low key night here. I've never been one to love Valentine's Day, and actually threaten Nate that I will kill him if he ever sends me flowers on the most expensive day of the year. Rather than fighting crowds we opted to stay in for dinner and made our own pizzas. They were delicious...sun dried tomatoes, basil, artichoke hearts, and goat cheese...yum (that was mine, Nate's had meat)! We ended the evening with The Bachelor. Romantic huh?

Ava continues to surprise me every day with her new words. Last week at breakfast we were sitting there and all of a sudden she started to count in spanish. Evidently Ava can count to 6 in spanish...where did she learn that from? She can now identify all of her letters, and counts to 15 in english. One of my favorite sayings is, "Oh, that will be fun" . Last week I held up an outfit and asked if she wanted to wear it the next day. She responded by saying, "I guess that will do". I just started laughing. Sometimes she sounds like such an adult.

Ava helping me shovel the driveway

Checking out her new Dora underwear

Happy Valentine's Day

It was a pigtail day today. Here is Ava hanging out with her friend Abigail. I love that smile!

A little update

Yes, the updates and are getting fewer and fewer. I'm not sure if it's because our life is more boring now or if it's because I'm just to tired to update most nights. I apologize that I don't have any pictures from this past week, but I promise to get some on here for next week. Let's see, what have we been up too...

Last weekend Nate and I were able to get away for a night to Decorah for a friend's wedding. Mema came over Saturday morning to play with Ava and then they packed up and headed over to Mema & Boppa's for a sleep over. I remember the first time that Nate and I left Ava over night. We went to Decorah and she went to Mema & Boppa's. All we did was think about Ava and talk about her. My how time changes things. There was still the occasional mention of how awesome we think she is, but it was so nice for us to be able to get away and enjoy each other with no interruptions. Believe me, we knew that Ava was having more fun with Mema & Boppa than she would be with us. It was great to be in Decorah again, visiting campus and a few of our favorite spots. We lucked out and had beautiful weather. Sunday morning we were back on the road to pick up our "Peanut Pie".

When we arrived home Ava was sleeping. When she woke up I walked into the bedroom with Mema behind me. She looked at me and then yelled, "Mema" so excited to see her (as if I didn't exist). It didn't bother me in the least bit. It just told me what I already knew; she loves her Mema & Boppa and had a great weekend with them. A big thanks to them for allowing Nate and I to get away for a night.

This week has been pretty low key since I worked Monday through Wednesday. Yesterday we did the usual story time and this morning we'll head to music class. We have plans Saturday to meet up with some friends and their kids, so we're excited for that. We hope that you all have a wonderful weekend!

PS- a BIG congrats to our friends Lisa & Craig. As of Tuesday Ava now has a new cousin Nick. She looks at pictures of him, smiles and says "Baby Nick". I can't wait for her to meet him!

Mom & Dad

Ava is now 23 months old and her vocabulary grows every day. I'm amazed at what comes out of her mouth, and at times it makes me laugh as she sounds more and more like a grown up. However, the other day I was not laughing as she sounded a bit to old. She was talking to Nate and she said something like, "no Dad". DAD?!? WHAT?!? It's Daddy to you little girl! She told me the other day, "come play Mom". Now this may not sound like a big deal to most of you, but to me it is. Ava is growing up way to fast and I need to be her "Mommy" for just a little bit longer. Before I know it I'll be "Mother" and then she'll be at the age where she doesn't even want to address me by name. Slow down Miss Ava. I know you'll be two this month, but I'm loving these days of exploring new things, reading books, having tea parties, and I especially love when you put your hands on my cheeks, look into my eyes and say, "I love you Mommy". So for as long as we can, we're going to cherish these "Mommy and Daddy" days.