Fun with Baking

Every once in a while, Mo(m) gets inspired to do a little baking. Ava is always fascinated by all things kitchen related, but baking adds a new element for her to learn from. Now Ava has now discovered the benefit of baking, especially that of eating the dough right off of the beaters…

We also took advantage of the cooler weather to get out and play at the park. Sand and an old tractor are perfect to keep our little Ava occupied for a while….

Walking into the park (she knows the trail)

And she’s happy to point out the way….

Having fun with the tractor in the sand…

Afterwards, a little swing time is perfect. Here she is making sure that she gets the bow out of her hair….

And happily posing for the camera.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Ava is looking forward to a feast…how about all of you?

Open Pantry + Ava = More Food for Chase

One of the challenges of our little mobile toddler is that she can open doors. So when we forget to fully shut the pantry door, she can get her little fingers in there to open it. Of course there is lots of fun stuff in the pantry – everything from her snacks to Chase’s dog food. Always on the lookout for her “big brother”, Ava loves to get into the pantry to hand feed Chase some of his food.
Under Chase’s watch….


Hand feeding Chase…

And teasing Chase by pretending to eat his food…

When she’s not busy in the pantry, Ava is playing with her toys. Here’s a video of her taking her newest toy for a “spin”…Click the video below.

Video From AvaHighlights

Every day brings a new adventure….stay tuned to see what the weekend brings!

Happy Halloween

After much anticipation, Ava (finally) got to put on her Halloween costume a few times. Our little ‘peanut’ was, naturally, a peanut for Halloween.

Ava started off the weekend with a party at our gym. She had fun watching the bigger kids do face painting, jump in the bouncy house, and generally have fun.

Ava also had fun with the play house outside….here she is trying to close the shutters…

And doing her infamous “pointing” at something interesting….

As an early adoption day (Ava’s adoption was finalized on 11/4/09) present, Ava got a zebra push/ride/scooter combo. Here she is pushing it around the house…

And playing with all of the musical buttons.

Saturday was a birthday party for one of Ava’s friends, followed by a Halloween party up at the park. Here she is staying ‘cool’ on the swings.

And a little snack with Mom.

On Sunday we (finally) got to do a little trick-or-treating. Although Ava didn’t really seem to get the concept just yet, she was happy to go around the neighborhood.

Mom and Ava with the annual pose.

Pumpkin and Peanut (aka Sophie and Ava) in the wagon ready for the big night.

After a trip around the block the kids were worn out and ready for bed….Next year Ava will probably want more of her candy…

Time to go catch Ava before she tries to ride her toy over Chase….

Fall is in the Air

With daytime temperatures <100 degrees, it is officially fall in Arizona. While it means that it is too cold to go swimming, on the plus side we we have plenty of outdoor time now. Ava loves going for rides in her wagon, or playing on the playground, or just sitting in the grass.
Some mornings are still a bit chilly when we take the dog for a walk, but Ava seems happy with her hoodie on…

Although she would rather walk than ride in the stroller….
Fall also means football season. Our gym does Monday Night Football happy hours with some appetizers and drinks. Ava loves going to these to see other kids and to be social. Last time we took advantage of an open squash court to let Ava do some roaming.
Here’s Ava, managing to snack and play at the same time…

Coming for the camera man….
Back towards the gym….
Uh-oh, we’re low on snacks!
Ava also had her 15 month checkup today. She got another round of vaccinations (she only cried a little bit) and is doing great!
We’re all looking forward to Halloween this weekend – a birthday party and a Halloween party, and Ava gets to go trick-or-treating for the first time!

Long (Beach) Weekend

While it wasn’t a long weekend (unfortunately), we did head to Long Beach for the weekend. Mo and our neighbors Mike and Sarah ran the Long Beach 1/2 Marathon on Sunday. We did a quick trip, leaving on Saturday morning and getting back Sunday evening. Driving. With 2 little girls. Let’s just say that won’t be happening too often.

Here are the girls happy at the start of the adventure.

Ava was all about partaking in the carbo loading dinner the night before. 

Mo, Mike, and Sarah the morning of the race.

Ava and Sophie were happy to hang out with me at the hotel for a while. Ava is into a “hugging” phase. Here she is with a little dolly.

And with a bigger (live) dolly aka Sophie.

After the run we met up with Mo’s aunt and uncle, Loma and Simon.  Ava had fun running around the patio.

Always ready to entertain, Ava decided to be the nun for the day.

And of course after seeing the photos, Chase wanted to get in on it as well.

The kids were great travelers –  it was a lot of fun, just packed into a short time period. Next time we’ll enjoy California a bit more…

Fall is in the Air

Its (finally) starting to feel like autumn here in Arizona – or at least less like summer. With cool(er) evenings we can eat outside again and keep the windows open at night.

When Ava and Mo were in Minnesota last month they managed to take some photos with pumpkins. Without any further ado, here’s the cutie showing off…

 

Ava also managed to find a new friend with a little kitten….although she definitely likes dogs better!

 

Ava still loves her popsicles. She’s been getting a few more lately to help with her teething (she’s cutting her first molars now). Clearly she’s not the most adept at keeping all of it in her mouth … in fact she seems to relish in getting it around her whole face.

And if anyone asks if she’s a “good eater” all we have to do is show this – she is licking melted part off of her tray…

Ava is anxiously counting down the days until she can wear her Halloween costume….until then, we’ll try to get a few more swims in while the weather is warm….

Dad’s Little Helper

We decided to get our floors redone – replacing the laminate (aka Pergo) with some tile. The night before the work was to start, we had to get all of the furniture off the floor. Of course Ava was there every step of the way ready to help out.

Ava was perfect at helping to disassemble the furniture – although the tools ended up a bit “drooly” after she handled them.

When it came to moving furniture, Ava was equally helpful. Below is a video of her helping to push some furniture into the other room….

From AvaHighlights

She’s a perfect supervisor for the workers too – she loves watching them put the tile down.

Let’s hope she is equally helpful when we put everything back!