Ava’s Third Birthday

On July 13th we celebrated Ava’s third birthday. Wow how time flies.  From our original posting on July 13, 2009: Today we welcomed our new little one into this world. We have been blessed with a precious little girl through adoption. Baby Ava Shea was born on July 13th 2009 at 1:26 PM. Both Mo and I were there in the delivery room, and Mo was lucky enough to cut her umbilical cord.  Ava weighed in a 5 pounds 11 ounces and 19 inches long….she is a beautiful little angel!

How quickly Ava has grown from this little peanut:

Into a smiling happy toddler…

Ava likes monsoon season here in AZ…here she is waiting for the rain.

Ava also got another haircut…and French braids!

Ava loves playing with trains and blocks in her play room.

Ava has taken to entertaining us by performing on her “stage” (aka her step stool).

She also likes have Pops and NeeNee here. Ava was great at helping Pops put in French doors on Dad’s office.

On Ava’s birthday we started with a scooter for a present, which she had to ride in her jammies.

Later we went swimming and had lunch at the gym pool.

Followed by opening some presents at home.

Some cupcakes with everyone (especially Mom).

And finally playing new instruments on stage for friends Sofie and Vera.

Happy 3rd Birthday Ava!

Introducing Alison Sage Ameduri

On Thursday June 28th at 2:16 PM we welcomed our daughter Alison Sage into this world. She is 5 lbs 10 ounces and 17.25 inches long. Mo(m) did great through labor.

Arriving at the hospital on Wednesday evening

A few minutes after being born, Ali is already snuggling

Ali's official weigh in

Big sister Ava holding Ali for the first time

Ali's first professional photo shoot at 1 day old.

Big sister Ava adminirng Ali's tiny fingers

Especially compared to Dad's hands.

Ali's first ride in the car seat

Ready to go home on Saturday the 30th

Summer Fun

Ava has been enjoying her summer break from school. Although she definitely misses school and her friends – nearly every morning she asks to go to school.

We went hiking with our friends Hannah and Zachary (and their dad Michael). Ava likes fishing at the pond.

Ava and Hannah had fun feeding the fish as well

And running back for more fish food.

Ava loves walking to the pool every day. Here she is with her backpack full of post-swimming clothes.

When it is too hot outside, Ava plays in her playroom. One of her favorites has been playing with Thomas and Rosie the trains.

And whenever she sees her friends at the park, she has to give them a hug.

The first week Ava did vacation bible school (aka summer camp) at the church associated with her school. Other than a different classroom and some different classmates, she seemed to be happy there. They learned new songs – in fact we must now get the backseat request of “I want more school music!” from Ava to play the CD from the camp every time we are in the car. On the last day of camp they whole group performed some of the songs for the parents. Here’s a video of the group singing – Ava is in the bottom in the brown shirt.

Click the image above for a video of Ava

Next week Ava has sports camp – we’re not sure who is looking forward to it more – Ava or Mom!

On other news the baby countdown continues….we’re getting closer to the 7/9 due date.

Officially Summer

With our 100+ degree temperatures, daily swimming, and now preschool being done, summer is “officially” here. With the long weekend we finally have time to post some highlights from the last month…

Ava loves her backpack. And bringing the pool float into the house to hang out on.

Hugs for Aunt Marcy.

Our afternoon walks to the pool.

See the fire truck (aka “sirens"!”) at Home Depot.

At the park on one of the cooler days.

Rock climbing at the park.

On the carousel at the Train Park.

And on another trip there she is shouting with joy.

A little racquetball at the gym.

Miss Potato Head

Shopping for a new house at Costco.

Playing with bubbles in the last day of school with Lilly.

Hiking with Dad on Memorial Day weekend.

On other news, baby sister is growing well…6 more weeks until she arrives!

Springtime fun

With the arrival of spring we’ve been able to enjoy the outdoors more. Ava loves the patio at the new house. Every day we have to water the flowers and the garden, and make sure that there is plenty of hummingbird food in the feeder. At school this week Ava’s class made little birds nests – Mo said it was great to see the whole class coming out with their nests and smiles on all the kids faces. Ava was of course anxious to show it off again at home…

 

Now that daytime highs are in the 80s and 90s, we’ve been able to swim more. We love pool time – not only is it good fun for the family, but Ava sleeps so well when she is tired after an hour of swimming. Here’s Ava showing off her swimsuit coverup.

This year Ava is doing swim lessons – she loves her coach and is getting to be such a great little swimmer.

Showing off her airplane back floats.

We even got a quick video of her swimming last week…here she is swimming across the pool…

Click the image above for a movie of Ava swimming

And a video of her doing her swimming back to the wall.

Click the image above for a movie of Ava swimming

Since Ava is such a good little fish, she can even catch bubbles off the bubble machine out back…

Click the image above for a movie of Ava catching bubbles

It is 100 degrees here today….off to the pool to cool off…

Happy Easter!

How time flies – just last year Ava was getting her hair and was beginning to understand Easter egg hunts. This year she’s been talking about it for a few days leading up to the weekend.

We started out making some Easter sugar cookies. Of course you can’t make Easter cookies without wearing your Easter bonnet!

Here’s Ava proudly showing off the finished product!

Ava got a package from Lola and Papa with new socks. She of course had to wear them right away…although she did share one with Chase.

On Saturday Ava’s preschool had an Easter egg hunt. Which started off with some crafts. Ava was making Mom a bookmark along with some of her school friends.

After a brief story, Ava was ready for the hunt. Ava and Lilly are eyeing the best route to maximize the eggs.

Ava is getting a little last minute coaching from Dad…

After they said go, Ava was off and running…

On Easter eve it was time to color some eggs. Ava is going topless to avoid coloring her shirt too.

Under Dad’s watchful eye, Ava manages to stir the eggs around the colors.

And she is very proud of her egg coloring skills…

Easter Sunday was filled with more fun. After church we went to Sofia’s house for brunch and playtime.

Happy Easter everyone!