Dear Ava

 

 

 

You're my little girl and always will be.

 

It's not always easy when the baby has to make room for a new baby!

 

But you've handled it with true grace.

There is not a day that goes by that Annie is not smothered with love and dozens of kisses by you alone.

 

You've graciously adjusted to sharing your time and have found your own way of contributing by becoming mom's big helper-- you have already nearly mastered the art of diaper changing!

 

Mostly, I am sincerely grateful that Annie has such a beautiful (inside and out), confident and smart-as-a-whip sister to look up to.

 

Sisters are so very, very special-- and my heart is full now that you have your very own.

 

With love and happy tears,

Mom

 

 

 

Soccer: Part 1

Can we take a moment to talk about what a beast Ava is at soccer?

It's ridiculous.

Not only is she a tall drink of water out there (just like her daddy-o!)

but the girl is a force to be reckoned with.

100% Determination.

No fear.

And at the risk of sounding like a crazed hockey mom

{no offence fellow hockey moms}

just the right amount of aggression.

Which thrills me to no end, because... Well--

b-a-s-i-c-a-l-l-y,

she's everything I never was and wished I could be.

Athletic, brave & confident.

...Which makes living vicariously through her that much more satisfying (wink :)

Milestones

Life is good for Miss Ava these days.

Within the last three weeks

she has managed to accomplish the following 3 tasks:

Ride a two-wheeler

Lose her first tooth

&

Learn to make her own peanut butter & jam sandwich

(She thinks her sandwiches are, 'The Best. They are sooo good, mama!')


She hardly needs her poor old mum anymore :(

Ava's first day at dance

I thank the dear Lord everyday for blessing me with a beautiful, bubbly baby girl.

Who else could I dress up in all-things-pink,

tutus, sparkles & tights?!

            Amen.

Woe is me

Ava's first full session of Kindergarten today.

I think I might just mayybe kinda sorta possibly

        ....miss her just a wee little bit.

'Mommy, your polka dots are beautiful'

(Uber-cute birthday invite created with Picnik)

As in, my freckles.

A compliment as earnest and unique as this could only originate from my sweet, dearest Ava

(she told me this lastnight and I almost died from overwhelming sweetness overload-- true story.)

--who happens to be turning five in a week.

Happy face :)

Sad face :(

Confused face :/

A mixed bag of emoticon when you realize your baby's growing up.

Birthday Girl's cake request:

[drum roll inserted here]

A kitty cat cake.

To the liking of 'Marie'

from the Aristocats.

         Help.

Ava Lou Who

Two weeks back now,

I managed to find Ava's Halloween costume whilst perusing Winners.

My excitement cannot be contained.....

Cupcake Cutie altered to become Cindy Lou Who.

I've been waiting to perform this costume since the day the ultrasound concluded 'It's a Girl!'......

And lucky for me.... Ava bares a striking resemblance to Little Miss Who:

Lil' bit?!

Or just reaching.....

No matter.

To my delight, it's happening either way.

It would appear summer decided to show her face again and finally bless us with some decently hot weather.

Maybe, just maybe,

we'll make it out to the lake sometime soon so we can really get to enjoy the heat.

A few important things from last week...

First, it was my niece Georgia and my mom's birthdays last week.

I come from a large family and married into a large family,

so you'll notice birthdays seem to pop-up nearly every week.

Birthday girly Georgia :)

Happy Birthday Mom (Grandma & Ava)!!

 And second.

I modeled last week.

And got paid for it.

James says that makes me a legitimate model.

I love how he humors me.

Take a sneak peek at the photos here.

Ava finished with her swimming lessons last week.

She'll be re-doing Sea Turtle.

....Until she can confidently fully dunk that little head of hers under water.

Aaron started his swim lessons this past Tuesday.

He said it was the best day of his life.

He says that a lot.

FYI- Last Friday was the worst day of his life no thanks to a stubbed and broken toenail.

I think I might start judging my days by best and worst ever...

It seems to make for good dramatic effect.

Took the kids to see Despicable Me.

I loved it.

Oh, and so did they.

It was our first time seeing a 3D movie.

Way cool.

Ava kept yelling 'It's BIG, it's BIG!!'.

I think that was her way of saying,


'holy moly, it's jumping out at me'.

I also went to see Inception on Tuesday.

With my brother Dustin, not the kids.

A real head scratcher that one.

I hate when they leave the ending up to your own deciphering.....

Can't you just tell me how it is?!

It was good though.

Real good.

And in closing...

Yesterday, I made Banana Cupcakes with Cream Cheese frosting.

Cupcakes make me smile :)

10 Things from the Last 10 Days

1.  I was wrong about summer.  It's just as busy as any other time of the year.

2.  Aaron started summer hockey camp last Monday.  I was a smidgen concerned it might be over-kill considering he just finished inline 2 weeks ago, but the little guy was pumped to get on the ice.  Maybe it's the new skates?!

3.  Ava's got her own important schedule as well.  Swimming lessons began on Tuesday.  From what I gather, getting the kids to successfully dunk their heads under water without fear or hesitation is the main focus of the 'Sea Turtle' class.

Sounds advanced.

Maybe I  should have signed up too.....

(Yea, she's crazy like that.  Shera, Princess of Power!)

4.  Lessons have been going so well we decided to reward the kids with a night at the movies.  In hind sight, maybe a bad idea...

Warning to all parents:

Toy Story 3.

Great movie, however.....

During the movie, Ava broke into tears as the toys were seemingly coming to their (SPOILER ALERT) fire-y demise, stating 'I wanna go home and play with my toys!'?!
Weird.

She also commented, in a mildly uneasy manner, on 'Big Baby' looking oddly similar to her own baby.....

Resemblence?

Aaron kept us company in bed that same evening (the first in a long time) due to fear of the crazy-eyed, cymbal-bashing monkey.

'Do I frighten you?'

5.  It was my eldest neph-y poo, David Jr.'s 2nd birthday last week, as well as my niece Nevada's 8th.

Happy Birthday kiddos!

Nevada & Me, Kananaskis.  Luvs her :)

Baby Davey Jr.!

6.  James and I finally watched the season finale of LOST.

You Should Know- I'm ashamed to call myself a fan having waited this long to watch the last episode.

Bad fan!  Very bad fan!!

It was sad.  I was sad.

James was equally depressed,

stating he was not sure he'd be able to attend work on Monday.

RIP Jack Shephard.

7.  I received my Stella & Dot Soiree Earrings this week and they were just as lovely as a I had imagined...

SPARKLY :)

8.  We attended James' 10 year high school reunion.

Which made me wish I had attended my own reunion.

Which actually was cancelled due to lack of interest from a large number of my former classmates, including me (guilty),

......Which had me super relieved at the time.

I'm glad he/we went.  No one likes regrets :)

9.  Cray fishing is fun.

Until you fall in.

Just ask Aaron.

10.  I've been stumped as to what to blog about these last almost two weeks.

I assumed nothing all that interesting had gone on.

I think maybe I was wrong.     

De-Clutterize: Day 4

It never fails... the first day of summer (or any first day of the four seasons, maybe sans winter?) I go into junk disposal mode.  Maybe if there were more seasons this task would not always be so daunting?!

So yeah, I've been busy.

Not just with cleaning either.

Aaron had his last inline hockey game this past weekend, tournament actually.

So that's over.

Ava had her ballet recital, as well.

She loved it.  We loved it.

She wanted to get right back up on stage even after her group was finished performing.

No stage fright there.

We then celebrated with a visit to 'Hey Cupcake!'.

FYI- Cupcake of the month: Men are from Mars

Also, my cake pops were such a hit with Aaron's class last week that his teacher, the fantastic Mrs. S, ordered a batch from me for her daughters birthday this week.

Rainbow bit cake with pink vanilla chocolate.

Sounds girly good, doesn't it.

And still, the cake pop craze will continue as I'll be up to my eyeballs in cake and chocolate this afternoon making a batch for Kirsten's Stella & Dot Trunk Show this Saturday.

Pondering: How to make Cake Pops look fashionable?

My dearest long distance friends (you both know who you are), I do wish you were joining us :(

Professional Cake Pop Samplers.
They've got great taste!

Enjoyed a night out with the lovely LAC ladies (including Aaron's teacher) at the Marble Slab.

One last hoorah you could say, as the school year is now wrapped up.

That evening, Mrs. S told me I was a really good mom.

With a lump in my throat and a stinging in my eye, I told her,
I try really hard.

To which she responded, it doesn't have to be perfect.

Just enjoy the moments while your kids are still young.

Good advice, I think.

My last class of Buns & Bellies wrapped up.

Thank The Lord.

And finally, this morning my thursday girls will be over.

The kids will be so excited once they get their lazy summer bums out of bed.

I predict it's going to be a really great day :)

First strawberry of the year.

For whatever reason, it is tradition for Aaron to be the one who picks it.

You are most certainly right Mrs. S.

Perfection is not necessary.

Enjoying the moment, is.

A Snip-It

Just a wee snip-it of Ava's adorableness in ballet class... Well, all the little girlies actually! If you listen closely you can hear their little girly-giggles when they squish together in their circle.  And yes, the boots are back :)

And so here it is: Dance of the Butterflies, or so I've titled!

PS- Welcome new friend!  You've made my blog-lovin' day!

Cherry Blossom

The cherry blossoms have blossomed and it's a balmy 30 degrees!

Loves it:)

At last, A Nice Day

I've been itching to get some better pics of Ava in her ballet gear and since yesterday finally brought some well deserved sunshine (opposite last week's blizzard- blech!)... we took advantage!  Ava was feeling particularily photogenic this day, therefor, I managed to get some pretty wicked photos of not only her, but Aaron too!

Real Busy-Like

Whatta week!  I figure a photo montage would be the best way to deliver the goods.

First, our darling daughter started ballet this past Tuesday- Yay!!  Ava has anxiously been counting down the days for her classes to start and was jazzed about her first session.  I wondered about being a little over the top with the whole 'outfit', but I was pleased to find the other little ballerinas were equally frilly and pink (sooo adorable!).  The weather was really crappy that day so I wasn't able to get the best photo of her so these will have to do!

Aaron instructing her on achieving the perfect diamond shape... I have to say, the boy was paying attention.  He'll be hanging with me while she has her classes, which I'm very pleased about as Ava has spent countless hours attending hockey-- she's more than done her time!

So cute!

Wednesday, I tagged along with Aaron's kindergarten class on a field trip to the greenhouse (I was hoping to get picked for this one!!).

Goofing-off on the bus ride.

Man, how did he get so cute?

Get ready for it.....  GLORIOUS rows and rows of the most beautiful, luscious hydrangeas I've ever seen!  I took at least two dozen photos of them-- I couldn't contain myself.

Some fancy editing.....

Counting down the days 'til the May long weekend is finally here so I can get my garden on!

Wednesday evening-- Inline Hockey evaluations.  It's a bittersweet thing really.....  Hockey season just ends and inline just starts up.  Still amping myself for a 2-3 evenings a week schedule....

 

He's gonna have bigger pipes than me at this rate.....  And check out the sweat he worked up?!!

And, last but not least...  A pic of me and my sis from a birthday party we attended on Friday.  I love her bunches and we have alotta fun together :)

 

And who can deny James and Dustin's affections...... certainly, not me.