Here We Go!

The day after Thanksgiving we woke up early, packed our car, and headed to my brother's to start our vacation. We met my parents at my brother's because we were traveling together in their car. While my brother made us some pancakes (thanks Eric) we figured out how to pack the car with all of our stuff. It was a little tricky, but we managed to squeeze everything and everybody in.

After breakfast we loaded up and were on our way. We headed south and made a few stops along the way before getting to our main destination...DISNEYLAND!

Ava getting ready to eat her Mickey Mouse pancake.

Loaded and ready to go. Can you see how full the Yukon is? It was pack to the roof. It was crazy, but there were 4 adults and 1 toddler.

Thanksgiving Walk

We had a quiet and non-traditional Thanksgiving. Since we were leaving on vacation early the next morning we didn't have a big feast with leftovers. We just ate some spaghetti and then had dessert at our friends later that night. During the day we lounged around and finished packing. We also went on a walk and talked about being thankful for the beautiful creations God made for us.

Ava was determined to walk Luca on her own. It lasted for a short time before she passed him off.

Ava was happy to splash in the puddles we found along the trail.

She also enjoyed throwing rocks in the puddles. Rich loves to skip rocks and Ava tries to copy him, but she just makes big splashes.

Ava jumping in another puddle on the way home. We had to drag her out of the puddle because she was soaked and didn't want to go home. We did bribe her with hot chocolate too.

Daddy is the Best

On Saturday we had a long day of running errands and preparing for our upcoming trip. Ava was so tired that she fell asleep on Rich's shoulders. It only lasted for a few minutes, but it was pretty funny.

Ava's 1st Haircut

Last week we took Ava to get her first haircut. We decided that after almost three years she needed a trim. We kept her hair long, but just had the scraggly ends cut off. Ava was a real trooper and did great. It helped that we let her watch Curious George on Rich's iPhone and bribed her with a chocolate milkshake afterward. She probably would let us cut her hair every week if we gave her a milkshake afterward.

Chocolate Makes Ava Happy

A couple weeks ago Ava was pretty sick. It started with a high fever that continued on and off for 4 days. She also had a cough, sore throat, and runny nose. After a few days she lost her voice and it was hard to communicate with her. It was a rough week and she was miserable.

Just when we thought she was getting better she developed a terrible rash. It started with a few red spots and continued to spread all over her face, legs, back, underarms, and diaper area. It was sad, but it didn't seem to bother her too much. Ava had the rash for a couple days and then it just went away.

During this long miserable week not much soothed Ava. We spent a lot of time snuggling on the couch and watching movies. We also spent several sleepless nights in the Lay-Z-Boy. Ava didn't want to eat much, but the one thing Ava wanted was chocolate. When her Uncle Eric heard about this he sent her a giant Hershey bar to make her feel better. It worked. She was much happier.

Things Not To Forget

Ava is growing so fast that it is hard to keep up with her. There are so many funny and cute things that she says and does that it is hard to remember them all. I try to blog them to preserve them in my yearly blog book, but it can be overwhelming. I have started jotting down a few words here and there to jog my memory and make sure I blog the things we don't won't to forget. Here are a few of the things Rich and I don't won't to forget about this time in our family's life.

Daddy's Sunshine
One of the songs that I sing to Ava is, "You Are My Sunshine". I have sung it to her since she was a baby and sing it because she truly is my sunshine and makes me happy. I sing it to her during lunch, while waiting for her to go potty, while we snuggle, or just whenever. Sometimes Ava sings along and usually when Rich sings she tells him, "no, that's mama's song."

The other day after I sang I got an unusual response. After I sang I said, "Ava you are my sunshine and I love you." She looked at me and replied, "No. I'm daddy's sunshine." I was surprised and didn't know what to say. I just looked at her, laughed, and told her, "I love you", again.

Pee Races
We have slowly been working with Ava on potty training. We have had some successful days and some trying days too. We have tried different things to encourage her to use the potty. Some have worked and others have failed. One of the successful tools has been "Pee Races". Ava likes racing and beating us, so if we are having a hard time getting her to use the potty I will have a race with her. This usually works, but I can only do it when Rich is home (so he can help her) and I have to let her win. Sometimes I pretend to go to the potty and just stand in the bathroom waiting for her to finish, so she can declare, "I beat you mama!"

Food Games
Another challenge we have faced this past year is getting Ava to eat in a timely manner. Ava likes to eat and will eat, but it just takes forever. She likes to play with her food and eat a little bit at a time. It is hard for me and has been a good lesson in patience. I'm just not willing to sit at the table for a hour to eat one meal. So to encourage Ava to eat a little more quickly we have come up with some games of our own.

First, we use to cheer for her. Whenever she took a bite we would clap, cheer, and make a big deal about it. Then we started chanting for her, "go Ava go" or "eat Ava eat". Both of these worked for awhile, but the novelty soon wore off.

We then moved on to reverse psychology. For a time Ava liked to have three of whatever she was eating (3 cucumbers slices, 3 grapes, etc.). She liked to have three because they were a family with a mommy, daddy, and Ava. Every once in awhile she would throw in Luca. She would make the food talk and interact. To get her to eat it we would ask her not to eat mommy, daddy, or Ava. As soon as she heard that she would gobble them down. She especially liked it when we made sounds of pain as she ate "us".

Once that wore off we moved onto emotions. Ava has been intrigued by emotions. She loves to talk about people being happy or sad. At the dinner table one night I told her I was sad she wasn't eating and that if she ate I would be happy. She loved that. Ava told me to cry, so I pretended to cry. As soon as I started crying she ate her food and I became happy. Seeing the connection Ava kept telling me to cry, so she could eat and make me happy. After awhile I think she just liked watching me fake cry. Once she was done with all her food I would do a crazy happy dance. Ava loved the happy dance and would ask for more.

At the moment we do not have any new food game ideas. Mealtime hasn't been as exciting and is starting to drag on again. I will miss all of the crazy fun we have had at the table, but I sure do look forward to Ava just sitting down, eating with her fork, and by herself.

Kiss My Booty
The other day while Rich was waiting for Ava to go potty she slipped off the toilet because she was playing. Rich asked if she was okay and she told him she had an ouchy. When Rich asked where she told him on her booty. Ava then turned around and said, "kiss my booty daddy." Of course Rich declined and told her that was yucky.

Donut Picnic

A few weeks ago I decided to take Ava to the temple for a picnic breakfast. It had been awhile since we have taken her and it was a beautiful day. On the way we stopped by our favorite donut store to pick up breakfast. Once there we sat on some of the benches, ate our donuts and talked about the temple. It is a very special place to our family and I am glad I can share special moments like this with Ava.

Book of Mormon FHE

On Sunday, November 6th we had a special Bowling Family Home Evening. We were able to have Rich's parents and all of his siblings participate. Three of his siblings' families were able to come to our house and the other two joined us on the internet through skype. We each shared our favorite scripture story or scriptures. It was a lot of fun even though it was hard to hear everyone and definitely something we need to try again.

After our FHE the families at our house had dinner, played, and talked. For dessert we planned an object lesson for the kids. Rich set-up an iron rod that lead down the hall to our kitchen table where the tree of life was surrounded by delicious fruit with chocolate fondue and other goodies. The kids held to the rod, but moved so quickly and only had eyes for dessert that I think the lesson was lost....oh well.

The kids holding to the rod and hurrying toward the tree of life. The black sheet was the mist of darkness.

Rich and I made sheep cupcakes to go along with one of my favorite scripture stories in the Book of Mormon. That is Ammon the missionary in the middle of the flock of sheep.

Rich and Ava made this rice crispy treat wall to represent another great scripture story with Samuel the Lamanite. The "Happy Birthday" was for EmmaLee since it was her birthday earlier in the week and she loves rice crispy treats.
Ava really likes the Samuel figurine and now can tell you a little bit about his story. I love that Ava is learning the scriptures.

Tales From the Trail

Last month Ava and I spent a lot of time on the trail before the time change and the cold weather hit. We enjoyed our nature walks and sometimes Ava collected treasures in her bucket. Her favorite things to collect were rocks, but she also liked acorns and leaves. Walking on the trail was always interesting and kept us entertained. I want to share three fun stories from the trail that made me smile and are things I don't want to forget.

Sun & Shade
During one of our walks it started to get hot and I was dying to get home to our cool house. The problem was our walks usually wear Ava out (which was part of the plan), but it can take a long time to get home. On this day I was a little impatient, due to the heat, so I created a game to speed things up. I called it run in the sun and walk in the shade. The name pretty much explains it. The street we walk home on has a ton of trees and a lot of sunny and shady patches. Ava and I would run from the hot sun to the cool shade. I know it doesn't sound exciting, but Ava loved it and it helped me get home sooner. Ava liked it so much that she continues to play it. She will tell me to run away from the sun to the shade.

Flying U
While we walk on the trail we are always on the lookout for wildlife. We see a lot of animals like deer, turkey, rabbits, and woodpeckers. One day we saw geese flying in a V formation. I pointed out the geese to Ava and was about to explain the V formation, but thought she wouldn't understand. A few seconds later Ava pointed at the geese and said, "Look mom a U." I was surprised and impressed she noticed the shape. The geese actually did look more like a U than a V. It made me realize I should never underestimate Ava's intelligence. She really is a smart and observant child.

Rocco the Rock
First, I need to give a little background information for those of you that don't watch "Sesame Street". One of the characters, Zoe, has a pet rock named Rocco.
One day while walking on the paved trail Ava pointed down and said something. At first I couldn't figure out what she was saying. I kept looking at the ground, but didn't see anything except rocks embedded in the pavement. When Ava repeated, "Look mama, Rocco", I got what she was saying. For some reason the rock on the ground reminded her of Zoe's pet rock, Rocco.

Ava hunting for nature's treasures.

Playing Pumpkin Patch

Ever since we went to the pumpkin patch we have been recreating it at home. Ava has a doll family and she has them drive from their home (big girl room) to the pumpkin patch (nursery). Once there they pick from 5 crocheted pumpkins (made by my grandma) and load them in the back of the jeep. Ava then makes sure to have each family member pay the farmer for the pumpkins and then they drive back home. This is an activity we play over and over. It has been fun watching her recreate this memory and nice to know she had so much fun.

Mom, Dad, and Ava arriving at the pumpkin patch.
That jeep used to be mine, but I passed it down to Ava.
Pumpkins loaded in the back.

Harvest Festival & Halloween

This year for Halloween Ava decided she wanted to be Snow White, so that meant we were dwarfs. Ava decided I would be Dopey and Rich would be grumpy. She thought it was funny that I was Dopey, so I don't know what that means. Ava really got into dressing up this year and was so excited to see us turn into the "seven dwarfs". It made her so happy to be able to dress up for the church trunk-or-treat on Friday and then again on Halloween.

At the church activity there were small carnival games and then trunk-or-treat. Ava played the games and got her face painted. Mostly she enjoyed the truck-or-treat part of the night or should I say all the candy she got. She got way too much candy and has been talking about it ever since. We hear a lot of "I want my candy".

Our Family at the Church Harvest Festival

Ava had her face painted for the first time. She picked a heart (or in her words, "boom-boom").

Ava won this yummy cupcake playing the cake walk.

This was just the beginning of the mess.On Halloween night we didn't do the trick-0r-treat thing. Ava already had enough candy, so we did something a little different. During the day Ava and I made some brownies and we delivered them to a couple of families that have helped us (mainly me) out recently. We still got dressed up and enjoyed the night, but we gave treats instead of getting them.

Ava made such a beautiful Snow White.
Notice she is wearing her Buzz & Woody light-up boots. That is all she wants to wear these days.

Snow White and Dopey.

Snow White and Santa Claus...I mean Grumpy. It was interesting how many people thought Rich was Santa Claus or we were pirates even with Ava standing right next to us. Maybe our costumes weren't that convincing.

Carving Pumpkins

Sunday night Ava prepared for Halloween by carving her pumpkin with Rich. This is the first year she carved a pumpkin. She had a lot of fun but did not like the goo inside. When we asked what kind of face she wanted for her pumpkin she said, "a happy face." She insisted her pumpkin had to be happy.

Getting Ready

Ava cutting off the top. Ava really wanted to carve her pumpkin by herself so we had to keep a close eye on her. As soon as Rich put down the carving tool she would pick it up and try to cut the pumpkin.The next few pictures are my favorites. She made great yucky faces while Rich helped her pull out the goo. She kept saying "that is yucky!"Ava helping Rich. At first she just laid down on his arm. It was so cute and sweet.Ava helping Rich cut out the smiling mouth.Silly Ava! That's the pumpkins' mouth.Ava's happy pumpkin.Rich made a surprised pumpkin.Halloween Night

Little Artist

Not only have we let Ava experiment with photography we have also been playing with paint. Ava has a watercolor set and finger paint. She has enjoyed both. It is fun watching her be creative and learn about color. While finger painting we started teaching her about mixing color (red + yellow = orange). She liked that idea and tried to make colors.

Having a 2 1/2 (almost 3) year old has been so much fun. I love watching her curiously explore the world and seeing her little mind at work. Ava has an abundance of energy and is so enthusiastic about every little thing she learns. She helps me to appreciate and enjoy life.

Finger Painting- Just starting.
Making OrangeWater Colors- Ava painted this paper which we used to wrap one of her friends' birthday presents.