1st Day of the 2nd Year of Preschool

On Wednesday, September 4th Ava started back at preschool for her second year.  She was excited and ready to go.  I have to admit I was a little excited too.  It is fun watching her learn and grow.  It is also nice to have a little bit of alone time.  Last year I cried and it took me awhile to adjust, but this year I handled it much better.  I'm sure next year when she goes to kindergarten and is in school all week it will be a different story.  That will be another big adjustment for me.

My beautiful Ava.

Ava LOVES The Magic School Bus right now, so I made her this shirt.  It says "Take chances, make mistakes, get messy."  That is one of  Ms. Frizzle's favorite quotes.  I also made her a matching flower to wear in her hair.

Ava picked out these Dora shoes.  She loves that they light up.  Can you see a few of her many mosquito bites from visiting Gridley?  Poor Girl!

Ava really wanted a picture with her backpack on.  It is the same green dog backpack from last year.

Labor Day in Gridley

For Labor Day we headed to Gridley, so Ava could enjoy one last swim in the big pool before it gets too cold.  Too bad it wasn't really warm and even rained a little while we were there.  It didn't stop Ava though.  She put her swim suit on to launch water balloons and then swim for a little bit.

Inside we had fun too.  Some of the cousins help Nonna make apple pies.  Rich and Ava made zucchini cookies to share.  And, the sister-in-laws got crafty by making hair bows and flowers for our daughters.  It was a fun filled two days that wore us all out and left us scarred with mosquito bites.

Lily, Bella, Kobie, & Ezra helping Nonna roll out the crust for pie.

Bella and Kobie playing in the brief rain storm we had.

Ava and Rich making cookies.  Ava LOVES brown sugar.

Water balloon launcher.  READY...

GET SET...

LAUNCH!

Bella & Lily

I love all of their expressions in this picture.

Bella has some power!

Ava hiding in Nonna's tall Zinnias.

Piano

In August we bought a piano off Craigslist.  I have been watching Craigslist for awhile and was happy to come across this piano.  It was a good price and the man was kind enough to deliver it (we provided the muscle).

Ava was excited to get the piano and has been playing it ever since.  She puts on little shows and makes up her own songs.  It is very entertaining and makes me wonder if we have a little songwriter in our family.  Ava says she wants to take piano lessons, so sometime after her 5th birthday she will start.  The trick now is to find the right teacher to encourage her and make it fun.

Papa Bruce's Birthday

We celebrated Papa Bruce's birthday a little late because he was on a fishing trip in Colorado on his actual birthday.  On a Sunday late in August we headed up to Gridley and celebrated with the gang.  It is always a fun & wild time when we party in Gridley.  Ava loves playing with all her cousins and we like catching up with the family.

Papa blowing out candles.

Papa with the grandkids that could make it.

Eli wanted only ice cream, but all 4 flavors. This is the face he made when I said look happy.

Ezra and Lily loving their cake and ice cream.

All the cousins clean and ready to go to bed...or not.

Temple Anniversary

Not only is this post late, but we actually celebrated our 4 year forever family anniversary late.  Four years ago, on July 25th, we took Ava to the Sacramento Temple and had her sealed to us.  That day was wonderful because it gave us the blessing of becoming a forever family.  Each year we celebrate this event by walking around the temple.

This year I total spaced when the day rolled around.  For some reason I can remember the day of the week, but I don't keep track of the date very well.  At the beginning of the month I remembered the special occasion and put it on the calendar.  Then the month was crazy with girls camp and an unplanned trip to my parents which all threw me off.  Late the night of July 26th I sat up in bed looked at my phone calendar and realized I completely forgot the day.  I felt a little bad, but decided we would celebrate a few days later for a Family Home Evening activity.

So, on July 29th we went to dinner and then to the temple to celebrate.  Ava and I made cupcakes as a special treat.  We walked around the temple and took pictures in our traditional spots.  It was a great day and it is never too late to celebrate an important event like being a Forever Family!

The cupcakes Ava and I made.  She wanted pink frosting and I made little candy Sacramento Temples to go on top.

Always have to take a few pictures with the whole family in front of the temple.

Ava with a cupcake treat.

Not really sure why Ava covered Rich's eyes, but she thought it was funny.

We stopped to take a couple pictures in front of the beautiful flowers.

I just love being Ava's mom!!

This is our traditional spot.  I love the big flowers.

I love this picture because Ava decided to give me a big hug.  I am so grateful she likes to snuggle.

This is Rich and Ava's traditional spot.  She is getting so tall.  I don't know if she will be able to stand up there in a few more years.

She LOVES her daddy!

Cake Decorating

Ava really wanted to decorate a cake, so one day we did.  She decided we would make a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and decorate with pink and purple frosting.  As we decorated I learned I seriously need to refresh my skills.  We didn't make the prettiest cake, but we had a lot of fun.

Ava's favorite part was at the end when we were silly.  I squeezed some extra frosting in her mouth which made her very happy.  I then turned her into a rhinoceros by putting frosting horns on her nose.  Ava in turn put horns on my nose and we didn't forget daddy or Luca.  It was fun and made us all laugh.

Here we go.

Ava had a hard time squeezing the frosting out, so I had to help her.

Ava wanted purple flowers on top.

Ava trying to squeeze the frosting by herself.

We're done.

Let's eat.

Ava loved it when I squeezed frosting in her mouth.

Rhinoceros Horn

Ava decided to touch noses and share her frosting.

The cutest little rhinoceros ever!

Ava giving me a rhinoceros horn.

Ava made me give Rich some horns too.

Ava smooshing the frosting on Rich's face.

Luca with a little bit of purple frosting on his nose.  He was happy to participate in the silliness.