Girls' Day

Holy Cow! It's May 31st and if I don't post today then I will have missed posting anything in the entire month of May. We can't have that! It's a good thing that Ava and Mommy spent Sunday having a Girls' Day. We went to the park, then we went out to lunch (which thankfully was followed by a nap...for Ava AND Mommy) and then we painted a picture. It was a great day.

There is a brush, but she had more fun using her fingers after awhile.

Using Mommy's Birthday Present: a Quick Popsicle Maker!

That popsicle was so cold that you can see Ava's chapped cheeks.

DC Day 3

We had such a good time in DC that Mama has spent the last 2 weeks recovering from it. (We'll pretend that's why it has taken so long to post the third and fourth day of pics.) On Sunday we had an Easter Egg Hunt, walked around the Tidal Basin to see the FDR Memorial, and saw the Cherry Blossoms. We had a blast!

DC Days 1 & 2

Hello from beautiful Washington, DC! It's a gorgeous weekend here and a perfect time to see our nation's capital with all of the cherry blossoms in full bloom. We were here exactly one year ago and it's amazing how much different this trip is at 16 mos. versus 4 mos. You may notice one thing missing from these pictures...Prima Catherine! She came with us last time, but now she has a job in Arizona. So, these pics are for you, Prima.

I love love love all the space to run free!!!

My Aunt Di is here visiting from Spain. She brought me a book. She knows the way to my heart.

We had to throw in one picture of the cherry blossoms.

I'm riding the Metro. It's blurry because we are going FAST!

Taking a breather after climbing up and down these steps...50 times!

I can do it MYSELF!!!
(This pic is for you, Grandma Connie. Remind you of anyone?)

Tuh Tuhs!!!!!!

Translation: Turtles!

Concentration

Wow...talk about concentration. She LITERALLY did this for an hour and a half. She is intent on figuring out how to strap herself in to her booster seat.

Melmo!

Last weekend we took Ava to see Sesame Street Live. I wasn't sure that a 15 month old would have a long enough attention span, but we thought we would be brave nonetheless. We walked into the lobby area and Ava immediately noticed the posters and balloons with all of her favorite Sesame Street characters--from the books...she hasn't seen it on TV yet. :-) We found our seats and settled in for the show to begin. The second Elmo came on stage, Ava screamed "Melmo!" and gave us this look:

"MELMO!!!!"

Watching intently

Enjoying a pretzel during intermission

"Melmo", "Tooktee", "ZZZZ", and "Ah, Ah, Ah"
(translation: Elmo, Cookie Monster, Zoe, and the Count)

"Best Day EVER!!!"

Aliens!!!

I think aliens must have kidnapped my Mommy and Daddy! A few weeks ago I had my first McDonald's and I loved it...especially the French Fries. Then the next day, we were all going stir-crazy because we had been snowed in for a month so Mommy and Daddy took me to Chuck E. Cheese. This was the most fantastic, fun-filled weekend ever!

Adventure Aquarium

Saturday was still super cold and snowy, so we decided to head across the Delaware River to Camden, NJ and the Adventure Aquarium. Ava had so much fun. I'm not sure if she had more fun looking at fish or simply being able to run free.

"Look...sharks!"

"Why is this fish staring at me?"

"Can I get in the water, Mommy?"

"I match the jellyfish."

The view that Ken and I had for most of the day.

"Whew, I'm tired!"

Dancing Machine

Ava LOVES music and she LOVES to dance!

Snow Day

While I was on a business trip in Tucson, a huge snow storm hit the east coast...leaving me unable to get home until Sunday night. Nevertheless, Ava had an amazing time playing in the snow and sledding for the first time.

She stood just like this until someone picked her up and moved her. (Note the cheese stick in her right hand-she was NOT going to give that up.)

"The snow is up to my belly button!"

Her favorite activity--walking!

Daddy and me...but not our Jeep (which is my latest word, by the way)

Christmas Update

OK--so I am a little tardy in getting the blog updated with Christmas photos, but the way I see it, most of you who visit the blog were actually AT Christmas. So, just close your eyes and picture Ava mugging for the camera. And in the meantime, to hold you over, here is one of my absolute favorites.

(For those of you who were not at the Davis family Christmas party, the framed photo that our Grandma is holding is of Uncle Dave, Aunt Bonnie, Lindsay, and Mike in their best vests from Sears. I promise that their framed photo is a joke--I'm not actually related to people who would dress like this on purpose...Honestly...Dave and Bonnie are VERY well respected in their community...they volunteer...and Mike and Lindsay have real jobs...very good people....)

Our Sign Language Testimonial

Ken and I have been using signs with Ava since she was about 6 months. She didn't really start signing back until about 8 months and her signs have been relatively limited. Her first sign was "more" and that was followed with signs for "all done", "milk", and "eat". She is up to about 8 signs and this weekend she actually used two signs in succession without being prompted. We were eating lunch and she signed "more please". It was pretty exciting to see a child at an age where they can't speak to actually communicate a sentence. (Or at least that's what we like to believe it was.)

Tonight at 5:30 as we were eating dinner she was very fidgety. She didn't really seem interested in eating and was making the sign for "milk" over and over. I was reading her daily activity sheet from school and noticed that she only napped for an hour today so I asked her "Ava you sleepy?" She instantly started making the sign for "sleep". So, I thought "maybe she's confused and that's not really the sign she means to make." (It was an hour and a half before her normal bedtime; she couldn't ACTUALLY want to go to bed.) I took her out of her chair and she immediately made a beeline for the stairs making the sign for "sleep" the entire way. I took her up, changed her into her pj's and put her in bed...where she is still happily sleeping. The moral to this story: a child who can communicate is generally not the one who is confused...it's the crazy parents.

Gingerbread Man

Hey, this cookie is just my size.

Yummy! I love my gingerbread man. Thanks Great Grandma for sending me some cookies!!!

Ava's First Birthday

Ava is ONE! Can you even believe it? We had a great little celebration for her with her Grandparents, Great Grandpa, and Avery. Of course we served Ava's favorite--PIZZA (she loves mushrooms and black olives on hers) and then had cupcakes. Avery was our little chef for the day. She helped make the cupcakes, the fruit kabobs, and the pizzas.

You'll see from the pics that Ava had no interest in getting messy. She very gingerly picked apart and ate her cupcake. Here are some of our favorite photos from the day. (Thanks to Aunt E for sending Ava a beautiful party dress!!)

My Cousin Avery

My cousin Avery came to visit me all the way from Michigan. We have been having so much fun. We have slumber parties every night and the weather has been so nice that we have gone to the park TWICE! Here are some of our pictures.

Hide and Seek

Ava loves to play in the kitchen while I am making dinner each night. She especially loves to empty out "her" cupboard (the one where I keep all the unbreakables.)

You can see all of the breakable things on the counter that need a new home.

Hmmm...this is just my size!

Where's Ava?

Boo! Here I am!!!!

(messy hair and all--can you tell it's almost bath time?)