Ava Videos

Posted August 6th, 2009 by Sally and filed in Uncategorized
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Sometimes a moving picture says even more than the thousand words a still photo can. So, here’s about a billion words. :-)

Reading Books, July 18, 2009
Playing Piano, July 30, 2009

Twirling, August 1, 2009

Handy Man

Posted August 2nd, 2009 by Sally and filed in Uncategorized
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Ava and I are pretty lucky to have a live-in handy man. Matt’s knack-ish tendencies come in really handy when, say, we want speakers wired for our stereo outside and, oh yeah, we want them on a switch inside. Matt spent one Saturday afternoon recently doing just that for us. Now when we go swimming, we have tunes to keep the party flowing from inside to outside. These electrical skills are going to be put to good use again soon as he wires the new light for Ava’s room. We love our handy man!

Here he is hard at work trying not to solder his finger off…


And here’s the fabulous finished project…


And don’t think that Ava and I don’t help while Matt’s working his magic. We’re right there…snuggling and napping because the work is exhausting!

Ava @ 20 Months

Posted August 1st, 2009 by Sally and filed in Uncategorized
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Ava turned 20 months last week. It seems that each passing month brings so much more independence and vocabulary with it. It’s nice to know that our baby is growing into a truly wonderful and funny little girl but, looking back, it all seems to have gone so quickly.

Subversive propaganda T-shirt from Uncle Michael

Ava is becoming quite the independent little girl. She walks into school by herself now and greets everyone she meets on the way in. She leads the way to her classroom and is very happy to see Miss Kristin every morning. Drop-offs are a breeze these days and it’s such a relief to know that she enjoys her time there. We bring home Ava’s artwork about once a week and she’s very proud of her creations. We hang a couple pieces in the living room and she likes to go point to it and say “Art. Ava.” I love that she feels pride for doing things well.

Opening presents from Bama & Bampa Caspers.

Ava is also becoming quite a good little helper…as long as you have the timeline to let her. She enjoys picking things up and putting them back in their homes. She also enjoys wiping things with a dustrag. She’s a very orderly little person and is proud when she cleans things up. No idea where she could have picked up a piece of genetics like that (wink, wink).
Sesame Street has become a morning staple in our house and gives Mommy and Daddy a little transition time on those 6am weekend mornings. (Thank goodness for the new Tivo and weeks’ worth of saved episodes!) However, on the one Saturday morning Matt did sleep in, our early riser requested Star Trek. She watched half an episode before requesting a switch to Sesame Street. I think Matt’s heart broke a little when he learned he’d slept through that.

Strutting in Mommy’s heels.

Imaginative play has come to live at our house, as well. Ava and I spent a while playing “time out” a few days ago. I was the misbehaving child and she was the mommy. Pretty funny to see yourself acted out through the lens of a toddler. Ava also likes to share her milk and her hugs with all the stuffed dolls and animals hanging around in her playroom. Recently, after finishing reading a book, she pretended that Elmo was reading it and helped him hold the book in his hands.

Although we’ve been battling colds and ear infections the last couple of weeks, Matt and I keep remarking that this is a really fun age. Ava is communicative, independent and just a tiny bit stubborn. But, she’s also very sweet and snuggly still. We don’t take any toddler hugs for granted, though, as we know that could change at any moment. Her musicality hasn’t waned much and we have regular dance parties in the guest room and, increasingly, listen to her sing her own tune from the backseat of the van. Love this little girl!

Baby Showers!

Posted July 31st, 2009 by Sally and filed in Uncategorized
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It’s nearly time for Thomas Hoffman and Baby Jungquist to arrive, so it was definitely time for a Bond girl celebration! I hosted a baby shower for Sarah here at our house Saturday morning, and we got to go to Firefly restaurant downtown for an evening shower for Amanda.

To make the weekend even more special, it was a virtual Bond girl reunion. TPS friends in Florida, Carrie and Lynette, flew out on Thursday to join in the fun, and Amanda and Katie joined us from Edwards on Friday. Luckily, our husbands took over most of the parenting duties starting on Saturday morning and we were free to party it up.
Friday afternoon after everyone’s arrival, we hosted a pool party and little birthday celebration for all our July birthday girls. {Sidebar: All the food this weekend was prepared from Pioneer Woman recipes. If you haven’t yet discovered the cooking section of ThePioneerWoman, then let me pause while you go visit. I’ll wait the several hours it’ll take you to return.}

Saturday morning was full of last minute preparations for Sarah’s shower and then it was time to celebrate! We played a funny MadLibs game, baby gift bingo and decorated onesies. The food was yummy and my most recent cupcake creation turned out really well. The clothes for baby Thomas were simply adorable and we were so happy to celebrate Sarah in this experience.
After an afternoon of girl talk, the Bond girls left our kiddos with the daddies yet again and headed downtown for a dinner celebration of Amanda’s newest little one. We went to a great little tapas restaurant and did presents and cake. Yummy food, great friends, and lots of laughs – a great way to celebrate friends!
In spite of the crazy-busyness of the weekend, it was wonderful to have so many good friends here with us. The house seems so quiet now that they’ve all left. Friends, we miss you! Sarah and Amanda, congratulations on your newest little ones! Can’t wait to meet Thomas and Baby Jungquist!

Ava’s Big Girl Room – Step 2

Posted July 31st, 2009 by Sally and filed in Uncategorized
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Things are slowly coming together for Ava’s big girl room. We’ve nearly completed a new light fixture for the room and received some lovely artwork for the walls when our friends came to visit from Florida.
The room that is Ava’s playroom downstairs was intended to be a dining room and had a chandelier type light fixture hanging in it, but it was replaced with a ceiling fan by the previous owner. Matt found the old light fixture in the attic a couple weeks ago and we decided to repurpose it for Ava’s big girl room. It’s not hung up and wired yet, but with a little spray paint, it’s very close to being ready!

Another new addition to her big girl room is the artwork generously supplied by a dear TPS friend. She’s been working on several pieces of art for her daughter and some other lucky little girls, and we feel so lucky to have some of her creations to hang on Ava’s wall. Here’s a couple pictures for now (Ava insisted on sitting on the bench for the picture) with more to come when we finally get her room finished and have them hung on the wall. Thanks, Kelli, for the wonderful artwork!

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