Oh-Bla-Di

The kids’ school hosted a Winter Festival earlier this month.  It was a pajama party and had lots of good food, TONS of kids running around like crazy people and a really cute little program.  The kiddos wore matching jammies and Matt & I wore jammies (in spite of his initial reservations), too.  The toddlers and transitions classes film their presentations but the Preschool and Kindergarten classes perform LIVE!!    This was super fun and Ava had a great time singing her class’s song.

I’m a little snowman round and fat,

With an orange nose and a big black hat,

I like to be outside on a snowy day,

Until the sun melts me away.

That’s what Ava said when she walked into the front room at the end of her birthday party and saw this sitting there.  I think I might forever kick myself that I didn’t get it on video.    Matt did a fabulous job turning our crummy, Craigslist, purple princess bike frame into a shiny, red piece of wonderful that is perfect for our girl.  When you work on something like this for your kiddo, this is exactly how you want them to react.

Although we had been a little concerned over how well the bike would be sized for her and how she’d take to it, there was really no need.  Whoozers climbed right up, rang the bell, and rode that bike right down the hallway.

Ava went to bed that night asking to go ride her bike first thing in the morning and we did just that.  With an entourage of six (four adults, a baby and a dog), she pedaled up and down our street like she’d been doing it for months.  She rode in a mostly straight line pretty well, but we practiced steering quite a bit too.  Mommy, Daddy or Noah were the targets and she followed us from one side of the street to the other.  Once she learned to trust the training wheels, she did a pretty good job.  Also, if she’s not busy being nosy and telling other people what to do or where to go, she remembers to watch where she’s going.  

I think we’re going to put a lot of miles on this bike and we’re so glad she loves it.  Happy Birthday, dearest girl!

Here are five fun things for Friday.

Fun Thing #1:

Ava and I have become addicted to a new-to-us music group called Rabbit.  You should go give it a listen.  It’s happy, it’s peppy, it makes a 30 mile commute a sort of fun thing to do.  My favorite is Ladybug.  This album is awesome because Ava will even let me sing along with it.  

Fun Thing #2:

At the same time we discovered Rabbit, Ava and I also started digging a kids’ album called Do Fun Stuff, Vol. 1.  Rabbit does several of the songs on this compilation, too.  Seriously fun, not annoying kids music.  Ava’s favorite is “Potty Time”!  She knows all the words and sings along.  It’s the second song on the album…she only listens to the first song because I make her wait to get to “Potty Time.”

Fun Thing #3:

We’ve had super good luck with Craigslist in the last two weeks.  We scored a bike for Ava’s birthday for $10 and a double jogger stroller for $50.  The bike is going to get a fresh coat of paint, a new seat, a bell and a basket this weekend.  The jogger was the key element to a very fun walk the kiddos and I took earlier this week.  Hooray for turning others’ old stuff into our new fun stuff!

Fun Thing #4:

Ava can spell her name.  She did that for me for the first time last night.  And, now, she can write it too!  She learned that within five minutes of spelling it for me.  So, so proud of our smart girl.

Fun Thing #5:

The boy, he talks.  And smiles.

Ava’s had a pretty major break through on the creative front in the last few days.  Her imagination has always been really, really active and we’ve known for a long time that there are some major creatures banging around in there.  We just haven’t ever been able to see them the way she does because she couldn’t produce them.  We got close, maybe, but it’s not the same as when she makes things herself.

Her art grew slowly over the weekend. It started with a whale.  Matt & I were ecstatic because, you guys, it actually looks like a whale!

So.  Then Whoozy moved on to people.  Ava’s started drawing her family…as monsters.

That’s Mommy on the left, Ava on the right, and Daddy is the little blob at the top.  Noah has not yet made the ranks of either family or monster…not sure which yet.

She’s also working on drawing some of her favorite characters.  Here’s Quack from Mommy & Daddy’s favorite cartoon.

She’s working on Chirp and Peep, too, but seems a bit intimidated by the need for a beak and wings.  I’m certain, though, that those pictures will be coming soon.  We take our art seriously around here, folks.  

Angela Mildon came back to our house when Noah was exactly a week old to do his newborn shoot.  As expected, she did a fantastic job and we got so many great shots that we love.  We acquired the digital files, so can share them here with you as well as hang them all over our house.     Not really much to say except, thanks, Angela, for the great work and enjoy everyone!

And, now, what may be my two most favorite pictures ever.