An afternoon of reading . . .

Ava has obviously been watching her dad . . . snacking and reading. :o) I guess she's not a fan Ted Kennedy . . .



She's getting to be such a fun little companion during the day. She follows me around all day "helping" me with my chores and keeping me company. She's "reading" her books to herself now, and saying the animal noises for dog, kitty, horse, cow and rooster. Although they do all sound very similar to her favorite, "woof, woof".

She also recently learned the signs for "milk" and "more". I started to try and teach her a few signs when she was about 9 months old, but then she started nodding yes and no and I just figured we'd get by on that. But she started lifting up her hands when I asked her if she was "all done" after eating and so the other day I thought I'd try teaching her the sign for "more". After repeating it only 5 or 6 times during her dinner she started doing it herself. Then the next meal time I taught her the sign for milk and now she uses both pretty proficiently. So the lesson is, wait until they are 15 months old to teach them to sign because then it only takes a few tries instead of days and days with no success.

a girl and her picnic basket

today, teressa captured this hilarious video clip of Ava trying to crawl through her playhouse with her picnic basket. chrissy, thanks again for the picnic toy - ava carries it around everywhere and loads it full of stuff. enjoy!

Labor Day in Arkansas

We went to Eureka Springs Arkansas over Labor Day weekend to visit a Calvary Chapel there. We were blessed by members of the body there who allowed us to stay in their guest house right across the street from the church. The house was so nice and peaceful and had an amazing view looking out over the hills (My view was rudely interrupted one afternoon by looking down to see a huge tarantula crawling up the steps. Gross.). We had a restful and encouraging weekend just spending time together as a family and enjoying fellowship with Pastor Jason, his wife Cindy and their daughters Kindred and Emma, as well as with Keith and Watty (owners of the house we stayed at) and the rest of the body at CC Eureka Springs. Tony shared on Sunday morning and there were 6 kids and 1 missionary sponsored! Pray for the church there, it is a very difficult area to minister in.

Ava had a good time exploring the town with us. She especially enjoyed the blueberry pancakes at the Mud St. Cafe. I need to start ordering for two, she's always eating more than her fair share of my food! She didn't seem to enjoy the 8 hours (with stops) of driving though. She is a girl on the move now and prefers not to be sitting for too long. Below are two video clips, the first one taken outside our house just before we hit the road and the second on our drive back at a McDonald's play area.

By the way she had her 15 month check up today and all is still well. She remains in the 90th percentile for height and just under the 75th for weight. She's not as cooperative as she used to be and I think she's over her crush on Dr. P. Her visits with him always end in shots. :o(

It Didn't Work

As you can see by the photo above we had Ava dedicated at my home church while we were there for the missions conference. We were told that she'd be perfectly behaved after she was dedicated. But it obviously didn't take and we're going to have to have her dedicated again ASAP.

I'm kidding of course. But now that we're establishing some house rules with her and now that she's trying to establish her independence I'm dealing with the ensuing temper tantrums. They generally consist of a dramatic sprawl on the floor and the flooding of her face with tears and snot until she realizes I'm not paying any attention to her, then a few louder more dramatic wails, and then she gives up and goes along her happy way. I just have to try not to let her see me laugh. Especially last night when she wanted me to pick her up but I couldn't because my hands were covered with the cleaner for my glass stove top. So she collapsed on the floor in tears and then drug herself, inch by inch, until she'd draped her sobbing body across my feet as I stood in front of the stove. I can't wait until she's 13.

Having Fun

Ava's finally feeling much better and we're back to having fun being a mom and daughter together. The other day I was reading in my What to Expect: The Toddler Years, which I haven't opened in months, and was surprised at how much it said Ava was able to understand at this age. So I decided to start asking her more questions. And I think they were right. That day I started asking her if she was hungry and she went to her high chair and tried to climb up. Then a little later I asked her if she wanted to go take a bath and she dropped the toy she was playing with and headed down the hall to the bath tub. She's done this a few times now along with learning to come to me and also "stay with mamma". It's fun to feel like the communication isn't so one sided!

We've been having fun yesterday and today learning more animal noises with her new puzzles and her new "300 First Words and Pictures" book. I'd been wanting that exact book for her for some time now but it was a bit on the pricey side. A couple of days ago though, I found it at Mardels for only $7 and I had a $10 gift card. Ava loves the book and we've spent time each day looking at it and the other day I caught her laying on her tummy on the floor turning the pages and kicking her legs. Cute.

And then the same thing with the puzzles. I'd been wanting to get her some of those wooden puzzles with the nobs, but they're also (as in all kid things it seems) too pricey for me. Then yesterday after church a friend who was passing some girl clothes on to me asked if I would also like some puzzles. Yes please! And now Ava's the proud owner of 8 or so "new" puzzles - just the kind I was wishing for. I love how God takes care of our every need, even when it's not really a NEED. Thank you Jesus.

Ava posing (could she be any more posed? We stood her next to the bear and this is what she came up with . . . gotta love the thighs) with the bear on my Grandparent's porch in Washington.

Us at Marymere Falls in the Olympic National Forrest

Ava posing again at my parents house.

sneak peek - carrie and sharilyn rush

while in washington, i got to take some photos of teressa's two sisters - carrie and sharilyn. we had a lot of fun and really got them laughing a lot! take a look and tell me what you think.

first, we'll start off with a silly one of ava and her grandma margie by a small waterfall...

2 awesome girls

family portrait

had a good yard sale this morning with the morgans and the shorts.

i got quite the little sunburn as i danced with a large sign out by the street and tried to get cars into our glorious yard sale.

we went over to a friends pool tonight. before i could even kick off my flip flops and take my hat off, ava was already running for the pool. its starts off nice and shallow and has two small fountains. i know she does not totally comprehend what heaven is yet, but she thought she had a pretty good idea by the end of the night.

well, enjoy the the photo of my two favorite girls. took this at lake cushman in washington.