Ava on a good day

After my last post about Ava and all of her madness, I decided I should share some stories and pictures of some really great days I have had with Ava in the last week. On Friday, we went to the Science Spectrum. She was so much fun to watch and play with and she was really well behaved there! I was pleasantly surprised. She loves to look at the pictures I took of her there. She calls it "The Dinosaur House" because of the dinosaur that they have there. She would not however let me take her picture with the dinosaur. She didn't want to get too close.

This is the "roller coaster" that Ava loved so much.

The water area was so much fun!

Look out Karin McKay. You've got some competition on your hands!

I took this one on the way home.

Yesterday, the girls and I played in the snow/ice! Our neighbor Mike had his four wheeler out and pulling all the kids on a sled behind it. It was so much fun. I wish we would have a really great snow day, with actually snow, not just ice balls and a few flurries here and there!

Here is Ava on the sled with Luke and his mom, Amy. She was the brave one who volunteered to ride with the little kids!

My little snow angel!

These are just a few of my favorite recent Ava pictures.

Ava at Luke's birthday party on the carousel at Mr. Gatti's. (saying "cheese!" of course.)

Ava wanted to try and wipe herself but didn't quite finish the job.

Ava is "driving" to Aunt Stacy's house. (Stacy lives on our same cul-de-sac about five houses down, so please don't report me to CPS for letting my two year old sit up front and hold the steering wheel for a distance of about 100 yards.)

My next post will be all about Molly Kate! Ava just gives me so much to talk about that I find myself writing mostly about her. So in the spirit of not neglecting my other children I will post more about them soon!

12 things

Ashlee tagged me and I've enjoyed seeing other people's 12 random facts, so here goes!

1. If I had to start over "career"-wise, I would go to culinary school and become a chef, probably a pastry chef.
2. I have seen every episode of every season of The Office, Project Runway, Top Chef, and Gilmore Girls. Probably Friends too, but I'm not totally for sure on that one like I am the others.
3. My favorite movies growing up were Robin Hood, Mary Poppins, and Grease.
4. I HATE clowns. I wouldn't say I'm afraid of them, they just totally creep me out for so many reasons. I can't stand to even see a picture of one.
5. I am slighty OCD. I count the lines of the numbers on a digital clock, and I always want it to come out to a multiple of 10. I have lots of other OCD tendencies but I don't want you to think I'm a total freak.
6. I love to go to the nail salon with Taylor. We enjoy getting pedicures and bonding time!
7. I really miss my dog, Nash. He was the greatest dog in the whole world and I hope whoever has him realizes how lucky they are to have him. Deep down I wish he would come back.
8. I am not a very good friend. I am working on this though! I am quite an introvert and really love being by myself, but I know that there is great value in friendships. So, I am working on being a better friend and more of an initiator.
9. My Wii fit age is 44. This depresses me. I am working on it. I may write another blog about my Wii fit experiences to date.
10. I have always wanted to learn to play the drums and the mandolin. Maybe someday.
11. Probably my all-time favorite movie is That Thing You Do. I can quote the entire thing. There are so many funny lines in it, and I never get tired of it. If you haven't seen it, you should! Just a few favorite lines: I wonder what happened to the Oneders. There he goes, off to write that hit song Alone in My Principles. Do you know what these are? Presidential flashcards???
12. I need a schedule. My life works much better when I have a routine and a schedule to go by. Especially the more kids that come along!

Well, that was fun, and kind of hard! Now I tag Paige, Jennifer Watson, and Jennifer Beamer!

A challenging day

I never thought I would be writing a blog about my two year old that made me cry today. If you know Ava, you know that she is a sweetie with lots of personality and is perhaps a genius of some sort. You probably also know that she can be very strong willed and a tad demanding at times. Well, her behavior the last few months has gotten pretty bad. She has bitten several of her friends among other various attacks. Everyone has just chalked it up to her adjusting to the new baby sister at home. I am doing my very best at disciplining her. Maybe God is giving me a taste of my own medicine because I used to laugh at my mother when she would spank me, or maybe it is from all those times I have looked at other people's kids and said (under my breath) "I would never let my child act like that." To all you mothers that I have secretly judged, I apologize. I realize that sometimes no matter how many spankings, time outs, toys taken away, and any other creative form of discipline I have tried, some kids are just challenging. Even in all my efforts to be consistent I am just at a loss of how to deal with this child!

Our troubles today have included but are not limited to: make up smeared all over her face, hands, and the carpet...twice, running through the house with a pair of scissors...twice (two different pairs), coloring a ceramic vase with blue crayon, coloring on the arm of my couch with a pen, yelling at me to "shush" and telling me I was being too loud. This one really got to me. She just sounded so mean and hateful. During her nap, I raided the entire house and have found all the scissors, markers, pens, and makeup and they all have new homes on the highest shelves in my house. So, if you think about it, say a prayer for Ava Grace and for me. I need a little extra grace right now to deal with this "spirited" child!

Hard to believe such a sweet girl can be so vicious sometimes!

Picture Tag

Kelsey tagged me, so here's the deal.



1. Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on the computer.
2. Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3. Explain the picture.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same
5. No cheating. (cropping, editing, etc)







This is a picture of Ava at 20 months right after she dumped an entire box of Fruity Cheerios on the kitchen floor. This was before Alan put our wood floors in. I am reminded of how hideous our floors were for so long! Of course Ava just picked them up off the floor and continued snacking. She still does this by the way.


Now I tag Marla, Dominika, Angie, and Stacie!

My Little Troopers

This has been a bit of a bummer week. On Monday, Ava had to have her skin tested again for allergies. We wanted to see if she had possibly outgrown her peanut allergy and to see if she had any outdoor allergies as well. The peanut allergy is still there and she also is allergic to egg whites! This was news to us. She has eaten eggs many times (she loves them!) and products with eggs. Luckily she is not allergic to any grasses, weeds, dogs or cats. So after having her back pricked with about 50 different allergens (she did great by the way!) we had to get her blood drawn so they can test the severity of the two food allergies. This was the yucky part. Thankfully I had Alan with me that day. He held her when they were taking her blood which is good because on the first arm they blew the vein. I'm not even sure what that means but that's what the lady said as she yanked the needle out of her arm. Alan is so patient and just held Ava and was keeping her as calm as he could. I am stressing out in the corner glaring at the lady sending her telepathic messages to get this one right or I might start digging needles into her arm. I don't do well when my kid is screaming and they are trying to get a gallon of blood out of her. Seriously, they took so much blood I wasn't sure if there would be any left in her little body! So, that was Monday all before lunch! Tuesday was Molly Kate's turn. She had her two month check up and had to get four shots, two in each leg. There she laid just smiling and cooing (she's cooing now! It's the cutest thing ever!) and then out of nowhere BAM!! The first stick she just looked at me and turned really red but by the second one she was screaming. Again, I can't stand anyone hurting my babies and making them scream. Unfortunately I was alone this time and teared up a bit myself. After her shots I picked her up and she didn't cry much more. She was such a good little baby! My girls are troopers!

Just a little update on Pepa. I snuck Taylor and Ava up to see him Monday afternoon. He got a good report on a CAT scan that morning and was in a good mood. He asked if he could see the girls so I smuggled them up to his room. He was so excited to see them! He and Ava are great buddies. He took her for a "ride" on his hospital bed. They went up and down for about 30 minutes and Ava never got tired of it. They laughed and had a good time. Ava kept calling him a "major rockstar" which is from Alvin and the Chipmunks, her favorite movie. I think it was really good for Pepa. It seemed to lift his spirits even more. Keep praying and maybe Pepa will get to go home soon!

More Wal-Mart and a lovely breakfast!

Obviously my New Year's resolution was not to blog more. This is my first of the year. I have been busy trying to get back to "normal". I put it in quotes because I'm not really sure what normal is for us now with three kids. Yesterday felt like a very successful day for 3 reasons. #1- I got to take a shower by myself in peace. #2- I went to Wal-Mart with Ava and Molly Kate and made it out of the store with only one meltdown per child. (I will elaborate more in a moment.) #3- I got the groceries unloaded and put up before anything frozen melted! Wal-Mart is an adventure with two little ones. I talked Ava into getting one of the giant carts with the two seat thing on the front so she could sit in it. It was new so she thought it was exciting. I felt like I was wheeling some giant, industrial cart around, I was just glad that she wasn't running loose putting random items into my cart. I checked out once and found a tube of Aspercream in the basket. I do not use Aspercream and have never purchased it. Ava told me she picked out a new toothpaste for her and that's how it got there. The excitement of the new cart didn't last very long and I eventually had to buckle Ava down so she would quit trying to escape. This of course resulted in a mini meltdown followed by glares and looks of disdain from other shoppers. Molly Kate decided she was hungry in the middle of our shopping even though she had just eaten before we went. We quickly went to the dressing room and I asked the lady if I could use a dressing room to feed the baby. She looked at me like I was crazy and then decided to let me in the smallest room available. I tried to distract Ava with reading a book she brought but she was more fascinated with the feeding process like she'd never seen me feed Molly Kate before. She kept announcing very loudly "Molly is eating your booby, Mom!" (Sorry if this is an overshare, but I thought it was pretty funny...not so much at the time, but now I can laugh about it.) We finished the feeding, finished the shopping and made it out without too much more drama.

Today, Ava decided she wanted to cook me breakfast. She got a little kitchen for Christmas and has been making oatmeal and coffee for us everyday. So here are some snapshots of our lovely breakfast. Daddy was invited too. So were her Bee and Nemo Pez dispensers. She's a big fan of Pez right now.

Daddy is enjoying his oatmeal.

Ava is praying for breakfast.

Nemo and Bee are having a nice time.