Where did THAT month go?

Wow, I didn't realize it had been almost a month since I posted anything new.  We've been...busy.  A few vacation days, weddings, lots of trips out of town, unGodly amount of hours spent working, showings, playing, changes, etc. 

So, let's get started, shall we?

Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey have a new car. Not a new-new car, but an old-new car.  Like a collector's car.  It's pretty cool!  And teal!  And Ava gets to go to car shows with them...she's been to several over the past few months, and each time, she comes home with new little toys and tales of what she did.  I love it when they have face painting there...nothing fancy, but just something cute for her to wear all day!

And then I try to take a pic of it, and she doesn't really cooperate.  A nice, normal smile would be appreciated at times.  More on that later...

I've made the decision to get LASIK done - I'm tired of contacts and glasses, and the expenses that come along with it.  I'm also terrified, but am trying not to think too much about it.  I will gladly accept my valium that day, try to ignore the smell of burning eyeball flesh, and then I'll enjoy my new vision!  It's coming up quickly - the surgery is scheduled for September 21. 

The day I had my initial consultation was a beautiful, bright August day in Minnesota.  And I had my eyes dilated. And the clinic was all the way on the other side of the cities.  So, the doc gave me these great shades that go under the glasses - super stylish, but they actually did work!  And Ava got a second life out of them once I got home, so that was cool.  Again, notice the face on the 2nd pic.

 

By far, the biggest change lately was pulling Ava out of daycare to full-time pre-school. As I've mentioned before, Debi is an excellent care giver.  We truly couldn't have chosen a better person for Ava to spend the first four years of her life with.  But, change is good.  Ava started at the Maple Tree Day School this past Tuesday (they follow the SSP school calendar), and so far, she has really loved it.  I love the environment there, the kids, the energy, the different activities, and...everything!  They post quite a few pics of the kids on Facebook, so it's wonderful to get a gimpse into seeing how the kids spend their days!

 

And the best part?  This past week, she has been exhausted every night!  We're trying to get into a better routine of in bed by 8:00-8:15, and lights out by 8:30.  She hasn't even wanted her pink flower light on, so she can look at books. Instead, she just wants to go to sleep.  Hooray!

 

Saying her final "Good morning!" to Norah and Norah's mom on Ava's last day of daycare

 

 

Ava so badly wants a little sibling...look at how she's got that arm around Norah!

 

Lots of love for Debi!

 

On Ava' first day of pre-k!  I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up.  She told me Strawberry Shortcake, but then we clarified that's what she wanted to be for Halloween!  In reality, she wants to be a mermaid.  Hm.

 

 

Look at that (real) excited grin!

 

A rare pic of Ava and me

 

Diving right in to playing at school!

 

Look at these cute little chairs they have right outside the school!

 

Along with a new school comes homework.  Homework!  I couldn't believe it!  At least it's fun homework...designing a quilt "square" for the pre-K classroom quilt. I was a little stressed about it, and then realized, it's HER square, and it can be whatever she wants it to be! And that made it easy to stand back and let her go at it! 

 

We also got to place our first Scholastic book order, which was fun...I always loved doing that when I was a little kid.  Happily, they had a Pinkalicious pack of books that we don't have, so that'll be joining our library soon.

 



 

Ava kept saying, "My hands are so messy!"  Looks like Mom doesn't let her get messy too often...but we both had fun!

 

The final product of her quilt square. :)

 

What else...?  We passed the mark where we had to leave her starter earrings in, so yesterday, we changed 'em out!  Her first choice?  The little earrings that look like chocolate bars.  There was actually some blood and tears trying to get the starter earrings out (the lock on those was TIGHT), but once we got the new ones in, life was grand!

 

 

So, when I dropped Ava off at pre-school on Friday, her new teacher (keep in mind Miss Julia has only known her three days) informed me that Ava has a bit of a flair for the dramatic. Hm, who knew?! ;)  Julia mentioned that she's trying to take pics of all the kids and Ava never has a normal smile on her face.  Yeah, no kidding - did you see all the pics I took above, where maybe 10% have a normal grin?  Otherwise, she's doing a Popeye eye-squint thing, a raspberry, sticking her tongue out, or just being plain goofy!

 

Julia also mentioned that Ava was really dragging her feet on helping everyone clean up..."They are sooooo heavy!"  And of course she would add the full-body dramatic sway when telling the other kids how heavy the toyrs are.  Ah yes...we see that all the time, as well.  Makes clean-up super speedy...

 

And then Julia followed-up with "but she's as smart as a whip!" Which, of course, we also know. Life with Ava will never be boring!

 

One last thing...over the last week, Ava's been waking us up in the middle of the night to help her go to the bathroom.  Finally, we're going to be able to tackle the overnight potty training thing!  We'll have to start small, but we'll get there!

 

Time for breakfast...and chores.  And shopping.  And work.  Sigh...before we know it, it'll be time for bed!  So we need to enjoy this beautiful day!