Skip to main content

New Friends

Image
By
Even though we don't live in a neighborhood with lots of kids (still hoping to change that in 2013), we're fortunate to have friends with kids right around Ava's age.  One of my closest friends, Angie, is dating a man who has a four-year old son, Brady.  We've had a few play dates, and they seem to really get along and play well together - even minus the common factors such as princess dress-up or Transformer toys. 

This past play date, Ava was getting a little pouty near the end, and like a nice little boy, Brady was trying to cheer her up and make her laugh.  Since this isn't the first time it's happened between Ava and a little boy, it made me ponder (very briefly) how early the "traditional" gender roles manifest themselves with children.  All I can say, is that I think someone is going to have their hands full with our stubborn and sassy girl! :)

Angie did a fantastic job of lining up activities for Ava and Brady to do at their last play date.  It was awesome for me, as well - all I had to do was show up!  Since it was just a few days after Halloween, we thought it would be fun for them to wear their costumes so they could get one more use out of them.

First up...decorating brownie pizzas!
 
Bumblebee (Transformer) and Jewel Sparkles (Lalaloopsy) did a fantastic job covering their desserts!



 
 
Angie has had a bat pinata that she has used as decoration over the last few years.  A pinata won't last long when you have a four-year-old around!  Angie filled it full of non-candy items (raisins, animal crackers, etc.) which was AWESOME considering the bags of candy that they had just acquired from trick-or-treating, and we let them go to town!  We gave each of them three tries to hit the pinata, blindfolded, and when that just wasn't working, we let them have free reign, with full vision.  I'm not sure who made the first cut, but they had an absolute blast!

Ang telling them the rules...
 
 
Now that's a cute bat!

 
Brady's getting ready!


 
Ava's turn!

 
Action shot...not sure she connected, though!


 
Brady has his own cheering section!

 
And...done!

 
And what's another fun, fall activity?  Bobbing for apples!  It was a little chilly that night, so we brought that game inside...it didn't last too long, but they still had fun!
 




 
And...we still weren't done for the evening! I suggested a bath, and then a showing of the Charlie Brown Halloween special.  It was a perfect way to wind down from all of the excitement...
 
I know my time of posting "naked Ava pics" is coming to an end, but they played together so well and had so much fun, I had to post these innocent pics!  Ava and Brady did great in the bath...no questions about their physical differences (whew.) 
 
Brady thought it was hilarious that Ava's rear was right at eye level - look at that grin!
 

 
Brady had a great time creating some massive tidal waves in the tub...I think Ava was just trying to stay out of the way!

 
Once everyone was all cleaned up, Ang built a fire, and pulled out a new game to play.  We watched the movie, had some wine, and read some new books.  I'll be honest, that was a Friday night, I had a long week, and the fire and wine put me to sleep.  Not surprising, of course. :)  But, it was a great way to kick off the weekend, and we are definitely looking forward to our next get together!
 

 
Hey, who's this guy?  We are right in the middle of hunting season, so Scott's been gone four weekends over the last 1.5 months.  It's certainly given me an appreciation for single parents...but it means that Ava and I get to spend a lot more time together, and we're finding new, fun things to do, which is great!  I know that Scott's been missing us, and is looking forward to being home once hunting season is over.  At least he's able to sneak in some cuddle time when he can!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Goodbye Sweet Spanky

By
This is a post that I'm not very excited to write.  As you probably know, our oldest dog, Spanky, had struggled with health issues (ear infections, seizures) his whole life, and recently, his health had severely deteriorated.  He hadn't been eating, his ear infection was so severe his face was swollen, he had a hard time getting up the stairs, and he very rarely wanted to play.  Last week we got a few tail wags from him, and he ate a few bowls of food, but it was a 50-50 chance that he would actually keep the food down. On Thursday, we made the decision that if he wasn't any better by this weekend, we were going to put him down.  I know Scott didn't want to make that decision as Spanky was a very special dog to him - he truly was his little buddy, following him around everywhere, wanting to be wherever Scott was, and howling his sadness whenever Scott would leave him. Throughout Friday night, it became clear that Spanky wasn't going to have a miraculous recovery...
2 comments
Read more

Happily Ever After?

By
Lately, I've been adding to the Disney Princess movies in our collection.  Last week I bought Beauty and the Beast for Ava.  That was never a favorite movie of mine, but now that I've seen it several times in the last week, it's growing on me.  I figure this is a good chance for me to catch up on some of the stories that I missed out on! Watching all of these princess movies has me thinking about fairy tales...why is it that it's always the evil stepMOTHER?  Or the mom is dead, and no one has taken her place?  Very rarely is it the father who is evil, or dead.  This has actually come up as a topic in more than one conversation lately, and has me a bit intrigued.  Fairy tales are often not very happy - and usually someone dies at some point.  I was a giving an overview of Snow White to a friend of mine, and as I was going through the story, both of us were horrified at the message - mom dies, evil stepmother wants to murder her pretty stepdaugh...
3 comments
Read more

What's Black & White?

By
It's officially summer in Minnesota.  We've passed the 1-2 weeks where it's pleasant outside, and have moved into the hot and humid midwestern summer season.  This calls for some FUN in the SUN!  We were hoping that Ava would enjoy the water a little more this year than she did last year (I took her to several weeks of swimming lessons in a lap pool, where the temp of the water was just a wee bit too chilly.  It didn't go well for either of us.)  Plus, she has a new swimming suit I was anxious to have her try out, so at the very least, I knew she would look cute. :) So, Daddy decided to set up the sprinkler for her one night after dinner.  This, too, did not go very well.  Perhaps it's because he sprung the sprinkler on her without warning, causing her to run to me, with fear in her eyes, and very wet hands...  After that, we never got her to come near the sprinkler (way to go, Daddy), and she decided to play with my potted flowers...with h...
1 comment
Read more