Skip to main content

Fourteen!

Our sweet Ava just turned 14 years old! We're celebrating by having a simple family dinner at home (Ava chose the menu of dino nuggies, Frozen-shaped mac and cheese, and smiley fries.) Not healthy at all, but that's what she wanted, so we shall oblige!

Next Thursday night, she and one of her best friends will be hosting a joint birthday party with their pals. It was an interesting experience trying to get them to plan something, but I think we've pulled it together. It's a space/galaxy theme, which is different...and they came up with themes to represent each of the planets (sorry, Pluto, you're not included this time!)

Just a wee one...so many years ago!


Her last few hours as a thirteen year old...



Happy Birthday, Ava Lorraine!


Ava has generally always had her birthday near Father's Day, so it seems appropriate to highlight some of the fathers we've had in our lives (with Ava.)

Ava and her dad :)


Ava and Grandpa Doug


Ava and Grandpa Whitey (and a bonus pic of Grandma Deb!)


Ava and Grandpa Bruce



Scott doesn't have to work on Father's Day (yay!) so he'll be at home and can spend some time with the kiddos on his special day. I'm going to head over to spend some time with my dad. It should be a really great day!

Garrett and Pria also had some fun moments this week. G started his summer program at the Y and met some new friends, including his pen pal from last year who goes to a different school in the district. In addition, he earned his second stripe on his orange belt in Taekwondo. Yay!


Pria had her first pup cup from Starbucks and she was ecstatic to have the sweet treat!



Unfortunately, we have some very sad news to share. Grandpa Whitey passed away this past Tuesday, due to an illness that he had been battling. We're keeping Grandma Deb in our prayers as we know this is a very tough time for her. This will be a big adjustment for all of us, as we will miss Whitey's sense of humor, and his easy laughter. We know that he is in a better place, giving Buddy all the pets and treats he could ever want. RIP, Whitey, we love you! 💙

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Exploring Local Places

Last Sunday was the perfect day to explore an area that neither Arya nor I had been to before. We headed east to walk around the Vermillion Falls/River and Greenway area. The path was nicely paved, with lots of overhead shade from trees; there were so many families out on bikes and walking, and we had a nice view of the Vermillion River. Arya got some great pics, and I enjoyed spending time outdoors with my sweet girl. This weekend, G and I will be heading out to explore a creek area in a few towns just south of us. And I've already got an idea for another creek I want to walk by next month (it's a bit further away, and I'd rather put that aside until Arya is off at college) The tree leans to find the sun On the way home, we stopped at the DQ in another town (we have a love/hate relationship with the DQ in our town, so I wanted to avoid it.) The warm weather felt great, and we enjoyed some sweet treats while watching the world drive by. We're counting down the days unti...

What a Week

The weather has been unseasonably warm this fall, so we've been able to extend our outdoor projects just a bit.  This past week Scott's been working in the garden, cleaning everything out, and repairing the back wall of our garage.  Ava was such a good little helper, scooping up dirt, but still trying to keep her hands clean while doing it! I swear, a box is all she needs to make her happy. Princess Darla. Princess Darla has had enough.  I personally like how she and Ava have the same expressions in this picture. Apparently Spanky was bored - check out that yawn in the background! We went down to Grand Meadow this weekend, and as always, it was so fun to see Ava and Isabel play together.  They actually had several little conversations with each other - and they were so polite while doing so!  We even had them share a room last night...boy, that was a challenge.  I think they finally fell asleep around 10:00pm.  And of course, Ava wa...

Preparing for Vacation

We had a low key week, which is rare in this house. Oh sure, there were fun field trips at Summer Power, a visit to the splash pad on a hot day, and a few crazy, rain storms, but it was an easy week. Well, there was that one time when we were out for dinner with G (Ava was with Grandma Karen and Grandpa Doug for an overnight stay and a trip to the Dakota County Fair - fun!) and G decided to hide behind my chair and puke all over me and the floor (at the restaurant.) Ugh. The good news is that he was just too full of chocolate milk...no illness! A quiet week, once in a while, is an okay thing! We're starting to prep for our vacation to the Wisconsin Dells...we don't take too many family vacations, so this is a big event for us. (Funny, I took a break from writing this post as Scott just asked me about planning a trip to Disney...we were debating the differences between going to California vs. Florida...pros and cons to each!) Yesterday, I showed G a video from one of the wat...