Go, Go, Goers!

What did we do this week?  Couldn't tell ya!  The days are flying by fast, that's all I know.  Well, I can say that I visited my friends Megan and Erik, and had a chance to meet their new baby girl (Nora.)  That was pretty fun, plus, we now have someone to give all of Ava's clothes to!  Win-win! Woohoo - footings for the deck have been poured! Hanging out in another leaf pile... Having fun with static electricity! Ava and G headed over to Grandma Deb and Grandpa Whitey's house on Friday after school/daycare, so Scott and I headed out for a nice dinner at Porter Creek in Burnsville.  It was very nice to have an adult night out!  We stopped at a local bar on the way home, and marveled that people were out past 9:30pm on a Friday night.  Clearly, we need to get out more. On Saturday morning, I headed to downtown St Paul with my friend Amy, and we participated in the Monster Dash 5k.  We ran and walked during this race, and ...

Had to take a little break from blogging last week due to some unfortunate circumstances that took place on Sunday, but we're back on track now! Ava had been asking about jumping in the leaves in our backyard (and now that we have sod, she totally can!)  Scott raked up the leaves last weekend, and she went to town.  Scott then mowed them all up, but when I look outside now, there are even more on the ground...and one of our cottonwood trees still has a ton of leaves on it that haven't dropped yet...more fun for Ava!  (And more mowing for Scott!) This time of year is so pretty in Minnesota - love all of the vivid colors! It was a super busy week...I had something going on every night after work Mon, Tues, and Wed, and by Thursday night, all I wanted to do was come home and stare at the wall.  Ava didn't have school on Thursday or Friday, so on Thursday we sent her off with the YMCA school release program...they went to an apple orchard, had donuts, apple...

Got a call from Ava's 1st grade teacher last week...usually when I get a call from the school, it means she's sick, and needs to be picked up.  But this call came in at 3:45pm...after school was out.  Mrs. M told me that she noticed Ava looked a bit different, but didn't think too much about it.  (Note: she was laughing while telling me this story, so I figured whatever it was couldn't be too bad...)  She then proceeded to tell me that a little girl came up to her and informed her that Ava had cut her bangs over the trash.  When Mrs. M asked Ava why she did that, Ava responded with, "They were in the way, so I cut them off!"  And that's that! Here are my thoughts: Right before school started, Ava and I talked about growing her bangs out.  I explained this meant they would be in the way until they were long enough to pull back with the rest of her hair.  She agreed.  But really, I don't think she did. Hey, she did it over the trash - at l...

Our house had a very exciting week!  After months of staring at a yard full of dirt and weeds, we were finally able to make it green.  680 yards of wonderful sod...laid by my husband and friends...amazing!  Ava has been our little sod monitor, trying to keep everyone, including the dogs and ME, off of the grass until we say it's okay to play on it.  That's our little rule follower! Not only that, but had gutters added to the house as well this week, so we no longer have soupy mud puddles after a rainfall.  I know this doesn't seem very exciting, but considering that it's been almost a year without a yard, coupled with the heavy rainfalls earlier this summer, it's been a fantastic week at our house! Plus, we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on Wednesday, so that feels like a pretty big accomplishment, too.  I gave Scott gutters, and he gave me sod.  Did you know that the 9th anniversary traditional gifts are landscaping/home maintenance items?...

Some days, my kids really crack me up.  And some days, they make me want to pull my hair out!  A few nights ago, Ava woke up at 6:30am screaming bloody murder.  That was one of those moments where you wake up, the heart is pounding, and you run into the room, expecting the worst.  But, then you're greeted by a sobbing 6-year old, doing her best to avoid a...mosquito.  To be fair, the mosquito had really attacked her, as she had 7 big welts on just one of her legs (must have been hanging outside the covers.)  No worries, little girl, it's Mommy to the rescue.  And then Mommy went back to bed. Then, last night, she ran and jumped into her bed, but in the process, managed to catch her knee on the bookcase next to her bed.  I've noticed that both Scott and I deal with things like that in the same manner...we minimize the issue, and try to make a joke out of it.  Scott told her that if it kept hurting, he'd come into her room in the middle of th...

Scott's family lost a very special woman this past Monday.  Adeline, Scott's grandma, passed away peacefully in the early afternoon.  Her passing was so quick that her family wasn't present during that moment, but very soon after, they were able to be by her side. It's been a rough week...the wake was on Thursday evening, and the funeral was on Friday morning.  There have been a lot of tears, lost sleep, and many questions from Ava.  She knows that Great-Grandma is now with Grandpa Bruce and Spanky, and all of the other family and friends that went before her.  Ava understands that she won't be able to see or talk to her, in person, again, but she knows that she's still with us, at all times. When sad events like this happen, it's always interesting to see how life alters a bit.  It makes one think a little bit more about the brevity of human life, and how we should celebrate each moment that we are alive. On the other hand, it's also a practical rem...

I've never been a mom who gets teary-eyed when dropping a child off at school or daycare.  I always figure that navigating through new situations, no matter how difficult, can only help my children prepare for future scenarios.  Plus, we've got a lot of other stuff going on, so there's not much time to sit around and think about how much I miss them. However, this week was very, very different.  I dropped G off at daycare on Tuesday, like normal, and then Ava and I headed up to her new elementary school.  I wasn't 100% sure which door to go in, where to take her backpack, and how to sign her in.  We were both a bit lost, but when you follow a) signs and b) a herd of parents with kids, it's not too hard to figure out!  A very kind employee showed me how to use the online check-in system, and warmly welcomed Ava to the before-school program.  They were just about ready to sit down for a meeting (do the kids have "meetings" in elementary school now?...