Father's "Baba's" Day

In our house Father's Day is called "Baba's Day".  Ava enjoyed celebrating one of her most favorite people.  She made him a clay footprint at daycare that turned out really cute.  For Baba's Day we made him a breakfast of french toast, eggs, and Canadian Bacon.  We then went down to the Farmer's Market.  We were able to pick up some delicious fresh produce as well as some Elk burgers which we can't wait to try.  While there, we stopped in at Jones Brother's Cupcake and picked up a little snack to share...yummy!!  After we all had a little nap and chill time we loaded up a picnic and headed to the lake for the afternoon.  It was Ava's first time to Fremont Lakes.  They are a bunch of small sand likes that used to be sand pits so they make for a good swimming hole.  We all had a great, relaxing day together.  Another fun memory.

4 Months Together

This morning as we celebrated 4 months of being together, we looked through our China photo album. I know I say this every month but I can't believe it's been 4 months but in so many ways it is hard to remember a time without you. It's so fun to look through pictures of when we first met each other and to think of how much we've all grown and changed. I won't change one second of it. We love you beyond words!!!

1.  You are SO much fun and are very funny!  You make us laugh all the time by doing something silly or just busting out laughing in the middle of no where.  A couple weeks ago we had lots of friends over at the house and I was trying to take a picture of 2 of your friends when you bombed the picture on purpose!!  It was so funny to hear you laughing as you blurred the picture and then kept on moving.

2.  You have such a sweet heart.  You are generous with blowing kisses and giving hugs.  When we tell you to say hi to someone you normally just blow them a kiss instead.  You'll often blow kisses to our waiter at a restaurant which in turn means we get great service!!  We pray you always have that sweet personality. The world needs more Ava's. 

3.  No more crying at daycare; in fact you love daycare.  The last couple of weeks when we drop her off in the morning she blows us a kiss and says "bye, bye" with a big ol' smile.  We celebrated big time the first time you didn't cry when we dropped you off and you gave us that beautiful smile.  It meant you were trusting us~ you knew we'd be back to get you at the end of the day.  Your teachers at daycare are also fantastic.  You are constantly doing new things that are creative and get you moving.  We are so thankful for your daycare teachers.

4.  You are still not eating hamburger or chicken very well but doing better than last month.  You do however love fish.  When we have fish for dinner we just break off bites of our piece for you but what we hear through the whole meal is "more, more"!!  And you end up eating almost half!  Don't worry, I'll always share with you :).
5.  Your favorite books lately are Hallmark interactive books.  You have one about Christmas and one about a train conductor. These are the books you pull out every night and we read over and over!!  You'll probably be getting some new books for your birthday ;)
6.  You went to your first parade this last weekend. When it started it was fun to watch you try to soak in all the people and festivities. At times it seems you were trying to figure out the point of us watching people walk down the street. But as soon as they started throwing candy you got into it really quickly!  And you discovered quickly that the more kisses you blew the more candy they threw to you...you are a smart girl!!
7.  You are a great sleeper!! And we are so thankful for that. You normally are in bed by 9pm and sleep through the night until 730am. Mama and Baba love our sleep too so we are so thankful you are such a great sleeper.
8.  Jack is your buddy!!  He loves you so much. You love him and enjoy his kisses but will push him away quickly when you are done being licked. You and Baba made a trip to Kansas and left mama and Jack at home. Jack moped the entire time and kept bringing things out of your room to lay with. I think Mama and Baba are now second fiddle behind you :)
9.  You love to swim!  We have a blow up pool in the backyard which you swim in a couple times a week. We've also made our first trip to the local swim lake. You're still not a fan of wearing your life jacket but if it means you get to swim in the lake it seems worth it.
10.  New words and sounds:  Ava continues to talk and sing all the time. Her daycare teaches say she talks all day to her friends.  Her new favorite words are: Grandpa, Lau Lau (which comes out li li), whoa, ice, China, thank you...and when she's feeling it I get to hear Mama more often lately. She continues to sat Baba all the time. And when she wants be ornary and I ask her to say "mama" she says "baba"!!