Chuck E Cheese, Shoes, and New Friends!!!!

Long Time, No Talk, huh? John and I were commenting today about how much our social lives have changed now that we have Ava. Not that it has slowed down, but that it has taken off!! We have dinners, play dates, and visitors!! And I am by no means complaining...we LOVE it!!

Thursday night was our off night from swim lessons because we are in between sessions. So, Aunt Mammy (aka Tammy), Emily, and my mom stopped over for dinner. A lady that my mom works with gave me 2 HUGE tubs of clothes for Ava. We started to go through the clothes, but someone had a different idea...

She would let us put the clothes back in the tubs!!

Friday night, John and I took the Olivia, Morgan, and Ava to Chuck E Cheese. We were prepared for it to be either a success or a big disaster. I think it's safe to say SUCCESS!!

My mom and Emily stopped out and joined us, too!!

We always tell the girls that if they leave and don't give us a hard time, we will treat them to ice cream! And it always works!!!

So, off to ColdStone....YUM!!

After many minutes of deciding, here is what everyone got:

Sara: Chocolate Cake Batter ice cream with yellow cake mixed in...

Ava: A small cup of Mama's concoction.

John: Chocolate Devotion with Reese's Peanut Butter cups

Olivia: Mint Ice Cream with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

Morgan: Candy Cane Ice Cream with Gummy Bears (ICK!!!)

They were so good and Ava even shared with Morgan!!

Saturday morning, Ava was up at 5am. I'm not sure why she is getting up so early all of a sudden. No matter what time she goes to bed, she is getting up around 5. And no matter how hard we try, she never goes back to bed. So, around 10am, this happens:

Any suggestions for sleeping??? Please??????????

Our little girls feet are growing so much, so Saturday morning we went SHOE SHOPPING!! One of my favorite things! Ava ended up getting 3 new pairs of shoes. Including Tinkle Toe Skechers that light up. She loves them! It's so cute!

Saturday night was a big night for Mama! It was GIRLS NIGHT OUT! This is the first time that I have been out since we brought Ava home. I did ok, but sent my mom about 40 text messages checking on her. John went to Cleveland to see family, so my mom spent the night and got up with Ava this morning so I could sleep in. It was so nice. Even though I was up at 8, it still felt so amazing!!

Here is the latest toy in our house:

Ava and Gracie love it!

This afternoon we had a couple over for dinner who just returned home from China in December. They adopted a little girl who was in the same orphanage as Ava. Her name is Maddie and she is so adorable!!

They loved the tent, too!

Ava took a little bit to warm up to her and share her toys, but was sorry to see her go!

We hope you had a great weekend, too! I found out a big surprise on Friday and I can't wait to share it with you later this week!! It's going to be a great week for our family!!

Love,

S.

It's Quite Possible

That I may have taught my child a bad habit...

We were bored! We need summer and no more snow! :)

Love,

S.

My Chair!! NO, My Chair!!!

Ava and Jordyn seem to have this ongoing battle over chairs. Whether it's at my grandma's or at our house, there is always a battle...

Looks like Jordyn won this round!

Have a great one!!

Love,

S.

Swimming and Imagination Station

Daddy joined us at swim lessons on Thursday. Don't you love Ava's new swim suit?

Thursday was the last night of the first session of swim lessons. The next session starts next week so we have no lapse. She did miss two classes of this session. One for the snow and the other because she had a fever. She is definitely doing better, but doesn't really want to pay attention. She just wants to play with toys. But she LOVES the water!!!

And even goes under water now!

My mom, Emily, and Aunt Tammy stopped over Thursday night to say Hi! Mammy (Aka Aunt Tammy) had Jordyn with her. Ava and Jordyn play pretty well together until it come to the chair. I'll save that for the next post...

Yesterday, we went to Imagination Station with the FCC group. Ava LOVED it! I think we are going to check into getting a membership.

Ava and Ella


Ava, Ella, and Roz playing with the balls

You know Ava was super excited over the little play house!!

Ava and Ella driving the fire truck

The girls making us dinner. We were waiting to see who would get bossy. We were all betting on Ava! Haha! But their attention span kicked in before it got ugly!!

Ava cooks while Roz cleans up! What a great team!

Grocery shopping. Surprisingly, she picked up all of the eggs!

Lovin' the water table!!

Sweet Rozalyn

This girl loves to wash her hands

Here is a funny story from yesterday. I was in desperate need of laundry soap. We had been out for a few days and kept forgetting to get it from the store. We were going to dinner with my friend, Amy and on the way I stopped at the Dollar Store. After we checked out and I was putting Ava into her seat, I realized she had a Lindt Truffle in her hand. I didn't realize she had it in her hand! She's a little thief! Haha!! Now for those of you who know me, I'm all about the rules. I won't go in the out door at Kroger! So, I went back in to pay for the truffle. It was 34 cents. I don't think that's a felony??? :)

Today is a lazy laundry day for us. Daddy is working all day and I have a week of laundry to catch up on. Hope you had a great weekend!!

Love,

S.

Ava's First Kiss!

Last weekend at the EAC Valentine's Party, Ava took a liking to a little boy named Quinn.

She flirted...

She flashed those little brown eyes...

And then planted one on him!!!

Now we're in trouble!! :)

Hope everyone is well!

S.

Guess who's computer is back up and running???

A BIG, GIGANTIC THANK YOU to Mike Feather for saving us a minimum of $169.00 for fixing our computer. And for backing everything up so we didn't lose our China pictures. Whew!

Last week was a big roller coaster for Ava. It all started on Sunday on the way home from Chinese New Year. She threw up twice in the car, but seemed to do better into the evening. So I sent her to school. And then I got a call on Monday at 2:00 that she had a fever. Poor girl. Since she couldn't go to school on Tuesday, I worked from home. And she was FINE! Played, ate, and acted like Ava. On Wednesday, she went back to school. And then I got the call at 4:00 that she has a fever!!! ARGH!! So, I called the Dr. and made an appointment for Thursday and worked from home again. She was a little out of it on Thursday morning, but was definitely better later in the day. It seems she just had a viral infection and never got sick again. I still kept her home on Friday just to be safe.

She felt well enough on Thursday night to "help" me with laundry:


After literally being cooped up in the house, she had the worst case of cabin fever. We were eating dinner and John and I were just staring at each other thinking "what are we going to do with her?" It was only 5:30. I called Lisa Feather and she knew what to do! She suggested McDonald's playland. What a great idea!! She even met us over there with her girls which I was thankful for! They are so good with Ava!

Livi and Ava climbing in the tree!


Hanging out with her cousins:


Not a huge fan of the slide:

After they were done playing, they enjoyed their sundaes:

On Saturday we traveled to Strongsville. Our adoption agency hosted a Valentine's party! We got to see a couple of families we traveled to China with, another family we met in a parenting class and still correspond with, and Zhou, our guide in China! It was so great to see everyone!!

Here is Ava and I with Jennifer and Niubei. We met Jennifer and her husband, Shawn in a parenting class last year. We stayed in touch with them and had hoped to travel together. However, since we moved, we were delayed and they traveled in September to pick up Niubei. I was so glad to have finally met her! She is such a little peanut:

This is Chris, our consultant from EAC and Zhou, our guide. We wouldn't be were we are now without these 2 people! Chris listened to me whine, cry, and yell quite a bit during our journey and never made me feel like I was out of line. And Zhou...who can manuever through China without him???? He was AMAZING and loves the kids so much!!

Ava had an absolute blast!!! She is definitely a party girl! She even found a little friend and may have possibly received her first kiss...more on that later!

She hula-hooped:

Loved "hiding" behind the curtain:

We tried to get a good picture of Ava and Zhou. Key word being tried:

Even Niubei couldn't get Ava to take a picture!

Sunday we went to dinner with my mom. Let's just say it was a trying morning and to get out of the house was GREAT!

But it was even better that my mom offered to take Ava for a couple of hours so we could relax. She was excited, we were excited! I think we all needed a break from each other.

My mom took her to my Grandma's house. She got to spend quality time with Gracie and even shared her goldfish with her!

They bonded so well, Ava even kissed her!

Going for a ride with Grandma:

Monday was Valentine's Day!! I was so excited for Ava to have her party at school!! I had her all decked out in her Valentine's outfit and had candy bars made for her class! She had a great time!! We got her a little basket goodies, too!!

Going through her basket! She kept saying "ooohhh!" I think she was happy with the goodies. I got her some of her own jewelry so we will leave mine alone! A couple of rings and bracelets. Maybe now she'll stay away from my diamond!

I think Ava realizes when it is the weekend and Mama and Daddy want to get a little extra sleep. Saturday, she was up at 5:15 and Sunday, she was up at 4. She went back to sleep for about a half hour each morning...:( It made for a very tiring weekend. I'm still trying to get this sleeping thing down. She is literally falling asleep by 8:00. But if we try to keep her up later, it seems like she sleeps worse? She will wake up like 3-4 times during the night. Even during the week she is getting up earlier. I used to have to wake her up, but now, she is waking up between 5:30-6:00.
I thought maybe she was hungry because she eats around 5:30 for dinner. So, we've tried a bedtime snack and that hasn't mattered. Any sleeping suggestions would be helpful! These parents are TIRED!!

Tonight, I went to dinner with Tiffany's parents and her husband. Tiffany is my friend who passed away last month. All of her co-workers at Owens Corning got together and sent pictures and stories to me and we made scrapbooks for them. My friend, Sara and I delivered them tonight. It was a very bittersweet dinner, but they were so appreciative!!

Hope you are having a great week!!

Love,

S.